RE: OOOOwww-D takes 'em to school in KY... A MUST READ!!

["Duff, Ian" <iduff@charter.com>]

Go git 'em! Makes my heart proud to be even mildly associated with such
an effort!

Ian Duff, New Bedford, MA
1990 Coupe Quattro

>----------
>From: 	Steve Verona[SMTP:vrona@infinet.com]
>Sent: 	Tuesday, May 28, 1996 12:27 PM
>To: 	quattro@coimbra.ans.net
>Subject: 	OOOOwww-D takes 'em to school in KY... A MUST READ!!
>
>I swear I will try to keep this short... it will be difficult.  This
>past
>weekend there were two events run in Richmond, KY, a fun /warmup race
>on Sat.
>and a regional CenDiv Championship points event on Sunday.  The CenDiv
>events
>are one step down from national level races.  I had the greatest
>competition
>ever at this event in my class; 8 cars, 1 national champion, 1 3rd
>place
>National finisher, and 1 trophy runner at nats, all in "the hot cars"
>for the
>class, Celica's and MX3's.  The Paseo I beat at the last race is gone. 
>John
>sold it for an MX3 because he almost flipped it trying to catch me;-)
>
>Anyway, Saturday I ran pretty bad.  Basically I raced with my head up
>my @#$!
> I had very little sleep all week and I was distracted all day long. 
>Even
>with my problems, I took 3rd out of "the fast four" in HS less than a
>second
>behind the race winner, former Nat. Champ, Jack Burns.  I felt pretty
>good
>being within a second.  On a decent day I could have run with him and
>on a
>good day I know I can beat him.
>
>Then it happened, at 5am on Sunday I woke up my wife and said "can you
>hear
>that?" and she looked at me and said "what, the rain?", I said not only
>the
>rain "the sound of victory!";-)  From 5am until about 3pm it rained so
>hard
>that rivers formed on the track.  All morning people were commenting on
>how I
>had the advantage over everyone else.  They keep forgetting that there
>are
>other 4wd cars at these events too.  Also, I was starting to feel the
>pressure from everyone.  Honestly, I was concerned about embarassing
>myself
>since I have only run the car in the rain one time.
>
>I was the first car on the course and I took it VERY easy as I was
>nformed
>the lot is like an ice rink in the wet.  I turned in a 68.xxx time. 
>Then
>Jack went out and ran a 72.xxx, I guess I was faster than I thought. 
>Then
>John Fessler ran his MX3 with a time of 68.xxx, one tenth faster than
>me and
>he was very excited.  Everybody looked to me to see my reaction.  I
>just
>smiled because I knew I could go at least 3 or 4 seconds faster.  On my
>second run, I put it ALL together!  I knew it was a fast time as I came
>across the line.  I had my fist in the air when the anouncer asked "is
>that
>time correct?" and the scorer said "yes".  Then Loyd said "Are you
>ready for
>this?  Steve Verona has responded to the pressure with an unbeleivable
>time
>of 62.4xx seconds!!!"  Everybody went crazy and my hands were
>shaking... what
>a rush.  It is amazing how fast the quattro can run in the wet in a
>four
>wheel drift;-)
>
>Nobody was able to come close in any class for the resr of the heat. 
>On my
>thrird and final run, I goofed around trying different things and ran a
>high
>60 something lap.  I am sure the car could have run 2 or 3 seconds
>faster
>than my best time, but I showed soem mercy;-)  The closest competitor
>in my
>class was almost 5 seconds behind me.  That was John Fessler, a very
>fast
>rain driver.  The closest car in any class at that point was over 4
>seconds
>behind.  This is truely a HUGE margin in autocross.
>
>As the day went on lots of people came by to congrat me.  The anouncer
>was
>having a ball with the fact that nobody was even coming close to my
>time in
>the "slowest class", H Stock.  Even the formula cars on special rain
>tires
>were 4 seconds behind me.  It was looking like a sure bet that my time
>would
>be the Fastest Time of Day, FTD.  This would be a record, an HS car
>setting
>FTD at a CenDiv event!
>
>Then the party came to an end as the sun came out for the last run
>group of
>the day which included the B Modified cars, Formula Atlantics, Formula
>Continentals, Sports racers, etc.  As the track dried, the times came
>down
>dramatically.  The fastest cars, the BM cars, came within a second of
>me when
>the track was 95% dry.  Everyone was amazed that they still had not
>caught
>me.  Then for the last 15 cars of the day, the track was not only dry,
>but
>hot.  The B Mod cars beat my time as well as two other cars.
>
>Everybody knew I would have had FTD by several seconds had the rain not
>gone
>away or even if the track was damp.  I got a tremendous round of
>applause
>during the awards presentation.  The anouncer said that they just
>wittnessed
>one of the greatest drives ever. Now they know why the quattro's are
>banned
>from Trans Am;-)
>
>Are we having fun yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>Steven Verona
>
>Next race is the National event in Pittsburgh this weekend... pray for
>rain!
>