Garage Heroes In Training

We went back to Mid Ohio for a second lap in 2021 with Vicki, Jennifer, and Bill attending the May NASA Great Lakes event.  It started out as a wet track and at Mid Ohio and that is always especially entertaining.  We raced a turbo 1999 Mazda Miata (NB), a 2019 Mazda Miata, and a 2004 BMW M3 (E46) all were on street tires and racing brake pads and fluid.  We go over the event where Vicki and Jen w...

Our second ever non-PG podcast, but it was so worth it.   Peter Hopelain joins us to discuss Bill's bucket list goal of racing in the Thunderhill 25 endurance race.  Peter has raced in the Thunderhill 25 nearly every year and also been on the podium several times and recently won his team's class.  We had a great discussion of the background of the race and how to prepare and compete.  Peter was a...

We review our latest high performance driving education (HPDE) event at New Jersey Motorsports Park ( NJMP ) in Millville, New Jersey.  We had four drivers at the event from our team.  Jennifer, Vicki, and Liam were in the HPDE 2 run group for this weekend and Bill was in the HPDE 3-4 group.  We each learned quite a bit a this event and we are all better drivers after.     On this episode's Domina...

Andrew Rains returned to discuss the new second generation Apex Pro and the new release of the App.  This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, but we go into the latest changes to the Apex Pro hardware and the Apex Pro software/app and some of Andrew's recent racing with Grid Life in the GLTC series at National Corvette Museum Motorsports track (NCM) a very challenging track with lots of turns an...

Shawn Sampson of Sampson Racing Communications essentially started the use of in-car radio system use for amateur racing about 30 years ago.  Since then, he has been working with all types of racing and racing organizations including NASCAR, NASA, and SCCA, as well as the US Coast Guard.  During the episode, we go into the different types of radios, their use and capabilities, as well as various i...

Ross Bentley was kind enough to return for a third time that turned out to be his fourth appearance thanks to the mysteries of podcast recording and his recent episode on the One Lap of America event.  Jennifer, Ben, and Bill were able to go through a ton of great questions that were sent in by several of our listeners, as well as a few we had hoped to cover with Ross.  As most of you know, Ross h...

We had been planning to have Eric on the podcast for several months but couldn't wait any more after he went to his first wheel to wheel event a few weeks ago at PittRace.  We first heard of Eric as a result of his two Facebook groups related to high performance driving and high performance driving fitness.  He was joined on this episode by his teammate Fred.  They are forming a new racing team to...

Ross Bentley returns to the podcast to review the 2021 One Lap of America event that finished last week.  This was Ross's first One Lap and he seemed to have a blast.  I think the hook has been set and Ross's inherent competitiveness will likely lead to him trying to win it in the future.  We go into the event as a whole, its history, how the 2021 event went, and  every detail we could think of to...

We met the Nittany Lemons at our recent 24 Hours of Lemons race at PittRace.  Their team includes Eric Junker, who gets blamed for any electronics and powertrain issues, Jared Sable, who is the past SAE team captain and responsible for the team overall, and Becca Baker who takes care of the driver controls, brakes and safety systems, and car ergonomics.  They were a great group and seemed to have...

Jennifer takes the lead for this episode as we discuss the recent HPDE at Mid Ohio with the NASA Great Lakes group that Bill and Vicki attended as an early Father's Day gift.  The weekend was a bit chilly and started off with two dry stints Saturday and ended with two very wet stints.  Sunday was the reverse.  We go into the event as a whole and also go into what transpires at Mid O when it gets w...

We initially met Elizabeth Jolly at our second ever race at the 2018 24 Hours of Lemons race in Thompson CT.  We then listened to her on the first few Shifting Points podcast.  Then we met her at our recent skid pad and autocross event at Lime Rock Park with the SCDA group.  It was at this point, we realized that these three ladies were all the same person.  We could say we were overwhelmed at our...

This is our Post Race hangover Episode Notes.  We will replace later with a normal review when coherent, likely later this week.   In this episode, we go over how our first race weekend went for 2021.  We had a great time racing and meeting all our friends.   Oh yeah, we WON our first race ever in the S10 El Jeffe Trophy Truck in Class C!!!! Further proof that anyone really can do this.  Why not s...

The Semi Sentient Centenarians are a relatively new endurance racing team that are in the midst of an engine swap for their 1996 front wheel drive Buick Century A-body.  Their team started much like every other team, including ours, and in their case they can blame Matthew, lol.  They are a great bunch of guys learning as they go and trying to come up with the magical plan to dominate the C divisi...

Our 2021 season started off with another skid pad and autocross event at Lime Rock Park.  This time the event was held by the SCDA.  We go into our goals for the event, how we did, and hopefully a long list of what we learned.  The weather was great and more than we could have asked for this early in the season.  In addition to a great event with tons of track time, we also met Elizabeth Jolly and...

This is the last part of our 10-part Racing 101 series where we go over several topics we didn't mention in the other episodes and things that our listeners reminded us to mention.  We are always trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  We are sure that there are many more topics to cover and...

GHIT 0190:  Mike Skeen is our Guest We were honored to have Mike Skeen join our podcast as a guest.  He is an amazing driver and has seemingly competed in every type of driving we can think of and it seems he usually wins.  We go over a bit about how he progressed and what he is currently racing, as well as a great discussion on the skills and abilities that can separate a great driver from a typi...

Our podcast is trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  In this episode, we go into the dark recesses of Bill's mind and enter the world of Lists.  We have lists for what tools to bring if it is an HPDE or an endurance race, what parts to bring, what to pack for the paddock, etc, etc.  All wi...

Our podcast is trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  On this episode, we have Adam Owens on to talk about his first track events he had last summer.  Adam has a lot of fresh memories from these events and is a good friend of our team (and potentially future team GHiT member).  In talking w...

Our podcast is always trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  On this episode, we go over a list of the most common errors and issues that a first time driver may have on track.  We taped the episode in two pieces and the editor (Bill) was not able to hide it well.  We apologize.  Do not fea...

Our podcast is trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  For this episode, A lot of our fellow teams recognize that our paddock game is often better than our on track game so we could not  escape our Racing 101 series without covering our paddock prep and processes at a race weekend. Please le...

Our podcast is trying to encourage people to try high performance driving and racing, so Vicki wanted to start a special series she calls "So You Wanna Racecar".  On this episode, we go over a typical track visit from arriving at the gate to departing at the conclusion of the event.  It's like you get to experience everything about racing on a track without the thrill of driving, and without the p...

After a very long delay in editing, here is the episode we recorded several weeks ago (pre-Christmas) as a farewell wish to Jandy before he went on a long-term deployment.  We did not expect to take as long editing, but we easily had triple the number of guests we have ever had and that made things a bit complicated.  This is a fun episode with a good bit of Storytime from past racing events.  Goo...

We are getting back to our podcast roots and wanted to start a special series Vicki calls "So You Wanna Racecar" that Bill can't seem to say correctly.  This is part 4 of the series (of ~10). On this episode, we try to summarize the process involved with finding and buying a "new to you" car, or for those with a problem (Like Bill) how to best prepare to sell your car.  Lara Vernon is on as our gu...

We are continuing our bonus series on Racing 101 – So You Wanna Racecar with GHIT podcast #182:  Racing 101 Part 3 – The Best Entry Points to Start High Performance Driving or Racing We are getting back to our podcast roots and wanted to start a special series Vicki calls "So You Wanna Racecar" that Bill can't seem to say correctly.  This is part 3 of the series (of ~10). On this episode, we try t...

When Brian was on with us last year, we started talking about identifying sponsors, working with potential sponsors, and how to get and treat sponsors to assist with the expenses related to racing.  Since then, Brian has given several talks on this topic, as well as appearances on several podcasts.  As always, our goal was to provide a complete summary of the area of sponsorship and allow you to b...