Head'n north to Elkhart Lake, WI

[gsharapa]

So you eating Chicago Pizza yet???

[slider701]

Originally Posted by gsharapa

So you eating Chicago Pizza yet???

And some Chicago style hot dogs and Italian beef at Portillo's ???

http://www.portillos.com/portillos/

[LuvDaBlues]

I did say no tourist stuff, but too bad.
Chicago..... what a great city! And the people are super. Too bad it's so damn cold in the winter.

River boat Architectural tour .............. Check!


University of Chicago and the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House ...... Check!

I didn't realize it was so small. Thought it was taller....

Chicago Pizza.......... Check! Oh that hurt!

Gotta walk that off Tuesday.

John Hancock, Oak Park and Chicago Institute of Design next.........

[LREYBURN]

Steve:
NOW I GET IT. Since your profession is Architecture, are your writing off this whole trip? LeBron James goes to Florida and saves himself $12,000,000 in state income taxes over the life of his contract...you have a major investment sponsor, and now finding "tours" to enhance your "business", and fund your sickness..."RACING" Yes! You are my HERO.

[Jerry Clayton]

Oak Park is full of Frank Lloyd Wright stuff

[Dumpling]

In the middle of the protected (legally) cliffwall of buildings, overlooking Grant Park/Millenium Park...Chicago Architeture Foundation

[LuvDaBlues]

Used the "L" and lot's more walking. Antsy to head north for a change of scenery.

Pilgrimage to Frank Lloyd Wrights house and studio in Oak Park .......... the wife is getting tired of him.


Then hit the Art Institute:


Can't wait to get the F250 back. I feel like Cameron............... hopefully minimum mileage on the odometer. (Reference to Ferris Bueller)

[Nope It's Fake]

From the photos, it looks like you're having a great trip, but the best is yet to come at RA!!! I'll be up there on Friday, not running anything - just spectating for the day. Are you using those heads I sent you?

[Jim Werth]

Nasty storms coming through on wednesday night. Hope your not there yet. Could be tornadoes. 56 MPH winds at 5pm. Street flooding north of Elkhart Lake. Jim

[LuvDaBlues]

Woke up early and headed out. Sitting in front of the hotel where these two cars on an open trailer with "movies in motion" on the side. I expect them to be in the "Transformers 3" movie. The Challenger was quite nice.


Traveled through the back roads up to Wisconsin making a 1 1/2 hour trip into 2 1/2. But nice to see what the real country side looks like. But we FINALLY made it.


Dropped Yancey off at the resort, which is quite nice, and dropped the trailer and car off at the track. This my friends is new territory. I'm VERY MUCH a small fish in a BIG ocean. Very humbled by the rigs and outfits on site. For sure I'm up here for fun.

$8.40 for 110 Sunoco. Went through tech. Most detailed inspection I've been through. Nice!

Finished up while other Texan's showed up. Dined at Lake Street Café. Excellent cheese plate and a steak better than what I had in Chicago at Flemming's.

Now back in the room for REST.

Let's get this party started!

[LuvDaBlues]

Chris,

The heads are still on the garage floor. That's a winter project.

Jim,

Weather is quite nice. I do see heavy clouds on the horizon. Hopefully walks around us.

[CHRIS DAMSCH]

Hope you guys had fun in Chicago.

It was nice to meet you.

Have a great time at R.A.

[LuvDaBlues]

I pretty much failed to work the camera today. Pretty much in awe with the whole scene. Even without the entire list of racers shown up, the hardware around here is unbelievable.

Some beautiful, yet extremely fast cars. I will definitely be bringing up the rear. On the practice runs today, I've already pushed the car the fastest I've even been. The straights are very long, and the corners are not very forgiving. A LOT of fun.

I'll work harder tomorrow for good photo's. But the double brat was great.

Here's Larry arriving and setting his car up:


One example of some exotics:


More to come.

[Don Barnes]

Road America, separates the men from the boys, like I said earlier no 2nd gear turns on this track. db

[jayscobras]

RA will test you more of your patience than driving. I know a new track will give you fits, but this length will annoy your driving skill. Same rules apply smoother is faster, learn every lap, don' let it intimidate you. Let me know your lap times and i can give you some more senseless advice

My most favorite track in the world. ask the safety guy to give you a ride around the track in his pick up. Have fun and don't lift or brake in the kink and you will come home safe.

remember that the nationwide cars turned in the 1:39s but Scot Coyle in his cobra turned 1:29s. lew Payne in his cobra turned 1:55.

No prssure here but come back with stories to share...Please!!!!!

Jay

[LuvDaBlues]

Don and Jay,

You're both correct. Men and boys....... I'll consider myself a teenager. I did pass a couple of guys yesterday. Two Porsche's not handling the corners well, then I could pull them in the straights. But there was one Cobra Automotive Mustang (of many) that damn near broke the sound barrier when he passed me, but I caught him in turn 5 (????) after he decided to play in the kitty litter.

There was an original Cobra that passed me, but something went wrong and had to be towed in. I'll hunt him down to get some info on who he is.

A fellow Dallasite running a Duntov AP Corvette was right in front of me heading into The Kink when something decided to let loose throwing some oil on the track and lay out a military style smoke screen. He has a 2-3 man pit crew with him, so hopefully he'll be back up and running.

As for rides around the track, they're not providing that this year. I did sit in a track talk with Duck Waddle yesterday, which did help.

The track isn't really intimidating, but you're correct, it tests your patience. I'm use to 1.8 - 2.8 mile tracks. This 4 miler with beautiful scenery makes you forget it's a race track. You have plenty of time to think about what's coming up. No timing yesterday, but I bet I was around 2:50, if not longer. But the car stayed on the track, which is important at this time.

Friday schedule, morning practice then two qualifying sessions. One for Group 11, Mustangs only, and Group 6, Big Bore.

Hey Chris Damsch, I do have one pit pass available!

[gsharapa]

Yes more pics, more pics, more pics and how about video!!!
Have fun as it is a great place. Hey if you see a orange Boss 302 running and the guy's name is Phil Schultz it's my college roomate from 35 years ago as I went to Wisconsin. He knows the track extremely well as he lives up there!!

[mdmull]

Slight correction on track times - The track record is held by Dario F. in a champ car I think. No Nationwide car would average 145 mph around that track.

[Don Barnes]

It really becomes fun when you are on the down hill straight away at 150 MPH and two Trans Am cars pass you doing about 180MPH. It will take your breath away. LOL, db

[Jerry Clayton]

track record 1:39.866 / 145.9 mph Dario 2000 Honda Reynard