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Dick Downs-20, and Anthony Downs-38 while Chuck Snyder’s son Brian was 34th. In FF Dave Hopple was LOL’s main hope in 6th while I was 31st and Dan Bruggeman 32nd. Over in the FC group Steve Thomson was a disappointed 6th with Jerry Szykulski 10th and Gerry Kraut 14th. It was rumored that FC polesitter Mike Potekhen had turned a 2:12 lap that was missed by T & S, but his 2:14.4 was well under Thomson’s previous record and a second faster than Travis Irving in 2nd. John Schaller had qualified 12th in FA but was already breaking camp as his Ralt was plagued with overheating problems which could not be remedied.
Our race was a fiasco even by Fubar standards. An erratic pace lap for the split start had the 45 car FM contingent getting the green while the FF field was still crawling out of Canada corner at a snail pace. As the pace car left the track, pole car Keith Nunes seemed to slow even more and I virtually came to a stop just past the bridge. I had visions of the lead FM cars coming up on our group at 150 mph before we got a green. Nunes pulled one more speed up/slow down at the top of the hill and then accelerated off to take the green with a multi-car length lead passing the starter. I fell into line and avoided a two car spin in turn 5, although I almost stopped again to avoid nailing Joe Tovo at the exit. By lap two the lead Mazdas had caught us up, and my motor had developed a strange ticking sound I attributed to a cracked exhaust. Rpm dropped a couple hundred and the water temp started up. It was clear I wasn’t going anywhere, and I began thinking seriously of pulling off after getting in enough laps to get a finish. Then suddenly on lap 5 exiting turn 3, the motor went poppita-poppita and I coasted down to pull
straight off at turn 5. Later analysis revealed a crankshaft thrust bearing had broken and pieces got into the valve train breaking two lifters and causing various other havoc. In FM Matt Beardsley ran away and hid with an amazing 23 second margin of victory. FF wasn’t nearly so one sided. First Keith Nunes began getting a black flag for his bogus start just about the time I coasted to a stop. He finally pulled in out of the lead after 7 laps and retired. Chris Winkler, John LaRue and Jason Byers all had their moments in the lead but finally finished in that order with young Kyle Krisiloff an impressive 4th. Dave Hopple was left to duke it out in the second group and was just nipped by Bill Kephart at the finish for 6th. The Downs family was led by Matt in 6th with Dick 12th and Anthony parked after 7 laps with Brian Snyder 24th. Dan Bruggeman soldiered on to 26th FF.
Overall, LOL did not have its finest results in this year’s racing. In Saturday’s first race for F500/FV, I arrived at turn 5 just in time to see corner workers rolling Steve Jondal’s car upright to allow Steve to bail out. He had been pinched from both sides and shot up into the air with a couple flips landing him upside down on the asphalt, but fortunately he was shaken but not hurt. Both Bruce Livermore and Helmut Friedrich disappeared from the Vee group at mid-point and I have no details. Highest (and only) LOL finisher was John Maurus 17th FV. In race 2 Wally Butler was gone from the CSR action after only 4 laps. Again I apologize for lack of details here, but with almost 500 cars scattered about and me parked out of range of everyone closer to Crystal than Elkhart Lake, it was tough to keep track. Race Group 3 concluded Saturday’s events, and Tom Fuehrer was our top overall finisher 25th/15th
AS. Greg Smith was 7th in SSC and Harvey West was another familiar face not running after 8 laps in his AS Mustang. Kenneth Olson only completed 3 laps in his AS Camaro.
Over 60 FA/FC cars started Sunday’s first event, and pole-sitter Larry Connor apparently spun after the first lap and played an unsuccessful game of catch-up as Brian French won by over 6 seconds. In FC Mike Potekhen was untouchable from the pole and eased off in the closing laps to win by over 3 seconds. Wily veteran Dave Weitzenhof had the drive of the day to jump from 9th on the grid to take 2nd. Thomson had his hands full finishing 7th with Szykulski 9th and Kraut 15th. The muscle cars took the track after lunch with Steve Beck our top finisher, 10th both overall and in GT1. Gary Curtis was 13th in GT1 in a sharp looking Panoz. Group 6 saw almost 50 cars starting, but Mark Brakke was our lone success story finishing 15th overall and 10th in EP. I have no details on Jon Brakke’s situation, but he was bumped to the back of the finishers by chief steward action after turning lap record times in EP. Neither Steve Pommer (HP) nor Dean Johnson (GP) were running at the finish. The final group saw 65 SRFs take the green, and LOL drivers turned in their best showing of the weekend. Congratulations to: Gerry Kraut-4, Scott Goolsbey-5, Gary Jensen-15, John Elder-21, Bill Parteneau-29, Tim Gray-32, Justin Elder-35, Eric Wheeler-36, and Lucas Downs-47. Both Reid Johnson and Don Bodin were non finishers, and judging from the body damage on cars running at the end it must have been interesting out there. We helped Chris and the Lindell group pack up and left the track around 7:00 p.m.
So that’s it from this year’s Sprints,Fubar, continued on page 8
Tonneau On-Line August 2001
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Copyright 2001, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
