Here comes 2026

 Cannot believe it is 2026!

It has been a crazy year to start and is still is crazy.

First Race

Our first race was May 16-17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Justin had his engine rebuilt and we put it back in 2 weeks before the race.  

He did very well with 2 wins and a 2nd.  

Justin getting the year off to a good start

I was running the engine from last year and on old tires.  But I ran into brake issues the first day and had to rebuild the front brakes overnight.  I still managed a 6th, 4th and a 5th (I run in a different class than Justin)

Both cars were in one piece and went back in the trailer and I was hoping for a easy turn around for Lime Rock.

PS - We were the last group - by the time we got out of the track it was after 6, got home around 11, and had to be up at 6 to go work at Lime Rock.  Who scheduled me? Oh - I did. 😒

Race Results NH #1

Prep for Lime Rock:

Next up was Lime Rock on June 12-13.  Almost a whole month.  This should be easy.  Worked on my car and Justin brought his over about 12 days before.  A quick checklist and an alignment and we will be good to go - right?  Well his car was running hot at New Hampshire, so I was working on some cooling mods when my hand brushed up against a nut and it turned.  It was not supposed to......

Called the engine builder and he said not to run it.  So we are a little over a week before the race, what to do?  Well I did have a spare engine that was destined for another car.  The decision was made to put in Justin's car.  So one engine out and one engine in 5 days before the race.

Now which engine is supposed to go in?

So with the new engine in and a modified cooling system, and me getting new tires, we were off to Lime Rock.

Now we were Group 1 this time.  I hate Group 1.  Because of noise regulations we cannot run engines and drive cars around before a certain time - 10 minutes before practice.  But I had a work around - a muffler.  So I attached the muffler and sent Justin around the paddock just to make sure everything was working.  2 minutes later I get a phone call - the car dies and will not restart.  Running over with tools and a new fuel pump, it turns out the needle and seat were stuck - shut.  Back to our pits, we put the car back together and make the grid for practice with minutes to spare.  But the story gets better.

Justin takes off and I am breaking in my tires.  After about 5 laps I start picking up the pace. Coming through West Bend, the car loses all power and I shut it off and coast into the pits and all the way to the impound area, where an official tells me Justin came in on lap 3... (I will upload the video someday)

I get back to my pit area and Justin says we lost a new oil cooler.  So now we have 2 broken race cars.  I have a spare cooler for him, so we let his car cool off.  I get lucky and pull off one valve cover and find a broken push rod.  Talk to the engine builder and he suggests just replacing it and see what happens.  Luckily, he had not picked up Justin's original engine, so parts were stolen form that.

One oil cooler later, both cars were ready for race one.  The race started with both of us way in the back.  We were helped by a crash that brough out a full course caution.  This allowed both of us to catch up to the drivers in front.  In the end, Justin made it up to 2nd and I got 5th in our respective classes.

A quick alignment in the pouring rain that evening and both cars were set for Saturday (Lime Rock cannot race on Sunday)

The 2nd race also had its incidents, and when the dust settled, Justin won by 9 thousandths of a second, and I took home a okay 7th.  Oh - did I mention that I had a problem with one of my new tires and was now running a 2 year old tire....

All hopes where on  for a good final race.  It started off well with Justin leading his class and me running competitively until...the race was stopped for another crash.  This time it was red flagged and we really had to stop.  When we got going, the scoring went back a lap and this put Justin behind some cars in the other class - this is important.  When the race restarted, one of those cars spun in front of Justin and he had no where to go,  He hit him in the left front which straightened the other car out and he continued, while Justin spun off the track.

By the time he got going again, he was way behind.  Even with a broken nose he fought his way back to 3rd in class.

Almost Fixed

Me?  I got held up missing spinning cars and was just out for a long boring race when I saw I was catching the car in front of me.  Up for a challenge I kept going faster until on the last lap I was almost up to him.  I figured my best chance was to draft by at the finish line.  Well almost.  He drove his best lap and I just missed by 62 thousandths of a second.  Later I found we were fighting for 3rd!  He got the medal, I got close.

Lime Rock Results

So the next race is back at New Hampshire. And guess what?  I have Justin's engine back and he wants it back in his car!  Here we go again!

2025 Season

 Here is the 2025 New England Region Schedule

Does not mean we will be at all races - exact schedule to follow.

5/10/2025 NER Tech Day

5/24/2025 NER #1 New Hampshire Motor Speedway

5/25/2025 NER #1 New Hampshire Motor Speedway

6/13/2025 NER #2 Lime Rock

6/14/2025 NER #2 Lime Rock

7/5/2025         NER#3 Thompson Motor Speedway  (Day and Night Race)

7/26/2025 NER #4 New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Racing against Leukemia)

7/27/2025 NER #4 New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Racing against Leukemia)

8/15/2025 Majors Thompson Motor Speedway

8/16/2025 Majors Thompson Motor Speedway

9/6/2025         NER#5 Pig Roast - Palmer Motorsports Park

9/7/2025         NER#5 Pig Roast - Palmer Motorsports Park

10/17/2025 NER#6 Thompson Motor Speedway

10/18/2025 NER#6 Thompson Motor Speedway

Lime Rock Results

 Lime Rock was special in That Justin almost got his first win having to settle for 2nd by a tenth of a second and turning the fastest lap which put him pole for the Sam Posey Anniversary Race, and finished 3nd on the track and a formal podium.

Lime Rock Release on Sam Posey Race

In the last race Justin was running for 2nd and slipped off in Big Bend dropping to 4th, but he was in the battle up to the last lap.

Chris did not have a great weekend, but good.  Starting with a new engine, he was not sure what to expect.

He qualified decently and the car was running well.  

In the first 2 races he finished 11 and 9th respectfully,  and was looking to more in the last race.  Unfortunately, a car spinning in the first turn on the first lap left Chris no where to go.  He went over that car and then another car ended up on top of him.  So his race never got to more than one turn.

The car rolled on the trailer after a change of a wheel and tire, but there is work to be done before New Hampshire.

Lime Rock Results   (Group 7)

Lime rock here we come?

The next race on the 2024 schedule is Lime Rock - June 14-15.   Justin and I are both entered, but you can pull the entry as long as you do not turn a wheel on the track.  I have changed the engine from Palmer and just finishing up working on Justin's car.  So if everything goes well we will be on track on Friday.  

As of this writing, there are 34 cars entered, one of the largest fields for this year.

Palmer 1 - 2024

 The first race of the year at Palmer proved to be an interesting one.  Everything was going well until the second lap of practice when my engine started making funny sounds.  I pulled off and waited for the end of the session which came quick as:

• once car had a stuck throttle and stopped on course
• one car had a oil filter blow and stopped on course
• one car had an oil line break and oiled down the course
• and I was off on another part.

Now on the first lap, Justin lost part of his exhaust and where I stopped was close enough to go find it:

https://youtu.be/gRWWPmqCZQ4?si=JONvtqNlCcLchVpw

I ended up parking the car and went into crew chief mode for Justin.  He had a good weekend with finishes of 6, 6 and 7 and some good races.

The next race is Lime Rock and time to swap out engines if I plan to run.

Palmer 2023

 It was an interesting weekend.  Our race at Palmer was Saturday and Sunday.  After a beautiful week, the forecast was for rain and especially thunderstorms.  This is a problem as we can race in the rain, but the corner workers can not be outside in a lightning storm.  

Justin went up on Friday Night in order to get his car’s annual inspection.  I was thinking about it but then the rains hit Torrington.  I went to sleep and got up at 5am to drive up.

We had to scramble to set up our paddock space, but everything was well set up before 9am.

Our group went out around 10:30 for practice - on a dry track.  I told Justin I would lead him around for a few laps because he had never raced here.  (WE had reviewed my videos and he had watched many more)  Of course on the third lap, who passed me like I was standing still?…  I settled in following him, to see how good a teacher I was and how good a student he was.  Toward the end of the session he was pushing his knowledge and I was using his draft - and ended up with a qualifying time 1 second faster than him - this ended up being important.

Back in the pits, we prepared the cars for the afternoon race.  I was starting 6th and he started 8th.  The flag dropped and off we went.  Justin did a great job and made it up to 7th, while Chris dropped to 10th as some faster cars made up for their bad qualifying and avoiding an out of control car cost him the draft.  However, Chris’s time from qualifying was still faster that Justin’s race time, so Chris would start in front of Justin again for the next race.

Then things got interesting for Justin.  The race ended before 4pm, and he had to go back to Norfolk for his annual Volunteer Firefighter dinner.  No problem, the trip was 90 minutes - enough time for him to get home and get ready.  He would just have to repeat the trip the next morning, but had plenty of time since we were not expected to race until 10am.  The weather forecast was for rain,  the same rain that had not materialized on Saturday.

So Justin went to his dinner and then home for the night to get a good night's sleep and wash his driving suit so it would be fresh to go the next day.  That was until the call came in at 3:45 am for a house on fire - right around the corner from his house.  Jumping into his fire gear, he and the other firefighters who had been at the dinner, along with crews from surrounding towns, fough the fire until 7am,  when he was able to head to the track, having gotten about 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours - not to mention fighting the fire.  Arriving at the track around 9am, and not feeling much like racing, he was saved by the fact that the ambulance had been delayed getting to the track.  Sent back to his trailer to get 1.5 hours of sleep, he was back at the car ready to race.  Did I mention the rain was still holding off?

The cars lined up for the start and Chris went off in 7th and Justin in 8th - side by side.   For the first few laps Chris held onto 6th but in trying to waive Justin by Chris Barry took the opportunity to get ahead.  Justin followed the next lap, putting Chris down to 8th.  Then came the slip up and Chris ran wide in one turn, and Frank Varano came through to put Chris back in 9th.  The race settled down but Stephan Zavos in the Predator was starting to drop some oil.  Justin saw this and he and Chris Barry got by, but Frank and ChrisZ got stuck behind.  Chris Barry and Justin traded places at the head of the train while Stephen, Frank and Chris lurked just behind.

On the last lap, in the same turn Chris got passed by Frank, Justin made a slight error, it was just a few inches at 75 mph, but the car slid just off the track, letting the 4 cars past.  By the time Justin had recovered from his spectacular save (cars don’t go well on the grass) Kevin O’Day had passed him. The race ended with Chris in 8th and Justin in 10th.  Not the finish that he wanted, but considering he had never been on the track before this weekend, not bad.  And we still had a race to go - or did we.

Around 2:30 pm the skies got dark and lightning struck.  This is an automatic 30 minute hold.  30 minutes later another bolt and again at 3:15.  By 3:30, knowing that if we did race it would be in the rain, ½ of all cars had packed up.  At this time they called the racing off.  We were done for the day - packed up and had an early return home.  It would have been interesting if we had raced again, rain or dry.  I am sure Justin is looking to get back next year and put his knowledge to good use.

New Hampshire RAL/OWDE Weekend

 To follow

Thompson Night Race

 To follow

Lime Rock 2023

 It was an interesting weekend - it turned out good for us and not so good for some of our competitors.

There were 5 cars damaged during the weekend so they could not continue.  There were another 3 or 4 that had mechanical issues that forced them to drop out of the races.

On the other hand - our cars ran like a clock and were able to take advantage of some others misfortunes to score some good points.

In the first race we actually got to race and changed positions back and forth several times before Chris pulled out what he thought was a good lead.  However, the crash of other cars and Chris cooling off his tires let Justin catch up and he took advantage of that to catch and pass Chris.  Chris did not have a chance to repass as they checkered the race one lap early.

The second race also was affected by a crash and blown engines as they interrupted the racing.  Chris Started 9th and finished 7th, while Justin started 7th, dropped to 9th at one point and made his way all the way up to finish 3rd!  This was his second third in his racing history.

But it was the last race that was the best.  Starting 3rd, Justin ran with the leaders the entire race and was part of one of the closest finishes this year.  Even though he came home fourth, the first 4 cars finished under 1 second apart - the winning margin being .014 of a second.

If you want to see a first person view of the race - click here.

Chris had a lonely race, finishing about 19 seconds behind the leaders in 8th.

The good news is both cars went back on the trailer in one piece with good input on what we need to go faster.  Let's see what happens at the next race.

2023 Racing Calender

CZ Racing 2023 Calendar

All dates are tentative - confirm before attending  cmz55-CZRacing@yahoo.com

Lime Rock  CT SCCA Regional June 16 - 17 (Friday/Saturday)

Note Friday is free admission - there is a charge for Saturday

Thompson CT SCCA Regional July 8 (Saturday)

One day event - 2 races - last on after 8pm under the lights

NHMS NH SCCA Regional July 29/30 (Saturday/Sunday)

FV Festival/ OWDE

Thompson CT SCCA Major August 19/20 (Friday/Saturday)

National Race - not confirmed we will run

Palmer MA SCCA Regional September 9/10 (Saturday/Sunday)

Near Springfield

Thompson CT SCCA Regional October 13/14 (Friday/Saturday)

End of year Championship race

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All races predicated on how our year (and our budget) goes.

9/16-17 is at Watkins Glen - really would like to do this but it means cutting out one or more of the other races…..

Chris and Justin may split weekends based on finances and personal schedule.