Time to escape the Alabama heat - road trip!!!!!!

Since I started track riding 4 years ago I have had the goal to visit at least one new track per year that is outside my regular nearby tracks like Barber and Talladega. So far I've added Road Atlanta, VIR (North and Full) and Putnam Park in Indiana.

This year I decided to go all out. So the week of the 4th of July the Jim and Michelle circus travels to historic Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for two days of riding with NESBA.

I have wanted to ride at Road America as long as I can remember. It is one of the premier tracks in the country and, at over 4 miles, certainly one of the longest. It combines long, high-speed straights with wonderful flowing curved sections like the famous carousel and Canada corner.

When we travel we like to get as much of the "local experience" as we possibly can so we are staying at the Seibkins Resort in Elkhart Lake. The Seibkins dates back to the early 1900's and has played host to many of the worlds greatest motorsports figures.

Road America has one more appealing feature for me, it is only about 60 miles from Green Bay. That means a trip to the holiest of holies for professional football fans, Lambeau Field. Even though the "frozen tundra" won't be frozen this time of year it will be a thrill to walk the same ground as the likes of Bart Starr and Vince Lombardi. Hell, I might even decide to become a "cheese head".

Jim

Barber AMA 2007 - Racing Notes

With deference to Click and Clack, "Well, it's happened again, I've squandered another perfectly good weekend watching AMA racing."

The weather gods certainly smiled on central Alabama this year as we enjoyed 3 days of nearly perfect racing conditions. It was just a touch cool in the morning with a gentle breeze in the warming afternoons. Crowds were unusually heavy and the excitement was building.



There certainly seems to be a lot of drama in the AMA paddock this season. Top stories are the rivalry between teammates Spies and Mladin, the return of Yamaha to superbike racing and the switching of teams by Tommy Hayden and Jamie Hacking. In superstock, the mood has certainly shifted with the arrival of Aaron Yates to Jordan Suzuki. I see this as a really promising year for Jordan and if they really have the resources they should be contenders in superstock for sure.





This year brought some extra excitement as at least two WERA racers (Thomas Moore and Chad Dupree) were attempting to qualify and race in supersport. I first met Thomas about 3 years ago at Talladega. He and his girlfriend are such nice, friendly people. Unfortunately, the next time I would see Thomas he had crashed hard at the end of the back stretch at Barber during a practice, totaling his bike. There's really no worse feeling for a racer than to recognize a crashed bike. All you have time to think is, "I hope the rider is not injured".

Chad did qualify and race in supersport but Thomas fell victim to the number of entrants rule. He made the field on time but only the top 44 are allowed to race. He missed it by two bikes, I believe. Hang in there Thomas, you'll make it for sure.

With all that said, here then are some highlights of the racing for me:

1. Josh Herrin in Supersport. Wow that kid is crazy good. He came from nowhere to finish second. It seems clear that Josh, Garrett Carter and Tyler McDonald are the future for Yamaha.



2. 2007 Honda CBR600RR. Holy crap, this bike's for real. It dominated supersport and formula extreme and is clearly the class of the current 600 crop.

3. Josh Hayes just keeps getting better and better.



4. Surprise of the weekend....Rockwall Honda. I loved the battle in formula extreme between the Ducati's of Larry Pegram and Marty Cragill and the Rockwall Hondas of Ryan Andrews and Ryan Elleby. I met Ryan's dad last year at the AMA's when Ryan was riding a Honda with Larry Pegram's team. Nice people, I hope he makes it big.

5. Jordan Suzuki...first and second place and the pole in Superstock. Outstanding performances.





6. Superbike...Mladin and Spies are clearly the class of the field. I've never seen a more determined rider than Matt this year but Ben is so very, very good. It will be a season long battle. Tommy Hayden did a great job in superbike as well. Honda and Yamaha aren't as far back from Yoshimura Suzuki as I expected. They will surely pick up a win somethere. Miguel continues to be ageless.

7. James Elison...came over from MotoGP and made an impressive showing. It can't be easy to adjust to these machines and this type of track, even for someone with his experience. His battle with Roger Lee Hayden in Superbike race 1 was great fun to watch.

8. Ben Bostrom...teammates with his brother Eric at factory Yamaha. Ben seems to be genuinely enjoying racing again and I hope he will be able to get a win this year.



So the season is off to a proper start with Daytona and Barber now behind and Fontana looming for this weekend. When they get to Infineon and Road America we'll see who really has the legs this year. Can't wait.

Barber AMA 2007, Spectator Notes

April in Alabama carries two important dates in my world, my birthday on the 25th and AMA race weekend at Barber. This year while roaming the paddock I was able to meet some very nice privateer racers and even have a word with new AMA racer, James Ellison (fugitive from the MotoGP wars).



James came over from Europe to ride with Corona Extra Honda. I was able to talk with him long enough to welcome him to the states and let him know how much I enjoyed his epic battle with Roger Lee Hayden in Superbike race 1.

One of the privateer racers I met was Michael Morgan of Goshen, Indiana. Michael was running in Formula Extreme and was a very friendly guy. Best of luck, Michael.



The racer pictured below is Brian Hall of Spring Grove , Illinois.



This is Ryan Clay from Lula, Georgia. (Thanks to WERA BBS member SmokeSignalRT for identifying this racer for me.)



This is Randall Kienast a CMRA racer from Texas. (Thanks to WERA BBS member "ishc" for identifying this racer for me.)



This next racer is expert 292, Keith Marshall of Canton, Georgia. Keith had an ugly crash on Friday in practice where his engine blew and he lost it on his own oil. The bike tumbled over the airfence and the tire barrier. Keith was fortunately unhurt.

Congratulations Gill Cutchen - WERA Expert 105

Congratulations go out to my good friend Gill Cutchen, WERA expert racer 105. Gill picked up a nice third place finish in the Lightweight Solo race on Saturday at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway.

This was Gill's first race weekend on his newly built Suzuki SV650. Gill's best time was a 1:08.157 on the SV.

Above is a picture of Gill on his Suzuki 750 after the Senior Superbike race on Sunday.

Congratulations Bob Eady - Expert 146

I'm excited to report that my friend Bob Eady, WERA expert 146, picked up a well deserved third place in the Senior Superbike Heavyweight race this past Sunday at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway.

Bob's best time was a 1:05.773 and I believe this was his first ever expert podium.

Barber Video

Here are some video clips from the Sunday beginner group sessions. There is no audio on these clips.

Track days have begun - Barber with NESBA

"Following a rider through the Museum corner, what a view."

Finally, finally, finally....track days have begun for 07 and first up was March 3/4 at the tremendous Barber Motorsports Park. Saturday started out a little chilly and overcast but it was good riding weather till after lunch when the winds started to pick up and made things a little unpleasant.

This was my first chance to try out my new boots, which are a little tight but a million times easier to put on than those damn Gaerne boots I was trying to wear. I have over 30 track days under my belt now but I'm still in the Beginner group. Sometimes that fact gets to me but I try to put it into the back of my mind. Typically, I'm just a very conservative rider. At my age the physical and psychological limits come up pretty quickly and, so far, I've been unable to overcome them enough to increase my pace significantly. I do feel extremely comfortable on track now so hopefully this can be the year that I put it "all together" and finally start picking up the pace.

The only serious riding I did this weekend was a late Sunday session riding with my friend Gill, a NESBA control rider. Gill got in front of me and we did 4-5 fairly quick laps. Unfortunately, I wasn't running my lap timer or video camera so I don't know how fast we were going but it felt much faster than the rest of the weekend.

I also picked up two new sets of Dunlop 209 tires so I'm good to go for the rest of the season.

I did run the video camera a little Saturday and Sunday so hopefully I can post some of that video later on.

A new race season and a little new bling

Finally, a new track season has begun. This seemed like such a long offseason but the weather is improving and I'm really excited about the start of a new, and hopefully better, track riding season.

I decided to add some much needed "bling" to my riding gear so I picked up a new red/black KBC helmet and a pair of black/white Sidi Vertigo race boots. Now if I can just lose enough weight there might even be a new leather racing suit in my future. I've got my eyes on a red/white/black suit from RS Taichi.

Anyway, first up this year was WERA regional racing at the newly re-designed Talladega Grand Prix Raceway near Munford, Alabama. My first impression of the new track design is awesome, awesome, awesome. Talladega has always been a place that I really didn't like very much and it scared the hell out of me sometimes. The new layout seems to flow so much better and there is plenty of room for passing.



Saturday practice went well and by the afternoon I was ready for my first race, Mediumweight Solo20 Novice. I was gridded outside of the fourth row and got a good start. The mediumweight novices were on their best behavior and I cruised to a really fun and thankfully uneventful race. It felt so good to see that checkered flag again. There's just nothing like it.

Sunday afternoon I was entered in the Senior Superbike race for the old guys over 40. Actually it's really misleading to think of this as a senior race because some of the experts we race with in this division have many, many years of experience and are superfast.

This year WERA split the Senior Superbike race into mediumweight and heavyweight for both expert and novice. This meant a two wave start, expert then novice, and a row break between heavyweight and middleweight. Since I'm novice and middleweight it put me at the very back of the field but starting with the riders that I'm competing with in middleweight. I really like this new senior superbike race lineup and I hope it doesn't change.

I got my usual crappy start (I just am timid going into one for the first time) and the riders in front of me got off to a few second lead on me so by the time I was up to my speed they were long gone. This was really fine with me because I had approached the weekend's racing as just a warmup and practice so I wasn't pushing too hard and I felt really great. My concentration and focus are much better this year so I have something to build on.

Well things were fine till about lap 4 when the experts starting lapping me. One of them on a Kawasaki got a little close going into the 90's and he bumped me going by. Bastard never even so much as gave me a wave (the usual way of saying "sorry, my bad"). Then, coming to the white flag, two riders dove under me in the last corner. One was way too hot going in and his bike did a wicked slide all the way to the corner exit. He was lucky he didn't run off as there is little room for error in this particular corner.

All in all a fun race and, thanks to the new grid procedure, a third place finish for me. I'll post more pictures and links to video when they are available.

Next up, NESBA track days at Barber the first weekend in March.

2006 Year in Review

It's January now and I've had some time to reflect on the 2006 riding season. This was my third year of track riding and my second year to enter races. I did 11 trackdays, all with NESBA, and three WERA race weekends.

Trackdays are so much fun. My friend Gill Cutchen was promoted to Control Rider with NESBA so I had the opportunity to ride with him really for the first time (I don't count when you lapped me at Cycle Jam). Anyway, the summer here was brutally hot so I did some weekends with only riding on Saturday and I skipped the August days completely. That, combined with not riding out of state this year, limited me to only eleven days. Not enough if you ask me.

The three race weekends I managed to run were WERA Sportsman rounds at Barber, Talladega and Road Atlanta (Cycle Jam). I ran only Senior Superbike and a couple of solos so the racing was limited for sure in 06 but still fun. I had planned to run another round at Talladega in February but it was just too damn cold. I also skipped out on racing at Nashville Speedway. Racing wise I don't feel like I improved much or accomplished much this past year. I'm hoping to do better in 07 with WERA. At least I'm hoping to score some points. Something I didn't manage to do in 06.

Here are some of the few highlights I had on track in 06:

1. I had a super fun battle with Morris Foor in the Senior Superbike novice race at Barber. Morris had not raced for years and was out of practice. I managed to stay with him and do a last lap pass. Great fun.

2. My brother Tom came to watch me race at Barber. I hope he'll be able to make more events next year. Hopefully my brother Joe will be able to come too.

3. I got a new video camera and bullet cam to record my races.

4. I got to race at Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta. I went out for 600cc novice practice with 86 other bikes. It was the most intense 15 minutes of my life. Road Atlanta is a fast, scary place and being out there with that much traffic really gets your heart pumping. Makes you feel alive for sure.

5. At Barber I got to ride with Gill as my control rider. He got me going through the end of the backstretch section faster than I'd ever gone before.

6. Santa brought me a really professional motorcycle lift so now maintanance will be much easier.

2006 was a safe and fun year on track. Thanks to everyone at WERA and NESBA for a good year and thanks to Michelle for again putting up with all my crap on track weekends.

Jim

Wow - Santa (Michelle) was good to me this year!

Today is the day after Christmas and I'm still pretty excited. This year my "Crew Chief", Michelle, decided it was time for me to have some professional equipment to work on my bikes. She ordered a pneumatic motorcycle lift. Wow, this thing is awesome. It is going to make working on the bikes so much easier.

Since I now have some real equipment I decided the shop (basement) needed cleaning up as well so I've been moving and re-arranging and cleaning and painting all day. Hopefully soon the shop will look as professional as my lift.

One side benefit to getting this lift is that it will help remind me of my dad. He was an automobile mechanic all of his life. Some of my first memories are of smelling the grease on his work shirts. As a young boy daddy would take me to his shop at the Mello Dairy and let me help out with the trucks.

My main job was to fill glass quart milk containers with oil from a 50 gallon barrel. I wish I had a dollar for every quart jar I filled. Thanks dad.

Trailer Improvements - getting ready for Barber

Hello everyone, hope your riding/racing has been going well. Fall is finally here and I'm busy making preparations for the last trackday weekend of the year with NESBA at Barber Motorsports Park, November 11-12.

I broke the fairing stay on my old 97YZF600R during the last trackday so I've been switching everything over to my silver YZF for the last track day. The Dunlop 209's from the black bike still have lots of life so I switched them and the bodywork.

My trailer has gotten a little cramped since I started taking my Yamaha Vino125 scooter to use as a pit bike. This means I needed to make the trailer more efficient. I picked up a 4 shelf unit from Lowe's that is perfect for the plastic bins that I take stuff in and also my helmet bags. I also added a single shelf to the other side of the trailer to hold chairs and misc. items.

Endurance Racing - Part Two

After the blown engine at Road Atlanta I figured my friends would be rid of the endurance racing "bug" but it turns out I was way wrong on that. They are going to give it another try at the WERA Barber Nationals on September 23rd. Riders this time will be Gill Cutchen, Harry (Mr. Wu), Dave Arkle and Dr. Lee Schmitt. They will be racing Lightweight on a Suzuki SV650. This is a 4 hour endurance race. Sure hope everything goes well.

Equipment review - EARSoft FX hearing protection

Hearing protection is big deal when riding/racing motorcycles. Most modern racing helmets provide excellent protection from head injuries but are lacking in reducing wind noise. To counter this, hearing protection is a must.

I have found the EARSoft brand of disposible earplugs to be the softest, most comfortable on the market but they were lacking in two areas. They are slightly small for my ear canal and are cylindrical in shape. This led to sometimes placing the plug too far into the ear canal making it difficult to remove.

I have solved these problems with the new EARSoft FX earplugs. These are super soft, extremely comfortable and provide tremendous noise reduction. They are also tapered in shape with a flared end. This makes them impossible to push too far into the ear canal and the flared end makes removal a snap.

I get mine in boxes of 200 pair for about $25.00. Two big thumbs up.

VP smells like barbequed chicken? - CycleJam 2006

It has been a couple of weeks now since Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta. My buddy Gill Cutchen and three friends decided to run the endurance race on Friday so I went over to help them out. The picture above is of our endurance pits.

Friday practice was fine with no problems at all. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the race. The endurance round at Road Atlanta is a tough one. Six hours in the sweltering Georgia summer heat. I don't know how they do it.

Gill was on the bike at the start and was running well but a false neutral and an accidental downshift in 7 sent him low-siding off track. He came in with a broken front brake lever. That was quickly replaced and he went back out to finish his turn on the bike. Here's a photo of Gill after his session. Man the heat really saps your energy.


Scott took the bike out next but a few minutes later a WERA official came by and told us he had pulled off with the bike smoking. We hoped it was minor but soon we learned it was a blown motor and he was coming in on the crash truck.


I was sorry to see their race end that way and so early but that's racing. Fortunately, it gave me some time to run around Road Atlanta on my pit bike and enjoy the racing.



So, my hat is off to the entire GTR Endurance team for their hard work in putting together their racing effort this weekend. Guys you did a remarkable job and I'm proud to have been a small part of it. Sorry it ended the way it did but we'll be back and better than ever.

First race weekend of 2006, Barber, May 6-7

This year has gotten off to a slow start with only a couple of track day weekends and no racing until May 6-7 when the WERA Southeast Regional round took place at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama.

Physically and mentally I haven't been in the best of shape for the 2006 riding season and I had high hopes that Barber would shake me out of my early season funk and get me back into it. Mentally I think I achieved that but physically I'm still not even in the shape I was in last year much less good condition.

Saturday opened up with 2 uneventful practice sessions on a drying track followed by one race, Heavyweight Solo 16 Novice. My only goals were to get a good start, run consistent lap times and just not finish last. I got a good start and got to race for a few laps with some riders but by lap 8 I was pretty much running by myself so I settled in to work on consistency and just finish. This is a long race for someone as big and out of shape as me. I finished 37th of 40 riders running with 6 DNF's. My best time was on lap 13 with a 1:56.338. Not a personal best as I got into the 1:55's last year in the same race.

Sunday started cloudy and wet so I did not go out for practice. By race time it was beautiful and the track was dry. First race up, Senior Superbike Novice. I love running Senior Superbike but it is a combined novice/expert race so I knew I'd be getting lapped pretty quickly by the experts. Since I have no points for the year I was gridded at the very back. I got an absolutely horrible start and by turn 5 I was sure I was in last place but a bike went by me going up the hill so I knew at least I started better than him.

By lap 2 I had settled in behind Morris Foor on his 636 Kawasaki and decided it would be a fun race dicing with him. I got by the first time on the brakes going into 5 but he powered back by on the run up to the coaster. I knew right then and there that I had no chance in a drag race so I started planning a strategy. Morris had never been to Barber before and he was braking way early and hard in a couple of places where he didn't have to and I was catching him there every lap.

On the last lap I got near him going into the coaster but he pulled me on the straight coming out of the museum. I knew I would have my only chance coming out of the kink on the backstretch. He was really braking there hard. I got right behind him at the entance and by the time we exited we were side by side going down the back stretch. When he braked for the left at the end I slid by and went for a downshift. That's when I realized my shifter was gone!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily I was in 4th and just gave it the gas and was able to finish out the lap ahead of him. It was a fun race and again I didn't finish last so I was happy about that. My lap times weren't as good as Saturday but the racing was better. I didn't have the parts I needed to repair the shifter so I missed my other race, B Superstock. That was a bit of a let down because I was gridded right next to my friend Gill and it would have been fun to drag race him down to turn one.

The next planned racing is in June at little Talladega Grand Prix Raceway. Wish me luck.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a picture of the best mother in the whole wide world. Of course it's my mother, Arthleen McDowell. Mom has always supported me 100% in everything I've set my heart on doing. She has been there for me through thick and thin. Even when I made poor decisions I could count on her for support, love and guidance.

Mom you're the best and I love you more than anything.

It's a Family Affair

Another pleasant surprise awaited me this past Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park when my brother Tom McDowell unexpectedly showed up to watch. Here is a photo of me, in leathers, and Tom trying to fix my broken shifter (more on that later when I do a full race report).

Tom thanks so very much for coming to see me race. You'll never know how much I appreciate your support. Next time out I'll try to do a little better!!!!!!!!!!

A Pleasant Surprise

One of the benefits of riding/racing motorcycles is meeting wonderful people and one of the best I've met is Johnnie "Buellboy" Haynes.

Johnnie emailed me out of the blue the other day just to say he'd seen my photos online from a recent track day and just wanted to say that I was "looking good".

I met Johnnie at a track day where he was a control rider. He's such a fun guy, always willing to offer advice and share his wisdom on/off track. His encouragement and friendship mean the world to me.

Mladin talks over the race with Greg "Curly" White. 

Mladin lowsided in turn 5 early in Superbike Race 2. A corner worker helped push start his bike and get him back in the race. After the race Mladin gave this helmet to the cornerworker as a souvenir.