Vintage Perspective
by Jeff Ingebritson
President VSCRThe June vintage race weekend at Blackhawk Farms was the season opener for many of the dozen of so VSCR members who attended. Myself, Rich and Liz Stadther, Roger Karnopp, Tim Lynch, and John Houlton ran with the open wheelers, which numbered about 35 total. This group had the gamut from Formula Bs to Formula Vees, so there was a large speed differential between the slowest and fastest. The first morning open wheel practice session brought out the black flag for the entire group, so that the chief steward could review the meaning of the yellow flag with the drivers. I had a hair raising spin on the opening lap of the qualifying race, then the engine bay of the Lotus in front of me burst into flames, and as I passed that car, my seat belt popped open, so I elected to come in to re-think the situation. The remaining open wheel sessions went smoothly. I started from last place on the grid due to lack of a qualifying time. As we came out of the last corner on the pace lap, there were no flags to be seen on the starters bridge, but the field started to accelerate. I sensed it wasn’t quite right as I began to inch up between two Vees, and sure enough, the first corner was yellow, so we all piled on the brakes like an accordion, and fortunately, no one made contact. I later
learned that the starter had dropped the green flag just as the leaders came to the bridge. Finally, I got the ol’ Ford hooked up, and worked my way up to mid pack by the drop of the checker. Jeff Jonk and Dan Powell were honkin’ in their Healeys, and John Daniels provided evening entertainment with wild man blues harp playing. VSCR vice-president Brian Kennedy was running very strong with his GT 350 in the Trans Am race group, until clutch slippage caused him to drop a couple of spots. Brian and his wife Michelle were the hosts for the VSCR contingent, and provided cold cut sandwiches, chips, and beverages Friday noon, Friday evening , Saturday noon, and Sunday noon. It was fantastic, as we had wonderful eats, and great company too. A huge thank you to Brian and Michelle for all their efforts. We could use a couple of volunteers to carry on the program for the August race at Road America.
Over Fourth of July week, I attended the national MG gathering at the fairgrounds. I brought out my MGA race car, and on Friday, the 20 or so MG racers took to the fairgrounds race track, dubbed "Abingdon Oval". MG drivers Barb Brown and Dave Casey provided flagging while the cars were on the track. The cars each ran 5 individual exhibition laps. With the stage still on the front straight, we had to use the access road behind the pits to make a complete circuit. This worked fine, with the possible exception of a huge rise in the asphalt just as we made a hard left to get back onto the pit lane to go back out on the main track. Mark Brandow flew over that bump in his TC racer, and for a second it looked like his car was sliding toward the barrier. However, Mark and the TC gathered themselves up just fine and motored on
through. Of the notable MG’s on the track were 3 time SCCA national champion Kent Prather and his MGA, and SCCA national champion Paul Brand and his MGB. Both cars looked and sounded awesome. Next on the VSCR schedule are the Test and Tune days on July 14 and August 4 at the St. Cloud Training track across from the prison. You can run your car for $40, just call Bill Groschen at 612-331-1235 to sign up. August 11 & 12, VSCR will head to Road America to race with Midwest Council. Keep Smilin’ and Keep the Faith,
Jeff Ingebrigtson
Tonneau On-Line August 2001
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Copyright 2001, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
