Why Should You Pay Attention to me?
After about 12 years of Autocrossing, I discovered Hillclimbing on an exciting weekend in September 2010 at Mt. Ascutney, VT – driving up a 20 MPH scenic tourist road at speeds near 100 MPH (100+ for more powerful cars – not mine)!
Since then, while continuing to race and instruct on the Autocross circuit, mostly in NH, I’ve run dozens of Hillclimbs on several VT mountains.
The culminating event for me was the 2014 historic Mt. Washington (NH) Climb to the Clouds. Wow – what a thrill to compete on the highest mountain in the northeastern U.S. with some of the best drivers from all over the world! I didn’t distinguish myself with my times, but I was the only competitor out of 75 who drove my car to the event, raced it, and drove it home! Every other competitor came and left on a trailer – a few in need of significant repair!
MY STORY
Until 1998, in my mid-fifties, my interest in sports car racing was mostly satisfied vicariously. I read Car & Driver religiously. I owned one of the early BMW 2002’s. I went to many races as a spectator. I loved driving fast, learning the correct line through a turn, etc., but didn’t actively participate in any organized racing activity until…
In 1989, I bought a nearly-new ’88 Alfa Romero Milano 3.0 Verde. In 1990 my 18 year old son Brian and I went to an Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROC) convention in Pontiac, MI. At that event we were introduced to Autocrossing and Track Time Trials. The night we arrived in MI, after a long day on the road, Brian called his mother and said, “Mom, tomorrow they’re going to teach me how to drive as fast as I can!”. You can imagine her thrill at hearing that!
Except for that event, it was 1998 before I got into any organized racing when I joined Central PA Region of the SCCA, still with the Alfa. Almost all of our racing in that group was Autocrossing. Those of you who have any experience with Alfa Romeos will understand the ribbing I got from my fellow Autocrossers about “having asphalt scrape marks on my door handles” (scroll to 4:40 in this video for an illustration)
In 2005, I finally sold the Alfa (with almost 200K miles), and began shopping for a good first-generation MR-2. While I was looking a young man showed up with an ’87 (2nd generation) Mazda RX-7 which he was offering for sale cheap. I drove it, liked it, and agreed to buy it.
While we were concluding the deal, he wrecked it! Happily, there was no damage to the drive train. He found a solid identical car with a bad engine in a junk yard, and agreed to swap the drive train from his wreck into the junkyard car. We did all that and I daily drove, raced and improved the RX-7 until 2016, when I moved to Argentina. In 2017, my friend and racing buddy Cliff agreed to buy it. That deal is done, and Cliff is thoroughly enjoying the car at last report.
Throughout this racing career, I’ve noticed that racers have to search everywhere to find the aids and accessories they need or want to support their addiction. My intent is to make that process easier.
WHY I WANT TO HELP PEOPLE
It seems a shame that sports car racers have to search all over the universe to buy quality racing accessories. My goal is to provide one site where people can count on finding the highest quality racing accessories (mostly non-marque-specific).
THE GOAL OF MY SITE
My goal is to assemble in one place lots of interesting information for sports car racing enthusiasts, and access to the best sources of accessories for sports car racing.
Over time I intend to refine this resource by adding new information and new resources when they come with a solid recommendation from you, and weeding out any sources with whom you have a negative experience. With your input we can make this the best source in the world for racing gear.
If you ever need a hand, have any questions, or want to share an experience with one of our suppliers, feel free to leave your comment below and I will be more than happy to discuss it with you. If you find a good source that I don’t offer, I definitely want to know about that, as well.
If you just want to chat, I love talking about racing.
If you would like to contribute an article you think will be interesting to my visitors, I’d love consider it. If I use it I will of course recognize you as the author.
All the best,
John Stevens
[email protected]
www.sportzracing.com
(814) 590-3854