October 5, 2011

..... Final Stretch of 2011 Season
Here we are already going into the final stretch of the 2011 Season and the Life's Good Racing!^TM team--with just two races remaining--findourselves in third place in the overall standings.  This weekend's race at Buttonwillow Raceway, just outside of Bakersfield California, is the only race of the year at that venue and promises to be a track befitting the performance characteristics of our 2007 Hawk Brakes, WORKS Motorsports, San Rafael Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart.  Our race car's four wheel drive should propel us out of the characteristically rough-surfaced corners with fantastic traction, giving us a competitive advantage among a very tightly bunched field. 

We have been testing Life's Good Racing!^TM  Lancer at Infineon Raceway recently, focusing on handling and traction, and have been seeing improvement in both areas.  To keep up with the lead cars, we require both and more.  This was not unexpected given that this is the first year with this car.  Our experience shows that it generally takes 12 to 18 months to sort out a new race car.  The improvements we have seen over the course of this season indicate we are on such a trajectory as we expect to have a consistent and race winning car early next race season. 

At our most recent testing weekend we were fortunate to have Oliver Simons with us.  The photos seen here are courtesy of Oliver who has contributed to the team in many ways.  You can see more taken by Oliver by going to the Sept 24 & 25 Infineon Raceway link on the Gallery page of this website.  Thank you Oliver!

In addition to the work on the Lancer, we continue to evolve theLife's Good Racing!^TM  1969 Camaro.  To date we have run the car in NASA Time Trials, driving in TTU (Time Trials "Unlimited" class), as we focus on suspension setup and aero management in search of more grip for this thundering, high horsepower muscle car.  Our efforts are paying off as we saw significant improvements at our recent testing weekend.  Much of the improvement comes from under-hood air management with bits fabricated by team fabricator Mark Deshetler. His work in this area is resulting in the car's front end being more firmly planted, thus allowing the car to turn even under high g-loading cornering with aggressive throttle inputs.

We will soon be posting some videos from the Infineon Raceway weekend both from inside of the 1969 Camaro and from the top of the car both on YouTube and on the 1969 Camaro page of this website for your viewing.  You can access that page by clicking on the picture of the 1969 Camaro embedded in the header of this page.  You will see that this beast passed everything in the field, including a Ferrari F430 and a Maserati!  This car is an absolute blast to drive.  Whereas we do not have any current plans to formally compete in this car, we continue to evolve its handling and performance to the delight of anyone and everyone who has seen this car on track.

Time to focus on prepping for this upcoming race weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway.

See you at the races!

Karl Chicca, Pleasanton, CA

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July 4, 2011

..... Happy Independence Day from Life's Good Racing!^TM long with  a long overdue update.......
First and foremost, happy 4th of July to everyone.  Please take a moment to give thanks and to recognize the significance of this day in the history of the United States.  There are many countries around the world who are struggling to achieve what we take for granted every day.  As someone who travels the world regularly, I encourage you to count your blessings frequently as we have it very, very good here compared to many places around the world.

As for racing... Life's Good Racing!^TM certainly hasn't been living up to Steve McQueen's adage from the movie Le Mans in which he quips "racing is.... life... anything that happens before or after is.. just waiting."  Yes, we have had two very successful race weekends since my last update, however the rigors of daily life -- including work -- are often all consuming and result in little time for such important tasks as "life", or at least in our venerable racing hero's words. 

The Life's Good Racing!^TM  team raced our improving 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart both in May at Thunderhill and June at Infineon Raceway with success at each venue.  Additionally, we have begun sorting out the chassis on the 1969 Camaro, which certainly has been a crowd pleaser with throngs coming by our pits to ogle the car.

At Thunderhill in May, Dave Brown piloted the Lancer to two third place finishes, both in the qualifying race and in the main event, an hour long race that ran simultaneous with an enduro, resulting in a very crowded track.  

At Infineon in June, NASA threw a curve ball at the drivers in the main event, which included USTCC, when they announced at the pre-race meeting that they would run the race with the NASCAR configuration of the track, on which the drivers did not test.  The race was one of the most entertaining of the afternoon as Dave Brown jumped to a quick lead at the drop of the flag, but couldn't hold off Brandon Kraus, who passed Dave at the end of the first lap.

Over the ensuing laps Dave dropped as far back as third but benefitted from a high failure rate of the competition and eventually found himself locked in a "battle royal" with Pete Bovenberg for first place.  The crowd was able to witness an incredible contest of will as they not only traded first place countless times, but also had to adapt to yet another curve ball from NASA when, under a full course caution, they yet again changed the track configuration to a "hybrid of a classical and Indy Car setup".  This configuration resulted in a switch-back or chicane coming out of the Esses which caused multiple times when cars went off into the dirt, including Pete Bovenberg on several occasions. 

The race literally came down to the wire as Pete pulled inside of Dave coming out of turn 10 and was able to nudge him aside, resulting in a drag race to the finish line and a win by only a few hundredths of a second!  Talk about a battle of wills!!! 

The points race in USTCC after four races spanning three race weekends has the Brown/Chicca Life's Good Racing!^TM  team in 6th place and well within striking distance of first as indicated on the points page that can be found at the following USTCC site link HERE.

I raced the Lancer in Performance Touring A class and am happy to say that I was successful with two first places in this fantastically handling car!  Most impressive of all its attributes are its braking prowess, which I directly attribute to the brake pads from Hawk Brakes.  We are proud to display Hawk Brakes another season on the hood of our newly dressed up race car which also proudly displays such key sponsors as: WORKS Motorsports, Bridgelux, and San Rafael Mitsubishi.

And, when Dave and I weren't racing the Lancer, we were hussling the 1969 Camaro around track, both competing in Time Trials class TTU, and giving rides to guests of our hospitality suite where we proudly displayed our Hawk Brakes and Bridgelux colors.  Needless to say, there were many smiles on those fortunate to receive rides that weekend as it definitely is an "E ticket ride" going around Infineon Raceway in a 500hp American muscle car!  You can see below and on the 1969 Camaro page some video from inside and atop of this beautiful beast as it screamed around this very scenic and historic track.

Our next race weekend is August 13 & 14 at Thunderhill raceway in Willows, Calif.

See you at the races!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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April 25, 2011

The Life's Good Racing!^TM team competed in its first USTCC race weekend April 16 and 17 at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA.  The team’s brand new ride, the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart had all of one track day under its belt at the beginning of the two day weekend.  During that test day, we quickly realized that we were significantly under power for the weight at which we were tilting the scales.  Knowing this, we were banking on outlasting the competition during the grueling one hour competition.

Unfortunately, the mechanical gods had other designs for us that weekend as the car gave up the ghost five laps into Sunday’s race, relegating us to earning just half points for the effort.  This was doubly disappointing given that Dave Brown--who piloted the car throughout the weekend as I was unable to make it due to illness—had placed the car third on grid for the Sunday race….in spite of the power deficit!  Obviously, we are not at all happy with the results; however we have that one under our belt and are preparing for the next USTCC races.  Pictures from that weekend can be viewed on this site HERE and an exciting video of the first lap of Sunday’s race can be seen below this column.   

Our next competition occurs the weekend May 14 & 15.  This weekend will be particularly significant as there will be two points races, a one hour race on Saturday and a half hour race on Sunday.  Chris Hovey of Hovey’s Imports & Motorsports in Modesto, with support from the WORKS team in Sonoma, is busy repairing the prior race breakage in prep for the next outing.
If you make it to this upcoming race weekend, be on the lookout for our 1969 Camaro (reference picture on this website’s banner which accesses more pictures).  The 69 Camaro will be making its debut after an engine rebuild required after the engine went mid last year at Infineon Raceway. Two exciting cars and races in the near future….  back to work! More updates soon.....

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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March 13, 2011

The Life's Good Racing!^TM  team completed its most successful year yet in 2010, racing in NASA's Camaro-Mustang Challenge and in Performance Touring B series ("PTB").To recap, three Regionals were won in Camaro-Mustang Challenge 2 with Dave Brown pulling down Championships in Northern California, Southern California, and in the West Coast Championships.... "a three-fer"!!! Additionally, I was able to add to the Regionals success with a first in Northern California PTB, a third place in Southern California, along with a third place in my first NASA National Championships at Miller Motorsports Park in September. All-in-all, 2010 was a phenomenal year for the Life's Good Racing!^TM team with FOUR Regional Championships!

As you have seen from the advertisement, we have decided to sell the multi-championship winning 4th Gen Camaro. The reason is that we have decided to move on to other series.Leveraging the success of the team, we are taking our winning ways to the US Touring Car Championship Series where we will soon be introducing our new ride, a 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart. As evidenced by the pictures posted on the site here, this has been a project from the most fundamental level. Starting from the stripped down body, Chris Hovey of Hovey's Imports and Motorsportsand Charles Roberts of the Life's Good Racing! ^TM team in partnership with the team at Works in Sonoma CA, have been working around the clock to finish this car in time for the season opener at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, California the weekend of April 16 and 17.

More details on the car will be released after completion, however, and needless to say, it will be ultra competitive and an exciting ride.

THE final note on our successful 2010 season must include recognition and thanks to our sponsors for providing invaluable service, products and support that resulted in the results that were achieved. Special thanks goes to Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics, ClutchMasters, and Bridgelux. Each played a special role in the team's success. THANK YOU!

As for 2011 sponsors, we are in discussions with each as we finalize our preparations for the upcoming season. Currently Works and Bridgelux are on board.

More updates soon....

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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November 14, 2010

...Where to begin?

The The Life's Good Racing! ^TM  team has just been, well, busy.... very busy!   Since NASA's National Championship's at Miller Motorsports Park, where Dave Brown competed in CMC2 and I competed in PTB, we had a race weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma during the weekend of October 9 and 10, and then we competed at Buttonwillow Raceway outside of Bakersfield during the last race weekend of the season this last weekend of November 6 and 7.  And in between all of that , we have had some minor activities such as each of us have made mulit-week trips to Asia for business, Dave moved his household to be closer to work, and I got married!!!!  More on that later.
 

NASA Nationals Recap

CMC2:
After taking second place in the first qualifying race on Thursday and a third in the second qualifying race on Friday, Dave accumulated enough points to take the pole for the national championship race on Saturday in the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  33x Camaro!

The championship race turned out to be a hard fought battle between Jeremiah Kellam and Dave as Nick experienced some handling issues, which later turned out to be a suspension part failure.  Dave crossed the finish line first to take--what appeared to be--the championship!  Unfortunately, later in impound it was found that a small portion, approximately three inches, of our front radiator air deflector was 1mm too low to the ground in a section just off center.  This resulted in our disqualification and the loss of the championship.  The root cause for the small defect occurred when the deflector was trimmed (by hand) to meet minimum height.  That, combined with having to run a set of very worn tires compounded the issue, resulting in our DQ.  Unfortunate, given the herculean effort Dave put in to hold off Kellam, however the rules are the rules, even if they do not aid in performance.

PTB:
After taking a significant hit in the first qual race on Thursday, causing me to limp home with a damaged car and no power steering for a fifth place, I was able to take a second in the second qual race on Friday, after starting in 16th position in the overall field.  These two finishes placed me on the inside of the second row in the overall field, a starting position of third.  I was able to hold off many a competitor throughout the 45 minute race and bring home a 3rd place podium finish for the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  33x Camaro in my first national championship race!

The car not only place well, it looked great as evidenced by the pictures displaying Claudia's special design for the event.  Allan Verret Design brought her design to reality with a high quality wrap which proudly displayed the logos of all of our key contributing sponsors, Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics,  ClutchMasters, and Bridgelux. 

Infineon Raceway, Sonoma CA October 9 & 10
While I was off getting married, Dave campaigned the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  33x Camaro to four wins in four races, both in CMC2 and in PTB at this NASA NorCal event!  His performance effectively wrapped up the CMC2 regional NorCal championship and the PTB NorCal regional championship.  Another phenomenal performance from the iron man himself with the assistance of Charles Roberts who worked tirelessly to keep the car in top shape throughout the grueling schedule that weekend at the world famous Infineon Raceway.

Buttonwillow Raceway, Buttonwillow CA November 6 and 7

CMC2:
With both the CMC2 SoCal and California Pony Cup Challenge up for grabs in a close battle with the Klamecki brothers, Dave was able take the pole position for Saturday's race where he battled hard with Nick Steele for the win.

That win positioned Dave at the back for Sunday's qualifying race as the tradition is to have an inverted field for the Sunday morning race.  In a heads up move by Dave at the start, he was able to get a jump on the field coming around onto the straight and charge into the lead.  He was able to hold off multiple late race charges by Nick Steele for a second CMC2 win for the weekend.

Starting in the pole position in Sunday's afternoon race, Dave was able to hold off the entire field, while working his way through significant slower car traffic, and pull down his third win of the weekend, bringing home the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  33x Camaro for its first weekend sweep of the season.  This stellar performance also locked up the CMC2 SoCal championship and the California Pony Car championship as well resulting in a clean sweep of the entire state!

PTB:
In PTB I was successful pulling down two wins which moved me into podium territory for a 3rd place for the season in NASA SoCal.

All in all, a great end to a fantastic season for the Life's Good Racing! ^TM 33x Camaro.  Thanks go to many who supported us.  First and foremost our sponsors: Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics,  ClutchMasters, and Bridgelux.  Each played a significant role in our success.  Also, a significant contributor to the results that were achieved came from Charles Roberts, our crew chief.  His never-say-quit attitude kept our car on the track in spite of countless issues, including being hit by other cars.  Also, thanks go to Chris Carstens for providing crew support at select events and to Mark Deshetler for fabrication support.

Finally, a big thanks goes to Claudia Castillo for her creative energy that went into designing the wraps that made our car stand out and apart from others during the second half of our season.  She just so happens to be my wife now as we were married on October 10, 2010 (10-10-10).  Look for many more creative looks in our car in the future!  And, a guy with a big smile on his face...me...as I have not only been lucky this last year on the track, I have also been lucky to find my Claudia!

See you soon!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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November 16, 2010

...from NASA's National Championships at Miller Motorsports Park, Utah

The Life's Good Racing! ^TM  team has just completed two days of qualifying races.  Dave is competing in Camaro-Mustang Challenge 2 (CMC2) and I am in Performance Touring B (PTB).  The format for this event is that the starting grid for the National Championship race is established by the finish positions achieved in the two qualifying races, which were completed Thursday and Friday.  Today (Saturday) at 10:45am (Rocky Mountain Time) Dave Brown will compete in the CMC2 National Championship race.  I will compete tomorrow, Sunday, at 1:20pm in the PTB National Championship race.

 

You can tune in to each of these races and watch live webcast TV coverage on SpeedCastTV.com.  Go to speedcasttv.com and in Member Login, enter: lifesgoodracing, password: karl.  I have set this up for unlimited user access.

A recap of the last two days' racing:

CMC2 (Dave): 
Thursday's Qualifying Race.  Dave battled early with Nick Steel but was unable to run with Nick, and fought hard to achieve his second place finish as he battled with Jeremiah Kellam up to the checkered flag.  In the end, Dave took second in an exciting, hard fought battle.  It was a good showing for the The Life's Good Racing! ^TM  33x Camaro, however there was cause for concern as it was clear that Nick Steel possessed more top end speed than we were able to achieve

 Friday's Qualifying Race.  Early in the race Jeremiah Kellam took an early lead and ran away from the field as Dave and Nick battled for second.  It was clear that neither Dave, nor Nick had the top end speed Jeremiah had found in his Mustang.  Nick passed Dave for second with two laps remaining, resulting in Dave taking a third.  It was clear once again that our car lacks in top end power compared to the other two top competitors.  We are attributing this to our brand new motor which went into the car after blowing at the last race weekend at Auto Club Speedway.  We are just unable to achieve the kind of horsepower required to stay up and will need to rely on Dave's driving prowess to be competitive and bring the trophy home for the team.

The combination of Dave's second and third finishes positions Dave to start the The Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro on the front row in second, a good starting position for the National Championship  race. 

PTB (Karl):
Thursday's Qualifying Race.  I started in the fourth row in this race and was working my way through the field when, in the second lap of the race, I took a hard hit going into the "Attitudes" series of turns, forcing me to spin and go off track.  It was quite exciting to watch the entire field coming at me at speeds of up to 100mph, braking hard and making sharp left turns into this tricky series of corners.  I was able to restart the car, however the body damage that was sustained was only the smaller of the series of issues that resulted from the impact.  Throughout the course of the race, I realized that the front end was thrown badly out of alignment, and that my power steering unit was badly damaged.  I limped the car home to a 5th place finish.

The team, led by Charles Roberts, worked through the night to repair the power steering unit, re-align the car and make other repairs in order to have the car back on the track early Friday morning.  Great job Charles and Chris!

Saturday's Qualifying Race.  I started this race in 16th position, deep in the field.  When the flag dropped, I was able to power my way through the crowded field and found myself in 3rd place (overall), second in my race group by the end of the front straight!!!  I was able to hold off most attackers from behind and ended the race in 2nd in my race group.

I am awaiting the final grid position notification from the officials on where I will start Sunday's National Championship race and will advise as soon as I know.  We are hoping that the combination of the 5th and the 2nd in the two races positions me either on the front row, or at least close to the front row.

As you can see from the pictures above, our new wrap came out fantastic.  Claudia's design has been praised by everyone at the track and has been photographed by many.  We certainly have the best looking car at this event.  Allan Verret Design stepped up and assisted us in making this wrap come to fruition as our previous wrap sponsor pulled out at the very last minute.

The wrap proudly displays the logos of all of our key contributing sponsors, Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics,  ClutchMasters and Bridgelux.  Without their assistance and support, we certainly would not be where we are right now going into the most critical and exciting races of the season.

More to come!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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August 29, 2010

Three short weeks away from NASA's National Championships!

As I shared in my last update, we lost the motor in our Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro during our last race weekend at Auto Club Speedway.   I am happy to share that the motor has been rebuilt; Charles has installed it in the car; and the car has already been tested this last weekend at Thunderhill Raceway outside of Willows in Northern California.  We did not have time to dyno test in advance of that weekend event, however the motor felt strong.  We should be well on our way in that department in our preparations for the all-important NASA National Championships at Miller Motorsports Park just around the corner in September.

This will be the second such National Championship event that we attend as Life's Good Racing!  In case you weren't tuned in this time last year, we had a great showing during that event.  We earned the pole position in the championship race by winning two of the qualifying races and took a respectable second place in the Championship race in CMC2.  We even gleaned some webcast TV coverage on SpeedCastTV.com as Dave Brown sliced his way through a crowded field with a malfunctioning transmission! 

This year, we will be competing in two series, CMC2 and PTB!  Our CMC2 Championship race will be Saturday  afternoon and the PTB Championships will be held Sunday afternoon.  These races will cap off three busy days including a test and tune day on Wednesday, followed by two days of qualifying races Thursday and Friday, the results of which establish the grid for the Championship events.  We expect the Championships to most likely be webcast again.  I will post updates on that subject as more details become available.
 
As you can see above, we will be sporting a completely new look at the Championship event with the help of Vital-Signs.  We have a brand new car wrap, enabled by Vital-Signs, and designed by the Life's Good Racing! ^TM team's graphic design artist, Claudia Castillo.  The wrap will not only enable the car to brightly outshine others in the crowded fields, but will also proudly display the logos of our key contributing sponsors, Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics and ClutchMasters.  Additionally, we will also be highlighting our recently added sponsor, the renowned LED technology company, Bridgelux. 

More to come!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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August 31, 2010

Auto Club Speedway Recap

Another Fontana weekend and another motor gone!  I don't know what it is about that race track.  On the positive side we are very fast.  On the negative, we lose motors.  This was the second Auto Club Speedway weekend of the year and the second time we have lost a motor.  In this case we lost cylinder #8.  We were able to complete all three races in Camaro-Mustang Challenge 2 in order to accumulate points and hold our position for the season, however we were by no means in a position to vie for a win.  We chose not to run in Performance Touring B in order to preserve the motor for CMC2.

As you can see from the pictures on the Gallery page, there was a decent turn-out for CMC2, and cars in general.  The weekend was spectacular with weather unseasonably cool and the lap times were very, very fast.   We had a car that would have both run up front in CMC2 and would have been the class of the field in PTB.
 
So, for us, it is off to the engine builder in order to have our motor failure analyzed and rebuilt.  Our goal is to have the motor in the car in advance of a NASA weekend in which we do not compete in order to do some testing and run-in.  That weekend is August 21 and 22 at Thunderhill Raceway Park and is approaching very rapidly.  Charles already has the motor out of the car and at the builder.  Our time line is compressed as we have an eye on our departure date of Sunday, September 12 for the NASA National Championships at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.  This event will host NASA's best-of-the-best from throughout the US!  And, it will represent the unveiling of a completely new and exciting look for the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro.  We will be competing both in CMC2 and PTB at that event.

With the help of our sponsor, Vital-Signs, we will also display a new wrap specifically and uniquely designed for the National Championship event proudly displaying Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics, and ClutchMasters in addition to the renowned LED technology company, Bridgelux.  We are excited about creating this new look and showing it off at this national event!

Stay Tuned!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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August 7, 2010   

Infineon Recap

First and foremost, thanks to all of you who came out and participated in our Life's Good Racing! ^TM hospitality event that we hosted and coordinated along with other members of the Camaro-Mustang Challenge community at Infineon Raceway this last weekend. It was great putting faces together with email addresses!  Not only was it great just hanging out and meeting so many enthusiasts, it was also fantastic seeing the smiles and witnessing other (interesting) reactions when from those lucky and brave enough to strap in for a ride in one of the “ride along” cars.  The reactions ranged from “Oh Yeah!!!” to “OK, I don’t EVER want to do that again…EVER!”

Just to recap, we had a hospitality tent for anyone to come join us Saturday or Sunday, partake in food and beverages, and share in the up-close-and-personal experience of amateur racing.  I can honestly say that there were lots of smiles, along with commitments to return!

We were pleased to host many guests from many venues and walks of life.  I would like to point out that we were pleased to host Dennis Dunio, President of the NorCal Camaros Unlimited car club.  Dennis, and his father, made the drive up from Silicon Valley in his beautiful 1969 Camaro Convertible, which he parked in our pit area among the Camaro race cars (see below), and hung out with us on Saturday.  We had a great time and look forward to having Dennis and other members of the club visit us again at future events.  Here is a link that Dennis has provided of pictures he took during the race weekend.

Everyone was excited not only to see the two “ride along” cars, my 1969 Camaro “The Beast”, and Dave Brown’s 3rd Generation Camaro, “The Barn Rat”, but to also witness the first unveiling of the newly wrapped Life's Good Racing! ^TM  Camaro.  Our new sponsors, Vital-signs, produced their first wrap for our season, which we duly “unwrapped” for debut at this last weekend.  Needless to say, the reactions were extraordinary as the always flashy 4th Gen Camaro really popped!  In recognition of the region, it sported a vineyard motif with grapes adorning both sides!

Finally moving on to racing….  Dave Brown piloted the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro in all three races this weekend.  This was a rare weekend when the Performance Touring Class races were run simultaneously with Camaro-Mustang Challenge races, which meant that we could only run the car in one of the two classes; we opted for CMC2.

In Saturday’s qualifying, Dave took the pole for the start of the Saturday afternoon race.  In that race he battled for first, maintaining the lead for the majority of the race, and took the win with masterful driving and a well equipped car thanks to Hawk Performance, AIP Electronics, and ClutchMasters.

Sunday morning’s race saw a starting grid that represented a reverse order of the previous day’s race finish.  This resulted in Dave starting the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro at the very back of the pack!  In an exciting race—the highlights of which can be seen in the adjoining video—Dave piloted the Vital-signs’ wrapped car to an impressive victory, working his way through a very crowded, and fast, field. 

Sunday afternoon’s race, unlike Sunday morning’s, was a standing start with the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro again on the pole.  Smoking the tires at the start, Dave lost the lead but clawed his way back to second, and was aggressively closing the gap on the lead car when the race was prematurely called due to a bad wreck in Turn 9.  This resulted in a second place for the team.  For an interesting perspective on the track, taken during this race, click on this link and see video taken from Turn 7 by my brother, Dan Chicca, who acted as team photographer and videographer on Sunday.  It truly is a fascinating perspective on the track and provides a great view of the three separate flagged starts.  Thanks to Dan!

All-in-all, a great racing weekend as the team earned two firsts and one second, punctuating a phenomenal social gathering of friends, fans, and families at the jointly hosted social event.

We look forward to future such gatherings and hope to see YOU there.  Also, keep an eye out for the next new look of the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro, enabled by Vital-Signs, which will be unveiled in the not too distant future! 

See you at the races!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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June 30, 2010

"See YOU! at the Races"....

How many times have you heard that one?  Well, this time it truely is an open invitation to, literally, see you at the races.  The Life's Good Racing! ^TM team has extended an open invitation to our friends and fans (including you!) to join us at our next racing event the weekend of June 26 and June 27 at Infineon Raceway (formerly Sears Point) in Sonoma.  For those in the Silicon Valley area this is our closest track as it is only a one and a quarter hour drive!

Of course you can attend many types of events at Infineon Raceway, ranging from NASCAR's Sprint Cup the weekend before our race, or even the NHRA drag races a couple weeks later.  However, what is unique about our amateur racing, when compared to the aformentioned professional series, is that when you enter the the race track you have virtually unlimited access to walk around anywhere!  You can walk up and down the driver's pits and meet the drivers, their teams and their families up close and personal.  You can watch them working on their cars, and even ask most of them questions!  Amateur racing, whereas serious stuff, is a much more open experience for the spectator than professional racing and as such, you will have access to so much more.

And, as a friend or fan of theLife's Good Racing! ^TM team, we are extending to you the opportunity to hang with us, see what we do during a race weekend, and -- time permitting -- get a ride in a race car!  Now, this last offer is limited within the paramaters established by our sanctioning body, the National Auto Sport Association, as it relates to minors and to all participants who are required to sign waivers.  You can learn more about this at the track should you decide you would like to strap in, hang on, and go for the ride of your life in either "The Barn Rat" (a wickedly wild 3rd Generation Camaro race car), or "The Beast", a brute of a 1969 Camaro race car.  Either is guaranteed to thrill!

To find us, look for the large (10'x20') EZ-Up canopy with the Hawk Performance and ClutchMaster banners, or just look for the sea of late model Camaro and Mustang race cars.  We're not hard to find!  Come in, introduce yourself and join us for a weekend of fast fun and sensory overload!

Oh, and if all goes well, you just might be the first to witness a brand new look for theLife's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro, courtesy of our new sponsor Vital-Signs.

See you at the races!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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June 15, 2010

"Thank you HAWK Performance...."

 "Thank you HAWK Performance!"  Those were the words yelled through the radio by Dave Brown after he executed an unbelievably gutsy pass entering turn one at high speed in this last Sunday's CMC2 race at Willow Springs that allowed the Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro to take the lead and eventually win the race.  He later explained that the high level of confidence he now has in our braking system because of the Hawk Performance pads allowed him to go deeper into the corner than he would have ever done in the past.  To sum it up, Dave added, "we won that race because of Hawk."

Dave won Sunday's race by taking the lead with that aggressive move five or six green flag laps into the race that followed several caution laps resulting from the Spec Miatas playing bumper pool in the first turn of their race just ahead of the CMC/CMC2 race start.  He held onto the lead the remainder of the race and finished a commanding three car lengths ahead of the nearest competitor.

That win capped a successful CMC2 race weekend where Dave earned two wins out of three races, along with one pole.  His first win on Saturday was in a hard fought battle with the second place finisher, who was all over theLife's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro in almost every turn.  Dave was able to stave off every pass attempt and hold the lead throughout the entire race, taking Saturday's race in a showing that had the crowd yelling and clapping.

He had one fourth because of a broken suspension component suffered in the first lap of Sunday's Qualifying Race in the very high speed Turn 8 corner.  He safely brought the car into the back paddock where Charles was successful in reassembling it in order to run Performance Touring "B" ("PTB") Qualifying only an hour later.

In PTB, Karl Chicca--racing the Willow Springs track for the first time--qualified second for both the Saturday and the Sunday races.  He navigated through a crowded and diverse field comprised of everything from spec racers, Honda Challenge Cars, and a team of very fast RX8s, to earn two second place finishes in PTB. 

The Life's Good Racing! ^TM Camaro performed flawlessly--other than the one suspension mishap--with the help from ClutchMasters, AIP Electronics, and Hawk Performance.
 
It was also great having Kaitlin Chicca, my daughter, back on track as she returns from a one year break from participating in NASA's High Performance Driving Experience ("HPDE").  She made use of dad's BMW 335i to first learn, and then tear up the Willow Springs track in HPDE.  For those not familiar with this program, it offers a forum for anyone to drive their own cars on track with an instructor, who provides one-on-one guidance that supplements classroom sessions held throughout the day.  This is an excellent way to experience high performance driving in a safe and sane manner, along with providing an introduction to maintaining high speed car control, passing, driving the proper line, etc.

We are looking forward to our next race weekend at Infineon Raceway the weekend of June 26 and 27.  We have extended invitations to our fans to come out and see what our amateur racing is all about.  We welcome any and all who are interested to visit us.  We will have a large blue EZ-UP that is highly visible with the Hawk Performance and ClutchMasters banners we proudly fly at each event.  Come out to the races and get up close and personal with the cars and competitors.  Unlike professional racing, you have immediate and open access to the pits and can meet the drivers, ask them questions, and see the work being done on their cars.

See you at the races!

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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May 26, 2010

Success once again....

Ahhh... the sweet taste of victory....  This last weekend at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, CA, the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  Camaro competed in five races in two series, Camaro-Mustang Challenge 2 ("CMC2") and Performance Touring B Class ("PTB") and achieved four wins and one second place!  Even better still, these results came about with no drama (reference our previous race weekend) and few challenges with the race car.

To reset, we lost our racing gear, and some of our tools -- and blew our motor -- the last time we raced, which was at Cal Speedway in Fontana.  We scrambled to replace the gear and tools, and Charles really hussled to rebuild the motor in less than three weeks.  We were all successful and made our maiden voyage with the new gear, motor, and new car appearance (see pictures and Gallery) with tremendous success. 

In CMC2, Dave won the Saturday race in commanding fashion.  This placed him at the back of the pack for Sunday morning's race as CMC runs an inverted start grid for that event.  He was able to pass all competitors before the end of the first lap with the exception of Nick Steel, who held him off throughout the race while the two of them diced through slower traffic from other run groups on the track.  Dave earned a hard-fought second place in this race and a new CMC2 track record of 2:02.153, obliterating the previous record of 2.03.967.

In the final race of the weekend in CMC2, Dave gridded on the outside of the first row to Nick Steel and followed him the entire first lap.  He then executed an incredibly gutsy pass going into turn 1 at a very high rate of speed.  The two of them battled through the remainder of the 30 minute race, which ended with the two splitting slower traffic down the back straight with Dave having two wheels in the dirt and executing four wheel drifts through turns 14 and 15, barely holding off a charging Nick Steel for the win.

Karl competed in PTB and won both Saturday and Sunday races in a very crowded and diverse field that was comprised of multiple run groups ranging from Super Unlimited to Spec Miata, and significant amounts of traffic.

Thanks are owed to the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  Camaro team sponsors: fantastic, unfading brake performance resulting from the Hawk Performance brake pads; the flawless ignition performance as a result of the AIP Electronics components, such as opti spark and ignition wiring set; and the bullet proof shifting from the ClutchMasters clutch.  Those, combined with Charles' perseverence in preparing the car with the new motor along with some weekend assistance from Chris and "Uncle Mike", the Life's Good Racing! ^TM  Camaro was able to reach full stride and find its place at the top of the podium once again.

Look for us at our next race weekend in at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Rosamond, California, May 22nd and 23rd, where we will be competing in our fourth of eight 2010 season race weekends.

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

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April 27, 2010

Of Patience , Persistence, and Forgiveness....

Four weeks since our eventful race weekend at Auto Club Speedway and so much has happened.  As you recall, we not only lost a motor on Sunday, we lost all of our gear over night Thursday from the parking lot of our hotel at the Hyatt in Ontario Mills.  Since then we have...

...tracked down and ordered all kinds of racing gear to replace what was lost.  This has been no small task when one considers not only what was lost, the quantity of items lost (big and small), but that this is the absolute worst time of the year to search for such gear.  It is the beginning of many racing seasons around the country and there are lots of people out buying gear.  Thanks to such suppliers as Sampson Racing Communications, SafeRacer, Fresh Air Systems Technologies (F.A.S.T), Wine Country Motorsports, OG Racing, IO Port Racing Supplies, Andre's Xtaski, and others, we are nearing completion of this monumental task of replacing all of our gear.

...entirely rebuilt the LT1 motor in our Life's Good Racing! ^TM  Camaro.  Again, not without its challenges as most machine shops  are inundated with work.  No recession apparent in the world of engine building!  The motor went in earlier this week, fired up, and off to test at Thunderhill we went, where we ran this last Friday.

Our testing day went well with all the precautions of breaking in a new motor in the forefront of our minds.  We ran with Hooked on Driving, a great group with which to run, did a good shake down on the motor, and continued our chassis development work.  (Recall that we have been continuing to search for our setup resulting from rules change immediately before the season began).

Highlights of the testing day included great brake performance due to the Hawk Performance pads.  We have been testing various pad compounds from Hawk with excellent success.  What a difference from last year, all of which is attributable to Hawk Performance!

So what, you ask, about "Patience, Persistence, and Forgiveness"?  Well, overwhelming levels of patience is required when one takes such a huge step backwards from being ready at the beginning of a season to just go out and race.  To find yourself after the second race weekend spending countless hours on the phone searching for, ordering, trying on, returning, etc. a whole team's worth of gear, in addition to rebuilding a motor!  Patience is an understatement.   I have to suppress envisioning and repeating the attached mantra........... 

"Persistence" is a given in such a situation.  It would be easy to throw our hands up and say "forget it, I give up, it's just not worth it!"  That would be easy, but that's just not us.  We are Life's Good Racing! ^TM, and we are as persistent and committed as the guys I played rugby with at Santa Clara University, who upon taking the field for a game would shout "Veni, vidi, vici", which--roughly translated--means in Greek:  "I came, I saw, I conquered!"

And "Forgiveness" you ask...where the heck does this fit in?  Well, we could be wasting a lot of precious energy holding on to the feelings of being wronged, violated, taken advantage of, etc.  (The experience of the NASA SoCal community at Cal Speedway jump-started our healing).  And, why waste any more energy holding on to negative feelings?  We all have had situations where someone has wronged us, or continues to be a source of negative energy in our lives.  It is healthier to envision those individuals as hurting or wounded in some way and in need of heeling themselves and to only hope that they find their own cure (without hurting others) before Karma comes around after them!  I am sure that we can all relate to this as we have experienced difficult situations in our personal lives, and in this particular case, even though we filed a police report, I truly hope that the reason the crooks stole our gear is that they needed money to feed their families. 

Back to that "Patience" thing...  it is really difficult to wait around and not be in the driver's seat while we are recovering from this setback.   I am reminded of Steve McQueen's comment in the movie Le Mans... "racing is life... anything that happens before or after... it's just waiting"...............

Karl Chicca, Campbell, CA

Yet another season begins... I am sure those are words that have been echoed by many a racer or racing team over the years. To the fans or casual observer the first race of the season appears to be just like any other race during the year, with perhaps the only difference being a bit more excitement and anticipation. To the individual racer or the team it represents the culmination of more work "behind the scenes" than can be quantified.

This is our second season as team Life's Good Racing! ^TM and we are wrapping up our preparations for the new season. In our case the work has been substantial as evidenced by the pictures in the Gallery. The car experienced significant wear and tear this last year, its fourth year of being raced and was in dire need of a major facelift. As you can see, it received new paint inside and out and from top to bottom.

Additionally, the intensity of road racing wreaks havoc on many components, which result in their needing major rework, rebuild or even replacement. We rebuilt the transmission, repaired wiring and replaced exhaust and suspension components. Modifications needed to be made to accommodate 2010 rules changes. And, on top of all that, we implemented some improvements to such areas as brake ducting, gauge locations, and weight distribution. Also, consider the fact that each component change or modification needs to be individually tested or stressed, and then exercised as part of the entire system in order to have confidence in their performance under full racing load. This means both in-garage, as well as on-track, testing. I could go on and on.

It is hard to believe that it has been three months since our last race of our very successful 2009 season. It may seem long ago, however given the amount of work that has been accomplished during that time, it almost seems like yesterday. The pace has been fast and furious....just like we expect to achieve on track this new season!

So, when you are watching the first race of a new season--for any team--perhaps you will understand the significance of that event and appreciate all the work that went into preparing for the dropping of that first green flag of the season.

Time to finish this update and get back to work as our first green flag is only one week away.....