Our Team

2021 Goals and Our 2020 Goal Review

As the year wraps up, we review how our 2020 racing season went and what goals we would like to do and accomplish in 2021.Â Obviously, the year did not go as we had hoped or planned with the COVID pandemic impacting normal life routine. But we did make some significant growth and made the best out of a horrible situation.Â Goal making is one thing that is very easy to do, but also very easy to skip. However, we have found it to be very beneficial to our growth as racers as well as is our personal and professional lives.Â Â

On our Dominating with Dawson segment, we go over what it means to be driving at the limit, what is the limit, and how to get closer and closer to the limit safely and effectively.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1) We start of looking at what our goals were for 2020 and how we did

2)Â The next segment covers what we want to accomplish going into 2021. (including items that we would like to improve about our driving and our team.)

3) We then begin to look at things that went well this year and things we could have done better.

4) It probably wouldnât be a podcast without our doing a Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, so we did.

5)Â The final step was we tried to grade our year and then determine a few things that would define a successful year for ourselves and the team.

6) We did forget to go into The Mirror that we added to aid us in getting in better shape for racing, so we added it as a bonus section after the credits.

GHIT 0158: Our 2020 Year in Review and Our 2021 Goals

Out 2020 Goals episode can be found here.

GHIT 0156: Pirate Takeover of Everyone Racers

(from 2018) and the (Horrible) Beginning of Our Podcasting

We found several of the original sound files and decided to put this together for a bonus Christmas gift to everyone.Â This is the podcast recording sessions that started everything.Â We originally intended this to fill in a week gap that the Everyone Racers podcast took for Chris and Chrissyâs wedding.Â However, it took almost thirty tries for us to get to this point.Â

In addition, we added an early snippet of our first GHiT podcast introductions. I guess we did get better over time, but honestly, we really had to, there was nowhere else to go.

We were such newbies back then. Hopefully, we can look back three years from now and feel the same ways about our team now vs then.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

PS Donât blame us. Billâs editing skills have improved to where this was possible and almost sounds decent.

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1)Â A few of our best E1R (Everyone Racers) intros followed with our own feeble attempt to follow their episode guideline at the time.

2) A very brief wrap up of our recent race at Thompson with the 24 Hours of Lemons, our teams second overall race, and Alan and Jenâs first ever race. The race weekend was very hot Friday and then very wet and humid for the rest of the weekend.

3) One of our first jokes came at the expense of Jeff. Very fitting.

4) The announcement of the teamâs newest puppy, a Bernese Mountain dog named Zoe Lemons Fischer.

5) Even back then, we had prep issues. Still a focus of our improvement.

6) Alan had bad internet at the time and was using the local Starbucks internet since it was much faster. Lol.

7) When 4-5 psi is an issue on your SpiderStang, a 1984 Mustang GT Turbo, obviously you turn it up to 15 psi or so.

8) The end of the Capri at Thompson is reviewed a bit. The project is still ongoing.

9) Special shout out to Bruce and all his help with fixing the Capri until late in the morning, only to find out our issue was a broken cam shaft.

10) Our first ever racing trophy was received at the Thompson race. Unfortunately, it was the
I Got Screwedâ award and even more unfortunately, it is still our only reward, but at least we have one, lol.

11) Alanâs first black flag came this weekend. But not his last.

12)Â Our first ever attempt to help the Everyone Racers podcast with a sponsor reading.Â It did not go well

13) Vicki provides just the tip. It was on the help of Friday practice. We would add pre-race prep to this as well. A lot of this can be done ahead of time with YouTube and various track guides and track walks available, especially our favorites from Ross Bentley and Racers360.

14) We even discuss our plans for the Capri after the transmission and engine issues at Thompson. The plan is still the same. Our skills just havenât allowed us to get it to the finish line. Yet. Stay tuned.

15) Proof we can have an episode last less than one hour.

GHIT 0146: Live from NJMP Lightning with NASA NE

We thought we would get a short podcast out to update how the day has gone and what we have been doing today. Jennifer is in the Soul Red 2019 Mazda MX5 (Miata) ND2 and is in HPDE 1 this weekend. Vicki is in her first HPDE 2 and, as always is driving her 1999 Mazda Miata with the Flyin’ Miata turbo. Bill finally found an HPDE car that he can fit into that wasn’t stolen (yet) by the girls, a 2004 BMW E46 M3. The day went very well and we all learned from the time on track. We cover highs and lows and end with a short story time from Bill about the last stint of the day. This will cover Saturday and we will likely have a longer episode covering the whole event in the future.

If you are here, please say hi. Jennifer actually ran into a listener in her HPDE class.

Also, if you happen to have some race pads for an E46 M3, Bill has cash money.

GHIT 0146: Live from NJMP Lightning with NASA NE

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

This episode of our podcast is a listeners request, Jennifer, Vicki, and Bill go over what we have been up to and begin to look at where we are going for next year. Lots of changes, lots of cars gone, still a few to go, and lots of new cars added, most need some TLC. We think we are on a good path, but you can be the judge of that. Also, on this episodeâs Dominating with Dawson, we get into a discussion of driving skill vs driving talent. Lots of opinions, lots of thoughts, probably the first of several discussions related to this. In the end, there are very few people, I any, who if they are interested in our sport and apply themselves, cannot get to a competitive level and become a very good driver and racer. At least thatâs what we think.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Best regards,

Vicki, Jennifer, Alan, and Bill

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training Podcast and

Garage Heroes In Training racing team drivers

Highlights from this episode include:

1) Our upcoming skid pad & autocross car control event at Lime Rock with Safety Third Motorsports. Jennifer and Vicki as so excited it is hard to explain, even for them.

2) How the 2.75 Porsche 944âs and 1.0 Boxsters have found new homes and Bradâs starting to prep his E46 330 for his move to Colorado. Maybe we have the beginnings of a Midwest/Mountain time zone team. 4.75 cars in one weekend.

3) The plan for the SpiderStang Mustang and the black Honda Civic are still tbd at this point, but may be available.

4) Bill has located a HPDE car that is undergoing some upgrade and preventative maintenance with the help of John Lavin from Safety Third Motorsports. It is a E46 that is changing from a SMG transmission to a manual transmission because that is just so much more fun and engaging.

5) An E46 330 shell magically appeared and is the long-term project car for Billâs goal of running the NASA Thunderhill 25 by 2025. So far, we have 3.5 drivers who are interested and now need only one more driver and Bill to get some more skill.

6) What are we doing with 1974 Capri. We have plans, but not enough skill at this point.

7) Should we build two Civic race cars, we donât know for sure at this point. Still TBD.

8) Our 2017 Ford F150 black cap is also looking for a new home

9) Mechanical status for each car and the progress to be accomplished over the off season this winter.

10) Bill is apparently stuck in bad joke/dad joke mode throughout this episode. We apologize.

11) We talk about what the plan is for modifying the cage in the yellow Honda Civic and the two smaller jobs of fixing the engine and adding new/better seat mounts.

12) Vicki is reminded of the winter project that was set for last winter. Perhaps we will have better luck this year. TBD. Maybe someday the ND Miata may actually have an interior again.

13) Bill tries to get some planning on the upcoming themes. Vicki and Jen donât want to get into it at all. Bill thinks its all a coverup for no plan. We shall see.

14) Vicki learns about the most romantic anniversary gifts ever. Why does Vicki put up with this? How did Bill ever get so lucky?

15) We are all three going to complete some car related courses this winter. Eventually, we will be competent mechanically and electrically. (These had better be good courses if they are to get us there, lol.)

16) New/recent garage tools and capabilities that will aide us this winter, with a quick review of each.

17) We reverse the âwhat does someone know about you that no one knowsâ question on each other. Bill stuffs a big foot into his mouth during this one. He will be sleeping in the bathtub for a long, long time.

18) Vicki learns that Thunderhill is located in California.

Any ideas for Guests?

Any ideas for upcoming topics?

Please let us know at [email protected] or on our Instagram at @GarageHeroesInTraining

GHIT 0139: Team Progress and Update

GHIT 0126: Breaking “Barriers” That Are Keeping You Off Track or From High Performance Driving

Strap in, its a long one

Christian “Mental” Ward joins us for a very special episode where we try to break down any barriers that are keeping you from getting started and trying high performance driving or going out to a track or autocrossing etc. As with every Mental episode, we have tons of stories and go very, very long.

So strap in for a great episode where we show various ways for you, YES YOU, to start TODAY! PS this will also apply to getting some improved training opportunities for the new drivers in the family. Avoiding an accident is the best safety system. If you enjoy taking the fun way home from work/school, if you enjoy going around exit ramps, but you haven’t tried anything further, this episode should show you how to break through any barrier that prevented you from REALLY enjoying your car.

“That guy can sure spin a yarn” – Jeff Wakeman

Barriers Broken during this episode:

1) I don’t have a racing license

2) I don’t have a car to race with

3) My car isn’t ready

4) It’s too far away

5) I am too intimidated by the people or the other cars/may car, or the track

6) I don’t know how to get started (Hint you can contact us or E1R etc.)

7) I’m a ______ e.g. Girl, too young, too old, out of shape, the wrong shape etc. etc. etc.

8) I will one I _____ (insert any number of wonderful wish list items)

9) It costs too much

10) I don’t have time

11) Ego issues

12) Where can I find where I can ______

Our Dominating with Dawson segment for this episode goes into the often overlooked art involved with downshifting, how and when to do it properly, how to practice during your daily driving, and how it can help your car last quite a bit longer during a race.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Best regards,

Bill, Vicki, Jennifer, and Alan

Hosts of the Garage Heroes In Training podcast

and team members in the GHiT

Immature Endurance Racing Team

Highlights from the episode include:

1) References to Hamsa and Matt

2) Hot tub rule #1 at the track

3) Details of the Deer Incident/Inside Joke can be found at

4) Your race car is never, ever finished. Ever.

5) Waiting to get your car faster or a faster car will actually impede your learning progress. Counterintuitive but absolutely true.

6) Teen driving training discussion and resources (a few links below)

7) This episode may contain some tough love, but it’s all with love.

8) We take advantage of the opportunity and hit Mental with the Fast and Furious questions, finally

Descriptions:

Autocross: Racing usually in a large area around a temporary course usually composed of orange cones

HPDE: High performance driving education – Where you can learn to drive better, usually on a race track Track Night in America: an event held at a local track where you can drive your car around a race track and dip your toe into the pool

iRacing: a brand of sim racing on a computer that the focus is on more realistic racing than a traditional racing game.

Lots of links:

SCCA: https://www.scca.com/

NASA: https://www.nasaproracing.com/

Track Night in America: https://www.tracknightinamerica.com/

Go Carting: Lots, use Google

24 Hours of Lemons: https://24hoursoflemons.com/ Lucky Dog:

Home

AER: http://americanenduranceracing.com/

Champ Car: https://champcar.org/

WRL: https://www.worldracingleague.org/

Race Seats for Rent: Lots (Google) including The Dog Pound for Lucky Dog and OK Stupid for Lemons seats and Kingpin Motorsports.

Driving Experiences: Lots, use Google

Grass Roots Motorsports magazine Link: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/guest-blog-open-letter-lgbtq-car-enthusiasts

No Money Motorsports: https://nomoneymotorsports.com/2020/06/09/the-14-most-effective-tips-to-spend-less-on-track-days-and-racing-maximize-your-track-time/

Motorsports Reg: https://www.motorsportreg.com/

Teen driving Training near Atlanta: https://atlantamotorsportspark.com/teen-driving/

B.R.A.K.E.S: https://putonthebrakes.org/

Race Image: http://www.raceimage.com/

Racers Parts Wholesale: https://racerpartswholesale.com/

GHiT Handy Links: https://garageheroesintraining.com/racing-resources/

EVO School: http://evoschool.com/

Team O’Neil Rally School: https://www.teamoneil.com/

Skip Barber Racing School: https://www.skipbarber.com/

DirtFish Rally School: https://dirtfish.com/

Bondurant: https://bondurant.com/

The “Marks” clubs, e.g.