The Last Chance Endurance Races at Watkins Glen

The PLANET MIATA/SPEEDWORKZ Team was at Watkins Glen last weekend for the Last Chance Endurance races. The fall foliage was in its peak season with all the vibrant colors in this beautiful farm country of the Finger Lakes region of upper New York State.

Most of the team leaves on Friday night for the 2 1/2 hour drive. Joe Iannuzzo and I for the last several years have left early Saturday morning as most of the activities for racing begin on Saturday afternoon. A driver’s school is also held this weekend in conjunction with the races and that takes up most of Friday and part of Saturday.

The region is buzzing with visitors who come for the foliage and the racers. The rooms on this weekend are scarce and the owner of the Glen Motor Inn, Vic Franzese, who is also a race car driver in this weekend events did us a personal favor and got us an extra room at his motel at the last hour. Thanks Vic, without you some of us would be sleeping under the stars.

Doctor Louis O'Boyle one of our teammates ended up in the hospital for the weekend as a result of falling off a ladder while painting his deck at home and broke his arm. He shares the driving with his uncle Joe Iannuzzo in the endurance race. Doc is one of a kind, the healing type doctor. He cares for everyone who comes in contact with, not just as a number but as a person. That is a lost art today. We called Doc on the way home to tell him he was missed and that all went well.

The trip is short for us a mere 2 1/2 hours but it was not easy in the fog, which was a big part of the weekend. More on that later. I slept most of the way as the night before I drove from Ocean City, Maryland where my college classmates had our 45th class reunion from college.

When we got to the track a long-time friend was there waiting for us, Randy Tagg. He is a professional photographer and he and I have driven the Glen together many times. We've known him so long we consider him part of our family.

When we pulled into our paddock there were  other friends waiting, John Morris and his brother Mike Morris. John hales from New Jersey. Mike Morris is from our region in Pennsylvania. John always has a friend, Bob, who has helped us at many races. He was part of our pit crew at other endurance races. Bob had his younger daughter taking pictures. I chased Bob and Joe DiMinio around all weekend trying to get them to quit smoking. It was a losing battle, I get one to put out a cigarette and the other would light one up. Bob's daughter was also drawing pictures besides taking pictures. Man these kids today are talented. John drove in the endurance race with Marc's friend Greg Kuter. Greg's dad also came to help. Henry Kuter has driven in a lot of races with us around the country. We had more help than any other team. Also there was Junior Zabriski and Nicole Cooper, and Joe DiMinno who shared the car with Joe Iannuzzo. Joe DiMinno is called Crazy Joe, not because of the way he drives, but his funny approach to life. More people should be like him then we would have a better world. Joe is someone who you could be around all day long for months and never tire of his company.

THE ENDURANCE RACE

Before the race ever began there was a drivers meeting to go over the rules. Chuck Dobbs, the chief steward, got everyone's attention by taking attendance. At least one driver of every car had to be present. The rules say there must be at least two drivers and no driver can drive more than two hours. Additionally there must be two mandatory pit stops of five minutes each. Marc and I were penalized 10 minutes for not making the second pit stop. We never intended to stop twice so we went from 8th to 20th. But there is more to the story than that. After the Endurance race, Chuck Dobbs came to the trailer and asked if he could see me. I responded, "what did I do wrong now?" Chuck said a competitor suggested we did not change drivers, I said, "not true" I sweated my butt of in that car with the temperature in the 90's for an hour and a half, and Marc did the same for another hour and a half. Then he asked if we made the second pit stop. I said no we never intended to stop the second time and I informed a pit marshal of the fact. He said, "fine, did you guys have fun?" I told him we had a ball, as we do every year, and off he went.

John Morris and Greg Kuter had the worst luck, their car would not run after the first pit stop and it was stalled out on the track for a long time before they got it back to the pits. Watching the race from the pit wall did not make them happy. When they did get it to the pits there were only a few minutes left in the race. It was not a wasted day but not the best when you come to race. Joe Iannuzzo had a bad back and after a little over an hour he came in and we literally had to lift him out of the car and place him on the ground as his back was in spasms.

At the start of the race, Marc and I decided, after last years crashes in the first turn, that we would start DEAD LAST. It was not easy to start dead last as the Sheridan boys had the same idea. As the cars were coming to the start the Sheridan car and I were slowing down and as the green flag waived I had to stop completely to be last, then the race was on. We came from 62nd to 8th in three hours. Not bad.

The endurance race was quiet, there were very few crashes or incidents. It was hot maybe in the 90's so after the race I went to take a shower. I felt I was in a carwash as you have to use quarters to get the water to turn on. Not a bad idea as no one will leave it running as it shut off on a timer. We took as many tools as we thought we needed to the pits for the endurance race, but ended up borrowing tools from our neighbors. Most of the cars were Miata's but there were a few BMW's, Acura's, Camero's, and VW's. During the endurance race Joe Iannuzzo's car was overheating so Marc and Mike Rossini put a new radiator in the car in a few minutes. Between them they have dismantled several hundred Miata's over the last few years.

Some endurance racers: Joe Plunkett, he owns Subway stores and is a lawyer from Easton, Pennsylvania; Nick Leverone, from Flatout Racing of New England; Jim Ocuto, a paving contractor from upstate New York to mention a few.

THE FLOWER STORY

I know it’s hard to believe, but while I was at a wedding in New York City, the Saturday before the race, I got a call on my cell phone. It was the registrar who said they were trying to straighten out my registration. Marc and I were driving the same car in the endurance race and in two separate races on Sunday. Thus, the confusion. I have done this so many times that I figured I better do something for the ladies in registration. I bought two large pots of yellow mums. Judy Dennis and Barbara Luther were there when I arrive with the flowers. From the smiles I knew I did the right thing, then when they wanted to take a picture of me with the flowers, I knew for sure it was a good decision. I may do that more often.

OTHER PEOPLE AT THE RACES

Some times we get caught up with all the racing stuff, we don't reflect on the interaction of people at the races. Josh Sutton, a tech in one of Marc's other businesses, came as our crew chief as Patch was in Las Vegas on his honeymoon. Josh has the quickest mind around. Take for instance when John Grzech brought pistachio nuts and some one said, "John you need to get a patent to shell them." Josh said, "They have a patent, it's five, eight-year old girls in Thailand who do the job cheaper than a machine." Roy Bergman and I had a long discussion of what we do to exercise our minds. Yes they need exercise or you become stagnant in your thinking process. I do games where you can't make a mistake. Roy never told me what he does but whatever it is, it works as he has one of the sharpest minds I have seen. A big thank you to Tom Weaver and Marie Sheehe as race chairpersons. Without them there would be no racing and without Marie there would not be any timing and scoring, which would mean we would never know who won or how fast you ran. Thanks for everything Marie and Tom.

I want to publicly thank all those who sent me notes after my crash at the Glen in July. This was my first time back racing since then. Larry Emery the Grid marshal sent a card and note I will always remember.

Mike Rossini and I had a long conversation with Ron Jasberger (elder gentlemen who race Spec Miata's). He has been around a long time and gave a history lesson on the Glen and how to drive there. Before I get to the point he was black flagged on the start of the Spec Miata race for jumping the start. You cannot get out of position before the green flag waives. Ron has been around a long time and is my hero at 74.

THE SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY

I did not get to the party held by the Glen Region, of the SCCA, for all the drivers, crew and guests on Saturday, but from the rave reviews it was a great time and they said the food was outstanding. Next year we'll get there with a little better planning on our part. John Morris and Mike Rossini ate our share of the food, I am sure.

THE RACES ON SUNDAY

On Sunday there were races all day and that became a whole different story. When we got up at 6:00 AM the fog was so thick you could not see more than 10 feet. Thick fog that forms off Seneca Lake in October is usually an all day fog, but we got lucky because the fog began to go away about 11:00 AM. As we pulled in the Glen I saw Joe Willer, the chief steward for the races Sunday, and asked if they had a "fog steward," to which he replied, "No, do you want to apply?" I said I love the weather but no thanks. Josh, from our crew, said just put fog lights on the cars. I drove the same car Marc and I raced in the endurance race in Improved Touring A (ITA) and then Marc drove the same car  in SSM, a regional class of Spec Miata. Confusing? Not really as the car was set up to run in both classes. I came in 12th out of 44 cars in the ITA race and Marc won in SSM. What else is new? Our teammate Joe DiMinno came in 1st in ITA And John Grzech 5th in ITS. There were a few classes running in the same race. The overall winner was Jeff Harding. Charlie Campbell had his #98 running in a few classes: in ITS he was 4th, and in another race he won in Spec Miata.

For me it was a fun race as I was trapped between a Volvo and an Acura for the whole race. I was faster in the turns and they had speed on the straights, but a slower car helped me pass a few cars in the last turn on the last lap. Mike Rossini, the great motorcycle engine builder, ran well in ITS, in fact he ran, as they say, the wheels off the car. Bill Weaver ,who I dueled with the whole race last year, was a few spots ahead of me but I was never able to get close. Last year we passed each other 5 or 6 times, but not this year. John Morris never finished the race as he was involved in an accident and got some body damage on his car. In the last race of the day Nicole Cooper ran her Neon to second place while Junior Zabriski ran his Neon into the tire wall going into the Boot. I took a bunch of us: Joe Iannuzzo, Joe DiMinno, Rob Baron (Nicole's friend), Marc, Josh, and me to get the smashed car on the trailer. The car was not that bad and the stewards noted all the damage in the logbook. For the non-racers, the log book is the history of the car. Every major part that is damaged is noted in the log book, so that at each race the tech inspectors look to see how the car came out of the last race.

This is the last race for me this season in the Northeast, maybe there will be another this year but I think it will be out of the division if there is one. It has been a great year, with its ups and downs, its good times and not so good times. I learned a lot about myself this year: that I still love the law (I tried three major cases this year), that I can drive great sometimes (the 12 Hours at the Point is a good example), that I can still dance (my wife says I'm getting better), that I can still cry (as I did when we buried one of my childhood friends), that I can still laugh (as I did when I went to my 45th class reunion and they told stories of things long forgotten).

Thanks to all the people who have been kind to me, to our crew chief, Patch, for taking care of me in racing and to my son, Marc, without you I would only be a spectator.

If I offended anyone I am sorry, to those who I forgot I will do better next year.

Until next year.

BE SAFE GO FAST HAVE FUN
Love "the commander" Mike Cefalo

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