Post your Greatest Racing Moments

Winning the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston in 1998. Racing for Children Sprint
Benefiting Child Advocates


Followed by my first year of racing, when I gave all the leftover crew uniforms and hats to a trio of young men who proudly wore them out in the crowd onto the after race party dance floor!

That was the coolest batch of youngsters you EVER saw!

My crew chief came in later asking "What are those little kids doing on our gear?"

"I gave it to them!"

"Have a Hienekin......."

"What are we going to do with all these flowers??"

We had a bigger Pit Area budget, in those days........

 

BigTex what race series was that ... cant be CART as Franchitti won that year...

 

My greatest achievement: Actually finishing a lap of the olde Nurburgring in Grand Prix Legends without go offroad...

 

Last year's 2nd place at the Ferrari Owner's Club Go Kart event.

Aside from that won the F1 Championship on the PC several times.

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That was it....the year Dario Franchitti won the CART main race.

We were the first support race of the day..in our karts!!!!!

I was drinking Dario's champagne by 10:00 in the morning...on Sunday! LOL!

All the pics were lost in the site crash.....you can see Speedy308s profile "over there" on the 'dash 'Talk" place........

Note the CART logo in that photo....the HUGE trophy barely fit in the car to take it home! I keep it with the smallest trophy I've ever won ...for LAST qualifying position in the same event three years later...


THAT was a hard day at the office! I went thru and finished seventh with all podium finishers later disqualified for Tech Infractions, so truly Fourth place against a BUNCH of CHEATERS!!!!! ROTFLMAO!

That was the last year, after 9/11 with the fuel tanks guarded by High School kids in the Guard with M-16s.......

I have the Black Tie Ball pic of me and Mario with our little flag ribbions on......

 

I doubt the Child Advocates Sprint made it into the CART history books ....sigh.

They said Carl Haas really enjoyed us, though........LOL!

Thanks for the cigars, Carl!

Teasing Roger Penske was fun too, how many of us can truly say we've done THAT????

 

My greatest moment was beating Bill Auberlan in 125 CC shifter karts. I have been racing them for about few years now. Bill Auberlan's boss, Tom Milner(Owns PTG BMW racing) and I are good friends. We had a race kart race, Bill Auberlan decided to race, I won the race and he finished second. That was great moment for me, because Bill Auberlan is one best GT drivers.

 

My only and therefore greatest racing moment was coming 4th in class (from bottom!) in one of the world's oldest motor races...the 2004 Brighton Speed Trials. I was also 3rd fastest Ferrari - beaten only by an F40 and F50 (no other Ferraris entered).

I also beat a Murcielago - broken clutch, coasted across the finish line @ 63mph.

Next year is our 100th centenary...I fear the competition may be a bit stronger.

Still, I had a fantastic day, produced my best ever times and met some fantastic people...which is surely what it's all about (apart from winning!).

 

Well said, Dan...

I really don't think winning compares to all the wonderful people I've had the pleasure to meet.....Sir Stirling Moss, and his wife being a notable memory!

 

Thanks, it's so true.

I was only racing thanks to the generosity of one of the other racers. It turned out my overalls and helmet were not regulation. But one of the other racers lent me his for the run. His only stipulation was that I help out some other racer at some point in the future.

And I got talking to another racer of some megabuck 1920's Bentley about what a great car the GT4 was...turns out he had one as a daily driver back in the 70's.

 

My brief foray never led to any personal glory, but the entire experience of racing, and more importantly all the people involved that I met, was tremendous. Some of the best folks I've met, with an incredible passion for the sport.

 

Jack, I was hoping you'd post a pic from your Mazda (?) open wheeler series.

PS: The reason I came in 2nd at the FOC go kart event was that a certain Gilles27 took first. I was able to follow him for a while, but no way to pass him.

 

#1 This past race season winning the title at the last race (the entire season was my best racing moment)
#2 First Regional win in Spec Racer Ford (a class where you have to really earn it)
#3 Finishing 3rd at a Skip Barber Regional race in 2001 at Lime Rock (a kid named Ernesto Viso won the race, and is now in F3000 on his way to F1)
#4 Beating Schumacher at Spa in the rain in a lowly Prost AP04 (I assume PSII and Xbox count...don't they).

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracing.net
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I don't have my scanner hooked up right now--I'll work on that!

 

Here a couple more shots from my "glorious" racing past: Autocross

I ended up somewhere midfield, so no glory, but it was a ton of fun. And about 25 years ago...The cars were RHD ex-Swiss postal office. Perfect for express delivery.

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Great photos!

The Love Bug movies are what first got me interested in motor racing, at the age of five.

Now that F3000 has ended, what's he got scheduled for 2005? How did he go in the 2004 F3000 Championship?

 

James,

He skipped to F3000 in the middle of the season from F3 after a year and half in that series. 05 will be his first full season in F3000 (now known as GP2)/

Regards,

jon

 

Boston to NYC in 2 hours.
Race held on the day they lowered the national speed limit to 55.
275 GTB 2 6C

 

My own.

Laguna Seca to Santa Barbara in 1:56.

DL

 

My favorite race memories are from the '85 Rose Cups Regional race at Portland International Raceway. Had pole position by 1.5 seconds, with new qualifying lap record--only to have car fail to start on pre-grid due to low battery! Monte Shelton, well-known Porsche racer from Portland, had P2 on grid; gentleman that he is, he tried to stall the marshals, but finally had to move the grid off without me. First picture shows crew push-starting me; I was able to join the formation lap & start dead last. Passed about half the field on the first lap, all but Monte by the third or fourth lap, and was reeling him in at 2 to 3 seconds/lap when he had a (Porsche!) motor grenade. Great thrill to win from dead last, particularly over Monte Shelton--although I'd have preferred he was still running when I passed him...

A couple of funny (to me) memories from that race: I learned after the race that one young kid, new to the crew, was near tears when the car wouldn't start on pre-grid. He told my car builder/team manager something to the effect that "We'll never win now!" Reply from latter: "Just watch."

Second photo is from cool-down lap, and third is crew celebrating when I stopped to pick up victory flag. Kid mentioned above is in very back, near center, barely visible. He was over-the-top ecstatic when I got back to our paddock spot, and acted like I was some kind of hero. My response: "My grandmother could have won that race in this car--and she lives in a nursing home!" And I meant it.

Fun to remember this stuff, especially since it's been fifteen years or so since I did any racing.
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One time, in my Saturn...

 

You lie!!!!!!!!!!