Fubar, continued from page 3 to the motel where we all were staying, as I would have been totally lost if not incarcerated had I attempted to drive.
Saturday morning the pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the window sounded like bowling balls and it took a couple ibuprofen just to get to the TV. We surfed from various football prevues to the weather channel and back as the rain continued, but by noon figured it was time to venture towards the track. Kathy’s working gear was still lost in the Northwest system and by the time we made it to Registration they were already closed. We left her car outside the track and my reserved parking pass coupled with her flashing a SCCA staff ID allowed her to successfully sneak in about the time SSB was taking to the nearly flooded track. We had missed the pre-lunch GP race where former LOL RE Lona Bradbury qualified 16th and moved up to 13th in a wet race. We drove around the swampy infield as SSB started and just as quickly stopped as a big-time smashup at turn 1 brought out a lengthy red flag. Shauna Marinus’ BMW Z3 had spun just under the bridge and was pounded head on by a Miata, with both drivers removed by ambulance, but fortunately without serious injury. We cut ruts in the soaked infield turf driving around in search of food (Jim Trueman would be spinning in his grave to see his prized layout getting so abused) as time ran out on the 8 lap (half under yellow) race. We parked near the esses in preparation for the FV race which started as the rain continued ever harder.
I donned the always fashionable 30 gallon trash bag for the Vees and stood out in the esses with a gaggle of soaked FV fans including Dave Bowman and Bob Lybarger. They kept me up to date on who was driving what as we tried to see the cars
through the spray and heavy rain. The race was exceptionally clean with cars lining up for the corners and passing completed at the end of the straight with little side by side action in the corners. But there was a good bit of passing going on as Brad Stout turned the fastest race lap making a strong run toward the front only to spin twice back to 5th. 2nd finisher Howard Landon turned in the most impressive performance, as he moved up 7 positions on lap one and steadily continued up the chart for the rest of the full 19 lap event to take over 2nd on the 17th lap, where he finished 12 seconds behind Roger Siebenaler. The latter driver led all but the first circuit while previous champion Bill Noble pulled off after 2 laps due to the terrible conditions. Landon was rewarded with the President’s Cup for his impressive performance. By this time we were soaked to the skin, so retreated to the Thomson paddock/Vrchota motorhome for snacks as the deluge continued. In so doing I missed the efforts of Norm Nelson in EP. I didn’t catch up with Norm until Sunday afternoon, but it turned out he had experienced the week from hell at the Runoffs. Norm’s fresh high-torque motor wasn’t in the Cities until about the time he hoped to hit the road towards Ohio. A rapid motor installation ensued and Norm and Judy were at the track in time to secure a paddock space which was in the same zip-code as the track (right next to the cow pasture) but a substantial hike to any of the Mid Ohio facilities. Norm’s first session on track revealed a problem with clutch actuation, so a painstaking inspection of drive-train ensued, requiring transmission removal. Norm finally determined that the flywheel on the new engine was very slightly thinner than required, so components were swapped and car re-assembled. Then qualifying was marred by more problems both with gear-selection
(tranny in and out again) and a mysterious refusal to start which was never really figured out. Bottom line was a very disappointing 22 spot on the 35 car grid and two very tired Nelsons as Norm and Judy did all the work by themselves. With rain pouring down, Norm reported the drivers gridded in the 20s pretty much agreed to limit passing to clean moves and to try and avoid a huge pileup on the treacherous track which presents tough passing opportunities even in the dry. Result was 20th for Norm, but at least he got past the obnoxious Porsche which qualified 17th.
For AS I got down to the tower which offered a dry vantage point complete with TV monitors where I could watch the progress of Harvey West, who started his Mustang 31st and moved up to 28th with a steady drive in a 10 lap event interrupted with full course yellow as the rain slowly subsided. We then moved back to the esses for the FM event, but with continued drizzle and a soaked track, it was a bit of a parade with one lead change. CenDiv’s SportsCar pick, Micky Gilbert, barely made the podium in 3rd from 5th grid spot. Ken DeNault started 18th out of 19 and finished 13th. We then headed back to town with the Thomson crew for some beer, pizza and welcome dry environment. Mike Vrchota had set up a 2 car FV order with Larry Campbell, which would have both he and Leslie Thomson in new cars next season. No gunfire broke out at the pizza pub as everyone had followed the directions at the entrance and checked their firearms. I was back at the motel watching football wrapup by 10.
Skies were still lead-gray Sunday morning, but there was only a light drizzle as I reached the track in time to survey the complete layout during a stroll around the interior grounds
Fubar,
continued on page 7
Tonneau On-Line December 1999
Page 6
Copyright 1999, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: November 27, 1999
