10th and our Novem- ber membership meet- ing (BRING TOYS FOR TOTS TO THIS MEETING) November 23rd and December membership meeting December 15th (BRING A GIFT TO EXCHANGE) and snacks will be pro- vided by the Club for this meeting. Our Awards Banquet will be January 22, 2004 at the Airport Hilton again. Mark your cal- endars for each of these events. SCCA National has decided not to have Pro Rallys or Club Rallys in the future. In the past there have been several incidents and it has become too much of a liability for the club . Keep on truckin’ Charlene Bettinger, RE Time sure does fly when you are having fun! It’s time once again to write an arti- cle for the WAIL. We have had several Solo IIs since last month’s WAIL. WPG did not have the usual attendance; even though the weather was great! However, it was the end of the year and our Solos are usu- ally down at that time. Timing and Scoring went real well at this event. We have one more Solo, November 7th and that will end the 2004 season. I be- lieve things improved this year with the changes we made in the Solo II program. The new cut off time for registration of 12:30 PM seems to work well as well as the drive through tech and the new way of registering/signing in and paying entry fees. We tried a new system of a Solo II Steering Committee and that, too, seemed to be to the advantage of the Club Solo II program. We have met and have a slate of possible offi- cers for next year. Look for this else- where in this issue. Cut off for worker points is the November Membership Meeting. Everything after that will be on next year’s worker points. So if you have any points that have not been turned in, get them to Tom Urbaneck ASAP so he can finish up for the 2004 year. We have a few more events scheduled. Al- ready mentioned the November 7th Solo. We also have Board Meeting November RE-F LECTIONS SCCA WICHITA REGION NOVEMBER 2004 VOLUME 04, I SSUE 10 W ITCHES W AIL HOT TOPICS: • Toys for Tots • Member Articles • New Officers • Mid Div Convention • For Sale I NSIDE THIS ISSUE: BOD MINUTES 2 EVENTS CALENDAR 4-5 REPORTS 9-14 FOR SALE 15 RESULTS 17
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10th and our Novem-ber membership meet-ing (BRING TOYS FOR TOTS TO THIS MEETING) November 23rd and December membership meeting December 15th (BRING A GIFT TO EXCHANGE) and snacks will be pro-vided by the Club for this meeting. Our Awards Banquet will be January 22, 2004 at the Airport Hilton again. Mark your cal-endars for each of these events. SCCA National has decided not to have Pro Rallys or Club Rallys in the future. In the past there have been several incidents and it has become too much of a liability for the club . Keep on truckin’ Charlene Bettinger, RE
Time sure does fly when you are having fun! It’s time once again to write an arti-cle for the WAIL. We have had several Solo IIs since last month’s WAIL. WPG did not have the usual attendance; even though the weather was great! However, it was the end of the year and our Solos are usu-ally down at that time. Timing and Scoring went real well at this event. We have one more Solo, November 7th and that will end the 2004 season. I be-lieve things improved this year with the changes we made in the Solo II program. The new cut off time for registration of 12:30 PM seems to work well as well as the drive through tech and the new way of registering/signing in and paying entry fees. We tried a new system
of a Solo II Steering Committee and that, too, seemed to be to the advantage of the Club Solo II program. We have met and have a slate of possible offi-cers for next year. Look for this else-where in this issue. Cut off for worker points is the November Membership Meeting. Everything after that will be on next year’s worker points. So if you have any points that have not been turned in, get them to Tom Urbaneck ASAP so he can finish up for the 2004 year. We have a few more events scheduled. Al-ready mentioned the November 7th Solo. We also have Board Meeting November
RE-FLECTIONS
SCCA WICHITA REGION
NOVEMBER 2004 VOLUME 04, ISSUE 10
WITCHES WAIL
HOT TOPICS:
• Toys for Tots
• Member Articles
• New Officers
• Mid Div Convention
• For Sale
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
BOD MINUTES 2
EVENTS CALENDAR 4-5
REPORTS 9-14
FOR SALE 15
RESULTS 17
AVRG Report: Frank Diringer presented the report.
Rally events: Bruce Sargent presented the re-port. On October 18 there will be a Road Rally School for Checkpoints and running of a rally @ Torre’s Pizzeria @ 7 pm. Bill Preheim has organized the Witches Ryde Rally for October 30. The cost will be $20. per car. Registration will begin @ 1030 with the first car off @ 1130 @ the Twin Lakes Shopping Center.
Solo II Report: Hal Larcher presented the re-port. A Solo II @ Wichita Greyhound Park will occur on October 17. November 7 will be the date for a Solo II @ Boeing N-Lot. Sara Ur-banek has accepted the position of Chief of Timing/Scoring. Discussion occurred regarding the organization of dates for the 2005 Solo II program.
Treasurer’s Report: John Houston presented the report. Dave Geis moved to approve the Treasurer’s Report. Seconded by Andy Timmons. Motion passed.
New Business: Club and Pro Rally events will no longer be sanctioned by SCCA. TSD and Poker regional rallies can continue to be held.
Old Business: Charlene Bettinger tentatively set-up Tuesday, October 19 @ 7pm @ Torre’s Pizzeria for the BOD to meet for calling club members to volunteer to run for positions needed for 2005. Charlene Bettinger has ob-tained agreement from the staff @ the Airport Hilton to have the 2005 MiDiv Convention there with the meeting rooms free to the club and the rooms for the participants to be $74.
Bruce Sargent gave an update regarding Othal Vrana and states he has returned home and ap-preciated the support from the club.
Motion to adjourn was made by Greg Laws, seconded by Kellie Barker. Motion passed.
BOD members present: Charlene Bettinger, Dave Geis, Greg Laws, Frank, Diringer, Paul Sherman, Andy Timmons, Kellie Barker, Bill Preheim, and Tom Dupler.
Non-voting Club Officials present: John Houston, Carolyn Laws, Amy Timmons, Bruce Sargent, Robert Foster, Bruce Bet-tinger, Hal Larcher, Tom Urbanek, and Scott Bettinger.
Visitors present: Lu Geis.
Charlene Bettinger called the meeting to order.
Secretary’s Report: September 8, 2004 Caro-lyn Laws presented BOD minutes. Dave Geis moved for the minutes to be accepted with two corrections. Seconded by Kellie Barker. Motion passed.
WAIL Report: Lawrence Duty was unavail-able to report.
Web Report: Robert Foster presented the September report verbally and by e-mail. Hits were down as the year slows down.
Membership Report: Bruce Bettinger pre-sented the report. There are 238 members with 211 voting members.
Merchandise Report: Hal Larcher has the inventory.
Activities Report: Amy Timmons presented the report.
October 27 is the next membership meeting @ Red Mesa. October 30 is the Witches Ryde. November 12/13 is the MiDiv Con-vention in Tulsa. November 23 is the No-vember membership meeting, which will include Toys for Tots Drive. Everyone is to bring a toy to the meeting. December 15 is the Christmas membership meeting where everyone is to bring a gift for the Christmas gift exchange. January 15, 2005, is the 2004 SCCA Banquet. Amy Timmons presented the 2004 Banquet budget.
Dave Geis moved to approve the 2004 SCCA Banquet budget as presented by Amy Timmons with a charge of $10. for members and $20. for non-members. Seconded by Paul Sherman. Motion passed.
Hotline: If you need further information on any event listed in this calendar, call the Club phone (788-6023) and leave a de-tailed message. Someone will return your call and attempt to answer your questions.
Membership Meetings: Membership meetings are held on the fourth (not necessarily the last) Wednesday of every month at 7:30 pm. Our meeting location is the Red Mesa Grill at 756 N. Tyler - just North of Central on Tyler.
Board of Directors Meetings: BoD meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30. The meeting location is at the Sedgwick County Zoo Education Center. Enter the Zoo at the entrance near the Administration Building. Anyone inter-ested may attend any of these meetings.
Solo II Events: Setup begins at 6:00 AM (please come help). Typically, registration is open between 8:30 AM and 12:30 PM, the drivers meeting is held at 9:30 AM and the first car is on the course by 10:00 AM. All drivers AND guests must sign the insurance waiver's).
Jr. Karts: The Wichita region has a great Junior Solo Karts pro-gram. Pre-registration is required for al Junior drivers. Contact Rick Knapp (722-2809) for more information
Interested in SCCA Road Racing? Call George Morrison at 722-2872 or attend a Membership Meeting and ask questions! Race workers are always needed and you can’t get any closer to the action.
Address Change? So you moved, changed your phone number, changed your e-mail address, whatever. Let us know!! Please no-tify the National office (in Topeka, KS), Charlene Bettinger (788-3942, [email protected]), and Lawrence Duty 316.283.6289. [email protected]
Email list: If you would like to participate in some electronic bench racing, subscribe to the Wichita Region SCCA email list. Send an email to [email protected] with the words “subscribe wichita-scca” in the body of the message. You will get an automatic reply with instructions to complete the process.
S = Drivers School Solotime=Divisional Solo II ProV = ProVee
R = Regional (MidAm) r = Regional (non-points) I = IT Tour
R* = Bonus Regional (MidAm) N = National C = HPCCC
GIR - Gateway International Raceway - St. Louis, MO HMRC - Hallett Motor Racing Circuit - Hallett, OK
HPT - Heartland Park Topeka - Topeka, KS MMP - Memphis Motor Sports Park - Memphis, TN
MAM - MidAmerica Motorplex - Glenwood, IA
Total Club Racing Events: S - 6 R -19 N -10 I -10 C -4 r -0 = 17 Weekends
PAGE 6 WITCHES WAIL
C o m p le t e A u t oM a c h in e S e r v i c e
E n g i n e R e b u i ld in g & B a la n c in gP r e c i s io n B l o c k & H e a d M i l l in gA lu m in u m H e a d S t r a ig h t e n in gR in g , P in & B e a r in g S e r v ic eR e b o r i n g & P in F it t i n gC r a n k s h a f t G r in d in gG la s s S h o t P e e n in g
G r a n t R in gD i s t r ib u t o r s
A U T O P A R T S &M A C H IN E S H O P
1 4 0 S . L a u r a - 2 6 4 -5 0 1 2
Event Date Location Event Chair(s) Solo Safety Steward
May 30, Sunday Raytheon Hal Larcher Edwin Martens
June 6, Sunday Boeing Kevin Anderson / Jared Ander-son
Brian Meyer
June 27, Sunday Strother Field - Winfield Bill Preheim / Bruce Sargent Bruce Bettinger
July 25, Sunday Wichita - Boeing N-Lot Frank Janssen Paul Sherman
Aug 22, Sunday Wichita Greyhound Park Bob Cummings / Darrin Teeter Jim Harrison
Sept 19, Sunday Raytheon Tom Urbanek Jim French
Oct 3, Sunday Strother Field - Winfield Greg Laws Dave Geis
Oct 17, Sunday Wichita Greyhound Park Jim Harrisson Dave Green Jim Pernice
Nov 7, Sunday Wichita - Boeing N-Lot Bruce Sargent / Bill Preheim Robert Foster
SOLO SCHEDULE
The Witches’ Wail c/o Lawrence Duty 12 Cedar Drive Newton, KS 67114
Policy:
The Witches’ Wail is the official publication of the Wichita Region SCCA. Contributions are requested and welcome. All manuscripts, drawings, and photographs should be identified as to event, time and place, persons involved and the name of the submitter. Material will be returned only when requested. The editor reserves the right to decline or condense material. All material published may be reprinted provided it is clearly credited to the author, the Wichita Region SCCA and the Wail. Letters to the editor should be signed. Articles and/or advertisements published in the Wail do not necessarily express the viewpoint of the Wichita Region SCCA or the editor. All articles may be submitted electronically by e-mail, CD, or diskette - contact the editor for details.
Deadline for submitting articles is the 23rd day of the preceding month.
2004 Wail Advertising Rates Per Month Per Year
Small (1/4 page) $15.00 $150.00 Medium (1/3 page) $20.00 $200.00
Large (1/2 page) $25.00 $250.00 Yearly rates are for one calendar year. We typically print 11 issues per year, but not less than 10.
Free text-only ads will be printed for club members on a space available basis. Picture ads or guaranteed space will be billed at one half of the above rates for club members.
PAGE 7 VOLUME 04, ISSUE 10
WOW!! Have you seen ST & BOB’s NEW WEB SITE?? Check it out at
www.autobahnpower.com
1713 East First Street Wichita, Kansas 316-267-3001
Hours: Mon-Fri 9:00-6:00
F A R M E R S I N S U R A N C E G R O U P O F C O M P A N I E SK E N N E T H R . H IP P
In s u r a n c e A g e n c y
A u to - H o m e - L i fe - C o m m e r c ia l
2 4 0 N . R o c k R d . , S te . 2 1 0 W ic h ita , K S 6 7 2 0 6B u s in e s s : (3 1 6 ) 6 8 5 -0 6 8 2 R e s id e n c e : (3 1 6 ) 6 8 7 -5 3 3 7
Slate of Officers for 2005 as proposed by the Nominating Committee Ken Neeley Tom Urbaneck Bob Cummings Scott Bettinger George Morrison Amy Timmons RE: Dave Geis Ass't RE: Robert Foster Secretary: Lu Geis Remaining on the Board: Kelly Barker Tom Dupler Bill Preheim
SOLO REPORT—Hal Larcher
The recent hardware problems with our list hosting service reminded me that I should move the internet email list. Why? The current service is one that is budgeted and a fee paid every year, and is supported by a single individ-ual. It works great, until something happens, and that individual is not available to get it going again. This service is available through our web hosting service "simplehost" without any additional cost. And just as important, we will be moving to a business supported, rather than an individual (one person) supported application. By the time you read this, the new 'list' will be up and running. If you were a member of the previous list, you should have received an invitation to join the list. This is dependent upon my successfully getting an address list of the old list members, and getting the invites sent out. If you are not a member of the 'list', please join us by selecting the 'E-Mail List' link off the side menu at http://wichitascca.org.
I hereby nominate Bill Preheim for Weather Officer for the 2005 season. Both the Witches’ Ryde and the Boeing Solo were wonderful days to be out and about in your car., and I directly give the credit to Bill. Of course he must guarantee that all the next seasons events will be just as nice. Well the year is coming to a close faster than I would have thought, I did accomplish most of the things I have wanted to do, but have not really had the chance to be in-volved in Racing. Perhaps there is still a way to there.
I have just a couple of ideas for the Rally program. One, we should perhaps encourage our Solo drivers to attend, and also to have them bring along a rally entrant with them. They might get a reduction in their entry fee if they do so. We might also coordinate events with the Wichita River Festival, and the Newton Chisholm Trail Festival. Both would give us publicity, and would not have to be a full blown TSD but rather a (I hate the term) gimmick rally. I am sure there are other city events we could choose from too.
I am always so encouraged by the people who give so much of their time to make our club work. Several people come to mind but the list is too long to show here and I would certainly leave out someone. So, if you are at an event and see someone you know that has given a lot of their resource to the club make sure you tell them how much you appreciate their work.
Looking forward to our last two Solo’s and see you all at the Banquet in Jan.
Lawrence
PAGE 10 WITCHES WAIL
From the Editor
The SCCA Runoffs: an experience of excitement, drama, parties, food, and the circus atmosphere of over 700 of the nation’s top racers all vying for a National Championship. It can be the best of times or the worst of times, all at the same moment (just ask Paul Sherman). At best, it’s a week of gas, tires, oil, and a podium finish or National Champi-onship. At worst, well, use your imagination. Usually it’s somewhere in between. In any case, you can’t end the week without a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and the determination to return to repeat your victories and avenge your misfortunes.
Totally pumped, we embarked for Mid Ohio on Friday evening: David, Mike Spencer, crew chief of 17 years, and I riding shotgun. Orlando Morales, loyal crew member and marketing expert was meeting us in Indianapo-lis where he had just landed a job as Marketing and Sales Director for the IRL’s Infinity Pro Series. Alli McQueen would join us the following Thursday to complete the team. Like a cat ready to pounce, the ever-reliable No. 70 DB4 Formula Atlantic is in the trailer, three full logbooks in 17 seasons and five generations down from the current Swift 014 Atlantic competition. Life is good. Arriving on Saturday, my plans for a relaxing day are cut short as we make last-minute preparations for the test day on Sunday, including fitting and finishing a new seat we poured for Dave a couple weeks earlier.
Sunday dawns bright and beautiful. The first session out on well-used Hoosiers (six heat cycles) yields times faster than the winning race lap from last year’s Runoffs and .8 second better than our previous best. We’re happy. Minor adjustments are made throughout the day to resolve an increasing push condition.
Monday, first day of official practice, looks perfect for a good run. David posts a 1:19.498 to lead the pack, just .1 second off the 2003 pole time. Dan Cobb’s Swift 014 is the only other car in the 19s with a 1:19.706. Pande-monium breaks out. Dave is an instant hero in the Atlantic paddock and earns the nickname “The Kid”. We make some changes to try and address the “push”. A gearbox side cover seal is leaking and the bearing feels loose. The car and gearbox come apart to replace the errant parts.
Tuesday, 06:30 dawns cool and calm for the first official qualifying session. Traffic is heavy with 45 Atlan-tics and C Sports Racers on the track. David finally gets a clean lap on the last circuit and cranks out a 1:19.495 but feels good for at least another half second. We’re 4th on the grid with Dave and three Swift 014s separated by only four tenths of a second. Bob Stallings has the pole at 1:19.031. The 5th place car is a full second behind Dave. In the paddock, fluid is gushing from the bottom of the car. The clutch pedal goes to the floor. We split the car behind the engine to get to the internal clutch cylinder and replace the o-rings. Meanwhile, Mike has installed softer front springs in an attempt to cure the nagging understeer. At 1:30 AM we finish and head into the RV for some much needed sleep.
Wednesday, day 2 Qualifying. Trapped in traffic from the first lap, David manages only a 1:22.686 and the push is still there. Almost everyone is slower and there are no changes in the top 4. We take a break while David is filmed with the race car in Speed Channel’s intro for the FA telecast to be aired in late November. Afterward, we decide to go back to the stiffer front springs, and make a last minute decision for harder compound tires because of the abrasive track conditions. There is a huge puddle under the car. We split the car again and do a complete rebuild of the clutch slave cylinder. Its 01:00 AM.
Thursday, up again at 06:30 for the final round of qualifying. R35 compound is mounted and we’re ready to go. The balance is improved and the car maintains grip throughout the session. Traffic is a factor again but David turns a 1:19.957 to hold the 4th qualifying position. Still only four cars have broken into the 19s. The team is su-premely confident Dave can run with the other three cars in the lead pack on race day. Only Dan Cobb has improved his position, grabbing the pole with a blistering 1:18.774. The TV crew from Speed Channel arrives to do an un-scheduled interview with David. There is a puddle of oil under the car. The front gearbox oil seal has failed. We don’t have time to pull the gearbox. Orlando heads for the market and returns with a pack of diapers, size 8 to 14 lb. Thirty minutes, problem fixed. Good news happens: Dave has recorded the top straightaway radar trap speed of the week except for the two Mazda rotary-powered Atlantics, one mph faster but further back in the pack.
Friday, Race Day. We’re out early for the 10-minute morning warm-up. Our objective is to put an easy
Anatomy of a Runoff, 2004—Ron Wilcox
PAGE 11 VOLUME 04, ISSUE 10
scrub on the fresh R-35 race tires. The warm-up is uneventful. We make final wing and toe adjustments to add some additional stability to the car. Race time comes too soon, but we’re on the grid with minutes to spare. Pace Lap, David warms the tires and is ready when the green drops on the field of 25 screaming Atlantics. Despite a less-than-perfect start, David is on Stalling’s rear wing, two-wide into the first turn. Cleanly through and up the hill into the left hander, its Cobb, Selznick, Stallings and Dave, with Ben Beasley in 5th on the outside and slightly back. Then BOOM. In a moment of total unconsciousness, Beasley’s Ralt chops down abruptly into the side of Dave’s DB4. The heavy impact snaps both cars headlong into the outside wall at 70+ mph, burying the nose under the tire barrier all the way to the concrete wall, then rotating 90 degrees to a stop. From our pit box, the crew hears the announcer. “Please not Dave”, I think. I can’t get him on the radio. Within seconds, Speed Channel is in our pit, camera 10 inches away asking what happened. It seems like forever before we hear both drivers are out of the cars, which is a huge relief.
Watching the remainder of the race was anti-climactic, but knowing David and Ben were ok was enough. What could-have-been is a story that will never be told. One thing is certain, David’s bid for glory will have to wait for another year. Disappointing, yes, but the satisfaction of our successes, despite some hardships during the week, overshadowed the unhappy ending. We remain grateful for the many supporters and the Wichita Region for helping bring us to the end of another successful season.
Oh yeah, the race! Selznick spun to mid-pack, Cobb crashed out while leading and Stallings took the win. But that’s another story.
Special thanks to:
Hoosier Racing Tires Don Preston Racing
Toyota Elite Racing Transmissions
BG Products SCCA Workers everywhere
Netvision Technologies
Anatomy of a Runoff—Cont.
PAGE 12 WITCHES WAIL
The Epic Saga of a Race Team’s Runoffs Experience!
As many of you may already know, our team (myself and my accomplice/crew chief/mechanic, Dave (you need to buy this) Gird) has been running National races this year to try and qualify for the Runoffs at Mid Ohio. We figured we might as well go for it since this is my car’s last year of eligibility, due to the 10-year rule. So after running enough Nationals and accruing enough points, as well as tearing the engine apart 3 times, replacing almost every sus-pension part, replacing/repairing every body panel except the roof and using up umpteen tires, we get accepted to the big dance! Yeehaaaaa!
While all this was going on I was in the process (a slow, painful one) of getting my motorhome, aka, the “Flying Brick”, back in running condition. The plan was to use it at the start of the season, but the engine machine work took longer than expected. Once we got the engine back, the assembler (me) worked at a glacial pace to get it running just in time for the Runoffs. Well, almost. The morning we were supposed to leave, the engine hadn’t even been fired yet. So with Dave’s help on Saturday afternoon, we finally get the engine to life. Kinda. It’s running, but there’s no oil pressure and the top end is kinda noisy. So we scramble around for the next several hours trying to sort the situation out, to no avail. By now it’s 12:30 AM on Sunday and no motorhome. I’m so peeved I’m seriously considering not going, but finally say the heck with it, we’ve worked too hard all season to throw it away. We’ll just have to use the tow vehicle we’ve been using all season – Barney, my purple Ford Ranger! I jumped on the computer to find us a motel room and we get to sleep about 1:30 AM.
6:30 comes way too early, but we get the car loaded, all the tires, gear, spares, etc loaded, drop the dogs at a friend’s house, and finally get on the road about 10:15 Sunday morning. As we pull onto the turnpike, I’m hoping Barney will make the trip to Ohio, carrying all the stuff we’ve got with us. We get to our first gas stop east of KC, make a driver change so now Dave’s behind the wheel and I can take a nap. So far so good, until about 20 miles later, just as I start dozing, the right rear tire on the truck lets go. In a big way. I’m wide awake now, watching Dave fight the wheel while we’re veering back and forth between the shoulders with the trailer trying to wag us into the weeds! Finally, Dave gets us stopped on the shoulder only to find that the emergency flashers don’t work. We get out to find the tire shredded, the fender bashed in and the tailpipe bent up along the spring. We make the necessary repairs and get back on our way, minus the emergency flashers and turn signals (and no spare tire).
As we cross the Missouri river, all of a sudden we hear “click, click, click”. The emergency flasher magically starts working again, along with the turn signals. A good sign, we think. We roll into Indy around 10:00 PM and decide not to tempt fate too much by trying to continue on through the night, and get a room there. This means that we won’t get to Mid-Ohio until after my Monday practice session. We get to Mid-Ohio after lunch, get registered and find a place to set up. Driving through the paddock areas, the scope of this race hits me. This thing is huge! We find a place to park, unload everything and after walking around getting ourselves familiar with our surroundings, we decide to change the tires on the car. I managed to knock the car off the jack and a jackstand and got both of them wedged un-derneath the car. Brilliant! We borrowed a jack and got that situation resolved with no harm to the car. At least the Richland County party made up for earlier mishaps! But we had to make it an early evening, since our qualifying ses-sion was 8:00AM and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to be on the track for the very first time with a hangover.
We made it the track on time, and got to grid on time for a change. The butterflies in my stomach had grown into pterodactyls, but it’s amazing how they go away as soon as you roll onto the track. Other than spinning in the Key-hole turn and going over Madness sideways, my first session was pretty uneventful. I went faster then I thought I
Adventures in Racing - Paul Sherman
PAGE 13 VOLUME 04, ISSUE 10
PAGE 14 WITCHES WAIL
would for my first time out, and wasn’t even the slowest qualifier. Tuesday night was the Kumho Tire party, and it was another great night. More free food and drink! Wednesday was an afternoon session and I managed to drop 1.5 seconds and moved up the list 3 places. I did have contact with another car going into the Keyhole. I spoke with him afterwards and it wasn’t an issue with him, so it wasn’t for me either. Of course now Dave had some bodywork to do. I wasn’t completely comfortable on track yet, but at least getting familiar. Thursday I went slower by about a second, but almost everybody else was slower, too. So I ended up in 32nd position on the grid out of 39 cars. We got to watch some great races on Friday and Saturday, unfortunately Dave Wilcox’s race didn’t last very long. I felt sorry for him as he qualified 4th but got taken out on the first lap. Saturday night was the 60th Anniversary celebration and again, a fantastic party. But it was an early evening for us since we were the first race group on Sunday.
We decided to blow off our warm-up session, since it was only 10 minutes, and it gave me some extra, badly needed sleep. Back to the track, warm up the car, get suited, and head to grid. Chatted with other drivers on the grid, lots of well wishes, now it’s time for some serious business. Away we go on the pace lap, the car feels good, and I feel like I’m on a Sunday drive. Unfortunately I’m not thinking about how long the field is, and as I head up into the Keyhole, I’m not closing in on the car in front of me. I’m halfway into the turn, thinking we’ll get the green after the turn, when Dave yells on the radio “Green, Green, Green”. Oops. Between the exit of the corner and the start stand, 3 cars pass me. But we all get to bunch up since there’s a pileup at 8. I ended up doing battle with a few other cars at the tail end of the field, passing some even. About halfway through, I move to the inside to make a pass going into turn 7 at the end of the back straight, but the car won’t turn. I fight with it for the next few corners when I finally realize I don’t have power steering anymore. Time to start the workout! The car held together for the rest of the race and I fin-ished in 26th position – mainly due to attrition, not my incredible driving skills!
We got back to our paddock space and checked the car. It turned out that a fitting on one of the power steering hoses split and it blew out all the fluid. Surprisingly, the pump didn’t seize while on the track. It did manage to seize up while sitting there, as the car wouldn’t turn over when we tried to load it on the trailer. Taking a knife to the belt solved that problem. We loaded up then watched some races before heading home. We left the car and trailer with Scott Bettinger, since he graciously volunteered to tow it home for us. Barney had been through a lot on the way out, so I didn’t want to risk a repeat on the trip home. Scott unfortunately had the trouble. Not just one tire, but two tires blew out on the trailer on his way home. So, it seems the trip was eventful for everyone.
This was my first trip to the Runoffs and it was incredible. The entire experience, not just the race, is an amazing thing. The camaraderie between the other drivers and the helpfulness of all the volunteers and workers made it all worthwhile. Thanks to all the Wichita folks who wished me well on this journey, Scott for towing the car home, but most of all, my crewdog Dave. I couldn’t have done it without all of your hard work. I’m looking forward to going back next year!
Adventures in Racing - Cont.
FOR SALE
2 Corolla built for E Prepared.
Buyer backed out due to losing job. His loss can be your gain. $1600.00 with trailer.
Give me a call at 721-8033 for specs and address of where to come out and take a look at it.
Car is not street legal, comes with a trailer, and has a clear title. Dave Robinson
2001 Toyota Tacoma Pickup Double Cab-V6-AT-PreRunner with SR5 Trim and TRD Off-Road, Roll Bar-Running Boards-Towing-Cruise-PDL-PWL-