[Fot] Watkins Glen Race Report - 1 of 2

[Henry Frye]

Mother Nature was not smiling on us this past weekend, the weather was
hot and humid, then the rains came. We got dry track sessions on
Thursday (2), Friday (1), and one Saturday morning. The qualifying race
Saturday afternoon was run in the wet, as was the feature Sunday
morning.

Dick Stockton was running real strong, had a great time running in the
top 5 all weekend, but is not a fan of running in the rain. In the
qualifying race he was gridded way up front, but was not too keen on
being part of the turn one shenanigans that were bound to ensue. He
threw up his arm as the green flag dropped and fell in around 15th, and
drove around the track for the entire race tucked in behind one of the
slower 356's. As the time for the feature race came upon us, the weather
looked dismal with track conditions even wetter than the qualifying race
so Dick and his gang took the advantage of the lull in the raindrops to
load up his car. Smart move.

Randy Williams ran strong in his TR3 once he got that overdrive working
right, and did double duty running his E-Type in Group 6 as well as his
TR in Group 3. Randy was flirting with the top 10 in the speed chart all
weekend, and in the feature pulled off a podium finish with a third
overall. Outstanding drive, Randy.

Steven Groh made the show, and did us and all the Spit pilots out there
proud. His Weberized Spit is beautiful and fast, SVRA made it a Group 3
car. Steve showed off his rain driving skills as well, and drove to a
5th overall in the feature! Steve, that is motoring in a Spit, my
friend. Kudos.

Bill Babcock had Peyote was looking fantastic as usual, embarrassing
many cars he had no business running in front of. Unfortunately, some
Corvette driver put him out of business for the rest of the All Aluminum
Tour, but Bill is fine and Peyote isn't bent up all that bad. As Bill
said, it was time for a new body anyway. If he grabs a couple street
signs from every state along his journey home, he will be all set!

Unfortunately, Bill Dentinger in the Thunderbolt succumbed to clutch
woes in the middle of the first session. But he was smiling every time I
moseyed by, and I am pretty sure that was not just because he was glad
to see me... Bud Babcock's beautiful TR3 ran well all weekend, and Bud
was having a good time as well. Bob Wismer was running his S2000 this
weekend, so needless to say he got in, drove, finished, and didn't worry
about the car all weekend.

continued on the next post...