Yes, there were several list members enjoying themselves, me included. I
saw Malcom and Diane Cox, Myles Kitchen, Jerry Burr and I'm sure there
were many others. Turnout seemed high. It usually is for a Sears Point
event. The club seldom loses money on Sears. Registration fees have gone
up, but it's still well worth it. Weather was cool and foggy in the AM,
with sun by noon both days. It was like having 2 different venues. My
favorite hotel had a surprise for me: a room upgrade. I was thinking
about all those poor folks camping out at the track all the time I was
enjoying the double-size in-room Jacuzzi. ;=) I also managed to plumb
my camcorder into the room TV so I could watch the day's race footage.
I don't run with it in the car, but I got some cool race starts. We
had a F1 invitational group that made some wild sounds. There was also
a nice BBQ trackside on Saturday night. (Somebody in CSRG likes country
music.) The memento for the event was a cool ball cap. The theme was
"Yankee Doodle Dandy", so you can imagine the kind of music that was
coming out of the PA all weekend...
I pulled in Friday around noon, and set up across from some Alfa buddies
of mine. Space was tight as Russell Racing was still using the upper part
of the paddock. They cleared out around 2, but I ended up squeezed in
between a blue MGB and a very fast little Abarth. Space seemed tight,
but there was actually plenty. You get to meet all sorts of fun people
that way. ;=) I loaned my ramps to a 356 driver who needed to pull his
exhaust for a quick weld job. The Alfa guys across the way had TWO (2)
TZ-1 cars, a pair of Giulietta Spiders, a Sprint, and a Giulia SS.
My car is the Bourgeault Formula Junior. It's definitely a back-marker
machine. Things changed so rapidly back then, a car 6 months old could
be considered obsolete. This was the oldest car in the group, which was
mostly FFords and FVees. I can run with some of the Vees, most of the
Fords got to lap me twice. ;=(
My car ran fine all weekend, no complaints here. There were a number of
on-track incidents. So many that our group was called up for a special
drivers meeting Sunday morning. That was the "Cool it you idiots" speech.
It didn't work. In the feature race on Sunday, one FVee spun it backwards
into the tires in 2, putting us all on a full course yellow and pace car
for the remainder of the race. The car was in a real bad place, so they
had to get it out. I was actually the 2nd car to take the checker! The
pace car was in front of the car in front of me, so I was the 2nd to get
to the finish. Of course, the standings were reported by laps completed
and position, so I was actually more like 28th in a 40 car field. That
was the other problem. There were too many open wheelers. Maybe it would
be OK with people that knew how to run together, but we seemed to get a
mixed bag this time. I never had a problem sending the faster cars thru,
I also managed to avoid a few cars sitting dead across the track, but it
seemed like too many people had their blinders on. I got passed under the
yellow at least twice, and one car locked them up trying to avoid doing
the same. I heard the screeching and thought, "Great, now all I need is
for him to lose it and slam into me." It didn't happen. I knew who it
was, and we had a good laugh over it later. I'd trust him to do that.
The others, I'm not so sure about.
All in all, I had fun. Some of those who balled up cars didn't. I really
think CSRG needs to work on the attitude problem. The faster and faster
and faster crowd needs to figure out how to do their thing without making
a mess of the track. It is possible. People have to know when to cool it
and just enjoy themselves. My opinion is that every time you start
thinking, "I HAVE to pass that car," or "I HAVE to hold this position,"
you are potentially creating a problem for everybody else. The only thing
you HAVE to do in this game is enjoy yourself. Otherwise, it's not worth
the effort.
Simon
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