[Fot] Nelson Ledges Longest Day

[John Herrera]

>If you ever get a chance to participate or attend, go for it.  It is quite 
>the
>event.  We are already making plans for next year.   Joe(B)


I agree, Joe; Quite the Event! I went twice in the early'80s. When you see 
all the beat-up cars still circulating in the morning, it looks insane. Like 
something out of Mad Max, only I don't know if it was out then.

A group of four drivers wanted to enter, but none of them had a Showroom 
Stock car. Two FF, one BP and one GT-1. So they took on a fifth driver 
because his girlfriend had a clapped-out TR7 with a roll bar for her daily 
driver. At first it ran hot. I was sent to a TR7 in the spectator area. 
Turns out that car had run the previous year. It had wrecked into the tire 
wall and they couldn't extricate it, so the workers just piled tires on it 
to make it part of the wall. The drivers went to sleep but the crew got it 
out somehow and got it running and woke the drivers up to race some more. 
One of the crew bought it and fixed it up to drive on the street. Anyway, he 
gave me a radiator baffle which I installed. Ran cooler after that. It ran 
and ran with no problems, just got all beat up. Wonder what the girlfriend 
said when she got it back!

The next year the four drivers returned with a brand new Mustang GT and a 
Ford dealership for a sponsor. The sponsorship was a discount on price and a 
helper. The helper turned out to be a salesman who knew nothing. All that 
car did was break. It was trashed but running at the finish.

Quite an event!