Well, another successful HMSA Wine Country Classic sponsored by Chrysler is
in the history books. This was #12 of these annual events and it had the
greatest attendence of all. We had historic stock cars running in lunchtime
demo races and NASCAR legends including Ralph Moody of Holman-Moody and
several other senior racers who ran Daytona on the beach. They seemed to
have a good time and we enjoyed having them. There were some wonderful
40's, 50's and 60's vintage stock cars there and they weren't lovingly
restored, but more "as raced". Richard Petty was there on Sunday to sign
autographs and present an award at the end of the day to Ken Epsman. Ken
has a Dodge TransAm car, a B-P Mustang and a late model Winston
Cupper......Multitudes of NASCAR faithful waited a long time in a long line
for The Kings (Petty) autograph and Richard invited everyone back to Sears
Point next month for the NASCAR race. I don't think Sears is his favorite
track as I recall him almost reaching the top of the hill on the outside of
turn 1 as he went agricultural (plowed up some dirt) some years back.
There was an excellent "Drivers Reception" Friday evening, sponsored by Far
Niente Winery (Gil Nickel, gracious Formula car driver sponsored this one)
and a Saturday evening parade to Sonoma, car show and Wine and Food
tasting(read.."dinner") at the Sebastiani Winery. Entrants got tickets to
this charity event.
The usual list of suspects were on hand, pre-war, sports racers, Formula Jr,
Formula B, and some other small bore Formula cars, B/P, C,D and E/P, Formula
1 and TransAm cars.
After a year with this car, my somewhat jaded view from the B/P pack is
improving as I'm getting the Corvette sorted more each event and the car is
getting me sorted. Mr. Rochester(FI) is working fine now and the cutting
out was probably fuel starvation. The fuel cell holds 20 gallons but is
shaped like a cereal box laid out flat. Even with the foam, the gas is
sloshing enough at below 1/2 tank to suck air and cough out. A full tank
helps. Was running mid pack and have moved up into the top third, more or
less......next time out I'm gonna have to buy "new" tires as I've bought the
last two sets of Blue Streaks used, for $200 a set. They were lightly used
but soft compound tires that are slippery when cold, fine after a hot lap or
two and greasy after 3 laps. I think the valve seals are shot as I get a
nice puff of blue smoke when I lift and get back on it but it seems to have
good power. The smoke seems to traumatize the cars behind me. They must
think I'm blowing a motor and hang back a bit to avoid the oil
slick.....after a half a lap they figure it out and come back to haunt
me....Time to take a look at the motor....gee, it's only ten years fresh.
The race on Sunday was fairly intense. I guess it gets that way the closer
you get to the front of the pack. It's easy to get lulled into a state of
torpor when the sessions are separated by 5-6 hours.....bench racing, tire
kicking, sitting in the (finally) warm sun and signing autographs (kids will
ask anyone in a drivers suit) take their toll. I had to chug-a-lug some
ginseng tea to get the juices flowing. I got a good start and moved up two
or three spots until the tires went off....then I just slid around the track
and ended up back where I started at the finish. In these events the racing
becomes almost incidental to the rest of the activity so any finish is a
win.........
Misc. notes and observations.....
Carnage report: Pretty good weekend overall....stuff I remember but maybe
got secondhand........Blue 356 hit hard on the tires outta turn 10(gotta hit
that apex late and up on the curbing), John Kirby-Millers 64 Comet African
Rally Car tangled with Susan Armstrongs Corvette, dented the right rear
quarter of the Comet, Corvette lost this one, ....Vic Edelbrocks Camaro got
hit in the right rear by a TransAm 66 Mustang when it spun in 11....I think
both cars sustained minor damage....plus, the usual mechanical
breakage..........
Friday evening we returned to the paddock to get something after the
reception....it was empty except for the F1 crews, cars on stands and
wrenches a-twisting....can you spell "high maintenance"?
Film crew filming for a new series call "Exhibition and Speed"......cornered
yours truly for an interview and car video...All those hours watching car
show and speed boat interviews on Speedvision finally paid off. I did so
well (only said ah, er, or duh a couple of times) that they had me do the
"Exhibition of Speed" trivia question of the week....take one...."Hi, Ted
Smith, Corvette racer here with the "Exhibition and Speed" Trivia question
of the week....."What was the first race held at Indianapolis Speedway
Park?"....fade to commercial........Hi, Ted Smith again......The first race
held at Indianapolis Speedway Park was a balloon race.".......did it in one
take....coming to your cable station in 60-90 days.....fooled some kids into
asking for autographs......was tempted to sign "Mario" but Jan kicked me a
couple of times...
Simon, came by your pit a couple of times but didn't connect.......pretty
car!!!!
Next outing for the Vette.....The Pre-Historics and Historics (if I get
in)...if the Porsche motor's ready in time I'll be a Sears again in June
with HMSA.......
later,
Ted Smith
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