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First, excellent job done by everyone!! I can’t begin to count the positive comments I heard throughout the weekend. Even given the challenge of dealing with tropical temps, the entire weekend went flawlessly. It was great seeing many new faces. YOU are the clubs future! The long distance award goes to Jordan, a club member who now lives in Syracuse NY!! Following Jordan, was Jeff from Chicago, our great supporters from the Nebraska and Iowa BMW clubs, the Little Rock gang, and our new friends from Lone Star Chapter. World Challenge Pro Racer, and event sponsor James Clay planned on attending, but couldn’t due to a last minute schedule change. He text messaged Ryan several times over the weekend to see how the DE was going, and expressed his disappointment for not being with us! James has truly become one of the chapter’s best friends. Koni Challenge Pro racer Daniel Orr was able to join us for the weekend!
The KC BMW Club after-hours socials have become legendary! This year was no exception! From the great dinner and drink Sat night at Caz’s, Friday night dinner at El Maguey, hospitality suite Thurs, Fri, and Sat night at the hotel, to the hotel parking lot “adventures”, we make sure our group has as much fun off track, as they have on track! ;-)
First, let me apologize to anyone I miss, I’m a little exhausted from the weekend!
Thanks to:
Greg Lippert, our Registrar, is the glue that holds everything together. As all of us know who organize any events for the chapter, the tedious job of registration is never a worry under Greg’s control. Whether it’s registration, or anything else that needs to be done, Greg is always the first to step up.
Ned Smith, excellent job as Event Master. I couldn’t have anyone better to share those responsibilities with. You did a great job in the drivers meetings, covering all the info, and setting the tone for a safe and fun weekend, covering hot pits, to have “the talk” with participants who had strayed from the line, and surfing the paddock to thank our attendees. On a separate note, I am a little concerned about the look on Ned’s face after he took the Porsche racecar on track. I’m afraid the “dark side” is calling!! All teasing aside, we couldn’t put on our events without the support of our Porsche and Audi brothers and sisters. On of the first groups to jump on board to support us was the KC Porsche club!
Ryan Staub did a great job as DEC and Chief Instructor. As DEC, he got Ned and me to do all the heavy lifting as Event Masters!!…. just kidding! Your choice was obviously a great one! Ryan spearheaded two new cutting edge programs, “relaxed passing” in Instructor group, and the addition of a true advanced classroom program. I sat in on a few minutes of advanced classroom, co-taught by Ryan and Tim. It was great seeing advanced students “learning” in the classroom! “Relaxed passing” drew more than a little resistance from some of our learned leaders, including me. “Will they play nice,,,,AND SAFE??”, we asked? Ryan assured us, the chapters who have tried this, have had great results. Two of the key benefits are eliminating the “trains” that can occur with an Instructor run group with cars of mixed HP, with short straights like Hallett, and the drivers in the back in the trains, being stuck in a train at much less than their normal track speed resulting in their cars and heads cooling down, not always the safest thing on track. Everyone obeyed the Ryan’s rules, and had a much more pleasurable time on track. Ryan started recruiting Instructors early, and the result was great. Our Student to Instructor ratio was great. Thanks Ryan.
Tim Gerrity did his usual great job as Classroom Instructor. He used the new Ross Bentley training materials our chapter jointly purchased with Sunbelt chapter. I sat in on a couple classrooms. Great job Tim!
Thanks to all our Instructors for giving up their weekends to make our students more competent drivers. The skills we learn at DE’s make us better equipped to deal with the challenges of driving on the street with people who have less driving skill than us!! ;-)
Last year was the first year for us to partner with the Sunbelt chapter, who was trying to develop a DE program. We simply couldn’t ask for better partners. Anything asked of them, they jumped in! As we have experience running DE’s, they gladly yielded to us for that expertise. They got great hotel rates, with a hospitality room provided, and organized our Saturday night dinner at Caz’s. We try to run a reasonably priced event, and our meal wasn’t included in event fee. I can’t express how good it felt, after a full day of 100+ degree temps at the track, to see a packed room at dinner! It’s not difficult to get people to show up when you’re paying. To see everyone show up when it’s on “their dime” is very rewarding! Thanks everyone!!
Thanks to all the STUDENTS who attended. Everything we do is for you! We understand, in this economic climate, the cost of a DE is rather significant. We also understand there are cheaper alternatives of low/no education, loosely controlled, lapping days and evenings at tracks in our area. Our goal is not only to make you a better driver on track, but for you to leave our event as a safer driver on the street.
A special thanks goes to Mike Gamble from the KC Audi Club. Mike drove all the way to Hallett to help with our event! He kept grid going, and he and group 2 student Bill Blumhardt keep ice, water, and sport drink supplied to all the coolers placed throughout the paddock. They also ran “cone detail”! Thanks Mike and Bill.
Thanks to Kris Loveless from the KC Audi Club, who not only instructed all weekend (without driving), but also worked several hours to get a sick car back on track.
Thanks to Jim “meatball / debris flag” Lorenzetti for leaving is non streetable, track prepped NSX at Hallett, to trailer back a sick BMW to KC. His generosity goes without words. I hope he can find some enjoyment on the lonely trip back to OK to pick up his NSX. We all know how much he likes to eat at Cheddars and Rib Crib, but that just doesn’t seem like enough reward for his effort.
What can I possibly say about the Hallett staff? Great would be the first thing that comes to mind! As with all good organizations, GREAT comes from the top. Connie and Scott Stephens (Mother/Son), the track owners, are fantastic people to work with. They present at driver meetings to thank us for our business, and see if there was anything else they could do for us! Sami, the chief corner worker and facilities person, as well as several of their corner staff, told me we are their favorite group who runs there. I’m sure they say that to all their customers ;-), but what’s important, is that’s how we were treated!! Sami always goes the extra mile to take care of her customers.
Lastly, we couldn’t do DE’s without our Sponsors. Ron Butler, of Butler’s Collision, has sponsored our DE’s for years. Ron, and his staff, are the best!! This is the second year Bimmerworld has sponsored our DE. As you can imagine, with their type of business, James Clay is inundated with requests to sponsor events. We are so lucky he chose us. A special bond between him and our chapter formed the year he and his rig with the racecars, stopped in KC between World Challenge races. He has since been guest speaker at our Annual Dinner, and tried to attend the DE last year, and this year. Baron BMW remains a loyal club sponsor. Club to Baron liaison, Greg Gelatka, arranged for Baron to do car inspections, and provide bottled water for the DE. Thanks Greg and Baron. Ryan Staub’s HPDE Insurance Program / Lockton Affinity provided sport drink, and snacks for the weekend. The corner workers were grateful for the leftover snacks we left with them!!
I can’t wait for the next DE!!
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And she didn't know that the throttle response could be adjusted by just hitting a button. Brock, OTOH, got to drive it in competitive mode with the throttle response toned down and had a blast showing me what the car could do. I know now what I need to aim for. 
With exception for the heat, everyone down here had a great time and were very impressed with how the event was organized and run. The relaxed passing in the instructor group was a huge hit among all I talked to and it would be something we might explore for the advanced group next year. Hopefully this just the start of a long lasting tradition between our two (and maybe more) chapters! We are already looking forward to "no excuses 3"! :D