Crazy Racing Stories

[joelsmith]

I joined SCCA in the fall of 1987 with a friend of mine that wanted to autocross his Elva Courier Mk IV. We were part of Southeast Division, Old Dominion Region. I went from pylon chaser to Chief Tech Inspector for the region due to the fact I knew which end of the torque wrench to grab. One of the benefits of my exalted position was a windbreaker with a patch stating "Chief Tech Inspector" on my sleeve. I went to a Dual Nationals race with another member to help him run his GT-1 Vette. I was walking through the paddock minding my own business when a gent yelled at me, "Hey, you got a minute?' I and sure and walked over to a Datsun 510 with a bunch of people standing around arguing. The gent that called me asked "Are you really a Tech Inspector?" I said "Yeah, what do you need?" "We need a Neutral, Unbiased opinion" I said "OK, what's up?" The owner/driver stood up and said "Here's the scoop, My rollcage is filled with nitrogen and I use the nitrogen to monitor for cracks or broken welds. And they want me to take the gauge that I use to monitor for cracks out, and let all the nitrogen out. For information there is a inspection hole drilled in all roll bars in a non stress location to check the wall thickness of the tubing. I looked at him and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I started to look over his car paying close attention to his cage. It was cleanly welded and looked professionally done, I crawled out of the car and said that it was nicely done, and I had only one question. He said what was that? I asked "Where's your fill port?" He got a goofy look on his face and said "What fill port?" I then said "How do you fill your cage? I'm sure that you don't fill your cage through the gage mounting and then screw it in real quick so you don't lose any nitrogen." He hemmed and hawed for a minute, and said "Stuff it", he pulled the gauge out, and when the thickness was checked, it was way to thin for a roll bar, (duh) My second story happened at another National. Se were pitted next to another GT-1 Vette and he was out on a practice run when his throttle stuck open and his engine blew. When his car was towed back to the pits it was dripping all its bodily fluids out the bottom, and, when he opened his hood, it looked like a hand grenade had gone off in the crankcase. His girlfriend cam over and asked "What happened", the guy said it was a "Electrical Problem". She says "OK" and wanders back to his Winnebago. I looked inside and said "Electrical Problem?" He smiled and said "Yeah, the number 2 connecting rod broke and blew the alternator right off the engine." Ah the joys of Club Racing. Hope all you enjoyed these stories as much as I did, Joel.

[afx]

The Porsche 917 ran an actual pressurized frame - maybe that is where the gentleman got his idea. 

Welcome to the forum by the way.

[Oldtimer]

Good to see another SCCA veteran here. I began my involvement in Timing and Scoring, then moved on to Autocross, then crewed on a couple of different cars until I bought my own in 1976, a 1969 Camaro. Quit racing in 1993 after three cars, and way too much out of pocket.

Tech Inspectors have a thankless job.

Welcome to the Board!

[joelsmith]

"Tech Inspectors have a thankless job", ain't that the truth! Even if you are right you're wrong! I would still be racing except for the fact the driver/car owner was killed in a home invasion/burglary, and it stopped being fun after that. Got laid off from my job, moved to KS, got married, got kids, grandkids, and, great grandkids. I still miss Al deeply, he trusted me with his life in the race car, and I took it to heart by trying to do everything as perfect as possible. Talk more soon, Joel.

[dustymojave]

I started out working Timing running timing slips for Timing over to Scoring as a little kid about 4 years old. Then when I was 7, Cal Club joined SCCA. My folks switched to Tech Inspection. So I did too. Helmets and suits 1st. Then at 9, I rejected a race car for the 1st time. A C/Mod. Brand new group 7 car (later known as Can Am). Fuel leaking out of fittings to the 4 Weber carbs and at the electric fuel pumps. For some reason, one of the partners was PO'd. He didn't like a little kid rejecting his new race car that he had a lot of cash invested in. So he went to the Tech Chief. My dad, who said that I was right, the car couldn't be raced until the fuel leaks were fixed and we would not put a Tech sticker on it until it was approved. So he went to the Chief Steward of the Meet. He came over to see what was up. Then he told the owner of the car that if I said it was wrong, it most certainly WAS, since he felt I knew more than most all of the adult Tech Inspectors. (pretty sad, that note...) Later the driver came and thanked me for "saving his life". They had gotten it fixed but it took most of Saturday to find fittings. A few years later, Cal Club added a subdivision of Tech Inspection called "Rules Enforcement" which dealt with teardowns and protests and other out-of-the-ordinary Tech issues. I was one of the Rules Enforcement crew. Then since I was generally without anything to do while the racing was going on, and SCCA added requirements for log books for each car, I was assigned to be responsible for writing up any crashes that resulted in the car(s) being towed in. I was "Crash Inspection". So then I wound up going out with the tow truck crews so I could investigate some of the crashes. The I started doing corner flagging too. Last time I worked as an SCCA official was at the 1975 Long Beach Grand Prix. I was busy getting paid to work Tech at off road races and racing a dirt bike in the desert and building myself an off road race buggy too.



This was in 1975 at the SCORE Baja 500. I'm to the right of the race car in a white cap with an orange Tech Inspector badge on my chest.

This below is about 4 years ago at Glen Helen for a Baja Cup offroad race. My wife holding up the driver's suit, me as Chief of Tech next to her with my gray hair and beard blowing in the wind, and our son, a 3rd Generation Tech Inspector with his back and Tech windbreaker to the camera.



My nearly identical windbreaker is hanging on the back of my chair as I type this. Over 50 years since I started working Tech.

There are some Tech Inspectors who really don't deserve the name. But all in all, racing that was a VERY dangerous activity when I started is now safer than driving to work.

I've been told by racers that their roll cage doesn't HAVE to be welded all the way around the joints because it's made out of 4130! Or that their 5,000lb off road race truck doesn't have to have a 2" diameter roll cage because it was built before the rules changed so it's grandfathered-in. So I take out my original 1975 rule book (long ago wore out my 1973 book) and show the rules for cage materials showing that a vehicle weighing 4,000lbs+ is required to have 2" diameter cage tubing, regardless of material. I know the SCORE safety rules pretty well. They were written on my dinner table by my dad and Mickey Thompson. And the safety rules haven't changed all that much since.

[joelsmith]

Amazing what people will ignore to go racing. I was working tech at a autocross, and I failed a car due to the battery not being solidly mounted. And by solidly mounted I mean it was "floating" in mid air, retained only by the battery cables. The driver complained that he wasn't going to be going fast enough to be dangerous. I then told him that I didn't care about him, but I was more worried about the threat to the pylon chasers from parts flying off his car.

[dustymojave]

My son is proud of having rejected in Tech at the 2008 Mint 400 a famous racer's brand new 1/2 million dollar Trophy Truck. The owner and the driver both asking "Do you know who I am." As if that should make a difference? Of course, the correct answer to that question was stated as "Yes...Someone who's been around this stuff a long time and should know the rules and have their race car RIGHT before bringing it to Tech." Made me proud to hear it from my 14 year old son. My son's online ID is 3GTech. Which stands for "3rd Generation Tech Inspector".

[joelsmith]

Good on your Son! It's either "Right" or "Wrong", especially with a safety issue! I've seen some racers that would drive with out a fire suit on if it would gain them a half second per lap.

[johnwebster]

I tech inspected for SCCA at Nelson's Ledges in the early 70s.

Two guys spring to mind. One was a Formula Ford driver who had lost his right arm just below the elbow. He had a prosthesis that ended in an L shaped rod with a ball on the end that fit in a socket where the shift knob should have been. The other was a Formula Ford driver in his early eighties. He built a Formula Ford from scratch to his own design in his garage. The car used bunches of screen door springs in tension for suspension so he could vary the spring preload and had hydraulic cylinders mounted to the frame that let him change the camber using levers in the cockpit. Both were very fast and I think the 80 year old went to the runoffs a couple of times.

[dustymojave]

There used to be a Formula C driver in Cal Club who was a Spastic. His face all twisted up, he had great difficulty just walking to the car. Could not straighten out his legs, arms or hands. It took 2 other guys to get him into the car on the pre-grid and one of those to put his left hand on the steering wheel and the other to put his right hand on the shifter knob. Other drivers who hadn't raced him before became very nervous watching this. Then he would go out and beat many of them. He wasn't real fast, but typically finished in the top 25% of his class. Like 2nd or 3rd.