My Favorite Daytona Things

by Tammy

I'm writing non-stop this month, and particularly this week, trying to get a draft of Avoidable Contact out to some beta readers (or maybe alpha readers, because it might still be that raw). But I've been combing through the hundreds of photos I took, and I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

(me, reflected in Jake)

(coming out of tech inspection)

(I found Kate's tires!)

(with Katy, Arm Candy founder and cancer survivor, raising money for the cure)

(the Dempsey Racing team's sign in the evening light)

(off to race...)

What I Learned At Daytona

by Tammy

I spent Thursday through Saturday noon at Daytona International Speedway last week, doing some final research for Avoidable Contact (aka, Kate Book 3). I came home with a ton of notes and ideas—for the book, but also about the cars, drivers, and approach of the new Tudor United Sports Car Championship.

1. Fans like TUSCC. Combining two series worked for pulling in the fans. The paddock/garage was packed even on Friday—and everyone I asked agreed they'd never seen so many people there. There were even (gasp!) quite a number of people in the stands as the green flag flew.


2. The C7.R is awesome. Corvette fans are legion, and they love their new racecar. There was always a crowd around the garage for the #3 and #4 cars. And they're pretty. To hear the drivers tell it, they're also fantastic to drive—more like a prototype in terms of stability and handling, per Ryan Briscoe.

3. Thumbs-up on the competition. On-track traffic is intense—and the competition is going to be good this season. Over and over, drivers referred to it as a "nightmare" on track, admitting with the next breath that fans seem to like it. And none of the drivers were really complaining (or complaining much), which, as a fan who does like seeing drivers have to be strategic in navigating multiple classes, I appreciate.

4. Sportscar racing has gone corporate. The ALMS was a small, grassroots, startup company. More like a family. TUSCC is definitely part of a corporation. Maybe that has to happen, at some point, for an entity to get bigger (I know that's often true in the business world). And maybe I feel that because I no longer know anyone at the Series level (most of them have scattered to teams and manufacturers).

But the vibe in the paddock was different. More removed. More professional? Maybe, maybe not. It'll be interesting to see how the paddock feels at Sebring, Long Beach, and Road America—tracks that aren't as steeped in the NASCAR corporate culture as DIS. But ultimately, some of the charm is gone.

I'll stick with the Series, because I still think the on-track racing is the best out there (sorry, all-oval NASCAR and all-dull F1). And I'll still argue that in theory, it's better for there to be only one sportscar series in the United States. I believe all that. But I think I'm going to find TUSCC a bit less fun than the ALMS was.

Change is inevitable. And hey, now I can be one of those people who wax nostalgic for the old days.

What Are You Thankful For About Racing?

by Tammy

The racing season is now over, and we're staring down the end of the year, as well. With Thanksgiving and all, I spent some time being thankful last week about my life in general. But I wanted to cover a few items I'm thankful for with regard to the world of racing.

Corvette Racing 2012 ALMS Champs: I'm pretty dang happy they pulled it out to win the season championship, their first in the (combined) GT class.

Last-race championship decisions: An awful lot of season championship battles came down to the last race of the year: F1, IndyCar, several of the ALMS classes. Well done with all of the battles, guys.

Pressdog, the blogger: A racing friend introduced me to the Pressdog's blog, and I have to say, he brightens my week. It's my dream to be a Woman of Pressdog (R).

The ALMS/Grand-Am merger: I still have some concerns about how this will turn out (specifically that it won't be a case of losing the good in favor of the ponderous), but I'm hopeful. If nothing else, I think change is good to shake things up. And if nothing else, it makes it really easy for me to transition Kate from the ALMS to the 24 Hours of Daytona for my third book in the series....

TrueCar Racing sponsoring a bunch of female racers: Yeah, I'm letting my feminism out. But I think it's fantastic that a company stepped up and sponsored six female racers across a variety of disciplines. It was neat to follow their tweets as they traveled en masse to races to support each other. I hope TrueCar keeps it up.

Twitter and passionate racing fans and friends everywhere: It's amazing how we can stay involved in the racing world these days from our desk or chair at home. Thank you Twitter, and thank you, committed Tweeters. I don't always agree with what everyone's saying, but I love the virtual community we've got. And what's even better is making true friends in that virtual world. (Find me there.)

So what about the rest of you? What were you especially thankful for in the 2012 racing season?

Petit Le Mans Tomorrow!

by Tammy

Simon is away being celebrated this weekend, but I'll be at home, sitting in front of the computer. Because Saturday is Petit Le Mans! I attended this race the last two years and have written about it in my next book, so it's a race I really enjoy.

Check out how cool this race poster is. That's the Delta Wing there on the right, and ahead, the 2012 GT champion Corvette! All of them sweeping down the hill at Road Atlanta into Turn 12. Great spot!

Will you be watching with me? Coverage starts at 8:30 a.m. Pacific/11:30 a.m. Eastern, on ESPN3.com. I'll also be posting a lot on Twitter: @tkaehler. Hope to see you around the mediaverse!

GT Rivalries

by Tammy

Is there another series or class with such epic battles in the last few years as the American Le Mans Series GTs? The Mosport (OK, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) race this weekend gave us another amazing battle, with the top three cars nose to tail for nearly the last 45 minutes. The Flying Lizard Porsche held on to the top spot to win, though he was pressed hard by the Corvette in second and the ESM Ferrari in third.

But a lot of race viewers held their breaths while Jan Magnussen (Corvette) dogged Joerg Bergmeister's (Porsche) bumper, because of their history. Now, I don't know if there's any bad blood remaining between the two teams and drivers (since they're pros and this is racing), but I know that the Corvette fan world still hasn't forgotten or forgiven Joerg for sending (as they see it) Jan into the wall at the checkered flag of the Laguna Seca race in 2009 (video below).



Even if I don't totally agree with it, I understand Corvette fans' point of view. Because I hold my own grudge against Ferrari for a similar incident ... which is ironically the incident that I think dictated Joerg's actions in the video above against Corvette.

On the last lap of Sebring in 2007, Joerg and Jamie Melo (Ferrari) battled it out, trading the lead back and forth. Coming out of the last turn, Melo pushed Joerg left toward the wall, making Joerg have to lift to avoid crashing, therefore losing the win. (Video below, the best angle is the arial view starting at 3:04.)



Fast-forward to 2009 at Laguna Seca, and Joerg's in the middle of exactly the same battle. He couldn't afford to be pushed around again to lose, so he went for it, and Jan went into the wall. Like I say, I get why Corvette fans hate Joerg, because I dislike Jamie Melo and Risi Ferrari for the same reason. 

Now fast-forward to 2012, and you understand why many of us held our breaths as Jan looked for a last-lap pass on Joerg this weekend. He didn't have a chance to pull it off, as the Ferrari (a green one this time) slide under him, with a little bumping and banging, to take second place away. But it was some incredible racing by all three drivers.

So I say ALMS GT racing is currently the most competitive in the world. Who's with me? Who's arguing for another series/class?

Why Le Mans?

by Tammy

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching (sometimes on 2x forward on the DVR) the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I was disappointed that Patrick Long and the Flying Lizards didn't finish (they can't hardly buy a break at that race), that the Corvettes weren't competitive (their worst year in modern memory, save one, perhaps), and that Tom Kristensen (Mr. Le Mans) didn't win his 9th race. But I did love seeing Audi engineer Leena Gade direct her team to a second consecutive victory. You go, girl!

Every year that I watch this race, I am more astonished at the effort, expense, and emotion associated with it. Teams spend millions of dollars and an entire year preparing for this 24 hours of competition. Some teams, such as Audi, spend weeks drilling the crew on car repairs, and run 30-hour tests. All so that they're prepared for anything.

The reality of a 24-hour race, however, is that you won't be prepared for everything. But what can set you apart is how you react to what goes wrong. That's true in life, as well as racing.

I know that most of what speaks to me about racing is a love for the stories of the people involved (this is why I make some up). So it shouldn't surprise anyone that the drama of the number one sporting event in the world (so says National Geographic) thrills me to no end. Because there's no end to the stories, and no end to the human struggle to overcome.

I watch the race thinking, "Can they keep the car running that long? Can they stay awake? Can they fix it?" Above all, I wonder, Can they do it? And watching those competitors climb their own mountains inspires me to climb my own.

What do you all get out of watching Le Mans or any other of your favorite races? Why do you love racing?

Road Atlanta Research

by Tammy

I'm deep into writing about a race. And not just any race, but an epic: Petit Le Mans. I turned my office upside down looking for my notes from racing school, which I attended there in 2006 (didn't find them, dammit!). And then I did a bunch of Googling.

Here's what I have to report, for the second time. It's really amazing what you can find on the Internet.

First of all, here's a lap of Road Atlanta in a Porsche, driven by my friend and favorite, Patrick Long.

Then there's a night lap in a Corvette, driven by Tommy Milner. Yowzer, how do you like 130m.p.h. through Turn 12?!

Imagine me watching both of those over and over and over again, counting shifts, squinting at the mph and gearing display on the Corvette video. And just enjoying the music of the V8.

Finally, for your track reference ... did you know there's a wikipedia (of sorts) for tracks? Yeah, trackpedia.com. So I spent some quality time on the Road Atlanta page there, as well.

Don't you love research? And YouTube?! Any favorite videos to share?

Thoughts on GPLB

by Tammy

Long Beach's days in the sun (and one in the pouring rain) have come and gone, and the racing world is starting to pull out of Southern California. If I didn't already, I'd know the race was over because of the increase in the number of private small jets taking off from the Long Beach airport between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Surprisingly, even the appearance of F18s taking off from the airport (30 min before scheduled flyover time) isn't unusual; we get those every weekend (the jets, not the flyovers--or maybe it's that they do flyovers at my house EVERY weekend).

The race weekend was short (rain-shortened this year), packed with storylines, and full of amazing racing. I assume all of you watching will agree?

First, the ALMS race. I ran into Doug Fehan, program manager for Corvette Racing in the paddock on Saturday morning and asked him how everyone would deal with so little on-track time before the green flag (maybe 45 min of wet running Friday morning and about a lap of puddles during qualifying; that was it). Fehan assured me they weren't too worried, as "Corvette is usually pretty good right off the truck." Boy, was he right. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the #4 carried a commanding lead to the checkers, and even the troubled #3 (missing a hood after a first-lap incident) almost held on to the podium, ultimately finishing fourth.

The battles were fun to watch, the passing was well done, and there was only one full-course caution. Well done, boys! (The photo above was taken from my vantage point in one of the apartment towers overlooking the course, looking down onto the back straight and around to the hairpin.)

Then the main event.

The story of the weekend for IndyCar was of course the engine changes for all teams running Chevrolet motors, and associated 10-grid-position penalties. Most drivers took it philosophically, as growing pains for the new car and engine packages they're working with this year. And in the end, Chevy drivers needn't have worried: they filled seven of the top ten spots, including the top step of the podium (go, my fantasy pick, Will Power!). The IndyCar race featured passing, wrecks (but nothing drastic), fuel strategy, pit lane strategy, post-race penalties, a roadblock in the hairpin as the second half of the field tried to take the checkers, and some unbelievable driving (I'm lookin' at you, Simon Pagenaud). A little something for everyone.

And I even got to see the cars up close (pictures above and below). I still think they're weird looking, for instance, that back wheel is only nominally "open." What do you all think? And what did you think about the weekend's racing?

Getting the NASCAR Thing

by Tammy Kaehler

I thought I’d follow up from our conversation last Friday and talk a little about why people like NASCAR. I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest fan, and I certainly prefer other kinds of racing to it. But as our Friday commenter Steve Ufelder (also a racing mystery writer, in two senses of the word!) pointed out, in NASCAR there’s a lot more passing and just as much skill required. The difference is in the vehicles.

People always say, you don’t really get NASCAR until you attend a race in-person. Television doesn’t really convey the magnitude of the story. I have to agree. I went to a race last year in Fontana—a big track, which isn’t my favorite, but it’s nearby—and on the very first lap at speed, I understood.

See, with sportscars and open-wheel cars, there’s a lot of downforce. Those cars are built to find grip on the track and create downforce with wings and inlets and body panels. When you’re watching open-wheel, prototypes, or sportscars race, they look like they’ve got grip all the way up until they’ve broken loose—there’s not much time between the car being stuck to the track in a corner and the car spinning because the wheels no longer grip. The difference with stock cars (NASCAR) is that by the time they’ve broken loose, they’ve been looking like they should break loose for a long, long time.

Put simply: stock cars just shouldn’t be driven that fast or that hard!

That’s what really hit me when I saw a race in person. The full field of 43 cars roared by, hitting close to 200 miles per hour, with less space between them than I’d leave between parked cars, and I thought, “Good grief, there is just NO WAY those cars should be going that fast.” Every one of the 43 cars in the field is probably a fraction of an inch from being out-of-control at all times. Usually for three or four hours over 400-500 miles. In a hot cockpit. With reduced visibility.

The job of every racecar driver is to drive the car at 10/10ths, to take the car to its limits, to the edge of its capabilities—and keep it there, without going over the edge and wrecking. Stock cars are simply bigger, heavier, and more technologically simple than the sportscars I prefer—but I’ll never claim those drivers aren’t every bit as skilled as those in other series. I’m still not sure I get the appeal of watching NASCAR on television, but seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling the race in person is pretty awesome.

What's Your Favorite Kind of Racing?

It's really the first discussion to have, isn't it? You need to know if you're talking to an open-wheel fanatic, an oval-lover, a NASCAR diehard, a rallying afficionado, or some other breed. Not that you (or we) can't be more than one at the same time. But it sets the stage....

TAMMY: I'll come right out and say it. I don't get ovals. Open-wheel is OK, but my heart is with sportscars on road courses. Even sportscars on street coursees. But ovals ... sure, I'll watch them ... but I don't understand the appeal.

SIMON: From a spectator's point of view I get ovals. People want to see the whole track to take in all the action and ovals provide that. Most of the tracks in the UK are shrouded in trees and you get to see one corner, maybe two. Brands Hatch's "Indy" circuit is probably the only track in the UK with a clear view of the whole circuit. But as a driver, I'm with you, I'm a road course boy. Road courses have personality and that goes a long way with me. I'll drive a sports car, but I'd prefer open wheel. I hate the additional weight sports cars carry compared to a single seater. It's such a drag in comparison to a formula car that weighs as much as Blooming Onion at Outback. I'm all about power to weight and the less weight the

better. I do have a soft spot for rallying too. I always to be a rally driver, but I found I was better on tarmac than dirt. But the unpredictability of a rally stage that varies from moment to moment is the ultimate driving experience.

TAMMY: Rally drivers are nuts. Bonkers. Loopy. I mean, I sort of get it? But there's no real course, there are spectators everywhere, and you're highly likely to run straight into a tree. You people are nuts. But really, my fundamental problem with anything that isn't sportscar racing is single classes! Boring. Look how much fun it is to watch the strategy and the passing and the (controlled) chaos of multi-class racing. Two to five classes of cars on course at the same time, crazy speed differentials? Awesome. Just look at Le Mans last weekend. Awesome! I think multi-class racing requires an extra level of skill in planning on the driver's part that I find really, really cool to watch.

SIMON: I hear what you're saying about rallying--and what's your point. Everything you've described is awesome. Unpredictability of the the course, elements and the spectators is what makes it the ultimate driving challenge. Sounds like heaven on earth. I get what you're saying about multi-class racing. Some of my fondest memories of driving was 'mixed testing' where they'd let everyone and everything out on a track at once. So I'd be out there in my Formula Ford up against F3, Sports Prototypes, 911s, Ferrari Challenge cars, every kind of sedan based championship. It was organized chaos. The great thing about it is that you got a feel for how cars measured up. My Formula Ford could outlap most sports cars, but Sports Prototype could beat me on a 1/2 mile straight with a 1/4 mile head start. So I get it, multi-class racing is exciting. The downside is who's leading? It can get confusing for the spectator. And who really cares who wins in class. It's all about who's first over the line. Class matters when you're in the big one.

TAMMY: Hitting a tree, Simon! That's my point. So now you're saying the "ultimate driving challenge" is cheating death? I thought this racing was a sport (or maybe it isn't, but that's another blog topic), not just a means of proving manhood by outwitting death. I see your "who's leading," and toss it back to you: how can you tell who's leading in IndyCar or NASCAR or any single-car class when they're all lapping each other anyway--and when the cars all look the same? In all racing, you've got a leaderboard on-site or in a banner across the screen or the television coverage is focusing on the leader. At least in sportscar racing, you're watching cars that look different. And class wins don't count? You going to tell Ron Fellows that his Le Mans (class) wins didn't count? Sure they count. Sure they care who wins in class, especially now when some of the best racing is happening in the GT class. Sportscars, baby! At least the cars look different.

SIMON: No, I'm not saying it's cheating death. I'm saying rallying has an extra component in that you're not only racing the field, you're racing the elements and a literal changing playing field. Now that's exciting. I'm telling you most people aren't going care as much about a class win than the outright winner. That's a fact. You tell people that you were 1st in class, but came 18th overall. People will want to meet the guy who came 1st overall. I can always tell who is leading. It's a Jedi thing. You wouldn't understand. :-)

TAMMY: I see, Obi Wan. What about the rest of you? What kind of racing is your favorite?

An Epic Le Mans

by Tammy Kaehler

By all accounts, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the granddaddy of all endurance races. Teams of drivers trade shifts in a car and race all out for two trips around the clock—completing more miles in this single race than are driven in an entire Formula 1 season. Every year we see many of the same stories: the warriors who come out on top after months of prep and 24 hours of battle, the scrappy teams whose point of pride is simply to be still running at the end of the race, the heartbroken few who come so close—for the fourth, or ninth, or sixteenth time—but fail again to see the podium.

This year’s race, however, is poised to go down as one of the all-time classics. But what was the story of the race?

Was it the total, explosive destruction of two cars in accidents that in decades past would have meant certain death for the drivers, but today meant they walked away unscathed?

Was it the fact that those two cars were from the same Audi factory team? And that the third and only-remaining car went on to take a fairytale win?

Was it that after 24 hours, some three-dozen pit stops, and nearly 3,000 miles, the winner had only a 13.8 second margin over the second place car?

Was it that the engineer of the winning car was, for the first time ever, a woman (Leena Gade)?

Was it that Corvette returned to victory lane in both GT classes on the 10^th anniversary of Corvette Racing’s first Le Mans win and the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Chevrolet?

Was it that a woman (Andrea Robertson) stood on the podium at Le Mans for the first time since 1931?

Every year, I am astounded by the effort, the expense, and the passion that go into this race. Skill and preparation are fundamental to success, but you also need luck—and sometimes your luck is in the hands of one of the other 150 drivers. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a crazy, exhausting, and awesome spectacle to watch. This year was no exception, and every bit of it was epic.

What was your story of Le Mans? And who’s up for a trip to France in 2012?