[Spridgets] Sprite Midget Race Series End of Season Results and 10th Anniversary

Thu Aug 26 06:18:18 MDT 2021

Spridgetites,
Below is our end of season report and highlights of Grattan 10th Anniversary Celebration.  Attached are the end of series results and a great shot of awards presented with a back drop of a Austin Healey Sprite Prototype Lucas Fuel Injection.
Enjoy Stan

2021 Sprite Midget RaceSeries End of Season Report & Overview of 60th Spridget Reunion(revised August 25, 2021) 

   - Overall - It is hard to believe that we have been doing this great fun on and off the track for 10 years as the Sprite Midget Race Series.  Before the SMRS we would be excited if we had 5 Spridgets racing for the weekend.  This year we experienced 21 to 28 Spridget to play with at each race. The 10   th Anniversary was planned to be special and it lived up to that expectations.  Record turnout for all of our races and finished with traditional Grattan Finale.  The end of season awards were exceptional and would have never been possible without Dave Kessinger and his vision.  We enjoyed having new Spridget racers from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kansas & Texas join us and share our passion on and off the track.  It was so exciting to have the 2 World Class Restored Sprite Prototypes all the way from Texas join us.  We exceeded our high water mark of having more Spridgets than Formula Vees at several races this season.
   - Grattan – We were told that we would have less area in the overall paddock.  This discourage some from coming and actually resulted in smaller numbers than what was originally anticipated.  We were able to hold on to our traditional Spridget Paddock location, but with the additional Spridget Racers coming in we needed to have other locations to place everyone.  I appreciate everyone’s patience in trying to organize this special event.  Friday was a humid hot day ending with the Cape of Good Hope Pub Toasting followed by our Texas friends Steve and Mike Coleman’s presentation and display of 2 Historic circa 1967-68 Sprite Prototypes made at the Geoff and Donald Healey’s Cape Works in Warwick England.  The research and details the Coleman’s have put into these cars makes me very appreciative of their passion to show these great restored cars to us in the MidWest.  I consider them true Ambassadors of the Austin Healey Marque and more specifically Sprites.  Hearing these cars on the track as I was passed will always be one of my favorite memories.  Saturday was the busiest of the weekend with the Spridget Race moved to Saturday from our traditional Sunday morning race.  Brat Lunch was well supported with Carl and Bob at Chef Helm both days.  A parade lap at 2:30 for Street Spridgets.  The Sprite / Midget Street and Race Car Show was held during the day with Rob Brackett taking the lead.  Awards were presented that evening for Sprite Street - Rob Brackett, Race Sprite - Gary Perser, Race Midget - Mark Maehling and Best Of Show - Rob Brackett.  1   st place per class Spridget Race position were announced.  Sunday we enjoyed our Brat Lunch followed by our annual awards listed below and attached.   Compiling end of season results from the weekend is always an added frustration and even thought I try to double check before the presentation, there always seems to be some oversight that occurs.  Our special 10 year celebration at Grattan had some first time racers joining in the fun.  I felt it would not be fair for those that were going for season points to be penalized from those that just entered this race, so I only gave position points to those that had at least entered 1 series race prior to Grattan.  This means that you may see double entries for those that only attended Grattan. I overlooked announcing Ellie Lynch’s 3   rd place in Bug Eye 2M2.  This is especially embarrassing knowing the praise I gave her after she came off the track on Sunday with a 1:38 ET in her first time racing at Grattan.  I announced Jeff Carloss’s 1   st place in Bug Eye 2E, after looking more closely to points awarded from the 3 sessions I realized that there was actually a tie for 1   st with Rick Fisk.  Rick deserves special mention since he started the first race at Gingerman with a 1275 in Bug Eye 2M2 and then bought a 948 from me and did well enough at Black Hawk and Grattan to manage a 1   st place in 2E (maybe I should have kept that engine!).   Please see attached results in this email.
   - Sponsors - We are very fortunate this year to have several sponsors:

   - Dave Kessinger – providing T-Shirts, Spridget Signs and the Fantastic Iceberg Awards.
   - Clancy Schmidt – free entrance to next race drawing (if you have his A-Arm sticker on the side of you race Spridget) along with monetary donations and Spridget paddock signs.
   - Winners Circle – Jeff Porada for his donation
   - Jeff Carloss – for his continued support of providing his artistic work and providing free SMRS posters
   - Colin’s Classics – Cana and Colin Comer 2021 sticker contribution

   - Driver Incidents Spridgets and Group 2 – As the VSCDA Group 2 representative I can say in recent history we have had some of the least Driver Incidents involving the Driver Committee.  I am concerned that this is no longer true and in fact we now have the most incidents.  I am working to understand this better with data provided by Gary Kropf.  I am compiling these results and will share by the end of the year in hopes of understanding where we are going wrong.  We have 2 more races with VSCDA the ELVF at Road America and Blacktober at Black Hawk.  The early data I have seen seems to indicate that passing safely is our biggest challenge. We need to return to our Vintage Values and if you are uncertain of a pass wait until you are confident you can make a clean pass.  When in traffic especially around unknown drivers, having a defensive posture is always the right approach to keep your car and others from being damaged.  The Jim Donato Most Respected Driver Criteria below should always be our guide.  There is no better feeling when racing to trust the person you are going wheel to wheel with and giving room by both drivers.  I believe we all (including myself) need to have a reset button with Vintage Values of having fun over Red Mist!
   - Race Attendance – As you can see from the chart below we exceeded the most racing Spridgets in the history of SMRS attendance at all 3 tracks.  Gingerman had it’s largest with a real abundance of Driver School Spridgets.  Black Hawk almost doubled it’s largest attendance.  Grattan was also a big number exceeding our previous record of 23 in 2015 where Grattan was the MG Focus when we picked up quite a few Midgets.  We continue to have the largest numbers in Spridget Vintage Racing and probably SCCA based on my viewing of Vintage Magazines and club race lists.  The Yellow highlighted areas are SMRS Tracks where we determine our end of season results with the total for the season in the last row.

|  Race Track  |  2012  |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017  |  2018  |  2019  |  2020  |  2021  |
|  Gingerman  |  14  |  14  |  12  |  16  |  9  |  12  |  18  |  17  |  0  |  21  |
|  Blackhawk  |  13  |  11  |  11  |  14  |  12  |  12  |  12  |  14  |  9  |  26  |
|  Grattan  |  17  |  14  |  20  |  23  |  15  |  14  |  16  |  18  |  12  |  28  |
|  ELVF 60th  |     |     |     |     |     |     |  47  |     |     |     |
|  Blacktober  |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |  15  |     |
|  SMRS Total  |  44  |  39  |  43  |  53  |  36  |  38  |  46  |  49  |  21  |  75  |

  6.       Season Overall Winners  (requires having a perfect score of 48 points from at least2 of the 3 race weekends)   
|  2013  |  Cana Comer  |
|  2014  |  Greg Cory and Nathan Burress  |
|  2015  |  Colin Comer and Randy Byboth  |
|  2016  |  None qualified  |
|  2017  |  Ashley Burress, Nathan Buress and Jim Donato  |
|  2018  |  Ashley Burress and Ron Soave  |
|  2019  |  Doug Bruce and Jim Donato  |
|  2020  |  John Salisbury  |
|  2021  |  John Salisbury, Doug Bruce & Nathan Burress  |

 7.       Special Spirit and DriverAwards: Gary Kropf Spirit Award (started in 2015 in honor of Gary’sattitude that we all admire). This Huge piston award wasdonated by Paul Fitzsimmons and polished up with name tags by Charlie Hall’svision of this spirit award. a.      Previous Winners: 2015 Salisbury, 2016 Donato,Salisbury, 2017 Soave, Kelly, Mason, 2018 Kropf, Salisbury, Hall, 2019 Bruce,2020 cancelled. b.     Criteria: Promotes the Vintage Spirit, Assists others within the paddock, withrepairs, parts, advice and encourages racer in making next session.  Quick to organize group activities with raceand banquet.  Volunteers with other VSCDAactivities and committees. c.      This year’s winner was Charlie Hall   Jim Donato Most Respected Driver (started in 2016 in honor ofJim’s contribution and example of a great respected driver) Criteria: Adriver that exemplifies the meaning of a Vintage Sports Car Most Respected   Driver includes: Predictable (Stayson racing line and points racers by when being passed or when passing.  Makes sure that over taking driver knows theyare about to be passed and allows room and good judgement), Confident &Observant (Uses mirrors and is aware of others racing nearby) Respectful(Confirms that their race car is mechanically sound and will not cause othersto be injured from improper maintenance. Can sit down with other competitors and enjoy their company after anysession)  Objective (open toother’s comments) Drives Defensively (adjusts for conditions safely regardlessof other driver’s interaction). Previous Winners: 2016 Namesake Jim Donato, 2017 Mal Fay, 2018Ashley Burress, 2019 Buzz Merchlewitz. This year’s winner was JohnSalisbury 
8.       Spridget Contributors toVSCDA (we appreciate our group’sunselfish contribution to VSCDA and the Sprite Midget Race Series making us oneof the best groups within VSCDA for volunteering their time and making thisclub continue to thrive for our enjoyment (I was at Gingerman and Grattan and apologizeif I missed any names): a.       Ron Soave and Jeff Porasik for both Blackhawk Events as EventChairmen.  Don Kelly and Doug Bruce asEvent Chairman for Grattan. b.      Dave Young, Paul Fitzsimmons and Gerry Brasil, Brad Carloss, CarlGoodwin   for their contributions to Scrutineering /Tech Barn c.       Stacey Donato for her overall running of VSCDA registration andall that she does along with her family from her Mom and Dad on down to herdaughter.  Registration assistance fromJan and Jeff Freers, Cheryl Carloss & Janet Carloss. d.      Charlie Hall, Gary Kropf, Roger Heil & Jim Donato for DriversCommittee.  Gary Kropf initiated theDriver’s Committee Summary of actions, which is greatly appreciated and timeconsuming.  I think measuring somethingas important as safety is the key to reducing incidents and allowing us toimprove. e.  Doug Bruce for Homologations and Corner / Paddock Worker SpriteDoor Annual Award selected for the best Grattan worker selected by their peers.   f. Tom Wilcox for taking the lead at Blackhawk and taking care of saleof regalia, organizing Spridget Paddock and Brat Lunch g. Jim Donato as VSCDA Vice President h. Bob Danielson continuing to support the Donato Most RespectedDriver Award that he crafted and provide updated driver plaque. i. Charlie Hall continuing support of the Kropf Piston SpiritAward that he initiated and continues to provide updated plaques for. j. Stan Mason as VSCDA Group 2 Representative and SMRS lead. 9. End Of Season Awards -Every driver that met the 2 race weekend or more requirementsreceived awards if they attended Grattan finale. Results are attached to thisemail.  10. Classifications - Iwould like to revise our SMRS classifications for the 2022 season and I haveseveral thoughts of how we can improve. If you have some thoughts of how we can group Spridgets for faircompetition I would like to hear from you. Our criteria up to this time has been to follow VSCDA requirements,which include conformance to SCCA 1972 GCR/PCS guidelines and exceptions asspelled out by VSCDA.  Even under theseconditions there is varying shades of gray that we need to clarify for fairclassifications.       11. SMRS Past / Future - Like all organizations including SMRS wewill only be successful if we have new people stepping up to fill positions.  I have been at the helm for the past 10 yearsand will step down on or before 2026.  Itwould be nice to have someone that is retired or will retire in the future topick up this baton before my departure.  Maybeeven mirror me and assist before 2026.  Ihave started a job description / overview of what I currently do.  I know there are others out there that cantake SMRS to a higher level learning from our past and improving thefuture.  If you have an interest now orin the future please let me know.  12.  VSCDA Upcoming 2021events: 1.      Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival Road America September17-19 2.      Blackhawk Farms Octoberfest, October 16-17    Thanks for a Great 10thSeason and Enjoy a Spridgetly Life of Relative Speed! Stan Mason 
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