Sonoma Raceway Prez Retiring

gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
He is a good man.
My daughter has worked there since she was 15...she's 28 now.
He will be hard to replace.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
budman said:
He and Jere Starks transformed the Raceway.

Enjoy retirement sir. :port
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I did all my moto and auto track schools on the old "scary" track.

These are from the late 80s, wearing same "so so" BMW flipup helmet.

A real rush but that track was certainly a danger compared to now thanks to the great work they did.

I hated that Formula Ford as I barely fit in the damned thing.

K75S was on bias tires! :laughing
 

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budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
I still have a warm spot for the old layout as dangerous as it was.

Did a F-3 race school there in '11 and qualified for their arrive and drive races.. However the size of the box with my 6'-1" frame and the fact they could not fit the neck guards on me said no way. They tried, but with my knees jammed into the cockpit ceiling hindering me driving the thing I said no way refund please. For the schools they said F-It let me drive.

Of course.. I crashed.. Nobody told me the young driver from Mexico had slicks on and that was worth 1.5 seconds a lap. I thought I just had to be more aggressive. :laughing

Loved it though.. totally.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
budman said:
I still have a warm spot for the old layout as dangerous as it was.

Did a F-3 race school there in '11 and qualified for their arrive and drive races.. However the size of the box with my 6'-1" frame and the fact they could not fit the neck guards on me said no way. They tried, but with my knees jammed into the cockpit ceiling hindering me driving the thing I said no way refund please. For the schools they said F-It let me drive.

Of course.. I crashed.. Nobody told me the young driver from Mexico had slicks on and that was worth 1.5 seconds a lap. I thought I just had to be more aggressive. :laughing

Loved it though.. totally.
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:laughing

How bad of a crash?

Not sure type of car you are referring to as to me an F3 car is an open wheeler.
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
It was a Lola F-3 car.. I went to look for the vid and found the thread but the BARF servers let me down and it is gone.... :(

I backed it in to the wall at turn 8A. Pretty solid hit. Cost me the 5k damage deposit.

When my friend Tim came down from the Jim Russell racing office to collect the dough he noted that the young gun who had been racing Formula cars for a couple years had slicks and told me the difference in times. He was the only one that got them cause Daddy bribed their asses!

Two things.
1. I totatly remembered that the instructers had said if you go backwards in with a turbo motor with the clutch out the car was likely to catch fire and the proper protocal was to smoosh the clutch and brakes into the floor.. and I did. :teeth

2. When Tim said do you want another car I said "I can do that?"
He said yes you can but if you crash again it is another 5K.
I said "OK lets do it".
He said "OMG your my hero.. nobody has ever said yes!"

I figured I would not crash again knowing there was no way to catch the young man.

Tim was a member of our 24 hour race crew in '88 and '89 and was a really good racer himself. I had treated myself to the school after my Mom passed and she left me some $$. I figured she would want me to smile and enjoy so I did it. Several weekends actually.

On the first weekend I still remember also the instructor saying in our first weekend drive around in a sedan with him talking to 3 of us by the end of the second weekend you should be able to flat T-5.

Our first full course session of the weekend on Sunday I did it and came in and told him. He was yeah right as if. At lunch he checked the telemetry and came to me and said "You fucking did it.. you were not lying. You motorcycle race dudes are fucking crazy. Get a metal box around you and you think you can do anything" :laughing

Yes we do.. :rofl
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
budman said:
It was a Lola F-3 car.. I went to look for the vid and found the thread but the BARF servers let me down and it is gone.... :(

I backed it in to the wall at turn 8A. Pretty solid hit. Cost me the 5k damage deposit.

When my friend Tim came down from the Jim Russell racing office to collect the dough he noted that the young gun who had been racing Formula cars for a couple years had slicks and told me the difference in times. He was the only one that got them cause Daddy bribed their asses!

Two things.
1. I totatly remembered that the instructers had said if you go backwards in with a turbo motor with the clutch out the car was likely to catch fire and the proper protocal was to smoosh the clutch and brakes into the floor.. and I did. :teeth

2. When Tim said do you want another car I said "I can do that?"
He said yes you can but if you crash again it is another 5K.
I said "OK lets do it".
He said "OMG your my hero.. nobody has ever said yes!"

I figured I would not crash again knowing there was no way to catch the young man.

Tim was a member of our 24 hour race crew in '88 and '89 and was a really good racer himself. I had treated myself to the school after my Mom passed and she left me some $$. I figured she would want me to smile and enjoy so I did it. Several weekends actually.

On the first weekend I still remember also the instructor saying in our first weekend drive around in a sedan with him talking to 3 of us by the end of the second weekend you should be able to flat T-5.

Our first full course session of the weekend on Sunday I did it and came in and told him. He was yeah right as if. At lunch he checked the telemetry and came to me and said "You fucking did it.. you were not lying. You motorcycle race dudes are fucking crazy. Get a metal box around you and you think you can do anything" :laughing

Yes we do.. :rofl
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In that Formula Ford, nothing compared to an F3 car mind you, I had no "feel" at all where the tires were in terms of starting to lett go unlike every other RWD street car I'd ever driven and that kind of spooked me.

And slowed me down! :laughing

I like a bit of a warning that I'm going to go into severe oversteer situation if I push it.

But not you apparently! :thumbup
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
The treaded Yokohama's let go in 8A with no warning...:laughing

Before that a small push.. but I had a kid to catch. :p

One day when I get my home computer running I will grab and post back in the thread. It was way to big for YouTube at the time.. now I think a 1/2 hour will be AOK.
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
budman said:
The treaded Yokohama's let go in 8A with no warning...:laughing
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Oh man, that's a pretty high speed section.

doroiifxuaak5p_.jpg
 
GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
budman said:
Sorry Tom... the man is still being honored.
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Of course, we are talking about using his track before and after improvements.

The changes have been dramatic and I'm sure Steve Page would appreciate stories of actual people using what he helped build.

But maybe not.
 
ThinkFast

ThinkFast

Live Long
OK. Fair enough.

My Sears Point story:

Moved to North Bay from the Midwest in 2006, having raced there with CCS for a few years. I’d sold my race kit about a year before we moved - was out of work and couldn’t afford it. So we move out here and I discover we were living less than a half hour drive from the legendary Sears Point track.

Once a racer, always a racer. So bought another bike, and got my AFM on in 2007. Wow - giant fields compared to what I was used to - and the level of racing was mind blowing. Went from on the box every weekend to struggling to find the middle of the pack. And that track - people told me it takes most guys two or three seasons to really learn it. And they were right. It’s truly one of the great ones in the country - and I’d raced on a few by then.

One weekend in 2009 I found myself gridded in the last row of a 50 bike field because I got my entry in late. By then I was riding in top half of the pack. And although the podium was still safely distant from ever having to bear my weight, among the officials I was surprised when I found out I was a KFG (known fast guy) - which I found out after the incident in Turn 2.

We were all lined up - again - for a restart after a first lap red flag. I’d had a pretty good launch on the previous start, but didn’t make it past someone who binned it up in 2, causing the whole field to slow way down and bring it all back in. Didn’t even get a solid hot lap in!

On the restart I found myself weaving through the first couple rows in front of me as we headed up the hill. Didn’t notice there was another KFG back there gridded a row or two ahead of me.

He got a little too much throttle in T2 and went down - just out of my sight as I was still coming up the hill. I set my line and just as my knee was starting to drag there he was laying on the track, with his bike about three or four feet away from him, right on the race line. I think they both had stopped moving by then, but I couldn’t say for sure.

My first thought was: “split ‘em”. Having committed to a race line, and not seen any of this until I did, that was about all I had time for before....

Lights out.

Next thing I knew, someone was leaning over me, lifting my helmet visor, and asking if I could hear them. “Guess I didn’t make it through the gap” was all I could think of.

I recalled going to race control and telling them there was no way I could’ve know that crash had happened up there in T2, and the flag stations were completely ineffective due to their locations outside the field of view of riders focused on their race line as they come up the hill into a blind corner.

Not long after that crash at the next race we were told a new safety feature had been added - a yellow warning light on the foot bridge on the hill, to warn of a crash up in T2.

Now I don’t know whether my crash was what prompted them to put that light in or not; but I do know I sure felt better about having that light there after what happened to me (and a lot of other bikes, too).

So thank you, Mr. Page, for leading an organization that is safety minded, and focused on continuously improving this great facility for the fans and the track users! :ride
 
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GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
ThinkFast said:
OK. Fair enough.

My Sears Point story:

Moved to North Bay from the Midwest in 2006, having raced there with CCS for a few years. I’d sold my race kit about a year before we moved - was out of work and couldn’t afford it. So we move out here and I discover we were living less than a half hour drive from the legendary Sears Point track.


Now I don’t know whether my crash was what prompted them to put that light in or not; but I do know I sure felt better about having that light there after what happened to me (and a lot of other bikes, too).

So thank you, Mr. Page, for leading an organization that is safety minded, and focused on continuously improving this great facility for the fans and the track users! :ride
Click to expand...

Great story.

Yes, the track itself was always "fun" but before Steve Page it was very dangerous with minimal track amenities to speak of and horrific entry/exit during any event with even a hint of crowds, never mind NasCar that he brought in.

He took a track that was a bit "ghetto" to a world class facility in quite a short period of time. :thumbup
 
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