2002 RESULTS PAGE - CLICK HERE
NTI Racing Schedule
My 2001 season got off to a late start due to the car going under the knife and coming out of late hybernation with a 383 stroker motor pumping out an extra 100+ HP at the flywheel. As with any new motor there were a few new problems to sort out too. What can I say, except that the races we did manage to make proved that the investment was worth the lack of seat time. If you know what I mean.
Before we read the results log for 2001 here's a table showing the results of the Y2K Oregon Region ITE class points race. I managed to pull out all the stops (I ran in all the races and then some) in order to bring home the bacon. Not bad for my 2nd full season of racing. And ITE is no easy class to run in either.
Ore Region SCCA - ITE Class Mar Apr May May Rose Jul Jul Aug Aug Sub Total
Cup
Jessup; Charles K. Z28 NW/OR (14) 19 11.5 23 28 19 19 19 23 28 189.5
Belzer; Mike 944T OR 23 23 14 28 28 28 28 12 184
Coshow; Jim 911SC OR 19 28 9.5 19 23 16 16 10 14 154.5
Parker; Dave 911RSA NW 23 23 23 28 97 *
Laughlin; Steve 944T NW 8 16 14 14 16 16 84 *
Johnson; Peter M. 911RSA NW 12 19 31 *
Pickering; Donald 911RSA NW 14 1 15 *
Hillis; Craig 944T NW/OR 28 28
Twomey; Scott 325IS OR 16 16
Poller; Jack VW RAB SF 8 10 18 *
Bell; Greg VW GTI OR 1 1 2
* Only driver's with "OR" Region membership retain their official points
for the year end awards/standings.
NOTE: Ore Region rules allow a driver to substitute (sub) one race outside
of the region for a worse finish or no-show within the region.
And here's an index to the various 2001 race season stories on this web page...
North West Region SCCA Race and Solo I @ Bremerton Raceway, WA
ICSCC Race @ Mission Raceway Park, B.C.
Ore Region SCCA Race @ Portland International Raceway, OR
ICSCC Race @ Thunderhill Park, CA
ICSCC Race @ Seattle International Raceway, WA
ICSCC 8 Hr Endurance Race @ Portland International Raceway, OR
Got a BAD start in 2001. But somehow got a great start in this my first race of the season. The finish sure could have been better though.
Ordered up a new 383 LT1 to run in ITE and help out some in ICSCC SPO class. Judging from what I've seen from the side lines this season even the extra ponies this motor generates may not be enough. That and the fact that the new motor never made it past my first test and tune day before it cracked a head did not bode well for the rest of my season. By the time I had obtained a fresh set of replacement heads I was tapped out of racing funds and burned out from turning wrenches and trying to get the car ready for any kind of action. Besides, it was way too late to ever hope to collect points towards any local championships. I decided to just race for fun and go to whatever races I could manage to afford.
Bremerton was going to be a shake down race more than anything. And I do mean shake down. Was glad to just finish in one piece with no MAJOR break downs.
Started off Saturday morning just trying to learn how to drive the car again. Not only did I have to learn to manage the extra speed but I was also crammed into a new Sparco 2000 race seat which presented an extra set of issues to work out too. The new track layout also took some getting used to. And it didn't take me more than the first lap to realize that this car was vibrating all over the place. Found out later that I had an out of balance flywheel and an exhaust pipe hitting the floor pan in the drive shaft tunnel. Great way to scramble a driver's brains.
Still though, I managed to qualify 7th on the new track with a 0:59.282. Not nearly what I was hoping for. But it was a start. Hard to get a decent lap when you are missing every other 2nd to 3rd up shift thanks to the vibrator stick shift syndrome.
My Solo I practices and time trials were also mixed in between qualifying and the Group 1 race. At least I got to start the race on real warm tires. Figured, if nothing else, at least I could come in deep on lap 1 turn 1 and take advantage of the other drivers still running on cold rubber. And, to help matters somewhat more a couple of the drivers who qualified in front of me were not watching their clocks and showed up late thanks to NW Region's announcer being out to lunch.
So, I end up coming around onto the main straight in the second row with at least three extreemly fast runners bringing up the rear of the pack. They surely would be all over the rest of us soon enough, even though it's difficult to pass folks at Bremerton.
Thanks to being a little rusty and not knowing how far down the track we'd get before the green goes out, I manage to get caught with my pants down and the other three lead cars start by walking off on me. I was on the right side. As it turns out the motor wound up good and tight and by the time we got to the other end I was hot on the heels of the other three cars. Time to use the warmer tires. #76 was a Porsche 911 as were most of the cars in our group actually. He moved right for turn 1 thanks to me dropping back. That's cool though. I'd rather enter T1 on the left anyways. So, why not?
Jim Walsh was one of the season's ITE hot shoes and had qualified second with a FAST 57.545 in his silver 911 RSA #66. He started #1 and ended up #1 thanks to the Pole Sitter being late to his race. Jim took off through T1 and I was never able to reel him back in, although I did manage to stay on pace with him the first few laps. Don Pickering was driving the #0 black 911 RSA and had scored a great 0:58.790 5th position qualify time. He got to start the race on the front row too however. By the time we exited T1 and headed for T2 I was drag racing with him and managed to stay on the left through both these left hand turns. That worked out nicely to get me into the #2 position of the wolf pack. Taking the tight line only served to slow my exit speeds though and gave Jim the advantage and a very good lead. He was also very fast in the S turns up ahead. Hard to beat that act.
Laps 2 through 5 were dicy but I held my own and held the #2 spot. Walsh was slowly stretching his lead on me. I was actually running well and managed to slowly stretch my lead on the #0 and #76 cars. I could also see the Pole Sitter, Jonathan Fay working up through the pack in his black, #64, winged GT1 level 911 rolling on top of full race slicks and a pure racing suspension. He probably had some idea about getting up where he should have started and eating Walsh for dinner. It wasn't going to happen that way though, even if he had qualified with a 0:57.258. I also knew there had to be several other 911s gearing up some plan to take me down. The game was far from over.
Lap 5 I had gotten a little sloppy through T3 right. Lap 6 I tried to get back in my groove and clean up my act. It was hard not missing any shifts though. Lap 7 I still could see Walsh up ahead and kept hoping maybe he'd mess up. Lap 8 we started gathering in a few of the slower lapped cars already. Now things would start to get interesting as I knew slower traffic could be a problem with no place to pass on this track except the two straights or under braking for T7 maybe. #64 was now in my mirrors as I took down one slower car in T7. Turns out this was about when I started noticing that my right rear tire was losing its grip in all the left hand corners too. Later found out my exhaust was pointed at it and not helping matters... one more item to deal with on the SORT IT OUT list.
Taking T1 was a slip and slide affair from Lap 8 on. Lap 9 I managed yet another missed shift. This gave #64 the extra boost he needed to close the gap on me. Up to then I was able to ward him off in the twisties, carry a bit extra exit speed out of T8 and out gun him down the straight. Not this time though. Yet he was still darting in my mirrors for lap 10. Somehow I managed to keep him back there...
He gathered me in again for T7 but only managed to go wide as a result. I thought #97 had showed up again in his red 911. Turns out it was a new player in the game though... #93 Dave Parker, another 911 RSA hot shoe... and he took down #64 thanks to his going wide in 7. OK. Which one of you wants me the most? This just might work in my favor as the two mad dogs fight over the red Camaro bone. Dave was now pancaked between me and #64 as we started on lap 11. I pulled them again but slid just enough exiting T8 to kick up some dirt with my right rear.
Lap 12 and another darn miss shift. But #64 aces out #93 as we head into T1. #93 somehow manages to repass #64 down the back side heading for T3. They both have the red mist I guess. Lap 13 Parker wants me real bad. #64 wants him real bad. Walsh is riding off into the sunset. Number 10 (that's me) is screening pretty well for him. Hey, may as well have one of the ITE clan win the race. Right?
Lap 14 I nearly slide off the track trying to squeeze out a little extra exit speed from T8. Shouldn't have done that I guess. Only worked against me. This finally gives #64 his BIG chance down at the other end in T1 by under braking. He dives under me and I am forced out into the weeds as we exit on out. Jeeeeze man! Once I get all four back on track I give chase. But nothing doing. His slicks allow him to walk away... so I think. I focus my attention on Parker behind me. With #64 around me Parker won't have to fight over 3rd place any more. Instead he'll be more than happy to fight over 3rd with me. Fay must have still had some idea about going after Walsh and got a little carried away in the process. Parker and I come hot into T7 left. As we come around I see Fay going the wrong way and slam on my binders to avoid kissing him nose to nose. Parker tucks tight on my spoiler as a result. Parker now knows this is his BIG chance. So do I. So... I miss one more up shift. Sure, why not!! That vibration has got to go, and I mean NOW!
Parker paces me and gets under me in T1. Naturally. Oh well, he can ride shot gun for Walsh. I give up. Can't see Walsh any more anyways. Back in 3rd again. 3rd in ITE too. The vibration not only played havock with my shifts but now I had oil leaking from my shifter housing. And I was smelling burning oil from a few loose oil pan gasket nuts down under. All, thanks to the really bad vibrations. To make a long story short, by the end of the 26 lap race I had given up not one or two positions but 4 total spots... all to the faster cars that worked their way back up from behind. I only managed to finish one spot ahead of where I had qualified. It was a fun and challenging race though. And, what the heck, I did manage to score a 1st place in a wounded car in the Solo I ITE event. I had racked up a couple fast laps that day; 0:58.372 in the race and 0:58.827 in the Solo I event.
Jon Fay clicked off a 0:56.144 during that race chasing me down in the #64 car. Walsh managed an outstanding 0:58.139 in his ITE 911 RSA to bag 1st over all. Parker was hot on his heels with a 0:58.144 too. At least I was in the ITE ball park that day.
Once I got the car home it took another week or so to fix the oil leaks, exhaust problems and replace the bad flywheel. Another day and another race I guess.
Mission Raceway Park... finally! I was looking forward to seeing what all the hoppla was all about now that they have added a few extra turns to the track. Got up to Mission on Fri afternoon, set up camp and decided the odds were it was going to be wet by 9:00 a.m. Sat morning. So, I tossed the SZ50 rains on but left the car up in the air just in case. Then I headed down to Mary's place to catch a few much needed Z's.
Sat came around soon enough and it was WET. Not raining hard. But there was enough coming down to keep the track plenty slick. Asked around and found out the new turns would be OK. But the old corners were rumored to be very slick from years of being polished smooth. My main concern was that I had at least gotten rid of most my prior race vibration issues and that the oil pan would stay relatively oil leak free. It would be nice if I could at least up shift from 2 to 3 this weekend.
So, those of us who had the courage headed on course. Right off the bat some guy in a red and white rice burner wanted to show me his stuff. As did another red 3rd gen Camaro. That's fine by me guys. Knock yourselves out. After a couple laps I wave them by and hang back and watch. Sure enough the rice burner blasts off down the back straight and takes a double loop going through 7. I laugh and wave as I go on by. NOT that I wasn't having my own troubles mind you. My car was wagging its tail in all 9 corners. Plenty of counter steering practice that morning for sure. Wanted to drop 2 psi from all four corners but pretty hard to do without a crew. So, I just kept plodding along and used the 15 minute session to find my limits and take notes just in case this turned out to be a total wash out weekend.
Luckily, the afternoon qualify session would at least start out with a dry line. However, before that I was approached by the sound police and informed that Mission was running a 95 dB max this weekend (vs the normal SCCA 103 dB at 50'). Apparently I had managed a couple 93-94 dB passes. Found out the sound station was set up in turn 7 as well. Though I never saw it, as I was staying completely focused on the black ice in all the corners I drove on. Not much I could do about it anyways except try to stay wide in that corner and hope that I could manage to stay out of trouble in the sound department that way. NOT.
My buddy Gary showed up to help out. We grabbed lunch and then I used a hose clamp to install my piece of junk tail pipe baffle which I carry with me for just these sort of races. Learned that leasson down at Thunderhill last season when I had to start at the back of the pack after getting my qualify times zeroed due to being 2 dB over on one lap down there. I also had to use a small C-clamp to hold my starter on, as one of the mounting bolts broke off. Problems, problems, problems...
We go out again on race rubber at 1:30 p.m. Take a couple warm up laps and figure the BFGs are hooking fine so time to pick up my pace. Click off a 1:29.692, 1:25.143, 1:24.393 and then put the peddle to the metal for a 1:22.146 and a 1:21.434. OK.
Now mind you there are another couple issues at Mission these days. One is the KINK that ties the front straight to the new turns. We'll get to that one later. The other is T3 which was designed to LAUNCH you off the hard top as you make that apex. It's a frigging bottom scraping hump that is worst right by the apex tires and better if you go say 10 car widths wide there. Well, I'm not thinking about my little baffle back there and want to shed a few more tenths. So what do I do but take the hump too far left. Terry Ward by this time was DRAGGING the last 6 feet of his tail pipe and muffler ahead of me after going too far inside on the prior lap too I guess. So he took the wide line away from me anyways, trying to be a nice guy and getting off the fast line for me.
I then push it a bit harder now heading for T7 and out with the binders... Oh Oh!! Too much push! Too deep! Too wide!! I'm outa there. Time to avoid sound meters, sound car and sound police officers. Park it off in the rough, put it in 1st and loop 360 to the right and back on the horse again. That was CLOSE. Vrooooooom. 1:35.298.
Come back around past start finish and get a damn meat ball flag. So, time to cool the binders and putz back around into the hot pit and see what they want now. "Sorry Chuck. Sound man said you were just fine a few laps there then all of a sudden you shot way off the scale at over 100 dBs. I'm affraid you're going to have to check your muffler man..." You gotta be kidding me. I'm stewed and head back to the paddock. Never figured it out till later that night when the fog in my head cleared. Do NOT try to drive over the sound guy. He doesn't like that I guess. Especially if you are a Yank from the states.
On top of that Gary and I check under the car and guess what. No baffle. So, after looking high and low, it turns out they had given it to Terry Ward thinking it was part of his sound effects that had fallen apart while he was out there. I borrow a cordless drill from the Millers. Then we spent the next two hours getting a late lunch and bouncing all over hades looking for a frigging hardware store where I could buy a simple 3 1/2" bolt and 2 nuts so I could put that baffle back on once and for all. We got done fixing my tail pipe at around 6:30 p.m. just as it starts to rain again. But not until I shag down the sound steward and ask him for some mercy as I want my lap time back. "I don't want you to fudge the rules really. BUT I did mount a baffle after you warned me that I was near the limit there but it got ripped off in T3 I guess. So I bolted it on this time to make sure... bla bla bla." He said he'd think about it and see what he could do. I go back to Mary's place and die for the night.
Turns out that my bid for my qualify time was not wasted on deaf ears. That morning the sound steward comes by and tells me that not only my times but two or three other guy's times are all reinstated. Why? Well because at Mission rather than using the 103 dB at 50' rule they were supposed to use the 95 dB at 85' rule or something like that. Actually, according to my sound physics 101 class, that's the same as 99 dB at 50'. Whatever. It was dry so I was still going to try for a little faster qualify time if I can.
Second session was at 9:00 a.m. again. Apparently the car would not go quite as fast though. Or the driver was asleep at the wheel. Only managed a 1:21.733 Sun morning. That put me in the top 8 of a 29 car Group 1. I was not that happy with my times, knowing that I should be able to at least break into the sub 1:20s. I also had turned my tail pipe tip AWAY from the sound station just to make sure. That took another 45 minutes of effort as the tip was ON THERE.
Starting grid for Group 1
#717 Dave Kunicki White SPO Corvette 1:14.719 (putting out 700 Trans Am HP)
#755 Pete Beaudoin Yellow SPM 280Z 1:18.430
#70 Mac Russell Red SPM Alfa 1:19.173
#02 Tom Miller White SPM Fiero 1:19.481
#52 Manfred Duske Silver SPM 240Z 1:19.585
#01 Dean Miller White SPM Fiero 1:19.979
#745 Kerry Spanier Red SPM 911 RSA 1:21.127
#110 **SLOWrider** Red SPO Z28 1:21.434
#388 Marcello Zappone White SPU RX3 1:21.461
#36 Terry Ward White CP Camaro 1:22.534
NOTE: All cars except #110 and #36 are runing full race slicks. We were
running on DOT tires. Wonder where I can get me some cheep slicks??
Finally, the announcer says, "Last call for Group 1." What the heck is that?? Where did the first and second calls go to?? I am once again running around trying to get to grid before it's too late. I pull into my #8 hole just as they yell out the 5 minute warning. Tom and Dean Miller don't make it in time and are forced to go to the back of the LONG, LONG line. Cristy Hews is ahead of them in her 1:39.639 RX7. I start in row 3 as a result.
Another interesting side note before we get started. Doc Galmut had his car at the track Sat afternoon. It's a tweeked to the max black Trans Am. His crew chief claimed it dyno'd at 480+ HP, 358 ci, Holley pumping Jim Richmond race motor tucked under his Speed Vision GT hood with a Speed Vision wing out back and a #4 transmission, #3 clutch and #2 rear end bolted underneath. According to his crew chief he has never made a single Speed Vision race because the motor keeps killing the drive train parts. And this weekend was no exception as they blew a head gasket. Probably has his compression ratio a tad too high there. Too bad too. I'm sure I've see him listed in the 1:16 lap time stats at Mission in one of the news letters. Would have been fun to watch him lap me at least once.
Oh. One more thing that factors into the big picture. During my Sunday morning qualify run I noticed my brakes were fading again. So, Christy Hews and I took our time bleeding them and going to fresh fluid. But, turns out they were even worse once I started my pace lap. SH--!!!! As if I can't have enough problems. Now I would be forced to pump and brake early on every darn race lap for the next 30 minutes in the very hot sun that had decided to show its face for once.
Mission has now got 9 turns. You come around on the pace lap out of T9 and head a short ways down the straight to the flag. Green goes out as row 1 is right under it. Row 3 can see it just in time. Row 5 on back is anyone's guess. We blast off and drag race to the KINK which is more like an accident looking for a couple dummies to try going side by side killing themselves there kind of funnel. More on that later too.
We get through the kink single file and merge with the new hot pit exit and some drivers dive right and tight into T1. Others go wide. Some go in the gravel. My tires slide and I let it swing around and try to lay the power down WITHOUT burning rubber for 80 feet like Terry Ward said I did in front of him once during the qualify session. :)
We then head for T2 left about 75 yards away. It's 2nd gear through T1 and T2 and you grab 3rd fast after you exit T2 and slide up along the right side wall there. Rocket down the next straight and grab 4th for maybe 1 second before popping the chute and hanging a hard left and UP OVER the HUMP at the T3 apex. The car goes weighless and the rear end ALWAYS kicks out. You slide and drift and finally hook up in 2nd as you go to the wall on your right and do a 180 east and again try to lay down some rubber as you make for the bend leading to T4.
T4 is polished and never a dull moment. I rarely go left there without poking my brakes on and nose down. Downshift from 4th to 2nd again. Blip the heel toe and make a hard right through T5. Pass the red 911 for the fun of it and move up a spot from 6th to 5th. Terry Ward has already brushed by the RX3 and has me painted on his radar screen as well. Now I have the 911 between us though.
That won't last long as Mr Spanier in his red 911 isn't going to take that sitting down. We head left around T6 and down the back straight along the wall. Sound meter approaching... BTW this is no laughing matter. The sound guy can be your worst enemy or your friend. I'm NOT going to take this corner wide unless I have to.
Binders on and down shift again from 4th to 2nd. Apex T7 left, spin the rears a little, kick the tail around and blip the gas for T8 right. Cross over and bank right with a red 911 hard on my tail in my left rear view mirror. He dives with a very risky move under me as we 180 left through T9 and go side by side onto the front straight. He wags over another hump there and I back out to avoid swapping tones of red paint as the tires pass on my right. Terry, always true to form, comes up hard from behind. I chase Spanier down the front straight, after burners on. We wag through the kink and I start pumping my MUSH for brakes as we both go deep into T1 again. The laps kinda go something like this...
LAP TIME POSITION NOTES
--- ------- ------------- ----------------------------------------
1 1:24.55 6th, 5th, 6th Fun lap. Lots of dicy chit.
2 1:23.11 6th Cars up ahead are pulling away fast.
3 1:22.37 6th Keeping pace with 911 and Ward behind me.
4 1:21.75 6th The Millers are charging hard from behind.
5 1:22.62 6th, 7th, 6th Terry goes ballistic through T4 and tries
to go under me in T5 and again in T7. He
gets the red mist and Katey bar the door.
He shoots over the FIA curb in T8 right.
I stay under him in T9 left and hook up
good on the exit. The 911 is gone as we
fight over 6th. I blast off leaving Ward
to to lick his wounds... THIS TIME.
6 1:22.61 6th, 5th, 4th Two of the lead cars tangle in T1. They
both end up dropping out. We see yellow
flags as we blast into T1. The 911 is in
T2 but going slow. I decide to go after
him in hopes the yellows are down in T3.
Ward is quite a ways back. There is also
lapped traffic coming up. As we exit T3
the only flag is white. NOT yellow, I GO.
Pass the 911 with his pants down, watch
for more flags and take off. He chases me
down again in T5 as one of the Millers
has showed up on the scene as well behind
us. If I can I'll let him go by...
7 1:26.82 3rd Not too fast under yellow there.
8 1:26.61 4th, 5th Still yellow in T1 and T2 but the 911 got
by me again and I let Miller go after him
too. The other Miller of the duo is coming
up from behind as well in his matching SPM
Fiero. Same tune... I'll let him buy soon
enough.
9 1:22.46 5th, 6th The yellows are down and the race is full
tilt again. Both the Fieros are by us now
and Ward is now all over me thanks to letting
them by and having to slow a couple times for
slug racers we're lapping in the KINK.
10 1:24.21 7th My brakes are total MUSH now and Ward finally
takes me down. Can't keep up the pace under
these conditions. Sorry. Time to cool down
and regroup. Can always go home with the #2
points in SPO. Still have to finish in one
piece though.
11 1:24.29 7th Chase Ward and make him work for his spot...
12 1:22.97 7th Start to turn up the heat again.
13 1:23.31 7th More slow cars to pass. Have to keep backing
out rather than run them over in the KINK.
What a PAIN!
14 1:23.27 7th The SPO Vette finally catches me in T7 just
like I had it planned. Crossing my fingers
now. Dude, you passed on my right sucker!!
90 dB + 93 dB = 95.8 dB... He gets a MEAT
BALL flag. Perfect.
15 1:28.18 7th The RX3 is gaining hard now. I have been
warding him and his race slicks off ever
since Ward and the Vette got by me. Never a
dull moment at Mission. When we see the meat
ball everyone slows way down as they never did
show us a number board. Finally, I decide to
get back on the gas.
16 1:25.28 7th, 6th The Vette ducks into the hot pits. I'm now
numero uno in SPO class.
17 1:23.88 6th Right back where I started. With the RX3 trying
to reel me in from behind.
18 1:23.74 6th The battle for 6th gets hotter. I try harder.
Brakes are mush, tires are cooked, and now the
service engine light glows in bright yellow.
Pull the code after the race and it is a 43 -
ESC FAILURE... I think. What the H is that????
19 1:23.84 6th Who cares. The RX3 is NOT going to get me no
matter what!
20 1:22.10 6th The RX3 attempts to get under me in T3 and the
HUMP. I am forced wide to my advantage. I hook
up first and he takes up the 7th spot again. we
zig and we zag and we blasted out of T9 and I go
right to the rev limiter through 3rd and into 4th.
One of those white BMWs with the blue checkers
painted on the back is a sitting duck ahead of me.
The RX3 is peddling like mad behind me. There's
a tight opening on the right of the #321 (Jeff
Wicks novice) 325is I go for it hoping I can
place him between me and the RX3. BAD IDEA!!!!
#321 does NOT give way. I get right up to his
right rear and the wall pinches in on us BOTH.
Engine rooooom!!! FULL REVERSE!!!! The BMW is
clear, I go left rudder and SHHHHHHHH----!! Tire
WALL coming up fast, no time, no room. OFF brakes
dive right or DIE! Car shudders, tires hook.
Tail wags and tires go by 6" off the left wing.
HEART STOPS!!! But I'm glad to be alive and the
RX3 is still back there...
21 1:26.30 6th RX3 still wants me even though we lost 4 secs due
the BMW thing and a couple more slow cars to lap.
22 1:22.99 6th We drag race one last time. It's no contest. I
maintain my 6th overall position and Marcello
Zappone and I do a little bench racing after we
shake hands back in the paddock. I go home with
a hard earned 1st in SPO. Hey, I fixed my loud
pipes after all.
Post race I find out I have an exhaust leak, a minor oil leak again and a PCM code to get fixed. Probably an over worked or over cooked knock sensor. That being the case, I'm sure the PCM was running me some extra retart during those last few laps there. Just minor little bugs and stuff like that. Well, at least the motor is still running. Check out these other times at Mission on the NEW track...
David Kunicki SPO Corvette (Trans Am) 1:16.207 [best]
Doc Galmut SPO/GT1 T/A 1:18.329, 1:19.139,
1:16.650, 1:16.592 [best]
Tom and Dean Miller SPM Fieros 1:18+ SPM
ProFormance race cars SPO Various 1:17s to high 1:19s
Steve Fretenburg GT1 Mustang 1:21.094 [best]
** Slowrider ** SPO Z28 1:21.434 [best], 1:21.750
Frank McKinnon AP Mustang 1:21.764 [best]
Terry Ward BP/GT1 Camaro 1:22.923, 1:22.118 [best],
1:22.155
Various drivers SPM BMW 321is 1:23+
Carlo Sparaco PRO7 RX7 1:28.535 [best]
Taryn Sparaco ITA RX7 1:29.248 [best]
Portland International Raceway, no Chicane. Just flat out racing in the HOT afternoon sunshine. This was a National and Regional weekend complete with a visit from the new SCCA CEO, Steve Johnson, all the way from Denver, CO checking things out.
ITE ran a practice session Saturday late afternoon. Qualifying was right after the lunch break on Sunday with the race starting at 5:45pm. Naturally, things were not going to go 100% according to plan. It never does. I made a few last minute checks and perhaps 15 minutes prior to going to grid for the Saturday practice session I decide it is time to start the car. It had run just perfect after Carlo and I had fixed the broken starter wire and I had replaced the knock sensor wire fall out from the prior race up at Mission. The starter mounting bolts also had set me back a couple long hours the prior Wed evening after work. Fresh oil and an engine check and on the trailer it went, so I could leave town Thursday to get down to PIR and grab a good paddock spot in the much needed, and short on supply, shade trees. So, now I start the car and get a darn ABS INOP light glowing yellow on my dash board. I hate running without ABS. You never know when you're going to flat spot a tire that way. But there was no time to fix it right now. So off to grid I go to practice with the new set up and no ABS. Turns out I had to brake hard once for some fool in an RX7 who wasn't watching his mirrors in turn 7 and bingo, right rear gets shaved a smig flatter than normal. I skid off the right side and into the infield grass, take a short cut for turn 8 and head him off at the pass. Luckily he took the exit road (no wonder he was going so darn slow and NOT paying attention) as I came sliding back on track over an FIA curb drifting right up along side him as he banks into the pit exit road. THAT was CLOSE!
Came off track and into impound only to find out that my starter wire had broken again. Had to push start it to get back to the paddock spot. What's with these 2001 wire gremlins?
Well, the rest of that evening, starting at 5:30pm, was then spent checking ABS fuses, pulling the ABS relay and fighting rush hour traffic to see if a dealer had a spare before they closed. Nearest one was in KENT, WA. So, I searched high and low for a test car with a driver who would let me test it on their vehicle to rule it out. Found a dude playing softball near the track with a 1995 firebird. Perfect test car. It was fine. Then I go back to PIR and I started trying wire harness connectors and finally find the weak link in the connector on the left front side that runs right down near the new SLP header down tube. Got too dark by then so I headed in for some sleep knowing it would be an early start at sun up.
Craig Johnson had showed up just before our practice session with his ITE/SPO Vette from Salem, OR. He helped me out the next morning as we pulled the Y-pipe to get at the starter wire issue and make it easier to fix the bad ABS connector. We had it all working just before the noon hour driver meeting after checking his Vette out as well. Before long we were gridded up and ready to test our metal on 9 corners and two long straights.
I registered a new fast lap time for myself of 1:18.920 which scored me a #6 spot in the 3rd row of a 28 car grid for race group A. Roger Stark took pole in his red T1 Viper with a fast 1:17.310. The ITE points leader, Jim Walsh (who beat me soundly up at Bremerton two races back), got the #2 spot beside him on the front row with a great 1:17.408. Another white Porsche 911 RSA piloted by one Larry Rodden from Seattle (never heard of him myself) bagged a 1:18.537. Might be able to slice and dice with him at least. Then good old (actually young) Dave Parker got the 4th spot in row 2 with a very good 1:18.577. He also managed to beat me at Bremerton in his 911 RSA. I wanted to pay him back for sure. Next was the A Sedan 2000 season champ, Chris Billings, in his red hot Ford Mustang. I think I got him once before at Mission. So, I figured why not do it again. Last season there never seemed to be any way. This season was a new story though. And then there was me next to Billings in row 3. Behind us were still some serious contenders as well. Steve Laughlin in his white 944T was always top notch and he got a 1:19.865. But, for some reason he was a no show though. Must have partied too much Sat night while I was under my car. I expected he could beat that time, if he wanted to. Mike Belzer dropped out of this race with a bad control arm bushing which kind of bummed me out, as I wanted to know if my new set up could deal with his 944T or not? Now I may never find out till 2002. Dave Palmer was the #8 car in his very quick SPU rated Mazda RX7 with a 1:20.101. I had no intention of letting him pass me this season after all the headaches he gave me over that stuff last year. My buddy Craig had been meat balled during qualifying. So, he had to start back in the 19th spot with a warm up speed 1:27.057. I knew I'd have to keep an eye on my mirrors if his car was up to speed, as that Vette can FLY. He would surely walk through the slow cars at least until he got up to the other A Sedan drivers like Dave "In The Dirt" Dickoff who was running in the 10th spot with a 1:21.465 (a car that could always pull my old motor down the straight in the prior season).
So, that sets the stage. We get the one minute warning, fire those suckers up and onto the track we go as we split left and right and start heating up our tires for the first pace lap. Stark took right front NATURALLY, Walsh was left front, Rodden gets right which is probably better, Parker is stuck on the left (good), Billings gets right, I'm stuck on the left next to the wall too (bad), etc. My game plan is simple. If I can't pull Billings down the straight then I'll try like mad to stay right in his shadow and let him pull me nose to tail past anyone and everyone he figures he can take down. He'll be able to move to his right off the green flag, if he wants to. Hopefully, we front runners will pull the back runners and get some room to operate. If I can pass Billings though, I will, as I want to make sure I keep the other three ITE cars reeled in as tight as I can. The Viper I don't expect to be able to ever beat knowing his times... although I think Belzer has done it once or twice.
We come around turn 9 (T9) and form up under the Good Year (GY) bridge. The pace car swings off and the leaders slow way down. So, I remain in 2nd gear, but lag a tad back off Billing's left rear quarter panel, hoping I can take a run on Parker ahead of me. I peek out left and see the green and away we go! I'm jambed up at first and Billings moves ahead on my right. Check my mirrors and move right behind him and then out wide right to see what's up ahead. Billings is just as fast as me with Rodden cutting air for him while I'm plowing the wind in front of me.
Then I see Parker dropping back and a hole opening between him and Walsh off Billing's left rear. So, I DIVE left for it in order to seal Parker's fate. It works but I'm now along the wall again. Rodden actually manages to follow in the Viper's jet wake and is pulling past Walsh with Billings not far behind as we all cross past the exit area from the Chicane and the road begins to rise and narrow ahead of us. No more four lane black top now. Everyone begins jockying for two abreast positions, as the T1 break point looms on the horizon. Billings gets cut off by Walsh who's no dummy as he falls in behind Rodden for the inside line to T1 right. So, Billings cuts left right in front of me and on comes his tail lights maybe 25 feet sooner than my planned break point. What the heck. I take advantage of this mistake (something I did not expect of him to be honest) in the exact same way I did to Dickoff last season when he made the same mistake once. I dove right up along Billings' right door and dropped the anchor nailing down the inside line to T1 right behind Walsh's wale tail. Now we'll see if the tires are warm or NOT?
I had just managed another GREAT start against 5 cars faster than mine and took it from 6th to 4th with some seriously way cool driving! Well, at least until we hit T3 left and I lost a little traction. But, even Billings was a couple car lengths behind me by then. No wonder I was losing traction. I was going way too fast! The four of us were pretty much nose to tail until then. As we worked T4 and T5 leading to the back straight the other three got a bit of a jump on me though. I hammered it and hugged the back wall for all it was worth while watching Walsh hunt down Rodden as we arched T6 and headed for T7 left. I waited for the 3 marker, pumped the brakes once and dropped anchor again. Tires felt excellent as we all four flew over the left hand curb after my 5th to 4th down shift. I grabbed 3rd and rev'ed it up as we set up for turns 8 and 9 right. I reeled in the dueling 911s and nearly hit Walsh as he tries to pass Rodden entering T9 who blocked in front of Walsh running him onto the FIA curb. We all blasted off down the front straight. The Viper got best exit speed with nobody really dicing with him and pulled out a bit on us all. I never missed a shift the entire race as the T56 was working the best ever. New flywheel is great! Wish it were lighter though. Went to 4th and felt the extra torque coming on fast.
We head for start/finish and lap #2. My tail pipe is boiling my blood and I'm reeling in Walsh for the kill as he gains on Rodden. I cut out of his jet wash as we cross over the Chicane entrance. But I hit the wall of air and can't make it stick. Walsh still has Rodden plowing air for him. Rodden's 911 seems to have the extra HP or less weight? Walsh tries a run on Rodden as I have to go to 5th and get pushed wider to the right with the road running out again. I tuck back behind Walsh as we both start passing Rodden under braking. I had Rodden's number by now. He was from the school of dirty pool driving and, as I expected, he once again blocks Walsh and I like mad. We all dance through T1, T2 right and T3 left. They squirt ahead and I gain it back breaking into T4 right. They squirt ahead again and my posi won't hook up and finally I grab 4th and give chase down the back side. Walsh is a real piece of work and deserves to win more races. He picks his time and place and this time it was T9 again. Rodden set up left and Walsh goes under again on the right. This time he has room and I come up on them both as Rodden runs in the marbles. Rodden loses his wale tail and swings over my bow this time. It's back out or else get tagged with white paint! Walsh jumps ahead for the GY bridge and I grab 4th again and begin pulling on Rodden his time. Lap #3.
"Rodden. You're going down dude. One way or the other...", I'm thinking. Preferably sooner rather than later too, as I know Walsh will take off now that he's in front. We haul tail past the Chicane and once again I can not get by the fast 911 RSA once I break out of his draft and hit the wall of air. So, once again I set up for my double apex entry to T1 and Rodden blocks right in front if ME this time. By doing so he actually manages to squeeze up along side Walsh who's taking the more standard wide line on the T1 entry. BUT, he can't hold on with the tighter inside line and must have lost his cool as his white wale tail suddenly arches out to the left and he loops it backwards into the grass on the right. I never even back off the gas and just swing right on by him and up into Walsh's mirrors as we set up for the tighter right hand T2. Cooool!! I'm now in 2nd in ITE and 3rd over all. The Viper is about one corner up on us now. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is even close behind us. This is my idea of major league fun!
That is until I start feeling a little push in T3 left... like always. HOT tires and you get driving lessons real fast at PIR.
Walsh and I chase around a few more laps pretty much even up with me a car length or so behind at every corner. Finally, lap 6, we begin catching lapped traffic with Dave Palmer's SPU Mazda maybe 75 to 100 yards back. Rodden, Parker and Billings are someplace back there too. Unfortunately I get the shorter end of the slower traffic stick. Walsh seems to come out 1/2 sec up on me each lap from then on, for the rest of the race. All I can do is hope he has trouble and I can catch him somehow by staying as fast as I can.
My Torsen never gives me a break in maybe three of the corners. The extra engine torque only makes it that much easier to break the back tires free. So, now that the rear diff fluid is HOT, I have to constantly stay light and easy on the gas until the Hossiers will hook up and go again. And the tires are going soft as well. We click off a Neon and an ITE 510?? Lap 7 I got stuck behind Roger Stark's son in a Miata after passing a couple more slow balls. Walsh lucks out. Lap 8 another Neon goes down. Then a YELLOW RX7 blocks me in T8 and I start to pass him in T9. The sucker runs ME up and over the white FIA curb!! What's with these RX7 jockies pulling a Rodden on me now too?!
Lap 9 a 200SX goes down. Walsh is still 1+ turns up on me. One more RX7 in T9. Lap 10 another rice burner RX7 in T2. I head for T3 but OOOooooppps my right front pushes badly! Next thing I know I unwind the wheel a hair too much to correct and end up on the yellow rumble strip and off into the dry grass............... I hang on tight trying like mad to get traction on a slippery slide here and manage to keep it parallel with the back shoot. Darn! Down to 2nd hoping that will give me brakes without losing steering. Over the next FIA and slide back across T4 right and onto another rumble stip on my left now. Camera must be getting one heck of a shaking as is the tail pipe!!
The RX7 is now back in my mirrors as I grab 3rd and take off again. Fun short cut. Hummmmmmmmm. Have to pass on that one next time though. Lost a lot of ground on the guys behind me too. Walsh is out of reach for sure now. So, I rethink my situation and decide my main focus will be to save the equipment and lock in 3rd by driving perfect laps from here on out... keeping the fast SPU and ITE cars behind me as needed.
Several laps later here comes the YELLOW RX7 and T9 again. This time he gives way as I duck under him but then I lose rear traction and nearly take him out. Not my plan. But I bet he thought it was. Hehhheehhee. I wave and take off.
We pass a couple more cars and finally I see a mystic green T2 Mustang to kill. He's driving hard though and passes a couple RX7s himself. He's got some fight left in him as we take T7 and I have to anchor it to keep from bumping him. We sweep though T8 and he hangs right into T9. So, I pass him on the outside. That's a first for me! Tire wall flies by and the mystic green nose races me to the GY bridge... until I grab 4th and blast off once again. Bye bye. He runs a decent screen for me though as the other pilots get stuck behind him at the other end of the straight and the back side corners.
The rest of the race was history. I did OK except for that one hickup into the grass. I passed two more RX7s as we finish up lap 20 and take the checkered flag. I cool my jets and come back off the hot pit exit downshifting to 1st and head for the impound area. Then things start getting interesting real fast as I slow to a walk and start smelling smoke?! I see a little smoke wiffing up from my hood and pull behind Wlash in the impound and stop. Then more smoke and even MORE SMOKE! I toss off my gloves and rip my fire bottle from it's hanger. DAMN!! I can't get out from my harness. So I hand the bottle out the window to some crew member who sticks his head in to tell me what he sees. "See if you can put the fire out man!!" I unbuckle and smoke is now rolling from under the car and hood. "Open the hood!!" they all start yelling. "That will just feed the fire!" I say. "Get ready with the fire bottle first..." As I pop the hood the crew member finds the flames under my right side, near the starter, and gives it a couple squirts putting out the fire. Good man. But now Mr SCCA Safety Guy gets carried away and has to douse my motor with a couple more squirts from a large water/chemical extinguisher. "Damn man! Don't crack one of my heads PLEASE!" He backs off. Fire out.
Car started later after I let it sit there and cool for about an hour. So, I guess some of the wires are still OK. Those darn gremlins and my minor oil leak and maybe that dry grass just don't mix I guess??
1. T1 Roger Stark (Viper) 1:17.587 2. ITE Jim Walsh (911 RSA) 1:17.919 3. ITE **SLOWRIDER** (Z28) 1:18.859 4. ITE Larry Rodden (911 RSA) 1:18.901 5. SPU David Palmer (RX7) 1:19.591 6. ITE Dave Parker (911 RSA) 1:19.707 7. AS Chris Billings (Mustang) 1:19.216 8. AS John Blizzard (Camaro) 1:20.404 9. AS Dave Dickoff (Camaro) 1:20.707 10. AS Tim Jorgensen (Camaro) 1:21.484 11. ITE Craig Johnson (Corvette) 1:20.198 12. SPU Greg Bell (Golf GTi) 1:22.339
WEDNESDAY
The title of this story should be "The Gremlins Take No Prisoners On Labor Day" or something along those lines.
I had worked my ass off getting the car ready for this long awaited race down at Thunderhill Park again. Managed to get the entire week off and had the car and gear loaded in time to leave at around noon on Wed, Aug 29th. Made it as far south as Longview, WA when the first Gremlin decided to take out a left rear tire and rim on the trailer. Next thing I know my race car is parked about 25' behind my trailer on the tight shoulder of a sweeping corner of the I-5 south bound lane of the freeway blocking for me with flashers on (one more reason to keep working head and tail lights on my race car). Trucks and autos would fly by as I'd jump out and try to jack the trailer or spin off another lug nut. Then I'd jump back to safety as a few more nuts wizzed by without moving over a lane in order to avoid taking me out as I swapped tires. About 1/2 hour later a rather nice looking female trooper finally shows up about the time I'm done changing the tire and turns on her flashing lights as I reload the car and try to go south again. However, I didn't get any farther than the next exit due to having a spare with a slow leak and only 15 psi air left in it and no tail lights or trailer brakes because the blown tire had also managed to mangle my trailer fender and wiped out the wiring and plate on that side too.
Once I got into Longview it was about 3:45 pm. Pulled into the first gas station and stuck some air in the new tire. Had to unplug the trailer wires so the brakes would not drag me down too. Wires were shorted I realized by then. Couple more blocks and I find an RV dealer. It took some pretty smooth talking to get them to drop everything and fix up my tail lights and brake wires. Then I had to go buy a new trailer wheel and spare before the tire shop down the road closed for the day. That was just for openers. Damages totaled about $175 for that pit stop.
THURSDAY
Finally got to Portland and stopped at mom's for the night. We take off again on Thursday for the 10 hour drive to Thunderhill. The spare tire made it down OK but had to keep adding air. At least I still had a fresh spare if I needed it. We finally get to Willows, near the track, and check into our room. Then we managed to get the paddock set up before dark. Back to the hotel for the night. However, I wake up the next morning and have this large, red LUMP on my neck. And my leg and my arm. Turns out the Willows mosquitoes are the worst damn blood suckers I've ever encountered in my life! Never let them in your room at night. They don't just pop you with a little itchy bump. Nope these suckers nail you with a LARGE, hard, boil like marble that itches to high heaven! Mom thought they had to be spider bites or something.
FRIDAY
We head out to the track Fri morning and after a little prep work I get on course and begin trying to learn the new layout. This weekend there would be two races. The first would be with the "By-pass" rather than the "Crow's Nest". Turns out the By-pass is not for the faint of heart. It too, like the Crow's Nest, is tough to get a handle on as you still come over a blind rise but you know there is no hard left on the top, so you go TOO FAST. The car gets light as you drop over it and next thing you know you are merging with the back side of the Crow's Nest route and landing on an off camber right hand sweeper... with NO traction. The only way to avoid going in the weeds is to SLOW DOWN before you drop over the top. Otherwise, your car will be too light and will slide right off the road, assuming you see where it goes in the first place that is. This layout must have seen at least 20 cars take an excursion before the weekend was over. It even managed to get me out of shape on one pass, though I did manage to keep it on the black top to some degree.
After a few laps and getting my nerve up I decided to pick up the pace down the main straight and see if it was possible to take turn 1 left without backout out. What ever made me think this was possible is beyond me. Next thing I know my rear tires swap ends with my fronts and I'm going AWOL into the tender, dry grass at around 100 mph with all four wheels locked down. The car kicked up so much dust and dirt that it filled both the cockpit and the vent system. Because it was so HOT out I had my vent fan on. Next thing I know I'm not only breathing dust but I'm trying to decide if I should restart the car first (before I start another grass fire) or if I should wipe the dirt from my eyes that shot into them from the vents. Jeeeeze man!
Car started and I took off again. The rest of the practice session went a little more SLOWLY shall we say.
That afternoon I decided to check tires and pads. Got the car in the air and did my thing. But, when I went to lower it the darn jack gave up the ghost. Had 10 minutes to get to grid to qualify and found myself begging my neighbors for a jack I could use to get the car back on the ground again. What will be next??
I tried my first qualify session for race #1 which would be held the next day on Saturday. The track seemed pretty slick and I was still trying to master the By-pass. My ABS system also decided to fail on me and no matter what I tried I could not get it working right again for the rest of the weekend. Turns out my right front hub sensor was what had croked. Hot brakes probably killed it over time. I would not sort this out until I finally got back to Seattle and put a Scan Tool on it to diagnose the problem. Anyway, let's just say I was a couple clicks slower than last year thanks to no ABS and let it go at that.
NOTE: If you ever get an ABS INOP light and want to drive your F-body without pumping brakes all day long try removing your fuse to the ABS to totally take it out of the loop. I didn't know this and sure wish I had. Instead I assumed that ABS INOP really meant ABS INOP. Apparently that ain't the case.
At 9:00 pm mom and I left the Sears store about 40 miles away in Chico with a new floor jack. That's what we did for entertainment in CA in a Friday night.
SATURDAY
Next morning was the second qualify session of the weekend. First thing I managed to do was loop the car again going around the off camber turn 3 to the right. The problem was that Team Continental, in order to make sure that enough folks came to the race to pay for the track, had invited the NASA racers to join our party. Unfortunately, most of these guys are playing with a stacked deck and it seemed like about every other car they fielded was an oil burner. The track was slick to say the least. I also found out that I was pitted against no less than four of the NASA pickup trucks in SPO. That's right. Pickup trucks! Actually, these are tube frame race cars with maybe 2100 lbs of weight and ZZ4 motors tucked under the hood. One of them was very fast!! The others were perhaps one or two clicks faster than my car. And there were a bunch of other NASA Mustangs and Camaros thrown in for good measure racing in our group but in their own AP class. Several of these guys were also beating my lap times. Oh, and in the SPM and SPU classes we had the Fieros and a turbo charged Miata. I was lucky to be gridded in the top 10 or so each race with about half our group being NASA drivers.
As I came in from this qualify session the next Gremlin stikes in the form of a leaking radiator hose. Still have no idea how it got punctured. But I had to work fast to save my coolant as it was leaking all over the parking spot, not to mention down pit road. Luckily, it must have happened near my last lap, as I only managed to lose about 2/3 gal. I had only brought 1 gal extra so I was barely covered.
Once I got the hose fixed and the coolant replaced I started it up to bleed the air pockets. Well, the darn car overheated right off the bat. And the thermostat refused to open so I could bleed it via the bleeder valve. So, I had to remove the intake and MAF sensor and open the thermostat housing to purge the air that way. It must have been about 90 in the shade and I was dripping wet while working on the problems. Finally got the darn cooling system back together and working right. The temp guage drops down where it should be about 1/2 hour before the afternoon race. I chugged a couple bottles of Gatorade, checked the oil and got the car to grid at about the 5 min warning... barely in time to avoid going to the back of the pack to start the race.
We go on track behind the pace car and do the normal pace lap. As we come around towards turn 14 on the back straight suddenly the darn motor dies on me. What the F is wrong now? I can't get it to start as I coast around 14 and head for turn 15 which leads onto the front straight and the Start/Finish line. Everyone else is flying by to go racing. I have to coast into the hot pit, climb out of the car and open the hood. Everything looks OK. Pull the fuse box open and find an ignition fuse burned out while everyone else is already half way into the first lap! I try using another free fuse from the non-existant radio and it too burns out. End of race #1.
What was the problem? Funny you should ask. Turns out my MAF sensor wire had been moved when I took off my intake duct and was laying on my driver side header. As I went around the track and the header heated up it finally melted the wire enough to short it out. Probably would have eventually started another fire under the hood had the fuse not saved my fanny that time. Oh well. That's racing I guess. Except that after dinner my cousin, Kenney, and I had to use a flash light to repair the wasted wires while the darn mosquitoes ate both of us for a late night snack!!
SUNDAY
Ran yet another qualify session and this time Kenney and I had triple checked EVERYTHING. The only problem I had was the typical exhaust pipe hitting on the floor pan even though we tried to adjust the hanger one more time. My lap times were a full 2 secs slower than last year. I was not a happy camper. BUT, at least I kept the car out of the weeds. Not an easy task when you have to do the old PUMP, PUMP and then brake routine going into every corner thanks to the ABS issues. Oh well.
Finally, the last race rolls around. I'm another few cars back in grid. Something like 14th out of 30 cars. I was determined to finish higher than that if at all possible. I had swapped to my newer Hoosiers hoping to get back some extra traction and braking at least. Had a convertable Mustang with full cage gridded next to me in row 7. Another newer model was ahead in row 6 next to a red 3rd gen Camaro too. These three cars, I figured, would be fun to play with off the green. We rolled around on the pace lap and I finally get to a green flag down the straight when I see the NASA red Camaro immediately slam his right side door into the left side door of the white NASA Mustang in row 6. That makes for some good video! I then realize I too have an NASA boy beside me. Best get the hell away from these guys ASAP if I don't want various colors of paint on my car too.
We round turn 1 with a yellow car on my left and a white car on my right as the Camaro and Mustang dodge each other up ahead. I'm boxed in with no way out so do my best to keep from tagging cars. We all sweep T2 and finally by T3 right we are starting to string out as we set up for the Crow's Nest. Cars are braking hard, hanging a left up over the top and disappearing down the back side. I follow suit as the convertable Mustang goes by me on my right. "Damn. You're not playing with a full deck either are you dude?" I think to myself as he goes down the back side with two wheels on the dirt to get by me.
We bank right and set up left and I nearly bump the Stang from behind as he wags his cold tire tail through T7 left. I come out hard and start to retake him on the inside entry to T8 left but he blocks me. Again I floor it and have a bit more straight between T8 and T9 left and this time I get my nose all the way up to his left front fender, so I know he can see me there, as we head for T9 left at around 90 mph. I have the power but not the brakes.
This JERK then simply TURNS right towards my right front fender!!! I slam on the binders and have to drop my left front tire in the dirt to back out before he totals both of us!! This turn is next to impossible to navigate under ideal conditions mind you. So, naturally I lose control some, swing to the right off his tail and head for the other side of the track mixing counter steering with soft braking as the car goes all four wheels off into the dirt and gravel to the right of T9. Two more cars pass me as I battle to keep the car and myself alive! About 100 yards down range I get back on black top just in time to brake for the T10 left corner and make it up over the top of the Eagle's nest.
Anyway, I get back in the saddle and retake the two cars that got by me down the back straight. I then reel in the convertable Mustang as we come down the front and the start finish line. He wants to block me but decides not to as he sees the start finish tower and knows they have a big black flag up there. I blow by him and sweep through T1 with him hot on my tail. That's when I see the FAST white NASA truck working himself through the pack. I thought he had mechanical problems and had not come to this race. Turns out he was late to grid and had already worked his way through the field from the back. Another blue NASA truck was two cars up with another green Mustang between myself and him. I focused on driving smooth as we went out through T2 and T3 and headed for the Crow's Nest. I could also tell the blue truck driver was on dope or something as we dropped over the top and his rear end was all over the road. I then realized why. He was blowing oil and some of it was probably coating his rear slicks for him. Hummmmm. Maybe I can figure out a way to reel this race "truck" in?
As we fly over the Eagle's nest I let the white NASA truck by me, hoping he'll go after the blue one and maybe help me catch up in the process. I still have the convertable on my tail, though farther back now. I manage to take the green Mustang just after the white truck down the back straight. However, now things get real interesting, as the blue truck enters T14 right followed closely by the white truck right on his bumper and the green Stang tucks behind me and we brake for T14. As we all take the corner the blue truck loses it and snap spins to the right in a full 360. The white truck flys by no problems. I'm still braking and try like heck to get to the right to avoid a pile up as the blue truck goes into neutral and now starts rolling backwards for my left front door. I zig and grab 3rd and just barely squeek by his tail gate with the convertable in my mirrors and the green Mustang diving into the dirt in front of the truck after being blocked out.
Now I'm way off line for 15 and start to get back on the gas. I swing back to the left and try to get going hard. BUT I miss my apex by about 1/2 car width as I come around T15 for the front straight. The entry to T15 has a banked, concrete curbing on the left side/edge of the track. Usually, if you hit your apex correctly, you will come out of T15 hot and just bank off this curb and down the straight. But, in this case, I came out one wheel width too wide and BAMM!!! My tire hit the back edge of the curbing and dropped into a darn hole there. The left front bounced up like a basket ball and the car shot off the curb hard right. Before I know it Kenney and my mother are watching me and the car shoot across the track right for the entrance to the HOT PIT divider wall!!!
The car has a mind of its own now. I make a split second decision to turn the wheel father right just barely missing the wall between the straight and the pit enterance. But that means it is heading at about 60 mph right for the tires and wall on the inside of the hot pit. I have no choice but to steer left FAST! The tail wags like a dog that just found a bone and it is all I can do to keep from slamming the passenger door into the pit wall on my right. Finally, the car settles down about 6" from the right side wall and I get it under control and start pumping brakes to slow the mother down.
The pit worker runs up to me, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT??!!" I try to reply in a calm voice so as to maybe talk my way back out of this one and onto the track, "I lost control and was just trying my best to keep from hitting solid objects man." "Well OK. But take it easy." "No problem man..." and away I go back out and in dead last place except for the blue NASA truck who took as long as me to recover from this crazy race carnage!!
Was that the end of my problems? NO. The blue truck and I worked our way back through the slower cars passing maybe 8 or 10 of them over the course of the next 10-15 minutes. Time flies when you are having fun. He had slightly better tracking than me in the corners. Though not much. Even though he did have full slicks and race suspension. I had even speed down the straights it seemed. And I seemed to know some of the corners enough to get better exit speed. So, it was pretty much a decent battle with him gaining just a tad here and there as we worked around the track for several laps. Next thing I know I check my guages to see my motor is over heating. Turns out my oil cooler fan had also blown a fuse somehow. I was worried it was low coolant level again?? But so far no low coolant indicator light. So, I back out and let the blue truck by me.
That was a BIG mistake! For the next several laps he now was plastering me with oil spray all over the front of the car AND on the road I was driving on. THEN, to top it off, after a couple more laps of this chit, my exhaust pipe cracked at the Y-pipe flange/connector. Suddenly I was listening to what sounded like a bucket of bolts rattling around in my bell housing and I ended up coming around and back into the hot pit again. After figuring out what was up I decided to ride out a couple laps in the pit and then, hopefully, I could sneek out during last lap, go by the sound meter easy and get in one last lap to finish the race. I figured at least this way I'd gather a few points.
Turns out my plan worked. Did not get disqualified for loud pipes, the exhaust hung on without wrecking the car and I lost about 2 laps to the rest of the tribe out there. But, because two of the other SPO cars DNF'd I still hung on for a 3rd place finish. That was probably the only piece of good luck I had had all weekend. THANK YOU LORD!
MONDAY
Mom and I left the car at Thunderhill and went to San Jose to vistit relatives. We actually got there OK and relaxed for a couple days.
TUESDAY
Packed it in and went home. End of story??? NOT! We get to the CA/OR border and have another flat trailer tire. Had to change tires again and buy yet one more spare in Ashland, OR. It was about 10:30 pm by the time we got to Salem, OR and we can't even get that far because now I-5 is jambed shut. Turns out two state cops had been killed by some kid who hit them while they were assisting a broken down car. A 3rd officer had also been hit and put in the hospital too. So, mom and I found ourselves detoured through the Salem country side and we didn't make it back to Portland until mid-night that night. I've been spending the last couple days trying to get the car fixed to attend yet one more race. Hope this one works out better!
I was trying to think up a better title for this story too. How do you describe Cloud 9, red mist, dancing on the head of a needle, the Pearly Gates and having your bubble burst all in a single weekend? Well, heck. I'll give it a shot. But, if you want a preview first then maybe try scrolling back up near the top there and find that lap time in bold RED. Then compare it to the Y2K lap time I chalked up a year before. That's my idea of Cloud 9 and the Pearly Gates. Now, let's see. Where to begin...
SATURDAY
This was pretty much a routine couple sessions on track at a Conference race weekend. Only a quick 10 minute session for the "practice" in the morning though. Hardly enough time to warm up the motor let alone the tires. Never really found a groove. About all I did figure out was that either the track was more slippery than normal or my tires were toast. I had a set of g-Forces with plenty of tread life left in them but they sure did not want to hook up. In fact it was so bad I actually found myself off the course one more time in turn 8. I'm getting pretty used to this dirt track stuff. Maybe I should just hang up my race shoes and put on some cowboy boots and find a dirt track car?
After I came in one of the workers came over and asked me how come I went in the gravel in T8. I said, "Well either the track is very slippery for some reason or I need to learn how to drive all over again." She said that about half the other drivers she talked too complained that it was too slippery. So, I decided maybe I could live with that.
But when Sampson showed up I offered to let him take over the driving part and asked him why the heck I can't figure out how to drive like I did last season. Seems to me that during my entire last year of racing I probably never went off the track more than once or twice.
He told me to quit complaining and suck it up. That's pretty much what I needed to hear I guess.
Brent also showed up to help out. He helped me fix an exhaust leak in the newly repaired cat back, we swapped the rear diff oil and shored up any other loose ends we could deal with during our limited time. Really was great to have an extra set of dependable hands in the paddock for sure.
I decided that I'd give the g-Force tires one more try during the qualify session and then I'd go see a movie and try to FORGET ABOUT IT. Well, the qualify session turned out to be another bust. I was still getting bad over steer most of the first 5 laps. And never could get a clean lap without running up behind some slow BMW or something. Finally, about lap 6 I actually had a clear lap going and I screwed up and missed a shift on the back side. So I came in and asked Brent to drop a pound out of my right rear. I go back out and it seemed to do the trick but now a loose bolt showed up from out of nowhere and was rolling around under my feet and peddles. So, I came back in to get Brent to extract the darn thing. By the time I got back on track it was just a cool down lap as the session was over. All I can say for that qualify session is that I had managed a tenth faster lap than the prior best time during 2000; something like a lousy 1:39.159. I was not a happy camper.
Brent had to get home. So, I kinda organized the paddock area, went to the movie I wanted to see and came home to review my lousy qualify session on video. Got to bed early and got up early for the Sunday crunch.
SUNDAY
Turns out I got all the way to the track only to realize I left the video camera home after dubbing off some footage from the bad qualify session the night before. That meant I'd have to go all the way back between qualifying and the race if I wanted to get some footage of my race later that afternoon.
What next?
I swapped to the Hossiers I originally intended to save for the race. Figured they would be good for the 15 minute qualify and 30 minute race at least. Actually, they still seemed to have a LOT of rubber left in them too. So, figured why not try them. They couldn't be any worse than the g-Forces were. This turned out to be a pretty decent move on my part. So, I get to grid and we get the 1 minute warning. I start the car and the Gremlins are at it again. Another ABS INOP light!!!! Darn!
I waved to Jeff Horton who crews for Roger Stark driving the red Viper. "Jeff, can you please open my hood and pull my ABS fuse for me??" He pops the hood and finally gets it out as everyone goes on course. I was gridded up near all the fast cars figuring I'd get more open track that way and maybe find a fast one to chase and get a decent lap. Instead now I'm pulling on with cold tires after everyone else is coming around on warm tires after being a lap up on me. So, I kind of wave them by and wait for one of the faster cars to come up from behind and by then figure I had warmed the tires enough. And away I go.
The brakes seemed to work a heck of a lot better without the fuse in there too. No need to pump them much at all. So, I pick up the pace and start chasing one of the SPM Fieros. I find my zone and I'm actually starting to amaze myself that I'm staying on pace with Dean Miller for once in my life. I can't quite stick with him 100%. But, at least he's not just leaving me in the dust like he usually does. In fact, I was able to pull on him some down the front straight and going through T1 and into T2. I noticed he had no brake lights when I went a bit too deep waiting for him to brake and I almost bumped into him before going up the high side on the sweeper there as he walked away through T3a and T3b. Hummmmmm. That's interesting.
I come in and park it and find Carlo and Taryn waiting for me in the paddock. Reinforcements have arrived. We chat and grab some empty gas cans and go off in search of fuel and a video camera. Luckily we didn't waste any extra time too.
When we got back we had about and hour and a half before the race. And I had noticed some over steering even with the Hoosiers on vs the g-Forces. I sure wished I could get he car to hook up better before the race. So, I decided to pull the rear tires and check them out and clean them of any rocks or gum balls so they would at least be balanced and all. That was probably the smartest move I made in over a month, as it turns out the right rear Hoosier had two large cord spots on it. NOW WHAT do I do? I'm pissed. I now had to waste another 30 minutes trying like mad to clean off the darn 315/35-17 g-Forces which were a total mess from the day before. At this point I decided this race was a wash out. So, I'd just mount the g-Forces and check the Hoosiers on front and hope they were OK (though logic would dictate they were even more worn out) and go get beat.
In the mean time, though, I find out I had somehow managed to score a darn 1:36 qualify time. Now my head was spinning! On the one hand I had done the impossible by racking up not just a personal best at SIR but it was nearly a second faster than my goal of a 1:37.000. I was so happy I didn't even care if I did the race!!! Yet I decided what the heck, I had to do the race. Right?
Then a light goes on in my head. I saw Warren over at the Good Year tire trailer loading his tires in the back of his truck and packing it in for the weekend. I go over and say, "Hey Warren. You wouldn't happen to have a couple used race tires I could use would you? Man my good tires just bought the farm." He starts scratching his head. "I need a couple 315 by 17's man", I say. He says, "315s? I do have a couple brand new 315 GS-CS over here. Where did they go..." All of a sudden I recall how I had ordered a couple of these darn 315s from him over a year ago and NOW HE TELLS ME he has them. What a stroke of LUCK. Talk about the extended lay-away plan. Except when I find out what they are going to set me back... $510!
I grab my Hossier tires and rims and hand then to him and go looking for my wallet and VISA card. I have about 45 minutes to race time. Maybe this is going to work OK. But I still have the front tires to check over. And Carlo starts telling me how he always tells me about having four equal size tires on all four corners and how this would never happen to me if I wasn't mixing 275s up front and 315s on the back and yada yada yada. I just tell him let's get the fronts off and to pray they are still OK for a 30 minute race and yada yada yada back at him. We sure love to give each other a hard time. But Carlo is still worth his weight in gold in my book.
Next thing I know I actually have four tires on the car and we're sitting in grid and Carlo is asking me some silly question like, "Chuck. How you going to run this race?" I say, "Man, all I want to do is come out of this race in one piece and go home. I'm so happy about my qualify time I don't really give a rip right now." But Carlo kinda of eggs me on and tells me they are going to cross over and watch from above turn 3 and how he wants me to give it a try. So, I kinda of scope out who's who on grid and my wheels start turning, "You know. It sure would be cool to beat Terry Ward for once wouldn't it?" Just so happens he's gridded one place behind me. I'll never forget the chat we both had on grid just a few hours earlier that morning while we waited to go out and qualify, and how he had told me that they had been working on his car's set up for like 7 years now and he has finally got his car set up perfect and how he knows it and what it does on every darn track he races on. And how he knows I have the HP but he still has me nailed in the twisties thanks to his suspension set up and all. And how right he was. He is a monster in the corners all right. Sure would like to beat him on my home turf just this one time.
Then I see that Manfred Duske is gridded right ahead of me in the #11 spot. I mean I get this awesome qualify time and you'd think I would be gridded better that #12 right? Manfred made me look silly on Sat morning and afternoon. Yet he pulls up and kind of gives me this funny like, "How the heck did you get up next to me?" sort of look as he backs in next to the hot red Camaro there in his very well sorted out silver, acid dipped, 240Z with a 1:36 qualify time.
And then there are a few other cars up ahead on grid like Dave Parker in his darn red 911 RSA. How the heck did he get a row up on me? Better tires I hope. I sure ain't going to take that sitting down, now am I? And there's another guy I've always wanted to beat up on in his blue Mazda RX7 with the white racing stripes, name of Ken Shreve who's another hot shoe I'd like to romp on. And how's about Jim Walsh in his 911 RSA sporting a brand new high wing for extra down force, who kicked my butt pretty good at that last Oregon Regional and the NW Regional at Bremerton before that AND who got the ITE championship for good measure??
The first three SPx cars on grid were going to be impossible to beat. Even the Viper driven by Roger Start did not have to run his restricter plate in A Prod today. So, I knew he was going to be out of my reach too. But the rest of the opportunities were hip deep. I could count at least 8 or 9 cars I'd like to beat at least once in my life, including the two Fiero twins, Tom and Dean Miller. I've never even come close to beating Dean since way back in our novice driving days when we met for the first time down at PIR, I think it was. Neither of us even had a clue what a race car was or how to drive it back then. His Fiero, and his father Tom's, rocketed them out of my league for years now. Sure would like to beat Dean some day! Not to mention the red Viper. I mean who wouldn't just love to somehow beat a red Viper??? Wouldn't you die to beat a Viper??
So here we have a run down of all the sub 1:37 drivers and their qualify times, most of whom I really had few hopes of beating....
Mike Rocket Trans Am Camaro SPO 1:22.178 Skip Nichols Chev Corvette SPO 1:29.368 Mac Russell Nissan NSX SPM 1:33.160 Roger Stark Dodge Viper AP 1:34.059 Tom Miller Pont Fiero SPM 1:35.062 Dean Miller Pont Fiero SPM 1:35.248 Steve Valentinetti Porsche 911 Type 996 AP 1:35.564 Jim Walsh Porsche 911 RSA SPM 1:35.666 Ken Shreve Mazda RX7 SPU 1:35.694 Dave Parker Porsche 911 RSA SPM 1:35.730 Manfred Duske Datsun 240Z SPM 1:36.291 **Slowrider** Chev Z28 Camaro SPO 1:36.682 Terry Ward Chev Camaro BP 1:36.973
But I can dream can't I?
Finally we get the one minute warning and we flash up the motors and fill the air with loud pipes and unburned fumes of racing fuel. Check the switches, turn on the vent fan and take a deep breath and off we go for the pace lap. Hey, we go by the splitter and, as luck would have it, I get the right lane in row 6 next to Manfred. I start heat cycling the tires like there's no tomorrow. I know the back tires are going to need all the heat I can give them too. I just hope I picked the right tire pressure after having Carlo stick 29 pounds in them both. I had set the right front up with 28 and the left front had 30. BEST GUESS for mixed tire brands and a mostly left hand track.
The pace lap seemed like a long way to go for a race. I could tell Manfred was stoked and he knew all the tricks as we came around 9 and headed down the front straight looking for a green. He dropped back and was ready to run up on the next row as did I. I saw my tach was already at 5000 rpms in 2nd. So, I think I best grab 3rd and hope my torque will be OK and just start to give it some gas as the flag drops. The motor lugs a bit and the 240Z gets one up on me and jumps right in front of me looking for any kind of seam in the wave of cars ahead of us. I decide to just follow the old goat for all it is worth and we both go nose to tail between a couple cars in row 5 as a couple brake lights pop on and off and cars start picking sides. Nothing like a bee hive start of a race at SIR!!
You win or lose a lot of positions depending on what kind of start you get. I sure had a BAD start at that last Thunderhill race. But this one turns out to more than make up for it, even though I was never able to really open her up for nearly the entire first lap we were all so bunched up there.
As we shoot past start finish we pass Ken Shreve on my left and then Dave Parker on my right. So much for row 5. Next, Manfred and I dart left along the wall nose to tail. We try to squeek past row 4 but have to back out for T1. Mike and Skip and Mac are probably down in T2 already. But I can still see two blue and white Fieros and a red Viper up ahead. Walsh shoots down the inside right. Steve Valentinetti tucks behind him beside Manfred. I start to go low under Manfred but he has good mirrors and cuts down on me. I brake for him. Tires feel fine, though not real hot yet. Walsh is held back by a Fiero too. Duske is held up by the other Fiero. We take T2 with Valentinetti right beside me. I nearly mate with him in his brand new black 911.
So far Duske plays every corner perfect and stays in front of me. We exit 2 and I grab 4th and dive for 3a with Walsh now in my mirrors for once. Again Manfred plays it cool and makes himself real wide through 3a and 3b. He takes the low line as the Fieros and Viper take the standard high line. I stay just off his left wing too. Nobody can pass us this way.
We all take 3b and I get a perfect 2 to 3 upshift and off we go. Grab 4th as we dive into the valley. Brake too early for Manfred. That's odd. He's gonna have to do better than that if he wants to beat the other SPM Fieros? Down to 3rd. We swoop through 5a and 5b and I go easy on the tires through 6 left, still in 3rd. Up the hill and finally grab 4th for a ways. Head into 8 left and back down to 3rd. Easy, easy and out we go heading for T9 right and out on to the front straight, like 5 fighter planes in a dog fight. Manfred is staying wide right as I power down in 4th and drift back out to his left wing at 98% throttle and wait for him to finally drift out to the wall. As he does I squeeze out 2% more juice and take his draft across my bow and BLOW by him on the right. That was TOO easy. The motor feels like 8 wild horses! AWESOME!!
Grab 5th and head for lap #2 with a blue and white Fiero in my sights. 7th place from 12th in under 1 full lap already. Who would have guessed?
As we head down into T1 I reel in my first Fiero piloted by Tom, the 02 car. I have to drop anchor to avoid collecting him as both the 01 and 02 haul down fast. We drift through T2. I lose a little traction and end up a bit higher. Ease down on the gas and try for the apex and out we go. Manfred reels me back in a little. We all blow out of T2 and dive for 3a again. The Viper is just ahead of the 01 car. We can all see Mac Russell just ahead of the Viper too. It just gets better and better and the tires must be warm by now.
3a and 3b and a good 2-3 upshift. We dance the back side like Gazzels and run up the hill for T8 again. I still have Tom in missle lock but he gets good grip out of 8. It's 1, 2, 3, 4 out of T9 and I'm gaining on Tom. He's my next victim as I grab 5th still pulling on him. In his draft and around I go just in time for T1. Dean's tail light works this time. But not for very long! We drift through 2 one more time and blast off one more time. Dean gains a bit that time around. But I come out hard and manage to beat Tom down the hill! I made it stick through 3a and 3b. Now to track down Dean. But he's a real tough customer.
This time Tom's in MY mirrors through T8 and Dean tries like mad to get by the Viper but can't as they go through T9. Roger wards him off and blows down the straight. I walk away from Tom and reel in on Dean. Duske has dropped back a ways now. As has everyone else. Myself... Well, I'm on cloud 9. How to get Dean? Floor it I guess.
Damn! It's working. I gather him in and squeek by just as we run through T1. He's right on my left as I brake hard for T2 going deep as I dare. All four corners shudder and I drift a bit high one more time. Dean scoots back under me. Darn! I exit just inches off his spoiler. He dives and I dive and I decide to go low right just to make sure I don't collect him as we enter into 3a right. The Viper is maybe 30 yards ahead of us. Dean is tough and takes 3a and 3b on rails. I push through 3b like always and lose a little ground. He takes off to hunt down the Viper. I take off after him.
I know I'm entering 5a HOT when my air damn scrapes bottom in the dip. That's my stall warning indicator as I brake hard again. Down to 3rd. Bank left. Bank right SMOOTHLY. Easy on the gas. Bank left for 6 and up the hill on the ragged edge. Grab 4th and level out through the dip in T7 and swing out wide right. Off gas and on binders. Down to 3rd again. Bank through 8 left. Hang on!
Power down and the tires are slipping now. Lost valuable ground. Ouch. Dean and Roger walk away. It takes nearly two more laps to reel Dean back in again. He must have missed a shift though. I'm all over him in T2. Finally I have him again. As we swoop back down into 3a and I try to go under him. But I see gravel at the apex. So, I back out to avoid contact. I could reach out and touch him we are so close. He shoots ahead for 3b and takes it on rails again! The Viper has 40 yards on us now. I want Dean and have red mist by now.
We dance again. This time I remember what Andy said earlier that day, "Slow in, fast out. Didn't you come to my seminar this winter?" OK. Smooth through 8 this time Chuck... And out we come. Now I have you BIG time Dean. I just blow by him at the start/finish line and keep the peddle to the metal all the way through T1. It works and I ward Dean off all the way around. The Viper is in 3b as I exit 3a. Not that far ahead really. Can I actually get from 5th to 4th??? No way. 6 laps down. 13 to go.
Time to just dance on the head of a pin and see how the cards play out. Lap 7. Lap 8 and we finally pass our first lapped car, a Kahn BMW. Rocket comes from out of nowhere and I see him just as I head for T1. I stay wide left and tap my brakes and point right. He BLOOOWS by like I'm standing still. Back on the gas after losing some ground to the Viper. That was wicked. Most laps I take T1 at exactly 130, peek at 135 and brake for T2. Rocket must have been hitting 160 in T1.
The Viper is mid 3b as I exit 3a this time. Lap 9. Same distance on the Viper. Lap 10. Tires squeel through 5a left. Should have listened to the car Chuck. Viper smokes his tires entering T8. Hummmmmmm. Now I'm a rabbid dog smelling blood again. I wonder if he did that on purpose? These guys are so tricky sometimes.
Lap 11. Pass victim #2, another BMW on the back straight. Brake for 5a. Must have been a tad too hot this time. Bank left. Something's not right. Start to bank right and all of a sudden I realize I'm late on my 5b turn in point. I must have been seeing too much red mist ahead of me there. Now my left rear is on gravel. This is BAD!! Oh chit! Try a little gas. BAD IDEA. Brakes and off I go, sliding left and right off for the good old SIR killer bank. Somehow the left rear hits dirt and the car snaps back around to the left in a 180 and buries the nose 90 degrees away from the track into the bank and a bunch of darn black berry vines right up to the windshield. All sorts of foliage and bugs and dirt come into the car and vents. I hear cars flying by and try to restart the motor. I hate grass fires. It starts. I back up but no traction. Go forward and rock it free finally and back out of the bushes. Then head up the hill staying on the left shoulder and getting out of harm's way. I finally turn off at T7 by the worker station with no power steering. Back up from the track and watch the race go down the toilet.
To make a long story short. THE END.
See you all next season.
P.S. I still had enough laps to get a finish and a 3rd place in SPO. Turns out
I wasn't the only SPO car to have a problem. Not to mention my fast lap which
was worth all the problems and then some.
You haven't really been road racing until you've raced in an endurance race... so I just learned. All I can say is DAMN! Talk about O.D.'d.
Cascade Sports Car Club's last event of the year was an 8 hour enduro down at PIR. There was this Corvette guy who just got his car running this past season. His name is Craig Johnson and he lives in Salem, OR. Well I instructed for him out at SIR earlier this year and we hit it off great. Just rode with him. Never drove the his Corvette. Black with red trim. He ran a couple ITE races and was pretty fast. A couple Conference races too I guess. Anyway, we pitted together at my last PIR race in July? His car broke though. I had a hell of a race that weekend.
Anyway, he called me a few weeks later and hit me up on the enduro race idea. Asked if I would help drive his car. I said sure. Problem is he then started crunching the cost to rebuild his motor and tires and fuel and fees and cha-ching-cha-ching and then he got in a car accident and hurt his back. So, he called me back and said it probably wasn't going to happen which was OK because I was kind of tapped out money wise myself. I had thought about trying that enduro but had no idea what it would be like. So. I kind of forgot about it except for helping Carlo and all.
So, I told Carlo I would crew for him... which is exactly what I was doing when I see the black Vette pull into the hot pits during the morning practice session. I told Carlo, "Hang on man... I have a Corvette driver I have to go have a serious talk with." So, I headed about 12 pits down in the Pro Pits there and grabbed Craig's hand and give him a death grip and say, "WTF is going on dude? You never told me you were racing this enduro after all!" His face lights up, "Chuck, god damn am I glad to see you man! We just got the car started on Thursday and it has been crazy making the race. We've only got two drivers and I just got the crew together last night and my back still hurts AND I sure could use another driver..." I go, "Are you frigging kidding me?" He says, "No. I'm dead serious. But you have to get registered before 10 a.m..." It was actually 10:05 when I signed the reg forms and paid my $115 entry fee. Then I had to go over to tech with NO race suit or helmet and talk my way past tech telling them I was going to borrow one of the other driver's race suit, etc. I didn't have mine with me.
Turns out someone else on Craig's crew had a spare suit that was about 5 sizes too big, gloves and a helmet that fit me. I just used Craig race shoes each time we swapped drivers. And I bought a hood and socks from Andy.
By the time I got squared away the practice session was done and it was lunch time. I still had not driven the car and Craig broke a hub during practice. Luckily he had a spare because he had broken one or two hubs before. Seems front hubs are a weak point on Corvettes too.
So, the race starts at high noon with one of those LeMans type starts were the drivers run and get strapped in and they go. Craig does about 45 minutes OK. Then in jumps the #2 driver, Brian someone (I had never even met all these folks before... Just Craig). He does stint 2 and drives off the track at least three times in his 45 minutes. BUt, before he even gets that far into it, he comes in about 10 minutes into his stint and says the clutch is slipping. Nothing we can do. Craig tells him to go back out baby it. I'm sitting there thinking this is sooooo crazy. I'll probably never even get a lap out of this whole race...
Finally, I get to drive the Corvette. It has a 400ci fresh motor, bad clutch and, as it turns out, a not so good rear end. I go out and start out easy and realize not only the clutch is slipping but the 4th gear is screwed up and grinds nearly every time I upshifted 3rd to 4th. What a heck? After about 10 laps I figure out how to drive it though and that if I rev it to about 6K and shift with about 1/2 clutch depression it shifts pretty good. Then all I had to do was use 2/3 throttle and the clutch would hang on up through 4th to 5th. Usually I'd just baby it from 3rd to 4th and end up rev'ing it to 6K in 4th and haul it down for the corners anyways. If it would have had a decent clutch it would have really been a holly terror on wheels. We might have all killed ourselves before the end of the day.
The race ran from noon to 8pm and the last 1:45 was DARK!! And the car had piss poor head lights. Carlo's car had 4 headlights and he aimed them out for the corners, etc. The Vette was stock lights and low beams and was worthless in the corners and not worth much down the straights. Couple that with many car's in your mirrors at night with frigging blinding road lights and you can imagine how it was driving at 120-130 and then trying to stay on track in the dark. It was frigging HAIRY!!!!!
Thanks god it never rained and we never drove it the full 8 hours on the one set of Hoosiers.
We were running 1:20 to 1:23 laps most of the day. Not bad but not super fast. One set of tires.
The thing is though after I got out of my first 45-50 min ride Craig got back in and the darn harmonic balancer spun off its hub. So, we had to all shag a new balancer down and replace it and we lost two full hours in that circle jerk. So, we only got to run the Vette for about 5:30 total track time and thus came in nearly last out of 58 cars. Probably around 50th over all.
Anyway, Craig goes out again finally and does another 45 minute run. Then Brian gets in at around 6:05 pm. Its dusk already by then. He pilots the car into the dark. He comes in at 7pm and Craig tells me to finish the race in the dark. I tell Craig, "Sure, why not. Hell I can drive this track with my eyes shut..." He looks at me and says, "Please keep your eyes open. OK."
Well, I go out of the hot pit and before I even get to turn 1 I know I'm in deep doo doo because I can't see turn 1 and there's about 10 cars closing on me like I'm standing still. SHIT!! A couple pass me with these frigging BRIGHT ASS lights and I decide I'll just follow them for a few laps. I swear to god I nearly hit tire walls and you name it.
IT WAS FRIGGING CRAZY!!!!!!
But after a couple laps I had it figured out. Well pretty much. You have NO IDEA what it is like going around turn 3 say, losing traction on half baked Hoosiers, having your rear end kick out and trying to counter steer when you can't see the frigging road and you have a 911 and an M3 breathing down your neck. Everything is purely by the seat of your pants. Using your mirrors is more important than brakes, shifting, you name it. At least he had a decent frigging wide view mirror in the car. If it weren't for that, I shit you not, I would have totaled his car on more than one occasion. Nearly wrecked it several times as it was.
You just would NOT believe it! That's all I can say In the mean time... I can NOT wait for next season... WHEN I field a team and my own 8 hour ride.
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