[Fot] Watkin's Glen

Mon Sep 8 17:40:15 MDT 2008

What a hoot! I had a great time. Peyote stayed together, didn't get  
hit by anyone and didn't hit anyone. As usual a fine collection of  
great FOT people, though I missed all the folks that didn't make it.  
SVRA put me in group four, which made for a bit of trepidation--I  
really wasn't interested in getting run over by a Corvette again--or a  
Lister or something else massive.  My times didn't seem all that hot,  
I felt like I was leaving a second or so in too many corners. I think  
my driving kind of sucked. I may be remembering incorrectly, but I  
thought I was turning something less than 2:20 last time I was here,  
but we all know what my memory is like. Still, Peyote ran flawlessly  
all week, even though it's driver might have let it down a little.

I enjoyed the re-enactment ride as usual, especially with all the  
triumphs in town. the organizers decided Peyote wasn't a Triumph and  
didn't let me run with them, but no matter--a fun ride. Only problem  
was ground clearance. I left one of my swaybar rod mounts somewhere-- 
probably on the railroad tracks. We had to cobble one up at the track.

Garmey didn't leave me with much hope for a win in group four. He  
disappeared in the qualifying race while I was trying to get by a  
couple of corvettes and a Lotus 15. I missed a shift on the start and  
wound up in tenth or so at the first corner. Managed to get up to  
fourth pretty quickly, and finally there was only one corvette in  
front of me but no TR250K to be seen. I got past the 'vette and  
started putting in some clean laps and finally spotted Garmey, who was  
picking daisies or writing his autobiography--cruising around saving  
the car. When I got close enough to be in his mirrors he started  
spooling up again, and I got some bad breaks in traffic, but I was  
reasonably close at the end. The timesheets showed the real story  
though--he had nearly a second on my best lap. If he wasn't snoozing I  
never would have seen him.

Sunday's race I got a good start and chased tony hard for a little  
while, but he steadily pulled away and I finally lost contact. i  
decided to save the car and cruised until I saw cars in my mirrors,  
then I picked it back up and finished second. The track is fun, but I  
would have liked having someone to dice with. Unfortunately the  
closest car was a vette and I don't have a great history with those at  
Watkins Glen, so I decided not to wait for him. Finished second.

The Triumph race was right after Group 4, so Tony and I pulled into  
the entry for the hot pits and Darrell refueled us. I got to my spot  
(about sixth or seventh I think) at the three minute mark. I got a  
decent start but the pack going into turn one was five across, mostly  
snarling TR6's with Dick Stockton's TR4 and Garmey in the TR250K in  
the mix. I held back a little but got a good run up to the bus stop  
and stayed in position despite a lot of TR4's and 3's on my ass. Going  
into the boot I saw Dick's TR4 going back through the pack and looked  
forward to dicing with him. I moved up behind him just as his engine  
went BANG and oiled my front wheels nicely. I swung out past him and  
almost spun, then nearly lost it again in the turn after the boot, tip- 
toed around for a lap with Henry Frye, George Wright and Randy  
Williams all threatening to pass. Then I finally got the front end  
working again and pulled out some daylight. By this time I had lost  
contact with the TR6 group, and couldn't see much possibility of  
catching them, so I backed off a little bit and concentrated on  
driving all the turns cleanly.

A lap or so later there was a loud bang from the rear end when I  
touched the brakes entering turn two and the car lurched a bit. It  
seemed okay, though it seemed a bit loose.  I thought the tires might  
be going away, so I pressed on. I could see some yellow TR4's behind  
me when I got to the end of the straights, but there were only two  
laps to go, so I didn't press too hard. Good thing. It turns out I  
lost a shock: GONE. All that's left is the lower eye. No idea what  
happened except we had to remount the shock in single shear because it  
was binding.

I finished fifth, turned about a second slower than the group 4 race  
and two seconds slower than the qualifying race, but I would have had  
to pick up two seconds over my best time (2.222--pretty cool  
considering Peyote's number is 222) to be in contention for fourth,  
four seconds to do anything about third or second and TEN seconds to  
give Sam any trouble.

Had a great time. Thanks to everyone, great seeing you all. Thanks to  
SVRA for a great event, kudos to Tim Suddard both for Grassroots'  
participation in the FOT shenanigans   and for getting his TR3  
cranking so well. He beat Jeff Snook, and we all know that ain't easy.  
Congrats to Tony for winning the Kastner Cup, and to Larry Young for  
winning the Bill Ames Memorial Trophy. And Congrats to all of us for  
belonging to an organization so chock full of great people.  
Paraphrasing Groucho, I generally wouldn't want to belong to any club  
that would have me, but FOT is the exception.

Disappointing not to get to play with Joe Boruch or Dick Stockton. I  
think we would have had fun. Joe's TR3 is very reminiscent of my  
NASCAR TR3, except it's prettier and probably a lot more legal. Joe  
was turning 2:24's the first qualifying session, I suspect he would  
have had a lot to show Peyote.

The
On Sep 8, 2008, at 5:04 PM, Joe Boruch wrote:

> I would like to Ditto Bill's thanks to all the organizers and to  
> SVRA (especially for letting in SCCA cars.  Wish I could have  
> participated Saturday and Sunday, but after evaluating the damage we  
> decided to cut our losses and pack it in.  We could haved spent  
> hours at the track piecing fiberglass back together and bending  
> sheet metal, but that would not be fun for me, or anyone else who  
> offerred to help.  Everyone was there to have fun and repairs like  
> this are work, not fun.  Rear fender is pieced back together and  
> most sheet metal is semi-straight.  Spent about 20-hours so far on  
> repairs.  It was fun while it lasted.   Joe(B)
>
> -- "Bill DeWar" <pcdelux at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Listers,
>
>  Great time at the races. Hat's off to Joe Alexander, Kas, and all  
> other TR celebrities
> in attendance. Highlights as I saw it. Tr250 K looking great and  
> sounding and running
> awesome. Peyote resurrected, even faster than before. Absolutely jam  
> packed downtown
> celebration friday evening. Lots of street TR's everywhere. WPTA  
> gang and Classic Motorsports
> tents setup right at last turn. Classic Motorsports free beer. 
> (Thanks Tim) Classic Motorsports
> Pub with bar and dart boards. (BIG Thanks to Gary Hunter and Jim)  
> They worked hard all event.
> Sam Halkias's TR6 harassing Porche's in qualifying race. Dick  
> Stockton's TR4 running superb
> until #3 rod failure in All TR race. All the usual fast TR's running  
> great,Henry Frye, Randy Williams
> George Wright, Jeff Snook, Steve Groh, etc..
>    The usual carnage, Joe Boruch TR3 crash, Joe A engine  
> failure,White #7 TR6 engine failure,
> Larry Young, valve issues but made the sunday race. Keith Files, oil  
> leaks all weekend but he
> kept at it.
>   Last but not least a very nice tribute by Bill Dentinger to Uncle  
> Jack .
>
>           Joe Alexander THANK YOU!!
>
> Bill DeWar
> Triumph Rescue

Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb at bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com

Editor
Ke Nalu e-Magazine
Paddlesurfing's Web Journal

Bill at kenalu.com
www.kenalu.com
blog: www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog

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