Garage Heroes In Training

Latest Episodes:

GHIT 0099: Chrissy Mittura, Racing Driver and Host of the Everyone Racers podcast Mar 26, 2020

Show notes

For our 99th Episode, Chrissy Mittura from the Three Pedal Mafia and the co-host of the Everyone Racers podcast was our guest for this week. Chrissy was one of the key influences that helped us to start our team, so we thank her all the time and blame her some of the time, lol. Chrissy is not only and excellent driver that we are passed by routinely but has also helped our team immeasurably not only at the track but preparing for the track and our various HPDE events. With Chrissy finally being able to come on our podcast, we now have a complete set (four of a kind?) of the Everyone Racers podcast hosts. Now we have to work our way through the remaining Three Pedal Mafia team. You, our listeners, have been warned, lol. Chris may even learn something during this episode.

On this week's Dominating with Dawson segment we go over racing a "new to you" car, what to look for, what to look out for, and how to begin to get comfortable safely to reduce your lap times.

Highlights from this episode include:

* Chrissy is in a new position with being able to talk and not being interrupted

* Kate's recent dream about Chrissy

* Vicki reviews a video of her driving at her first ever race at NJMP

* Alan claims the title of "Cone Clearer" while driving the El Jeffe race truck, unfortunately, not a joke

* Vicki gets all philosophical with Chrissy over here approach to racing in Lemons and racing in general

* A full review of the Trucklet

* We are the second to break some new car news and pick at the gaping wound of the Citroen paperwork one last time

* We come up with a potential solution to the current podcast curse in the Lucky Dog racing series and racing on a Sunday (3 strikes and counting)

* Kate is looking for Chris to help with getting Alan towards any form of clean

* Kate picks Chrissy's brain for her upcoming season (we hope) where Kate is taking over as Crew Chief at our races

* The Grill Guys of 3PM get a shout out

* Great tips on pit stop coordination and paddock optimization

* A discussion on passing in high traffic Lemons fields and potential sad face aspects of racing

* Many tips and tricks from Chrissy's many years of racing in Lemons

* Potential herding strategies and a reluctant admission of the impossibility of herding shiny squirrels and the upcoming potential sainthood for Kate

* Pitt Race HPDE with NASA Great Lakes gets a full endorsement from Chrissy, as well as Bill

* Chrissy calls her shot for our upcoming Thompson race in August

* CMP vs Lemans, two things you never thought would be in the same sentence

* What it's like to race with and learn from your significant other, we may or may not have asked for ourselves, but it is sure to help you as well

* What to do when the cars are running well and there is down time available. We almost never have that as an issue.

* We discuss the merits of singing while driving with a new demo tape

* Alan breaks news about our upcoming Pitt Race event during our Good, Bad and the Ugly. Everyone takes it well, well sort of. Kate takes a very, very glass half full reaction.

* Alan: Domination? Chrissy: Have you seen me? Best retort ever

* The Save The Tatas team and car gets several shout outs during the episode

We hope you enjoyed the episode as much as we did.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0098: Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering on racing BMW's Mar 23, 2020

Show notes

Ben Liaw from Rogue Engineering was kind enough to come on this week's podcast. Ben races and also supports his racing clients at Rogue Engineering in Upper Saddle River, NJ, where they not only assist with race car prep and on track support but design and manufacture many parts improvements for many BMW models.

Also, on this week's Dominating with Dawson, we went over driving a new to you race car and what you should do prior to driving and how best to acclimate to the new vehicle.

Highlights from this week's episode include:

1) Stories of how his business grew from designing and manufacturing to mechanical and racing assistance

2) Some thoughts on car prep for racing

3) A great discussion of various BMW models that are used in racing, including strengths and areas where you may want to augment the stock parts and systems. Most 3 series models were discussed including the E30, E36, E46, E92 as well as the more modern F series models, as well as a few 1 and 2 series models and Mini's, including relative strengths and weaknesses between them.

4) Our first real discussion about the AER endurance racing series

5) Potential upgrades for racing our M240i

6) Spec E46 race cars and priority the addition of upgrades, including the subframe issue

7) Bill gets into a discussion while Vicki has computer issues

8) Alan picks Ben's brain throughout while he also goes shopping while we are recording "for Vicki" lol

9) Bill put Ben in an unfair spot to compare BMW's to other typical cars, like Boxsters/Caymans and Miata/MX-5's etc. Ben, you have our apologies.

10) Vicki wanted to appeal to Ben for any assistance with her latest E36 rear wheel hub and bearing replacement project/debacle. Ben offered his typical preventive maintenance program for hubs and bearings for his AER endurance racing.

11) We even go into critical spares and critical spare philosophy and the potential tradeoff vs pre-race prep

12) Several Dante references and a new level called "Wheel Bearing Hell". Vicki views this as the hidden 8th level.

13) Rogue Engineering's incredibly smart wheel studs with a hex end on both ends in case of a sheared stud

14) Bill finds a brand of power tools where he is fully qualified, and even Alan agrees

To contact Ben and his team or follow along with their various exploits, you can go to their website at https://www.rogueengineering.com/ or follow them on Instagram at Rogue Engineering.

Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please subscribe to our podcast your favorite podcast source. If you have any questions or topics you would like for us to cover, please feel free to let us know at: www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com or via email at: GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com and you can follow us on Instagram at Garage Heroes In Training or on Facebook at GarageHeroesIT or Join our Friends of GHiT group.

If you really would like to help us out, please leave a rating and review on your Podcast App of choice, Apples Podcast app, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, or whatever podcast app you use and we will address any questions that you leave on the review.

We hope to see you out there racing with us.

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0097: Nathan and Mike Howe from the Lemons New Zealand racing team Hooncorp Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Nathan Howe and Mike Howe, who talked with us all the way from New Zealand, are part of the Hooncorp racing team and our guests for this week's episode. We had to learn about the racing, the tracks, and the amazing roads in New Zealand from some locals. New Zealand has been on our bucket list and has moved up several spots after this discussion. The team has been racing longer than many of our team has been alive, so there a several pearls of wisdom in here along with our usual off tangent banter. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Highlights from this episode include:

An introduction to Nathan, Mike, their team and racing in New Zealand
Tracks and notable roads in the area and quick track impressions and reviews
Thoughts on how their team has done so far, including our traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly
1. Holden Commodore VN
2. Nissan Pulsar
3. Nissan Lucino
4. The Muttstang
5. Holden Commodore VK
6. Suzuki Ignus
Their cars and several we don't usually find here in the US including:
Jen has geographical issues between New Zealand and Australia, luckily she doesn't follow rugby
Their team history of over 30 years and counting
A great quote "There is no point being the fastest car in the pits"
We had several other "people" chime in during the episode
Several of the teams and themes in there New Zealand racing series
SpeedyCop's great impression on the New Zealand racers
Several local Lemons penalties
A rather embarrassing story about Liam's friend driving a "stick"
Nathan has a Nissan issue; it appears to have centered on the GT-R area of his brain
We make a trade for seats in their Commodore for seats in our Capri. I guess we have to finish the Capri now.

On this week's Dominating with Dawson segment, Ben covers the optimal seating position and driver positioning in high performance driving and racing to improve your comfort, performance and safety.

If you want to follow the Hooncorp Team, please follow them on: Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Hooncorp/ or on Instagram at HooncorpNZ or on GT Planet or on a great video at https://youtu.be/H-WJqni76rY

www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com

or via email at: GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com

and you can follow us on Instagram at Garage Heroes In Training

or on Facebook at GarageHeroesIT or Join our Friends of GHiT group.

And if you really would like to help us out, please leave a rating and review on your Podcast App of choice, Apples Podcast app, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, or whatever podcast app you use and we will address any questions that you leave on the review.

We hope to see you out there racing with us.

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHiT 0096: Eric Rood On the 2020 Lemons Rally Schedule Mar 13, 2020

Show notes

GHiT 0096: Eric Rood is our Special Guest Eric Rood from the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series reviews his history and the upcoming Lemons series, especially the rally events. Eric Rood is our guest on this episode where we review his car history, the upcoming 2020 Lemons races and especially the Rally events. We first met Eric when he was judging one of our races. Alan quickly knew all about him after he visited him 4 times. In addition to being an awesome judge, he has written for several automotive sites and currently helps steer the direction of the 24 Hours of Lemons series, especially their social media presence and the Lemons rallies. If you see Eric, please ask him about touring with Ozzy! (Details are in the first three minutes of our show)

If you would be so kind, please Rate, Review, and Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite listening platform. We would greatly appreciate it.

Highlights for this episode include:

1) Our best introduction to an episode, EVER 2) Vicki is vying for our lead master mechanic position/opening 3) We break news of an upcoming Lemons YouTube video on the latest Lemons Rally 4) Bill shamelessly begs for reviews and ratings of the podcast 5) What does the title of Everything Bagel exactly mean in the Lemon's org chart 6) Eric's writing and racing history and how he first started with racing in a Lemons event 7) What does being a catalog copy editor entail and how much you can know about office folders 8) Overview of the Lemons Rally events and describes the "process" of competing 9) Eric discusses some of the most forgotten cars we have ever discussed on the podcast, some thankfully forgotten 10) Rally stories abound including the Asheville Pinball Museum 11) Alan makes his debut as our sound board 12) Eric discusses a long list of cars he has had and would like to see in Lemons 13) An amazing (and backward) Good, Bad, and the Ugly with the best "Good" we have ever had 14) Our trials and tribulations related to getting our E36 BMW race car prepared for our upcoming race 15) Alan may actually have an apprentice "In Training" 16) We are now looking for a "Hub Tamer" Does anyone know anything about them? 17) We have a high level discussion about our telemetry system and electrical system upgrades. More details will come in an upcoming episode. This week's Dominating with Dawson segment reviews proper hand position while racing and how that can impact your driving performance and control of the car. To keep up to speed with Eric and the 24 hours of Lemons team, they are on all the social medias as the 24 Hours of Lemons or via his email at eric@24hoursoflemons.com Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0095: Nick Pon of the 24 Hours of Lemons team returns to kick off the 2020 season Mar 08, 2020

Show notes

GHIT 0095: Nick Pon of the 24 Hours of Lemons team returns to kick off the 2020 season Nick Pon returns to our podcast to discuss the current 2020 season for the 24 Hours of Lemons series and the various new aspects of the series for 2020. As usual, we digress several times and wander around our subject, but Nick very kindly tolerates us for unknown reasons. We eventually go into what the series is about and how welcoming it can be to everyone who has an interest in racing and how to get started within the series. There is even a new driver bonus program for 2020. If you would be so kind, please Rate, Review, and Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite listening platform. We would greatly appreciate it.

Some of the highlights for this episode include: 1) We cover the first two races of the year at Barber and Inde in Arizona and the first rally from Moscow to Paris

2) What to do if a plane lands on the track

3) The return of the Scrotium race at Road Atlanta and the usual snowy race to end the season

4) Any upcoming things, themes, cars, and tracks

5) Novel ways of staying outside the black flag area

6) The two 24 hours races and why we may never get one in the north east, but we do get the Hooptiecon at NJMP again this year

7) Cars, themes, and theming requests for current and future teams

8) We begin a program to get Lemons into VIR

9) An intro to Lemons in case you aren't familiar with the series and its welcoming climate

10) What car does Nick want to race in from the series

11) We explain to our younger listeners how cars were bought using a thing called the "paper"

12) Our podcast tradition of picking on Alan has its latest installment or three

13) Nick new moniker as "The Place Setter" and helps us with our travel race schedule

14) Nick gets subjected to several of our newer questions related to his car proclivities

15) We go a bit out of our normal order on this episode but following the rules isn't really our strong suit

16) A semi-subtle shout out to our friend Erling

17) We go into our never-ending battle with our BMW E36 rear hub and bearing

18) Vicki leads a discussion of tool drawer organizing techniques, strategies, and options. We will be putting several posts on our website if you are interested.

19) Vicki steals Alan's section and gives her first ever Batcave Tool of the Week

20) Alan shows the importance of following the process and the order of the operations

21) We then go into a long discussion of some of the issues we have been having with removing the rear hubs from the E36 race car

In our Dominating with Dawson segment, Ben goes into a discussion of the black flag penalty box, what happens, and how to handle it properly.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0094: Trey Shannon on Racing Fitness Improvement Feb 27, 2020

Show notes

Trey Shannon from Podium Performance Fitness is our podcast guest for this episode, just in time for the local gym to be freeing up from all the failed New Year's resolution people. This is our second annual episode with Trey, and we go over a variety of aspects of improving your fitness to help improve your driving, especially during the off season. Trey is located near Charlotte NC and is helping many high-level drivers and teams with their off track preparation both physically and mentally. Driving improvements will help reduce individual lap times as well as reducing any fatigue related deterioration during extended stints. If you are interested in improving in this area of your driving, please feel free to contact Trey at: Podium Performance Fitness in Cornelius North Carolina (near Charlotte) or on the website at www.PodiumPerformanceFitness.com and follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Highlights from this episode include: 1) Male vs female optimization 2) Adaptations for racing vs general fitness or other sport specific workouts 3) Low impact options to increase endurance baselines 4) How to establish a baseline performance level 5) Calories and portion control 6) Race day caloric demands 7) Fitness/Working out is the tool to improve performance and your food intake is your tool to gain or lose weight 8) We cover several of the popular exercise and weight loss strategies 9) The difference between the Rock and the Pebble 10) Vicki is a strong proponent of raspberries stuffed with chocolate 11) "Cauliflower if just broccoli without a tan" 12) Bill's Slurpee addiction comes to light, again 13) A story starts with "I saw this video on YouTube….." 14) Left arm preacher curls for driving down the strip or boardwalk 15) Non gym options for exercising at home 16) HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training 17) Visual performance improvement techniques for racing improvement 18) Vestibular system and its potential to reduce motion sickness 19) Brock String 20) Alan has a new mantra, same as the old mantra

This week's Dominating With Dawson segment discusses some of the differences between racing on fast turns and slow turns.

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team #PodiumPerformanceFitness #garageheroesintraining #garagehereosintrainingpodcast #hypertrophy #proprioception #cheatdays #workingput #racingfitness #racelucky #24hoursofLemons #raceprep #HIITTraining #motionsickness #vestibularsystem #BrockString

GHIT 0093: Our 2020 Goals and a Review of Our 2019 Goals Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

On this week's podcast, we go over how we did for our 2019 goals and set new goals for the 2020 season. In addition, our Dominating With Dawson segment goes over most of the flags you may see when driving on a track. As always, if you have a topic or request for an upcoming show or a Dominating segment, please let us know within a podcast review or an email to GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com. Thanks again! Highlights include:

1) We continue to improve our intro skills, still in training, lol.

2) What we have been working on recently and our upcoming plans

3) Jennifer's Lego League team has made the state finals

4) It has been a big few weeks at the Skripchuk household all around with 5 items at least

5) Our continued struggles with our BMW E36 hubs and Todd Rundgren may be able to help, along with several other of our bad puns and double entendres

6) What our goals for 2019 were and how we did

7) Jennifer needs to aim a bit higher for at least one of her goals

8) Jen proposes a requirement that teens learn on a manual transmission

9) What our upcoming 2020 goals are for this race season

10) Apparently Vicki and Jen are accepting custom themed cakes

11) Kate is the latest team member to get a nickname

12) Vicki is still working on her racing jargon

13) Bill lays an open challenge to El Jeffe

14) 2 week ahead car prep commitment by us all

15) Batman Tool of the week is a slide hammer or slap hammer

Our Batman tool of the week is a Slide hammer and how to use it best. Our Dominating with Dawson Segment this week in covering the basics of the flags you may see at a track. We hope you enjoyed our podcast. We hope to get better as we go. Much like our racing team. If you ever need to contact us you can do so at: Instagram: GarageHeroesInTraining or our website for longer articles at www.GarageHeroesInTraining.com and at Facebook as GarageHeroesIT and our Friends of GHIT page. Best regards, Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0092: Dion von Moltke from Racers360 and Professional Racing Driver is our Special Guest Feb 22, 2020

Show notes

Dion von Moltke is our special guest for this week's podcast. He is a professional racing driver who has won several major races including the Rolex at Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hour among many others. Dion is currently focused on an excellent online coaching website with several other professional drivers/coaches at Racers360. Racers360 provides many types of coaching to improve any level driver including track guides, technique improvement, webinars, as well as personalized driving reviews of your individual video or data. The costs are very reasonable at $100 per year for a Drivers Lounge membership that has access to all the universal videos and webinars and the individual data and video reviews are $99 per lap. If our results are typical, the improvements can be quite substantial and the value cannot be beaten. For this episode, we cover a variety of topics including: 1) Dion's racing history 2) An overview of Racers360 and its various offerings 3) Coaching is available in many areas of racing including wheel to wheel, autocross, karting, and motorcycle racing 4) How the coaches are curated and how they tailor their coaching to each individual driver 5) The tiers of the Racers360 personalized coaching: One Lap analysis for an +/- 15 minute review of your lap for $99 thru the full race analysis to review your skills and race craft 6) Many, many race craft tips and techniques to improve your driving and several common areas where you can improve 7) Comparison of professional vs amateur racing strategy and techniques 8) The best modifications to improve your lap times: HINT IT IS NOT ON YOUR CAR 9) What is BOP 10) When is the best time to start looking for assistance from the Racers360 coaches 11) Potential car set up opportunities available at Racers360 12) Dion recommends we get more cars. Bill agrees very quickly. 13) What lap video should you submit 14) The importance of hitting the apex, as well as car angle at the apex 15) We bond over our shared GTI history 16) What is his favorite shape steering wheel 17) Alan refers to El Jeffe as a trophy truck In addition, we begin our weekly series with Ben Dawson where we go into various topics related to racing and help you to understand and improve your driving skill and knowledge. This week's topic is "Smooth is Fast" Part 1. If you have any questions or topics for us to discuss, please let us know at GarageHeroesInTraining@gmail.com.

You can find Dion and his team at: www.racers360.com or using his email at Dion@racers360.com or Team@racers360.com. We really love the team and the help that they have offered. Best regards, Bill, Vicki, and Alan Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast and team members in the GHiT Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT Podcast Episode 0091: Speedy Cop Jeff Bloch is our Special Guest Driver (Part 1) Feb 14, 2020

Show notes

Jeff Bloch aka "Speedy Cop" was our guest for this week's podcast. We discussed Jeff and his team's history within racing and building some of the most memorable cars to race on a track of any type. Jeff and the Gang of Outlaws have been racing for more than a decade and have won 9 IOE's and almost every other award in the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series, as well as success in most other series including Lucky Dog and AER. While most known for the design of the cars, some are also quite fast and we can remember fondly getting passed many times at our last NJMP race by an Aquarium car. His knowledge and detailed memory of each car is really astonishing. One day we would hope we could get to 10% of his team's level.

Speedy Cop and The Gang of Outlaws episode highlights include:

How many of these cars come to be and eventually get built and raced
Racing and Car History
How did you choose your cars like the:
1. Upside Down Camaro
2. Griswold Family Truckster Station Wagon
3. Jurassic Park SUV
4. Spirit of Lemons Cessna Race Plane
5. Lancia Scorpion
6. V16 Lincoln Continental
7. Accordion car
8. SpeedyCopter
9. Reliant Regal Rally Car
10. Speedy Weenies Hot Dog Stand
11. Pop-Up Camper
12. Trippy Tippy Hippy Van
13. AMC Pacer Fishbowl/Aquarium
14. Light Bright car
Bill has a design suggestion, which should likely be ignored for something even better
How his team has changed over the years and how each member has continued to important even after they may have reduced their activity within the team and how Jaime, the amazing the team CFO is
How to Rent and then Build a Lemons car for a weekend, from scratch and some of the other craziest things experienced since joining Lemon's
How does it feel to be a memorial award and still be alive?
Structural options for adding features to cars
Any Cars that got away?
Dream car for road? For a race to start from?
What car would you love to switch with that you have raced against?
Thoughts on how you have done so far and tips for relatively new teams, mechanics, and/or drivers
Our Traditional Good, Bad, and the Ugly

The best way to keep up with Jeff and the team is:

Instagram at: SpeedyCop

Facebook: OfficialSpeedyCop

YouTube channel: SpeedyCopVideos

Website: www.speedycop.com

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

GHIT 0090: Improving Driver Comfort for Safety and Speed Feb 10, 2020

Show notes

A bit late on this episode, but we cover a ton of the various factors that can improve driver comfort. This will help with speed, lessen fatigue, and improve safety. We hope you enjoy this episode. Topics include:

Pre-race preparation

Seat position and size halo/containment seats
Seat angle and seat size
Seat Height and helmet height
Seat range and angle of sliders
- Additional padding, Foam pads/risers and Expanding foam
Air ducts, and helmet inlets
Exhaust flow and no leaks
- Sound and noise reduction and ear plugs, if needed
- Signs and labels within the car
Radios and Pit-to-car communication
Dead pedal
Surgical tubing for Harness release
- Verify harness is fitting for biggest and smallest drivers
- Verify everyone knows how to assist with tightening harnesses for drivers
- - Several styles of harness

- Hook/Latch Link vs Cam Lock
- Pull down vs Pull up vs Ratcheting
Steering wheel position, tilt, and removeable
Mirror choices, rear view and side mirrors
Ability to reach all controls, switches, pedals, etc. easily
Racing Suit sizing

Pre-Stint

Water/fluids, and Minerals especially potassium and magnesium
Ginger pills and/or Dramamine for motion sickness and queasiness
Rest/Sleep
Food
Camelback or Water bottle
Silk Glove liners if cold
Cool shirt and coolers if warm

Stints

Driver Order and its potential effect on harness and seat changing time
Windshield clean and methods to keep fog free
Helmet shield cleaned and not foggy
Eyeglasses
- Stints: Start short, we used 30 min at our first race and work up per driver. Some teams and drivers can go as long as 4+ hours
Drink as needed, stay ahead, once behind it is too late
- Critical if doing more than one stint per race weekend
When you think you are losing concentration, you already have been and its been too long