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Wednesday at Sprite Rush

To: spridgets@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Wednesday at Sprite Rush
From: Amy Turner <ltturner@cococo.net>
Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 01:16:39 -0700
Reply-to: Amy Turner <ltturner@cococo.net>
Sender: owner-spridgets@Autox.Team.Net
It was race day at Sprite Rush!  The large field included stock and modified
Sprites of all shapes.  Del Border set up the L-shaped course in the parking
lot.  The first stretch started with a long dash to the end of the lot, a
180-degree turn, a 360-degree circle, and a short slalom.  The second
section was pure slalom, all the way down and all the way back, ending with
a sharp right turn to the finish line.  It was my first autocross, and I
loved every second of it...especially screeching around that circle in the
first stretch.  Everyone got three runs.  No Sprites were injured in the
competition, although a few pylons took a beating.  I took notes this time,
so I have the complete results.  Forgive my spelling, since some names are
spelled phonetically.

Stock
*****
Third place:  Don Hoffer at 50.9 seconds
Second place:  Tom Schoud at 50.6 seconds
First place:  Jeff Hudler at 47.3 seconds (driving Frank's car, PIECES)

Modified
********
Third place:  Charlie Lownsdale at 45 seconds
Second place:  Steve Garrett at 44.7 seconds
First place:  Randy Blalock at 44.1 seconds

Women
*****
First place:  Amy Turner at 47.5 seconds
[Only one award was given in this category, although six women ran]

A side note -- I asked Frank to drive HEALIUM to see what the car could do
in the hands of a skilled driver.  He took three seconds off my time,
finishing the course in 44.7 seconds.  Charlie Lownsdale, a friend of Paul's
and mine, asked for a run, so I handed him the keys.  He came in at 44.69
seconds.  Looks like I need to learn how to drive this machine!

I missed the second event of the day, the rallye.  I missed the rallye
school because the autocross ran a little long.  I heard that the directions
were especially tricky at one point, so a good many people got lost.  The
results:

Fifth place:  Patricia and Jim Korczak
Fourth place:  Glenn and Bonnie Hertzler
Third place:  Hazel and Don Klein
Second place:  Herb and ______ Bradt
First place:  Chuck and Edie Anderson

Concours judging took place today, with two entrants, a beautiful leaf green
bugeye owned by Sandy Ernst, and a lovely Olde English White bugeye owned by
Buzz Merchlewitz.  Both were judged Silver.

The final event wasn't listed on the schedule.  It was the Make It To Dinner
Without Breaking Down event.  On the eight mile drive from the hotel to the
restaurant, my car gave out.  Just quit.  I noticed that the fuel gauge
wasn't reading at all.  (Yes, I had just put gas in the car.)  There was no
spark.  It turned out that the indicator switch had broken, blew a fuse, and
with that wonderful Lucas two-fuse system, took out my ignition.  We hot
wired the car since we couldn't get the fuse box cover (modified) off, and
once we got to the restaurant we found the right tool to get the cover off
and replace the fuse.  We unplugged the flasher unit for the time being.
Hope to find a good switch tomorrow.

The second entrant in this event was a man whose name I didn't learn.  He
got more points for the seriousness of his problem.  His car threw a rod.  Ouch.

Oh, and one entrant started the event early.  His wheel bearings gave out
during the rallye.  Seems like sunshine just didn't do much good for our cars!

Sprite Rush Honored Guests are John Sprinzle and Daniel Stapleton.  We had
the chance for a question and answer session with them tonight and learned
about their experiences with these wonderful machines we love so much.

The evening's auction was a blast.  George Marinos served as auctioneer and
did a lovely job!  I acquired a bucket of car care goodies, a pair of
seatbelts, and a Sprite polo shirt.

Tomorrow we drive en masse to Gettysburg and the gala Sprite Anniversary
party is tomorrow night.  Can't wait!

Amy T. and HEALIUM


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