Michele Abbate Crowned 2015 SCCA US Majors Tour Champion!

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by MicheleAbbate

I am not sure where you pulled those numbers but just for reference here is the list of participation numbers for each event:

For clarity, I am in no way saying this is a large field by any means, but I do think it is a strong point to say we never finished without someone behind us except for the first race of the year and at Thunderhill because of the low turn out - and that is a huge feat especially in STU. Our car needs a lot of work to be in the front of the STU field competitively - but we can only do the best with what we have and you still have to finish a race to get the points, so as our debut year in the SCCA I am pretty damn proud of how we did and to keep a race car maintained to finished 40+ minute races is an accomplishments in itself. There's nothing more frustrating than not being able to take a checkered flag, and I'm always proud to finish any race, it doesn't matter what position we're in.

I pulled the numbers from this link in the first post:

http://crbscca.com/staffAdmin/points...wideReport.php

It was a quick glance, and I did miss some of the finishers at the bottom of the spreadsheet. I am not an SCCA racer, so I don't know if STU is one of the classes that competes at the Runoffs, but will you be at the SCCA Runoffs at Daytona this year? I was thinking about making the trip over to at least watch the Spec Miatas race under the lights at Daytona.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I don't want you to think I was downplaying her team or her strategy. I was just looking into the numbers that @rice_classic was asking about. I prefer to race in large fields where you know you will always have someone to race with whether that is racing for first, mid pack, or last. If you don't have someone to race, then it is really just hot lapping. That isn't the way to win championships or keep sponsors happy though, but I am just an amateur racer fighting for a plastic trophy and maybe some Toyo bucks.

The main thing is that the s2000 in STU didn't finish first in points...

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

The main thing is that the s2000 in STU didn't finish first in points...

Season isn't over, and the S2000 in third still has a shot if he does some more races. By the way he did beat a certain FR-S in 5 out of 6 races.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Off topic, Michele, but I gotta tell ya, Sunday at the Olympia meet, my wife and I were both quite moved by how personable and generous you were. Spending all day with us yahoos? Sister, you are truly a class act. I wish you all the best.

This is what matters, and part of the reason I'm so supportive too. There are tons of drivers, sadly more than a few have the kind of bro-ish fanboi attitude that makes us all look bad and makes people shy away from motorsports. Not Michele.

Quick story. Last year my S.O. was going to her first HDPE in her new Fiat Abarth (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana). On a whim, I asked Michele for some advice for her to help break some jitters. No exaggeration, Michele writes what had to have been a 1000+ word letter filled with tips, and encouragement for that specific track directly to her. We went to what ended up being an 8 hour track day and she had a blast, part of which I definitely attribute to that letter. Ends up Michele took the time to write all that while she was prepping her USTCC FR-S, and working on her website (with Reklawdesign). Much like the classier contributors to the board, she shows what @Ultramaroon and his wife experienced last weekend.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

Wow! And amen! We felt it hard, Michele. That's not just PR. You are giving from the heart.

[MicheleAbbate]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Season isn't over, and the S2000 in third still has a shot if he does some more races. By the way he did beat a certain FR-S in 5 out of 6 races.

The (western conf) season ended at the last race in Portland... Unless you're talking about Nationally.... Assuming your talking about Carl Young - who is based in CA and will not be running and of the north/north eastern events because he is prepping for National Run Offs at Daytona - so is Toby Larsson.

And assuming again that you're talking about Carl Young, that s2k is the Driving Ambitions STU car that finished 2nd at the 2014 SCCA National Run Offs. Not only is it a fully prepped purpose built STU car, including its sequential gearbox... lol. Pretty cool to say our FRS finished in front of him at Chuckwalla - regardless of the circumstances. Yes, he definitely beat us 5 out of the 6 that he competed in, but you can't be serious if you're saying our frs is fully capable of turning a better lap time than that s2k.... (even though we got dangerously close in the race on sunday at +0.3)

I can appreciate your point, but at the same time, I feel like you're discrediting our efforts and our championship win. To each his own, but I'm still proud and humbled to show that winning a championship isn't impossible, even when you don't have close to what is "necessary". Consistency, persistence, passion, and a whole ton of teamwork is what made this seasons championship possible, and there are so many people that are a part of this year's title.

I can only sit and patiently wait to see how we end up nationally... but to sit in the top 5, even top 10 nationwide in our first full season with a brand new chassis AND our rookie year in the SCCA is outstanding; and no one can deny that!

[MicheleAbbate]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

The main thing is that the s2000 in STU didn't finish first in points...

and a super MEAN s2k at that!!

Originally Posted by DAEMANO

This is what matters, and part of the reason I'm so supportive too. There are tons of drivers, sadly more than a few have the kind of bro-ish fanboi attitude that makes us all look bad and makes people shy away from motorsports. Not Michele.

Quick story. Last year my S.O. was going to her first HDPE in her new Fiat Abarth (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana). On a whim, I asked Michele for some advice for her to help break some jitters. No exaggeration, Michele writes what had to have been a 1000+ word letter filled with tips, and encouragement for that specific track directly to her. We went to what ended up being an 8 hour track day and she had a blast, part of which I definitely attribute to that letter. Ends up Michele took the time to write all that while she was prepping her USTCC FR-S, and working on her website (with Reklawdesign). Much like the classier contributors to the board, she shows what @Ultramaroon and his wife experienced last weekend.

Always happy and more than willing to help out anyone that has questions. It is something that I've always been a huge stickler for, because when I started (even autocrossing) I didn't really have anyone to turn to, and I was one of those people that was too shy to ask for help and questions. I never want anyone to make that same mistake.

Knowledge and advice can be a huge help, especially if its free and from a credible source.

I'm no perfectionist, but I definitely want to help people learn from my mistakes :P

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Wow! And amen! We felt it hard, Michele. That's not just PR. You are giving from the heart.

So heartwarming to read this. You guys are truly awesome, thank you

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by MicheleAbbate

The (western conf) season ended at the last race in Portland... Unless you're talking about Nationally.... Assuming your talking about Carl Young - who is based in CA and will not be running and of the north/north eastern events because he is prepping for National Run Offs at Daytona - so is Toby Larsson.

I can appreciate your point, but at the same time, I feel like you're discrediting our efforts and our championship win. To each his own, but I'm still proud and humbled to show that winning a championship isn't impossible, even when you don't have close to what is "necessary". Consistency, persistence, passion, and a whole ton of teamwork is what made this seasons championship possible, and there are so many people that are a part of this year's title.

Are you prepping for the National Run Offs? I didn't bring up the S2000 up, @Lonewolf did. I am not discrediting anything, just stating facts. There is no doubt that showing up to races and finishing races are the first two steps to winning championships. It seems like winning the National Run Offs is what really matters, so I hope you will be there to show what you can really do against a large field of cars.

[MicheleAbbate]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Are you prepping for the National Run Offs?

Not at this time. I'd be a fool to spend the money (if I had it) to travel from NV across the country to FL without a SC or engine swap bc our NA frs would get destroyed in the National STU field.

We are in discussion with a few companies regarding nationals but we do not have a solid commitment from anyone yet to make the trip worth the costs - so, at this point we do not have plans on attending.

Maybe Toyota will change this

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by MicheleAbbate

Not at this time. I'd be a fool to spend the money (if I had it) to travel from NV across the country to FL without a SC or engine swap bc our NA frs would get destroyed in the National STU field.

We are in discussion with a few companies regarding nationals but we do not have a solid commitment from anyone yet to make the trip worth the costs - so, at this point we do not have plans on attending.

Maybe Toyota will change this

Well, I will be hoping for it. It seems like getting Crowd Funding/Sponsors for the Run Offs would be even easier as it will get much more exposure with such a large National field.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by MicheleAbbate

Not at this time. I'd be a fool to spend the money (if I had it) to travel from NV across the country to FL without a SC or engine swap bc our NA frs would get destroyed in the National STU field.

We are in discussion with a few companies regarding nationals but we do not have a solid commitment from anyone yet to make the trip worth the costs - so, at this point we do not have plans on attending.

Maybe Toyota will change this

Tentative plans for Mid-Ohio in 2016?

[MicheleAbbate]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Tentative plans for Mid-Ohio in 2016?

Yes, absolutely. 👍😉

[rice_classic]

:Caution, impending wall-o'-text:

Originally Posted by MicheleAbbate

I can appreciate your point, but at the same time, I feel like you're discrediting our efforts and our championship win. To each his own, but I'm still proud and humbled to show that winning a championship isn't impossible, even when you don't have close to what is "necessary". Consistency, persistence, passion, and a whole ton of teamwork is what made this seasons championship possible, and there are so many people that are a part of this year's title.

First and foremost: I'm gonna defend King_Tut and say it's not personal Michele.. it's a "S2k vs FT86" thing that has been a perpetual debate between these two platforms since the inception of this board.

Moving on. This is directed to the audience as a whole, not Michele.

Racing is massively complex and therefore understanding the value of the outcomes of racing is also complex. A lot of time people think that winning a championship means they were the fastest, they were the best of the field. Not only is this rarely true in Amateur racing, it's also rarely true in professional racing. However in Amateur racing what commonly exists is the a "Towing Championship" where you have the ability to finish well in each race but win the championship simply by the fact that you attend more races and accrue more points or are able to drop more events that had unfavorable outcomes.

In grassroots motorsports, I surmise that the most common championship is a "Towing Championship". The reason is that the logistics of transport (especially regarding a national title) is, in many cases, the most expensive aspect of the endeavor. However, a person who has this does get to claim they have a championship and so do their sponsors, and this is good, this in itself is a victory. That's the game.. reducing your costs to play, while pleasing the folks who help fund your hobby/habit/addiction/future career. It's one aspect of a "complete driver".

Can a "Towing championship" still have a great deal of meaning, can it still mean the victor was the best, the most consistent, etc etc? YES! But it's more complex because one has to take into account the prep level of the car, the competency of the driver and individual competition at individual events. Example: that "prepped to the rules" STU S2k didn't beat Michele everytime and the delta in its victories weren't massive either and we know that Michele's FRS isn't close to maximizing the STU ruleset (as I pointed out regarding lap times) and this data has meaning.

What about the issue of low field counts in relationship to the meaning of a championship? The field count isn't always relevant, in fact it rarely is. The relevancy is in the quality of talent pool. I'm around the PRO3, Spec E46, Spec 944, Spec Pinata guys.. there might be a 25 car field, but many times there's really only 3, maybe 5 really fast guys. So really.. it's a "field of 5", then the entry fillers. Why is this? Money/Time/Talent. Being upfront takes all three and most people who race with SCCA/NASA/ICSCC are making a compromise between those 3 things. Some of the fastest guys always finish 4th or worse in any given race because they can't "afford to win". Some guys finishing 2nd have spent 3x the money than the guy finishing 1st.. that's always awesome, and all too rare.

Sometimes in the thin fields of a mature class, something neat happens. In cases where the field was popular but then popularity declined, the fast guys may be the ones that remained and so there may only be 3-5 entries but it's a "concentration of talent". That's been the case here in ITA and a few other classes.

Going fast is neat.. sure.. whatever.. I mean it is.. but it's so little of the whole story. What's rarely admired is the commitment from a grassroots racer to "put together a season". It's hard, it's INSANELY HARD.. It's often harder than the logistics of racing. The towing, hotels, schedules, sponsorship dollars, commitments, money... and all of this before you even get into testing, tuning, car prep and driver development. The logistics is massive talent in and of itself. When I attend the 25 hours of Thunderhill and I have a moment of awe.. It's not at a the cars, it's at the eloquence and scale of the massive logistical hurdles overcome and solved by some of the teams, both well funded and otherwise.

So racing is equal parts car development, operations, complex problem solving, PR, Sales, engineering...and then talent, and I haven't even covered the sacrifices made on the personal and social fronts either. I have 1 closely fought championship that went the whole calendar and my other two were products of attending more races. But even in those other two, I hold dear because I was always competing at every event and I'm "poor" compared to most folks who can afford racing so putting together a championship run for me massive commitment which is a challenge in itself.

So Championships do have varying degrees of meaning, they always have value, but definitely varying degrees of meaning. The reason I was digging through entries, names, cars, prep levels and lap times because I want to assess for myself, as a racer, what it meant to do achieve Michele is achieving especially as a rookie in this, because I've never had the resources do anything on a national level.

I don't care if Michele Abbate wins a championship with deep fields or thin fields, so long as there is a field, or if she attends all the races or not. Anyone (with lots of money) can build a car to the limit of the rules and then only be fast at their local tracks.. big whoop. This isn't that. After looking at logistics of Michele's national endeavor, she has every reason to be proud and we have every reason to admire. From where I'm sitting, with my background in racing, Michele is a Complete Race Driver as would be defined by Ross Bentley.


That's damn admirable and that's that.

[stugray]

But.... But..... She's a woman and an 86 is not a sports car, how could this happen????

Congrats!!!