On the first day of the Blackhawk National I showed up at the track, only the track was in Rosemount for the season opener for NRKA go-carts. The Vo-Tech venue will be their only track this year as the go-carters had a falling out with the CBIR folks and the track at Brainerd will be dormant. Walking into the cart paddock I was impressed with several things. The first was the number of current and former SCCA drivers on hand. Only one was driving; the rest were working on their kids or others’ carts. The list included Dick Roe with about half a dozen machines, John Miller with 2 carts for 2 kids, John Hogdal with a stable of three (kids/karts), Darrel Peterson and Steve Beck. Only Darrel was driving his own Yamaha, the rest were just working.
Also impressive was the array of nifty equipment, enclosed trailers, campers and paddock gear that rivaled anything seen at a SCCA event. Another impressive item was the long list of classes from rookie 4 strokes to an experimental group with everything in between for 2 strokes and shifters in various weights, ages and degree of experience. They hustle the groups on and off the course in rapid succession with a 4 wheel ATV serving as flatbed hauler for carts stranded on course. Still everyone gets multiple
practice sessions and two races per day, adding up to a busy weekend. The course is great with fast and slow corners plus elevation changes, giving challenge and passing opportunities galore. But what is most impressive is the level of talent on hand in all the classes with some very rapid youngsters giving the older folks a real run for their money in very close wheel-to-wheel racing. I only got to see one round of races, but Mitch Peterson turned in one of the most impressive drives in his new 4 stroke, starting third but passing a cart each of the first two laps to take command and walk away from the field. The Hogdal group had a series of mechanical problems early, the most serious a totally blown brand new Briggs motor just as it was being warmed up after being installed in Cassie’s cart. Darrel Peterson had a mysterious loss of power on the pace lap of his race, but after a mixture adjustment it seemed to be running fine in the paddock. Didn’t see the Millers race, but the Roe contingent seemed to be running at the front of their various groups. Talked to LeAnne Roe, who we all miss at Brainerd since her family falling out with CBIR management. Carting is certainly alive and well in the metro area.
Meanwhile the BVR National in South Beloit was also enjoying summer-like conditions with a good turnout for the Shootout at Blackhawk. I received an update from Dave Hopple, who had a good season opener starting 6th and moving up to 4th. Dave assured me that the track wasn’t getting any smoother, as attested by the FF times being noticeably slower than last year’s. Steve Forrer started his brand new Van Diemen on pole but was passed on the third lap by John LaRue, who pulled away to a 15 second
win over Bruce May with Forrer 3rd. Hopple got by Jerry Szykulski (gridded 5th) but the group of Fords got strung out early with little dicing at the front. Szykulski finished 7th just ahead of a charging Jim Nash who started at the back after a throttle cable broke in qualifying. Nash, Szykulski and Jim Jaworski had all run the first CenDiv National at GingerMan, but only Szykulski came away with points (3) and Jaworski’s problems at the opener continued with a mechanical DNF at Blackhawk. Steve Jondal started 3rd in F500 and moved up to 2nd, as the 2-strokes shared the track with FF. In FC Steve Thomson is threatening to make the CenDiv points race a runaway as he continued his streak winning from pole at Blackhawk. Chuck Snyder was a DNF in FM and I have no other results from LOL folks in other classes.
I talked with Jeff Gadbois last week and he passed along the sad news that he parted ways with his Swift this spring, as a pair of young drivers from Vancouver drove all the way to Minnesota to pick up the famous black FF. Jeff is caught in the middle of a labor dispute in his work, and lack of income coupled with kids heading to college have put any racing plans on hold. We’ll miss both driver and car, and what’s doubly depressing is that one of the fastest Fords on the Brainerd straightaway apparently will be consigned to autocrossing in the Pacific Northwest. I wish I could have grabbed the engine before it left the area.
We’ll also miss our annual Drivers School, but by the time this is published the racing season will have opened at CBIR, so I’ll run a report next issue.
Tonneau On-Line May 2000
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Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
