With Henry's absence, in favor of Mosport, I will take a stab at filling his
shoes for the race report.
A total of 160 cars came to the track to enjoy great weather and some very
close racing. In all 7 TR's were there - Dean Tetterton, TR3, Tim Suddard/JK
Jackson, TR3, George Wright, TR4, Gene Hammer, TR4, Allen Goode, TR4, Don
Marshall, TR4A and your's truly with the TR250.
Friday's practices went as usual with the exception of George Wrights
massive collision with the tire wall after a misstep into a pothole at the end
of
the South Bend curbing. He and a dozen helpers - TR and MG drivers and crew -
worked through the night and the next morning to get him on the grid for
Saturday's qualifying race. (does anyone have a NOS front valance?)
Saturday's qualifying races went well for all of the TR's except for two.
George suffered an unexpected result from Friday's collision, a broken
throttle
shaft in one of the SU's, which forced him to retire before the checkered
flag fell. Don Marshall had an unfortunate mishap with a Spridget that forced
him to retire for the weekend. Don had been running strong and was posting his
best laps ever at VIR. At one time he was 3rd in group B.
Sunday morning was cloudy and cool after the previous evening's thunder
storm. Those in the early warm-up sessions dried the track for the TR's. The
warm-up revealed an undiagnosed vibration in Tim's TR3 so he would miss the
feature. The remaining five TR's prepared for the feature sessions. George and
Gene
in group A, Dean, Allen and I in group B.
In the A race George was forced to start at the back due to the DNF in the
qualifying race. He motored from 42nd position to an amazing 12th place
overall. Nice job George! It was really something to see. Gene Hammer dropped
out
after two laps for an unknown reason.
In the B feature a collision would claim a third TR as Dean Tetterton was
punted off the course by an Aston Martin DB4 on lap 2. The Aston just couldn't
handle the pressure from the ably piloted TR, went off track and attempted to
quickly come back on. The result was frame and body damage for the "Dean of
Triumph". Allen and I both finished the event with good runs. My shot at 6th
place was dashed when I spun exiting turn two late in the race so I settled
for 9th overall. Allen made it through his first vintage weekend without a DNF.
What was a great weekend of racing and comradery was certainly tempered but
the high rate of incidents (3 of 7) for the TR's. Everyone is healthy and the
cars will be repaired to fight another day!
Leo Oddi
TR250
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