Racing Philosophy:
One of the main things I like about racing is racing the car you drive. I really enjoy driving to events and racing all day long, then driving the same car home. It speaks volumes of the true nature of the manufacturer and the grass roots history of racing in America.
My competitive nature started early in life. It probably originated from my hall of fame swimmer mother's encouragement. No matter what sport or activity I became involved in, whether it was National Swimming Championships or International Martial Arts Championships, I've always been driven to do well.
As soon as I became involved in racing it became an obsession. I love racing in all forms, from Drag racing to Road Courses. The one thing that became obvious early on was that any speed was achievable. As the saying goes "How fast do you want to go? How much money do you want to spend?" Luckily my wife shared my passion and we started on our way.
The thing that discouraged me early on is that I loved the cars that I drove and I hated the idea of having to tow another tack car out, race all day and tow it back home. So I started looking into cars that I could both track and drive. I found that in the Dodge Viper. I was soon competing with track only cars, and winning. Then driving home.
I've had the great privilege or racing or driving some of the most exotic cars in the world. Although I beat the Lamborghini in the picture I did lose to the F50 below ... but that was before I added the supercharger, so who knows next time.
Speeds started getting faster and faster on tracks until I topped out at 185 mp on the straights and 155 mpg on the high banked corners at California Speedway.. At the time my Viper had 120,000 miles on the odometer. At those speeds when things go wrong, they go wrong very fast.
There are some great tracks in Southern California, including Willow Springs, Buttonwillow, Pomona, and Irwindale to name a few. Places like California Speedway offer multiple configurations for their tracks. My favorites are the road courses which include the best of both worlds. High banked ovals, very fast straights, and infield technical track work.
I've also raced in almost every type of weather. One of he more interesting times was at Buttonwillow Raceway. It's normally a desert environment, but one weekend it was anything but. All the lakes you see in the background are normally dusty flats. Below is one of those "pucker" times. I'm doing a double pass on the outside, while the L06 Corvette is passing the Porsche. We're all about 1/2 way thru the back straight here ... about to dive into the corner ... YES that's water you see from the Porsche coming from the track.
On the left you can see that later on in the day it began to dry up. I must say the new Corvettes are incredible. He kept me at bay in the corners, but this track has 4 straights in it and by the 2nd lap I had managed to get by him .. Vipers like straights!
The two pictures below are probably the scariest times I've ever had in a race. They are around 120-125 mph on a VERY wet straight, with a retaining wall near by. 1 bad gear throw or to much breaking at the end and you would have a picture of me crying ... haha.
My wife and I originally started drag racing . We've raced quite a few different cars, but again I wanted to race what I drove.
To date I have not needed to be sponsored, covering my own cost. One of the unexpected benefits has been the fun times with my son.
I think my desire to race what I drive and my desire to stay in the grass roots of racing brought me to Drifting. Drifting is a fairly new motor sport in the United States, that has it origins in Japan. It's one of the few competitive sports that an average person with talent and dedication can become truly competitive. It's amazing to every so often see an event where a new comer or a local actually beats some of the big corporate sponsored teams. This is one of the few sports that manufacturer's can really showcase their products. Almost every weekend you can find enthusiasts world wide running their Z-cars or Mustangs out on the track tearing it up.
Drifting outside Japan "officially" began in 1996 with an event at Willow Springs, California. Drifting refers to the motor sport using a driving technique utilizing a difference in slip angle between the front and rear tires. One of my favorite things about drifting is that I can give bystanders and non-racers a real thrill ride in many non-points or practice events.
I managed to get published in a Japanese Drifting magazine. Maybe I'm lucky that I can't read what was being said .... haha 8-)
I've won my fair share of races and series. Some of my more proud events include the TCRA Division 2 championship, Skip Barber Viper Challenge Series and Perfect Time-slip (0.500 reaction time and exact match 12.8 on a bracketed drag race). I've also placed in Chevrolet's National Rev-It-Up Professional and All around Leadership boards.
I bought my Viper new 10 years ago and so far it's the highest mileage of any Viper in the world with 200,000 miles on it to date, and I race it every other weekend..
