I.M.C.A. OLD TIMERS     

EDITORS NOTE from Jim Heiland
Gary Mitidiero, his wife Mary and son Tony live south of Chicago.  We raced with him at the Wisconsin Dells this summer.  He was at Darlington just a couple stalls from us.  Chris and got to know them over the week end and enjoyed their company.  They are very fun people.  Gary and Tony sent me their stories of Darlington and gave me permission to post on our web site.  as you can see they are very good with words.  Also check out the pictures, Gary had a camera with a 10 foot lens on it.  Well maybe 5 feet.

From Gary & Tony
This past weekend I got to fulfill a lifelong desire and actually drove the vintage car at Darlington Raceway.  I’m not sure exactly what the attraction is, but if I had to choose one track on the NASCAR circuit to drive, it would be the track “Too Tough to Tame”, Darlington! 

At Darlington, experienced racers will tell you that unlike other tracks, you don’t race other drivers, you race the track.  This track has earned the respect of racers because of its unique configuration.  While it’s basically an oval, turns one and two are totally different than three and four.  Even on oval tracks that appear perfectly symmetrical there are subtle differences between the corners.  But at Darlington, those differences are extreme and can be easily seen by anyone.  As if that’s not enough to get your attention, as you exit turn two on to the back stretch, the wall actually comes in a few feet.  Where you would expect to be sliding up the track to the wall, the wall comes in.  Hundreds of racers have ‘brushed’ the wall coming off turn two, earning the infamous ‘Darlington Stripe’. 

Turns three and four are much narrower and require a different line entirely.  Believe it or not, even though they’re narrower, they’re much easier to negotiate.  Because turns three or four are less than ninety degree turns, you have to discipline yourself to get in a little deeper, and get back on the throttle a little earlier than you would normally.  Exactly the opposite of turns one and two. 

Adding to the difficulty, the banking is ‘stepped’.  Rather than have a gradual transition (like a bowl), there are five different angles to the bank, each separated by a distinct transition.  Needless to say, crossing those transitions is like hitting a bump in the road and upsets the chassis, not something that’s easy to control at speed.  Oh yeah, speaking of bumps, at the end of the main straight, just as you’re entering turn one, there’s a bump (or hump?) that tends to slightly toss your car in the air.  If all goes well, the car settles in just as you’re entering the turn. 

I have to give a lot of credit to the management of the track.  Part of their attention to detail included a drivers meeting that did an excellent job of preparing us.  Their advice was complete and spot on.  Not only did they advise us how to safely drive the track, they included some extras.  At one point our instructor held up a map of the track, pointed to two locations, and informed us “this is where the EMS are located.  If you decide to have heart attack, or catch on fire, head to them”.  Thanks, I’ll try to remember that!

Driving the track was an incredible experience.  My concerns over the lack of a spoiler, and the super fast steering on the car proved valid.  At about 110 MPH the back end started lifting and skating around.  With a steering box that has only two turns lock to lock, controlling it was difficult.  This was the first time in a race car that I was more concerned with the straights than the turns.  Stock cars are made to turn left.  This car has 58% of the weight in the left side, runs tire pressures considerably less on the left side, has the steering geometry set for a left turn – and the list goes on.  I knew that if the back end spun around to the left (trying to make a right turn), it would not be recoverable.   Going down the straights, when the wiggle began, I had to be very cautious that I did not over correct. 

But the turns – WOW, what fun they were!  That banking is wonderful!  It takes a few laps before you’re confident enough to get the car in the corner deep enough.  When you finally start approaching racing speeds, the ass end comes out just a little.  As soon as it comes out, the banking just sort of pushes it back in.  I can see how guys smack the wall coming off of turn two.  After a while, you start getting cocky and feeling like that banking will save you, no matter what.  Obviously that’s not true, and I sure as hell didn’t want to wreck the car.  But the feeling of getting the car in the corner, in a gentle slide, working it through the corner, getting back on the throttle and gently sliding it off the corner was incredible.  If that car handled half as well down the straights as it did in the corners it would have made some great laps.  As it was, it was competitive and was one of, if not the, fastest car in our division. 

After the first session, I made some minor changes in the car to help high speed stability.  It made the car much better, but still snaky. 

Before Tony took the car out, I made sure he understood what the problems were.  Tony’s only prior experience with a race car was a practice session at Grundy.  To say I was a nervous about putting him on the track “too tough to tame” for his second outing would be the understatement of the century.  Thankfully, Tony is very mature and listens to what I say. 

Tony approached the track with exactly the right attitude.  He started out slow, getting a feel for it.  He’s written his own account of the weekend, and it follows. 

I know everyone will think that I’m simply a proud dad, but you need to consider what Tony accomplished.  In the first place, it takes a lot of guts to drive a car that fast.  Think about it.  Drive a car at 135 MPH, tap the brakes and go through a turn – with a solid wall ten feet from the car.   Then, there’s the skill.  Just hanging on to that car, at that speed was huge, but to set the highest speed for the division was beyond belief.  He had the eyes of everyone when he was on the track.  Last, he earned the respect of an accomplished late model driver (Norm Layton).  To do all that, on his third day ever in a race car, to me is absolutely incredible.  Race car drivers can’t hide and blame it on ‘the team’.  You either make it on your own, or you don’t.  Tony made it!

Pictures at http://hitechdigitals.com/gallery/darlington_2009/index.html

There’s a small chance that I’ll race one more time at LaCrosse Wisconsin.  But, that possibility is small. 

I need to thank those that made this racing season possible.  A lot of people helped, and if I start naming, I’ll miss somebody for sure.  You all know who helped – I thank each and every one of you.  One person that demands anonymity deserves a special “thank you”.  Without him, and his generosity, it wouldn’t have happened at all.  Thank you XXX.  The entire season was terrific.  Darlington provided icing on the cake in two areas.  First, it truly was a dream come true to drive the track.  Second, to be part of Tony’s “best weekend of my life” is as good as it gets.  No father could ask for more.

Gary