What motorsports moment are you most proud of?

The "What project are you most proud of?" thread got me thinking, and I came up with this question. What personal motorsport moment are you most proud of? Could be a win, a personal best, a heroic thrash to get the car back on the line, attempting a daring pass and making it stick, anything. I'm foreseeing a lot of these being Challenge-related. Should be some cool stories.

For me, mine is my first FTD at an autocross, which was this year at the very last CNY SCCA event. As I've gotten a handle on the supercharged Miata, I'd been creeping up there in the raw times and spent the majority of this season as the #2 guy on raw time, always runner up to my friend Scott in his D/Street Focus RS (Scott's been autocrossing for quite a few years than me, has won our region at least twice, and used to be the region Solo head, so he's a tough one to beat). We go into the last event, and not only is he there, but another incredibly fast driver in our Pro class in an STX class Subaru BRZ who usually wins whenever he shows up, another very fast D/Street Focus RS driven by the son of Shelby American engineer Chuck Cantwell, and a badass CAM class S-10 with an LS1 and 305-width BFGs all the way around.

The morning runs, it is threatening rain (my car is terrible in the rain) but the weather seems to be holding off. I'm sitting around 5th in raw time but both FoRSes are beating me on raw time and I'm 4th out of 5th in my class (we run Street Touring, CAM and XS in the same class, so I get clobbered on PAX), with the CAM S-10 leading the class and an STR MR-S right on his heels. And then the STX BRZ lays down a scorcher of a run on his last morning run that takes FTD by a pretty good margin, with a 57.213 second run. We break for lunch and it starts sprinkling, and I'm figuring my day is done, I'm not going to go any faster. 

The rain lets up halfway through lunch break and is drying by the time the time the cars in the first run group take their first run. The guy in the STX BRZ has left but the Focus RS drivers are pushing hard, leaving nothing on the table as they try to catch him, both of them going off into the grass at least once. They never manage it and as the first run group finishes up and the STX BRZ's last morning run is still standing for FTD. I strap in and my first run is two seconds faster than my best morning run with a 58.630, but I launch a cone into low orbit. The second run was a little slower at 58.715, but it was clean, and was good enough to bump me up to 3rd in class and 4th on raw. And at that point I was pretty much happy. I had mathematically locked up the class championship an event or two before, and I was okay with a midpack finish for this event. And 4th raw was nothing to be ashamed of, since the guys beating me are excellent drivers.

I went to the starting line for my last run and I remember getting to the long (like 1/8th-mile long) slalom where I had been losing a bunch of time because I was all over the rev limiter in 2nd gear through it's entirety, and I had this moment of clarity where I thought "I got this" grabbed 3rd beforehand and did the whole slalom in 3rd gear with the throttle wide berkeleying open. I kept it clean everywhere else, was heavy on the throttle, and when I hit the finish, I heard a bunch of cheers from the timing trailer and assumed it was just because it was my best for the day. I pulled into the grid and it was one of those runs where you let go of the steering wheel and your hands are shaking afterwards and one of the timing people runs over and goes "You just set FTD!" I did it with a 57.167, which made me fastest on raw time by just 0.043 seconds. Also sent me straight to the top of our combined ST/CAM/XS class by 0.105 seconds. Such a good feeling and a great way to end the season.

Probably the time I was 2nd fastest in an offroad arena/obstacle type event deep in a tropical jungle. Why was 2nd so great? Because the only guy who went faster than me was in a pure-sport SxS, I was the fastest in any production-based street vehicle and the drivers and crowd really appreciated that.

Took this pic in the pit area:

This GIF of me diving down a downhill section also comes from that event:

The time I took a class win at an autocross was also pretty good, it was first time out with the current suspension setup for this car. I'd got plenty of class 2nds and overall 2nds and even championship 2nds before, but this was my only class or overall 1st:
 

The second time Chumpcar came to western Canada, a group of us decided it would be a good idea top put together a car, so we bought a 98 Integra from salvage.  Eventually, there was way too many people who wanted to join up, so I thought, "How tough can it be to cage and prep two cars to run 24 hours two months from now?"  So, back to salvage where we bought a 2000 Integra, which was an automatic, so then there was need of a manual swap, so out to the country to buy a junker with a stick.  Then, I discovered the 2000 had had the engine apart, so I dropped the pan and discovered .010 bearings, so no way that was going to survive, because Honda.

Anyway, I worked until we had to load the cars.  The freshened engine with standard bearings drove from my shop to Osler and back for a breakin, and off we went.

We finished first and third in class, second and fifth overall, because I forgot to tighten the alternator pivot bolt on the car I didn't have apart, and it took 20 minutes to get the belt back on and such.

Both cars finished, everyone had all the laps they could stand over 24 hours, we drank a lot of beer in the pits afterwards, and went to the hotel for steaks and much sleep.  It was one of the most difficult anf gratifying things I've done in motorsports.

I'm third from the right, in front of the 40.  I look tired...

I brought the Murdercycle, a 1980 Honda CM200T to the Hunnert Car Heads Up at Union Grove Dragaway. One of the few bikes up there, its 11 cubic inches weren't going to beat anything. 

Druring to mmorning's test and tune, i lined up against a blown fuel altered. The lineman asked in an almost concerned way, "Do you want to run him?"

"...HELL YEAH!" Because I can guarantee I'm the only guy on Earth with a little Honda TwinStar to ever race and altered on a drag strip. Of corse I got my ass handed to me, but I didn't care. There is satisfaction in being the only one to do something.

My very first rally cross. I think I'd had the P71 maybe a month at that point, and I was still getting used to it, so I babies it a bit knowing it need to drive home. Finally, last lap of the day I said screw it, I'm going to break something and actively tried to hurt it. I beat another rookie in a much newer, lighter vehicle because I just didn't care if the car made it home. 

The other one that pops out in my head was beating an F type in raw time and pax. Admittedly, another rookie, but a cocky one. I had him by 4 seconds in raw time in my miata. After finishing slowest of the day he took off angry and never came to another event.

I'm not super competitive, I'm not a great driver, for me it is just legal hooning, so to  beat others that are trying to actually win is always nice. 

Edited 12/23. On the other end of the spectrum, my least proud motorsports accomplishment was winning my class my rookie year of autocross. I showed up to all the events, so I won by default. The other STS cars were faster and better, but just didn't show up often enough.

Got invited to a Jaguar club autocross because they wanted Brand X cars to beat up on.

Brought my heavily modified 1981 Turbo Trans Am and saw that I was the only guy changing tires for the event.

Came home with FTD and was never invited back.

In reply to NickD :

Actually 2 separate events. 
 In 1986 Bahama's  speed week racing the factory updated Aston Martin DBR2 driven by Sterling Moss. I finished 2nd in class with my Black Jack special. 

In 1996 racing the Creme de la Crème  of vintage racing at Navy North Island where I was based for most of my Navy career  I took first place in my class.  The fields value was over 200 million dollars.  

Are car shows Motorsport? This is tongue in cheek but TCL was a tough place back then so getting this made my day.

Also, my only year autocrossing with CVO I managed third in class which was a huge accomplishment in a MkI against MKVs. So much fun.

In reply to NickD :

Navy North Island San Diego California  

I'm one of less than 20 drivers (Pastrana's on the list) to do the Brooklyn Tavern stage in under 7 minutes, you have to avg more than 60 to do it, it's a twisty nasty gravel logging road. We managed a 6:59, but we were in the slowest lowest powered car on the list. We pulled into the timing area with the brakes on fire. It's probably the closest I've ever been to driving at 9 and a half tenths... the late great Mazda 323 gtx was a great little rallykar, when it wasn't, yaknow, a non-runner.

At the SCCA Runoffs at Indy in 2016 my last 2 laps were my fastest with the next to last the  fastest and the final lap .002 seconds slower. The last 4 laps were within .4 tenths.

ShawnG said:

Got invited to a Jaguar club autocross because they wanted Brand X cars to beat up on.

Brought my heavily modified 1981 Turbo Trans Am and saw that I was the only guy changing tires for the event.

Came home with FTD and was never invited back.

My friends Scott entered one of the Jaguar autocrosses where they set up the same exact course across the country. He became a Jaguar national champion for a year. With a Subaru STi.

When my son was 13 we ran a 500cc mini sprint car.  At the end of the racing season a gentleman asked my son(Johnny) if he would like to try out his 600cc mini sprint. The night of racing was over so it was just my son on the track at the end of the event.  On his second lap he set the fast time for the night.  The guy asked if Johnny wanted to drive for him the next year.  The next year, At he won 3 championships for him.  

 

johnny went on to successfully race asphalt late models and dirt sportsman cars.  He always wanted to race full size sprint cars but I never had the budget for that.  Johnny is a mechanical engineer now. 

When I was a young pup I got hooked on autocross.  I started (one event) in a clapped out VW squareback just to see what it was all about, by the next event I had a clapped out gen1 rabbit GTI and I was hooked.  By my 3rd year in I decided to get serious and bought a very old SoloVee with some national wins under its belt for a great price.   

At our regional events I was almost always assured FTD because the car was so well prepped even a moron like me could turn good times in it.  The only times I didnt FTD was when another local brought out his B-mod.  Great car, even better driver.  

So my best motorsports moment was the one and only time I bested him and his car and my humble little SoloVee beat out his Bmod for FTD.  As a newb it was quite a moment.

I've got a few to choose from, winning my first motorcyle race, setting the D-sports Racer low record but if I have to pick the one I'll go with this:

2015 vintage race in the Datsun; I had a minor issue in timed practice and had to start the Saturday race in 25th place. It was only an 8 lap race, by the finish I'd managed to get up to 5th overall. It was extremely satisfying especially becuase I had some friends who came out to watch.

I started autocross in 2018, as a 62 year old. I am on my second Miata, and compete locally in E Street, which is a popular and pretty competitive class in central Florida.  
 

This fall I drove my Lancer Ralliart wagon in H Street for a few events for various reasons, including having work done on the Miata.  After that, I was planning to take the Miata to the FL State Autocross Championship, but it was cold and wet, so I drove the wagon again. 
 

The weather worked to my advantage with my low power, automatic transmission and 340 TW tires. Second in class, over better drivers in faster cars. 
 

We had an expression when I raced horses, "I'd rather be lucky than good." I'm okay with that. 

Winning the SIC in 2003 and by doing so also winning the SARRC championship for that year.

It took a village to accomplish.

These guys. 

These cars.

This event. 

And not pride for myself, but for a great group of people that got pushed out of their comfort zone and had a blast while it was happening. 

Pride for myself comes from this kind of stuff. This is the input shaft, output shaft, and shift collar from a Datsun B210. I welded this together in the paddock of a Lemons race with a Harbor Freight Flux welder. I honestly thought it would last about 10 minutes. That car stayed on track making laps for another 7 hours. 

The most pride came when my daughter, who had never driven on a race track before, took that one gear car out at midnight and got within 15 seconds of my best lap around CMP.

My first heat win gokart racing.

It's a no-brainer for me. Winning rallycross nationals in 2019.

Super cool thread. 

A very memorable kart win I had it was a crazy day where it was wet and dry and for the final I had 1 minutes to throw on some rains and run to the paddock to be ready for the race. I put them on wrong and luckily one of the dads of the karters noticed and we changed all 4 tires in the right direction in 30 seconds and I made it barely. I started last and was just flying through the field of 20, I found the perfect rain line and was just going for it. At the end of the race my friends had a bottle of champagne and I was able to celebrate. They ended up taking pictures of me spraying the champagne and put it on a mug for me. It was great.

I'm so overwhelmed by the sheer number of motorsports moments I'm not proud of to actually think of one I am.

Tim Suddard said:

Super cool thread. 

Absolutely, and while there's lots of fun replies from us Grassroots level guys, I'd love to see this answered by the pros that we all love and respect (Randy, are you there?).