Stop over in Ocean City

Adele and I stopped on 10th street in Ocean City and parked. We found the Army Corp of Engineers still working on the dredging pipes to get ready for Memorial Day.

We ventured into Shriver's for salt water taffy and found a senior discount waiting for us! 

Next stop is Steele's for some fudge. Then home via Atlantic City Expressway and home to Ephrata.

A day in Cape May

We started out this morning with a beautiful hazy day and a short walk to breakfast.

After a hearty pancakes for Adele and an omelet for me(with hash browns) all with a side of bacon to split, we walked back to the hotel and went on with our wanderings in Cape May.

We next visited Cape May Point, with the lighthouse and Bird Observatory the main features. There is a concrete bunker on the beach, built after the Revolutionary War and used to defend the Delaware Bay during the WWII, it was abandoned after the war. See picture below for that.

Then we ventured back up the shore to Washington Street Market area, stopping first at the Stitch by Stitch store.

Next, maybe a stop in an ice cream parlor? One can only hope Adele forgets we had some last night. YES, Adele agrees, even suggested ice cream next. Why show I get just a dish of ice cream, how about a Cherry Vanilla Shake at the Soda Fountain?

More later tonight.

One Lap is done - time to rest

After One Lap Adele & I took a few days and came down to Cape May, NJ. The season starts this weekend, so we saved some $$ on the rates and are in a hotel across the street from the beach. This shot is from our ground floor patio window.

Lat night we walked about 2 miles looking for a place to eat dinner, and settled on "The Pier" just down the street from us. Let me say first, I have never had such a great tasting and well displayed dinner before. Adele had crab cakes, with mashed potatoes and some great orange crackers about 7" long, with 3 different sauces layered on the plate, each explained by our waiter. I had a pork chop, about 2 1/2" thick with the bone, oven fried potatoes, a roasted pear half and broccoli (that I did not touch). The chop and pear were covered lightly with a wonderful ? Au jus sauce? Very light and tasty. The chop was big and so delicious, I felt I could eat another even though I was full. We both were delighted to find such a great restaurant nearby, and even though we were one of only 3 couples there, the dinner was delightful. 

Later we traveled by car, to Washington Street Mall, a delightful, no car street, with many shops and - would you believe it, restaurants every block. We will go back there today for a more thorough visit and look into some shops. Last night we were more interested in Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop.

As for One Lap, I will be taking the car to LCBC's car show on June 8th and trying to raise some more dollars.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Last OLOA 2013 day

Bad night, the rotator cuff (or bursitis) in my left shoulder makes it hard to sleep, much less do anything else. But today is last day and after the awards luncheon, we will head straight home to our families.

The schedule today is; 8 am group picture with a dry skid pad event after that. The awards banquet is the last event, chances to say see you next year, compare notes, etc. we will buggie on out of here as soon as it is over. 

We arrived at Tire Rack around 7:30AM with temp at 45 degrees and a steady wind and haze of moisture in the air. We feel like we are in a cloud and getting soaked slowly. I am taking shelter in the car to complete my blog entry and staying dry and warm for now. Picture soon, have to run.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to PBCC at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa Attn.: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations.

Last round at Pittsburgh

Scott on his first hot lap at Pittsburgh.

Jim on his last hot lap at Pittsburgh. 

Signing off for now.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Noon at Pittsburgh Intl Race Complex

The morning race is done and we were able to gain a position in the overall Standings. We had rain this morning but it was light and did not affect the track too much, but I think it did affect the drivers. It seems like there is better times to be had, but what do I know, I'm not racing at all.  This afternoon race will start around noon and probably finish by 2 pm. Then we can get on the road to South Bend, IN and get ready for the last day. 

Thursday night = Pittsburgh, Pa

Ok, how many people have been in a motel with hardwood floors. Well Jim & I are right now, arrived at 11 pm and she gave us a great room right on the first floor. After helping with the driving all week, wouldn't you know it seems I have a case of rotator cuff pain. I was able to help get here, but I needed to lift my arm by crawling my fingers up the wheel. Setting the cruise control was the worst pain all night, and I wonder how I will sleep tonight. I just woke up this morning with a major case of, "What my arm won't work without shooting pains?

Oh well, tomorrow is another day, last day for road racing, using the course here at Pittsburgh Intl Race Complex.  This week has been successful in that (and I do not mean to jinx anything) Jim has been able to run every race and get points for each. Even with the AN-8 oil line to the oil cooler cut into by the power steering pulley. Our field fix has held great so far and looks like it will enable us to complete the One Lap with no DNS or DNF on our record. There have been many off road excursions during racing, but most just came through with a scuff on the side from tire walls. No one has been hurt, except for major suntans all around, and rain has stayed away except for the drag night.

Today was a 3 race day running; VIR North Course first, VIR South Course next, then adding them together and running the VIR Full course this afternoon. Tons of fun to watch and get pictures of. I took a video with Jim's camera, and as I thought, later in the car while driving I told him about the video on his camera and he looked at me and said, "It does videos?"

We have had a great time, and hate to ask, but we do need donations for PBCC.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Arrived in Virginia

We made it to the hotel tonight by 10 PM. What a luxury for us, but tomorrow is 3 races at VIR and that will be possibly a long day. After those races we will drive to Wampum, PA and Pittsburg International Race Track.
Today ended with a trip to the BMW Performance Center and a Autocross/Road race hybrid. Tight turns and elevation changes are challenging and a cone costs 10 seconds as Scott Breneman found out. That marks one of the few times we saw Scott's score on the same page as ours.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Carolina Motorsports Wed

Ok, we had a good session going for the morning when we smelled oil on Jim's first hot lap. By the second and third hot laps, he was smoking a lot, all oil smoke. He got to our pit area and stopped, and opened the hood, what a mess all over the engine, oil was everywhere.
After some looking and help from lots of people, Jim determined the Accu Sump oil line (AN-8) was being cut by the power steering pulley, finally letting loose this morning.
We were able to jury rig a fix with hose and clamps and Jim ran his afternoon session, although with a 10 second penalty as he ran out of his group.
The fix worked and held with no loss of oil. Yahoo!
We are on our way to BMW Performance Center and a great Autocross course and then on to Virginia International Raceway.
So, although it looked bad, we got filthy and oily, and we ran late, WE Ran and got a time and NOT a DNS! Again - Yahoo!

The afternoon sessions have started

Daytona in the afternoon is a busy place, with some repairing problems that have been identified and others getting suited up and racing. Those that are working on the problems are all in a rush to get the problems solved before their scheduled run time, or suffer 10 second penalties, or worse yet a DNS and receive no points for the afternoon.
Jim is out and lined up to run, I am organizing and blogging. We will stop downtown Daytona at Grassroots Motorsports for a treat. Then on to the Columbia, SC area for tomorrow's racing. We are now down to 68 cars as of this mornings run.
First picture is as I sit in the garage here, second is Jim going past the grandstands this morning on a hot lap
Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance

Arrived at Daytona Beach, FL

We arrived after a 658 mile trek, at our hotel in Daytona Beach at 1AM EST. Remembering that we also lost the hour of sleep, with the change from CST to EST and that we left at 2:30 PM CST from New Orleans, we had a 9.5 hour trip last night/morning.
Now I am of course awake at 5:30 as usual, and feeling the tiredness already, but we must press onward. Today we will have 1 morning and 1 afternoon session at the fantastic Daytona International Speedway.
Jim has started climbing the point scale, after having a slow start. He did have a small off road excursion yesterday at the beautiful NOLA Motorsports Park, but the afternoon session was much better. Scott is fighting some clutch issues, seems like it is a C5 issue that is known to happen on hard racing. Overall, we are having a great time and enjoying the racing, weather and hospitality of the people running each track. I must say, those running the tracks and race have been some of the nicest and most organized I have seen. All of our races have gone off without a hitch and are run with a minimum of wasted raceway.
Leh Keen is by far the best driver I have watched from the racetrack sidelines and it is exciting and educational to watch him run the track. All I could say yesterday was "Wow, look at him take those corners".

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition and appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance - Rick

New Orleans and NOLA Motorsports Park

We woke at 6 am after a good nights sleep, and suffered through New Orleans traffic on Rt 10. Got to MickeyD's and had a sit down breakfast and drove to NOLA.
This is a beautiful course, less than 2 years open, and huge. We will be using the 2.75 mile course today, not the one over 5 miles long.
Gary Shenk flew in yesterday and was happy to be able to come see Jim race today. So now 4 members of LCCC are here today.

Finished in Indiana and in AL

We left Grissom AFB around 2:30 and arrived in our Alabama hotel at 11:30 (10:30 local time). Jim and I found more gas stops with McDonalds next door or in the same building. Saved time eating at MickeyDs today.
NASCAR is in town tomorrow, and our track is close enough (20 miles) to be a pain with traffic, more tomorrow on how we fair. The weather forecast is for rain tomorrow and 46 degree temps. Hopefully we will get to run at least once and maybe have a drag race.
Scott is 4th overall so far and Jim (with some ABS problems) is 27th overall. There are 59 cars that have run, with two more listed but have not run a race yet. We will see if they show up tomorrow or Monday. Tomorrow is also placements for the rest of the week. Ie. if you place 5th tomorrow, you will run 5th the rest of the week and finish each track ahead of 54 or 56 others.
We hope for a 27th or above placement.
Another cool car is the Factory Five below, that is under our 'on the road shot'.

Wet skid pad done

So far after the run, we were 10th overall, but a lot of cars still to run. 2nd in class as of Jim's run again with a lot of cars left. On the way to Grissom AFB and the auto cross.

Yellow Vette is Jim and I, Blue Vette is Scott and Nick.

Auto cross done finally. Left Grissom at 2 pm and now at 2:30 we have 515 miles to the hotel.

A bit of time to relax and read

This is probably the last time this week we will have extra time to relax. We ate a good lunch at 2:15 - I had a great Reuben, fries and a cherry coke. Tomorrow we start racing, wet skid pad is first at Tire Rack. Off to Grissom Air Force Base in Grissom, IN. After an auto cross there we will drive to Munford, AL and Talledega Gran Prix Raceway. We expect to see some traffic from NASCAR as they are also running at Talledega just a few miles away. After a morning and afternoon of road racing, we go to Alabama Intl Dragway for bracket drags.
Then the big run to New Orleans and NOLA Motorsports park, and more road racing morning and afternoon before driving to Daytona Beach.
Enough all ready, for now we rest!
Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.
Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance.

One Lap ready

In line for Tech, car cleaned, stickers on, ready to go.

First morning in Indiana

We made it to Indiana around 6:30 last night, checked into the hotel and ate at Applebee's. The highlight of the trip so far is that nothing that could not be fixed, was wrong with the car. On arrival, back in Pa, at Jim's house, I parked in the street to keep out of the way. Well, a small accident caused my drivers door and rear door to become pushed into the car, I will have to get that worked on when I get back to Pa.

Breakfast this morning and then on to Tire Rack to get checked in, tech the car, wash the car and put stickers on it for the race. Then we get to browse the competition and talk with everyone else there.

Pictures will be mostly on Instagram under rstauffer43 if you are interested.

Remember, we are raising $$ for Pa Breast Cancer Coalition Nd appreciate any donations you could make. Checks should go to them at 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, Pa, Attn: ONELAP 2013. Thank you for any donations in advance.

Leaving Mt Joy for Indiana

Getting ready to start for One Lap and South Bend, IN. Car loaded, trailer loaded, Jim ready!

On the road again

Made it to Indiana and have about 100 miles to go.

Getting ready to leave on One Lap tomorrow

Trying to think of everything I need to take with me, and worried I am too concerned with the food? iPad, PowerFlask, bluetooth headset, jeans, tees, PBCC tees, flip flops, packing tape, gloves, and so much more to pack.

Looks like the snacks are ready! 

Until Ruby goes home tonight, that is it for the packing.

See you all tomorrow on the road to Indiania.

5 Day to One Lap 2013

We have been busy getting ready for One Lap this week. The iPad is connected to 3G and is ready to ride along. A Power Flask is ready to charge electronics and a new Jabra headset is ready to use on the trip. We are supporting Pa Breast Cancer Coalition again this year, and have started the raising of funds. Both Jim and I will have PBCC shirts to wear on the journey, and I still need to print out some iron on OLOA logos and iron them on the shirts.

Of course, it always pours before I leave, so I am fighting with a Windows server and crashes on a weekly basis. I think it might be ok for the trip and having me gone for the 10 days.

Ruby and Adele say they will miss me, so I loaded Skype on Adele's Nexus 10 and Ruby has FaceTime on her iPad. I think we will be connected well.

If you can, please send in a donation to Pa Breast Cancer Coalition, 344 N Reading Rd, Ephrata, Pa 17522 and mark it for One Lap 2013. Their website is at http://pbcc.me for more info on what they are doing. 

See you on the road!

One Lap 2013

It is time to start posting again for this year’s One Lap of America effort. We have already started with some of the behind the scenes work.

 

We have been working on the car and will soon be finished with the preparation. One of the goals this year is to get all of the gremlins taken care of before the trip. Last year (2012) it looked like Jim was headed for a top 15-20 finish early on only to have a tuning problem set him back a couple times and they started slipping. He still finished in the top half but we are working to improve on that this year.

 

I have included a map that will show you our route this year. Try clicking on the map to enlarge it so you see it in better detail. Tire Rack has been one of the national sponsors for about 10 years now and since then the event has started at their location in South Bend, Indiana with a wet skid pad competition on their test track facility. After that we are off to tracks in Alabama, New Orleans, Florida, the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and back to Indiana. We will compete in about 20 events. They are mostly road courses plus a wet skid pad, an autocross on the runways at Grissom Air Force Base, two drag strip events, and a dry skid pad competition all in eight days.

We expect to log over 5,000 miles in total counting the trip to the starting point in South Bend and back. The official route will be about 3400 miles plus the miles on the tracks and round trip to South |Bend which will add up to the total.

Keep checking back for more news. I will try to post an update every week or so and continue to post until we return.

Thanks to all of you who follow along and I hope you enjoy it. Also, please feel free to share the blog address with anyone who is a motor-sports enthusiast or who you might think would also enjoy following this grueling motor-sports event.

The Brock Yates One Lap of America has its roots in the not very legal, Cannonball Run of the early 1970's where the goal was to get from New York City to Redondo Beach, California as fast as possible. After three of those races and then trying a few different formats of competition from 1985 to 1991, mostly road rallies while driving around the United States, the present style of One Lap of America was started in 1992. In this format all the competition takes place on the tracks, but the endurance part comes in traveling from track to track sometimes as much as 600 miles a day.

Jim Roberts has a blog at http://onelapadventure.blogspot.com

Rick Stauffer has a blog at http://rick1lap.blogspot.com/

PA Breast Cancer Coalition info is at http://pbcc.me

Jim and Rick will be blogging every day, either between races or while riding in the passenger’s seat during the drive between race tracks.

Jim Roberts (717) 653-1023 jimbobcorv@embarqmail.com

Rick Stauffer  (717) 951-4908 rick@ephrata.com

Accepting Donations for PA Breast Cancer Coalition

One Lap 2011 Yearbook has been received!

The new 2011 Yearbook from One Lap has been published - and imagine my surprise that my article was included - or maybe it was one of the few he received for publication?  Jim and I both wrote for the yearbook and both stories are on a 2 page spread - with both of our cars showing.  Great job with the layout, Mr Rossini.  I even spotted my thigh and my jacket in two other photos, always just a smidge out of the pictures - was I really there?  Anyway - please enjoy my recollections of the best time I had all year!

\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/

In early February I volunteered for Transit Driver duty with the Jimbob Racing Team, car #38.  The team now includes Jim Roberts and myself, Rick Stauffer.  With Jim’s experience in racing at tracks in PA and WV, and participating in One Lap for a few years already, I felt confident of our chances at placing in the top 25.  Jim had mentioned early on, there was always a chance of equipment breakdown or complete failure, and we would need to solve those problems when they happened.  We both know he brought it up, and we both felt that would not be a problem, as the car was very strong.  The engine was only 4 months after build at the start of the race, and Jim had put some shake down miles on it, so we any concern we had about it was minor.

We spent the next 10 weeks or so, preparing for the race, getting last minute sponsors and raising donations for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition, who represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors throughout Pennsylvania.   Since we were traveling in a Corvette, Jim said something about packing light and allowing me a duffle bag to pack in.  The duffle bag I own is a small duffle bag, so I packed another carry on and hoped we would have room, turns out Jim has a huge duffle, about 36” long and maybe 14” square at the end. We had room for my extra bag thankfully, since all my tees were there.

We arrived in South Bend IN on Thursday afternoon, and I found out Friday morning that I would be called a ‘Lap Puppy’ from then on.  I was OK with that, heck I was just thrilled to be helping my friend and fellow Corvette club member with this race.  The thought of driving the car for over 3,500 miles and an additional 1,200+ miles to get to South Bend, was enough to get my adrenaline pumping. My final mileage was 5,569 miles in 11 days total.

We registered Friday morning and got busy putting decals on the car and going over what I needed to do every day as a transit driver.  Jim did well on the wet skid pad Saturday morning with a ‘first in class’ and sixth overall and was satisfied with his autocross in the afternoon.  We packed the car & trailer and drove to WV for the next day’s race at Summit Point.

At Summit Point Jim placed a respectable 24^th in the morning session, respectable especially since he sat behind a Porsche for three or four turns before he could pass on the last turn, and at the finish line, the engine gave a bang and let out a large cloud of oil smoke.  As I watched for him to do a cool down lap, just thinking the puff of oil smoke was not a problem, I noticed he had managed to limp into the pits.  Once I got to the car, the hood was open, and Jim and others were conferring about what could possibly be wrong.  Car 19s Ty Timperly was a great assistance with troubleshooting, arriving first and staying with us through the final determination, ‘dead engine’. We even had a GM technician from Summit Point stop by and help diagnose it, for a fee.

Long story short, that car stayed at Summit Point for the next week, while we hitched a ride back to PA and picked up Jim’s backup Corvette.  We drove the 2 ½ hours back to PA, and then drove the many hours to SC and Carolina Motorsports Park, arriving late on Monday morning.  Once there we were assigned “car 55”, Jim chose the ‘speed limit’ number. We drove the “absolute purpleline” C4 the rest of the week, not earning points, but still having a great time and enjoying helping others where ever we could.   Of course, not earning points also means, we ran last, and allowed us the pleasure of running in the morning and getting to the next stop early.

One Lap gave us many lasting memories and we both hope to run again in 2012, hopefully the entire race in one car, earning points all the way.  A new engine is installed, getting some race time on it and ready to go for 2012. 

We raised over $2,000 for PA Breast Cancer Coalition and were named one of two “Grassroots Partner of 2011” for the use of our passion to raise fund, at their annual dinner in the Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg, PA.

See you all in May for One Lap 2012!
Rick Stauffer & Jim Roberts - Car 38 - Yellow C5 and Backup Car 55 - Absolute Purpleline C4

Just a Memory - Yet raising money never stops

The One Lap of America has been done for almost 2 weeks now and Jim and I had a great time.  We are still accepting donations through the October "American Legends at Long's Park" show (Please note the link is to last years flyer). 

Donations can be given to Rick Stauffer or Jim Roberts, or be sent directly to PBCC, Attn: One Lap, 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, PA 17522. Please use the memo 'One Lap' on all checks and include a name for the sticker.  We want to honor all of those that had breast cancer or other cancers on a sticker on our cars.

As I said previously, Jim and I had an engine problem on the second day of the race.  Summit Point, WV is where we were when that happened, on Jim's morning time trial.  With the help of some wonderful people, we were able to get back to Mount Joy and get Jim's second Corvette, a 1992 coupe with a wild 'Absolute Purpline' paint job.  This car has different colors appearing as you walk around it, going from a gold to brown then blue, aqua, green and purple.  Jim uses this car for shows, and has not raced it for a number of years, but still had the fire extinguisher installed, so it was ready for racing.  With thoughts of saving a clutch and making it through the rest of the race, it took a day or two before Jim's competitive spirit kicked in and he was racing again.  We only missed one race at Gainesville, FL - a drag race which we did not want to subject our car to.

Travels included 1,372 miles in Jim's 2000 C5, 127 mile back to Mount Joy with the Breneman's, 4,017 miles in Jim's 1992 C4 and my van totals of 53 miles (Ephrata to Mt Joy to Ephrata).  My Grand Total was 5,569 miles driven in 11 days.  Started on April 28th and back home on May 8th.

Pictures of our race adventure are online in my Picasa album. I still need to sort and post videos of our car, and Scott Breneman's.  Lancaster County Corvette Club (LCCC) had 2 entrants this year, as both Scott and Jim used their cars.  It was great to be rooting for both of them, and when we stopped earning points, root all out for Scott.  Scott finished 13th overall (61 cars finished) and 7th in class (18 cars in SSGT1 Big Bore class).  That is a new best finish for Scott, and we all were happy to see him finish there.

As a transit driver, I had the experience of using '5 hour energy shots' and have to say, without them we would have needed to stop earlier every day, and miss more racing.  I did get a chance to run laps at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL.  Parade laps only, but at speeds up to 65 mph or so, and having Jim coach me around the track - Fantastic!  I can only hope everything falls into place for a repeat next year.

Remember - donations to PA Breast Cancer Coalition are still needed.  We will be showing my car, and when Jim gets his 2000 Corvette running again, I am sure he will also show his car.  Get your donation in and give us a name for the sticker, so we can honor those brave women.

Thank You all - Rick Stauffer

Last Day - Last events

We are at Tire Rack in South Bend IN for the final event and a banquet.

Jim was first on the dry skid pad, as we are exhibition class, with the backup car - not our starting car, and he did great for having all season Goodyears on the car.  0.893 Gs and until we got half way through the field, his score was one of the best.  Catesby Jones 1.102 Gs was a new record for this skid pad, beating last year's 1.098 Gs done by Leh Keen.  Interestingly, Leh Keen, in a different car than last year, did exactly the same both years, at the 1.098 Gs.  Last year he was running a Porsche 996 and this year he has a Nissan GTR, both with many mods I am sure.

We are watching cars leave for home, before the banquet, but we plan on staying for the banquet and then leaving. They just announced that the banquet would start an hour early at 11:50 instead of 1:00.  After the banquet we will start our trip to Summit Point WV and stay overnight there.  Tomorrow we will be able to get Jim's trailer picked up at Summit Point and get back to Lancaster County.

Thanks for following us, and remember - we are supporting PA Breast Cancer Coalition and will be accepting donations, and adding stickers to my car all year.  I plan on showing it at all events that we can get to.  A $10 minimum donation will get a Pink Ribbon sticker on the car, and you can have a name on that sticker.  You can have a sticker in honor or in memory of anyone who had any kind of cancer.  My wife suffered with Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma and I have her sticker on the car.

More later. Rick

Sat morning - last day

We have had such a great time doing One Lap, although the car we finish with is not the same as we started with, the good times running around the country have been wonderful.  This trip instilled into me, people are almost always inclined to help a person in need, especially when they are connected with that person in a small way.  When needed, everyone stopped and offered support to any of the cars that failed to complete the journey. Yesterday the blue Viper drove into the course, accompanied by cheers and clapping.  They had crashed and damaged the right front, along with a cooler.  Everyone, even off site repair people, came to their aid and they got back into the race without missing a beat.

Today is the final skid pad, a group picture, an awards banquet (picnic) and more story telling.  Wow is this a week already?  Last night was a meet at "The Pub" and patiently waiting for the lone waitress' attention for a beer and dinner.  Best pizza ever and good cheese steaks - and great service.  We filled their restaurant for a few hours and they never lost their cool, just wondered what happened to them.

More from the road later.

Autobahn Country Club

We arrived at Autobahn Country Club (a car racing club) Friday morning after that horrible hotel stay.  Jim walked the course immediately and I did my thing, unpacking and prepping he car for a run.  The macadam was a bit wet, so after we realized things were picking up moisture, we moved to a dryer spot, and laid some towels and Jim's racing suit bag out to dry.

We are running last, with a vengeance!  Jim's competitive spirit has kicked in and he is having a ball running the car.  We picked up another exhibition team, in a rental, base Camaro, instead of their Porsche GT3. 

The morning session was on their North Track, while their members used the South track for their events.  In the afternoon, we swapped tracks, and ran on the South track.  For some reason, Brocker put the Camaro in front of Jim, and Jim caught up and passed him on the third lap.  Oh well, more fun times and no points for either, so no one was held back by the positioning.

Everyone took their time getting out, since the drive that night was only 105 or so miles.  We decided to go to the Sleep Inn and found a fantastic hotel, on par with Hampton Inn and made our last night on the road enjoyable.  Scott and Nick were there also, and we joined about 20 - 30 other cars at The Pub.

Thursday night

Made it about 11:15 pm, and checked into ? a Super 8 motel, we just went from the best motel - in AL - and checked into the worst super? 8 - in Joliet IL - all in one day.  Smoking room is all they had, so we will put up with the smell tonight, instead of looking around at midnight for another room.

Since we left AL around 12:30 and got here about 11:30, the trip was 11 hours with some short stops.  The pics we took at Bowling Green were not scheduled, but I could not pass by without stopping, and Jim said OK.

We will get up around 7 and after breakfast, get to the track and probably stay for both sessions.  Friday night we drive about 110 miles to South Bend IN and Tire Rack, for the final competition and an awards dinner (picnic).

Saturday we hope to get close to Summit Point WV and pick up Jim's trailer on Sunday AM.  He will need to go back for the car with a trailer later Sunday or Monday.

The trip of my life, is ending soon and although I am tired, I will miss all the camaraderie we found with other participants.  My thanks to everyone who had any part in this year's event.  Brocker really kept us as on time as possible, and no one got hurt, just some cars. I enjoyed traveling the country in a Corvette, especially the driving one part - and on the Barber Motorsports Park track!  Such a great time.

Thursday May 5

Last night no blog.  New Orleans was fun, although we got a bit lost? off track? on the way to the race course and turned onto the dirt/loose stone the GPS advised to turn onto.  Bad move, it just looped around to the same beginning point.  Road worker gave us and the Dodge Challenger (having the same GPS issues) directions.

It looked like they would seem to make most use of the drag strip at the one end, and our course started at the end of the drag strip.  Basically a large autocross again, and fun to see.  Viewing positions were limited, so pictures are from far away.  Shannon, Beth or Julie will need to lend a camera to me next time, and I will need to buy a 55-300 MM lens.

Jim and I are having more fun on and off the track.  Jim is doing all track driving and I am TRYING to do most of the road driving and that is working well. 

We left after the morning session at New Orleans, and made good time to Birmingham AL, seeing some trees down and highway signs blown over from the winds / tornadoes last week.  Most exciting part of the drive was the deer that ran out in front of the car, we were probably doing 75 at the time, and Jim handled the checking rear view mirror and braking very well.  The deer made it to the center of the road thanks to Jim' s driving skills, but who knows what happened on the south bound side.

Hotels were full, we were smart enough to call ahead and find a room close to the track for last night.  Paid more than we are normally, but when it is one of the last decent rooms, we said "We'll take it!" Scott and Nick got there just after us, and we met up for a dinner at McDonald's, splurging for a double burger and a Senior Coke, all of $2.

Great night of rest finally, and we woke at 7 very refreshed for today.  We got to Barber Motorsports Park and while Jim walked the course, I unpacked and cleaned windows.  We watched Scott run, and soon after Jim went down to suit up and get ready for his run.  Lunch followed, chicken tenders and fries.Then They announced that parade laps would soon follow, and with Jim in the passenger's seat and coaching me on correct line, I got to drive the course twice, at speeds up to 65-70.  What a blast, having never been on a road course ever before, and also to have a highly qualified instructor sitting there and coaching me the whole way. "I'm dreaming - of a Race Car - Don't know when I'll get to drive again"  Fun - filled - days!

We packed up and left by 12:45 and are now on the road toward Joliet, IL just outside of Chicago.  GPS says we should be there around 10:30 tonight - 10 hours or so from our start.  I'm sure dinner will be a good one at $2 in McDonald's, we always can count on them to deliver a burger we can count on.  Bite, chew and swallow all in about 5 minutes or 7 for a double.

Oh yes - did I say that JIM is driving right now, not me, just to let Adele and 'Sharon know we are being safe.

Tuesday May 3rd at Daytona

Some pictures are at picasaweb.google.com/rstauffer43

Jim and I woke up at 8am after that long drive.  Another short night, sleeping 5 hours this time., for a grand total of 13 hours sleep in 3 days.  We got to the track after a great Seniors Breakfast at Denny's.  The tunnel to the infield is how we got there, and as we came in, we saw Scott Breneman on the high bank.  We immediately stopped and waited for him to go around again, watching him pass us around 150 mph was a blast, glad we arrived soon enough to see that.

Since we are now second rate citizens in One Lap, we are always running last and that hurts our arrival time to the next track, and our sleep.  Jim ran 2 hot laps, staying under 110 mph and had a good time.  We packed and left the track after we decided to skip the Gainesville, FL drags tonight.  Leaving at 1 pm from Daytona International, will allow us to get into the hotel in the New Orleans area around 10:30 pm tonight.  We have been driving steady at 70 - 80 all day and just called to reserve a room.  Since Jim and I refuse to sleep in the same bed, we need two beds, and only one room, non smoking, was available, and I got it!

New Orleans is NOW 97 miles away, it is now 9 pm Tuesday May 3rd.  The trip will take us past there, about 157 miles from where we now are, so some 60 miles west of the city in Donaldson, LA - the town with 2 motels and 20 miles from the track.

We have been using 5 hour energy shots, just like Rich Mackow suggested, although I did not buy a case.  Thanks for the tip Rich.

This leg was about 711 miles total, with a slight addition to allow us to endure the fine McDonald's cuisine along the route. Jim has shown me much about Senior meals in all of the restaurants.  Lunch was $1.69, burger and a senior drink (I refilled it).

We are both tired, but will enjoy this long night after skipping one event.  There was no way Jim would drag race this car, especially in the last running spot.

More tomorrow - Thanks

Here at Daytona International Speedway - 3 am Tuesday arrival

Jim and I arrived at Carolina Motorsports Park in time to have him run 1 time trial in the morning, although since there was an explosion of oil? or Antifreeze? from a car running, it was after noon.  Jim is now running after everyone else runs, with another man whose purpose built (yes brand new with ?30 Minutes run time before any racing) car refuses to run.

Jim is NOT flogging the car, as it is more of an autocross car and not really setup for this type of racing, and it is 20 years old.  So he picked '55' for his new number - yes, the speed limit.  Anyway, he is trying to stay under 4K RPM while running.  He ran the morning session and we left for Grier after we watched Scott run his afternoon session.

In Grier, SC, is the BMW Performance Center and other BMW buildings.  At the support center they have a beautiful course for new BMW owners to learn how to drive their car.  We used one of the courses and had a great time.  Of course, with Jim running last, we only got out of there at 7:30 pm.  After driving 476 or so miles, we arrived at Daytona Springs, ready for tomorrow's (whoops - today's) race.  Now to blog and sleep.

After running at Daytona International for 2 time trials today, we will leave for Gainesville, FL and drag racing tonight.  Jim and I will not participate in the drags, we would rather have the car last through next Saturday.  As soon as we get to see Scott run and see his ET, we will leave for New Orleans and the next track for tomorrow's racing.  When we finish running and checking out Scott again, we will head for Birmingham, AL on Thursday.

Jim did an estimate of our miles so far, look at his blog at onelapadventure.blogspot.com and learn more.

We also want to remind everyone that the donations can continue to be sent to PA Breast Cancer Coalition, Attn: One Lap, 344 N Reading Road, Ephrata, PA 17522.  We will continue to show my car for the car show season through October, and it can be filled with many more Pink Ribbons.

Thanks all, Rick

And I thought yesterday was a long day

Sunday morning we woke at 5am, got ready and ate breakfast and were at the track by 7.  We took off all the wheels, looking for a loose sensor wire - ABS lights were coming on last night and this morning.  Found one and reseated it, and wire tied it properly.  Turned the car on - and ... the ABS lights came on again.

OK get ready for racing, Jim is off to ride his bike around the track to reconnoiter it.  This is his home track, but he wants to get used to the bike also.  I setup his 5 point belt, cleaned up around the car, and oh yes we also cleaned the glass and wheels.  Jim and Scott (another LCCC'er) got lined up and ready to run the track at high speed.  Scott's group of 6 went off, and after they ran their 5 laps, Jim's group started out, with Jim being #1 car in the group of 6.

I have a video, that I will post of both Scott and Jim running their laps - but that will be after I get home.

Scott ran well, and finished without any problems.  Jim ran his one reconitor lap, and almost 2 1/3 hot laps, then had to come back to the pits.  When he passed the start/finish line, after passing a Porsche, there was a cloud of oil smoke from his car.  Then more and more smoke, so he ended the run early.

In the pits, many people stopped to check on him and offer help where they could.  We both thank everyone that helped, especially Ty Timperley from Speedconcepts in Glendale, Wisconsin and Rick from one of the shops on gasoline alley.  It was finally observed that with the knock sensor off (did it fall off during the run?), and some wires that seemed out of place (ancillary damage?), a piston is more than likely burned out.  The car is still at Summit Point as I type, from a hotel in North Carolina.

Yes we are continuing in another Corvette, as we got a ride from Scott Breneman's parents , Bob and Mary Ann Breneman, who took us back to Mount Joy and Jim's house to pickup his 1992 C4.  We had a great ride in a stressful time with Bob and Mary Ann, Thank You so very much for your help.

We transferred everything that we needed from Bob's trunk (wow did we pack all that in there with his tools?  Sharon gave us ice cold water, and all the support she could, I am sure Jim felt much better after talking with her.  Then we left Mount Joy and pointed the car at Kershaw, South Carolina. Just before 11 pm, we saw one group of One Lappers fixing a wheel problem in the light of a quickie mart.  We finally were both to tired to continue about midnight. Four hours of sleep last night, and 9 - 10 hours of highway driving has us very tired, but still awake enough to blog.

Tomorrow we will get to Carolina Motorsports park in SC and rejoin the madness.  No more points, as we now have a backup car, but the track fees are paid, and the fun should not stop.  If I get a chance, maybe while navigating, I will blog more tomorrow night after the BMW performance track. Oh yes - tomorrow will be a long day with 3 races and the driving to Daytona Beach, FL.

Love kisses mnaddness feet yes stink - oh am i still here?  byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

What A Day

We started the racing today and Jim started it off well --  Fantastic really!  Jim was Best in class and #3 overall when we left Tire Rack for Grissom Air Base.  We found out he actually got first in his class and 6th overall with a RAW G's of 0.804 for a total of 350 points.  We left South Bend and Tire Rack floating on a cloud, although stiff suspension.

Then we ran the huge autocross - and did a bit less.  We do not have the position or points yet, but feel Jim will be in the middle of the field after everything is counted.  His best lap was about 56.3 seconds, while the best lap there was closer to 50 seconds.  I'm not sure yet if anyone broke under 50 seconds, although some were close from what I heard.

Slave Rick, unloaded the car, got the trailer off the car and chocked the wheels, then got out Jim's helmet while Jim walked the course.  After watching the first 36 cars, Jim needed to line up the car and get ready for his first run.  After hitting the first cone Jim did a great reconnaissance lap.

We are currently about 100 miles from PA on route 70 and on the way to West Virginia.  We should get to Winchester VA for the night around midnight to 1 am.  8 am tomorrow is Summit Point for a morning and afternoon time trial, then on to South Carolina and Florida.

More later tonight if I am still awake.

Saturday at Tire Rack

Tons of things done today @ Tire Rack. We were first in registration, spray washed the car, put on all new decals, loads of discussion about all the expensive modifications to the cars here. Some people have way too much money in their car or 'paid drivers' but most are guys and gals that just enjoy the sport of auto racing. After a picnic snack and drivers meeting, Brock Yates Jr gave all us newbies good instructions on what to expect, how to act and warnings about tracks that Are very fussy about what happens on them.

Jim and I also came back to the motel and decided to get a snack at Bob Evans - great strawberry crepes. The WiFi does not work well here, so I mostly did this post on my iPhone.  That is until I noticed that the 3G signal works fine, and I have the 3G modem so I can use the laptop when no WiFi is present.  Duh, I can be so thick headed sometimes.

I took a lot of pictures today, and I will wait to post most of the until I have WiFi or get home, so I can post the good ones, not all of them.  I do not think I will get a chance to do much sorting of pictures this week, as we all wonder when we will have a chance to sleep during the race.  One concern is Tuesday night, after leaving Florida for New Orleans, a huge drive.  We will pick up an hour in the time zone change, but it is still a long drive to start around 7pm and be at the track Wednesday just west of New Orleans, at 8 am.

Anyway - tomorrow is a wet skid pad event at Tire Rack and then off to Grissom Air Force base about 82 miles away for an Autocross using SCCA rules.  Jim should love that.  As car 38 out of 75 cars entered, we are in the dead middle of thee running order for the first 2 days.  After Sunday at Summit Point in West VA, the racing order will be determined by the fastest time first, slowest time last.  We hope to pick up a few spots there and maybe be in the top 20 or so?  There are, as mentioned before, many high powered cars here, and professional drivers or regular drivers that have done this for years, and so the hope of a top 20 might be aggressive for us.  But then again, Jim has raced and given others instruction at Summit Point, so he knows the track intimately and that should help him in his run.  Fingers crossed, as racing earlier means you finish the day sooner and can get started on the road for the next stop quicker.

The endurance part will kick in sometime after South Carolina to Florida.

See you tomorrow from WV. Check out Jim's blog at onelapadventure.blogspot.com

Arrived at South Bend, IN

Jim and I left in a rain storm this morning.  Before I got to Jim's house, there was a tornado warning posted for Lancaster County, and the rain was coming down so hard I could not hear the radio much less see far through the rain.  Thankfully it abated before I got to Jim's house and helped finish loading the car for the trip.

We left his house and followed 322 West to route 80, following 80 all the way to South Bend and our hotel.  615 miles after leaving and now it is drizzling here just enough to remind us it is raining.  The motel is nice, but smoky, and CSI is on the tube.  Cool for me, I am still excited enough to get past anything the weather or environment throws at us.

I did have a great time driving Jim's Corvette, it has about twice the horsepower that mine has with everything he has done to it.  First gear and reverse take some practice as you need to keep the revs up, engine mods demand it.  70 - 80 all day and we got here in great shape.  Only problem we had is Jim's new Valentine1 radar detector.  We bought a Escort 8500 at a Pilot station for the rest of the trip - it works much better than the dead Valentine.

Had a good Italian beef sandwich for supper, Jim had ribs and fries, and we are both taking it easy this evening.

An easy fix to the DNS and free wifi allows us to blog and check everything. Tomorrow is registration and a starting dinner at Tire Rack. Also will get a great chance to meet with more of the people that run in this race.  75 cars registered, so at least 150 people involved, probably more as some cars hold more than 2 for the trip.

More tomorrow.

Ready to go!

3 days, 12 hours until the start of the Tire Rack "One Lap of America" race.  Jim and I are leaving Thursday for Indiana and a last rest day on Friday, before traveling 3,600+ miles in the next 8 days.  Donations for PA Breast Cancer Coalition are still coming in - and we are over $1,300 now.

I spent the day Monday, getting my new AT&T 3G modem working so I can blog on the laptop, whereever we are at the moment.  I should have plenty of time to get pictures, videos and blog about everything.  I even have the blog setup for my iPhone, so there is always a way to blog.

Today was spent getting last minute items for the trip and cash for meals.  Of course there is plenty to organize here and bills to pay before I leave, since they all seem to come due at the beginning of the month.  Also replaced 2 deadbolts that have been giving us a problem today, and will try to get to that leaking kitchen faucet also.

Next entries from Indiana and the Tire Rack headquarters on Friday.

We have now passed $1,200 in donations for PA Breast Cancer Coalition and the cars are getting covered with stickers. Next Thursday morning is our departure date with Saturday the 30th being Day 1 of the racing.
We will both be looking for donations all year, so if you miss us before the race, grab us after we return.
From my iPhone - thanks all. Rick

Time to play before the race - and I found that I can blog through messages and emails from my iPhone.  Who needs a computer, except for the big typing tasks.

Jim and I both have PA Breast Cancer Coalition decals on our Corvettes, while Jim's is also decorated with sponsor decals for 2011. Jim's roof is also being filled PBCC stickers, while my hood is being filled with the same.  Yes I had waxed the hood before taking the photo, so the glare was bad and I never got a chance to get the car out of the garage.  Now rain is coming down, and it will stay there another day or so.  More pictures when I get it outside.

I want to fill that red hood and rear deck with stickers completely by next October.  But the more I get now, the easier that will be.  Contact me at rstauffer43@gmail.com or pull me aside when you see me.  I will take cash or checks at anytime, all I will need is your name, a name for (honor or memory of) the sticker and the amount you wish to donate.  All funds go to Pa Breast Cancer Coalition, more of that at pbcc.me .

Just 2 1/2 weeks left before the racing starts.  Jim and I will set off on this year's journey April 28th.  Watch our blogs for news, youtube.com for videos and picassaweb.google.com for pictures while we race across the Eastern US.

PBCC Decal is on my Corvette

The last day of March, 2011, and the decals are on Jim's car and the PBCC decal is on mine.  Since my car only has the one decal on it, we enlarged it and gave it total prominence on the hood.  I think the white and pink on dark red look great!

The next task is to fill the hood, and then the rear deck with pink ribbons. For each $10 minimum donation, we will add a pink ribbon to my car and Jim's.  Jim's car is limited to how many we can apply, but mine is only limited by whatever is not yet covered.  Wouldn't it be great if I could cover the entire car in pink ribbons - and raise all that money for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition?  We leave on April 28th, but will be raising funds all year, until the last show in October.  I will be at as many car shows and autocrosses as I can this summer.

The worst part was having washed the hood to place the decal, and then Mother Nature had it rain and drizzle all day.  By the time I got to Elizabethtown to have the decal applied by SSC Tint & Graphics, the hood needed to be cleaned again.  He did a great job, only needing to know what size and color I thought the decal should be.  I told him as big as you can get on the hood and be easily read while driving.  I hope to be a good billboard for PBCC this year.

I ramble, so I should quit while ahead.  Look for more as we get closer to the races from April 30th - May 7th.  Remember 10 racetracks in 8 days with 3,600 + miles driven to get to all of them, with 1,200 + miles for Jim and I to get to the starting point and back.

34 days to Liftoff!

The days are flying by and our departure from PA to get to South Bend IN for the race is getting closer. In 34 days we will leave Lancaster County and start our journey into the One Lap of America race. The racing starts on April 30th, with 10 race tracks in 8 days. This will involve 18 races for Jim to compete in and over 3,600 miles for me to help get Jim to the next race track. I have always wanted to drive a C5 and now I get to drive a 2000 C5 almost 5,000 miles around the Eastern US.

Donations are coming in for the PBCC and Jim is getting the 2011 decals on the car next week. Once that is done we will start taking pictures of Jim and the car (a 2000 C5 with some speed modifications).

Next post - watch for some pictures of the car!