We are on our way!

We had a nice long drive yesterday, only one of many 600 plus mile runs we will have this week. Got to South Bend around 7:30 last night so we had time to get a good meal. That's real important since much of this week the menu will be fast food. The ride out was uneventful except my Valentine 1 radar detector failed so we stopped and Rick bought an Escort. I guess that was only fitting since Escort is one of the national sponsors of this years event.

The picture above shows Rick and I next to the loaded car before leaving right after the storm and tornado warning on Thursday morning. You can't see the little tire trailer on behind from the angle of the picture. The other picture shows me finishing up the decal application process. We are required to have all the decals for the national sponsors before we go through tech.

Tomorrow the real fun starts, in the morning we will do the wet skid pad competition. Wet skid pad consists of doing two laps around one direction on the skid pad with the sprinklers on then a keyhole turn and two laps the other direction. Your best lap in each direction are added together and divided by two to get your average speed. With that speed they calculated your g force. Unfortunately there are alot of all wheel drive vehicles and they certainly get the advantage in this event.

There is an impressive mix of vehicles entered in this years race. There are three Vipers, six Corvettes, three Nissan GTRs probably 4 EVOs and a bunch of BMWs and Porsches, a couple Cadillac CTSVs, a new Challenger with retro style Rally driving lights that must be the size of small dinner plates. There are also a couple of Hondas one of which is twin charged, both super charged and turbo charged. Several Mazdas including a new Mazda 2 which comes stock as a 2000 pound car with a 105hp engine. This car however has a transplant drivetrain from a Mazda Speed3 and now has over 300hp and has Charles Espenlaub as its driver. Charles has several wins as a professional sports car driver. There are many other cars from vintage Camaros to Rousch Mustangs, a Jaguar XK, a VW TDI and an Ultima GTR which is a botique Lotus sized sports car with a big engine and many more. You can find the whole list at http://www.onelapofamerica.com under 2011 entrants list.

After the wet skid pad we head to Grissom Air Force Base and compete in a large autocross on the runway in the afternoon, then off to Summit Point in West Virginia for two track events on Sunday. Keep checking back and watch for more updates. Wish us luck.

Soon Time to Leave

It won't be long now till we leave on this great adventure. Last week Sharon and I did a couple of days at the shore and I took the folding bike along to ride and build up some riding stamina. Many of the tracks we visit we have never seen before. The format is, you come out of the pits and do one lap and that is considered your recognizance lap. After that one lap you stop at the start finish line and are flagged to a start your competitive run one car at a time. It is certainly a disadvantage if you are not familiar with the track versus some of the competitors that are. There just isn't enough time to always walk the track, so I will be taking my bike and can hopefully do a lap or two to get a little familiar with the driving line. At most tracks you are allowed to walk, jog, roller blade, scooter or bike around the track but you can't use anything motorized.

We are now up to over $1300 in our fundraising for the Pa Breast Cancer Coalition. When we took this on we thought it would be an easy goal of about $2000 and really thought we would do much more than that. I guess part of it is the economy. If anyone out there still would like to donate we will put your name on the car for any donation of at least $10. If you get your name on the car before we leave, you can consider yourself riding along vicariously;^) Many people have made a donation in honor or in memory of a friend or family member who has dealt with cancer or breast cancer. We will be accepting donations for the rest of this years track and show season and the stickers will be seen at many track events and car shows. As I mentioned before Rick has also decorated his car with the Breast Cancer Coalition logo and is putting the same stickers on his car.

This will probably be my last post until we get started, but I will try to update on a regular basis as time permits from the road. It does look like a couple of days will be extremely long and by the time we get to our motel updating my blog might not be a high priority. Please check back often for any updates and feel free to share the blog address with anyone who might be a motor sport enthusiast or be interested in this type of thing.

Corvette filling up with Breast Cancer Stickers

The Jimbob Racing charity this year is the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition. We are placing a sticker on the car for each donation of $10 or more. Many people have donated and have their own name put on to show their support for the Coalition. Others have put the name of a friend or a loved one who has dealt with this terrible disease. Space is filling up, so don't wait too long if you would like to make a donation. Checks should be made out to the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition, if you see me or Rick cash is also acceptable. Feel free to make donations to put several stickers on the car. With the stickers you can ride along vicariously on this amazing adventure and donate to a good cause at the same time. We will also be filling Rick's Corvette up with the stickers. Rick has placed the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition logo on the hood of his car and will attempt to fill the hood and trunk area. He plans to also leave the stickers on through the car show season, well into the fall.

If you are sending a check by mail please send it to Jim Roberts West Main Auto, 14 W. Main St. Mount Joy, Pa. 17552

New Graphics on car

Just got the car back from SSC Tint and Graphics yesterday with all the new graphics on for this years event. Well not exactly all. When we get to South Bend they will have some additional stickers to put on for the national sponsors etc. Mike Snyder really did a nice job on the vinyl and finished it up ahead of schedule. A big THANK YOU to Mike. If you need signing, window tinting, graphics on your car etc. and you are anywhere near Elizabethtown, Pa. be sure to check with Mike and tell him Jim sent you. Here are some pictures of the car, one with Mike in the background. Off to the right is the car he campaigns very sucessfully in the SCCA Autocross Series and some National SCCA events.

In a little less than a month Rick and I will leave on this big adventure. Just a few things to do yet to get ready. Rick is getting his graphics done today on his Corvette. We are decorating Rick's Corvette to enhance the fund raising effort. Mike will put the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition logo on the hood and Rick will work at covering the hood and trunk with the stickers with names on them from those who donate $10 or more in honor of someone who has delt with Breast Cancer. We will also put names on in Memorial of someone and many people will just put their own name on to show support of the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition.

Just a reminder, don't forget you can click on "older posts" at the bottom of each page to go back to older stories from this year and even further back to stories from the past two years.

Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition is 2011 Charity for Jimbob Racing

Jimbob racing would like to announce that the 2011 charity that we will support is the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition. The PBCC, represents,supports and serves breast cancer survivors and their families in Pennsylvania through educational programing, legislative advocacy and breast cancer research grants. The PBCC is a statewide non-profit organization that creates the hope of a brighter tomorrow by providing action and information to women with breast cancer today.

We are accepting donations in any amount, but for a minimum donation of $10 we will put a sticker on our cars with the name of someone you would like to honor or recognize in memory. You can also put your own name on a sticker showing your support. We will put as many stickers on my car as possible, on the roof, on the roof hoop and the high part of the back window. We will also attempt to cover Rick's Corvette convertible with stickers. We are hoping to leave the stickers on through the competition and show season that lasts well into the fall.

With the visibility and publicity of this awesome adventure and all the exposure the cars will get, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to leverage this to the community good. With this in mind Rick and I are working to raise awareness and at least a couple of thousand dollars for the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition.

Please see Jim or Rick for your donation or send your donation to and make check payable to:

Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition

Attn: One Lap 2011

344 N. Reading Rd.

Ephrata, Pa. 17522

2011 Sponsors

I just want to acknowledge and Thank my sponsors and encourage everyone to patronize those businesses who have made our 2011 One Lap of America effort possible. Two Cousins Pizza of Mount Joy, The Watering Trough, Mount Joy Diner, Rutt's Appliances, Autolocator.com, Krunch Kritters, Mick's All American Pub, Pro Tune Performance Inc. SSC Tint and Graphics, and the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition. If or when you patronize these businesses let them know you followed this years race. They want to know their advertising dollars are working.

So far there are 63 teams signed up. Our category, which is SSGT1-BB, has 13 registered to date. That encompasses Sports/GT cars which cost new over $50,000 (cost new at today's prices) and are big bore, over 3.5 liters of engine displacement. There are several other categories but one thing that makes it interesting is the car is registered as what it was born as. For example if you run a Mazda Miata but put a big honkin V8 under the hood, it is still a Miata.

We are raising money for the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition by puting stickers on the car for a minimum $10 donation. The stickers can have a name of someone you would like to honor that has had breast cancer, in memory of someone, or with your own name showing support for the effort against breast cancer. Check their web site at http://PBCC.me

For those who don't scroll back I just wanted to show the route map again. Once again I would like to mention the map was borrowed from the One Lap for Dogs team. Be sure to visit their web site at http://onelapfordogs.com/ they are raising money for Canine Partners For Life an organization that places assist dogs with over 400 people in need around the country. They do amazing work with both assist and seizure alert dogs.

Hood Sponsor re-signs for 2011

Two Cousins Pizza of Mount Joy will again be our Hood Sponsor for our One Lap of America effort. The hood has always gotten a lot of attention, especially in the paddock when the hood was raised and people would refer to it as the Pizza Man car. Nearly all of the past sponsors have re-signed from last year, so it won't be long until we complete the graphics update on the car. It is amazing how quickly the time is going by as we look forward to the end of April when we head west to South Bend, Indiana. There is still much to do.

Very shortly we plan to post information about our new charity and some fresh ideas to leverage this awesome adventure to the community good. Keep checking back for more information, this is the fourth installment about this years effort. If you scroll down you will see previous stories and then you can click "older posts" at the bottom of each page and see stories from the last two years. My partner in One Lap, Rick Stauffer, has also started a blog at http://rick1lap.blogspot.com/ be sure to check this out regularly also.