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Still Racing After All
These Years (Vol. II, Part 4) by Butch Kummer
In Illusions, by Richard
Bach, it is suggested there are only two reasons for ever doing anything: #1) it’s
fun and/or #2) you’ll learn something from it. All I can say is I must have learned a
helluva lot at the April Road Atlanta National, ‘cause it sure didn’t fall under
#1.
After helping me load things up on
Thursday night, Corvette Atlanta member Eric Roberts met me at the track on Friday
afternoon to help set up our paddock space, then met me at the house on Saturday morning
at 7:00 so we could get to the track on time Saturday morning. Although I probably COULD
do a weekend by myself, it’s certainly much easier with help from fellow Corvette
enthusiasts like Eric (and Charlie Johnson at the Savannah weekend). Thanks guys!
Saturday’s schedule called for
each of the six groups (I was in Group 2) to have a twenty-five minute practice session
followed by a twenty minute qualifying session. My best previous lap at Road Atlanta was a
1:35.3 last September, so things were looking up when I ran a 1:33.46 on my third hot lap.
I came into the pits and Eric adjusted the tire pressures, then I went back out to get
serious. Next lap was another 1:33+ (Eric’s still learning to operate complicated
machinery like a stopwatch), then I took an minor off-course excursion in the esses (you
don’t know how fast you CAN go until you know how fast you CAN’T go) for a
1:37.77 backed up with a 1:34.33 in traffic. Just when I was ready to enter "pucker
mode" (which is REALLY serious), the cockpit filled with smoke as I hit the brakes
for Ten and I figured I ought to bring it in to assess things.
Once we got back to our paddock area
(the engine still ran, so it didn’t look terminal), we found that all the oil
breather hoses had blown off and the driver’s side valve cover was leaking. After
replacing the valve cover gasket(s), we cranked the engine and heard a "puffing"
sound from the carburetor, so I thought maybe I’d overreved the engine during my
agricultural expedition and bent an intake valve. We didn’t have time to change the
heads before the afternoon’s qualifying session, so I planned to make one or two laps
on seven cylinders just so I wouldn’t have to start at the back of the 25-car field,
then we’d change to the spare heads Saturday night. Nice try.
I had planned on a short qualifying
session, but it ended up being even shorter than I wanted. Smoke again filled the cockpit
as I entered Turn Ten on my timed lap (I could almost see the gauges), so I finished that
lap (at a 1:43.436, 10th on the grid of 26 cars) and then parked the car out of
harm’s way in Turn One. After getting hauled back to the paddock at the end of the
session, we had the car loaded on the trailer and headed for the shop within an hour.
Time’s a wastin’ and we got work to do.
Once back at the shop, I cleaned
things up a bit with my Home Depot pressure washer, then we got down to taking things
apart. With four of us working we got to the nitty gritty pretty early, determined that #6
had no compression and pulled that head first. While I was taking a quick look at the
valves, Eric said something like "am I supposed to be able to see the crankshaft from
here?". Ends up I had blown a head gasket (unrelated to the off-course excursion)
which caused detonation in #6 and melted a hole in the piston. Figuring that racer’s
tape and JB weld wouldn’t hold up, we rolled the car into the shop, ordered pizza and
started drinking.
As most of you know, Sunday dawned
early and ugly. We got to the track around 10:00 and I’m somewhat relieved I
didn’t have to make a decision about whether or not I would run my race (it was the
first race after lunch). There was heavy rain as the field began the first of two pace
laps and conditions were so bad the two cars on the front row (a GT-2 Toyota and a GT-1
Camaro) came into the pits and quit because they couldn’t see. The lone remaining
GT-1 car (the #05 Mustang from Savannah) was lapped four times in the 18 lap race by the
winning AS Camaro (which had windshield wipers and a defroster), so there’s a very
good chance I could have had my first National win. On the other hand there’s also a
decent chance I’d be facing body and chassis damage, but we’ll never know. Since
the Mustang was already ahead of me in SEDIV points, I’m still fifth in the division
but need at least one more finish to qualify for the Runoffs.
The Solo I at Talladega on April 7-9
is out of the question, so now I have to get an engine back together (which should be no
problem) before the annual Beech Mountain (NC) Hill Climb on May 19-21. For those that
like to plan further ahead, we’ll return to race at Road Atlanta June 10-11 and, if
all continues to go well with my new car, July 28-30. And if you’re interested in
vintage sports car racing and really neat cars (including some really nice Corvettes),
I’d suggest heading to Road Atlanta for the Walter Mitty historic races April 28-30.
See you at the track…
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