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See ya at the track... |
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BK Racing 2004 Wrap-UpAs we finished up 2003 we finally had Lucifer running again after being in pieces for over a year. For 2004 the plan was to run six South Atlantic Road Racing Championship (SARRC) races to control our destiny at the SARRC Invitational Challenge, then hopefully win the GT-1 title. We would use our club racing engine (“Mildred the Mule”) during the season, then put the high dollar Trans-Am engine (“High Maintenance Meredith”) between the frame rails for the SIC. As my buddy Joe Hooker says, “If you want to see the racing gods laugh, make plans”. Things started out well enough with a close win (over Joe in his GTA taxi-cab) at Road Atlanta in March, then things headed south two months later at VIR when we broke Mildred’s crankshaft during qualifying on Friday. About the same time I had also left Home Depot’s IS department after ten years and was questioning whether I wanted to stay in data processing or start a whole new career path. BK Racing had gotten some customers over the winter, so between that and embarking on a new career selling Cool Shirts for Shafer Enterprises, we carried on with our racing plans. We put Meredith in for the July Double SARRC weekend at Barber with the idea of limiting the revs to 7500 in order to make her last through the SIC. Things worked very well through nine and a half laps of the ten lap race as I moved to the lead after starting fourth, then I threw it all away by spinning in the Corkscrew with a seven second lead. Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise because it removed all chance of taking six wins into the SIC. On Sunday I got a great start from my ninth qualifying position and ran second in the early laps, then the tires gave up and I cruised to the finish. For those who care to listen, Barber Motorsports Park is a magnificent facility and a great motorcycle track, but it absolutely sucks as a racetrack for big cars! With no chance at winning the SARRC championship, I continued to crew for various Monettes (Bob, Will & Zach) as they pursued their racing goals. We concocted a plan that would get Bob the GT-2 SARRC championship in his first full year of road racing, but had to settle for the Atlanta Region championship instead. We also jacked up the radiator cap on Rich Shafer’s ’84 Pontiac Trans-Am (affectionately known at the “Valdez”) and rolled an SPO Camaro under it for Solo I and hillclimb competition, plus provided support for Rich as selected events. The season concluded with the ARRC at Road Atlanta and the Cool Shirt SuperPro Shootout on November 7. Running on a budget we used Paul Newman’s two year-old BFG radials that I had picked up at the 2002 Runoffs and STILL turned a 1:28.5 in qualifying on Sunday. We finished second on Saturday and third on Sunday, but that 1:28 is the fastest lap I’ve ever run at Road Atlanta. In true racer’s fashion, however, I know that we can go faster with sticker tires and a wing instead of a blade spoiler. Maybe we’ll get to find out in 2005? See you at the track… |
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