The Tonneau On-Line, July 2000, Page 6

It has been a weird couple of weeks. First I was shocked to hear of the unexpected death of twice Formula Ford champion Bruce May on May 10. Bruce suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep at the age of 46. I can’t say I was really close to May, although I saw and spoke to him many times during his FF career, which spanned over two decades. Highlights were RUNOFFS victories in ’96 and ’97 at Mid Ohio in the prototype Swift that R. K. Smith drove to victory in its first Runoffs outing at Road Atlanta in 1983. Bruce was never exactly the picture of health and was a heavy smoker, but apparently had no forewarning of a serious heart problem. He closely resembled a shorter Richard Petty, and I would have

guessed his age to be closer to Petty’s than what it was. My most vivid memory of Bruce was the ’91 June Sprints when the FF race came down to a one lap shootout between May and my partner Jim Render. Render put a fantastic move on May in the last lap, which was documented in a painting commissioned by "The

Motorsports Collector" and given to Jim after his second Sprints FF victory. Bruce went on to his championships as the CenDiv guru of FF racing, while Render is too busy with kids and real estate development and has been out of racing for the past several years. I understand Bruce was buried in his driver suit.

Steve Knapp made the trip to Indianapolis for Bruce’s funeral, as May had worked with Steve as a spotter at Indy, plus was his long-time Elite FF-1600 customer. While there he stopped by the racetrack, and a deal fell together for Knapp to drive the Robbie Buhl backup car in qualifying. They shoehorned Steve into the car and he put it in the field with a solid run on the second day. Many of Steve’s friends view this development with mixed emotions, as he is still suffering ill effects from last year's slam into the Atlanta Speedway wall,

another encounter would be a bad deal. The Knapp story was documented by Strib beat reporter Patrick Reusse, who is covering the 500. This move is not unlike assigning Charlton Heston as grand marshal of the Million Mom anti-gun parade in Washington, given Reusse’s previous negative forays into motorsport coverage. At any rate, Steve put in a solid drive at Indy in his first race since the accident, and finished in the top 20 despite handling problems. Montoya gave some vindication to CART, as he dominated the event after Greg Ray crashed twice to again deny Menard, and both women took themselves out attempting to go three abreast (never a good idea) into turn one.
Back in mid May I was frantically at work in the garage dusting off the Swift for the season’s first event at Brainerd just one week after fishing opener.

So far the weather gods are making LOL look like geniuses, as I write this on the first Memorial Day weekend in over 25 years without either LOL racing or Driver School. This Saturday an ark would be more appropriate than a race trailer for a trip to CBIR, as steady rain is falling across the state. Continued cloudy and cool conditions over the holiday were more like old times, in contrast to

Dave Andryski's IROC Camaro, Roger Karnopp's Formula Ford, Anthony Nigro's Shelby Mustang, and Dan Powell's Austin Healy 3000. Must be vintage racing at CBIR! Jerry Winker photo.

the previous Saturday. That day we left the cities in the early hours and were rewarded with a beautiful

sunrise just past Monticello. Except for a shower after the first day of racing, we had excellent mosquito-free conditions for the weekend, although a gusty headwind slowed speeds on the straightaway on Saturday. Steady rain during a Driver School would be an unfortunate combination, and we might still be pulling student cars out

FUBAR continued on page 7

Tonneau On-Line
July 2000

Page 6

Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
| Previous | Next |


It has been a weird couple of weeks. First I was shocked to hear of the unexpected death of twice Formula Ford champion Bruce May on May 10. Bruce suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep at the age of 46. I can’t say I was really close to May, although I saw and spoke to him many times during his FF career, which spanned over two decades. Highlights were RUNOFFS victories in ’96 and ’97 at Mid Ohio in the prototype Swift that R. K. Smith drove to victory in its first Runoffs outing at Road Atlanta in 1983. Bruce was never exactly the picture of health and was a heavy smoker, but apparently had no forewarning of a serious heart problem. He closely resembled a shorter Richard Petty, and I would have	guessed his age to be closer to Petty’s than what it was. My most vivid memory of Bruce was the ’91 June Sprints when the FF race came down to a one lap shootout between May and my partner Jim Render. Render put a fantastic move on May in the last lap, which was documented in a painting commissioned by "The Motorsports Collector" and given to Jim after his second Sprints FF victory. Bruce went on to his championships as the CenDiv guru of FF racing, while Render is too busy with kids and real estate development and has been out of racing for the past several years. I understand Bruce was buried in his driver suit. Steve Knapp made the trip to Indianapolis for Bruce’s funeral, as May had worked with Steve as a spotter at Indy, plus was his long-time Elite FF-1600 customer. While there he stopped by the racetrack, and a deal fell together for Knapp to drive the Robbie Buhl backup car in qualifying. They shoehorned Steve into the car and he put it in the field with a solid run on the second day. Many of Steve’s friends view this development with mixed emotions, as he is still suffering ill effects from last year's slam into the Atlanta Speedway wall,	another encounter would be a bad deal. The Knapp story was documented by Strib beat reporter Patrick Reusse, who is covering the 500. This move is not unlike assigning Charlton Heston as grand marshal of the Million Mom anti-gun parade in Washington, given Reusse’s previous negative forays into motorsport coverage. At any rate, Steve put in a solid drive at Indy in his first race since the accident, and finished in the top 20 despite handling problems. Montoya gave some vindication to CART, as he dominated the event after Greg Ray crashed twice to again deny Menard, and both women took themselves out attempting to go three abreast (never a good idea) into turn one. Back in mid May I was frantically at work in the garage dusting off the Swift for the season’s first event at Brainerd just one week after fishing opener. So far the weather gods are making LOL look like geniuses, as I write this on the first Memorial Day weekend in over 25 years without either LOL racing or Driver School. This Saturday an ark would be more appropriate than a race trailer for a trip to CBIR, as steady rain is falling across the state. Continued cloudy and cool conditions over the holiday were more like old times, in contrast to
Dave Andryski's IROC Camaro, Roger Karnopp's Formula Ford, Anthony Nigro's Shelby Mustang, and Dan Powell's Austin Healy 3000. Must be vintage racing at CBIR! Jerry Winker photo.		the previous Saturday. That day we left the cities in the early hours and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise just past Monticello. Except for a shower after the first day of racing, we had excellent mosquito-free conditions for the weekend, although a gusty headwind slowed speeds on the straightaway on Saturday. Steady rain during a Driver School would be an unfortunate combination, and we might still be pulling student cars out FUBAR continued on page 7

Tonneau On-Line	July 2000	Page 6
Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region	Last revised: March 13, 2003	\| Previous \| Next \|