The books are closed on the 1998 Jack Pine Sprints, and what a glorious event it was. Race chairs Marc and Elena Varnum not only worked overtime to produce a fantastic weekend, but they somehow arranged for the best Labor Day weather ever. I figured close to 150 cars were on hand for the four day program. I have sent in a shortened synopsis of the National races to SPORTSCAR and it remains to be seen how much of that they print. I will focus this article on other aspects of the event. I have also been accused of a bit of negativity and whining in recent FUBARs, so we will remain upbeat! This may sound a bit paranoid, but as I tell my wife Vickie, "I’m not paranoid, I KNOW people are out to get me." Also, although I do have proof that Blackhawk Farms is responsible for El Nino and the TWA Flight 800 disaster, at least I’m not a dyslexic paranoid who lies awake all night worrying that he might be following someone.

We missed the trip to this year’s Kettle Morraine races, after a careful evaluation of my preparation found it to be lacking. On the deadline for entry cancellation I found myself without: motor, crew, tires and a travel day on Friday. All I know is Don Lyddon won both FF races after Jeff Meister went flying over Don at Turn 6 with an expensive landing. Keith Sylvester had throttle failure in the first race but was up to 4th on Sunday. Scott Hutchison won Saturday, but needed luck plus skill to keep out of the barrier on the Kettle Bottoms Sunday when a ball joint pulled apart on the front upright with resultant loss of steering. In reference to the tire situation, I visited Goodyear’s Penske Comp Tire West dealership at Michigan Intl. in conjunction with a trip the week after the NASCAR race. All their orders with the factory were placed back in the spring, as Goodyear was moving their radial race tire division to Santiago, Chile this summer, and most Sports Car Specials would be out of production. Comp West underestimated the number of competitors in several classes, and by early August were out of FF rear tires from the April production run. There had been a change in the construction of FF fronts, so a batch of 160 compound tires had been produced and were available. I purchased two, but by then no Goodyear dealer in the country had any rears, as the factory was holding a certain number of tires for the Runoffs, and club racing tire production was low on Goodyear’s priority list. It’s a sad situation when a self-described greatest tire company has customers lined up with money in their pockets, but no tires on the shelf. With club racing tires ranging in price from $116 to well over twice that amount, you would figure Goodyear makes a tidy profit on each sale.

At any rate, by the time the Monday before Labor Day rolled around, I had finally assembled the short block of my latest Fubar precious metal series motors - this the "Platinum Plus" (on the cutting edge). This was thanks to a number of friends in the racing business: Art Jaworski who machined the block and crankshaft I had left in his shop back in 1991, Curtis Farley who set me up with pistons and rods at little over cost, Tom Andresen who sold me a used Swift oil pan at a friendly price, and Alan Murray who gave me a friendly deal on bearings and misc. engine bits. Instead of playing in an aviation group golf tournament I should have been getting the whole package together that Monday, but of course didn’t get to the point of firing up the engine until Thursday morning, and by then Vickie was ready for divorce after I had trashed the garage area and left greasy paw prints all over the house during a couple late nights. But except for a couple dozen minor crises, I had the car in the trailer by dark Thursday.

It’s a good thing Kathy Maleck had set up the Friday test day because although I only put the car out for 3 brief sessions, each one revealed a minor glitch which could have cost me major during the National. The weather was superb, the track in excellent shape, including some new sticky sealant at the apex of turn 10, and the free pizza lunch was a great bonus. Kevin Hummel stopped in at the track after work on Friday just in time to help me get my junk stowed back in the trailer. We caught dinner along with the Schaller crew on east Gull Lake after darkness descended, and coming out of the restaurant at 10:00 pm with the full moon over the lake, with a warm breeze blowing, it seemed more like the old Uncola National July date than Jack Pine weekend. Thanks again to Kathy M. for a room Friday.

On Saturday morning Marty Handberg joined our group bringing along the new brochure he had put together with some great photos for Excelsior Henderson motorcycles. I was able to resolve my Goodyear shortage through the generosity of two individuals: ’70s FF competitor John Berget had shipped me two used rears free of charge (I did send him a check later): and Jim Nash offered me his June Sprints rear takeoffs for the price of one case of beer (domestic). Dave Hopple also offered a set of used rears if things got tough. I was still anxious to keep the tire time at a minimum, so for qualifying I put on my new fronts along with the Nash rears. The intent was to get a decent lap in the first half dozen circuits, then pit to change to the older tires for the balance of the 35 minute qualifying session. The only problem was I didn’t get a fast lap on the first set of tires, and although Kevin and Marty did a record setting tire change in a matter of a few short minutes (they are now being recruited by the Penske organization), the second set was a bit weird to drive and I found myself buried on the 5th row for my worst BIR National grid in years. This was also due to the high quality field, as two Michigan Van Diemens (Byers and Adams) locked down the front row in near record time with an Ohio Swift (Reinsel) third. A bit over a second covered positions 2-9 with Jeff Lewis high LOL qualifier with an excellent run in his new Van Diemen, with Hopple and Nash 6th and 8th.

In other sessions, the warm weather, slight tail wind, and sticky track, made for a raft of new qualifying records. The main controversy surrounded the noise readings, as a slightly revised position for the noise reader showed a number of cars over this year’s 102db limit. Both John Schaller’s FA and GT-l were in the red zone, possibly augmented by John’s hacking and wheezing with a lingering respiratory infection. They were Schaller’s first drives of the 1998 season, which was a personal record for his latest season start, but didn’t appear to affect skill level as he notched a new GT-l qualifying mark despite easing off the power just past the bridge. FC’s Bill Wiedner was seething after his best times were pitched, as he racked up a solid 2db over his top sound reading at any other track. John Miller benefited from the services of temporary crew chief Steve Knapp, who was subbing for normal wrench Dan Campbell, who had the weekend off. Steve took his second Driver’s School at BIR back in ’83 and reported it was great to be back even though he was only driving the Miller Milling golfcart. He hopes for better luck in the final two IRL events, after nearly writing off two cars in the most recent events due to other people’s mistakes. We then headed for the polebarn and a free spaghetti dinner with a Minnesota wine and cheese party on a tractor-towed hay wagon with jug wine and tube cheese augmented by plenty of tap brew.

Some black skies to the south on Sunday morning gave faint hope for the less than fully tired (race rubber speaking), but the showers skirted Brained and the first race was flagged off with a very clean track. Eric Heuschele probably hoped for some rain to help extinguish the blaze under his Viper’s hood, which put the record setting T1 car out of business, while sending some turn 4 spectators scurrying for marshmallows. When asked where the best place to watch the FC race would be, John Hogdal responded "somewhere around the medical tent.", but the hoped-for four car dice for the lead failed to materialize. Second gridded Hogdal muffed the start, and pole sitter Steve Thomson’s tires started going away early, leaving Wiedner to lead all but the first lap and exploit the Swift aerodynamic advantage to an almost comfortable win over Thomson’s record setting VanDiemen with Scott Rubenzer third. A slightly revised noise meter location further away from the echo-producing bridge prevented the debacle that would have occurred had one of the race leaders been black flagged. Schaller lifted coming under the bridge and successfully stayed quiet, at least until he lost a plug wire and went to a less noisy three cylinder configuration. A pit stop improved things, but a plug apparently fouled, and the record setting FA Ralt finished the race in the pits. Wiedner was flirting with the limits, but happily was not black flagged, as it was ruled that Thomson’s being very close in 2nd contributed to the readings. After the race, Bill thanked Knapp’s Elite Engines, Hoosier tires, and the sound monitor folks, for his win. Ken DeNault set qualifying and race records in Formula Mazda, and gently beat on me for being anti-FM, although he admitted that Mazdas and FC cars were a bad mix on a crowded track. Ken wanted to thank all the LOL folks for running another great event.

In SRF, three of the fastest qualifiers were relegated to the back of the grid due to weight problems, but as Gerry Kraut brought the field to a very slow pace, the green came out early; but just in time for Mike Gorman to blast through turn 10 and legally jump back to the head of the pack as it reached the end of the pits. It was all Kraut could do to slip into Gorman’s draft and hang on. By mid race the two were swapping the lead and pulling slightly clear of the second duo of Dave Kennedy and Jim Simaras (who also made remarkable progress through the pack at the green). On the final lap, Kraut reported he was barely able to hang in on the straight, but Gorman took it a bit too deep in three and got slightly crossed up, allowing Gerry through for the lead which he held to the checker. It was Kraut’s first National win and a cause for great celebration for him and the family.

Although Marty had to get back to the Cities Saturday night, the Hummel crew was augmented by ex-FFer Jeff Lau and his family, so we were in the preparation mode during Race 4. All I knew was Schaller ran away and hid from the pack while keeping the noise monitor quiet. I didn’t even talk to him after the race as they were quickly into the packing mode while John and Joan hit the road back to the state fairgrounds, where Tecumseh was having a VIP affair in support of their ASA race car. In the FF race, things got off to a brisk start and Dr. Don Lyddon made a slick move at turn 3 inside of two other cars to jump up to 4th. Jason Byers and Jon Adams were hooked up at the front, with Dave Hopple hanging in there, until a recurrence of his June Sprints electrical problems coupled with a broken shock mount sent the Piper to the pits at mid race. Byers and Adams pulled a gap over Lyddon, while swapping the point up till the checker, with Adams (on Hoosiers) in front. I got into a mid race dice with Tom Rensel, and had he been more inclined to work together, we might have closed the gap on Lyddon who was by then running alone; but he preferred to race for every corner, as we fell back toward the clutches of Jim Nash and Jeff Lewis. I squeezed by Rensel into turn 1 the next to last lap, and made sure he stayed there for the duration. He apparently was confused about where we finished because right after we took the checker he flashed me a single finger salute which may have indicated he thought I won. Rensel was very impressive on the cool down lap as he also passed Lyddon, but when he tried to read me the riot act in Impound, I suggested he take his sad story to the Stewards. I was darn happy to have the car running well again and not in the mood for argument. LOL was shut out on the podium with Nash, Lewis and Jeff Gadbois in places 6-8, and Hopple bummed out as he pushed the car on the trailer with our best hope for another LOL FF victory shot down.

We missed most of the FV race as Impound offers limited viewing opportunities, but from all reports the proceedings featured close but gentlemanly racing with a half dozen cars having a shot for the lead. Bruce Livermore was most often in front and led the last dash out of 10 to the checker. Mike Vrchota, Mike Beaumia and Ron Whitson all officially led at start/finish, although God only knows who was in front most of the time. Beaumia, Vrchota and Leigh Rolfshus finished 2-4 with Dave Bowman 6th. The overall win went to Steve Jondal’s record setting F500 Red Devil who was turning near FF times and lapped the field.
In the Vintage event, Frank Roberts’ Jaguar was overall winner with Rich Stadther right behind in his Merlyn, and Carl Larsen’s Devin third in a 20 car field of nifty machinery.

The Enduro brought Sunday’s festivities to a close with 20 cars taking the green flag for a 25 lap event. By that time, Jimmy Griggs was putting the VW on the trailer with terminal engine woes. Ron Schlegel’s Honda CRX led Bill Tapper and track announcer Crash Collins to the checker with Randy VanDeLoo and Michael Brown next across. Tapper was an operative word at this point as it was getting a bit thirsty out, so we all headed over to the Dekko/Rolfshus paddock where we were guests for a fabulous cookout. The cool air arrived with sunset, but by that time we had some warmth from within, and it was another great night.

This is way too long and I can’t provide full details on Monday’s slate of Regional races. Thomson was running away from the open wheel group when his left front tire got down to the fabric and he left the field of play with Steve Beck the overall winner. Ken DeNault again won FM and Jim Nash beat me like a drum with a flawless drive to the FF win. Al Murray won CFF while Vrchota nipped Rolfshus in FV with Kathy Maleck all smiles in third. Silly season in CART is upon us (when drivers go out and wreck lots of cars), but a Fubar stringer in the field reported that Sunday night after the R/A Champ Car race, at well after dark, a quartet of drivers, including winner Franchitti, Moore, Gordon and Jones bellied up to the Siebkens bar for several rounds of Jaeger with mixed drinks chasers. Dario’s father (who refers to the establishment as "Sheepskins") was not there to supervise, and it reportedly got a little drunk out, with the race winner dragged off later in a fairly comatose state. Apparently he recovered in time for Vancouver. My source prefers to remain anonymous, but I heard Mike Soltis didn’t get back from Elkhart until Monday. I also recently saw "Saving Pvt. Ryan" which may (or may not) lay to rest the controversy of what is a Fubar. Thanks much to Pat Lamon for the faxes and great T & S work and to all the LOL crew for a great Jack Pine. And thank you Judy K. Your friends are thinking about you!

P.S. Last minute Comp Board notes:

Year end awards ballots will be sent with LOL election ballots. There will be an October 20 comp Board meeting at Murray Motorsports to tabulate ballots, while final Awards selections will be made November 3. Any and all LOL members interested in providing further details on awards nominations or participating in the selection are encouraged to attend these meetings.

Copyright 1998, Land O'Lakes Region.
Last revised: October 3, 1998