The hot news is old stuff by the time this is published, but the September Regional Races at CBIR are canceled as of this writing. I had a lengthy conversation with CenDiv Steward Fred Cummings at Road America during the Kettle Moraine Regional races. Fred had noted safety problems at CBIR during our May National in his report to SCCA following the event. Such problems necessitate a safety "review" by SCCA prior to the club issuing further Sanction for racing at a facility. CBIR stated that the problems noted could not be remedied until after the big money-making NHRA event, so the review could not take place until late August. This put LOL squarely under the gun trying to organize a Labor Day event, but what options did we have? The review took place the Friday before the Kettle Regionals, and none of the problems had been remedied so we had no SCCA Sanctions and LOL racing was over for the year. Fred said there were two major areas of concern. First, the berms on the inside of the track (driver’s right) have been steadily deteriorating for years and in some instances had been shaved down during track maintenance. Thus any car spinning to the inside (a typical occurrence at any turn exit) could be launched into the fence and endanger both safety crews and spectators. Second, at least two corner stations required concrete barrier protection for F & C safety. Both problems could be remedied by equipment on hand at			CBIR and barriers in storage at the track. CBIR has apparently refused to do any work unless compensated by SCCA (either LOL or National). I have no information on cost estimates to rectify the primary problems or any other work required, but I know LOL has no money to pay for work at the track. We now must pause for a quick Fubar summary of track history. I hope to someday fully research the Brainerd racing facility, but here is what I have learned in 27 years of hanging around the track, but cannot vouch for accuracy. Back in the mid 60’s, SCCA racer and Northwest pilot George Montgomery (now sadly deceased) organized some racing buddies and purchased almost 500 acres of swamp and woodland east of Hwy 371. The price was fairly cheap given there was no lake frontage and serious landfill would be required to develop the property for commercial use. A three mile race track was drawn up and pavement laid down. The design was excellent with a long straightaway and challenging high and medium speed corners. The only minor glitch was positioning the pit entrance just past the final turn 10 on the outside of the track, an error also made in the 60’s at the newly laid out Road Atlanta track. Naming the track Donnybrooke Raceway in honor of long-time LOL racers Don Skogmo and Brooke Kinnard, the first SCCA event was run late summer 1968 (according to Darrel Peterson who remembers working the event). An ambitious schedule of amateur and pro races was set up at the new track, but problems quickly developed. The track owners envisioned drawing from the large numbers of vacationers and cabin owners in the Brainerd lake areas. Unfortunately, most people heading north to the lake preferred to stay at the lake rather than heading out to a  Fubar, continued on page 3		LOL Board of Directors Regional Exceutive Greg Youngdahl Home (507) 332-0297 gregy@deskmedia.com Assistant Regional Executive Rob Woolston Home:(651) 739-7837 Robert.Woolston@Unisys.com Secretary Shannon Murphy Home: (612) 798-3575 blueflagger@yahoo.com Treasurer Mark LaBarre Home: (651) 407-7293 mlabarre@usfamily.net Members at Large John Daniels Home: (612) 377-8403 j.danielsjr@all.net Doug Dill Home: (612) 925-1731 Doug_Dill@Yahoo.com Chad Lemmons Home: (651) 688-7976 John Niemi Home: (651) 766-8027 captmayday@aol.com Randy Van De Loo Home: (612) 729-1949 randy@winning.com LOL Web Page: http://www.scca-lol.org LOL Hotline: 612-885-6888

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Tonneau On-Line	October 2001	Page 2
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