Winning "The Spirit of Chump" was a great achievement but we could not have
accomplished it without the true team effort that got us there. Thanks
have to go out to all the drivers but special mention to Betina & Dave
Foreman for putting it all together.
The car ran perfectly on Saturday. Never dropped any oil, overheated or as
much as mis-fired. We never opened the hood. When we did it was only down
a quart and a half on oil.
The handing was very predictable; it just did not want to turn or stop. I
spun twice as most of the others did.
Sunday it was another car on the new Toyos. We could go much faster into
and through the turns; and this was out downfall as it turns out.
When I got into the car (driver #3) we realized the battery had gone dead
and it would not crank. After a push-start I did a slow lap and the car
seemed fine.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MLpz2GAkKWk]
When I got out 45 min later I noticed that a front left wheel nut was
missing. Closer inspection showed that the stud had sheared off flush at the
hub. After a quick discussion we let Bobby go "to see what would happen".
Two laps later the wheel fell off.
That was my call and it was the wrong one. Again: Bobby I am sorry.
After our epic failure we had an epic fix and made the last hour of the race
to a standing ovation from the other teams. It was great.
On that note: does anybody have a part number for 1/2 diameter, long style
wheel studs for the TR6?
Oh and Bobby...it is pronounced My-Atta.....
Robert MacKenzie
-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces@autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Bobby Whitehead
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 7:21 AM
To: FoT Triumph
Subject: [Fot] Triumphs are still relevant, even today
With the dawn of the new age and the alignment of the new world order taking
shape, occasionally on must take a few steps back to be right with the
world.
This past weekend is one such event when the Chump Series came to the well
used Texas World Speedway in College Station Texas. Six fearless champions
came to show to the world, once again, that the Triumph marque was still
relevant and worthy. Team FOGHAT (five old guys have a Triumph) ... (yes we
can't count
either) proudly campaigned a true crap can car.. in theory there are
supposed to be $500 cars that enter the event... now I don't know about you
but I've looked far and wide for a $500 Miata (or Myyaatah according to our
Canadian driver) and I've never found one,,, much less a BMW or a SHO.. but
our car I happen to know was a former Lemons car owned by Bob Kramer that
was a $200 car.. 1970 TR6 bone stock and not worthy of much..but it was
complete.
We campaigned all day Saturday from start to checker flag EIGHT hours in 95
degree heat. A big thanks to the CoolShirt company indeed. We had tires that
were very predictable, they would not hold a corner at all. That night the
tires were switched out for sticky tires and we started Sunday with much
more grip.
Yours truly was piloting the TR6 when all that traction separated the front
wheel from the hub, thank God it was not turn 7 or the straight..with much
vigor and stupidity several of the guys forged on to reattach studs and
lugnuts.. we were sidelined for several hours but we did get the TR6 back on
the track the last hour to catch the checked flag!
Later in the afternoon the awards ceremony came around and all the usual
trophies were passed out. It came to the final trophy for the event, one
that personified the true spirit of crap can racing in the Chump Series and
with large eruption of cheers from the team and the crowd, team Foghat was
awarded the great honor of the receiving the award. I hollered and even shed
a tear, it was one of the greatest moments in my Triumph career.
Point is, it's okay to take a few steps back every once in a while, if it
makes you happy and keeps the true things in life relevant, like racing
Triumphs!
Bobby Whitehead
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