HEAVY RAINS BRING TEAM SLOAN TO A HALT!!!
Fortunately that was Friday night on the ride to the track! Saturday
morning wasn't quite ready yet when Paul Kort showed up at the motor home
headquarters of Sloan Racing just before 7 AM. But he managed to wake
everyone up to get the day started before sunrise. Cloudy, cold and very
windy. Thursday and Friday's 75 degree temperatures had been replaced with
a
cool 40. It took awhile to get the cars warmed up. Cathy Ann needed a
battery transplant to get things turning.
Just to prove that we could actually feel colder than we already were,
Teddy Seidenfeld drove in from Pittsburgh in his shiny red 2000, ... with
the top DOWN! Teddy jumped right in and helped with the final preparations
for morning warmups. Chris and Diane Luers drove in from Columbus, only to
inform us that it was much WARMER back home. So much for the day's weather
forecast.
Ten minutes on the track was barely enough to get the tires warmed, but
Cathy Ann knew her 1600 wasn't handling right. Jim said he was running
fine,
so we let a few pounds of air out of her rear tires. Hopefully that would
do it.
Qualifying gave everybody another chance at the track. The sun had
managed to show up, but the winds persisted and kept things cool. Jim's
qualifying laps were smooth and he qualified first for the afternoon's
qualifying race. Cathy Ann continued to have handling problems and a new
vibration in the steering wheel. The crew attacked Cathy Ann's roadster,
determined to find the problem. When the words 'toe-in' were said, Chris
commented that we had corrected the toe-in several times over the summer and
dove underneath to find a very sloppy idler box. A brief discussion between
Chris, head mechanic for Sloan Racing and Teddy, Idler box specialist (long
story!) resulted. A quick trip up the ramps gave everybody a good look
underneath and the problem was soon corrected, or so we hoped.
Lunch was served by the best track Mom a team could ask for, Cathy Sloan
(Jim's wife & Cathy Ann's mother). Revitalized and warmed by the sun, which
had finally decided to joins us full time, it was back to the cars. Jim's
car needed the brakes bled and adjusted. Chris made short work of that
task.
A few minor adjustments and topping off of fluids was all that was needed to
prepare for the afternoon's qualifying race. Unfortunately, Teddy had to
depart for Pittsburgh to prepare for a flight out of town. Cathy Ann's
steering problems were on all our minds. Paul gave her a final talk on the
grid. "Watch how she steers through the first turn, then forget about it
and
race!" Cathy Ann was starting from the rear of the group after a poor
showing in the morning sessions.
When the green flag fell, Jim found himself surrounded by a Datsun 510
and
a Porsche 914, both in a different class. He was having so much fun
swapping places every lap with them, that he never noticed Cathy Ann's
progress. The steering problems were gone, the brakes felt good, and the
motor was running great. Time to start passing people in her way. Though
she never caught Jim, she did manage to turn her best lap time ever at
Nelson's and finished second behind Jim. Dad got a big hug at impound from
a very happy daughter!
Saturday evening was the year end party at the Kort's residence. Good
food, Run-off videos, and great company. What could be better.
Sunday morning the sun rose over the frosted fields and a hundred race
cars at Nelson's. Slowly the silence of the night and the smell of
breakfast cooking, was replaced with the sound of high compression motors
struggling to start and the smell of starting fluid. Cathy Ann and Jim had
stayed up late and adjusted the valves on her car so it would be ready for
the day.
Hardship practice was slow, mainly due to really cold tires that refused
to warm, but both cars were running fine. The sun continued to warm
everything and unlike Saturday, no wind was blowing. By the time G
Production's group took the track, it was actually starting to be a nice
day. Since no race day is without a gremlin or two, Cathy Ann's car refused
to go into gear on the false grid when called to the track. Chris and Paul
were able to rock the car free of what ever had a hold of it and Cathy
roared off to join the other cars on the grid just in time for the start.
While Jim was running door to door with a FP CRX and a FP Midget, Cathy
fought her way past an EP BMW 2002. Jim was off in first place in GP until
the CRX decided to lose its motor. Jim, being the ever helpful sportsman
that he is, attempted to help by pushing the CRX, not realizing the CRX was
trying to get off the track and out of everybody's way. Jim left a
fiberglass fender behind to mark the occasion and continued in a partially
open wheeled Datsun. This gave Cathy an opportunity to sneak past dad and
continue her battle with the BMW. They traded positions several laps in a
row, before Cathy decided it was time to get serious and pulled out for a
victory in her class and left the BMW driver wonder who was driving that
little roadster! Jim, missing one fender and sporting a shortened hood, was
able to regain most of the lost ground but could never quite catch Cathy and
the crowd she was racing in. Cathy proudly took first in class and Jim
managed to hang on to second place in class. The impound lot was again the
scene of a happy family reunion. Thankfully, Jim's missing fender was
collected by a corner worker and was returned by the SCCA Track Master, Walt
Matenkosky. A quick survey of the damage to Jim's 1600 showed a smashed
grill, a bit of bent sheet metal, the aforementioned shortened hood, but an
unbent frame.
The rest of the day was spent reviewing the year and discussing the off
seasons rebuilding schedule, Everybody enjoyed another wonderful lunch
prepared by Track Mom, Cathy. Group photos were in order, so with the crew
surrounding Cathy's car and trophy, proudly displaying a Datsun banner,
another great racing weekend drew to a close.
Paul
OROC
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