Since I’m claiming to know something about the mental processes of a race driver, and also this thing I call intuitive driving, I thought it only fair that I mention my background/driving experience to hopefully establish a small measure of credibility, and so you have an idea of where and how I gained my alleged insights.
But first, in the interest of honesty, full disclosure, and a dash of CYA, let’s start with what I am not. This is also on the What is Speed Craft? page as well, but it bears repeating:
I am not a neurologist, or a sports psychologist, or an engineer, and I DO NOT CLAIM TO BE AN AUTHORITY ON, OR EXPERT IN, ANY OF THESE DISCIPLINES. I claim to be an expert on only one thing; MY driving.
I also do not claim to be an expert in vehicle dynamics. Speed Craft is about learning to drive, it’s not another vehicle dynamics book. In fact, the things I describe relating to tires and vehicle dynamics are not necessarily “right” from a Carroll Smith or Milikin & Milikin perspective.
Growing Up
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I was six years old, my parents took my sister and I to our first race; the Can-Am race at Laguna Seca in 1966. At that race I decided I wanted to be a professional racer, and a short time later, while watching the premier screening of the movie Grand Prix in San Francisco, I refined my goal to being World Champion.
From 1966 until about 1975, my family attended every pro race (Can-Am, Trans-Am, F5000, IMSA, etc.) at Laguna Seca and Sears Point. In 1975, our family joined the SCCA, and my parents joined the Flag Crew, so we added to the pro race schedule, attendance at every SCCA school, regional race and National race. We also traveled to every track from Portland, OR to Riverside, CA multiple times a year. So, we were at races probably 35-40 weekends a year; a pretty awesome childhood! Anyway, before I was old enough to work on the corners, I would walk around the tracks studying every lap of every practice, qualifying, and race session. This included sitting in the grandstand all day at Sears Point, in the pouring rain, ‘spectating’ at SCCA drivers’ school; watching five novices in formula Vees drone around in the wet was quite a thrill). I also studied all the books I could get my hands on about driving, chassis setup, car prep, etc.
First Season
Two months after I turned 18, I took the money my grandmother had left me for college and went to the British School of Motor Racing (BSMR) at Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern California. I went to this school for two reasons.
- They had a “Driver to England” scholarship program that I intended to win.
- The chief instructor, Jacques Couture, had taught Gilles Villeneuve; the driver I respected most.
After the school, I was selected best in my class, and early the next year, I joined the 18 race inter-school championship series at BSMR. Even though I had no prior karting or racing experience, I was immediately quick (I finished 2nd in my first race, and set the lap record during the series’ 3rd event).
I finished the season with an ‘official’ record of 4 wins, 3 second, 5 third, 4 fourth, 1 fifth and 1 seventh place finishes. However, on the track, I had physically won 12 races, with an additional five podium finishes, so had I not been screwing up, I’d have had podium finishes in 17 of 18 races. How was I screwing up? My Achilles Heel was that I kept making shifting errors that would result in “over rev” time penalties, which impacted my finishing results.
While I missed the occasional up shift, my errors primarily came when down shifting; I would start downshifting too early in the braking zone, and would just go Bang, Bang too quickly down the box, so when I engaged the final gear it would bump the tattle tale tach needle above the school red line of 5,500 RPM. I know now, that this was a sensation of speed issue (feeling rushed by all the activity in the braking zone). If I’d realized it then, it could have easily been fixed. Instead, I threw a band aid on it; I started waiting until late in the braking zone, and then just shifted directly into the gear I needed for the corner.
Painful Lessons
As I mentioned on the Why I Created Speed Craft page, a lesson (like learning how to shift properly for example) will be repeated until you learn it, but repeating ‘lessons’ can become very painful as I was soon to find out.
I had been waiting all year for the season-ending ‘Driver to England Scholarship’ race, which was supposed to be run without any rev limits. There were 130 drivers from the US and Canada who took part in the Formula Ford Festival style elimination races. I earned a spot in the finals and was getting ready to climb into the car when the word came down that it would be a 5,500 RPM ‘rev limit’ race because the school was afraid there would not be enough healthy cars left for the Media Challenge race that was to follow. I let the rev limit psych me out, and promptly went out, jumped into 2nd place at the start, and on the first lap, coming out of the last turn, in1st gear, I shifted from 1st to 2nd to 1st; (Zing; 6,700 RPM in a 5,500 RPM race).
The smoke coming out of the car was not from the engine, it was my dreams evaporating. Then I made my next mistake, I decided to follow the rules and only use 5,500 rpm instead of using all 6,700 to try and pull far enough away that I could offset the time penalty. I won the race on the track, but the time penalty put me back to 6th; they took 5 drivers to England to fight for the scholarship ride.
The Early 1980s
1980
In 1980 I couldn’t afford to run the full series again, but the newly renamed, season ending ‘North American Formula Ford Festival’ was open to any student who had done a lapping day or run a race that year. I entered the last event of the season and won my race from last on the grid. However, in the Festival, after working my way to the semi-final rounds, I was unceremoniously taken out of 2nd place by the reigning Canadian school champion.
1981
In 1981 the Festival was moved to Laguna Seca. I entered, made it to the finals again, and finished 2nd in the finals… to the guy who took me out the previous year – Grrr.
Doing my best Gilles Villeneuve imitation in car 16 on the way to 2nd in the 1981 Russell School Festival.
Paul Pfanner Illustration
1982
In 1982 I didn’t have the funds to compete.
1983
I figured 1983 was my last shot to make anything happen, so I saved up to run the Festival, which was at Laguna Seca again. I did a lapping day at Laguna Seca in the spring (during which I broke the lap record). A month or so later, I cashed in my ‘free race’ voucher that I’d won in the 1981 Festival, so that I could attended one of the mid season Laguna Seca series events; I won both of my races.
During the Festival in fall, I made it to the finals again.
(My Dad took the pictures at left of the first three laps of a flag-to-flag win in my elimination heat race.)
However, in the first heat, when I pulled out to pass the recently crowned SCCA FF national champion, he juked into me and knocked my nose cone off. It was a two-heat, aggregate time final, so that was that, because I had to pit (rules) and was out of contention.
On the bright side, I did set quickest time during the second heat, as I was futilely fighting my way from the back; that is, until I got too frustrated and aggressive and took myself and another driver out with a banzai pass attempt in the last turn.
Well, at least On Track magazine wrote something nice about me:
“Chamberlain lost his car’s nose on the back of Smith’s. He was black-flagged, and pitted and then continued, running alone in a demonstration of incredible car control.”
Out of $ – Out of Racing
So, that was it for my first stint at racing. And yes, I do realize that most of my driving was in the BSMR/Jim Russell school series and Festivals (I said most because I did also do a handful of SCCA FF races that I didn’t bother mentioning). Therefore, I understand if you’re wondering what the level of competition was like in the series, because we all know that fast is relative (being out front always makes you look fast, regardless of how fast you’re really going.)
Time would tell that the drivers in the 1983 Festival finals were legitimately quick; they included:
- The 1983 SCCA FF National Champion
- The 1983 Festival winner went on to win the 1984 Canadian FF 2000 championship, and the 1985 British & European FF2000 championships (before his life was tragically cut short by a Formula 3 testing crash)
- A driver who went on to win the 1987 Canadian FF2000 championship, won Formula Atlantic races, and competed in the European F3000 series
- A driver who competed in the Japanese F3000 and Prototype series, won his class at Le Mans, and drove in the CART championship.
- A driver who worked his way through Super Vee, Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights, and into the CART championship
During the duration of my ‘career’ (1979 – 1983) I also had the privilege of competing with drivers who went on to win championships in Indy Lights, Formula Atlantic, and IMSA — GTP, GTU, and Radial Sedans:
1995 – A Brief Comeback to Test my Ideas/Training
During my ‘retirement’ I occasionally fooled around racing karts, but did not do any other racing.
Eleven years after I stopped racing, I decided to test my theories and training methods by coming back to compete in one Skip Barber FF Racing Series race, which was held at Thunder Hill Park on 2/25-25/95. I chose this race because I wanted to test my techniques under a challenging scenario:
- This was my first formula ford (or any car) race in over 11 years
- It was the first time I had seen the Thunder Hill Park Track
- It would be the first time I had driven a formula ford on street radial tires
I’ll just share the results here, but will add a detailed account of how I went about learning the track and improving my performance else ware:
The Lap Time Results
The lap-time results were quite encouraging:
During the first seven laps of the weekend, my times went from 2:38.423 to 1:27.531
During the remaining 96 laps of practice and racing, my times dropped to 1:22.728, which was the third fastest time of the weekend (less than two tenth of a second slower than the lap record, which was set in my race).
I know we were running quickly because the fourth quickest driver won the Barber Scholarship Shootout that year and the Barber Pro Series championship two years later.
The Finishing Position Results
The finishing-position results were also encouraging:
- In the first race I started 10th and finished fifth
- In the second race I started fifth, led briefly, and finished second
- In the ‘open’ race I started eighth and finished third.
It was at this event that I met some driver who were struggling, and was able to help them; as described here.
2002 – And Back Again One Last Time
In 2002 I raced in the very competitive Spec Formula Ford class in the SCCA’s San Francisco Region. I competed in 8 races and ended up winning four of them and got 2 second place, 1 third place, and 1 fifth place finishes in the other four races. These were fun, tough races against very good drivers (I know they were good because one of the front runners went on to a runner up finish in the 2006 SCCA Formula Ford National Championship race.)
Leading the way to a hard-fought win at Thunderhill CA + I got the ‘Driver of the Weekend’ award too.
Anyway, I stopped racing after the 2002 season so I could spend more time with my four year old son.