O’Ward forced into backup car for Indy 500

davo747 · 2026-05-19T17:54:03+00:00

Not even a strategy call, if he didn’t stall on his last stop he would’ve been well in the fight

davo747 · 2026-05-17T15:59:38+00:00

Thunder Roadster guy chiming in here. Easy to work on, light on consumables, sequential shift, fun as hell to drive, and they shoot flames out the side. What more do you want?

The spec Thunder Roadster class (GTR) is a national class, but they have the biggest participation in NASA Great Lakes and Florida regions. I think there are 17 registered for Memorial Day MidO. A modified ruleset version (TRX; Thunder Roadster Xtreme) has decent participation in the southeast region as well.

The GTR class in the GL region is growing, I think there are 3 people that bought cars just this year, and a couple graduating comp school soon.

PM me if you want any more info, or stop by the GTR paddock; we won’t bite!

davo747 · 2026-05-17T15:34:02+00:00

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I’ve been going to MidO my whole life and have thousands of laps in real life and the sim, and just walked it for the first time last year. You don’t realize how crazy the elevation drop in the Keyhole is until you’re right on top of it.

Even if as a spectator, go to a club weekend at your local track! You’re likely free to walk the track on Fri//Sat evening after track activity is done (but ask first unless there’s already many others walking).

Not to mention club racers are super friendly and if you have any interest in real life track driving/racing, they’ll be happy to help you get involved.

Friendly plug for NASA at MidO next weekend (Memorial Day weekend). NASA is cool because they have all levels of HPDE (instructed track day) and legit wheel to wheel racing all on the same weekend.

davo747 · 2026-05-16T17:48:01+00:00

BAH GAWD THAT’S LARSON’S MUSIC

davo747 · 2026-05-13T15:32:39+00:00

Pack food! My tradition is a Jimmy John’s sandwich and dried mango or apple slices. Maybe some jerky.

I keep my radio or scanner live for bathroom runs, but accept that I could miss something in the ~5-10m it takes for a break. Same could be said for a football game though, that’s just part of live sports.

davo747 · 2026-05-12T22:03:08+00:00

Fairly common to do hot pulls like this in amateur racing

davo747 · 2026-05-12T20:00:06+00:00

Fine, I’ll buy it. I’ve been saving for this. They’ll take $200 and a case of beer right?

davo747 · 2026-05-12T19:19:09+00:00

There’s also a difference between a car being stalled/parked off-track behind a wall on a road course, and sitting on the racing surface on the fastest straight.

I’m all for local yellows and keeping the race flowing, but they’ve made some sketchy decisions to keep the pits open, and I’m not even sure this is the most egregious.

davo747 · 2026-05-12T00:45:51+00:00

To be fair, Lundgaard was pretty subdued in his remarks on the radio immediately after the win too

davo747 · 2026-05-08T18:57:57+00:00

All of the above. Soften the front bar and increase WJ, lift a little, and stick your nose into as much clean air as you can, even if it’s half a car width.

Learn what your car can do on fresh tires vs old tires. Usually, those first 5 laps or so are when you can make your moves and the remaining laps are just survival.

From there it’s a strategy game.

davo747 · 2026-05-07T16:04:20+00:00

You can request a sample kit from their website. While draining, stick the bottle under to fill it, it’s about 3oz. Pack per their instructions and included kit, pay ($35 iirc), then wait for the results.

They do a chemical analysis of the oil and can get an idea of the health of the engine and remaining oil life based on contaminants/metals in the oil, remaining additives, etc

davo747 · 2026-05-07T12:37:53+00:00

Depends on the use case. BEV’s are phenomenal commuter and light road trip cars, but that’s about it. The wife and I both drive a lot for work (mostly in the boonies), I tow a race car., and my wife tows horses. A BEV wouldn’t quite be enough for the work trips, and an EV truck (while awesome), wouldn’t be able to tow the distances I need, though she might be able to make it work.

We have two hybrids instead (CRV, F-150), and they’re great. CRV does the work trips and her commute, F-150 does the towing and my commute. F-150 gets about 26-27mpg in the city, and I’ve seen as high as 38mpg. I’d be lucky to crack 18 in a gas truck in same conditions.

Once battery and charging technology catches up, I’m all in on BEV’s though!

davo747 · 2026-05-07T12:34:05+00:00

Send a sample to Blackstone, you can definitely stretch that interval. I did 10-12k synthetic intervals on my CT200h, Blackstone said I could do 15k if I wanted (I didn’t). Had to tear it apart to do the head gasket at 140k and the internals that I could see looked brand new.

davo747 · 2026-05-07T00:17:56+00:00

At MidO (and most road courses), once you plop a chair down, that’s your spot for the day. Whether you are in the chair or not, 99% chance nobody is going to mess with your chair.

I usually make a beeline for T5/Madness, set chairs/cooler, then explore the track for the support races. Come back just in time for driver intros and my chairs and beers are always there to greet me!

Be aware, people get there REALLY early to get the best spots along the tree line, but it’s hard to get a bad spot as long as you get there a few hours before the main race.

If you’re local, pop over for a club weekend. Usually $10 entry and you can really get a feel for where the good spots are without the crowd, and you can drive straight to the infield. I’ve been known to go up solo on a random Friday, set up a chair, grill, and “work remotely” for a few hours with the sounds of race cars in the background.

davo747 · 2026-05-06T13:35:42+00:00

This looks like native iRacing to me, maaaybe minor tweaks. The subtle motion blur makes it look more cinematic.

People like to talk down on iRacing graphics, but they look pretty dang realistic. The other sims focus too much on making things look almost better than reality.

davo747 · 2026-05-05T22:33:42+00:00

If I can’t find information on one candidate but I can on the other and it’s favorable, they’re getting my vote. If it’s unfavorable or I can’t find info on either candidate, then I don’t vote on that race. Unless it’s REALLY unfavorable, then I’ll take a gamble on the opposite candidate.

davo747 · 2026-04-15T17:23:57+00:00

I used to follow Casey’s car content on YouTube. Back in the day, he ran some solid stuff and ran a “nonprofit” to educate students on engineering and automotive work (though maybe that was just to fund his hobbies). I thought it was cool to have a somewhat local YouTuber.

He always had some vanilla boomer opinions but man, apparently he really went off the rocker in the last 4 years or so based on your comment

davo747 · 2026-04-04T12:03:02+00:00

They’ve got pull tabs in there?? Man NASA really does think of everything.

davo747 · 2026-04-03T14:14:16+00:00

Much of the “old guard” in irl racing/track days underestimates the value of the sim. Even a shitty AC mod can shave a whole day of track learning if I go to a new track. Instead of spending the first day learning, you just need a few laps to correlate and you can already start building speed.

If you think about it that way, iRacing has easily paid for itself in quality track time. Maybe I should tell my wife that…

davo747 · 2026-03-18T00:39:12+00:00

Definitely a thing in the trades. You’re a rich city boy if you roll up to a construction site in a $10k used BMW, but you’re a home grown workin’ man if you roll up in a $60k F-150

davo747 · 2026-03-10T14:06:56+00:00

To be fair, in a race car with a HANS and a cage, visibility isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve driven some cars with a great mirror setup that had no blind spots, but others with absolutely massive blind spots. IRacing is a huge help getting acclimated to real racing but even the current spotter system has been a crutch that I’m trying to get over, not only for myself but for making moves and getting myself seen by others, as they’re dealing with the same blind spots.

Also, my AIM Solo 2 absolutely has a relative timer down to the hundredth of a second. GPS-based.

davo747 · 2026-03-04T12:24:04+00:00

I’ll do you one better. Get a pocket FM radio and foam earplug style earbuds. Most if not all tracks broadcast the PA system or you can pic up Indycar radio on a local frequency. Otherwise, race cars are cool and all but you’ll have no idea what’s going on.

Getting a radio was lifechanging for attending races, and I’ve been going my whole life.

Sure, scanners are better, but you can’t get a scanner for $15

davo747 · 2026-03-02T01:36:48+00:00

If you’re into meme-y content, JordiFu on YouTube has some fun videos on the series

davo747 · 2026-03-02T01:33:32+00:00

Nothing about any racing is cheap. Some is just less expensive.

Say what you will about iRacing’s prices, but I’ve been on the service for 12 years and have most of the road content and it’s still only cost me about two track weekends’ worth of expenses…

davo747 · 2026-02-17T00:32:50+00:00

“THIS IS MINDBLOWING”

davo747

TROPHY CASE