The Second Half

By Dennis Hand, MTM Newsletter Editor

jdhand@chartermi.net

Well we’re making that last push to the end of the season.  Last minute scrambles for a runoffs bid will draw a crowd to WMR’s National in early August.  The always-exciting VSCDA returns to Grattan the following week.  Most exciting is the Pro race at Grattan.  More information on this can be found farther down the newsletter.  Finally, the last 3 races of Waterford Hills’ season are sure to provide thrills.

8/2-3     WHRRI Race 5 at Waterford Hills

Chief: Jim Anchak (j.anchak@att.net)

8/9-10   SCCA WMR National at Grattan

Chief: Verne Wandell (verne@valleyedit.com)

8/16-17 VSCDA Vintage at Grattan

Chief: Verne Wandell (verne@valleyedit.com)

8/23-24 WHRRI Race 6 at Waterford Hills

Chief: Jim Anchak (j.anchak@att.net)

8/30-31 PRO/Regional at Grattan

Chief: Verne Wandell (verne@valleyedit.com)

9/27-28 WHRRI Race 7 at Waterford Hills

Chief: Jim Anchak (j.anchak@att.net)

Get out there and support our events at Grattan and Waterford Hills!  We can’t operate without your support!

The President’s Travel Log

By Scott Whitehead, MTM Chairman

mtmflagger@cogeco.ca

The Dodge Freedom Grand Prix of Windsor was a success and a blast.  For someone who has never chased go-karts, I suggest trying it.  On Friday I actually had Bobby Rahal help me carry some go-karts and shagg some hay-bales.  Saturday and Sunday saw some pretty good racing in all 6 groups. Even got to see Dick Coburn do his impression hitting a hay-bale. (He fell over a bale and landed right in a pile of broken hay-bales.)  Bill and Lori Gibbs gave him a 7.5 and my dad, old MTM flagger, gave Dick an 8.  Bill scored him lower since he didn't have his camera ready.

Also, for July 4th weekend Willie Perez, Cheryl Martens, Hal Goff, and myself attended the SEM PCA event at Gingerman.  Now since this was my first time doing this event I was expecting a bunch of street cars driving around the track.  Boy was I wrong.  90% or better of all the cars were purpose built race cars.  Seeing ALMS GT3 Porsches again running with older 911's (and the 911's were keeping up) was awesome.  I would suggest to anyone that hasn't been there, to try it!  The PCA put together a great weekend and the hospitality was great.  On Saturday at the end of the day there was a 42 car, 1 hour enduro.  What an AWESOME blue flag event.  It was ALMS all over again.  See headlights, throw the blue!!

A Second Vote for Karting and June Sprints Report

By Dennis Hand, MTM Newsletter Editor

jdhand@chartermi.net

Perhaps for the first time in many years, the June Sprints was run at Road America without any rain for the three days of the event.  This is one event that every volunteer must marshal at least once in his or her life.  An entry list totaling around 500 cars, four miles of smooth asphalt, and plenty of entertainment make for a great weekend.  On top of all that, there must have been a full moon because there were plenty of odd driving behaviors on the track. 

Friday left us with three ambulance calls, only one resulting in a long-term injury (broken leg).  Saturday had the Formula Vee and Vintage/Historic Formula Vee 40^th Birthday races.  Amazingly, those were run clean with no incidents, just excellent racing.  Brad Stout was trailing by two car lengths when he passed me at turn 10, and was still behind as they headed up the front straight. Stout must have hit the NOS button and launched around the poor guy who thought he had Stout beaten as they took the checkered flag.

Sunday I spent the morning at the go-kart track on the infield of Road America.  The CART Stars of Tomorrow were running a race weekend along with the sprints and needed workers.  Those kids keep you on your toes as they fly around at break-neck speed.  Working turn 1 with Dick Coburn was certainly an adventure as some groups of karts do standing starts, while others do rolling starts.  It was our job on the rolling starts to look for a no-start and physically hold the yellow flag in the middle of the track and direct the karts into a short chute to give them another start.  Mr. Coburn graciously accepted the duty of the yellow flag saying, “I have long legs, I can jump over the first place guy.  It’s the second place that I have to worry about.”

This fun experience at Road America drove me to come down to Windsor and help out on the Friday of the Dodge Freedom Grand Prix.  After getting my radio and turn assignment I had to move my car to a free parking lot (Gee you Canadians charge a lot to take up space! J) and was late getting back to the track.  Well whom do I see out building more hay bales?  Bobby Rahal himself.  The whole day he was around helping restack hay bales and lift karts out of harm’s way.  It’s great to see a race series head honcho out doing grunt work.  All in all, the CART Stars of Tomorrow is a fun experience.  The organization and flagging is a little rough around the edges, but it gets better every race.

The June Sprints and the CART Stars of Tomorrow.  Go there.  Volunteer there.  You’ll be better for it.

Thank Yous From Porsche Club of America

Would like to THANK YOU and MTM for all your hard work during the weekend.  As always MTM did a great job.
Looking forward to next year and MTM's assistance over the 4th weekend.  Will be keeping in touch over the next year.
 Gary Ambrus
 Safety Chairman
 SEM Region/PCA

How Would You Like Your OWN MTM Name Badge?

Years ago we had some name badges made up for our MTM members.  They were blue with yellow lettering, stating Michigan Turn Marshals across the top and the person’s name below.  The size was approximately ½” tall by 3” long.  Doug Mitchell showed me his over this past weekend and it was in great shape after all these years.  My question for you: Would you buy one?  Price would be somewhere between 3 and 5 dollars US, mostly dependent on length of your name.  Toss me an email if you’d like to buy one, and if we get enough interest we’ll have these made.

SPEAKING OF MERCHANDISE…

Merchandise Galore!

We have lots of MTM gear available at our website, www.michiganturnmarshals.org.  T-Shirts (old and NEW, MODERN style), Patches, Pins, and Can Koozies.  You can purchase these items online using a credit card, or get in contact with Scott Whitehead to arrange a different method of payment.

That’s all for this month!  The next newsletter will be out at the end of August.  Play safe, and have lots of fun.