by Tom Fisk
and Richard DickinsonThe Solo season is winding down...this month we have a report from Watertown...and by the time you read this, our last event of the season will have been completed and we will be all waiting to attend the year-end banquet and get some wonderful trophies.
Before we get into the action from Watertown, I would like to let everybody know that this will be my last year of Solo II action as well as being the Solo II Chair. I have been competing in Solo II for 13 years, and it is time to do something else. What the something else is...well I am not quite sure yet. I had the opportunity to spend a day in a Spec Racer Ford at Brainerd during an open track day, which was an absolute blast, and I think that I could be competitive in some form of road racing. So...right now I am looking into buying a Spec Racer...if that doesn’t work out, maybe the Shelby Charger will end up as an IT racer...or maybe I will be done with racing altogether. It’s just time to figure out what to do next.
Next year’s Solo II Chair will be (drumroll please), Richard Dickinson, who has been competing for the last couple of years and has been very supportive of LOL’s Solo II program. With that, here is the report from Watertown, as written by Dick...
Watertown, SD, Aug. 19 & 20, 2000
The Sports Car Club of Souixland (SCCS) is to be commended. If you did not attend their double event at the Watertown Airport you missed a good one. First of all you would have suffered cone envy and timer envy. Every single cone was brand spanking new. Competitors felt kind of guilty striking those shiny new cones. The new timer and computer program worked to perfection. As the last entrant completed their run, the program printed, in color, by class, the results including name, result in class, Overall position, PAX position, car description, car number, best run for each entrant, and the six runs of each contestant including cone counts.
The venue at Watertown Airport is large. The apron area is approximately 300 by 100 yards, plus an L shaped taxi-way a couple hundred yards long. The surface will be covered with brand new asphalt for the 2001 SOLO events. If you miss next year's event, it’s your own fault.
The events had few contestants, 19 on Saturday and 17 on Sunday. This led to a lot of a very useful commodity, seat time. Each morning contestants pitched in and set the course. Practice was held until about 11:30, when everyone broke for lunch. Beginning about noon each contestant was given six timed runs. After the timed runs the course was open for practice. A great learning experience with give and take featuring drivers riding with each other and giving advice. Basically you could drive the wheels off the car in practice.
Tim Peterson in an AP Porsche was fastest overall on Saturday with a 52.953, beating Lee Mabee in his DM Caterham by a mere .081 seconds.
DSP and AS had their own class, while others were grouped by bumping order. DSP was won by Kim Glaser in a Honda Prelude with a 57.428 over Steve Schultz in his Fiat X-19 at 57.799, a very close contest. In AS Russ and Jim Wiles in their BMW M3 raced Mike Bartley in his Audi TT and Ray Bridenstine in a Toyota MR2 Turbo. Russ Wiles won both days, with Jim Wiles second on Saturday and Ray Bridenstine taking second Sunday. Harry Weber continues his improvement with each event. It’s rumored Harry Aro is looking to sell his Probe GT because of Weber’s improving times in his VW GTI. Steve Jones in his CS Mazda Miata deserves a mention for his 53.467 on Saturday and 58.717 on Sunday. There was a special gleam in Jones eye as he passed around photos of his RX7 race car which has just come from the graphics shop. Three years in the building, and it’s almost done. Road racers next year, beware.
Last, if cone envy and computer timer envy was not enough, trophies were special. Using digital cameras and computers, each class winner was given a framed photo, with the class, driver name and place printed on the photo. A neat keepsake.
Just a note, La Crosse is the 24th of September, the 40th Anniversary of the Oktoberfest. It is rumored Sports- Car Magazine will be there and feature the event as SOLO event of the month. See you there.
Deadline for the November
Tonneau is October 10th.
Please submit your material at the LOL Board Meeting that night or send it to Lois Bjelke.
Tonneau On-Line October 2000
Page 3
Copyright 2000, Land O'Lakes Region Last revised: March 13, 2003
