Kind of wish I had been there. Still did get to see some Triumphs compete
at Blackhawk Farms. In attendance with race cars were Jerry Barr - GT6,
Scott Barr - Spit 1500; Shaun Alexander - TR4 and Tom Strange - Spit Mk4
and the Big Top. Weather was great and plenty of time to talk trash thanks
to some serious oil deposits in other groups.
In the race Jerry diced and bettered an MG. Irv Kory, who was spectating,
will have to see a chiropractor following the beating he took to his back
and shoulders from Joe Alexander when son Shaun put a move on a Volvo P1800
he had been dicing with for the better part of the race; don't know who was
more elated, Shaun or Joe.
On the up and down side, Scott Barr was experiencing some engine stumbling
coming out of corners. This was cured by by reorientating the float (not
nearly as easy as on a TR4, but that another story). Scott ran very well
until he disappeared shortly after half way in the race. Funny noises from
the engine that didn't make anyone laugh.
Finished the day off with a great drive home in an open TR6.
E.
At 07:54 AM 8/22/2005, Jack W. Drews wrote:
>Grattan race track, just north of Grand Rapids MI, is a jewel of a track.
>Two miles long, nine (?)corners, three of them blind, elevation changes,
>beautiful northern Michigan surroundings. Hoo boy. We had one Spit, one
>GT6, seven TR3-4-Tornado, for a total of nine Triumphs and we had fun.
>I'll mention only once that in the feature race we were headed by one
>Lotus Super Seven and three MGB's. there oughta be a law against that.
>
>The VSCDA organization did another world-class job putting on a top notch
>event. Even the drivers behaved, and by Sunday morning there had not been
>one drivers' committee investigation.
>
>Some highlights:
>
>Ed Ceiley in his Spit were in another group -- sorry about the little
>coverage in this report but we were pretty busy with other things during
>his sessions.
>
>John Reed, in his rocketship GT6, headed the TR's across the line in every
>session. Great drive, great driver, great car.
>
>Jeff Snook in his white TR3 had the target painted on his back because he
>was so good and fast that the Drewses were gunning for him. Tony Drews was
>delighted to be able to stay in front of him through a whole practice
>session but it took the skulduggery of boxing Snook in behind a slower car
>near the end of the session to do it.
>
>Dad (aka uncle jack) saw a target on the backs of both those guys. In the
>preliminary race, it was Reed, Snook, Jack, and Tony at the end. 'Ol Dad
>gave Tony a bit of his own medicine, boxing him in behind a slower car on
>the last lap and coming across the line first. Age and treachery and all
>that stuff. (giggle giggle chortle chortle hee hee yuk yuk).
>
>For the feature race, Tony had run out of tires so he had two spare
>(previously worn-out) tires switched to his car. Then Snook decided he
>didn't care for the cord showing on his own tires, so he took one of
>Tony's cast-off tires and put it on his TR3. All this came back to haunt
>Tony in the feature race, when a wheel weight came off on the first lap,
>ending his drive. The finish was Reid, Snook, Drews, Dentinger, Brick, Wismer.
>
>The Dentinger-Wismer-Brick express train ran together, diced, had fun,
>kept the respect of everybody because of their driving skill and a level
>of conduct unbecoming old farts like those guys, and again hosted the
>post-race wine and cheese bash that has become the social highlight of the
>VSCDA weekends. We stayed so long that we got to the official track party
>about when they ran out of food. Don provides the world class cheese,
>Wismer raids his wine cellar, and Dentinger provides new laughs at every
>race. Many thanks, guys.
>
>Please pardon me while I try to climb down off of this racing high.
>
>On second thought, maybe with some luck it will last until the next race.
>
>.
>
>uncle jack
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