Driving School: Check

Since it’s completion in 1959, Pacific Raceways (formally Seattle International Raceways) has become one of the most well-known dragstrip and road course tracks in the Pacific Northwest. It is built out of everything that makes Washington roads so much fun; from twisting ribbons of tarmac through forests to the dips and hills of mountainous countryside, it really feels like the epitome of driving in the upper left corner of the United States.

However, as Jake learned this weekend while receiving his Competition License, Pacific Raceways can be just as unforgiving as it is beautiful. To excel at this track drivers must forget about the trees lining the straights and the hidden bumps in the pavement and push themselves to get within inches of walls at eye-blurring speeds.

Before Jake’s training weekend he did have one track day recorded at Pacific in his own car. That can only go so far - once you’re strapped in to the ProFormance Racing School’s Scion FRS, the track feels like a whole new beast. The FRS is a brilliant training racer and provides a manageable, yet challenging introduction to the track; once you’re buckled in, it feels like you’re wearing the car instead of driving it. Add a dozen other drivers who are also inexperienced in FRS’s, and racing school becomes a real trial-by-fire.

Over the two day course, Jake spent more than ten hours on the race track each day. It doesn’t matter if you’re as buff as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson - you’re going to be sore.

In Jake’s words: “It was spooky! You’re so tense because you’re like, ‘What am I doing? I have to be how close to the wall going 115 mph plus?’”

An outline of Pacific Raceways. Jake was the fastest through 3A/3B and 5A/5B

So much seat time also means getting to know the cars and the track like the back of your hand. Don Kitch Jr., Jake’s instructor, told the drivers to record a track journal - a list of notes to refer to when trying to squeeze every ounce of performance out on the track. Here is an example of Jake’s:

For turn 3 Curtis taught me two methods for A and B. Inside and outside on both turns.

Inside Turn 3A and 3B

If you are going relatively fast, and squeeze on the brake kinda late and firm 2/3 down on the inside of A, release most brake pressure as you turn in smooth but quickly you'll take your car out to the outside, then unwind the wheel... your speed and traffic will dictate how down close you are to B and whether you go straight to the regular brake point and turn in point. [Then] flip the car around and then come straight for the apex or if you're that close to Turn B you simply just hit the apex on B and flip the car around.

Doing that during laps is one thing, But during the race I found myself getting slowed down by the other cars -which gave me the capability to just do a perfect U-turn on the Apex and beat a car out of each turn. I wonder if that's blocking?

For outside it's much more clear.

Bomb down the hill on the drivers side and squeeze the brake firmly on the brake line about 5-10 yards past the start of it, kinda early. Release the brake the same amount toward the end of the brake line and get the car turned around and head for the middle of the track. [While] unwinding the wheel give it a good gas squeeze, then onto the brake line. Squeeze on to the brake firmly, release and then turn the car about 180 degrees, look for the apex, hit it, then straight to the exit and turn out. As I aim to the turn out, I unwind the wheel and squeeze the gas down as much as I can and only easing off the gas to scrub some speed to aim the car where I want.

Turns 3A and 3B happen within a span of a few seconds, which isn’t very long to non-racers like myself, but it’s an eternity on the track. In fact, Jake was consistently the fastest through those corners over both days of racing school. However, being fast while in school is much different than being fast during a real race...which Jake was also able to participate in.

On the final day of school all of the drivers were let loose for a final race. No instructors, just the drivers and their cars. The class was broken into two groups, five students and five Pro3 BMW racing drivers who would race in their actual race cars!

Jake slipped to last place toward the beginning of the race and traded spots with the 9th place driver for most of the run. That is, until the final lap.

With one full final lap to go, Jake overtook one car through the inside of the long, swooping turn 1. He kept his speed and took another out of turn 2. Bombing down the hill he took to the inside and out-braked the guy to his left. In turns 3A and 3B, a couple of his fastest corners, he passed two more. He closed the gap through the back stretch with turn 4, and was the quickest through the tricky chicanes at turns 5A and 5B which put him right on the tail of the 6th-placed car. Once again, Jake overtook two more cars through turn 8 and the nerve-rattling wall at 9; fast but demanding corners. With the finish line in sight, Jake carried the speed through turn 9 and onto the straight and passed yet another car. Jake finished 4th out of 10, overtaking more than half the field!

Now with a novice license, Jake must complete three incident-free races to get his official amateur racing competition license. This should be pretty easy for Jake to do, considering his view of racing isn’t necessarily to break track records. To him, it’s all about being a good driver - staying on line, being confident in his and the cars’ abilities, being safe - and making memories.

Jake has caught the full-blown racing bug. While racing school was fun, because, well, it’s racing school, it also provided an ‘escape’. Jake said that when you’re racing, there isn’t anything else on your mind. There can’t be anything on your mind. It’s all, ‘brake point, turn in, apex, throttle, knowing where other cars are’, all within seconds. The track, especially a place like Pacific Raceways, demands respect. It is a consuming force that overtakes your senses, but provides an entirely raw, powerful experience; 100% focus, dialed-in.

The next time Jake visits Pacific in early April he’ll be in his restored Corvette. Racing season can’t come soon enough!

Big Days Ahead!

Recently, Jake and I sat down at his restaurant to talk about the upcoming race season, his preparations outside of the race car, and what we’d like to cover on the blog together. In he walked, and tucked under his arm was what seemed like 3,000 pages of paper covered in signatures, check boxes, and highlighted dates. It wasn’t until the hearty ‘thunk’ sound they made when they hit the table that I realized how much a new racing driver like Jake has to do get ready for race season - before even sitting in their own car.

In order to compete in the upcoming race season, drivers must first show they can physically handle racing by providing medical physicals. Luckily, racing in the 21st century is miles (pun intended) safer than in days of old, but there is still a very real element of risk. Drivers experience G-forces through braking and cornering, must have quick reflexes to avoid crashing, and must be mentally aware of what is happening around them; sometimes all within a fraction of a second.

Next is racing school. Jake has already completed a single-day license class, but now must complete a two-day competition license class in order to properly race his Corvette. He has quite the teacher - Don Kitch Jr., who has more than 200 pro and amateur race starts, including the 24 Hours of LeMans where he raced with Patrick Dempsey (for all of you Grey’s Anatomy fans). After competition school, Jake will officially be able to compete in the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC) championship races. He will also be eligible to race in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) sponsored races and be a member of the Seattle-based Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiasts (SOVREN).

Jake is planning on being a regular attendee at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, and maybe a couple in Portland, Oregon. However, his dream is to take the car to Laguna Seca in Monterey, California for the Historics Reunion. There he will share the track with some of the most famous racing models ever to race; his Corvette will fit right in.

Jake’s Corvette is right behind the red #72 in Portland, 1960. It’ll be returning to the racetrack soon, although this time with different wheels!

Balancing work life, family time, and preparing for race season can be a tricky task, but Jake is up to the challenge. Jake’s Pickup just won Small Business of the Year for 2018 on Bainbridge Island, so even as race season nears, I have no doubt that he can handle the workload. After all, it is a rare opportunity to be able to race a fire-breathing, tire-screeching time capsule.

Corvettes hold a unique role in American sports car racing history. They hit the race track in California in the mid-1950’s and were one of the first American sports cars to be largely influenced by modifications made for the track. Basically, Corvettes were raced in series where only mass-produced parts were allowed. So, when GM wanted to make their race cars quicker, they also had to apply the same modifications to their showroom cars.

*NOTE: I will be taking a deeper dive into the history of Corvette racing in a later blog post. This is a brief overview. Stay tuned!

Zora Duntov was a Russian-born road racing driver and mechanical genius who started working for GM in 1953. When he got his hands on his first Corvette, he, shall we say, overstepped his professional bounds and was unhappy with the car. Perhaps ‘unhappy’ is not the right word. He felt that GM had the potential to make something truly incredibly in the Corvette, but were falling short with their current designs. After a lot of persuasion and a “squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease” attitude, Duntov was able to prep a few Corvettes for road racing series.

Over his many years in the business, Duntov upgraded the Corvette’s capabilities. In doing so, he solidified his name as one of GM’s most influential engineers and trained others on the Corvette and how to properly squeeze every last drop of performance out of such a fine-tuned machine.

One of those trainees was Larry Webb. The same Larry Webb who is currently overseeing the preparations being made on Jake’s Corvette.

It’s easy to see why Jake chose to race in a ‘Vette. He, like many, has an appreciation for the history and cultural power of the car, and he is using this period of preparation to embody its influence. For example, Jake’s race suit will sport vintage patches, including one of the original Brown Bear Car Wash mascot. Furthermore, he is being trained by a racing legend in Don Kitch Jr., and his car is being prepped by a student of the ‘Father of Corvettes’ in Larry Webb.

Bringing a car from the early 1960’s back to the race track is like owning an incredible museum exhibit that you can actually use. His car is a crossroads where history meets modern appreciation. Using people like Don and Larry isn’t just a cool extra piece of this story; they are a crucial part of the identity of Jake’s Corvette and makes his racing career sit perfectly next to those who drove the car before him.

The Thoroughbred

It’s not every day that you get a handwritten note from Larry Webb, one of the front-runners on fuel injection for Corvettes. For Jake, it’s how to communicate with his race team pit advisor, whether it’s an update about getting the car ready, or ordering another shipment of Jake’s Pickup’s coffee. From Webb himself, “It’s just so nice to sit and sip Jake’s Pickup Washington Leaded, while eating a delicious Jake’s Cinnamon Roll - staring outside at all of this wonderful snow!” Luckily, you don’t need a written note to order from Jake’s Pickup. Check out their website, where you can order items and have them shipped directly to you!

Jake is thrilled to have Webb on the crew team. However, it makes perfect sense; Jake is tenacious and thorough. Whether it’s a project car, a business, or a sandwich order he uses the best tools and ingredients at his disposal. As Bainbridge Island was hit with record snowfall and people were sipping hot chocolate in Snuggies, Jake was at Jake’s Pickup, serving homemade cinnamon rolls and cups of his very own coffee. The resulting quality is difficult to find anywhere else. The race car he’ll be driving is no exception.

Jake’s 1960 Corvette joins a long list of ‘Vette’s that have passed through his life, but none have the heritage or the history of this one. The ‘111’ Corvette was born and raised in racing and never saw the civilian life. Early in its development, Jake’s Corvette was tuned and modified for racing by the late NASCAR and Cobra racing legend Dave MacDonald. MacDonald, who started his racing career in Corvettes, helped install racing suspension and brakes alongside Bill Thomas, the mastermind behind the Chevy Cheetah. This car was purpose-built by some of the best in the business; a pure, unadulterated thoroughbred.

Dick Beck, who purchased the car and painted it black in 1961

As the car was passed between drivers over the years, it wore multiple numbers (#205, #60, #111) and a small variety of color schemes. When the previous owner, Rick Campbell, saved it from a junkyard it barely resembled a Corvette at all; just the red body and few parts remained. Campbell restored it to it’s previous glory, painted it silver and raced it through the late 1980’s and 1990’s. It became a well-known regular, and to this day when people find out Jake is racing a 1960 silver ‘Vette, they ask if it is Campbell’s old car!

Jake’s chapter began in September 2018 when he bought the car from Campbell as a 20th wedding anniversary present. In order to prepare it for the 2019 race season Jake and his wife Kristi have been working hard and it’s almost ready! As pit advisor, Larry Webb is overseeing the preparation and execution of all the steps leading up to race day. These include everything from steam cleaning to engine inspections to installing the last few parts. With the help from Mathewson’s Automotive, Webb and company will have the car looking better than ever for the 2019 race season.

The story of Jake’s #111 Corvette is what makes vintage racing special. With fingerprints of Dave MacDonald, Bill Thomas and now Larry Webb, it exemplifies the passion and dedication it takes to succeed in the sport. It’s history nearly died with the junk pile it became, until Rick Campbell saved it. Now, Jake has the opportunity to continue it’s story with his own chapter and crew.

As race day nears, stay tuned for more updates and a deeper look at Jake’s #111 Corvette!

Jake's Pickup Crews' News: February 11th, 2019

I’ve mentioned Jake Angel’s deli/fast food restaurant Jake’s Pickup a number of times in previous posts. It’s a hub for foodies and car enthusiasts alike, but is quickly expanding. Jake has bright eyes and big ideas about the future of both his restaurant, his merchandise, and his budding racing adventure. I am thoroughly excited to announce this new blog that will be following Jake and his story. The following can be considered the first installment of many, many more to come. Enjoy, and be sure to swing by Jake’s Pickup when you’re on Bainbridge Island!

Jake’s Pickup on Bainbridge Island is much more than a gourmet gas station deli. Every Thursday morning it is home to the incredibly vibrant Cars and Coffee group where ideas, stories and memories are shared. For many it is their daily lunch, perhaps an amazing Sconut (a scone and a donut mated in heaven) or simply to say hello to Jake himself. Bainbridge Island is home to around 25,000 people and I’m willing to bet Jake knows just about every single one of them.

Jake Angel has been working with food for most of his life. He grew up in the family kitchen and started working in restaurants at the age of 15 in one of the most food-rich cities in the United States: Memphis, Tennessee. As he grew, he tracked down some of the best chefs in the nation and trained under them, learning tricks of the trade and developing his own signature styles in the kitchen. For more than 30 years, Jake has been showing people what kind of food passion, creativity, and family tradition can create.

It’s not just flourless frittatas for breakfast or stop-and-go sandwiches for lunch. Jake has his own coffee, his own ice cream and more. Soon, you’ll be able to find your favorite items on the shelves of grocery stores.

His creativity doesn’t stop in the kitchen. Not many people know, but he studied Children’s Art and Literature at the University of Alabama and has written and illustrated his own book titled ‘Ecology from A to Z’. You can find it at the restaurant and take home a copy of your own!

So what we find at Jake’s Pickup is an visionary business owner, decorated chef, popular boss, and family-oriented father. However, Jake has a secret that not a lot of people know about. It’s loud, it bites, it spits fire and, I suspect, can cause earthquakes.

Jake is creating a monster for the track. It’s not done yet, but stick around and tune in to follow Jake’s race in both the kitchen and the cockpit of a customized 1960’s Corvette race car. He is no stranger to Corvettes (he’s got a small scrapbook of every single one he’s owned) but this will be a new chapter in both his and the restaurant’s life. In the meantime, Jake’s Pickup has become the epitome of Bainbridge’s not-so-secret-anymore car scene: fine food served with good friends and topped with a hunger for speed.