I had a great week with Sema and the Optima Challenge. Big thanks go out to Larry for the opportunity to represent Pro-Touring.com. It was a real honor. The event was run flawlessly by Jimi Day and his crew. The week started out on Monday when Carl and I cruised down to SEMA together and put our cars in the Optima Batteries corral. This event is supported by many great sponsors and I was happy to sticker up my car. In fact, I really like the way it looks in race mode. I had the first TV interview of my life. That was interesting to say the least.
Up next was the Road Rally part of the competition. The cars had to be driven from SEMA to the Silverton for a photo then out to Pahrump. Extra points were awarded for two photos of Las Vegas landmarks. Naturally, I had to stop by Larry Flints Hustler tittie club. Kelli was with me or I may have lost out on those points. It was the perfect night for a Road Rally. Being the local, I was the first to make it to the Silverton and 2nd to Pahrump.
Doug Renner(Dfresh) and Dave Gordon(Flash68) came in on Thursday and stayed with me. We had a great time joking around and ripping on each other. AJ(Skatinjay27) was my other crew member. His only two jobs were to keep media whore Renner in line and away from vendors, and to stock the cooler full of beer. He managed to drop the ball on both jobs. Not only did Renner come back to the pits with a Ring Brothers shirt on, the cooler didn’t have one damn Bud Light in it after the race! I have forgiven him for Renner, that was mission impossible. HAHA
They actually did a great job for me. I had them tech my car and keep it full of gas. They also made my air pressure adjustments. AJ spotted a loose compressor bolt after the road race that probably saved my belt for the rest of the competition.
My first event was the Road Race portion of the event. I have to admit I was a little nervous on the big stage. This was only my 3rd road race and the last time was in April at El Toro. I’d also never been on street compounds. I made a last minute air pressure change that tightened the car up a little to much. The car was really good though and ran flawless. I haven’t seen the results yet but last I checked I was 7th out of 52 cars. Rumor has it I’m around 10th. I’m proud of that with my lack of experience and a car that’s not quite right on street treads. There were some really top quality cars this year. 51 or 52 finished all segments.
1 Warm up lap, 3 hot laps, 1 cool down. My second lap ended up being the fastest. I blew my 3rd over cooking the back straight. I was only .2 slower than my second. That could of been a great lap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q0zu5JViA0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4xqtsT-XVM
The Auto Cross portion didn’t go well for me. It was a really tight course with 3 180 degree turns. My car was tight and doesn’t have a great turning radius to begin with. I’m really used to high speed autocrosses. I see 60-80mph at our local SCCA. I need to work on these slow speed courses to keep up with the likes of Stielow, Finch, and DSE.
The speed stop challenge is a favorite of mine. Give it hell and stop as fast as you can. At RTTC in April I posted the fastest time in the field and felt ultra confident. I really had some trouble getting out of the hole here. I had to feather the clutch and slowly put my foot down. The car seems to be transferring plenty of weight. I think I did well at El Toro due to it being a higher speed event where I could take advantage of all my power in 2nd and 3rd. I ended up mid pack in this event and that was disappointing. Stielow rand 6.4x and I ran a 7.0x. Half a second was the difference from first to 25th. I think a better launch and a better shifting tranny will help me in the slower stop challenges. I really feel I got the most out of my car that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKma45XBTsw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZWF9MAw1Ow
Carl and I had a friendly rivalry going all week. We had the whole Top Gun deal going. I was Iceman and he was Hollywood. I don’t think anybody had more fun than us. I showed up to the Lateral-G party in a wife beater and a pair of blue blockers. I asked him if “He’d figured out who the best driver was?” Carl beat me on the Road Course by about a .5 second and placed well in the autocross. He got me this time. He’s at the top of the list of people I don’t mind getting beat by. Carl, Iceman is gunning for you at the next event. Dave bought me some Payback beer from a brewery in San Francisco. I had to celebrate without a win but it didn’t matter. I had a great time and made some new friends along the way. I completed the event and DROVE my car back home in the same condition I started out with. That's Pro-Touring!
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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