Two months ago I started putting together some final thoughts after my first visit to the RUNOFFS in 6 years. In the meantime I forwarded a letter to SPORTSCAR which was printed in the January issue so I won’t repeat that here. The inspiration for those thoughts occurred when I was chatting with Gerry Kraut, as his tattered SRF was being loaded into the trailer after Gerry was taken out of the race in a first lap melee. Despite his frustration following a mid-pack grid position and being run off into the mud on the first turn, Gerry still had a smile on his face and a most positive attitude. For him, the pursuit of the goal of the RUNOFFS had as much importance as the event itself. And well it should, as simply qualifying in such a competitive class as SRF is a real honor for the club racer. Not everyone can finish on the podium, and for many such as myself, entering my 25th year in the sport, the only way we’ll make the RUNOFFS will be as a spectator. My unofficial RUNOFFS count showed 578 starters in the 24 races or an average of 24 cars per race. Fields ranged from the horrendous 8 cars in S2 to 46 in the rain ruined SSB fracas. Other classes short of cars included T1 and CSR (10 each) and FA with 13. Large grids included 35 in FF and FV and 34 in both EP and AS. The Mid Ohio track demands precision and careful car setup to			handle the combination of tight, blind, and off-camber corners coupled with several fast bends, and there are many traps for the unwary driver who ventures off course. Passing opportunities are limited primarily to turn 1 past the pits and the turn at the end of the back straight, although the aggressive driver can always find someplace to get around an opponent. The long back straight at Road Atlanta is history, but it always put a premium on power over handling at the end of a close race. However, at Road Atlanta the old bridge and final turns forced a driver to get the handling right as well in order to hold the advantage power gave him on the back straight. Prime areas for spectators at Mid Ohio are the hillside and stands overlooking the back esses and the outside of the carrousel leading to the checker. None of these comes close to the berm and stands overhanging the track at Road Atlanta just past the original bridge turn. Being fortunate to have a tower pass and access to the TV feeds definitely offered the best viewing opportunity at Mid Ohio. In any case, the RUNOFFS are still alive and well and are assured of several more years at Mid Ohio as the new century begins. My congratulations again to all the LOL qualifiers, and best of luck to all club racers in the new season.   Deadline for the March Tonneau is February 8th. Please submit your material at the LOL Board Meeting that night or send it to Lois Bjelke.		LOL Board of Directors Regional Exceutive Greg Youngdahl Home (507) 332-0297 gregy@deskmedia.com Assistant Regional Executive Shannon Murphy Home:(612) 798-3575 blueflagger@yahoo.com Co-secretaries Steve Gingras Home: (612) 263-0739 T3sgingras@GVMF.com Norm Johnson Home: (612) 870-9503 NJohnson@EEAEngineers.com Treasurer Mark LaBarre Home: (651) 407-7293 mlabarre@telepool.com Members at Large Doug Dill Home: (612) 925-1731 dougd@edsonline.com Chad Lemmons Home: (651) 688-7976 John Niemi Home: (651) 766-8027 captmayday@aol.com LOL Web Page: http://www.scca-lol.org

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Tonneau On-Line	February 2000	Page 2
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