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Brumath Racing --- Home of The Deuce
The_Deuce
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
John's older brother, Herb, was given a subscription to Road & Track magazine in 1962, and by 1964 when Herb and his friends started attending races at Road America outside Elkhart Lake, WI, which was an hour and a half's drive from their home near Hartland, John tried to tag along whenever he could until he was old enough to get a driver's license and head up there with his own friends. At that time there was a big pro race at "Elkhart" every season, the Road America 500, that attracted many of the top road racing drivers in the US, as well as spectator SCCA National races known as the June Sprints, which is still held at the track each year, and which still draws many of the top amateur racers from all over the country. The SCCA proTrans-Am series for modified street cars, and the pro Canadian-American (or Can-Am) Challenge for unlimited purpose-built sports racing cars also had rounds scheduled at Road America, and both series featured really exciting, big time racing. It was during those early visits to Elkhart that John began to think that maybe someday he was going to race cars. In 1977 John finally got the chance to race there himself, competing in the June Sprints in a Lola 440 Formula Ford.
John started road racing with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1976, after attending the Bill Scott Racing School at Summit Point, WVA. He has held an SCCA national license, or dual club-pro license, or FIA license, every year since then, except for a few years in the early-to-mid 1980s. He has club raced Formula Fords (FFs), Formula Vees (FVs), Formula Super Vees (FSVs), Formula Continentals (FCs), a GT-1, a GT Lite, Spec Racer Fords (SRFs), and Club Formula Fords (CFs), running from as few as two weekends a season to as many as twelve weekends. He has won three SCCA Rocky Mountain Division national points championships, two in FC (1994, 2000), and one in FA (2004). He finished third in FC at the SCCA national championship "runoffs" in 2000, and has had three other top ten runoffs finishes, two in FC (1994, 2001), and one in SRF (1997). He ran a partial season (6 of 12 races) of pro FSV in 1989, and a partial season ( 8 of 16 races) of pro Trans-Am in 1990, two pro Trans-Am races in 1991(Sears Point and Denver), and one in 1992 (Elkhart Lake). He also ran a one-off Indy Lights pro race in 1992 (Cleveland), and two pro FF2000 (same as FC cars) race weekends in 1994 (IRP and Mid-Ohio), and one in 2001(Elkhart Lake).
He has competed in three SCCA club 24 hour races at Moroso, FL, with LaRue Motorsports of Erie, CO, each in an SRF shared with two or three other drivers. He raced a season of mini stock (oval track racing) in 1979 in a Ford Cortina that he shared with his boss at the time, and friend, Carl Wells, who ran First National Garage in Boulder, CO where John impersonated a mechanic for several years, and has also run oval races at Nazareth, PA (pro FSV, 1989), and at Pikes Peak International Raceway (a SARA late model race, 1998). Although he has tried to quit racing several times, he always seems to come back to it, as he misses dancing with the machines, as well as all the people he has met through racing who share his passion for this activity, and who he usually only sees at the races.
Favorite racing related quote:
"To race is to live. Everything that happens before or after is just waiting."
Steve McQueen's character, in the movie "Le Mans".
That may sound strange to those of you who have never driven a race car, but those of you who have know how true that quote rings. When you are in a race car, out on a track, you run lap after lap, trying to accelerate as soon as possible out of every turn, brake as late as possible before the next, and carry as much speed as possible through each turn. You develop a rhythm during the repetition of each lap, and when you have shut out all outside distractions you find that you are "in the zone", and are as at one with the car. It becomes a meditative state, where everything seems relatively effortless. There is not really much of a sensation of speed. It seems as though you are just cruising along, braking here, accelerating there, up-shifting, downshifting, turning into a corner, gliding past the apex, and then letting the car track out to the exit, again, and again, and again until the session, or the race, ends, or until something interrupts the meditation, the dance, such as a flat tire, the malfunction of the engine, gearbox, or clutch, or the failure of a suspension part. After such an experience, this dance, you just want to do it all over again, so the time until that time comes does seem like "just waiting".
RACE WEEKENDS
A typical race weekend involves a practice session, a qualifying session, and a race each day for from as few as four race groups, to as many as six race groups. Race groups are comprised from as few as a single class of car to as many as six or more classes of car, depending on individual class car counts, and are based on compatible general lap times, or speeds, and/or car type ((open wheel (no fenders) vs. closed wheel (fendered)). Most tracks are open for testing on the Friday prior to each event, for which a separate fee is usually charged. Pro events usually follow a similar format, however each race group is generally comprised of a single type, or class, of car, and if your race group is participating as a support race for a major series (Champ Car, IRL, ALMS, Rolex Grand Am, etc.), you may only get only one qualifying session and one race on each day, or, on occasion, during the entire weekend's schedule, with any practice and /or test sessions being run on Friday.
SCCA club race weekends can be made up of official SCCA Drivers Schools (DS), Regional level points races (R), National level points races (N), or combinations thereof, including "double" events, where races on both Saturday and Sunday will be of the same level. The most common groupings are: DS/R, R/R, R/N, and N/N. N/N events tend to draw more participants, as racers from many states may travel to an N/N event with the object of accumulating more National points in a single event, rather than having to run two R/N weekends to achieve the same result. National points are accumulated towards National level divisional championships, and towards qualifying for an invitation to the SCCA National Championship "Runoffs", which are held at the end of each season to determine the National champions in each class. Once drivers reach the National level, many tend to participate primarily in R/N and N/N events, as that's the most cost effective way to both accumulate National points, and to maintain their National level competition license requirements. Regional level points can also be accumulated towards divisional Regional level championships.
Of course, in addition to the days at the track you also have travel time to and from each event, which can easily add a day each way if you fly, or two or more if you drive your own tow rig. If you fly to each event, someone else has to spend the extra days on the road with the tow rig each way, which is usually one or two of the crew if a prep shop takes care of your car and transports it to the events. You can see that racing, whether at the club or pro level is very time consuming.
Second favorite racing related quote:
"You just have to lay a little sheet metal on 'em, and let 'em know you're not afraid to crash".
The Deuce, 1978
This refers to the philosophy required to be a competitive race driver. There is only a finite amount of road surface available to all the cars on the track. If you are in proximity to, and running about the same speed, as another car, and you are approaching a corner, there is usually only one optimum path, or "line" through that corner, and you are both trying to occupy that "space" on the track. There is obviously not room for both of you there, so it becomes a contest of will, or a game of "chicken", as to who will give way first. One car will have to slow down more, and fall in behind the other. The alternative is both cars trying to occupy the same spot ...... more commonly know as a crash, or "shunt" as the British would say. This can be no more than a slight bump, all the way up to an all out calamity rendering both cars little more than a pile or two of scrap. If you back off to often, or perhaps at all, you will be branded as such, and everyone will try to take advantage of that "weakness". If you don't back off you may crash, but other racers will see that you are willing to fight for that space despite the consequences, and they will tend not to try as hard to intimidate you in the future. You will have their respect, in a manner of speaking, and they will then give you more space. None of us wants to crash, but you have to let them know you are willing to do that if that's what it takes.
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