Another Victory, The June Sprints 2012

I'm not a race car driver, but my gut tells me that racers enjoy a brawl more than a walk in the park. Saturday afternoon in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin at Road America the #84 BMW Z4 from Classic BMW Motorsports, driven by Toby Grahovec won it's 15th race of the season, a brawl from start to yellow flag finish. When the race was over and the checkered flag found its way into Toby's hand, his comments weren't about how tight the finish was, it was about what a great time he had in such close competition. Toby and the #84 car, Heidi are marching toward the end of an amazing run. Partners since September 2005, the two have seen several victories all over the country, even three wins at the June Sprints, but the end of the road is near. The final race of their partnership will the at Road America in the SCCA Runoffs, SSB is being eliminated. It is long way down the road and a huge goal to dangle ahead, but if this duo can win the Runoffs it will be a fitting end to an amazing racing career for this wonderful BMW. The Runoffs are to SCCA what the Super Bowl is to the NFL, and although this pairing has two Runoff victories in hand, it is a monster task. It would also finish off a sweep as they have won the points battle in their region, and the June Sprints, the final piece to the puzzle is the toughest, The Runoffs. My guess is Toby's preference for the final race for the twosome would be an all-out, deep into the final corner, headlight smashed in, nothing left in the gas tank, battle to the checkered. Hopefully in late September, champagne will be sprayed all over the orange Z4....I'm going to dring whatever is left in the bottle.

 

MId-Season Update

June 12th and the season has reached the measuring stick. As the season started Classic BMW Motorsports and Toby Grahovec had two obvious components in its arsenal, a enormously complete and talented race car in the SCCA Showroom Stock B category and a race car that was far from being ready to compete for a National Championship in SCCA STU category. At this point of the season we find ourselves with the exact same thoughts.

Heidi, the Showroom Stock B BMW Z4 has literally had a perfect season. 14 races and 14 victories. She and Toby have even been recipients of notice from Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway that they now hold the lap record in Showroom Stock B---a record that will, most likely last forever. (this is the final season for the class) The victories started at Sebring in Florida, moved to Homestead near Miami, ventured to Texas World Speedway, up to Hallett Raceway in Oklahoma, then the long journey to Laguna Seca, back home to Texas Motor Speedway, across the deep south to Road Atlanta...a grand total to date of 9,951 miles! And now that we have run 14 races what do we know? We know that this is one of the great race cars of the last 10 years! We know that as we enter into the final half of the season that this car will be competitive again as it has earned entry into the Runoffs at Road America in September. Will it win?

Our developmental car in STU started the season as the great unknown. Problems of all sorts haunted this car through it's first few races and then seemed to disappear. In California they returned and have remained with to this date. Laguna Seca was deflating and Road Atlanta proved to be upsetting as the engine cratered and needed to be replaced. Understanding the failures has been difficult on the team and the faith that all is well is difficult to believe. We are where we were with this car. Progress has occurred, but the late failures will require a new confidence to forego the exhausting issues of the past 45 days.

This weekend is the measuring stick---The June Sprints at Road America, Elkhart lake, Wisconsin. This is the annual play date with those that are the real challengers. Fingers are crossed as we see what kind of chance we have for trophies and history as we venture through the final stages of the season.

Come by and say hi if you are in the area.

Perfection at Laguna Seca

Laguna Seca treated us to absolutely perfect conditions. The temperature was in the high 60's and the sun was shining. For a team from Plano Texas to travel 1600 miles to race, it was a joy to be there. When your headquarters are in Texas your racing world is very narrow. Tracks are few and far between, literally. We have raced at motor speedways and smaller more rural tracks, but to race on a dynamic, legendary, American race track it requires travel. Race victories are not easy and sometimes they are impossible. It's the combination of a great car, prepared by a great crew chief and crew, coupled with a great driver. Luck does play a key role as well. On a track that has seen its share of calamity Laguna Seca dealt us a winning hand as our Z4, nicknamed Heidi and piloted by Toby Grahovec set sail on a record setting pace and won in California for the first time. 10 races and 10 visits to the top step of the podium! What we are doing is special and we have a great crew of special people along for the ride. This race marked the first race this season that Tom Bull has been in attendance. Tom's battle with cancer has small windows of freedom from chemo and we were lucky to have him with us and in command as we took another checkered flag. Special thanks goes out to Gerald Wineinger, long time customer and friend of Classic BMW that traveled to California to be part of the Classic BMW Motorsports experience. I think he is hooked.

Texas Storm

The race cars from Classic BMW Motorsports and crew left plano Texas at 9am this morning on their way to Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway in Salinas, California. (1650 miles from home)

I guess we must want it badly if we need to run 1600 miles from home to win a race!

Laguna-Seca is special and we want this year to be a very special year. The very idea of watching these cars run on this famous surface is exciting...cannot wait to find my spot up the hill, near the corkscrew for photo taking!

The Texas Storm has taken Sebring, Homestead, Texas World Speedway, Hallet Raceway and now we are taking Laguna Seca!

Come to the track and say hi!

Races are Saturday and Sunday!

Classic BMW Motorsports---American Tour

There are reasons why people and companies race. For some it is the thrill of winning or the opportunity to compete. For others it may be the building of something from scratch that grows into a proven winner. It could be that you are looking for exposure for your business or for a driver to impress the right person that he lands a great opportunity. As I type this blog, my reasons are a mixture of all of those, but this season adds another element that hopefully enriches my life and helps another life truly live. Our race team has several personalities, there's the driver, Toby Grahovec, a highly talented, passionate, young driver with a great head on his shoulders. A new husband and the son of a proven race car driver, Grahovec has succeeded in everything he has ever tried---I'm glad he decided to try driving for me. The crew, Chase Borden and Eric Hallas, two hardworking technicians that signed on to work as traditional BMW technicians at Classic BMW in Plano Texas that ended up burning the midnight oil and thinking way outside the box, as they grunted and pushed their bodies and their brains all across this great country. The cars are full of personality as well. Heidi is a BMW Z4 roadster that is entered in the showroom stock b racing category. She is Orange with a wide blue stripe down the middle. She's cute, easy to look at and typically does what she is told. Her overall record is legendary as she has finished on the podium, top three finishing positions, 69 times in 70 races. There's also Kate, a heavily modified BMW Z4 she is blue with a wide orange stripe down the middle, who is a day by day trick bag with more complications than any man should attempt to manage. She is now turning into a competitive racing machine and her future looks to be less problematic. Our crew chief is a guy named Bull. His real name is Sheppard, not kidding, Sheppard Bull. He goes by Tom. Tom is racing to the core. You name it, he's done it or he worked on it. He's been everywhere and he's seen everything. You throw a problem at him and he will tell you how to fix it and why it happened in the first place. Tom, Toby and Heidi have won races all over the United States. They have won in Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska and of course they have won on every road course in the state of Texas. The list would be longer if they had raced in any other states---They have won in every state they have ever raced!

Tom Bull has cancer. Diagnosed more than a year ago, Bull has battled through round after round of chemotherapy. He has been given the coast is clear sign and placed on a maintenance drug, only to be told that the bastard was back a few short months off of the radiation. His fingers were regaining feeling, appetite had just returned, hair had begun to grow where it had fallen out. His life had to return to the weekly routine of hospital visits and constant testing. His doctor's created a pattern where Tom takes the poison every Friday for three consecutive weeks with the following week off. His attitude is amazing. Does he his work? Sure, sometimes. When he works, he is the leader. He shows no signs of sickness or fear. He never complains about difficulties or his need to rest. He finds great joy in being part of something that he believes in. He's too busy building and preparing his race cars to think about the pain. He has races to win. And this season we are going racing! We are taking the cars to tracks all over America. We plan on gathering checkered flags from as many of the great American race tracks as we can. While the schedule won't allow Bull to attend each race because of his strict chemo routine, the team will be with him at Mazda Laguna-Seca Raceway on April 28th and 29th. Finalizing the schedule will happen soon, please look for announcements on Classic BMW's Facebook Page. See you at the races.

The Projekt comes to Texas

As a continuing effort of development, the STU BMW Z4 from Classic BMW Motorsports made it's Texas debut at the Texas World Speedway. The quick car, featuring the BMW N55, single turbo 6 cylinder engine, has been a complicated and frustrating project. In its previous race outing it has shown signs of greatness, but mostly fault signs on the instrument cluster showing that something is not right. While at the garage in Plano Texas, the crew and crew chief, Tom Bull has made various changes and adjustments to the BMW roadster. The hopes were high as the car took to one of the fastest circuits on the SCCA schedule. In a continual downpour Toby Grahovec took the Z4 to the track and cautious guided the car around experiencing zero failures. In qualifying Grahovec posted a pole position worthy time and returned to the paddock area excited and thrilled with the behavior of little car. Descriptions of the car's speed actually contained utterances of profanity, from Grahovec, that must mean the car was really quick!

Race conditions remained the same as a seriously damp track proved to be to both the Z4 and to Grahovec's liking as Toby drove the car through the pack and posted the quickest lap time for STU cars and took home a checkered flag victory for the very first time in the STU class! A performance that displayed zero fault codes, not even a stumble, maybe all of the issues had been solved?

On Sunday, the moments before the race saw sunshine for the first time in days. The beginning of the race presented a soaking wet track, that would be drying as the race progressed. A decision to run racing slick tires, (tires made for dry conditions) made for a careful and cautious beginning to the race. The first lap proved to be difficult as the dash showed multiple lights on the cluster as the car exceeded 130 miles per hour. The gas pedal felt numb during this event and Grahovec cautiously guided the car around the track hoping to control a potential problem. A few laps of assuring himself that the car was indeed operational left Grahovec off the pace. But this race was about development and finding more potential problems. The problem at 130 miles per hour had yet to be seen and it sent the crew into motion to discover its source. The remainder of the race saw Grahovec continue to gain rhythm in the BMW and in the end he had finished the race in 3rd position, posting the quickest lap of the weekend for the STU class. (even with the maniacal 130 mph issues.) After the race Grahovec said that once the track began to dry, the car began to handle horribly. Looks like in the weeks ahead handling will become another area of focus.

Next race, Hallett, Oklahoma (April 14th-15th)

BF Goodrich SuperTour---Racing in the Rain

Texas has been in the middle of a horrible drought. Lake levels have fallen so low that docks are unusable and water supplies have been reduced to frightening low levels. What Texas needs is a spring full of big rains, and this weekend in College Station, Texas they got the rain they needed. The team from Classic BMW Motorsports cruised into the home of the Texas World Speedway, once a track on the NASCAR circuit known for very high speeds, and found their paddock area. They unloaded the two BMW Z4 racing cars and then watched as the skys darkened and rain fell on the track. And that was the view that they had until nearly 2:30pm on Sunday. Now, rain may bother some, but rain and Toby Grahovec, driver of the Classic BMW Z4's, are very tight friends. Rain is said to be the great equalizer in racing. It shuffles the advantage that a powerful car may have to the driver's skills and how well he can display his talent at total car control. Grahovec is quite good in the wet. Some may attribute this to his years of playing hockey and his expert skating ability, others may say that it has to do with his upbringing on the cold, slick surfaces around Chicago, Illinois, and then others may say that it is his years of working as a driver for Bridgestone Tires and their Drivers' Edge program where Toby constantly slides cars around parking lots all over America demonstrating car control to those that are in need of a lesson. Whatever the reason, Grahovec smiles when the forecast is for rain.

Saturday found Grahovec on pole for the Showroom Stock B race. Upon the displaying of the green flag, Grahovec in the slippery stuff, managed to quickly distance himself from the second place Mustang of Steven Zink. In orderly, methodical, fashion the lead spread to an unsurmountable advantage and Grahovec crossed the finish line with more than a 20 second advantage. (Victory number 4 for the 2012 season)

Sunday marked the second BF Goodrich Tires Super Tour Event of 2012. The weather conditions were horrible as overnight rains were so severe that the grandstands literally looked like waterfalls as the torrential downpours ended morning qualifying and postponed the afternoon race schedule. With a wet track the race began with Grahovec on pole and the little orange Z4 stepped right back to its pace from Saturday and again distanced itself from its class. Smooth as silk, Grahovec took the checkered flag and climbed the top step of the podium for the 5th time this season and the 45th time during his career with the Classic BMW Z4!

This also marks Grahovec's second BF Goodrich Tires Super Event victory on the 2012 season in the Classic BMW Motorsports BMW Z4 in Showroom Stock B.