Garage Heroes In Training

DwD 0653:   Heel Toe – Part 2 In our first ever two part Dominating with Dawson, we go further into the topic of downshifting and the discussion in the "You Suck at Racing" blog by Ian Korf.   If you ever pondered or even argued about downshifting on track, this may be an episode that makes you happy or sad or angry, lol.   Base Article:   https://yousuckatracing.com/2024/12/04/heel-toe-is-for-suc...

GHiT 0652:   Club Spec with Blair Deffenbaugh from the SCCA When we first started racing we were looking to build a car that we could race anywhere and everywhere.  It did not exist.  But now, we are getting closer with the Club Spec series run by the SCCA.   Choose which car, make a few minor and easy upgrades and you are at the sharp tip of the field.  Well your car is.  The rest is up to you. ...

DwD 0651:   Heel Toe – Part 1 We were all fascinated by a recent blog post by friend of the podcast Ian Korf on his "You Suck at Racing" blog that dealt with the efficacy of heel toe downshifting on track.   We started off discussing the article and then meandered into a deeper discussion into what heel toe downshifting is and how to do it.   I think we may have found something that will be a focu...

GHiT 0650:   Sam Smith AND Ross Bentley Help Us Celebrate #650 Ross Bentley joins us again to celebrate episode #650.  In addition, Sam Smith joins Ross this time.  Sam, Ross and (hopefully) future podcast guest Jeff Braun host the amazingly popular podcast called "Its Not The Car" and we were honored to have them both on our podcast.  We start off with Ross revealing the two secrets that only pro...

DwD 0649:   Proper Pass Presentation Proper presentation for passing can help in both a race and especially in a HPDE/track day.   We discussed why and how.   Agree?   Disagree?   Did we miss something?   Please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com   A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ProperPresentationForPassing We hope you enjoy this episode! If you would like to help grow...

GHiT 0648:   Peter Granberg Peter Granberg joins us this week with Vicki leading the way and Bill calling in from the road to repairing our E46 BMW race car.  Peter has been racing and recently focused on competing in GridLife's Club TR time attack series.  He has also begun to work with friends of the podcast at Robertson Racing and the coaching and hard work has paid off.  Peter finished on the...

DwD 0647:   Do You Always Use ALL the Track One of the things that you will often here is that you should use all of the track.   While we do not disagree, there are a few situations that we discuss here that may be opportunities to improve your lap time by not using all of the available track.   And if we left anything out, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com   A link to the ep...

DwD 0645:   Curbs – Friend or Foe and How to "Use" Them Ben is mildly obsessed with passing and speed on the track.   One aspect of the track that we haven't ever really discussed in detail is the presence of curbs at certain locations around the track, mostly at corner entry, exit and the apex.   Some can be friendly, others not so much.   We discuss options and precautions during the episode, bu...

GHiT 0646:   Gift Ideas for the Racer and Driver   Looking for gift ideas for a driver/racer in your life?  We have thoughts and try to avoid the things that we really don't want or won't use.  Things that took a little thought and care or at least appear to.  We try to save you some time during the hectic season and this year, we even got it our before the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.  A...

GHiT 0644:   Data for "Non Data" Drivers with Matt Romanowski  There seems to be two types of drivers (and people):   data people and no data people.   We have both on our team and we took the opportunity to test this episode with one of our non-data people as a test subject.   So, if you are a non-data person or have one you race with, this may be a great episode in utilizing data to improve. A l...

DwD 0643:   Setting up a Pass What makes Ben's eyes light up?   Talking about passing on track.   We make Ben happy by talking abut things to think about when setting up a pass.   A s pecial guest drops in towards the end of this one.   Live from PittRace. And if we left anything out, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com   A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/SettingUpAP...

GHiT 0642:   Our Season Review and 2025 Goals  With the last race at PittRace with Lucky Dog, our 2024 season is a wrap.   How did we do?   How many of our goals did we hit?   Any?   And then we get to what are we looking to accomplish in 2025.   A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/GoalReview2025 If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcas...

DwD 0641:   Dealing with Flags and Penalties Lemons has a unique method of dealing with flags and penalties.   We go over a few things to do and many things to avoid.   The same can be said for many other racing series, and racing in general. And if we left anything out, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com   A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/FlagsandPenalties We hope...

GHiT 0640:   Evan McLaren – 2024 Club TR Champion  With the 2024 GridLife season ending a PittRace a few weeks ago, there were two people competing for the top of the podium and it all came down to this weekend.   No stress, easy peasy.   Well maybe not.   We go through the entire season with Evan and as is normal, everything appears easy and he is an overnight success.   That is never the case.  ...

GHiT 0639   Lena Chin Past to Present and Promising Future We finally met Lena Chin at the GridLife PittRace event a few weeks back.  (Thank you Nick) and could not wait to have her on the podcast.  In this episode, we cover some of Lena's racing history, how she got involved with GridLife and GLTC, as well as what some of her upcoming plans are for the next few years.  There is also a rumored bon...

DwD 0638:   Race Review on  Dominating with Dawson from PittRace with Lucky Dog We review our first ever race with Ben.  And there is hardware involved.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/LDRLHardware If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol: You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the...

DwD 0637:   Our First Ever LIVE Dominating with Dawson from PittRace with Lucky Dog It finally happened, we recorded our first ever in person Dominating with Dawson from PittRace while we were racing with Lucky Dog.  It was quite the weekend.  Here is our update after our first racing day on Saturday. A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PittRaceLDRLSaturday If you would like to help grow...

GHiT 0636:   Ryan Susca - Upgrades to Your Trailer and RV for Racing (and life) We catch up with Ryan Susca and interrogate him on what he has done to his trailers and RV's that make them the envy of everyone in the paddock.  With the season winding down and winter project season starting locally, this may be the best time to do a little upgrade project that will help make next season the best eve...

GHiT 0635:   PittRace:  GridLife Review and Lucky Dog Preview Racing schedule for 2024 ends this year with the national championship with GridLife and then the first Lucky Dog race in the northeast.  Nick Barbato was/will be with us at both, so we cover a post GridLife and a pre Lucky Dog.  Two of our favorite racing series and a time for us to test and dial in the E46 330.  PS Bill at the track w...

GHiT 0634:   Tires Age and Feel Like What We had a recent podcast related to tires and maintaining the tires, but upon further review, we did not go into how the tires can degrade and what that can feel like.  So we did.   What did we miss? A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TireDeg If you would like to help grow high-performance driving and racing and maybe even our podcast, lol: You c...

GHiT 0633:   Matt Romanowski on Data 101(+) A long overdue podcast dealing with data and data interpretation.  We are joined by Matt Romanowski and discuss the first few steps in data when driving on track.  The focus is on what you can get the maximum benefit from with minimum amount of time, effort, money, and difficulty.  This is part one of an almost endless subject and we hope to have Matt on...

DwD 0632:   What is the Best Racing to Watch on TV/YouTube Being racers, many people have asked us what is our favorite forms of racing to watch on TV and/or YouTube.  We go into some of our favorites both current and past and then wander into the what are the ones that are driving us crazy and why.  There  What did we miss?  What did we get wrong?  P lease let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gm...

GHiT 0631:   Scott McMichael and Bill Drive Pineview Run in an Integra Type S When Scott asked if we could come to watch a race, we said why don't you come up and we can go race ourselves.   An easy ask for a friend who is one of the webmasters of the Unofficial 24 Hours of Lemons page in the book of faces.   Scott and Bill took to the track in a 2024 Acura Integra Type S and we review the stock c...

DwD 0630:   Listener Questions & Comments and How to Shake Off the Rust We had three listeners write in to comment on a few comments on our how to get fast the fastest/bestest.  Then we had two listeners with questions.  The first pair were not technically racing related (but always welcomed) and the last one was on how to shake off the rust after being away from the track and what areas of your s...

GHiT 0629:   Nick Pon Returns from the 24 Hours of Lemons We always love catching up with Nick Pon from the 24 Hours of Lemons and get a few stories from long ago and a bit of a peek behind the wizard's curtain.   Nick was kind enough to come on and we caught up with him on what is going on and how the 2025 season has been to this point.   A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/NickPon2025...