GHIT 0288: Mark Petronis - On Driver and Car Safety and Recovering from an On Track Incident - Part 1 Mark Petronis has set track many records and won more than his share of races but recently had a very serious on track incident and thankfully it looks like he is in the process winning his recovery battle as well. We talk with Mark about all things racing and how he is a great example for the importance and effectiveness of the current safety equipment that is available to every driver. In Part...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 288
DwD 0287: Increasing Grip - By the Driver - Part 1 On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start to try to go into a topic we heard on the (tremendous) Track Walking podcast when they had Paul Gerrard on as a guest and they were discussing several factors that a driver can influence the limit of grip on track. The information, and especially the discussion, was so valuable we try to go into the topic and discuss it here. We did not do a great job on this first attempt but the discussion is a...
Jan 25, 2022•23 min•Season 5Ep. 287
GHIT 0286: Caroline Yun - Driver Progression Caroline Yun is an avid high performance driving enthusiast who has recently worked her way up through the Southern California NASA HPDE ladder system and has begun her wheel to wheel and time trial (TT) racing career in Honda Challenge. She recently completed here first ever endurance race at Sonoma with the award winning Initial Dingus team. As Caroline is a relatively new driver and racer, we thought we would discuss with her the experiences that s...
Jan 24, 2022•1 hr 50 min•Season 5Ep. 286
GHIT 0 285 : Thank You Three Pedal Mafia We have four members of the Three Pedal Mafia come up to help Vicki and Bill work on the two Honda project cars for this winter. We had originally planned a full cage party work weekend but had postponed it until February or until the Covid spike recedes. What we were able to accomplish with their skills in such a short time was amazing. They came, they saw, and they fixed. Some day we hope to be able to perform at that level and repay them in some way. A...
Jan 19, 2022•33 min•Season 5Ep. 285
In this Dominating with Dawson episode, we use a recent article by podcast friend Ross Bentley for this second installment of the If-Then Game. On this week's episode, we focus on corner entry. Join us and play along with our two contestants from the Garage Heroes In Training Team. We are sure this will go into global syndication soon, lol. It ends early due to a recording issue, but is definitely worth a listen. Special thanks to Ross Bentley for letting us use his article as a basis for this e...
Jan 18, 2022•24 min•Season 5Ep. 284
GHIT 0 283 : Global MX-5 Cup with Todd Flis of Flis Performance Todd Flis has been involved with various levels of racing and now his company Flis Performance provides all of the cars for the series. The Global MX-5 Cup is a great entry level series for professional racing. The races are typically some of the most competitive races we see with margins of victory usually measured in a few thousandths of a second. If you are looking to compare your skill in a pro level racing series, Todd's cars a...
Jan 17, 2022•1 hr•Season 5Ep. 283
DwD 0282: Slow In Fast Out - Truth or Fiction On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we discuss the often referred to concept of "slow in, fast out" for turns especially early in your high performance driving career. As with most aspects of driving, this is a generic truth but not a 100% principle to carry with you for every situation and every turn. The ability to understand when and where to follow and when and where to deviate from the general fundamentals is one of the more significant sta...
Jan 11, 2022•13 min•Season 5Ep. 282
GHIT 0 280 : Scott McMichael - Long Time Dirt and Endurance Racer Scott McMichael started out as a dirt track racer and has transitioned to endurance racing as and arrive and drive and grand poohbah of the Sir Jackie Stewart's Coin Purse Racing and founder of The Unofficial Facebook Group of the 24 Hours of Lemons(TM). Scott was long overdue to come on the podcast. We discuss many aspects of both dirt track racing and endurance racing, especially with the 24 Hours of Lemons, A link to the episod...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 52 min•Season 5Ep. 280
DwD 0274: Pedal Application and Release On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we go into an aspect of the smooth is fast principle by going into the ways that each of us apply and release the throttle (or gas pedal) and the brake pedals. To the surprise of no one, Ben is almost a 100% full hammer down while our ladies have a bit of a different practice at this point in their growth as drivers. We then try to discuss when and where to apply and release the gas and brake and at what rate. Again...
Jan 06, 2022•24 min•Season 4Ep. 274
WOOT 0 281 : (Spoiler Filled) We review Spiderman: No Way Home and Most of 2021's Movies (& The Matrix Resurrections) It has been quite a year and we decided to review the recent Spiderman: No Way Home movie and then we go into many of the other movies that we went to this year including Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and all other MCU and DCEU and related movies and TV shows including The Matrix Resurrections. We then go to ranking the various movies and shows for 2021. We also g...
Jan 05, 2022•2 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 281
On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, Alex joins us to help define what the rain line is on a track and how to find it on a track, especially when it is our first time at a track. The discussion wanders a bit, but all of it should help you in determining the rain line and allow you to optimize it to that specific day's track conditions and your car. If you would be interested in helping grow our sport of high performance driving and our podcast: You can subscribe to our podcast on the podcast...
Jan 04, 2022•27 min•Season 5Ep. 279
GHIT 0 278 : Our Annual Season Review and Goals Episode Starts our 5th Podcast Season We take a look back at how our team and drivers 2021 racing season went and compare it to our planned goals. We did have quite a year and accomplished quite a bit. How did we do versus how we wanted? As always, you will have to listen to find out. And as always, the episode ends with each of us giving our goals for 2022 for ourselves and our team. We would love to know if you have any goals that you can share a...
Jan 02, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Season 5Ep. 278
On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we try to answer the potentially unanswerable question that we hear at the track "What Tire Pressure Should I Use?". Alex joins us as we try to answer as best we can. First we go over several of the factors that can affect what the answer could be. Next we try to go into the various methods that can be used to actually determine the correct answer. To the surprise of none of the long time racers, the reference to Andy Hollis during this episode is expecte...
Dec 28, 2021•27 min•Season 4Ep. 277
GHIT 0 276 : Mike Kramer Honda Challenge Racing Driver Mike Kramer has been racing in Honda Challenge and is the two time H2 champion with NASA Southeast. In addition, he also races in endurance racing with the 24 Hours of Lemons and Lucky Dog. We have several goals for this episode and one of them is not so subtly aimed at convincing Vicki the our 1993 Honda Civic being a front wheel drive car is not so bad and how much fun we will have in 2022 using it as our primary endurance racing car. Mike...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 276
GHIT 0275: The 2021 Escape from Moscow Lemons Rally - Conclusion You hoped we had forgotten, but no, here is the final review of this years Escape from Moscow rally. Rally master Jeff Stobbs joins us to review the event and we also had a chance to talk to two of the team members that drove a Peugot 505 for the event and ended up finishing on the podium for the event. As we discuss in this episode, there was a delay at the end of the rally due to an accident outside Road Atlanta and then because ...
Dec 22, 2021•56 min•Season 4Ep. 275
DwD 0 273 : Double Apex Turns On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we cover two of the potential ways to approach several turn types that you will encounter on a track. In longer turns/turns that require a large direction change like a 180 degree turn etc. In several of these turns it may be faster to try to get through the turn with a classic late apex, but in some turns, it is often better to use a double apex approach or even a V-turn. We try to discuss how to tell what you should do and ...
Dec 21, 2021•12 min•Season 4Ep. 273
GHIT 0 272 : Tim Bagnall - Starting a New Endurance Racing Team Tim Bagnall recently contacted us looking for getting started in endurance racing. We thought this could be a great episode and an informal 11th episode in our how to get started series that we had earlier this year (2021). Tim did most of the heavy lifting and asked us a ton of great questions and we answered as best we can at this point in our racing career. We hope this episode can answer some of your questions if you are startin...
Dec 20, 2021•2 hr 38 min•Season 4Ep. 272
DwD 0 268 : DwD Storytime - The One About Fred Lobster Trying to Kill Ben and Ann On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we have our second DwD Storytime episode where Ben recounts a recent track day event where he found a peculiarity in the “Fred Lobster” car that led to a weird issue where the steering and brakes would not respond. If this was a new car, it would likely be a safety nanny programming issue, but since this car is far from new, the true root cause is still tbd. However, the sto...
Dec 14, 2021•13 min•Season 4Ep. 271
GHIT 0 270 : Jaime Garcia from the Race FF Podcast Reviews their Sonoma Endurance Race Jaime Garcia from the Race FF podcast returns to review his recent endurance race at Sonoma with the 24 Hours of Lemons. His team prepped their Toyota Corolla for the race for the last several weeks and had a great time at the event. They had a series of good and bad events during the race but ended up bringing home some well earned hardware. Was it a perfect race? Of course not. We aren't even sure that is po...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 4Ep. 270
It is day three of this years Escape from Moscow rally. Rally master Jeff Stobbs joins us for today's update and then we talk to one of the two brothers (Max) from the Great Race team that is participating in the rally in their '67 Plymouth Valiant (former) race car. Points are not yet updated to reflect today's events but who cares anyway? We will try to have a larger update tomorrow evening as it is the end of the rally at Road Atlanta. We hope to make you feel like you are part of the event. ...
Dec 10, 2021•28 min•Season 4Ep. 269
It is day two of this years Escape from Moscow rally. We interrupt the festivities at a local Korean restaurant for an update from Jeff Stobbs and two of the teams on the rally. Todays events have been quite lemony. We go through some of the highlights of the days journey and how the teams are coping with the itinerary and we have several teams "succeeding" and gathering a ton of points. We will try to have updates each evening and hope to make you feel like you are part of the event. If you are...
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 268
If you ever wondered about what a Lemons Rally is, this series will cover the daily updates from this years Escape from Moscow rally. This year the rally started with a pre-event kickoff event at the local Circle Drive In theater and then the initial check in was at Montage Mountain ski resort. The end point for the rally is Road Atlanta in Brazleton, Georgia. The route is far from direct and some of these cars may not make it very far. We know of one for sure. We will try to have updates each e...
Dec 08, 2021•26 min•Season 4Ep. 267
DwD 0 265 : What to Do In A Turn On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we start off with a poor word choice and make the best of it. The real subject for this episode is what to pay attention to in a turn from pre-turn in all the way through track out. While there are many things to do and even more potential things to possibly do, we try to cover several of the fundamental things to do and look at during this complex series of events and inputs that form the key to high performance driving a...
Dec 07, 2021•30 min•Season 4Ep. 266
GHIT 0 265 : Kyle Lockrow Upcoming Professional Racing Driver Kyle is a racing driver who has worked his way from a grassroots racing hobby to a professional career that has reached the NASCAR level. We had the opportunity to talk with him about his history and how amateur racing and especially amateur endurance racing has helped him progress and improve to the national level. His story is still being written, but after meeting him, we are huge fans and wish him nothing but the best. If that sto...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 29 min•Season 4Ep. 265
DwD 0 264 : Improving Your Sense of Speed on Track On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we talk about ways to improve your sense of speed on a track. This includes the commonly referred to “butt dyno”, but can also include several other ways and several other senses that the driver can use to determine their relative speed as well as their absolute speed. We are sure we left out a few, but please let us know if you use something else, especially as your primary feedback. If you would be inte...
Nov 30, 2021•23 min•Season 4Ep. 264
Do you know anyone who always wanted to drive on track but didn't think it was possible? Do you talk to people about driving on track and they don’t understand but you know they would? Do you want a bigger racing budget? Perhaps the CFO of the house isn’t involved in our sport (yet). Vicki and Bill have attended several Track Night In America events and had a blast. It is a great way to see if you or someone you know would like driving on track without a lot of prep, money, or time required. We ...
Nov 25, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 4Ep. 263
GHIT 0 261 : Our NJMP HPDE Event - Part Deux We had a large group of drivers at the recent NASA Northeast HPDE event at NJMP’s Lightning course. Since schedules did not fully coincide last week, we broke our group up into two different episodes. We start off with our usual goals for the weekend and cover how the event went. For this episode, we had Audra on who had never been to this track and was driving her 2017 BMW M2 for the weekend. Adam came to the event and was going to use Bill’s M3 but ...
Nov 24, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 4Ep. 261
DwD 0 260 : Over Slowing for a Turn and A Few Ways to Stop On this issue of Dominating with Dawson, we talk through the importance of the entry speed into a turn. One of the potential problems that comes in this area is learning how not to over slow for the turn. There is very little that can be done to make up for that lost time and speed. This can be the result of several different causes including trusting the tires or brakes, habits from street driving where you usually brake for every turn....
Nov 23, 2021•16 min•Season 4Ep. 260
GHIT 0 259 : Paul Gerrard - Author of Optimum Drive, Professional Racing Driver and Coach, and Top Gear USA’s “The Stig” Do you REALLY want to be a great driver? If so, this is the episode for you. Paul Gerrard is the author of “Optimum Drive - The Roadmap to Driving Greatness” and he knows what driving greatness entails as he has competed at many of the highest levels in motorsports and coaches many drivers pursuing their dreams. In addition, he was the Stig for Top Gear USA. Resume aside, he h...
Nov 22, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 259
GHIT 0 262 : Jaime Garcia from the RaceFF podcast returns to Talk about his 1st wheel-to-wheel race and upcoming Endurance Racing Prep Jaime Garcia returns to discuss his first Honda Challenge H2 race which was his first ever wheel to wheel race and satisfied his lifelong goal. We also talk through his upcoming preparation for his new 24 Hours of Lemons endurance race. In Jaime's last episode he was driving back his car after getting the cage installed so we had to see how his event went. Now we...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Season 4Ep. 262
