Pizza, beer, House of Hong, “Hong’s Revenge”, rain, slicks, “purple crack”, armco, tie rods, brake calipers, backing plates, shift linkage, wineries, “Jon Snow”, and “letting the animals out of their cage”… these are a few of the things you missed if you weren’t at the Animal House at Watkins Glen this year!
That’s right folks! This past weekend GTM embarked on another epic track weekend, in partnership with HOD. Even though GTM has typically closed the year at VIR in November with ACNA, this year a few members are making a very special “bucket list” journey to Road Atlanta, pushing the WGI event to be the club’s official last big event for ’18.
It all started on Thursday. Much like last year, GTM set up headquarters at the airBnB duplex known as the “Animal House,” where we had about 15 people crashing for the weekend. However, this year we did things differently and created a package deal which included most of the food and beverages that were consumed throughout the trip. This allowed members to think less about the logistics and more on having fun! GTM leadership arrived in the early-to-late afternoon and did some shopping for essential items for the house, as well as weekend snacks, refreshments, and of course beer. After that, a quick trip to the track to drop off trailers, Pudgies Pizza to order dinner, and the house was set. Members started arriving around 5pm until about midnight Thursday night. Catching up, unpacking, and shit talking were the themes of the evening. (Side note, Brad N. and Adrienne M. went to House of Hong to place the food order for Friday night’s awards night, aptly named the “Monty’s”.)
On Friday, the first official day of the HOD event, members woke up early and headed to the track for the mandatory instructors meeting (at 7:15am, Thanks Jay!) and all-hands meeting shortly after. The weather was a bit on the cold side, hovering around 50 degrees, and the sky wasn’t quite as clear as we had hoped. However, the track was dry and conditions were fair enough. Track wise, everyone went out and had some fun, shook the rust off, enjoyed their first dry track day, for some, of the entire year, and the day went off pretty much without incident. Once the track went cold we all headed back to the house. Friday night was a pretty special night as GTM was celebrating our second annual Awards Night.
For those of you that might not recall, last year’s awards night took place at a Hooters in Thornburg, VA during the HOD event at Dominion Raceway. This year food was provided by House of Hong, serving Chinese food to Watkins Glen residents and visitors for who the hell knows how long. The house was jumpin’ (what started out as 15 people exploded into 30+) and the awards presentation was a smashing success. For more details, look for the accompanying article by Eric M. about the awards festivities. By the end, people were well fed, well swagged out, and totally exhausted.
Saturday, oh Saturday. Saturday started off rough.
It was cold, it was raining, and just overall a shitty way to start the day, again, early for the 7:15am instructors meeting (Thanks again, Jay!). A look through the paddock and garages and you could tell that many people were opting to relax and chill (literally) rather than take a risk.
However, there were a few brave souls that decided to chance it, including the majority of the beginner (A group) students. There was slipping, and sliding, 4 offs and collisions with the “blue bushes”. One member hit hard enough to severely bend their inner tie-rod. The conditions were certainly NOT ideal.
However, something happened about midday. There was a break in the weather, a serious break too, not the “oh let me stop raining for 5 minutes and start up again.” The sun was shining, the temperatures began to rise, and the track was drying. It was just after the third A session that the conditions were ideal enough for all the sleeping giants to wake up and head out on track. The last C group of the day, where the “animals were let out of their cage” was by far the wildest and often times most dangerous session of the entire day, if not weekend. People were hit so hard by “garage fever” that they got out on track and went crazy, almost completely ignoring the C group rules of safety. There were multiple close calls and passes without point-bys. Luckily there weren’t any collisions but it was dicey for about 25 minutes. So much so that the C group lead had to scold everyone and have a real heart-to-heart with all the drivers. Tempers flared and the heated discussion turned into yelling and more scolding. Thankfully, it was the end of the day for C so everyone could go sleep on it and come back with a new attitude on Sunday.
Rewind a bit.
Remember the Chinese food from Friday night? Well, due to some over-estimations, we had enough food left over to feed all of GTM for lunch on Saturday. This turned out to be a godsend because the track accommodations for food were terrible, especially on a cold and rainy October day. So, Harry B. (rilliant), resident GTM and HOD chef extraordinaire, fired up the griddle and started warming the left overs. It was much better the second day and exactly what we needed to combat the weather.
After the track went cold, HOD hosted their cookout which included sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers, and 4 different kinds of chili by way of a chili cookoff. To say the villagers were getting restless would be a slight understatement. Food was set to be served at 5pm but around 4:30pm people started pushing their way through the line and just grabbing whatever they wanted. This wasn’t isolated to Saturday night either, all throughout Friday and Saturday people just walked up to the GTM paddock areas and started taking our food. #NYHospitality.
The highlight for Saturday night; members Steve F. (piano, vocals) and Pete B. (guitar, not vocals) performed their renditions of popular piano bar classics while people ate. This provided some much needed levity to the whole dinner fiasco. Throughout the evening various people sang along and there was even a duet performed by members John C. and Erin K. I missed it unfortunately as I was packing up but I hear it was the greatest thing in the entire world. After that we all went back to the house, thoroughly exhausted. A few members stayed up and discussed philosophy and business while others watched football and started cleaning up before bed.
Sunday I can’t really speak to as I was only registered for Friday and Saturday, but I can say the weather was amazing and I can only imagine the track conditions were the same. After some last minute clean up at the house (someone left their dirty underoos on their bed, #undiegate, #nastyass, #washdemdraws) and furniture relocation the house was closed up until next year. I rolled up to the track and hooked up, said my goodbyes, and headed out. Another successful weekend was in the books and what an amazing weekend it was!
A few side notes:
- Some of the non-track wives came out to show their support. During track hours they spent their time chatting and drinking at several of the local wineries. I hear it was a great time.
- Not one single toilet seat was broken this year.
- Hong’s revenge is a real thing, many have complained about intestinal issues since returning home.
- GTM recruited a new member, look for that announcement to come out in the coming days.
- Thanks to GTM member Mountain Man Dan, the member who needed a tie-rod was able to get a new one by meeting Daniel halfway between MD and WGI. That’s some serious dedication and fellowship right there #shoeinfor2019montys
- GTM member Matt Y surprised us all by making the trek to come out and show his support. It’s always great seeing him! #GTMGodfather
If you like what you read and think you have a case of FOMO, maybe next time get off your butt and come to the track! We missed you!
