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Short story – first (of NINE!) in
GTA, fifth overall. The BK Racing Monte Cuervo is now third in the 2007 GTA
points race (six points out of first) so we’re still in control of our own
destiny regarding repeating as GTA SARRC Champions.
Next road race is the “Music City Double-Barreled Shootout” at Nashville
SuperSpeedway the weekend of Sept 1 & 2. This will be a double SARRC, double
Mid-Am (MiDiv’s regional racing series) and will be the last opportunity to earn
SARRC points before the SARRC Invitational Challenge at Roebling. Chattanooga
Region is hosting a test day on Friday, then we qualify and race on both
Saturday and Sunday (leaving Monday is a travel/vacation day). We’re expecting
200+ cars for the weekend, the grandstands will be open for spectators (unlike
most of our races, you can see the ENTIRE track), and the NSS staff is an
absolute joy to work with. Let me know if you need more information about that
weekend.
And now the l-o-n-g-e-r version...
= = = = = = = = =
I know y’all get tired of me telling you how great the racing is in the GTA
class, but this article will be different. The racing in GTA is still fabulous,
but at Road Atlanta we had a preview of how competitive the class will be once
the 2008 rules are adopted. I’ve already ordered a new thesaurus so I’ll be able
to develop an adequate vocabulary to describe the action. Until that comes in,
however, I’ll have to go with the old Jeff Gordon standby:
AWESOME!!!
Dennis (McClintock) and I figured the morning qualifying session would be the
faster of the two, so we put on a new set of Hoosier 3035’s, drained all but
four gallons of gas out of the tank and left the bleeder screws loose on the
brake calipers so the stinking brakes wouldn’t slow me down in the corners. <g>
There were nine GTA cars entered in the 43 car Big Bore field, so getting a
clean lap was also paramount. Cunning, strategy (coming down pit road to find a
gap in traffic), and old-fashioned luck resulted in a clean lap and we managed
to turn a 1:35.356 that ended up putting us sixth on the grid, first in GTA. It
wasn’t a stellar, ohmigod-I’m-gonna-die lap, but it WAS a fairly solid one. I
felt a mid-34 was possible, but smacking the wall would have been possible as
well. For the second session we bolted on the four heat-cycle tires from Barber,
filled the tank, and played with some suspension settings to see how they would
affect the handling. We slowed down about four seconds, but I also spent most of
the session playing “asphalt dyno” with some of the cars we’ll be competing
against both this year and in 2008. It’s not quantified data, but it looks like
we’ve got a pretty level playing field defined right now.
Saturday evening’s social was our annual Worker Appreciation party and
fund-raiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. A number of really
ugly men dressed up as really ugly women (your faithful scribe included), then
solicited donations (bribes) from the party-goers if we’d stay away from them.
It was all in good fun and we ended up collecting over $2000 for the Foundation
with (that fluffy-headed ‘ho) Fletcher leading the way yet again. As we left the
track that evening the skies were clear with absolutely no hint of rain.
When Harriett & I woke up Sunday morning it was pouring down rain in Woodstock,
and it continued to rain almost the entire trip to the track. It was about
Oakwood that I remembered we had not deployed the downspouts on the awning the
previous evening, so I was hoping against hope that (a) it wasn’t raining at the
track or (b) someone had seen water collecting in the tarp and unfolded the
drains. Alas, neither hope was realized. As I drove to our paddock spot I was
greeted by Dennis trying to dismantle what was left of our mangled, ripped, and
shredded awning. NOT the way I needed to start the morning!
It rained during most of the ECR event, then continued off and on during the PDX
from 10:00 until 12:30. Since we were the first race after lunch I got Richard
Anderson to relieve me as “Control” for the last thirty minutes of the PDX so I
could get ready for our race. I’ve often said working corners gives me an
advantage as a driver, and this time working the PDX let me know that there was
a dry line developing all around the race track. Did this give me an advantage
by knowing the slicks rather than rain tires were called for? Yes. Does every
driver have the opportunity to help out with the PDX and thus gain that same
advantage? Yes, yes they do!
Scott Murphy and Grant Leadbetter chose not to race, so I rolled off the grid in
fourth place behind Ron Fariss in his GT-1 Camaro, Bob Davis in the #19 SPO
stock car (which will be legal for GTA in the 2008 SARRC season), and Bob Mayer
in his BP Corvette. There were seven cars between me and Randy Gay, Tony Amico,
and Zach Monette who were all clustered in the high 1:37’s. I told Dennis and
Harriett to let me know if the #1, #77, #18 (those three) or the #72 (Steve
Magowen) started moving through the pack.
I got a pretty good start but everyone was tentative going into Turn One because
the track was still pretty damp (and we were all on slicks). I was third behind
Ron & Bob Davis going down through the Esses, then got a good launch out of
Seven and passed Bob on the back straight to move into second overall followed
by Chris Neufeld (GT-3 Mazda) and Terry Giles in his honking GT-1 Corvette. As
we dove into One to start lap two I caught a glimpse of the blue #18 in the
mirror and wondered how in the heck Zach had made up that much ground?!? I even
got on the radio and asked Harriett who was IN the #18 – I thought maybe Zach
had opted not to run because of the rain and Kurt Roehrig was driving the car.
As we finished lap two the blue 18 was all over my bumper, then drove right by
me as we turned into One to start lap three! It didn’t matter who was driving, I
was now SECOND in GTA! Chris Neufeld also got by me as we headed toward Three,
so I was slowly figuring out that maybe the track was dryer than it looked. Both
Zach & Chris had gotten by me pretty easily, plus my mirrors were now filled
with the white Monte Carlos #1 and #19, so I decided it was time to start
pedaling just a bit faster!
I picked up the pace on Lap 4 and was closing on Chris as we went down the back
straight on Lap 5 when the double yellows came out so the corner workers could
tend to Ed McClain’s BP Corvette that was parked against the concrete barrier
exiting Turn Seven. It took four laps to secure that situation, so we got the
green flag again as we came around to complete Lap 9. I got by Chris as we went
into Turn One, he fought back as we went through Three, then I was able to pull
away on the back straight as the track started drying out. I was now third
overall, second in GTA (behind Zach), and was closing slightly on Zach while
trying to keep both Randy and Bob Davis behind me. Zach was maybe a car length
faster down the back straight and I was closing in Ten and One, but it would
have been a BOLD move to try and get by him at that point. Zach was driving
well, particularly for his third event ever in a GTA car, and was taking the
smart line into the corners. The laps were winding down and I’d pretty much
resigned myself to second place being better than trashing two cars trying a
low-percentage move for first.
As we finished Lap 13 Terry Giles finally got his South Florida 310 wound up and
went by me on the back straight before slotting in behind Zach as we turned in
at Turn Ten. Bob Monette in his GT-1 Corvette made a great move to pass both Bob
Davis and myself going into Turn One two turns later. I went from third overall
to fifth overall in half a lap and now had two cars between myself and Zach,
plus Bob Davis and Randy are still on my bumper as well! Harriett & Dennis were
concerned that my radio was broken because I wasn’t saying anything, but I was
too damn BUSY to talk right then! <g>
As this freight train of horsepower and noise moved up the hill thru Two Terry
moved to the right of Zach to take second place. This put Terry in an awkward
position to make Three, and he locked up the tires and slid off the outside of
the corner toward the motorcycle chicane. We all continued around Turn Four
while Terry went through the mud, then came back on the track right in front of
Zach, which Zach didn’t expect. Zach locked up the brakes, they touched, and
Zach ended up on the short end of the deal as he spun and stalled the car. Terry
continued followed by Bob Monette, myself, Bob Davis, Randy, Marshall McLeod (SPO
stock car), and Bob Mayer in hot pursuit. Those seven cars were covered by less
than three seconds at that point!
Terry and Bob Monette checked out on the back straight (I later learned that Bob
out-braked Terry by going to the 150 marker into Ten) leaving the rest of us one
more lap to sort things out for fourth overall. As we got into Seven on the last
lap I went in a bit hot and rode up on the curbing at the exit, which allowed
Bob Davis to get alongside me down the back straight. We matched each other
almost exactly as we both accelerated up to our top speeds approaching 160 mph
before heading down the hill toward Turn Ten. I could have taken Bob in deeper
than I did but we were in different classes so there was no sense in taking a
chance on tearing up both our cars for a meaningless position. Besides, as long
as Bob was beside me than Randy (who also got a run when I bobbled out of Seven)
wouldn’t be able to get past. Yeah – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! <g>
At the checkers it was Ron Fariss leading Bob Monette and Terry Giles by about
twenty seconds, then another three seconds back to Bob Davis, myself, Randy Gay,
Marshall McLeod and Bob Mayer. The five of us were covered by just over two
seconds, so we were essentially nose to tail as we went under the flag. Great
stuff to participate in, and I’m told it was a great show to watch as well! And
under the 2008 rules fourth thru seventh place would also have all been GTA
cars, which would have made it even MORE exciting. As I told Bob Davis in
Impound, had we been racing for the class win the ol’ BK Racing Monte Cuervo
would have been a LITTLE w-i-d-e-r on that last lap. <g>
Hard luck award of the weekend goes to Zach Monette, who probably would have won
GTA if not for the racing incident with Terry. The Kid (he’s twenty-one) is
coming and all us Old Farts need to be watching our mirrors. Randy Gay is the
real deal as well and will be a contender at the SIC, while Tony Amico made
great strides on a track he’d never seen to finish third in GTA, tenth overall.
This win gives us three SARRC wins to go with the second at Barber and third at
CMP with the double race weekend at Nashville yet to go. We’re currently third
in GTA points (behind Tony and Wayne Quick) and continue to have a fighting
chance to defend our 2006 SARRC GTA title.
Next event is the Double at Nashville the weekend of Sept. 1 & 2, then the “2008
GTA Preview” at Roebling the next weekend leading up to the SARRC Invitational
on Sept. 22 & 23. Let me know if you’d like information about any of those
events.
See y’all at the track
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