Buttonwillow Histrionics winner: Mustard Yellow V8olvo! (Page 2 of 3)

SWEET! I was hoping someone had caught that on tape. Hard for us east coast Lemons types to make races like Buttonwillow, but it seems it's even harder to miss it, what with seeing vids and hearing about it. Hmm, serious road trip in 2010?

Awesome finish!  I'm really happy to see the V8Volvo take the checkered.  Good job, guys!

now, about your margin of vicotry penalty laps for Thill...

Yeah, but nobody has brought a twin-engined car yet.

We tried to find a motor for the Z in the area to put in our car at Buttonwillow after the first one blew up, that would have been a dual motor car since it had 2 motors in one day right??

On second thought we should have just put the number 8 on the Trophy Truck Prerunner and ran it the rest of the race! Might have been voted for peoples curse though....not good.

the slow-mo sound MAKES that video.  well done.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

...yet.

You want twin engines in the Wartburg? Consider it done. Seriously. We have the tools AND the know-how. I know the girls are all clamoring "give it to us", but WE will be the ones to actually build the car into something sick...

WHATEVER it takes. Hell, we'll probably campaign that car all next year, if we can get through BS tech without too much scandal on the followup races.

I've built a 10.62 @129.9 Mustang street car.
I turned my 1998 Crown Vic P71 daily driver into a 450 HP Vortech blown 12.5 @110 commuter car (pump gas, regular radials, full weight).
I've restored/customized numerous old cars (pics available if desired), and built numerous wacky custom creations, including several I used for break.com stunt videos:

http://www.break.com/index/halfcar17.html

http://www.break.com/index/2wheeler1.html

We've got the ability, like I said. Granted, we don't have boobies (well, Ron kinda does), but we do have the requisite skilz.

I was driving the V8lvo for that last stint.  Sorry to hear that some folks think that the "nice guys" didn't win   Not sure everyone realized just how much drama really unfolded in the last stint, but here's an account I wrote up for some friends.  No malice intended as I describe some defensive driving - I'd have done the same thing if I were in a slower car, but ahead!

BTW - I don't think the Sausage guys had a cheater car.  That was NOT the fastest car on the track - not even close.  They were in the lead based on strategy and solid driving (and reliability).

Enjoy.
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This was definitely the most exciting race I've been a part of, and I do believe it was also one of the most fun racing weekends I've had.  Jay's developed what is, IMO, a really cool blend of car guys out having fun just working on the cars and a relatively serious endurance race, all rolled into one.

The short version of the end of the race was that with 2 laps to go, our Ford 302 powered '84 Volvo 244 was 11 cars behind the leader, Rob Krider's Big Sausage Pizza Delivery Acura Integra.  We battled bumper to bumper, side to side, in the dirt, contact with multiple other cars up until just a couple turns from the checker, the Big Sausage car lost it (no pun intended) entering Lost Hills, went off the track sideways and barrel rolled coming to rest on his roof.  I coasted the rest of the lap to the win.

The long version is that with an hour and a half to go in the race, the Big Sausage car and our car made final pitstops just a minute or two apart, and I came onto the track 45 seconds back on the same lap.  We were clearly quicker, and in less than 10 laps, I passed the Big Sausage car to take the lead.  The Big Sausage driver then had a 4-off and got black flagged.  The judges didn't want to really affect the outcome of the race, so they basically sent the Sausage car out with just a stop and go.  Still, that put them down a lap.  All I had to do was go into Sunday Drive mode and I had the race won.  But, things don't always go as planned...

With about 20 minutes left in the race, I was following an E30 with huge bull horns on the roof past a very slow lapper Sentra (I think) at Lost Hills.  Unfortunately, the Sentra didn't see me behind the Bull-30 and went for the apex.  We made side to side contact, which led to a black flag for me.  I was devastated.  I went from hero to goat with just one moment of indiscretion, not being as conservative as I should have been passing a lapper!  I came in, and the judges showed me the same respect as the Big Sausage car - they just gave me a quick stop and go.  I drove out the front of the penalty box tent, along the pit wall to track entry... and then the entry steward came over to my window, leaned in and said, "You aren't allowed to drive down this lane in the paddock.  Turn around and come down the second lane."  In a moment of (rare) good judgment, I did NOT argue, but simple turned around and trundled back through the paddock at 10mph, doing as I was told.  This probably cost me another 30 seconds of track position.

Anyway, I rejoined with about 17 minutes to go, and the track immediately went FCY.  There were THREE disabled cars (only two tow trucks) to clean up.  I was 11 cars back from the Sausage car, but one of the cars between us was circulating very slowly, so the gap between me and the Sausage kept growing as the number of laps I'd have to catch him was dwindling...  With only 5 minutes left, the track went green and I was on a mission.  With some great cooperation from all the cars between us (and an angry V8 under the hood) I was on his bumper by the bus stop.  He was blocking me like crazy, but I managed to get outside of him heading into Riverside.  He simple moved over, pushing me 2 -off at the entry to Riverside.  I recovered, and was back on his bumper.  Coming in to Sunset, I again got beside him (to the outside) and again, he simply moved over on me.  I went 4 off driver's right.  When I re-entered the track, the Sausage car had gotten sideways and made contact with a Supra that came across the track, and I ran (hard) into the back of it, bending up my hood.  But, I solderied on after the Sausage car with one to go!

We had some traffic, but I again was all over his bumper - him back and forth blocking like crazy.  I figured the way it was going, I was simply going to have to do a PITT manuever on him at Sunset to get by him, then let the judges sort it out...  But no way I was letting him stay in front of me.  Well, it didn't come to that, because as I said in the short version, he underbraked for Lost Hills, wagged back and forth and rolled, unassisted.  He was unhurt, and we both had a good laugh together after the race.  No hard feelings.

To win took a lot more than good luck.  Our car was AWESOME.  Very consistent.  Very well balanced.  Ran trouble free.  We had four solid drivers (Laura, Clint Wolff of Evil Genius and Scott DeWinter, another spec miata driver).  We had only one additional black flag during the 14 hours due to a spin at the hairpin.  Our fuel stops were fast, and the key to the win was Laura stretching the fuel in her last stint so we could match the Integra for the last stint.  A true team effort!  The Big Sausage guys were serious.  They had 3 full time spotters - one in the tower and one each on the East and West sides of the track, so they were always covered visually.

I've gotta say, standing on the podium (ok, it was a picnic table), accepting that trophy and giving a little speech to the hundreds of people still there at the end (as opposed ot the 25 hours where anyone not receiving a trophy couldn't give a f*&k about the winners) was truly the BEST racing moment I've had since starting 5 years ago.

Thanks for letting me re-live it here as I wrote this out.

Dean

Amazing finish and I don't care what anyone might say... both of you drove your asses off and I am glad the refs put their whistles in their pockets... This was '86 NBA playoffs type stuff going on.

Congrats and we hope to provide some semblance of competition come November.

We put more effort going over the Krider/Sausage car and sweating the team during the BS Inspection than we did on the next 20 cars combined, and we couldn't find anything that looked remotely cheaty. They (and the V8olvo) were the leaders because A) their drivers are really good, B) they stayed out of the penalty box, C) nothing broke (though the V8olvo had a flat tire that cost them some laps late on Saturday), and D) they had top-notch strategy and communication.

You guys deserve all the glory of the victory, but that Jetta driver's crazy run in the last half-hour of the race was pretty memorable, especially with the huge crowd of southern race fanatics screaming their lungs out.