Amici:
Just got back from four days at ROAD AMERICA attending the BRIAN REDMAN
INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE. While this event will never challenge for having the
most
economical entry fee, you are never encumbered with too much track time, it
remains one of the premier vintage racing events in this country. In addition
to the standard race groups, this year's event featured exFORMUAL ONE
machines, a CORVETTE reunion, a FORMULA JR race, and other exotic things.
Incredible
weather. The downtown Race Car Concours d'Elegance was mind boggling.
Elkhart Lake is only a little tiny town, but it was wall to wall people.
Thousands
and thousands. I hope the town fathers realize what a jewel they have with
ROAD AMERICA as a neighbor. They may have to bring Art Andersen back from the
grave to calculate the dollar impact.
I don't want to forget anybody (I'm sure I will), but I saw or heard of Doug
Buchanan GT6, Jack Drews (walking), John Fridirici TR3, Wayne Obry Spitfire,
John Reed GT6, Tim Studdard (peddlin), Alan Washatko TR6, Bob Wismer T-Bolt,
and Scott Zerby Ambro TR3.
I was there with Ole Blue, which was running quite well (no fuel starvation
problems any more) enginewise. I was hitting 6,000 rpms in 4th by the bridge.
That's over 112 mph, with lots of straight still to go. I am sure I was
above 120 before hitting the brakes coming into Turn ONE. Couldn't do that in
May. Then in the Qualifying Race, I think my flywheel 'exploded' chasing the
Weinberger TOYOTA (ex Janet Guthrie) into Turn Five. At least that's what it
sounded like. We'll know more tomorrow.
That means I watched the Race Group Two Feature Race from the stands. John
Fridirici wouldn't start on the false grid, and had to give up his position. I
pushed him (in reverse) to get him started. I told him he would have a ball
regaining his position when the green dropped. He started last, but soon
fought his way back to where he belonged...and then some. Alan Washatko also
went
fast. His TR6 has come a long way, and he is running up in the front of the
pack. Bob Wismer ran well too, but the bonnet latch broke, and the bonnet
started lifting, so he had to DNF. Sorry I don't have results for the Spits
and
GT6s, but I did watch some of their sessions, and all seemed to be running
very well. I am sure results will be posted on the ROAD AMERICA website
shortly.
The BRIC crowd always includes some of the beautiful people. Of course Brian
Redman, but I also saw David Hobbs, Jim Jeffords, Augie Pabst, Bobby Rahal
and others. The BRIC is the kind of event where you can have a super time EVEN
if your car breaks. I know I did.
Bill Dentinger
PS
The Beady Eye VINTAGE TRIUMPH Racing Team WINE & CHEESE parties on Thursday
and Saturday nights were both resounding successes. Saturday we went through
fourteen bottles of wine in about an hour. Some really good stuff too. I
didn't get a count on the volume of cheese eaten, but I think we had several
local
dairy farms working two shifts. The platters included Bleu, Brick Curds,
Provalone, and Swiss. All served with crackers and slices of ice cold apple.
We
even had some Cherry Danish Kringle (imported from Racine), for those with a
sweet tooth. When the party broke up for dinner, no one was feeling any pain.
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