Fubar, continued from page 6 while warmup sessions went off generally without problems. Wally Butler, the second of LOL’s Canadian contingent, gridded 7th in CSR and showed up on the 10 car grid with full rain tires on his Lola. The setup initially worked well on the damp asphalt and Wally shot up to second by lap five; but as the track dried his tires overheated, and he fell back to the back of the pack as no more rain was forthcoming. S2000 offered an embarassing eight car grid as ACRL and FC has depleted this class to almost nothing. GT-3 was the first race after lunch and I watched the early laps from the tower. Jon Brakke had been doing motor shuffles all week as power problems relegated him to 15th on the 30 car grid. His race engine proved up to the challenge and he passed 4 cars on the first lap and steadily moved up the charts as the race continued for an eventual 6th place finish in what we understand is the Corvair’s final outing.
I missed the last half of the GT-3 race while checking in on the pre-race Thomson operation. They cautiously watched the continued cloudy skies and opted for soft Goodyears on all but the left front while keeping the rains ready for action. Steve’s 14th grid position was due both to his lack of familiarity with the tough Mid Ohio layout plus some tire brand swapping that didn’t quite work out. The 24 car grid, although somewhat smaller than hoped, was not short on quality with polesitter Mike Anderson’s ’97 Van Diemen well below the previous lap record. Top qualifier among SportsCar picks was Guy Cosmo in 4th while previous champ Dave Weitzenhof was just two rows ahead of Thomson in 10th. Relative unknown James Hanson gridded his Cape Motorsport ’99 VD second with previous champ Justin Pritchard third. A few drops of light rain fell as I took
position on the hillside overlooking the esses in the company of Leslie’s brother Brooke (with video camera) and several other Thomson supporters, all hoping for the best. The occasional drizzle and damp off-line pavement were sure to make passing a challenge. On the first turn coming off the back straight Hanson slipped inside Anderson while Pritchard overcooked his inside passing attempt and ran off into the wet grass. A mad scramble ensued as I snapped a couple photos while trying to keep track of the players. The shakedown saw Weitzenhof also off with Thomson slowing to avoid the brouhaha, but Scott Rubenzer (Carbir) jumped the gap all the way up to 4th from 11th. Hanson held sway over Anderson and the field, while Rubenzer nipped by Cosmo for third, and Pritchard slowly moved back up the standings. On lap three a five car shuffle at the end of the back straight saw Thomson almost forced off the inside and losing a couple slots back to 13th to be trapped behind the slower Tatuus driven by Tom Sporney. This balked Steve’s progress for 3 laps. On the 11th circuit Tonis Kasemets tried to force his Carbir inside Rod Galbreath’s older Diemen, and knocked out both cars with Galbreath up against the outside wall. This brought out the pace car for the first of two full course yellows, the second ending just in time for a one lap trophy dash. I missed all the action on the front straight, but apparently Hanson overcooked turn one as drizzle increased and took out an unfortunate Rubenzer in the spin. Anderson reclaimed the lead while Bryce Miller also spun on the last turn as Cosmo passed in the grass at the checker for second. Marty Hahnfeld drove a steady race up from 7th for the final podium slot. Thomson got past Tim Minor on the last lap for a 6th place finish: outstanding under the circumstances. Weitzenhof was
never a factor after his early off-course and finished two spots behind Jeff Beck who was 8th (rear wing askew) in John Church’s car.
The rain became more steady and I opted for the dry tower and TV monitors (video only- no Greg Creamer audio) for the balance of the afternoon, as did Lynn Anderson who had gotten photos of all LOL competitors on the grid. SRF promised to be a shootout on the damp track with Gerry Kraut’s time a second and a half off the pace leaving him way back in 15th in the 27 car field. Warren Stillwell jumped into the initial lead while Kraut was rudely shoved off the track where he collected another car which had spun in the first racing turn melee. The resulting damage and blocked radiator sent Gerry into the pits and retirement on the second lap. Tom Van Camp made rapid progress from 4th on the grid to take Stillwell in a bold move on the 4th lap. Then on lap 9 Stillwell’s hot pursuit of the leader put him into a complete spin on the last turn. He was quickly back on track only to repeat the same maneuver on the next lap as Van Camp pulled away. It looked to be Van Camp’s race as Stillwell dropped to third, behind Jack Willes, with the rest of the field completely strung out on the very damp track. Then on lap 16, entering turn 11, Van Camp running just ahead of Willes put a wheel on the paint at the turn entrance and lost it, sliding well into the gravel pit and out of the race. Stillwell was hanging it out completely in a hard charge and was up to Willes on the next lap and by him in the esses on the 18th lap. From there he pulled away to a very impressive victory. The 17 car GT-1 finale was tame stuff in comparison.
The Thomson entourage packed up the trailer and hit the road in segments
Fubar,
continued on page 8
Tonneau On-Line December 1999
Page 7
Copyright 1999, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: November 27, 1999
