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Every year, the FFRL attempts to conduct a
social get together with it's drivers. A chance for
drivers to meet, discuss the future path of the
FFRL, discuss tips and tricks, eat plenty of food,
and share in some activities. Of course, since the
drivers of the FFRL are expanded nationwide and into
Canada, sometimes it's difficult to find an area
where the drivers can get together. So far, we have
been successful five times in accomplishing this.
Location of each "pitstop" generally
takes place in a centralized location where a driver in
that area, hosts the event and the staff of the FFRL
puts it all together. The "Pitstops" done in each
year are noted as the "years" just above this text.
Browsing through them will give you an idea of the FFRL
and how this is just more than racing, it's the
community.
In 2010, we have scheduled our next Pitstop
back in Cleveland, Oh on August 7th and 8th.
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2006 3RD ANNUAL PITSTOP - INDIANAPOLIS, IN |
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This year the 3rd Annual Pitstop was held at the
home of Lucky Dog Motorsports in Indianapolis,
Indiana. The first Pitstop (held in Toledo, OH) was
primarily made up of activities and mucho grub.
There we learned that drivers wished to have some
type of discussion. So at the second Pistop, we had
so much discussion that we couldn't even break for
activities. Now the third one comes along, and we
have a goal.
Drivers came from far and abroad when
everything was to kick off roughly at 11 am EST.
The schedule was broken down that for the first four
hour, discussion would take place in regards to the 2007
season, suggestions, ideas, and their racing experience.
Duck and Savina brought several FFRL Merchandise items
to the Pitstop to give drivers an idea on what they are.
As the clocks neared three, the
discussion was put in rapid mode skimming briefly over
topics so everyone could prepare for the tour at C&R
Racing. The tour was scheduled to take place at
four, and after two hours, the FFRL Drivers left with a
whole new look on things. We all knew C&R made the
"famous" radiators that are placed in Nascar, IRL, NHRA,
etc.., but what we didn't know was all the other parts
and things that they did. Chris, owner and founder
of C&R, personally gave us the tour. Amazing.
As we headed back, it was grub time!
Food and lots of it. Heating up the grill for
those beer brats, dogs, and burgers along with many
salads and deserts provided by the hosts, everyone just
got deep in conversation with themselves. Racing
with each other online is one thing. Meeting those
drivers in person is another. Chatting away, time
was lost to the night sky. Once the sun did set, a
small fire was lit in the back yard where we sat,
circled around. Another FFRL Pitstop is in the
record books.
Notes given at the Pitstop are found
near the bottom of this page.
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2006 3RD ANNUAL PITSTOP - PHOTOS |
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ABOVE PHOTO - Making
preparations in setting up the meeting. (left
to right) Savina, Ruger, Pegleg, Q-Ball, Doc,
Duck, and the back of Ravenloff. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO - In discussion.
(left to right) Doc, Q-Ball, Lucky Dog, Duck |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
Still in discussion. (left to right) Ruger,
Roller, Pegleg |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
#41 of Q-Ball |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
#95 of Doc |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
#66 of Lucky Dog and #77 of Ruger |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
Lucky Dog and his daughter Megan. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
After the several hour discussion, Q-Ball,
speaking for the FFRL, presents Duck a gift of
their appreciation. (left to right) Q-Ball,
Ravenloff, Duck, Sue's Aid, Savina, and Sue. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
Duck is presented with a replica of the car he
runs in the Sportsman Cup. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
Later, the FFRL Group heads to C&R Racing for a
tour of their facilities. Chris, owner of C&R,
personally gives the tour. (left to right)
Pegleg, Roller, Duck, Ruger, Lucky Dog, Q-Ball
and Doc is taking the picture. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
At C&R Racing, a very crappy photo taken by
yours truely of the Sprint car owned by A.J.
Foyt. C&R custom builds A.J's cars. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
Back at the home of Lucky Dog, it's feasting
time with burgers, dogs, beer brats, loads of
goodies, salads, and deserts. Though Duck is
shown laboring over the food, it was the woman
who made all the important stuff. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
The woman of the FFRL. Though we think we are
the boss, they stay in the shadows and tell us
when we can. =) (left to right) Savina, Judy,
and Sherry. |
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| ABOVE PHOTO -
(left to right) Q-Ball, Nelson, Pegleg, Ruger,
Savina, Duck, Ravenloff, Lucky Dog, Roller, and
Doc. |
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2006 3RD ANNUAL PITSTOP - NOTES |
- FFRL 3rd Annual Pitstop
- September 7, 2006
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1)
Welcome to 3rd
Annual FFRL Pitstop
a)
Appreciation to Lucky Dog
for hosting this year’s Pitstop.
b)
Location of next year to be
determined at a later point.
i)
Possible
southern location or Canada
ii)
Location is usually
determined by a centralized area.
(For
the 2007 Pitstop, attempting to find a location that a
tour would once again be available.)
2)
Season 6 Website
a)
Email Service.
i)
We offer any
current member an @ffrl.org email account. Email
accounts are set up for 20 megs. Accounts may be
accessed either with using Microsoft Outlook/Express or
Mozilla Thunderbird. An online access is also
available at mail.ffrl.org.
ii)
Individuals, who are no
longer with the FFRL and have an established email
account, will have 30 days before the email account is
revoked.
iii)
Spam mail
b)
New design and layout for
season 6.
i)
Main page
plus tabs to each Series
ii)
Storefront ad’s with
discounts
iii)
Main page offers intro to
Series wins
iv)
To mimic nascar.com site.
c)
Would a download section be
more beneficial rather than on the forums?
(Drivers
preferred this. Would be easier to find the
necessary files. Page will be password protected
to only members of the FFRL.)
d)
Car files
i)
Removing LO
REZ files unless needed by drivers. Time Saver.
(Need to
keep the Lo Rez as well. Some computers are
showing low frame rates.)
3)
Treasury
a)
Current balance is in the
positive of 83.90 plus Q-Ball’s donation not yet marked.
b)
Current balance does not
reflect:
i)
Domain
renewal due in December (hosting is paid through
next year)
ii)
Fee for Storefront (approx
55)
iii)
3rd Annual
Pitstop
iv)
Ventrillo (approx 100)
v)
Season 5 Awards
(approx 200)
vi)
Season 5 shipping
(approx 50)
c)
Reiterate that this was our
responsibility.
4)
FFRL Storefront
a)
Purchases reflect an 8%
mark up. After an accumulation of $25 is made, a
check is sent to the FFRL from Cafepress.
b)
Calendars will be made for
2007.
i)
Available
sometime towards the end of the year.
(Will be working on more custom items. Custom
items have a higher price tag due to the amount of
work.)
5)
IP Issues
a)
We made a
www.ffrl.no-ip.org address but the game does
not allow for domain entry, just IP addresses.
b)
Continuing to find a way to
keep a more constant IP address.
c)
Possibly purchase a new
router in hopes to resolve
d)
Contacting Verizon
e)
Static IP costs $139 a
month with business plan purchase. No intentions
on going this route.
6)
Sponsored Events
a)
Sponsored Events are “money
races”. If a driver would like to sponsor an
event, such as the NRT 400 at Lowe’s, to give out cash
or item awards, arrangements can be made. Sponsors
can choose the type of track and setup they wish to use
as well as the length of the race. Advertisement
for that sponsor will appear on the main page of the
website for 2 months prior to the event. Sponsor
chooses if they wish to set an entry fee to race.
If no entry fee, minimum of sponsorship is $100.
With entry fee, $50. FFRL takes 15% of initial
value to support the league and setup for the event.
Remaining monies to be distributed at sponsors request.
(At the
end of the Pitstop, an idea of the NRT300 was formed.
Drivers weren't aware of this until later in the
season.)
7)
Roster
a)
Unhappy with weekly “shows”
in Magnum Series.
b)
Several drivers signing up
and not showing
i)
Rosters are
now locked for the remainder of Season 5.
ii)
Roster for Season 5 was:
(1)
Magnum – 16
(2)
Sportsman – 18
(3)
CSCS – 18
(4)
Diamond – 19
(5)
Does not include later
registrants
iii)
Change in format – After
third week of no show, driver is sent letter informing
them of their inactive status in that series. At
that time, they are informed of needed participation in
next event or be placed on inactive status.
(1)
If going inactive, no
provisional points are awarded
(2)
If going inactive and wish
to re-sign, a $2 re-enlistment is required.
(a)
Money is not the issue.
The time involved from our part, is.
(b)
The $2 will force the
driver, if they really intend to race, to do something
on their part that shows us they are interested.
Driver will not be allowed to enter race until monies
are received either paypal or check.
(3)
If being placed back on
Active, provisional points they did not receive will NOT
be awarded.
(4)
Notice from the driver
that they will be AWOL for such a period of time due to
loss of internet, moving, marriage, etc... Will remain
in the active status as long as an expected return date
is given. For that period, provisional points will
be kept up weekly.
(Everyone
wanted the amount increased from $2 to $5. In
general, they liked this in hoping it will keep the
rosters up and the fields full.)
8)
FFRL vs. VISITING TEAM
a)
It has been brought up in
the past that the FFRL would wish to challenge other
leagues across the internet. Taking some of our
drivers and putting them against what others think are
their best.
i)
A team of 5
with 4 regular drivers and 1 substitute
ii)
9 team format with 3 teams
competing at one time
iii)
Admins of other teams to
log onto server as witness
iv)
Cautions cost points.
10 points per caution created.
v)
Possible Friday
nights/Saturday
vi)
Drivers in the FFRL will
compete for placement. Not hand picking.
vii)
Setup uncertain as present
point as well as prizes.
(Was voted
a DEFINATE YES. Very probably in the 2007 season)
9)
Rule Changes / Updates /
Refresh
a)
Lucky Dog
i)
Current –
Told on lap 2 to pass pace, pit, remove BF, return to
race, remove BF
ii)
Update – Can pit on 1st
or 2nd lap. Use 3rd lap as
drive through. At drop of green, a lap back is
awarded.
iii)
In both circumstances, if
driver is more than 1 lap down, he/she is to line up at
tail edge of lead lap instead of lining up on the
inside.
iv)
Failure to do drive through
on 3rd lap will forfeit any future Lucky Dog
passes for the current event.
v)
Option 2 – No Lucky Dog.
Remove from Rules. Y / N
(Will be
moved for Forum Community Vote. Generally, keeping
the Lucky Dog is favored.)
b)
Pit Box Entry and Exit
i)
As a
refresher, drivers entering their pit box may enter 1
box prior to their own box. Exiting, they may
leave one box after.
(1)
Driving through several
boxes usually results in wrecks
(2)
Keeps other drivers from
entering their own pit box.
ii)
Drivers caught driving
through several pit boxes will be forced to do a drive
through on third time around. If that driver is
driving through on the third time by (such as fulfilling
the Lucky Dog) and no others are in their box, it can be
overlooked.
(Was
mentioned, when entering your pit box the driver should
be aware of the driver in front of him and his pit road
selection. If the driver ahead is in the later
starting grid, he/she should be on the outside.
And vice-versa. Shouldn't be incidents were the
driver on the outside has to cut over in front of
another car to enter his/her box. When leaving pit
road, exit to the first lane and then move over to the
outside.)
c)
Restarts
i)
Been
mentioned that the 2 allowed restarts (in addition to
the race start) allows drivers to “push” chances.
Been also mentioned that if they only had the one, they
would be forced to be more cautious.
(1)
Option 1 – Reduce allowed
restarts to 1.
(2)
Option 2 – Reduce allowed
restarts to 1 plus force single file starts.
(3)
Option 3 – Remove restarts
and force single file starts.
(4)
Option 4 – Keep at 2 but
force single file.
(5)
Option 5 – Keep as is.
(Being
moved to the forums for voting)
d)
Pacing
i)
Pacing still
needs to be looked at.
(1)
Drivers still making
“contact under yellow”. For season 6, the FFRL
will be more harsh on forcing the black flag for
“reckless driving under yellow”. A tap, or
something minor can be overlooked. However, if
harsh contact is made (such as other car is turned
around), expect the flag. Saying “sorry” is nice,
but doesn’t repair the damage or return the lost
positions for those needed to repair the damage.
e)
Green Starts
i)
Progress is
much better. Drivers are, for the most part,
waiting for the green to push the speeds.
f)
Pit Entrance
i)
Still needs
work
(1)
If entering pits, drivers
do not need to be at pit road speed in turn four.
Pace speed is enforced at the white line entering pit
road. Slow pit entry holds up the rest of the
field especially if some of those have severe damage
that needs repaired.
(2)
Drivers on track do not
have to wait for drivers entering pits to close the
field to the pace.
(3)
Drivers in pit road may
pass one another without penalty
(4)
If entering pit road and
your pit box is near the rear, you should be driving on
the inside lane. If your pit box is near the
front, drive on the outside lane.
g)
Pitting under Green
i)
Drivers
slowing/stopping on track before entering apron
ii)
Drivers slowing in mid
turn, center lane, or even high, to enter pit road.
(1)
Drivers are to use the
practice session to practice entering the pits.
Use time to:
(a)
Find pit road speed
(b)
Find correct pit road
entrance
(c)
Practice getting off the
track to prepare for pit road.
h)
Add Server Drops
i)
If 50, 66, or
75% of drivers drop to internet flux, race is called one
lap prior to the drop if race is more than 50% complete.
ii)
Or, if race is still
continuing, keep as is making final lap as win and
accept that internet problems just exist.
iii)
If race is under 50%
complete, a reschedule or cancellation of the event will
take place.
10)
Rookie of the Year
Challenge
a)
Continues with Magnum Cup
Series
b)
Removed from Sportsman Cup
Series
(After
the discussion, the Rookie Challenge will remain in the
Sportsman Cup.)
11)
Championship Chase
a)
Magnum Cup
i)
Point spread
only determines those qualified to enter Chase. No
“top 6” or other number.
ii)
Point spread is determined
by number of drivers after the 4th race of
the season. Each driver is 40 pts with a max
of 400.
(1)
Example: 15 drivers
are entered as active after the 4th race.
15 X 40 = 600 pts. 400 is max total. If only
7 are registered, 7 X 40 = 280 pts from the leader to be
considered in for the chase.
(2)
TOP 6 is removed due to
the possibility of some of those drivers only getting
their due to the awarding of provisional points or low
roster turn out.
b)
Sportsman Cup
i)
Chase to be
including in schedule with same format for the Magnum.
(1)
To allow Sportsman drivers
to compete with a fresh start in points for the
championship if more advanced drivers are in the lineup.
(2)
New Name is needed to
recognize chase.
c)
Chase Awards
i)
Grand
Champion (largest trophy)
ii)
2nd place
Champion (2nd largest trophy)
iii)
1st place out of
Chase Champion (3rd largest trophy)
12)
Administration
a)
Adding assistant admin.
i)
Unsure of
full responsibilities at current time
ii)
Will be used as third party
in circumstances that need attention.
iii)
May be forwarded incident
point contests.
iv)
Advertise FFRL with
“general” racing sites and keep info updated.
v)
Responsibilities will not
be overbearing.
vi)
What do you think an “asst
admin” could/should do?
13)
Advertisement for Season 6
a)
Publishing about the FFRL
on several “general” racing sites.
b)
Including us as links on
others
c)
Will have an article
printed in the local newspaper to help grab local racers
14)
Practice Sessions
a)
Huge thank you to Grunt for
using his valuable time to make sure a server is up for
those who wish to practice on those certain days.
b)
Not many are practicing for
Sportsman or Diamond Series.
i)
In the
Sportsman, I see or hear about a couple every now and
then
ii)
In the Diamond, a couple
times I was solo or Grunt was solo
iii)
In the Magnum, none show
c)
Petitioning to remove
practice sessions totally on off race days and extend
practice periods prior to race.
i)
Fixed Series
– extending practice to 1 hour prior to race.
Server up at 7:30 and qualifying at 8:30 pm EST.
ii)
Open Series – extending
practice to 1.5 hours prior to race. Server up at
7:00 and qualifying at 8:30 pm EST.
(In
all series, the server will open at 7pm EST to allow for
90 minutes of practice. All seemed to favor this.)
15)
Series Info
a)
Sportsman Series
i)
Mentioned
adding “chase” to series
ii)
Removing Rookie of the Year
iii)
Is there a way to keep the
more advanced drivers out of Sportsman?
(1)
Drivers, either with or
without exp., like running fixed setups
(2)
Putting limitations on
racing experience will only
(a)
Force those to lie on
application
(b)
Find somewhere else to run
that offers a fixed setup division
iv)
With Chase added, Sections
A and B will be removed
(After much
discussion, it's impossible to limit the Sportsman to
just rookie status. With the Chase entered, would
allow for a higher probability and will also allow 3
different individuals to win. Moving in that
direction.)
b)
Diamond Series
i)
Keeping same
format. Seems to work well.
ii)
Tracks to consist of 1.5
miles or more continues
(1)
Add 1 road course?
(Drivers in
favor of adding 1 road course to series.)
c)
Magnum Series
i)
Need
something to draw attention to the division to show its
elite status and make the “advanced” drivers want to run
in it.
ii)
Chase re-format
iii)
Adding “Real Weather”
scenario?
(1)
Info provided by
weather.com
(2)
Will tune drivers ability
to learn about setups and conditions
(3)
Keep aids to help in
transition
(4)
1.5 hours practice time
will help finalize car
iv)
Time change
(1)
Change is needed for time
of race. Sunday nights have been tried for 2 years
without much success.
(a)
Delay start time on
Sunday’s till 8pm (current 7)
(b)
Change to Monday Night’s at
8pm EST.
v)
With Chase changes,
Sections A and B will be removed
(Long
discussion on this part. Weather was intriguing
but being moved to Forum Community for vote. All
drivers were in favor of a Monday night move.)
d)
CSCS Series
i)
History shows
change for 1 series per year
(1)
FFN
(2)
Extreme
ii)
Possible Format Options
(1)
CSCS – Keep
(2)
CSCS with 1970’s mod
(3)
Sprint and Outlaw Cars
(4)
IROC Team (2 drivers per
team)
(a)
Both drivers receive
trophies at end of series
(5)
Additional Series Idea
(a)
Extreme Sprint Series
(i)
3 races similar in style
1.
California, Michigan,
Darlington
2.
Talladega, Daytona, Coca
Cola
3.
Lowe’s, Texas, Las Vegas
4.
Martinsville, New
Hampshire, ___
5.
Dover, Bristol, Richmond
6.
Etc..
(ii)
10 min practice session
(iii)
Skip Qualifying
(iv)
10% race
(v)
No restarts
(vi)
Plus side – If out in 1
night
(b)
3 tracks due to accident in
one race, there are 2 more for the night.
(c)
With skipping qualifying,
field is random set to take the flag.
(Adding
an option to run the Late Model Mod as requested.
Moved to Forums for voting.)
16)
Close Meeting
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| 2010 Cleveland, OH |
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| 2009 Mannassas Park, VA |
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| 2008 N.Charleston, SC |
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| 2007 Fountain City, IN |
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| 2006 Indianapolis, IN |
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| 2004 Cleveland, OH |
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| 2003 Toledo, OH |
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