By Roger "The REAL" Johnson
This all started December 14, 2012 with an e-mail from some guy named Eliseo.
"My name is Eliseo Salazar. I am an ex Formula 1 and Indycar driver. I drove for AJ Foyt finishing 3rd at the Indy 500, among other things. I am from Chile and interested in introducing Solo racing here. I found out you are "the" man, to design courses. Could you do it for us if we send you a layout of the place?"
Those of you who know me, are well aware that a request to design a course in a virgin site is like offering free cocaine to a coke addict. Course Design on a new lot – in CHILE??? Ummm... lemme think about this.
"YES."
Oh - Ummmm... I probably should think about this longer than 3 seconds, considering all the other obligations and events I have committed to
"YES, Dammit!!!"
…apparently 6 seconds was long enough.
I began to gather information on the site. Eliseo initially provided a Google map image of the site. With no indication of meaningful scale, Eliseo asked Manuel to go the lot and gather dimensions from features I called out.
From these dimensions, and zooming way in using google maps, I was able to create a scale map of the Estadio Monumental parking lot. After 4 designs (uh… those are stairs you are driving down – maybe we shouldn’t do that) we finally came up with a design that was appropriate for a first time ever autocross in Santiago.
With that completed I asked if he would like some help running his first event. I thought that he would need to ponder that request and get back to me later. WRONG. Instantly, he replied "Yes, please"! So I told my wife and she immediately informed me, with her hands on her hips and head cocked to one side, that I was not going to Chile without taking her. Good point. I also coerced J.C. Nieto of the Las Vegas Region to join us. He is from Santiago originally and speaks fluent Spanish. Sounds like a tour guide to me! As a BIG bonus, he was familiar with the timing software I told Eliseo to purchase. This changed J.C’s title from Tour Guide to Timing God – a much more suitable title.
After a 13 hour flight out of Atlanta, we ended up in Santiago at 8:30 A.M., were picked up at the airport, and went to the event site to check things out. Eliseo is a master at public relations and getting sponsorship, so for this first ever event, he had Pirelli Tire, Cristal Beer as major sponsors and several other sponsors as well. The event site was completely decked out, the Cristal Beer Girls were there, Pirelli had tires and tire changing machines in place, food vendors and event clothing sales were all in place - a really big event was about to happen at Estadio Monumental!
When all was said and done, 77 unpaid entrants signed up to run - but only 27 actually showed up and paid the entry fee. However, the drivers that did show up were really enthusiastic and the winners are shown here getting their awards with the Cristal Beer girls and Eliseo, who is holding the mic. After discussion with Eliseo following the event, lessons learned were put into place, and attendance is now on the rise. Event #4 is coming up on June 9th with pre-paid entrants of 92 at last count. Speaking of the next event, I had a wild idea that I tossed Eliseo’s way. I suggested that he should take the “hot shoe” of this group, and with the sponsor’s help, fly Eliseo and that hot shoe to the USA to compete in the SCCA Solo Nationals in Lincoln this year. Much to my surprise his response was an immediate, "What a great idea!"
As a result, I now need to secure two tire warming seats from drivers already going to Solo Nationals this year since the cost of shipping a car from Santiago is prohibitive. We need one seat for the lucky hot-shoe and one for Eliseo himself. By the way, I checked up on Eliseo’s credentials on Wikipedia and he is quite an accomplished driver! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliseo_Salazar
So if you are in need of a tire warmer for the Solo Nationals this September, please contact me via e-mail: rogerthereal@entouch.net.
Your help would really be appreciated and would make this opportunity very special for our friends from Santiago, Chile.
