USA Race Number Four: Grove City, Ohio!
Hosted
by
The people of Grove City and CORCAR of Ohio!
Intro | Concours | Racing | Thanks!
Let's start this race report with an apology for the late online appearance. Just like everyone else, I was shocked to hear about the attacks on the Pentagon building and New York City on September 11, 2001. I had visited New York City just three months before and couldn't imagine the amount of chaos and suffering the city endured at that time, and still goes through each day since. After recovering from the news, emails were shot back and forth to Hal Johnson and his wife (who also helped organize the race and the Arts In The Alley weekend) about what would be done. A few phone calls and some frantic typing later, we determined that the race weekend would go on, enforcing my personal belief that nothing should stop America from doing what it wants to do.
I emailed Hal a somewhat detailed rundown of how the typical HPI Challenge weekend goes, what to expect, how to make calls on the rules, and other such things. From the response via email, our forum and other methods it was easily determined that the weekend went off great, people had a good time racing each other and nothing really went wrong, which was the best thing that we could have heard from the racers and spectators that attended.
Since we could not be there in person (because of the no-fly orders from the FAA and the resulting flight delays), I asked Doug Hardman to write a report about the weekend that we could put on the web. Here it is below, in its entirety. I have edited it only to keep it in the format of the other race reports already online. I have also included every picture that Doug and Cliff Hieronymus provided that was emailed or mailed to them. Almost 20 megs of pictures are right here!
With personal thanks to Hal, his wife Laura, Doug, Bill, Steve, all the other race volunteers, the city and people of Grove City and every racer and spectator to attend the weekend,
Frank McKinney
"normally" the HPI Challenge USA Coordinator :)
by: Doug Hardman - doug@spyked.com
Stepping Up To The Plate
As the final HPI Challenge of the year approached, the gang at CORCAR was busy moving its track to the race location in Grove City, Ohio when tragedy struck. In one day, so many lives were changed and the last thing anyone wanted to think about was the race. But with the date quickly approaching, and hundreds of people coming in from out of town, a decision had to be made. After several conversations between CORCAR, HPI, and the City of Grove City it was decided "The Show Must Go On."
The gang at CORCAR was given the task of stepping up to the plate with every resource available to make the race what everyone expected it to be. Little did anyone know that the Ohio challenge would end up being the largest HPI Challenge to date. With the absence of HPI at their own race "it was as if we were throwing a birthday party for someone that we knew wouldn¹t be there", noted one racer.
CORCAR¹s normal club races usually attract 80-90 a week in front of a crowd of people in front of a home-improvement chain, so they are used to handling crowds and lots of racers. But with almost 200 entries would they be able to handle it? You bet. Hal Johnson, Bill Stevenson, Steve Hartung, myself, and countless volunteers pitched in because of a love for racing. Isn¹t that (and fun with HPI¹s great products) what this weekend is supposed to be about? Absolutely.
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Let¹s Get A Few Things Straight
The drivers' meeting was a quick run-down of how this was going to work with the absence of HPI. "We're running this one by the book," remarked Bill and Steve to the crowd "we are doing the best we can so try to be patient and help out when you can." Hal had some remarks about the fact that "we are still here, doing what we planned on doing, and NOBODY is going to stop that."
I took the stage for a second to ask that anyone with a digital camera to take as many pictures as possible and email them to me. 300MB of email later, I would ALMOST regret that statement. (Oiy!)