Random Firings by Hank Farber

Two weeks ago I went to Summit Point West Virginia for a three-day driver's school. This school was jointly sponsored by the New Jersey and Delaware Valley chapters of the BMWCCA. The New Jersey chapter has now been run a joint school with the Delaware Valley chapter at Summit Point for three years, and attendance has grown every year -- to the point where the school sold out for the first time this year. The format for the past two years has been was to offer three distinct driving experiences by running the first day on the Jefferson Circuit (the smaller track at Summit Point) in one direction, running the second day on Jefferson in the other direction, and finishing up by running the last day (in only one direction!) on the Summit track (the big one). Most students also experienced the skid-pad. I say most, and not all, because we ran the well dry (no water -- no skid-pad). We had many students come out who had never been to a track event previously, and it was clear from the smiles that good times were had in abundance.

The event chairs were Fred Farber (NJ) and Lou Millinghausen (Del-Val). They put together a terrific team, including Registrar Elizabeth (Speedy) Swain, Chief Instructor Blake Smith, and Tech Chief Dennis Brennan. My apologies to anyone I left out. These folks deserve a big thank-you for putting on such a fine event.

A couple of years ago, a member wrote a letter to the editor of the newsletter questioning why we run (and our sanity in running) drivers
schools in such far away places. This is a legitimate question. So why do we run a school is as far-away sounding a place as West Virginia? `West where?'. Well, we used to run schools at Bridgehampton on the eastern tip of Long Island, but (a tear or three comes to my eye) that wonderful track is now being turned into a golf course (sheesh). I will wax lyrical about Bridgehampton another month. Suffice it to say, Bridgehampton was the favorite track of many club members. Back to the Summit story. When it became clear that Bridgehampton was not likely to continue as an option, we looked for alternatives. First, a pair of facts: 1) there is no road course in New Jersey, 2) Pocono is in Pennsylvania and not very far but neither is it a very appealing venue (with all due respect to our Del-Val friends who run schools there). So we looked for an alternative. Through a quirk of political geography, there is a little sliver of West Virginia that extends to within about one hour of Baltimore and Washington, and that is where Summit Point lies. This is about a 3.5 hour drive from much of New Jersey, and it is worth pointing out that it takes me almost that long (more than 3 hours) to drive to Lime Rock from Princeton. Some of our members who had been there before told us that the "big track" was very nice (that's maybe two-thirds Bridgehampton), and we were told that a new smaller track (Jefferson) had been built. So we decided to try Summit.

In my opinion, Summit Point has been a resounding success for us. As I mentioned, we sold out the recent school. And, we are very pleased to report, the event was incident free. Based on the feedback the event organizers and I received, folks had a terrific time. People had fun and learned a lot on Jefferson, which is a short, tight, technical course that rewards precision over horsepower. The big track is still a demanding technical course, but it has a larger and more open feel. Lots of smiles there too. We also appreciate the relaxed atmosphere at the track and the relatively low costs of accommodations in the area. Registration is now open for the New Jersey Chapter school and club race on August 21 and 22. Both days will be on the big track at Summit Point, and, if our experience at the NJ chapter Summit race/school last August is an indication, a terrific time will be had.