2003 RESULTS PAGE - CLICK HERE
My 2002 season got off to a late start due to the car going back under the knife and coming out of a long and expensive winter with a 385 stroker motor (thanks to Roger and Will at Purrfection Automotive in Everett, WA) with a different Comp Cams 306 cam, fresh T-56 gear box and a new Torsen T-2R (Race Master) posi. This new drivetrain proved to be more competitive than what I got out of it in prior seasons. But, unfortunately, my 3.73 rear end gear broke right after I managed to battle my way into the ITE points lead for the season... thus the season championship was, once again, a lost cause. Ended up 3rd overall in the ITE class. But, there were still plenty of high points in the season to write about...
And here's an index to the various 2002 race season stories on this web page...
WWSCC Autocross @ Everett, WA
NW Region SCCA Solo I @ Bremerton Raceway, WA
Ore Region SCCA Regional Race #2 @ Portland International Raceway, OR
Ore Region SCCA Regional Race #3 @ Portland International Raceway, OR
ICSCC/IRDC Race #1 @ Pacific Raceway (SIR), WA
NW Region SCCA Race @ Pacific Raceway (SIR), WA
Ore Region SCCA Rose Cup Races @ Portland International Raceway, OR
Ore Region SCCA Double Regional Races @ Portland International Raceway, OR
That's The Way The Gear Teeth Crumble
ICSCC/IRDC Race #2 @ Pacific Raceway (SIR), WA
ICSCC/CSCC 8 Hr Enduro @ Portland International Raceway, OR
SF Region SCCA Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship Race @ Thunderhill Park, CA
Going to keep this log story short. Suffice it to say that the race car and motor were still being worked on but several of the Team NW F-Body clan, myself included, had the itch to race. Apparently some of the "straight liners" in our group figured they my give us "circle jerks" a run for our money at an early season WWSCC autocross. John Aadland and I decided to share his blue '96 Z28 with Ellis Groo running his '95 Z28 and Don Berry showing up in his brand new '02 rag top Z28.
Due to the extremely large turn out and the fact that it got too dark too early to race, John and I only got two passes through the cones. While Ellis and Don (the straight liners) got the standard three passes. Non-the-less I clicked off the best time of not only our Team members but it was quick enough to score a first place in the Prepared A class. Yoo Hoo is all I can say! I guess I still have what it takes.
Finally, the motor is in and running. Dragged the car behind the new truck out to Bremerton to see if it would run or not. Had very little prep time due to all the mods and repairs it took to get the car in race trim after all the damage it took from the out of balance motor and the crash at the last race in the prior season. Must have spent nearly $10K over the winter getting it ready for a test flight down and back the runway based race track this Sunday. The sound of the pipes were music to my ears. Yet, I wasn't real sure it was making enough power to stay up with several the Porsche 911 RSA cars I saw racing in the PCA classes that day. In fact, when it was all said and done it seemed I was at least 2 seconds slow, as compared to the guys I'd likely be running up against at Portland the following weekend.
For now, though, my task at hand was simply to get in some seat time, break in the motor and see if all systems were a go or not. Steve Sampson and I were representing Team NW F-Body again. I was matched up in the time trial format against Bud Harris and his ZR1 Vette, who is always a tough runner to take down, or just keep up with in ITE. Steve was running in ITS against the likes of Mahlon Hollway in his turbocharged 944T Porsche.
During one timed practice session I only managed to cut a 1:00.046. Mahlon showed us all up with a 0:59.516. Bud had a 1:00.530 but we all knew he would run better when the time came. Steve ran a 1:01.031 although he had posted a first place victory the day before in ITS class with a great 0:58.003.
As the afternoon rolled around we all geared up and strapped in and ran no less than 9 total timed laps. Three laps in the first round and six in the last round. When it was all said and done Steve and I pulled out all the stops. Although I beat Bud Harris, as it turned out, Steve could not quite repeat his win from the prior day against Mahlon in our respective classes that afternoon. We both managed to take one plaque home though. And we got some decent laps times (while I got the fast time of the weekend in the process)...
**Slowrider** 0:57.983 in ITE Mahlon Holloway 0:58.048 in ITS Bud Harris 0:58.615 in ITE Steve Sampson 0:58.663 in ITS
HORROR STORY
Sat afternoon I was running some practice laps on my street tires, the SZ50 Firehawks, to save race rubber and just let the motor spin and learn the track again. Well about 12 minutes later I'm doing a short straight at maybe 80mph heading for the turn 4 right hand sweeper and just getting ready to go to brakes when all of a sudden the rear end kicks out like I lost a rear tire or something. Had to go to emergency landing procedure, flaps down, rudder full left as the tail went full left also. Off the corner I go out into the mushy/muddy grass run off area. I look out my mirror as I'm trying to slow down (luckily I was on street tires with real tread vs race slicks in the mud) and see this smoke trail as I shift down to first and keep a little power to maintain my momentum and steer the car around the outside of the track. Only turn worker station is on the opposite side of the track and 300 yards away. I'm still thinking I lost a rear tire but the car is under control now and being in the weeds I can't tell for sure as I'm bouncing along side the track. I don't want to cross back on track and drag mud on the course. On the other hand the smoke is getting worse and coming into the cabin now. So, I'm wondering WTF is going on and if I'm on fire, if I just blew out my brand new T-2R posi or what?? The motor is still running AOK obviously and I'm doing maybe 2000 rpm. But if I stop will the car burn to the ground with nobody to hit it with a fire bottle? Driver training manual says always go to a turn station when the car is on fire...
So, I motor on around to turn 7 about 200 yards up track. Soon as I get there I shut down and start to bail. But the turn workers say, "Don't park there. Move the car up around the wall." "What about the fire you guys!" I yell out the window through my helmet. Smoke is getting worse too, now that I'm parked and it's coming from under the hood now. OH SHIT! Did I blow the frigging brand new MOTOR? I'm totally confused at this point and try to start it again but the starter won't even crank over. Man, maybe it is burning up now too. "It won't start! Get a fire bottle..." We hit the kill switch in case the wires are shorting out. That wipes out everything the PCM just tried to learn again. It was running awesome too. Oh well.
Next thing I know I'm being flat towed back to the paddock where Jim Hodel and Tim Kohlmeyer hook up with me and we decide somehow the oil cooler must have blown off a hose. Oil is everywhere under the car. Up on stands and I unbutton the cover where the oil cooler is tucked up under the front of the car. Once I get the cover off, sure enough, the fitting tube that holds the line to the cooler has snapped right off and the #10 tube is wide open. Damn! Like a wide open garden hose. It must have poured oil all over the track for maybe 30 yards before I went off and who knows how much of the grass got an oil bath before I finally drained the pan out?? Turns out the pan had maybe a coffee cup of oil in it and the drain plug magnet showed barely any metal on it. On the down side though the oil filter, which would not come off without some major surgery, was bone DRY.
At this point I'm thinking I must have totally croaked the crank bearings and had to have seized the motor, right. But we can't crank the motor by hand because the new pulley has no bolts to get a wrench on now. So, we go to the parts store and get a new B&B cooler and toss the PermaCool cooler in the garbage can after seeing that the fitting had been GLUED to the cooler from the manufacturer. Real great design feature, not to mention the fact that the tubes are thin wall aluminum.
So, we install the new cooler and at 5:30pm have 8 more qrts of oil in the oil pan and filter and I climb in and turn on the key and WHAM the motor starts just like a champ. So, I shut it right back down with no oil pressure still. Then we disconnect the coil wire and crank the heck out of it and it turns over, and over, and over for a couple minutes (it seems like) as it primes the system and drains down the die hard battery. Still no pressure though. "OK you guys now what?" Hodel says, "Let's just start it again and see what happens." He's been telling me all along that the motor will be OK. Me, I'm thinking only bad thoughts. So OK. We connect the coil wire and I fire the beast up and it comes right back to life. Just like nothing ever happened. And the oil pressure jumps right up to 70 on the dial too. YES!!! We have lift off.
I let it run back down to idle and it sounds like a kitten purring away to my ears. Holds idle great, no funny noises, can't hear any grinding going on, just let it run and warm back up again for 15 minutes and she seems to be OK. So we tag it and bag it for the day and go have dinner, etc.
RACE DAY QUALIFYING
The oil had been so hot we ended up also replacing a melted brake duct hose on the driver side before the 9:00am qualify session on a damp track.
Got the car on track and found out real fast that going from a dry straight into a wet braking zone was death on wheels. Car went all over town under those conditions. And yet you try to crank out some decent laps knowing it is always better to start up front than in the middle or the back of the pack. At least the motor is going strong. I was the first car out and Dave Parker in his red 911 RSA was shadowing me out the gate. He seems to be having far less trouble in the wet places than I am having and I decide it's better to let these crazy drivers go by vs bending up the car during qualifying. Besides, maybe after 10 minutes the 30+ cars will eventually dry the track enough that, if I save the rubber and all, I can punch out one quick lap before the 15 minute session ends. Once Parker goes by I just follow him around for the next 10 laps or so hoping to get a qualify time somewhere close to him. And, just like I thought, the race line finally dries enough that it is now or never. The next 3 laps I push the car as much as I dare without going through very much water in the process. I was actually able to real Parker in a couple times, though I wasn't sure if he hadn't already cut a faster lap prior to that anyways.
I also realized there were three or four other cars out there that were able to pull as hard or harder than me down the straights too. One of which was a never before seen Porsche 928GT with 335 tires on all four corners, no less. So, my only advantage would be driving skill, brakes and cornering... if that.
Got the qualify results and BINGO! Somehow, I had managed a rather decent 1:30.013 with the chicane in the wet. Not real fast, under normal conditions, but it was good enough for me and it was #2 on the pole no less! Parker took the pole with a 1:29.539 only .5 seconds better (he was 2 seconds faster at Bremerton the weekend before too). "Hummmmmm. Maybe there is still some hope here?" I was thinking. A new guy on the block, Brian "the rich kid" Davis had a T1 Z06 Corvette with 400 HP under the hood and was #3 on grid with a 1:30.029! David Palmer (whom I plan to always beat if I can) was running his SPU RX7 on full race slicks clicking off a 1:30.072. He's fast too. Dan Viskari was in another SPU car, a Mazda R100 with flared fenders and race slicks, with a 1:30.290. Don Gagne, driving another red 911 RSA, which is a matched set with Dave Parker's car, posted a 1:31.363 to round out the first three rows. I've watched Parker and Gagne race neck and neck many times before. So, I wasn't writing him off yet either. Jim Walsh told me later he was running a borrowed 911 because his motor had melted down. So, even though he was last season's ITE champion, it looks like this season he is just collecting points anyway he can right now. He ran a 1:38.953 putting him back in the 24th spot on grid among the 29 cars that would show up for the race later that afternoon.
TIME TO RACE
13 ITE cars qualified and 12 showed to race among the 29 cars that came to grid. Just as we all mounted up I congratulated Parker and shook his hand for taking the pole. He also opted for the right lane, as I expected he would, in order to get the inside line into the chicane off the green. The two of us lead the pack around behind the pace car and I work the tires and brakes as hard as I can to warm up the used Hossiers on front and the used GS-CS rubber on back. We had to tighten a couple bolts, replace the fuel filter and top off the fuel, among other things, before the car had gone on track for the first full blown race this season. I felt happy and was just glad to finally be back in the saddle after a long winter and around $8500 in off season repair bills. Time to get my money's worth I guess.
We come around turn 12 and head under the Good Year bridge and I slow down a bit following Parker's lead and let the grid compress behind us. I'm running right at 4000 rpm in 3rd gear and I know that is PERFECT from the dyno graph I had gotten the Friday before I came to the race. My torque curve peaks at 4700 and the motor wants to let go. I planned to slam the peddle to the metal, watch the tach until it hits 6000 and grab 4th while going for turn 1 into the chicane and then drop the anchor and hang on. Simple plan. And there goes the green.
The car hooks up perfect thanks to the fresh T-2R posi out back and just launches away. Parker's car nudges ahead to my front quarter panel at first but then I hang with him and grab a fast 3 to 4 up shift making sure 100% clutch peddle, etc. And the car leaps ahead again as it literally walks away past Parker. Check my mirrors and the rest of the pack is still back there from what I can tell. No drag racing sleepers in the crowd. DAMN! This motor is SWEET baby!
Parker drops back and the brake point comes up fast. I do a standard slice across in front of him and come down hard on the binders entering turn 1. Ooooops. Slick spot! Miss the apex a bit there and head for the FIA on the left. Back down to 2nd, rev the motor and let out the clutch. Stab power down, kick the tail out and around the corner to the left. Parker is right there in my mirrors all right. And we both launch out of two and make like rabid dogs after a fox for three. Tires are not 100% hot yet, so we both behave ourselves for the next several corners. He reels me in going through the corners a little, I seem to be getting better exit speed out of each hole shot exiting the corners though. We come out of turn 8 heading hard for the back straight and I go ballistic in 4th gear. As we round the back straight wall I up to 5th and I'm pulling away little by little. The tires were hooking up good now and dropping 1 psi from the right front tire was all it had taken to give me the exact feel I wanted while rounding turns 2 and 6. All systems were a go from what I could tell.
So, we came out of turn 12 onto the front straight and I rowed up through the gears from 3rd to 4th at the Good Year bridge maybe 20 feet sooner than normal. 4th to 5th about 50 yards before the chicane braking zone. Kick ass! Pop the chute and gear down 5th to 4th to 3rd as I come into the chicane landing zone hard on the binders again. Round turn 1 and grab 2nd. Kick it around turn 2 left and blast off in 2nd gear again. 25 more yards up on Parker with the Z06 Vette right on his tail and a couple darn SPU cars hot after them both.
Time to settle into a groove and just run a perfect race. Looks like the motor will take care of the rest just so long as I don't over cook the tires or over shoot a corner. Just a matter of running a perfect race and working lapped traffic when the time comes.
Then we come around on lap 3 and a disaster strikes. A mystic green T2 Cobra has somehow been totaled between T3 and T4. Yellow flags are out from T1 through T4. I back out and Parker reels me right back in. This SUCKS! How can you win a race when you have to give up your lead for yellow flags? I go by the accident as far off line as I can but for the next 4 or 5 laps its going to be a yoyo race and running the other 3/4 of the course will make or brake the lead for me. It also means we'll catch stragglers from the back of the pack that much sooner than usual too.
Finally they reopen the whole course and we're off again. Right off the bat we catch lapped cars and I lose ground to Parker and Davis as they gun for 2nd and 3rd and for me at the same time. I get back into my game once I get past the first slow car and get some open road again. Then I start working car after car after car... maybe 2 or 3 cars per lap. Sometimes I'd lose some ground and sometimes I'd make a pass and Parker and Davis would get held up. It was a 50/50 crap shoot but as it sorted out over the next 10 laps I was still cranking out great lap times I could tell. The car seemed to get better and better as we soldiered around too.
Then I see that the SPU R100 Mazda somehow had taken both Parker and Davis down behind me. That's not good at all. If he got by them both he has to be on a roll and Palmer is back there in the hunt too with his SPU RX7. Those two guys are going to be nothing but trouble. So, I decide to kick on the after burners and just hang on for dear life if I have to. No way am I giving up the lead without a real dog fight.
But the car says, "I'm willing if you're able..." The more I pushed it the more it seemed to want to go. It was unreal. I started walking away from the SPU cars and the Vette, who had also gotten by Parker, and just kept stretching out the lead.
Finally, we get the 1 lap finger in the air at start finish. I check the mirrors one more time and never looked back until I came back around and took the checker flag. 17 laps of absolute awesome racing and all 17 laps in the lead for the first time in my life! I was stupefied and could not wait to see the results sheet!
Turns out I clicked off fast lap of the race with a 1:27.345. Both the SPU cars managed a 1:27.510 and a 1:27.786. Parker had a fast 1:27.944 too. Davis in the Z06 managed a 1:28.150 in the first race of his T1 class career too. That kid is going to be a contender some day, trust me.
Don Hanson in his 928GT even got a 1:27.854. So that's another ITE car that I'll be keeping my eyes on also. Most the other cars in the field ran 1:29s and 1:30+ times. It was a great race and a good beginning for my season. I just hope the motor hangs in there for once.
FENDER BENDER
This is the second attempt at recording this race story. Darn computer locked up the first time. Not unlike my front brakes while entering the Chicane a few times this weekend.
Got down to Portland a day early for a change. The car was, repeat was, fully sorted EXCEPT for the fact I was on a tire budget and had a couple older BFG Comp T/A R1s on the front and some well used Good Year GS-CS rubbers out back. Got to grid around 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning an figured the practice session would be primarily dedicated to setting up the correct tire pressure once Craig Johnson had showed up to help out from over the wall. So, out on the track we go, me being the second car on track. Should have worked just fine.
Did about 4 or 5 warm up laps and noticed right away that the fronts were pushing a bit and the rears where kicking out fairly badly. Gave me some practice counter steering. So, in I come. "Yo Craig! Take a pound out of each of the rears..."
I figured I'd do one more lap at 90%, get some open track and then do the second lap at 100% and see how the fronts hold up under max braking for the Chicane. By the time I got around the track once and was on the back straight I had determined that the GS-CS tires on the back were working better but the fronts still had quite a bit of push on the tight corners. One more test lap and I'd come in to drop a couple pounds from each front to see if that would help.
As I exited turn 12 onto the front straight I saw a red A Sedan 50+ yards up on me and figured he'd make a pretty good car to reel in on and see how the tires would work as a result. He's booking pretty good just braking for the Chicane as I grab 5th and wait for the 500 marker before letting out the anchor. Next thing I know I'm coming down on him like a bat out of hell and he's just starting to make his apex to turn 1 behind a couple slower Miatas maybe three car lengths ahead of him. Oh SH--!! Is all I had time to think before I planted my brake foot the rest of the way through the fire wall as a last gasp effort to keep from torpedoing him dead center passenger side. No way. Kerrrbang! And his right rear quarter panel caves in. Then his car kicks 90 degrees left and bamm, I hit his right front for good measure. My front ground effects kept right on going towards turn 2 behind the Miatas. Dave Dickoff and I are now bringing out the yellows and I put the T56 into first and head behind the wall to see how much damage I've incurred and to work up my apology speech. Dave joined me a couple minutes later.
Turns out he got the worst of it and Craig and I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon using tie wraps, duct tape and some ingenuity piecing the remainder of my front nose back together. No radiator damage, minor damage to the oil cooler, some broken lights and a chipped hood and torn cover and some minor metal twisting was all I had sustained. Dave, on the other hand had plenty of extra camber in his right front and had to take his car to the shop to straighten out the mess I laid on him. Boy was I one sorry sucker.
Needless to say that pretty much took the wind out of my sails. The tires still were not nearly dialed in. Ended up making it to grid to qualify maybe 5 minutes before we went on track. Had to pit three times to keep adjusting tires and never got a single decent hot lap. Qualified 13th behind no less that 5 other ITE cars, Jim Walsh being on the pole, two SPU cars, two AS cars, an FP car and two T1 cars (Z06 Vettes), one of which was piloted by a new hot shoe named Brian Davis (see prior story). Let's face it. A 1:30.285 wasn't cutting the mustard when Walsh had knocked out a 1:26.889... even faster than my prior race best lap.
Sunday.
Got up early and had several items to address before the race. Everything from an oil change and fuel filter swap to loose nuts and bolts, and other minor damage to rework. And I had what sounded like a roller rocker noise which took a while to address also. It never ends does it? Got to grid just before the 5 minute warning at around 1:00 p.m. in the blazing hot sun. Not my idea of a relaxing weekend.
Time to rock and roll.
Try as I might the front tires refused to heat up during the pace lap. I figured I'd have to find some way to pass at least 5 cars before I'd even see the tail pipes of the next nearest ITE car. I ended up on the left side coming out of 12 and heading for the green which I did not see until everyone else took off. Ended up actually losing one position as we all brake hard for the Chicane. The FP BMW 2002TII banged doors with Dave Palmer (I think) which might have spelled disaster for the rest of us had they not both recovered well.
We round T2 and head for T3 as I grab traction under braking and manage to sneak back past one car. Tires are still cold though and I have a red A Sedan blocking my road. We power out around the back corners and down the back straight as I test my brakes and rubber and the tires feel like they might just work at 95% after all. I end up following the red AS car for another lap until we come up on another lead car when exiting T8 for the back straight. I got up a good head of steam and finally managed to get past the red AS as we both pass the other car. That put me in about the 10th spot. The other ITE cars I could still see were a couple corners out though. And now I had Palmer in his SPU RX7 between me and Brian in his Z06 Vette. One car at a time I told myself. But to get past Palmer on his race slicks I'd have to race full out before my rubber over heats and I'd have nothing left to ward him off in the corners or under braking. So, made my move as soon as possible.
It ended up taking me two full laps to get past Palmer and another couple laps to open a safe gap between him and I while VERY SLOWLY reeling in Brian Davis in the Vette. The Z06 had power and was cornering very well. My only real advantage at this point was a bit better braking and maybe my desire to run on the ragged edge through a few corners. I nearly punted the Z06 once as we flew through T10 left. But even though I had him reeled in I just didn't have enough power to get past him once we got back onto the longer straights. Three or four laps and the tires seemed to be slowly going away. Started getting more and more push in T5 and T6 as time passed. Then I saw one ITE car in the sand box at the Chicane and another red 911 ITE car not far ahead, as we started lapping slower cars, which gave me an idea.
Maybe, just maybe, (if the cards were dealt right) Brian would get hung up behind a lapped car as we go to the binders for the Chicane. Then maybe, just maybe, I could use the brakes and slip on by him. Sure enough, a slower car was coming and now was my one and only chance. I was maybe two car lengths back on Brian and his lights came on. I waited all I dared and went to full reverse and angled across to his right. But then he had to pass the slower car and he moved right also. SH--!! Not again!!?
Next thing I know I'm back to skid mode trying not to nail another Chevy in the back end! I swear to hades, had Brian not given me 1/2 a car width at the apex I'd have punted him for sure. But he heard my loud pipes and was heads up for a change. Going wide in T1 forced him to early apexed T2 left and I got the drop on him, until I realized I hadn't grabbed 2nd gear yet. I grab it as he swings out wide and we literally drag race for T3 and T4. He was under me though and I only gave him back the few inches he gave me. By T5 I had taken the spot from him. But it did not last long. My fronts were toast as we rounded T6 and I went wide this time. Then again in T7 right I had slid out and he got back around me with his stickier tires. DARN!!
Well, that was it. We were slowing each other down dueling for position and the other ITE cars, bar the one stuck in the kitty litter, were gaining on me as a result. Better to let Brian take point and hope he can find a way around the red 911 ITE car before the race ends and I run out of time. A few laps later Brian does just that. But, it was last lap and I did not have time to do the same.
End of game. I ended up in 5th in ITE vs 6th. Best lap for me was a 1:29.081. Funny thing though. Best lap for Jim Walsh, who finished second behind Ken Shreve in his SPU RX7, was a 1:28.632. Shreve had managed a 1:28.114 on his full race slicks. Parker in his 911 had recorded a 1:28.936. The other two ITE cars ahead of me had managed a 1:29.056 and a 1:29.013. So, even with these second rate tires I guess I did pretty well. Brain's best lap was 1:28.804. Not too darn shabby for a Chevy, ehh?
Going to keep this story short also because it wasn't one of my more exciting outings.
To start with, as soon as I got on track Saturday morning it became fairly obvious that not only did I need a lot of seat time on this new layout BUT my rear end was wagging like a darn dog. I had to back out of the gas several times during each lap and three times each pass between turn 9 and turn 2.
Next it began to rain prior to the qualify session and I had left my rain tires back home, which was a two hour round trip to fetch them. A couple traffic jams later and I had missed the first qualify session. The result was a qualify time from the Sunday morning session of only 1:40 something. Ended up several cars back from Parker and some new hot shoe named Ron Newell in a Speed Vision class BMW 325is on grid. There where only four of us racing in ITE as the class was new in the ICSCC series for 2002.
I had told Parker prior to the race that after I passed him off the green he should flash his head lights if he wanted to go back around. He laughed. But that's exactly what happened. I managed to out break him going into 3A after warming the tires up on the pace lap and it became self fulfilling prophecy after that. I managed to ward him off a couple laps but with the wobbling rear end and having to back out of the gas to keep from spinning he finally managed to get back around me. Then a missed shift gave him a commanding lead putting me way back in 3rd with Steve Sampson being the only other driver behind me in ITE by then.
Next it began to rain. Showers at first but heavier with each passing lap. About the time I had reeled Parker in a little the old tires I was running started losing grip. Just compounded my problems. So, rather than destroy the car I decided to back down.
After a few slippery laps the full course yellow came out and those of us who had been out gunned had a chance to catch back up once the pace car came out. Took me two laps to get back on Parker's tail as the rain subsided also. In the mean time the stalled car had been removed meaning we should have been able to go back to green. But, ICSCC was true to form. They made us finish behind the pace car for crying out loud! No way to take a shot at Parker like that. End of story. Finished up in 3rd in ITE with a fast lap (or slow lap really) of 1:39.476. Sampson managed a 1:40.845. Parker cut a 1:38.392 and Newell won the ITE race with a 1:37.481.
Although this race weekend presented a bunch of trials and tribulations forcing me to wonder WHY I keep doing this stuff, it was probably one of the most challenging and FUN races I've run in a long, long time!!
The first thing I had to do was to sort out the rear end wobble I had picked up during the prior race. I had found out it was most probably the result of a bent front wheel. So, Kirk and I teamed up during the 30 minute practice session on Saturday and we used a fresh set of Hoosiers on my primary wheels to check the set on the car. I did a couple laps, got the wobble, came into the hot pit and Kirk changed the left front. Went back out and the wobble was nearly gone. At this point we knew the right front BFG Comp T/A was heavier than the Hoosier on the left front so in again and we swapped the right front. Back out and wobble 100% gone. That pretty much proved the bent wheel theory out. Placed the other fresh Hoosiers on the back and planned to cut several seconds off my lap times to get high in the grid during the Saturday afternoon qualify session. The idea being to run just one of the two races this weekend to gather up some much needed "out of region" points to substitute for my missed "in region" Oregon Region SCCA Championship series season race.
Next Steve and I bled the brakes and I installed a set of fresh front brake pads. Then I start the car and release the parking brake before going to the grid for the qualify session. But I notice the BRAKE light does not go out. Steve and I try to get the parking brake to deactivate the brake light but no luck. Steve says, "Well go ahead and qualify and we'll figure out what's up with the brake light switch when you get back." OK. So, I stick it in 1st and slowly drive to grid. When I get there I come up behind an RX-7 and hit my brakes BUT nothing happens! Damn!! Pump the brakes and nearly rear end the other car as I steer around him. NO BRAKES!! NO QUALIFY SESSION.
Somehow, I had managed to get air in the system when we had supposedly bled the brakes. Luckily I made it to the registration office before they closed and was able to change my race from Sunday to Monday (Memorial Day). That way I was able to wait and watch all the other folks dice it up in ITE class during Sunday's race and finally get a shot at them the following day. Perhaps the man upstairs was looking after me after all. Because most of the ITE drivers switched to PCA classes for Monday's race which increased my odds of finishing higher. Couldn't have planned it better had I tried.
The down side though was that on Monday morning, during my qualify session, one of the Porsche 911 Cup cars blew his motor while I was following him. He totally oiled down the race line before I ever turned a decent qualify time. Jim Walsh and Ron Newell both qualified ahead of me in ITE. And there were several other 911 drivers who also claimed spots on grid ahead of me as well, even though they were running in the PCA class. Jim got 2nd on grid and was the one car I needed to beat to close the points gap. Newell in his BMW 325is claimed the 9th slot. I was in the 11th spot, nine cars and five rows behind Walsh. Scotty White, who had brought his Speed Vision World Challenge GT C500R Corvette out to play, was also the wild card of the pack as he decided to run in the CP1 class at the end of the grid with no qualify time. But we all knew he would work his way through everyone soon enough. In short, I had my work cut out for me.
The first 14 slots pan out like this...
Chris Souliotis PCA1 Porsche 911T 1:33.866 Jim Walsh ITE Porsche 911RSA 1:34.396 Kerry Spanier PCA2 Porsche 911? 1:35.181 Jan DeRie PCA1 Porsche GT3 Cup 1:35.572 J Tracy Ross PCA3 Porsche 911RSA 1:36:039 Don Gagne PCA3 Porsche 911RSA 1:36.333 Craig Ranta PCA1 Porsche 911? 1:36.419 Mike Holden BG Chevy 1:36.754 Ron Newell ITE BMW 325is 1:36.901 Craig Hillis PCA2 Porsche 944T 1:37.051 **SLOWRIDER** ITE Chevy Z28 1:37.278 Donald Pickering PCA3 Porsche 911RSA 1:37.354 Gunther Hohagen PCA1 Porsche 930T 1:37.479 Michael Harley PCA3 Porsche 944 1:40.040
TIGHT RACING
With the new Pacific Raceway layout turns 1 through 8 are still the same except for the extra run off areas and safety improvements. Where it gets interesting, however, is from the exit of turn 8, which needs to be made using a later apex to set up for the tighter turn 9 leading into what I call the "Valley of Death" because if you miss your apex and come out too wide you will most likely take the left hand wall and tire bundle head on. There is an L shaped wall at the apex to turn 9 on the right also. The spectators can stand there or view from the stands and see several close calls blasting by within feet as cars dice for exit speed onto the front straight which leads to the hot pit exit (which is perhaps 150 yards down) and the "Kink" or turn 10 left. The Kink leads back out onto the old front straight and you sweep right as the car gains speed up to perhaps 130 mph when taking turn 1.
We take the green just before turn 1 (T1) and start dicing for position. Few positions are swapped as we head around T2 left and down into the valley for T3a right where I manage to finally squeeze ahead of Hillis in his 944T #98 under braking for T3b left. 10th place.
We all blast off for T4 and T5a left down the back side. Lots of brake lights and tail wagging as car after car dice through T5b right and set up for T6 to head up hill for T7 left. The BMW is a couple feet in front and the 944T is in my shadow. I stick to Newell like glue and follow him and Ranta through T8, T9, T10 and T1 for lap 1 and I manage to pass Ranta going through T2 moving me up to 9th over all.
Keep chasing Newell and Ross for the rest of lap 2 until I nearly thump Newell as we dive through T8 left. Somehow Ross slows up as we take T9 and the unsettling dip right at the high speed apex. I get great exit speed and move out of the draft to pass Newell just past T9 and chase Ross through the Kink and out on the main straight as we rocket for 135 mph and bank through T1 right. We cook past Mike Holden in his Baby Grand as we race through T1. My tires are hot and sticky and I decide that now is a great time to late brake T2 low after Ross, if Ross stays high enough to let us sneak below him... which he does. The car hauls down as I work the car with massive trail braking along side Ross keeping Ranta, Holden, Newell and Hillis in my mirrors. 6th over all.
Next I hunt down Gagne through T3b and later in turn T8. I'm so close to his tail through T9 that he blocks my view of the T9 wall. Next thing I know I fly by the corner of the T9 wall no more than inches from my passenger side mirror. THAT WAS CLOSE!!!
He walks away down the front straight as we head for T2 again. Tires are still in the game and once again I take down another 911RSA under braking through T2. It was like shooting ducks in a barrel. And Jim Walsh was now in my cross hairs as we dive down the hill for T3a. 5th over all.
As I head down into T3a I spot Scotty White coming on strong back up at the top of the hill. I figure it won't be long before he gathers up Walsh and I. and I also figure Walsh won't plan on being yet another dead duck all that easily. Hummmmmm. I reel Walsh in through the S turns but he walks me to T5a. I manage to reel him back in just after Scotty moves onto my tail before T6 left and up the hill. This is going to be interesting I figure. I get good exit speed through T6 left and point Scotty by as we drag race up the hill with Walsh just ahead of me. Scotty goes by on my left wing as we rock through the dip in T7 and make for T8. I tuck right on Scotty's heels trying to use a little of his draft to get me along side Walsh. Scotty clears me a path and then moves right to set up for T8 and hits his brakes in front of Walsh. Walsh has to brake also. I dive under Walsh in T8 left. BINGO! That was too easy. Scotty was now in 4th over all and I was still 5th over all and now 1st in ITE.
Walsh gives chase with the rest of the pack mostly behind us. There's still a few of the faster Porsche gang ahead of us too. Things will soon start to get interesting as we catch and lap slower traffic. At Pacific Raceway slower traffic can be a help or a hindrance depending on where they show up and how fast they can carve corners.
As we complete the next lap and head down into T3a and T3b I've managed to open a decent lead on everyone else, including Walsh. But, I get held up so badly in T3b by a Neon that I end up taking that corner in 2nd gear at idle for crying out loud. Naturally my exit speed sucked as a result. Walsh reeled me in and the only reason he could not pass me was the Neon I went on by as we exited T3b. I manage to ward off Walsh yet another lap even though I missed my downshift in T8.
Holden was also back in the hunt in his Baby Grand. Somehow he managed to pass Walsh in T2 and was coming on strong on his race slicks as we headed down into T3a again. I take T3a following my standard line thinking Holden will stay behind me. Instead he tries to dive under me as I head for my apex and slams into my passenger door with his left front tire knocking me left. I hang on as he bounces past me and gather up the car and give chase as we head down the back straight. He's pretty quick in the corners and Walsh and company are right in my wake too. Good tight racing as usual. 6th over all now. I reel Holden back in on the front straight and get side by side as we come into T2. But his lighter BG car doesn't slow up until the next to last cone and he squirts back ahead as we lap a couple more cars in T2.
The BG makes short work of lapped cars and I get past a couple myself. He squeaks by a white car but I have to break hard as we go side by side into T6 left. I grab 2nd gear (vs 3rd) in an attempt to ward off Walsh who is right behind me and was able to take T6 at full speed. The white car stays on the right edge of the up hill run as I manage to keep from swapping paint with him right along side within inches! Then Walsh guns up on my left, pan caking me in a 3 wide move most folks would never even try. Walsh has the extra exit speed and scoots on past me as I tuck behind him going through T7 left. I nearly tap his back end under heavy late braking for T8. We race for T9 and he walks slowly away down the front straight. Back to 7th over all and 2nd in ITE. Darn.
Lap 9 I shadow Walsh through the twisty bits and from T7 on. He runs a perfect couple laps and walks me again down the straights. I gather him in under braking and in the corners. My tires are still working wonders for me. Hard to believe a Z28 can out handle all these 911s for the most part. Still in 7th over all.
Lap 10 Walsh and I go into dog fight mode which just serves to slow us both down. I dart into his mirrors trying to rattle his cage and hoping he'll make some sort of mistake. But he's got ice water in his veins and drives a good defensive line, unlike most the other Porsche crowd. Must be why he took the ITE Championship in 2001. We must have passed half a dozen lapped cars while Hillis and Ranta take advantage of our dog fight and slowly reel us in from behind.
My motor starts cutting out at the top end now. This will prove to be a major issue during my next race at the Oregon Region SCCA Rose Cup event two weeks later. For now though it is just a minor blip on my radar screen as the car still seems to be revving up pretty hard for the most part. I thought it might be yet another fuel filter going south on me (one of many I have replaced recently)??
Lap 11 I exit T9 but again I'm down on power and have to short shift 5th gear to keep Walsh in my sights. In the mean time Hillis senses the blood and kicks in his turbo to pass me through T1 into the 2nd position in ITE. I retake the 7th spot under late trail braking right on the left fog line though just to send him a message that it won't be a cake walk. Still hanging onto the #7 spot again, 2nd in ITE.
I go down into T3a hard and gather in Walsh and try to get Hillis off my tail. Walsh loses grip entering T3b as he tries hard to ward me off. I go low but the tighter line is very hard to maintain without backing off the power some. We exit T3b with my nose by Walsh's door and drag race for T4 and T5a. I'm still down on power and Walsh regains the lead again. Hillis and Ranta are still gunning for us too. All three of them have better speed on the straights now as well. Starts to get real interesting! I need to get by Walsh as all this dicing is just slowing us down.
I think ahead and wonder if MAYBE I can take a short cut from T8 to T9 as Walsh swings out left to set up for T9's normal line. If, by some chance I can just get in front of him he should have to brake for my tail and, who knows, maybe even with slower exit speed I will be able to keep him at bay... or at least be close enough that if he repassed down the straight I can try to retake him again in T2 later on. It seems like a plan and I give it a shot. Hillis is right behind me as we carve T8 left and gets to see the whole idea as it unfolds. Walsh carves T8 perfect, as do I. I slam the peddle down and start to gain on him as he swings out left. I draw a straight line for T9. Walsh does not appear to take my bluff and I can see him out my left window swinging around for T9. THIS IS NOT GOOD! I back out and tuck off his rear wing. Bad exit speed as a result. Hillis rev's up and by the time we hit the Kink Hillis goes around me again. Walsh is quite a ways up on us both also. "OK Hillis. You go work on him for a while. I'll hang back and watch the new dog fight and let my jets cool," I think to myself. 8th over all, 3rd in ITE. Ranta joining in the fray also.
We race past a couple more slower cars and Walsh and Hillis manage to just get by a silver Miata as they head for T5a left. I can't make the cut and try to get by him between T5a and T5b but he cuts me off. I back out. Ranta reels me in. I try again between T5b and T6 but no time. Back out again. Ranta right on my fanny now. We all three race up the hill and I know I can pass this nurf ball in T7. BUT, as I get along side this zig zagging Miata he sweeps right into my path again and I have to literally hit the brakes so HARD the rear end rattles the whole car under nose dive and rear brake hop!!! Ranta flies by us both and I finally tuck under the Miata as we swing through T8. BUT he still comes down on me one more time and I end up going into the marbles to keep him from side swiping me and almost lose control!!! JERK! I tuck back behind him, shake my fist at the corner workers and finally pass the Miata down the front straight with Ranta, Walsh and Hillis long gone up ahead. Hillis, in the mean time had somehow managed to pass Walsh in all the confusion too. Of the three Porsches, Hillis had the faster car with the turbo under his hood. 9th over all now. I somehow lost 4 spots and it was time to start all over again...
I go ballistic through T2 and down into T3a and suddenly have Ranta and Walsh reeled back in as Ranta nearly thumps Walsh from behind in T3a lighting up his tires in the process. This was one great race to have on video for sure! I stay right on Ranta's rear wing as he dogs Walsh up to T8 and finally gets along side him under braking. Who will come out of T8 in the lead? Ranta squeaks ahead and I glue myself to his bumper. As Ranta and I sweep through T9 I scrape Walsh off my right rear quarter panel using the very hard T9 wall. Walsh has to back out and Ranta and I walk away from him down the straight, thanks to our blinding exit speed. 8th over all, 2nd in ITE again.
Lap 14. Getting near the end of the 19 lap race. Ranta and I hunt down Hillis. I reel in Ranta in T2 again. I love my brakes! Hillis doesn't have the tires for the twisties and Ranta gets by him in T8. But Hillis remembers what he saw me do between T8 and T9 with Walsh and shoots a line straight for T9. I hang back to see who has the big kahunas and how many body parts will fly around on the track when they meet up in T9. But Ranta doesn't play chicken like Walsh did and backs out, probably due to the fact that he's running in a PCA class with their much tougher PCA contact rules to deal with. Hillis, running in ITE, just squeaks by although they are both going a LOT slower through T9 as a result. I take T9 at 99% full speed from a couple car lengths back and just keep my foot into it right past Ranta and into Hillis's draft as we race for T1 and T2 again. 7th over all once again.
It is just beginning to rain down in T2 and I figure time is running out to get back into 1st place in ITE. Better use what little dry pavement we have left right now. I out brake Hillis through T2 again, we go side by side as yet another slower car gets reeled in by us both. The slow car is high right as we exit T2 and I scrape Hillis off with him. 1st in ITE once again.
We dive down the hill and I manage to carve T3a OK. But T3b is a little slippery and I lose adhesion and the tail slides out. Hillis runs me down again and slowly scoots by me down the back straight. 2nd in ITE.
We dice up to T8 and so far it is still dry. I get beside him out of T8 and herd him left as we rocket through T9 scraping him off using the left side wall as we gain on Ms Julie Komarow, MD in her blue 911. She points me by to the right as we pass through the Kink but then she angles across and herds me into the right side wall. I try to keep from swapping paint with her on my left and the wall on my right and just barely squirt through the gap at full speed ahead. Hillis swings out around her on her left side which is the long way around. I gain plenty of distance on him and walk away through the wet back side corners. In the mean time Chris Souliotis who was one of the top three race leaders had dropped out of the race for some reason. So, at this point I was 1st in ITE and 5th over all. But I still had unfinished business with Mr Holden in the Baby Grand who hit me and who was not far up ahead now.
Lap 17 I slide into T2 on a damp track now. Everyone else is history and so far the lapped traffic was not holding me up any more. Things are finally starting to click my way. I get Holden in my sights and slowly start bringing him closer. As we start lap 18 I finally pass Holden at T1 and finally have the #4 spot all tied up. Manage to keep up a decent pace for laps 18 and 19 and get the last lap sign. Ranta is the only car that's even close now as he even gets by Hillis and Holden in the rain. I drive lap 19 in the zone and manage to keep Ranta at bay to take the checkered flag...
Scotty White took 1st with a best lap time of 1:31.465. Kerry Spanier took 2nd with a 1:34.444; a very fast time! He's going to be a tough customer in future ITE races. Jan DeRie took 3rd not far ahead of me with a 1:35.483. I took 4th with a real good 1:35.674, considering all the traffic I had worked through. Ranta had clocked a decent 1:35.956. Holden managed a 1:37.202? Hillis had a 1:35.669. Newell even ended up beating Walsh with a 1:36.619 with his better handling BMW in the rain. Walsh came in 9th over all with a 1:36.624. And the 10th place driver was Gagne with a 1:37.130.
The Rose Cup Race was to be the race I would finish very high at and further open my lead up in the Ore Region ITE class season championship. I was also looking forward to the CART Invitational Race the weekend after... although it would not be a points race.
I had pulled out the wallet and done about everything I could think of to help boost the motor's performance for this race, knowing all the top guns would be here to show off for the crowds both this weekend and the next. The top seven finishers in each class of our run group were also supposed to be invited to run at the next weekend's CART support race to boot.
So, along those lines I had replaced my stock intake elbow with a new 1LE elbow after finding a crack in the stock elbow which I thought might have been why my motor was acting up a bit at the prior race towards the end there. I had also swapped out my 52mm throttle body for a new 58mm version to help the motor breath. And we pulled the glass and power window motors from the doors to drop some extra weight. Other than that we just made sure everything else was OK, except that when I had started the car a couple days before I had gotten a check engine light, which went away after I unplugged and replugged my MAF sensor connector. We had removed the screen from the MAF and I thought when we reconnected it maybe it just did not seat very well. Problem was, once I got out on the track for the practice session the light came back. At the same time I had found out that the motor was balking once it got above 5000 rpms on top of everything else. Between Sat and Sun Jim Hodel and I had tried swapping his MAF sensor for mine to see if my MAF sensor had been damaged somehow. But it still threw a code during qualifying and would not pull at the top end. So, we tried trading his 48mm throttle body for the new 58mm. Took it out on the freeway and still it would not run right.
Eventually I found myself running to NAPA who was the only source in town for a new MAF sensor connector pigtail. That fixed my MAF code problem as the wire had broken at the connector.
But, we were stumped as to why the car refused to pull at the top end. It was as if there was no fuel like you had let off on the gas... even though I had it all the way down. Funny thing was it would always rev to the rev limit when just sitting in neutral??? But under load and in gear it was no go. We also swapped the fuel filter. Didn't work; something I had tried many times before when getting similar issues like this in prior races too. This time though the problem refused to go away.
So, it was time to race and here we were doing an extra pace lap and the motor was way down on top end power as we looped around on the second pass. We come onto the front straight again and my tires are extra warm at least. I had only managed to qualify 13th over all with a rather slow time in the 1:29s, a couple seconds slower than my last outing at this track on used tires.
The only good thing I managed to do this race was pass four cars off the green into turn 1, thanks to still having decent brakes. I was able to make my way as far up as 9th over all and hang with most of the Porsches in the corners. But once we got onto a straight they would walk away as my top end failed and I was forced to short shift for the next 30 minutes. It seemed like I would lose one position each lap until I was finally able to race with cars more my speed again. It was really pretty sad. I'd fall way back down the straights only to catch some guys under braking going into the Chicane. If only I had my power back. If only...
As it turned out though Jim Walsh dropped out with a broken axle on lap 6. And Dave Parker, who was also close to me for points, only finished 3 spots up on me. That put him exactly 1 point behind me for the championship in ITE after I finished 13th over all and 9th in ITE with a fast lap of 1:28.744.
After the race I consulted with Steve, John K and also talked to Jason from Bellevue Automotive asking for ideas on what might be screwing up my top end power. I got some ideas and all seemed to center around possible ignition system glitches. I was the only person who had driven the car but to me it seemed more like a fuel issue somehow. John suggested the OPTI Spark distributor had caused these symptoms for him before. Jason felt maybe new plugs or wires were needed. John also had me check for any signs of spark shorting in a dark garage. I thought maybe I found the problem after seeing a couple blue glows that night.
Before it was all over and I found the problem I had replaced my distributor, all my plugs and wires (boy what a pain those are to swap out!), my coil, tried taking my ACCEL ignition box off line, had my injectors checked and cleaned and even R&R'd my rear end and tank and replaced my fuel pump. Not to mention making a bunch of runs on back roads and finishing poorly at the following week's Invitational Race for the CART weekend. That race I won't even report on except to say my best lap time was a 1:30.185 which pretty much tells it all, except that I did manage somehow to get 4th place in the GTS class (and 8th over all out of 22 cars that finished and 24 starters). At least I did manage to finish higher, 8th overall, than where I started in 11th. Big whoop.
As it turns out I finally decided to take the car to a dyno shop and see if we could put it on a scanner and run it with load on it in a controlled test situation. Even though we had just swapped the fuel pump the very first pull in closed loop told us that even that had not fixed the problem. By now I had spent nearly $1000 on parts and labor to try and fix this gremlin, but to no avail. Tim, the tech, and I then decided to run the motor up to 5000 rpms and watch the scanner and closely check all the numbers before and after the problem happened. That's when we finally both noticed that for some strange reason the Air Volume number showed a sharp dip right at 5200 rpms on up. It was as if the darn air intake somehow was choking off the air to the motor. We then decided to look over the filter, intake ducting and chatted about the idea of watching the intake as Tim rev'd the engine from 3000 on up. As we did this I could not believe my eyes. First as it climbed to about 4000 rpms the intake tubing and filter started to collaps like an accordion. Then, as the motor reached the 5000 rpm mark the intake elbow between the MAF sensor and throttle body started to collaps in on itself. As the revs hit 5200 it buckled altogether. THAT WAS IT! The intake elbow was made of rubber and would not stay open with the motor sucking all the air it could get through the air filter!! We found the problem. Now what?
Well, we pulled the filter off and made another pull with a wide open intake. To my surprise the motor ran all the way up to the rev limiter first try. But even with a wide open intake duct the elbow tried to implode some. Needless to say, I won't be running a soft intake system ever again. From now on only hard plastic or metal intake tubing for this race car driver.
Who knows, maybe I can get more than 1 point in the class lead now? That is, unless my latest gremlin, which seems to be drinking my coolant every night, isn't figured out soon also?
These back to back races turned out to be a real mixed blessing in more ways than one. To pick up where I left off on the prior story my motor still seemed to be drinking coolant. At first I thought it had somehow come up lame with a cracked head or gasket. I drained the oil to see if the coolant had made its way inside my oil pan after thinking the oil level had gone way up on my dip stick the night before heading to Portland for these races. The oil was a sludge green color for some strange reason. After a quick call to Jason he assured me that it was just the oil leak dye he had put in the motor to help me find the oil leak I had in my pan gasket. He also told me not to worry about the loss of coolant. I replied there's no way I would be able to race with all these quirks lurking in my mind. But, I decided to take his advice and just go on down to Portland and see what cards would be delt to me. After all, I now had a brand new Vortech intake elbow and a Moroso cold air intake with K&N filter that needed to be fully tested. May as well give it a shot vs tossing in the towel.
So, I headed south, got to the track late at night on July 4th and set up my paddock spot while watching the fireworks across the river at the same time. Funny thing was there were only a few other folks setting up camp that night too. Didn't seem right AT ALL.
Next morning I go back to the track to finally take a spin for the practice session. I get there, go through registration and go and fetch my log book out of the car so I can get through tech. As I start to head to tech up comes an "official" looking dude who asks me, "What time did you get here last night?" I reply, "Must have been around 10:30 pm. Why?" "Didn't you read your supps for this race." Who me? "You weren't supposed to set up your paddock area until 6:00 a.m. this morning." OK. "And are you aware of the fact that you set up your spot in a reserved area?" No. "Do you know who's area this is?" Let me guess... "I'm the Race Director and I've been in this spot for the past 15 years...." About this time I'm feeling like this isn't going to be my weekend AT ALL! But he says I can stay in his area as long as I promise to kick some major butt and NEVER, EVER use his spot again. I promised him I'd do my very best and before the weekend was over we actually got to know each other like a couple long time buddies. Think his name was Dave Isselhard.
Finally I get on track and it's like I'm driving a brand new car. It actually drove STRAIGHT as an arrow and had 150% more power than a couple weeks prior. I was in 7th heaven for once. Came off track and saw my low coolant level indicator light on the dash though. So, still had to figure that one out. Turns out the coolant was (and still is) expanding and over flowing into the catch tank. Daaaah. I finally had the brains to open the catch tank lid and check the dip stick and found it was full all the way to top. Problem was it never did transfer back into the radiator when it would cool back down, like it should. So, I used my pump and transferred the coolant back to the Griffin myself and then refilled one of my spare coolant jugs as well. That would do for now.
Next morning was Saturday. It had sprinkled earlier but the sun was coming out and I was ready to rock. My plan was to save what rubber I had by getting out on track at the front of the pack, doing two tire warming laps, then laying down the smack for the next three laps and then calling it good.
Well, the only part that went per plan was the warm up laps. First hot lap I missed a shift. Second hot lap I managed to get out of shape in T6 left (old T3). Third hot lap I had traffic. As I did for the 4th, 5th and 6th laps. By then the used tires I was running were fading fast as was my track time. I went into the hot pit and asked for some space and came out hot again. Another missed shift. Then more traffic. It was hopeless I thought. I decided it wasn't meant to be so far as getting on the pole and bagged it to save rubber. I was just trying way too hard to do any good I guess...
I came off track and went to impound only to find out that car #10 and car #43 had passed someone under yellow. Oh great. I wonder what the 2002 SCCA hard core penalty will be this time?? "Sorry guys. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to take away your qualify time and you're going to have to start this race at the back of grid. Keep your eyes open for those yellow flags in the future. OK?" As if that wasn't bad enough mom then comes over with the "provisional" results and I had actually qualified on the pole with a 1:16.798. Parker had managed a 1:17.530. And Walsh got a 1:17.828, a full second slower??!! The next closest car in our group was David Palmer in his SPU Mazda RX7 with a 1:20.188. I had somehow managed to rip off a time that was only 0.073 seconds slower than the ITE track record on old tires and driving like crap!!!! But that still wasn't going to be worth a damn starting nearly 1/4 mile behind Parker and Walsh on grid, now was it?
Well, Craig Johnson showed up to help me out and we went over the car with a fine tooth comb after we got back from lunch. My father also showed up to watch me race for the first time in years. According to the old man I could still win the race. "Your motor is running good now right?" Yah. "So what's your problem?" "Well pops starting behind about 23 cars running screen for the front row drivers who are just mere points behind you in the championship hunt isn't exactly going to be a piece of cake. Those two drivers can beat me even when everything is perfect. Let alone with them having a 1/4 mile lead and 23 cars screening for them. Dig?" "Well," he says, "You NEVER KNOW TILL YOU TRY..."
RACE #1
4:50 p.m. It's about 85 degrees out. I just got finished swapping the oil in the T56 figuring it might help me get some better shifts which is better than nothing. I hear the 5 minute warning and jump in the car and race to grid without my camera running. I line up in the last spot and start putting on my window net, helmet and gloves and they go to the 1 minute warning before I'm even strapped in. Then they feed out the rest of the pack and I'm still getting things adjusted. Had to take my gloves back off to get my glasses on. It was a joke. The anouncer is telling all the fans that my car seems to have a malfunctioning nut behind the wheel. "Why doesn't Jessup get going??"
Next thing I know I'm going on track dead LAST and 1/2 mile behind the nearest car and I race like a bat out of hell to catch up before we all get to T12. But I made it. Cold tires and all. Sheeeeeesh. We come around T12 and the trailing cars can just see the flagger and for some reason it still hasn't gone green YET. I'm thinking they are getting waved off and decide to drop back and start warming my tires. Maybe luck was on my side for once? NOT. The green flies and I get a crap start on top of it all. The car lugs ahead and finally I grab 2nd and get going. Reel in the back markers and blow by them. Then get cut off and weave left to the wall and pass two more. Then weave right to an opening and pass a couple more. As we pass the Chicane I thread the needle between two Miatas as one weaves to his right. And by yet one more car just as we head into the brake zone for the first corner when I realize I DON'T have warm tires. Luckily I did have ABS or I would have ended the whole show right there!
I chill for a bit as we dice around a few corners and head for the back straight. Then I thromp on it and pass a couple more faster cars down the back side and one more for good measure as we come onto the front straight. As far as the anouncer could tell I had taken down 12 cars all total by the end of the first lap. As we headed for the first turn at the end of the front straight I could actually see Walsh and then Parker carving the corner as I was passing the Chicane again. All I had to do was pass another baker's dozen made up of AS and SPU and ITE cars and then I would have something to talk about.
I just settled in and drove like a mad man. What can I say. I clicked off one, two, sometimes three cars per lap from then on. Before the forth lap I had already worked my way up to third place. Parker had actually reeled Walsh in who had rocketed way out front during the first two laps. I judged I was gaining very slowly on Parker. But Walsh was another story. He was so far out I could not tell if I was gaining on him or not really. But I could tell they both were able to see me back there. I just hoped they would push too hard if they thought I was actually in the hunt and after blood.
The laps seemed to go on for ever. I had gained quite a bit on Parker and Walsh was closer as well. Just prayed I had enough time left. We were lapping cars like ducks in a pond too. Not one lapped car held me up. I just flew right by them. As did Walsh and Parker. Until Lap 10. Suddenly Parker made a pass through 12 and he lost traction in the process. I made a good apex behind him and came out hard. Was my exit speed going to carry me faster down the front straight I wondered? YES! I passed Parker at the start finish line and tucked in front of him crossing the Chicane. I was finally in 2nd and Walsh surely knows it too. But on the next lap I nearly made my own fatal mistake by going too deep into the first turn under heavy late braking. I nearly lost it in the marbles and it was all I could do to stay on the track. Walsh regained some of his lead as a result.
That was my only real mistake. "Just keep your cool Chuck..." I told myself and I got back in the zone again and peddled faster. Two more laps later I had shaken Parker off and reeled in even more on Walsh. We came back around and by then mom, dad, Jim Hodel and Craig Johnson were laying off bets that I would win the race. Then, all of a sudden, Walsh tried a daring pass on slower traffic going through T11. But, as a result, he early apexed 11 and swung out a tad too wide onto the dirt right before the exit road. His tail kicked out. He was in trouble! The car he passed hit his brakes to avoid gathering Walsh up. I passed the car but watched Walsh wondering if he would shoot across track and take me out in the process. Once I saw he had his car under control I went for the pass after dropping into 2nd. Walsh grabbed 2nd also and we were door to door coming out on the front straight. I planted my go peddle through the fire wall and ripped off 3rd right before the Good Year bridge and then Walsh dropped behind. I went to 4th at 6000 rpms and Walsh was in my right side mirror. I went to 5th and Walsh tucked into my draft. I raced up to apx 125 mph and the 300 marker before late braking the corner again. I had been braking at 137mph and the 400 marker prior to that. The gamble paid off. Walsh could not get under me.
We played cat and mouse the next two laps. Walsh simply didn't have any way he could rattle my cage. I see the finger in the air at start finish and I drive my ass off one more lap. Before long it's race over and I have kicked some serious butt by no less than 1.31 seconds and an average speed of 87.775 mph. My best race lap was a 1:18.020, hot track, worn tires and all.
RACE #2
I had to use the same tires for Sunday's race. They had been totally melted down and all the molecules rearranged the day before. But I figured my motor would save the day. It ran like a damn work horse the day before and with the cool morning clouds I figured it would run even better today. I was banking on my power and some good driving to keep Walsh and Parker at bay even if they mounted better rubber to come hunting for me. Besides, how hard can it be now that I would start on the pole as my reward for winning the race the day before?
This race I caught on tape. But, to be honest, it was pretty boring. The first 6+ laps I never passed a car. We started in 2nd and got the green and the car leaped right out front. Walsh was cornering better than me though. But I managed to make it onto the back straight ahead of him somehow. After that I gained a lead and Walsh reeled me in after each and every straight. He probably thought I was sand bagging it. But truth be known, except for braking early at the end of the front straight each lap to conserve the melted tires, I worked my ass off to maintain my lead. So much so that my left hand kept falling asleep before each lap and I had to start shaking blood into it once a lap after that.
30 minutes later though I had racked up yet one more win. This time with a better race lap time of 1:17.699 to boot. I guess breaking early helps. Walsh managed a 1:17.846 and Parker got a 1:17.885. And that was that. Three more races left to go. We'll see...
Ever heard the saying there's no use crying over spilled milk? Well, it ain't true...
During the prior couple weeks I found myself addressing a short list of minor items needed to prepare the car for the second set of Oregon Region SCCA Double Regional races. These two races were supposed to be a cake walk. I had replaced the rear brake pads, installed a better plastic air dam to replace the metal version that seemed to get bent at every turn and found a couple better headlight covers to replace the GTS units that I never really liked anyways. Just minor stuff like that. Finally, a set of new nuts and bolts arrived to help assure that one last alignment would be done and the front control arms would stay put as well. Got the car out of the shop on Thur evening, loaded it on the trailer and headed to PIR 200+ miles south.
Friday morning came soon enough and by 11:40 I had completed a few shake down laps and decided all that was left to do was drop 1 psi of air pressure from the right front and left rear to improve handling a tad. That afternoon I cut 6 laps during qualifying and, even on the old tires, I managed to trim my best qualify time (without the Chicane) down to 1:16.721 from my prior best of 1:16.798. That lap was just .004 quicker than the ITE track record of 01:16.725 set by MIKE BELZER in his PORSCHE 944T on 08/19/2000 at a regional race. Problem is that only race lap times are used for track record standings. But hey, fast is still fast. Right?
So far I had only put about 10 laps on the old Hoosier tires I was working with. The idea was to save the tires for the race. Everything was going per plan.
But, I digress. Back on Monday I had crawled under the car and drained my rear end fluid and while I had the rear cover off I spun the tires and looked over the gear teeth inspecting for any damage. Earlier in the season Jason, at Bellevue Auto, had swapped out my Torsen posi for the much improved Torsen T-2R. He noticed that the pinion gear had a small chip and told me it would be a good idea to replace it soon. Thus I have been checking it from time to time to keep an eye on it. Well, it was WORSE now and it seemed it might have even developed a stress fracture too, from what I could tell with a flashlight. Problem was I didn't have enough cash on hand to rack up another several hundred bucks for parts and labor to swap it out as yet. So, I poured in a couple quarts of Red Line 75W90 after bolting the rear cover back on. Then I crossed my fingers hoping the rear end would be OK this weekend, figuring I'd address the pinion gear before the next Seattle race.
Well that was a MAJOR BRAIN FART!! What I should have done was dug out my used 3.42 gear set and had Jason swap the gears and align the front end and rob a bank to pay for it. Hind sight is always 20/20 isn't it.
So, I got to grid and lined up on the pole for the first race. Once again Jim Walsh and Dave Parker were sitting in the 2nd and 3rd slots. And once again we fire up the motors and strap in at the 5 minute warning. Then we head out onto the track cameras running and blue skies over head. It was a great day to win a race. I exit the hot pit in 1st and rev up to 5K and shift to 2nd. The rpms climb fast as I squeeze the go peddle down and let the road rocket dig in and go. I wanted to get into 3rd fast and then go to the binders to start heating my tires which I do four or five times down the front straight before getting to turn one. This time though I never got to 3rd gear or much past the Good Year foot bridge over the track when I hear something snap in the rear of the car. It was a god awful noise followed by a couple more grinding noises and the rear tires shuttered as things started coming apart. The noises went away for a second then started again as soon as I tried to reapply any power again. I saw the start finish tower and could see an opening on the left in the front straight wall were the gate was. I turned off there, let everyone go by and watched my season championship fade away into the sunset as I put it in reverse and backed off the track through the open gate.
And that was that. -28 x 2 championship season points and not enough races left
in the season to have any hope of making them back up. Time to do a few Conference
races for fun AFTER shelling out for a new rear end I guess. OH WELL. That's
racing as they say.
You'd think at some point a race car would eventually be able to show up at the track, let you drive it a couple practice and/or qualify sessions and then get through at least one race without anything breaking. You'd think. But not this race car. Not mine. Nope. My race car gets about one lap into the practice session and as soon as I go to down shift from 3rd to 2nd, well, it wouldn't. You'd think it would. It did two weeks ago when the rear end fragged... while it was in 2nd gear. Now it won't though. Do you suppose, maybe, there's a connection here between the rear end breaking and the T-56 not working right? I wonder??
Anyway, I spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday's track time cutting laps just using 3rd, 4th and 5th until finally, a couple laps into the race, I found a way to get the transmission and shifter to cooperate with each other. During the race I was actually able to get it into 2nd maybe 4 out of 5 tries through the tight turns in 3a and 3b.
In the mean time I was using wasted tires, one of which had finally corded during the second qualify session during which I had carved several fairly fast laps and was finding out that it was actually possible to hang with a couple of the GT2 cars. I was certain I might have cut a couple high 1:34 or very low 1:35 laps, maybe faster than my last time out even with the old 3.42 ratio rear end gears. But I didn't have my transponder turned on until I was meat balled into the hot pit and informed I should try turning it on. So, I got two more laps to qualify with a 1:36.047 (which was a tad faster than my personal best during the NW Region SCCA race). Mike Rocket opted to start at the back of the grid in his Trans Am GT1 car. So, I started in the third row next to Dean Miller in his hot little Fiero. Mac Russell was in row one in his red Nissan 240SX GT3 along with Edward Humphrey in his very quick 280Z GT2, whom I had chased around a couple of those untimed qualify laps. Alan Wendler DNS'd leaving Jules Moritz and Bud Reichar to take up row 2 in their RX7 GT2 cars. In short, I was surrounded by GT2 cars with Steve Sampson taking up the rear in the row behind me in ITE also. Ron McDuffie was next to him in his AS Camaro.
So, I had qualified a raggedy 7th over all but got to start in the 5th slot on row 3. We come around behind the pace car and the green finally flies. I stab the go peddle in 2nd, rev it hard and pass right by Moritz in his red GT2 car before we get to turn 1. This is great!! Dean miller drops behind me and we head for T2. I just keep the peddle down and notice I'm actually starting to reel in Bud also. Then his tail lights go red and darn if I don't nearly plant my hood into his rear hatch. I swing out to the right as he goes low in T2. We're side my side all the way around T2 as his slicks and lighter weight finally nose me out and we get on the gas some more after the apex. I shadow him down into T3a and have to give him the edge as I can't get down into 2nd. So the engine lugs between 3a and 3b. Then as we take 3b he slides way out and I go down under him. That was weird for a GT2 driver with 20 years experience running on race slicks I thought to my self. But I'll take it. In the mean time Mike Rocket is probably coming through the pack like a bat out of hades. So, I'm watching my mirrors real close. Russell and Humphrey are quite a ways ahead of me as well, thanks to no speed out of the hole when coming out of 3b in 3rd. Miller is breathing down my neck too, for the same reason, with Sampson in his mirros. Up to this point things have proven interesting though.
We all dice through the back corners and come roaring up the hill heading for T8, after I learned how to NOT wag my tail on cold tires in 5b and nearly slid out. On lap two Bud tried to get by me in T2. So, not wanting to mess up his GT2 race, I let him by in 3a but again he slides out in 3b. So, I retake him with Miller still gunning for me and him. Turns out Bud lost his right front hub bearing and went AWOL in T8. I waved Rocket by me between T8 and T9 which put me back in 4th over all. Things were pretty much sorted out at that point. So I go hunting for Mac Russell. By the end of lap 3 I start to realize that I can reel him in a bit each time we go down the front straight. Next thing I know we're going side by side through T2 and I manage to beat him down the hill into 3a. By now I'm getting luckier with the 3 to 2 downshift and I manage to keep Mac behind me the rest of lap 4. It felt awesome to come up into view of the fans in the T9 stands with Russell behind me and my Z28 in 3rd place over all!! 1st in ITE too!! I could tell I was cutting some decent lap times. One of which was just a tad below my personal best; a 1:35.812. Mac had reeled off a 1:35.021, Humphry was doing 1:34.262 or worse. The track was a lot hotter than that morning. So, we were all running slower as a result. Sure wish I had my morning qualify times darn it!
The rest of the race was simply a matter of keeping my eyes on my mirrors, trying to keep the car on black top and Dean Miller behind me. Couple laps he reeled me in a little with a 1:35.902 in there somewhere. When I'd miss my downshift to 2nd he'd gain on me. When I hit it I pull him on the back and front straights both. There was more than several times when I got out of shape in the 5a, 5b and 6 turns. The tires were actually so worn they were dangerous. But no way was I going to slow down too much and give up this great finishing order.
About 20 minutes later I was crossing the finish line and hauling the car back to the paddock where I could watch the replays from my video camera. It was a good ending to a bad weekend. Time to go figure out how to rob a couple 7-11s so I can afford to fix the T-56 I guess.
Until you actually try and race in this enduro you have no idea what it takes to organize, prepare for and put in 8 full hours of racing all in one day. Actually, if you include practice session time it's more like nine or ten hours. Unfortunately for our team, we only managed to clock about six actual hours of racing due to more mechanical issues.
Craig Johnson and I started planning this race shortly after my last race at Seattle. We budgeted around $3000 for eight fresh tires, 165 gallons of 92 oct and about 32 gallons of 100 oct fuel, fresh brake pads all around, two fresh front rotors, 14 qrts of oil, race fees and travel expenses... among other things. We also had to round up a full crew somehow. Luckily, most of the guys we invited were able to show up bright and early Saturday morning at 7:00am with the exception of our #3 driver, Steve Sampson.
We also had fans coming and going checking out our team and car in action. Pat Miller, my mother, was there from start to finish lending a hand as needed and providing us all with her moral support. She's my favorite fan. And we all had a ton of fun.
The day started with last minute preparation and getting the car through tech. Craig finally showed up with the three 55 gallon drums of fuel but had to go and buy a fuel pump after realizing the one from last season was not working. Luckily, Armadillo Racing Supply was at the track and had the required item for sale. We might have had a shorter race were it not for Andy Collins. We then had a short team meeting but didn't cover nearly all the points I would have liked before the practice session started.
I had just installed a new T56 transmission and a 5.0 shifter for this race after the old T56 had come up lame during the prior race. As it turned out the new T56 was popping out of gear in 3rd. So, right off the bat we were being forced to correct gremlins rather than stick to our race plan. The crew grabbed some tools and adjusted the shifter stops and that pretty much fixed the first problem of the day. It was also sprinkling rain and we found out that the backup tires we planned to adjust pressures on were never going to get hot on the wet track to begin with. So, I made the call to swap to the rains. That resulted in our next gremlin in the form of a front wheel spoke rubbing on the large Alcon brake caliper on the right side. One lap and we were back in swapping tires again as the rain was stopping and the track was finally beginning to dry. Looked like we would at least have a dry track for the rest of the day's racing.
By the end of the 1 hour 15 minute practice session we had just managed to learn how to do a few pits stops and how to display the pit boards for the drivers. Craig had only been able to put in about 5 of his 15 planned practice laps though. So, he would just have to figure out the car and how it handled during the race itself. We went to the crew and driver meetings and regrouped during the lunch break checking any last minute issues and topping off the fuel tank. There really wasn't a dull moment the entire day, or enough time to relax.
We were running in the P1 class which was made up of several 911 type Porsches, including a very fast Daytona class car fielded by Fordahl Motorsports, a GT1 tube frame type Chevy Camaro, a BMW M3, one Ford and a couple Mazdas. The Fordahl car had somehow managed to cut a 1:11.005 lap during the race. The GT1 car managed a fast lap of 1:14.415. Mike Boyle's Porsche had managed a 1:17.239 but they DNF'd. Don Gagne and Dave Parker who raced with me in the ITE class, managed a 1:17.849. We ran the entire first 40 minutes with our transponder off which means we probably never recorded our personal best lap. After that we clicked off at least one 1:18.025 time. Don Pickering's car recorded a 1:18.348. The other P1 cars had 1:19.674 (Mazda), 1:20.006 (BMW), 1:23.860 (Ford) and 1:28.816 (Mazda). Per our own lap times we had stopped the watch at 1:17.84 during lap 9 of the race. Had we not met with problems we would have been up in the top 5 or 10 cars of the 39 cars that started the race... even with our very slow refueling situation and frequent pit stops due to using a stock gas tank which only lasted 40-45 minutes per pit stop. As it was we came in 29th over all and 8th of 10 in the P1 class.
To recap the race it went something like this...
We did a Le Mans type start. I ran across the hot pit, jumped into the driver seat and buckled up with Craig's help. Put it into 3rd gear and promptly killed the engine. Restarted and still managed to get out of the grid before Carlo's Mazda parked in slot 16, right next to us. Apparently the Simpson harness is easier to hook up than whatever Carlo was using. Yet I was by no means the first car on the track. I settled in and started passing slower cars right and left on the fresh Hoosier tires we had on all four corners. Luckily I had set their tire pressure perfectly because we never had been able to adjust them during practice.
The green and white Fordahl Porsche and the black and orange Porsche driven by Pickering had both gotten on track ahead of me. But, I had passed three cars by the time we got to turn 7 and had gathered in four more cars before starting lap two at turn 1. Passed one more in turn 3 and another in turn 6 heading onto the back straight. I then had the yellow BMW in P1 class in my sights as we rocked and rolled through T7 and T8. I went under him as we went into turn 9 and he must not have been watching his mirrors as I was forced up onto the FIA curb to keep from slamming into him as he knifed from left to right across my bow. That was the last time he gave me any trouble for the entire race as he realized I wasn't faint of heart dicing with BMWs in the twisty bits. Waved bye to him as we headed onto the front straight.
I had reeled in another four slower cars by T1 again. Passed one in T5 and two more by T9. Passed two more cars going down the front straight again. Mostly sitting ducks. Finally, I had caught up with Pickering in car #19, the black and orange Porsche who was also another ITE car during the regular season. I had passed a dozen cars in the first 3 laps and we were well on our way to being in the top three at that point.
The race went right according to plan for our first couple stints. I came in for fuel after posting only 23 laps and turned the car over to Craig after topping off the fuel. We found out that we had only used about 10 of our 15 gallons on board. Craig ran the next 30 laps as we learned better what the car's consumption rate would be. Then the problems began. Craig came in and we swapped seats again while Joe refilled the tank. Brent used a torque wrench to make sure the lugs were tight. As I was waiting to go back out he held up this lug nut with a chunk of lug stud still attached. Jon poked his head in the window, "Chuck, one of the wheel studs is broken man. What should we do?" I shook my head wishing I had replaced all the studs like I had wanted to do before the race, "OK. You get the manual and open it to the PIT MAINTENANCE GUIDE and look up how to swap a front hub and what tools you will need. Then you get one of the spare hubs out of the parts boxes. When you are ready you hang the pit board out and bring me back in... FAST! Dig?" Jon shakes his head and I blast off. After about 5 laps I had managed to rattle the left front wheel at least once on the rumble bumps and kept going thinking, after a long time, they must be ready by now. Last thing I wanted was to have a wheel fly off.
So, I came in. Luckily they were ready... except they had somehow found the only spare hub, of the three hubs I brought, that was the old one (I also brought two brand new spares). Jon and Brent get the left front tire off and tear into the hub assembly after taking off the caliper and rotor. 20 minutes later I had a different hub and five lug studs on and out I went again. But 30 second later I realized that SOMEHOW I was now running with an ABS INOP light on my dash board. I knew my goose was cooked and I now had a bogus hub mounted on the left front corner of the car. I PUMPED the brakes twice before every corner in order to slow down and, to top it off, I also found out the hard way that the right front rotor had WARPED because we forgot to turn the wheel while working on the opposite side. HOT brakes and sitting with the pads on one spot on the rotors was about the worst way to keep the brakes working. Several more laps and back in I came, after nearly collecting three more bent fenders.
To make a long story short we spent yet another 30 minutes rebuilding the other side of the car and swapping over to another hub on the left side. When I finally got back on the track we all knew how to fix a Z28 front end and were running on a backup rotor and hub. We had managed to lose about 1 hour and 15 minutes of track time and the sun was still pretty high in the sky. But that would not be the end of it. Later in the race we had worn the left front tire quite a bit after about 5 stints on track. It was time to swap the fronts in order to get better tire life. But, in so doing, we again broke two more studs off the left front hub. Finally, we had to swap the hub again in order to ditch the old studs for a hub with new studs and a working ABS sensor. By then we had lost nearly 1 hr 45 minutes to down time. Couple that with our slow fuel stops and we had a long ways to go to get back into the hunt.
So, here we were. I ran the first 23 laps. Craig did the next 30. I did 8 on four lug studs. Then another 9 on bad brakes. Then another 26, when I finally swapped back to Craig. Craig did the next 33 laps. I did 34 after that, and another hub swap. By then we knew our fuel consumption rate and things were going good again. Craig did the next 23 laps as it started getting dark real fast. He came in not wanting to drive in the dark. That left me holding the bag from 6:30 pm until the end of the race at 8:00 pm. I did 33 laps and pitted for fuel. Then, I managed to do another 31 laps. During that time I had also managed to spin out going into T1 and I had nearly hit the front wall once while trying to make a pass and losing traction when I put the hammer down a bit too hard on worn out rear tires.
Well, we finished and we had FUN! But a post race check up on the car showed that one of the Y-pipe flanges had come loose and cooked my oil pan with hot exhaust gasses. And the left rear brake pad had worn right down to the backing plate when the caliper had hung up and used more of the outside pad than the inside pad. One of the pads on the other rear caliper had also separated from the backing plate as well. And my left front tire was totally corded, which explains my slow lap times in the dark I suppose.
We learned a LOT and will do things a bit differently next time around. And, who knows, maybe we'll finish a LOT higher in the standing also.
By the time this race rolled around I wasn't really sure it was meant to be. I had been wanting to go south to Thunderhill for one of the Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship races for the past couple years. Never was in the cards though. This was to be the 25th annual event and thanks to the fact that the car came out of the endurance race in one piece and because we managed to have a set of race tires left over, well I decided why not? I threw the car back together with some left over race pads and took a couple days vacation so I could get on down to the race on time. Practice was to be on a Friday with qualifying in the afternoon and again on Saturday morning. The 30 minute ITE race was scheduled for 4:30p.m. on Saturday evening. My plan was to leave town after work on Wed and get to Portland, OR that night. Mother and I would then drive about 10 hours down to Willows, CA on Thursday and set up shop. Well, that plan didn't go so well. Thanks to major rainy weather and having to work overtime a couple hours I did not get out of town until 8:30pm on Wednesday evening. I managed to get to a Texaco station in Essex, WA near the Hwy 12 west bound exit, at about 10:30p.m. where I had stopped for gas.
As I was paying for the gas I noticed this fellow and his friend looking over the race car on the trailer with a flashlight. Next thing I know I'm standing there bench racing with these two "country boys" not far from the South Sound Raceway. Turns out these guys were a couple of the local circle track racers, Ken Bigham and his friend Scotty. They, of course, wanted to know everything I could tell them about the Z28 and road racing in the Pacific North West right there in the middle of nowhere. Then Scotty says, "Hey Chuck, don't want to interupt you all but does that tire on yur trailer look a little funny to you... seems to be leaning over just a tad there to me..." Scotty had probably just saved my life and the car and trailer, having noticed that the left front trailer tire was about to come off. Next thing I know these two good old boys are asking me for some tools so they can fix my trailer tire right there on the spot. Naturally every shop in the area was closed that late at night.
Well after further work and inspection it turns out the flange that the wheel assembly bolts to on the trailer axle tube had broken 75% off at the weld. Kim and Scotty then helped me get about 4 miles from the freeway exit over to their shop near Rochester. They had power tools, a welder and about a dozen race cars in various state of repair parked in and outside the shop. Removing the axle proved to be quite a job with rusted on bolts, etc. And rewelding the axle, so the wheel would not fly off, ended up taking two tries and all night. But, the repair lasted long enough to get me to a trailer shop the next day, where I finally managed to get a new axle and brakes by the end of the work day on Thursday; $500 later. Mother and I were nearly half a day behind schedule by then and I had to call ahead and change my motel accomodations and figure out a brand new game plan to make the race. We found ourselves setting up our paddock spot at noon on Friday after missing the practice session (and only getting 5 hours of sleep)... in the rain. In fact it had rained on the entire drive down, when it wasn't snowing.
Before long I had gone out on the track on my race tires and found out that even on a simi-dry track it was SLIPPERY! After two warm up laps the clouds decided to start raining again. It got even more SLIPPERY!! An hour later I got the qualify results and found out that somehow I had managed to qualify second over all with a very slow 2:17.929. I was pretty disappointed as my prior best on a DRY track had been a 2:10.901 back in 2000. I really had hoped to beat my old lap time after all the trouble it had taken to get another shot at this track with a decent engine under the hood. Maybe Saturday morning would be better?
Saturday morning did start out better. The skies had cleared and were only partly cloudy. Maybe now I would get some dry laps down? In the mean time, though, I had found out that Marshall Donig was the driver of a VERY FAST 1984 Nissan 300ZX twin turbo complete with ground effects and a wing out back. He was renting this car owned and operated by California Driving Adventures. Apparently this car had been driven by one of San Francisco Region's best, back in 2001, and held the lap record in ITE of 2:00.086 here at Thunderhill Park. Marshall was not the same driver but he had managed to lay down a lap time of 2:15.132 the day before. So, I did not have my hopes up too high in terms of actually winning this race after all. At least not in the dry.
About 15 minutes before we were to do the next qualify session a fellow named Randy MacKintosh, and his father, had showed up to check out the car. He had inquired a couple months before about buying the Z28 but I had decided to hang on to it, "...until they bury me in it". I was glad they where there though as the thunder clouds showed back up and all hands ended up mounting my rains again just in time so I could do about 6 laps before the qualify session was over with. It rained so darn hard that the best lap I managed that time was only a 2:32. But that was about 10 seconds faster than the 300ZX had posted!! Hummmmmm. Maybe I should be hoping for rain during the race? Obviously my car is better in the wet than the lighter, over powered 300ZX would be??
All the other cars in Group 1 were having trouble in the bad conditions as well. The 3rd car to qualify had only managed a 2:18.054 and might give me a run for my money, even though he was in the new ITX class driving a Mazda. And David Allen, one of the Board Members for San Francisco Region, had qualified 4th with a 2:23.322 in his '86 Mazda. The next best ITE car was another Mazda who had only qualified 14th with a 2:29. So, the only car I was really worried about, for now, was the 300ZX.
Well, turns out this was the easiest race of my 2002 season. Apparently the Nissan had come up lame and was not going to make the race after all. Don't know exactly why other than what Marshall told me after the race was over. "It just DIED during the qualify session...", he said.
Well, with the Nissan not showing up to play I ended up on pole and because the #3 car failed to show also that put David Allen next to me on the first row. We came around turn 15 and headed for start finish with DARK BLACK clouds looming overhead threatening yet another major down pour. I was on my race tires and was hoping this race would somehow finish before I had to slow to 2:50 lap times to stay on the track should it rain again. It was already getting very dark and I figured the last half of the race would be in the dark, if not in the rain. This was going to be interesting.
The green flag dropped and so did the gas peddle as David and I drag raced for turn one. I got there first and he followed me out around T2 and T3 as the tires were still not warm. Up over the Eagle's Nest (T5) and down around T6 and he was still giving me chase. David hung with me through the back corners until we got to the back straight where I finally opened it up and pulled away. Down the front straight and I added more distance on the rest of the group. During lap two I posted my fast lap as I drove the car hard, but not so hard as to risk any chance of losing the race due to a driver error of some kind. After all, the track was not hot, it was getting dark and there was still mud here and there from all the rain of the weekend. No reason pushing my luck.
I scored a 2:07.867, a full 3 seconds better than any lap I'd ever done before at Thunderhill, and pressed on. It was a fun race even though I had no cars to pass until about 8 laps later. Then the funniest thing that I've seen in a long time happened. I went to pass the car that was was running next to last, yet another slower Mazda. All I could see by then was his brake lights in the dark. We came down off the Eagle's Nest and I planned to scoot by him after T7 left. But he pulled a boner and took his hand off the wheel to point me by. Next thing I know he slips and off the track he goes with his brake lights BRIGHT as could be... right into the mud!! That was sure an easy pass. But I felt sorry for the poor bastard. Tow truck driver told me later that it took them five minutes to get him out. Oh well.
And that was that for 2002 after scoring a nice silver champagne bucket as a trophy.
2001 RESULTS PAGES - CLICK HERE