We are planning for our first ever All Ladies 24 Hours of Lemons racing entry at the upcoming Thompson event.  Vicki and Jennifer will be racing in the 2003 Chevy S-10/Isuzu Hombre race truck.  They will be joined by past podcast guests Elizabeth and Audra, for her first wheel to wheel racing event.  Alan will be racing in the 1984 Mustang GT Turbo with his sons Bennett and Quinn, who is joining us for his first race, and Elazar with Bill as a backup.  We go through our prepping of the drivers and cars, as well as our goals going into the event.  We started our team with a goal of eventually having an all female team entry and are finally able to do so at this event.  Elizabeth has raced in Lemons several times before, but this will be Audra's first ever wheel to wheel race, although she has tons of experience in autocross.  The race is coming up this weekend.  We will try to keep you posted.

Garage Heroes In Training

GHIT 0221 Our All Female 24 Hours of Lemons Racing Team for Thompson 2021

On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go into what is meant by log booking or having a race car that is log booked.  It is really not terribly complicated but it is something that you may eventually need to do and it is always better to not sound uninformed.  Let us do that for you, lol.  (PS It turns out we do have a log book from Lucky Dog, we just didn't know that was what it was.) You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/DwDLogBook     We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

DwD 0220: Jargon 101: What is a Log Book and What Does It Entail

GHIT 0218:  Scott Robertson from the Track Walking podcast (Part 2 of Our GLTC Series) For this episode, Scott Robertson reviews a variety of topics including his racing in the Grid Life GLTC series, his multiple One Lap of America entries, being a driving instructor, and his Track Walking podcast.  Scott had an ill timed racing incident earlier this year just prior to the 2021 One Lap of America, not that any racing accident is ever well timed.  He was somehow able to get the car back in running shape in time for the OLOA with the help of a ton of help from the racing community and extended family.  His podcast approaches our sport and driving in general from a very different perspective and is unique among the racing and driving podcasts that are available.  We hope to have his podcast co-host on Seth Lemke on in a coming episode and we cannot wait to meet his Grid Life and OLOA crew chief and co-driver Becky Burton at the track and hopefully our podcast. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/ScottRobertsonOnGHiT  We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers   Highlights from this episode include: 1)  How Scott’s racing career began and has continued to progress. 2)  We discover how versatile Scott’s Miata is in its current role, road driven, race car, tow vehicle, and sometimes hotel room and base camp. 3)  Vicki and Scott bond over their Miata love for a bit.  Scott has a super secret spare stash and upgrade kit that we will get out of him someday.  We’d love to get our NB Miata a bit more reliable and sturdy.  (and we all know Bill loves upgrading his checklists, lol) 4)  Details of his difficulties in preparing for this year's One Lap of America after his on track incident.  It literally took a village (of racing friends) and every last minute to pull off the miracle save. 5)  The intertwining of the 2021 One Lap of America and the current GLTC season have impacted each other and how the season has gone to this point. 6)  Tips, Tricks, and Do’s and Don'ts that experience has taught Scott over the years of instructing new and soon to be drivers on the track at an HPDE. 7)  Prepping for GLTC vs One Lap of America, and especially how to One Lap in a Miata race car 8)  Several things Scott got from Coaching with (hopefully our future guest for our GLTC series) Tom O (Tom O'Gorman) but we can also confirm one item that was not part of Tom’s coaching. 9)  Podcast goals and perspectives on what they are trying to provide to our sport.   To follow Scott, you can go to: @TrackWalkingPodcast on Facebook or Instagram @RobertsonRacing on Instagram @RobertsonRacingMaita on Facebook

GHIT 0218:  Scott Robertson from the Track Walking podcast (Part 2 of Our GLTC Series)

Our season highlight is the NASA Great Lakes HPDE event at PittRace and this year was no exception.  Our team attendees consisted of Jennifer, Vicki, and Liam in the HPDE 2 sessions, and Bill was in the HPDE 4 group, as well as auditing several of the HPDE 1 and 2 classrooms and track sessions.  As always, we were joined by our Three Pedal Mafia/Everyone racers podcast friend Chris, Chrissy, Jeff, and Jim.  In total, we had 8 drivers in our paddock area in the HPDE classes and 6 cars for this event.  In addition, our next gen trainees were all over the go karting track there and even raced a friend from the Penn State Formula SAE team from our Lemons races in NJMP and PittRace this year, Eric Junker.  As a super special addition to the event, Ross Bentley was also an attendee and was helping out in all areas and levels of the event.  We are very sure he is tired from this weekend, but it was great to finally meet him in person. PS  Sorry for Bill’s audio, apparently his microphone did not work during this episode. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PittRaceHPDE2021 We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0218:  Our 2021 PittRace HPDE with NASA Great Lakes

In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go into what is meant by “bedding of brakes” and several ways that it can be done.  Thank you to our listener A. Powers for writing in with this question.  For even more details related to Brake Pads and many other braking components, please go to our episode with Wendy from Porterfields on episode 59.  Quick link:  https://tinyurl.com/WendyFromPorterfields  You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/DwDBrakeBedding     We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

DwD 0217: Bedding Brakes

As a bonus, here is Alan’s original introduction from all the way back on Episode Number 2.  We hope you enjoy getting to know us better and learning where we are (or maybe where we think we are) and where we wish to go in the coming years.   If we missed something that you wanted to know, please let us know on our website or Instagram or Facebook.   You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/AlansIntroOriginal     We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0216: GHIT Host/Driver - Alan - Original Introduction

It has been several years since we did our host/driver introductions and we thought we’d update our newer listeners with a bit of background from each of our hosts.   Alan joined our team about 2 minutes after Vicki posted something about our first race.  He has been a car guy since birth and is a trained mechanic and worked on real cars for several years prior to joining our team.  Alan has succeeded in getting all four of his immediate family to race with us, as well as his brother.  He has adopted the SpiderStang and is in the midst of preparing it for our upcoming race in Thompson CT.  We cannot wait to see it back on track. If we missed something that you wanted to know, please let us know on our website or Instagram or Facebook. We have had several requests recently to break the episodes up by segment so the original interview will be coming along separately as well as the next Dominating with Dawson as a solo episode.  You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/AlanReIntroduction     We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0215: GHIT Host/Driver Updated Introductions - Alan

It has been several years since we did our host/driver introductions and we thought we would update our newer listeners with a bit of background from each of our hosts.   You can probably blame Bill for most of our team and our podcast, but he does have noble goals, lol.  Bill was essentially a newbie to racing, driving, and pretty much remains so as far as car mechanical skills.  As always, our motto of “if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing” applies to our team, our cars, and his driving education.  In most ways, Bill is our team manager and tries to herd the cats as best we can be herded.  He usually sets our team schedule and works on our systems, tools, supplies, parts, planning, and organization.   As a bonus, we included the original introduction we had way back when this all began (after we had only raced twice and had zero HPDE’s etc.).  We hope you enjoy getting to know us better and learning where we are (or maybe where we think we are) and where we wish to go in the coming years.   If we missed something that you wanted to know, please let us know on our website or social media etc.   In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we all share some of our “best” car trailer stores we each have had in the past.  Which one of our experiences do you think wins the title?  Please let us know. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/BillReIntro       We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please do not forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, do not forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers   Highlights from this episode include: 1)  Ben and Vicki pretend to be interested in Bill for an hour plus.  Time to increase their pay. 2)  We go into personal and teams strengths, weaknesses and our growth since we started. 3)  Bill tries to stay our of "sleeping in the tub" and manages to almost make it 27 minutes before inserting his foot into his mouth, again. 4)  Finding the best HPDE group for your interests and goals, as well as using the different groups strengths to augment your learning.  For instance some groups have more lap time, some have better in class or in car instruction, some may be closer or cheaper, or have a better schedule match to your availability etc. 5)  The most shocking thing to Bill was Vicki's selection of her podcast highlight not being episode #68.  We give a short summary but leave out many of the details and the carnage.  probably worth a review for the details.  Ben was very entertained. 6)  We end with a review of Vicki, Ben, and Bill's opinions on their personal skill levels in a variety of racing skills and scenarios.  Alan and Jen will cover this in the next team re-introduction episode with Alan. 7)  The All Female GHiT racing team for our upcoming Thompson race is discussed for one of the first times.  Prepped, raced, and repaired 100% by our female team members.  Hopefully that last part is not needed, lol.

GHIT 0214: GHIT Host/Driver Updated Introductions - Bill

We have been following the Grid Life series, especially their GLTC series for the last few years and since our schedules don't align this year, we thought we would interview several of the drivers, teams, and hosts for the next few episodes. Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly are both top drivers in the GLTC series and have competed as Team Kelly Racing.  In addition, they have a racing school to teach other drivers and also race shifter karts to further hone their skills.  During this episode, we go over their racing history, including what is GLTC for our listeners who may not be familiar.  The Kelly's also have a fantastic YouTube channel where they go over many aspects of their racing lives and help show you how they do what they do.  They were even nice enough to stay on and go through our Fast and Furious Storytime questions.  We wish them both good luck in this weekend's GLTC race at Pikes Peak.   In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start with what may be Bill’s dumbest intro ever and then work our way onto the topic of how to exploit chaos on the track to help you improve on the performance of the car and team.  Ben even has a bunch of examples of what he is referring to and how he routinely uses these areas to gain an advantage or pass a few of his fellow competitors. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/TeamKellyRacingOnGHIT  We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers   Highlights from this episode include: 1)  How and why did they each choose the cars they are racing. 2)  The reasons behind them not doing a K-swap but doing a J-swap to both their cars last winter. 3)  How they both seem to be at an entirely different level with their knowledge of engine/mechanical part swaps and assembly options. 4)  We all try to talk Vicki off the ledge and finally cut the hood of her Miata to add vents to let out some of the heat. 5)  What is it like racing with your significant other, advantages and disadvantages, along with a few tips that they have learned along the way. 6)  Some of the hurdles that come with starting to get fast when racing on a track, how did to deal with them and gain the confidence to push through that limit. 7)  The story of paddock famous Uni the Unicorn. To keep up with Team Kelly Racing please Subscribe to their YouTube channel at:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXf_WtojaK6gYmZGb1EXETw  Or follow them on Instagram at:  https://www.instagram.com/tiffanykellyracing/    Also, Tiffany will be appearing on the Discovery Channel on their new show The Getaway Driver

GHIT 0213: Tiffany Kelly and Justin Kelly from Team Kelly Racing

It has been several months since we did a WOOT episode where we go Way Off Our Topic of racing and go into another are of our lives, our fandom of virtually all things superheroes.  In this episode , we go over our thoughts about the three recent Disney+ MCU related shows:  WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki, as well as the most recent Black Widow movie.  This recording was prior to the season finale of Loki, so our predictions may prove accurate, insightful, or down right stupid, still TBD, lol.   We tried to cover a lot of ground during a single episode, but if you want more details, let us know, we can easily go into a ton more detail one every single one of these shows. We hope you enjoy this bonus WOOT episode!!! We are Garage Heroes In Training after all.  Thankfully we are not training in the Red Room. If you make it to the end, we do cover a bit of HPDE planning for both of our teams at the upcoming PittRace event hosted by NASA Great Lakes. Link to this episode:  https://tinyurl.com/WOOT2021July  PS For our racing friends, please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app update increases the capability of the system greatly, especially if you have a team or friends that race.

WOOT 0212: Our Thoughts on Loki, Black Widow, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and WandaVision

It has been several years since we did our host/driver introductions and we thought we’d update our newer listeners with a bit of background from each of our hosts.   Jennifer was a self proclaimed driver that started racing at less than zero.  She attended our first race and joined the team as a driver at our second race.  She has probably improved the most of any of our drivers to this point and is now a solid race driver and continuing to improve quickly.  On this episode, we go over where Jennifer is currently in her driving career and what her goals are for the next few years.  As a bonus, we included the original introduction we had way back to episode #14, long before Jennifer was “coerced” into becoming a podcast host,  We hope you enjoy getting to know us better and learning where we are (or maybe where we think we are) and where we wish to go in the coming years.   If we missed something that you wanted to know, please let us know on our website or social media etc.   In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go back into the racing jargon bin and find out what shaving tires means, why you would do it, and what it might gain you on the track.  We haven't ever done this and don't see it coming to our team anytime soon, but maybe it will help you or your team.  Perhaps it is more prevalent in a sprint race than our more normal endurance racing events. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/JenniferReIntroduction      We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0211:  GHIT Host/Driver Updated Introductions - Jennifer

It has been several years since we did our host/driver introductions and we thought we’d update our newer listeners with a bit of background from each of our hosts.  Vicki started from ground zero as a newbie to racing, driving, and car mechanics and has progressed to become one of our top mechanics and an excellent racing driver.  We go over where Vicki is currently in her driving career and what her goals are for the next few years.  As a bonus, we included the original introduction we had way back when this all began (after we had only raced twice and had zero HPDE’s etc.).  We hope you enjoy getting to know us better and learning where we are (or maybe where we think we are) and where we wish to go in the coming years.  If we missed something that you wanted to know, please let us know on our website or social media etc.   In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go over the ways that a front wheel drive car and a rear wheel drive car behave differently on a track.  This subject resurfaced with the start of work on our Honda Civic race car and Jennifer looking to get a Honda Civic project car.  It is not the same, but it is somewhat surprisingly similar.  Ben also goes into the first few things you can do to adjust the FWD car to behave more like a rear wheel drive car. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/VickiReIntroduction    We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

GHIT 0210: GHIT Host/Driver Updated Introductions - Vicki

Will aerodynamics help your racing car?  We begin to explore the field of aerodynamics with Johnny Cichowski from Nine Lives Racing on this episode.  As an introductory episode, we start with the fundamentals and work our way towards laying out a plan for adding aero to a race car that will result in actually having a faster race car.  We started with the very basics of defining most of the basic individual components and then looked at the factors that affect the performance of the car and then moved on to covering the best approach to adding aero to your car and the best ways to test and dial in the performance and balance of the car.  We also thought it would be great to add Tom Suddard from Grass Roots Motorsports onto the episode with zero notice.  We apologize Tom. In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start with our best intro lead in ever, but then we eventually get into our topic of ways to avoid coasting or lifting while on track.  Ben addresses not only the issue, but what leads to it starting and ways to break the habit.  Cold turkey.  Yes please, with a bit of tomato on sour bread please. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.  Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/NineLivesRacing1 We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1)  One of the things we like about Nine Lives Racing is their obsession with testing to optimize the design and make sure they design is optimized and effective. 2)  Wings, wings vs spoilers, wing mounting structures, end plates, air dams, splitters, canards/dive planes etc.  We cover what they are and what they do to make sure we are all on the same page to start before we get into the relative effectiveness and the various interactions between each. 3)  Did you ever wonder where to start adding aero to your car?  Or how to test to see if it helped?  We present several options that can be done before or at the track.  Rain may be your friend. 4)  If you don't think aero can help, it has helped several cars with very low horsepower several seconds per lap, including some low power Miatas and one notable GRM VW Fox.  (not a typo for a Fox body Mustang) 5)  How does effective aero change the way a car behaves, wear on your tires, suspension/drive height, and how it feels to the driver. 6)  We also had a great discussion of the proper sequence to add aero to the car and how to decide what is needed and when.  7)  Wing position vs wing mounting position vs wing mounting method and the relative effect of each.  Some things just don't matter. 8)  Wings for a front wheel drive, up front, out back, both? 9)  Common issues, mistakes, and misconceptions related to aero additions. 10)  Pilot tubes?  Pitot tubes?  lol.   You can envy Johnny's welds and wings on Instagram at:  @ninelivesjohnny or @ninelivesracing  Nine Lives Racing:  https://9livesracing.com Grass Roots Motorsports:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com

GHIT 0209 Introduction to Aero with Nine Lives Racing's Johnny Cichowski

“Tony Stark” was the obvious lead in to this episode with PGR Racing and their EV racing car that recently competed in the 2021 One Lap of America.  On this episode, Andrew DeKoning and Chad Martin go into the pluses and minuses of racing an electric vehicle in the One Lap of America and racing an EV in general.  We really had no reference to racing an EV, except for those unfounded rumors on several golf courses.  Bill was stuck late at work so he sounds a bit “tinny” for most of this episode.  We learned a ton during the episode about racing EV’s and we even know what PGR stands for now. In this episode of Dominating with Dawson, we go over what a contact patch is and how it is the key to driving and racing.  The contact patch is the portion of a tire that is in contact with the track surface, and the contact patch is influenced by the weight transfer during the driving.  The control of the contact patch through the control of the weight transfer is the key to maximizing your traction and use of traction during driving and is a direct measure of the potential speed and track time that you can achieve.  And we may have ended up planning a race with Ben Dawson. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc.  Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/PGRRacing  We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1)  We have never driven an EV on track so Andrew and Chad review some of the differences that they feel, hear, and the driving changes that are required related to changing from an internal combustion engine (ICE) when transitioning to an electric vehicle (EV).  Regenerative braking is also another significant difference between the two, along with the weight associated with the batteries. 2)  Where an EV excels currently and where there are still limitations and challenges to racing EV’s. 3)  What PGR Racing modified on their Tesla Model 3 to help with the challenges of the One Lap of America and why they chose the Model 3 vs the other available EV options. 4)  Details on the upcoming test of autocross'ing a Tesla in Autopilot.  No back seat driving though, thankfully, lol. 5)  Bill fights not to make the Tesla model name joke.  He may even have succeeded.  (Hint:  the model names are S, 3, X, and Y) 6)  A recent market change is the availability of several options for making the car suitable for track use and there are several more expected to be coming in the future. 7)  The downside of changing tires right before the start of the first event on the One Lap of America.  Key word:  mold release. 8)  Everything you ever wanted to know about charging for the transits and at the track. 9)  Did the Tesla have any mechanical issues and what the PGR team did to prepare the car for the event. 10)  Tips that they have learned from their One Lap of America experiences in an EV.

GHIT 0208:  PGR Racing - Racing In an EV in the One Lap of America

We are all suffering from a serious sleep deprived, post-race weekend hangover, and we are all calling in from across the US with varying internet speed and connections.  It starts with the somewhat normal Race Bar takeover and then we go into the race.  For this event, our drivers consisted of Vicki, Alan, and Jennifer and our two adopted teammates Aaron Diamond from the Saabs of Anarchy racing team and Elazar Mann from Race Bar.  It was a great weekend with many, many highs, and a few notable lows.  It was almost back to normal, well as normal as a Lemons race can be, and it was great to see everyone again. In this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start off with our latest GHIT swag t-shirt that we made for the Dominating with Dawson and how we surprised Ben with it a few weeks back.  We then try to get back into our topic for this episode where we go into several things that you can practice on the public roads and during your normal driving that will improve your track driving or refine skills that you may want to start to employ on the track.  It is a great time to practice driving with left foot braking, heel-toe downshifting, as well as other less obvious areas of high performance driving.  Luckily for Bill, Vicki missed his joke, so he did not have to sleep in the tub after this episode, leaving a bit more room for Bill, lol. You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast provider of your choice, including the Apple podcast app, Google music, Amazon, and YouTube etc. Also, if you could give our podcast a (5-star?) rating or even better, a podcast review, we would greatly appreciate it and it would help us to grow the passion and sport of high performance driving. For instance, leaving an Apple Podcast rating is very easy.  If you go to your podcast library, under shows and click on the podcast you can leave a (5?) star rating and enter your review.  A link to the episode is: https://tinyurl.com/LemonsNJMP2021  We hope you enjoy this episode! PS  Please don’t forget that if you are looking to add an Apex Pro to your driving telemetry system, don’t forget to use our discount code for all Apex Pro systems you will receive a free Windshield Suction Cup Mount for the system, a savings of $40.  Just enter the code “ghitlikesapex!” when you order.  They are a great system and truly invaluable in safely increasing your speed on track and/or autocross etc.  The recently released second generation systems and app increases the capability of the system greatly. Best regards, Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers Highlights from this episode include: 1)  The Trophy truck/El Jeffe/Bad Hombre/Loki truck made its way to the track a bit late, but the theming of the truck and our drivers was a big hit in the paddock and with several of the young fans at the track. 2)  The race weekend started off with some small issues with the El Jeffe that we worked through the entire weekend.  Then we had a few other issues as the weekend progressed.  In other words, a normal endurance racing weekend. 3)  Aaron does his best robot impressions, but the connection improves after a few minutes. 4)  We had an issue with the engine losing power and having difficulty starting.  Unfortunately, we were not able to diagnose and fix the issue at the track, but let us know if you have any suggestions. 5)  Our two guest drivers describe the glory involved with driving the El Jeffe Trophy truck.  Since Aaron usually races a front wheel drive (Saab) and Elazar is usually in a mid engine car (Toyota MR-2), the truck is a bit different.  It is not what anyone expects.  We think Aaron and Elazar are both hooked.   6)  In addition to our power/electrical issue, we also had a continuing issue with our new exhaust design.  We fixed it Lemons style to keep racing and then we made a plan to fix it permanently, of course this was after sending Jennifer out for her stint. 7)  Bill makes a terrible American Pie joke.  He says he was really tired. 8)  Aaron has raced in Lemons for almost 5+ years and had only two black flags in the entire endurance racing career.  However, in true GHiT fashion, he managed to get two more in a single stint on Saturday.  As Mars Blackman said, "Its got to be the shoes." 9)  Elazar describes how he dealt with a total brake failure going into the high speed turn 1, truly an example of dealing with a brake issue in one of the best ways possible.  To add a bit to the weekend, Elazar was again subjected to a loss of the mounting bolt on the upper front control arm on the passenger side. 10)  Alan goes for donuts, well just one donut, on our door.  He may also have to adjust the HANS device or seek another design. 11)  So in the end, we missed the checkered flag on Saturday by about twenty minutes and we missed it by again by about the same amount.  Cue the sad trombone.   We had a great time, we learned some more, and we were able to spend some time with our old friends, our new friends and our soon to be friends.  A special shout out to our sister Jennifer who came to her first ever Lemons race and saw how much fun this can be.  We hope you come back again soon.

GHIT 0207:  Our race at NJMP - June 2021

We are an amateur endurance auto racing team. We hope to educate everyone that they too can participate in our sport. We are a new team and learning right along with you. Our assumption is that you know very little to nothing about the sport but are interested in learning to drive better and eventually race in any local event of interest. We will cover all forms of racing and hopefully be entertaining as well as educational.

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Garage Heroes In Training

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