Motorsports Marketing Update: Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland presented by Firstar

By: Jeff Glenn, driver of the # 73 Boise Cascade Office Products Barber Dodge Race Car

The Full Story

	Welcome to the second installment of the Boise Cascade Office Products 2000 Barber Dodge Pro Series Racing effort from Cleveland Ohio. The Barber Dodge Pro Series ran as a support race July 1st to the FedEx Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race held the following day at Burke Lakefront Airport on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland. For information on previous events and tests of the Boise Cascade Office Products (BCOP) race car, check out the "updates" section.
	I arrived in town on Wednesday afternoon in order to get my bearings in Cleveland, and locate the Boise Cascade Office Products Cleveland Branch office. Tammy Pruitt (BCOP Sports Marketing) had arranged a Thursday morning appearance at the branch location.
Boise Cascade Office Products Cleveland Branch '	Thursday morning: I headed out to the BCOP Cleveland Branch office, where I met up with Tammy Pruitt who introduced me to some of the key players including Dan Zettle and Mark Honeycutt. We had an impromptu autograph signing session, and I was able to spend a few minutes talking with some of the sales force that happened to be in the office for a training seminar. Everyone was extremely nice, and seemed genuinely excited about the Boise racing program. We talked a little bit about the program's ability to generate new business contacts, entertain clients and employees, and build rapport between the sales force and their customers. After the introductions, Frank Buchwald gave me the official tour of their facility.
Burke Lakefront Airport Circuit	I rolled out of the branch at around 12:45pm and found my way out to the track. My "radio man" Steve Glenn (my dad) and my "photographer" Cherryl Glenn (my mom) both made it out for this event. The three of us took care of registration, and checked out the temporary facility. The Barber Dodge Pro Series "paddock" area was actually in the Business Aircraft Center hangar. IMG, the event promoter does an amazing job of turning a working airport into a track in very little time. This was my first visit to the course at Burke Lakefront Airport - known for its 120' wide straights and bumpy concrete surfaces. The airport is live with air traffic until very early Friday morning. I believe the last plane landed at about 3:30am. It is usually one of the more interesting circuits because of the width of the track. Most temporary circuits (Detroit, for example) are usually narrow streets lined with concrete "K-wall" barriers with no runoff room, and are notorious for being difficult to pass other cars. Burke Lakefront Airport's course is wide, and there are relatively few things to hit at the edges of the course. This makes for interesting racing because you have more options for "lines" through the corners, and can run side by side on the straights and into the corners without the fear of being pushed into a wall when overtaking another car. With the airport still active, it is impossible to get out and walk the track or take any reconnaissance laps in the rental car. Late Thursday afternoon I climbed up on some unfinished grandstands and tried to get a glimpse of the 2.1 mile track. I would have to wait until Friday morning to get a feel for the track from inside the car. While I was at the Boise branch in the morning and after I left the track in the evening, a couple of thunderstorms rolled through and dumped what seemed like a foot of rain and a little hail for good measure.
	Friday morning: Weather: Sunny and warm. Our drivers meeting took place at 9:00am. The series discussed several problems that resulted in a crash at the start of the Detroit race in order to discourage a similar start here in Cleveland. There was also news of a possible added venue in Chicago July 29th with Cart on the oval. Later in the weekend the drivers were notified that the negotiations had fallen through, and this event would not be added to the schedule.
Rolling out of the Barber Dodge paddock	We were the first cars scheduled to run on Friday morning. At our start time of 10:30, there were multiple forklifts on the track carrying concrete barriers around, and some of the tire-barriers were still under construction. Occasionally when time adjustments have to be made, the support series usually ends up with the short end of the stick. Our half-hour first session was reduced to twelve minutes of track time. The course was extremely dusty, and a bit slippery. I was still feeling my way around the circuit at the end of the first session, and the car was loose (sliding at the rear). Dan Zettle, Frank Buchwald, and Tammy Pruitt from Boise Cascade Office Products were all on hand on Friday, scoping things out and getting organized for their hospitality event on Saturday and Sunday.
On track, qualifying	First qualifying session: 6:05pm Friday. After looking at the computer data from the first session, I decided to add some wing to both ends of the car. I added a little more to the rear to help the "loose" condition. I also stiffened the rebound on the rear shocks to hold the rear of the car down through the corners. By 6:00pm, the CART cars had been on the track a couple of times and had laid down some rubber which helped improve the grip of the track surface as well as adding another visual reference point in a darker line on the otherwise light concrete. Identifying visual reference points for braking or turning is another difficult aspect of this super wide temporary circuit. At the start of the race, if you are trying to pass way down on the inside going into turn one, you cannot see the braking markers on the outside of the track and end up into the first corner with way too much speed. In this session the car was a little better, but went loose midway through the session. I adjusted the rear swaybar to allow the rear to roll a bit more, but it was still a bit loose in the high and mid-speed corners. I had taken about three seconds off of my practice time, but was still considerably off of the pace. I ended up 23rd. I got out of the track late, looked at the data from the second session and talked to Norton Gaston (an engineer I had worked with on the Carbir project, who I have bounced ideas off of during these first two races.) Together we decided to drop the front wing a touch to help the aero balance of the car in the faster corners, and planned to back off of the rear swaybar in the car if it was still feeling loose.
	Saturday Morning: Weather: Sunny and warm. I arrived at the track around 9:00 to meet the Boise guests at the BCOP hospitality tent. After meeting and talking with everyone, we made our way over to the Barber Dodge Pro Series Paddock in the hangar to show our guests the Boise Cascade Office Products car, and show them the details involved in running with a professional racing series. At 11:30am we had our final qualifying session. We headed out, and on the third lap of the qualifying session, I spun the car between turns seven and eight. At this spot on the track, you are turning right and preparing to slow the car and change down to third gear for turn eight, and there is a dip in the braking zone. I brought the car into pit lane to check the tires for flat spots. Everything was OK, so I headed back out and did the same thing again on the out - lap in exactly the same spot. At this point I felt pretty stupid, but forged ahead, and managed to take another second off of my previous best time. Towards the end of the session I overcooked it coming into the turn nine / ten chicane and ended up cutting through the grass and bending my front wing. Needless to say, I was less than happy with this session. I ended up qualifying an uninspiring 22nd for the race. I was still about 3 seconds away from where I needed to be at the front. Ughhh.
	In looking at the data later on, it turns out that I did better in segments, but was unable to put together one smooth lap. On my fastest qualifying lap I lost .8 seconds by dropping a wheel off of the track just after turn one. After the session I had my mechanic Scott check the rear shocks after my semi-airborne wing busting off-track excursion through the chicane. After consultation with Norton Gaston, I also decided to soften the compression adjustment on the rear shocks by one click and stiffen the rear swaybar.
	The Race: Saturday - 3:50pm. If I had to bet on whether the start would be clean, or would involve a huge pileup, after the start at Detroit a couple weeks ago, I would have bet on the pileup scenario. I was wrong. The first attempt to start the race was called off. Being as far back as I was, I could not tell what had happened but my guess is that several rows were misaligned. On the second attempt the green flag flew, and I was surprised to make it through the first corner unscathed. There were cars everywhere. I started from the outside row, and made a point not to dive to the inside for the first corner. I made it by a couple of cars into the first corner, and another on the outside of turn 3. By the third lap, I had made it up to 16th or 15th spot from 22nd. Things were going pretty well, and I was racing with several cars about ten laps into the race when I had a slight bobble in turn four. It was entirely my fault; I got too aggressive with the throttle through turn four and ended up in the grass at the exit. It was a smooth off and on, but I knew that I had filled the radiator openings full of grass. I scrolled through the settings on the dash to bring up the water temperature and began to watch it rise. About four laps later, the dash alarms started lighting up and flashing the oil temperature. I was on the radio with my dad, relaying the question of how hot is too hot and should I bring it in to my mechanic Scott. I brought the car into the pits, and had the radiator openings cleaned. This cost me my position and a lap, but the motor cooled down. I was running faster than I had qualified when I dropped a rear wheel off of the track at the exit of turn one. I had a quick spin, and continued on. I then turned my fastest lap of the race, 1.3 seconds quicker than my qualifying time. The checkered flag flew, and I ended up 19th, one lap down due to the pit stop. Nilton Rossoni (Brazil) finished first, Sepp Koster (The Netherlands) was second and Jon Fogarty (Nevada) was third. While my finishing results were not so hot on paper, some improvement was made. I had closed my gap to the winner (comparing fastest laps) to within 1.6 seconds (down from last week's 2.8) and the car stayed consistent for the whole run. As it turns out it may have been wise to have come in. Another competitor, Andy Lally had a similar off in his car, filled the radiators with grass and continued on. His car overheated and his engine expired. After collecting my thoughts for a moment and taking care of some details with the car and crew, I made my way back to the BCOP hospitality tent. I was able to meet a few more of the guests that had come in a little later, explain the race, and give them a quick look at how the data is collected from the race cars and can be graphically used to coach drivers and assist engineers and drivers in making setup changes to the cars. It seemed like all of the guests and Boise hosts had an enjoyable day. Later I caught Cleveland's 4th of July fireworks display over Lake Erie from the top floor of our hotel parking lot.
Jim Moore from the Barber Dodge Pro Series leads the BCOP CART Paddock Tour	Sunday: Our Boise Cascade Office Products Hospitality event was a two-day affair, and even though our car was packed up and on its way back to Florida, we had another day of entertaining with the CART race. I arrived at the track at around 9:15 to meet Boise's employees and guests. Luckily, I was able to get Jim Moore from the Barber Dodge Pro Series Marketing department to come into the event on Sunday, and give our group a tour of the CART Champ car pits, paddock and pit lane. Jim previously was with Ford Motorsport before joining the Skip Barber organization, and had experience with giving detailed tours. He took the group through the tech area and explained the technical inspection process, the tires and team requirements, the paddock, and onto the pit lane to see teams practicing pit stops up close. We then headed back to the tent to meet with a few more guests that had arrived. Everyone headed to the stands for the CART race to see Roberto Moreno win the Grand Prix of Cleveland. Kenny Brack was second and Cristiano da Matta finished third. After the event, everyone met back at the hospitality tent, and seemed to have had an enjoyable day.
Sunday morning at the BCOP tent.	The next outing for the Boise Cascade Office Products / KJWL Radio / Bank of the West / Top Shelf car will be a behind the scenes test July 10-11 at Sebring, Florida. Our next scheduled race will be with CART at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio August 12-13.
	I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed themselves - Thanks for coming!
	Jeff Glenn

/ home / news / updates / schedule / driver info / photos / services / sponsors / Barber Dodge Pro Series / tracks / contact