[Fot] Our weekend at the Glen

Wed Sep 10 09:47:16 MDT 2008

If we decide on Portland, or any other west coast track for that matter I
too will help out as much as I can.  I ran in the CRC this year for the
first time.  My first SOVREN event and I had a great time.  HMSA won't let
me run, but SOVREN had no problems with my car.  Tons of track time, but
enough free time to check out the 700+ British cars and the swap meet.  The
event was very low key and the driving was very clean.  

They decided to eliminate the night time drags this weekend, so that added a
lot more paved pit area.  There was plenty of open pit space, so adding
30-40 Triumphs shouldn't be a problem IMHO.

Jim Norlin

-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Bill Babcock
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 6:59 AM
To: Chasgee at aol.com
Cc: fot at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Fot] Our weekend at the Glen

As Jeff pointed out, it's Labor Day, not Memorial day. I get those two
confused all the time.  

Portland International Raceway is an interesting track from a technical
standpoint, and the CRC is a good race. The track was repaved last year and
some corners were changed a bit.  You won't find better pavement anywhere.
It's easy to run large-scale races there. 

PIR is right on the MAX line (rapid transit trains), so significant others
are not stuck at the track--they can go into Portland with minimal effort,
and Portland is one of the most accessible cities in the US. Very
compact--you can walk anywhere in downtown. Having been pretty much all over
the world and especially all over North America I assert that Portland has
restaurants, street food, taverns and specialty food (like artiisan bread,
great bakeries, etc) to rival or surpass any city, including places like
Paris, New York City and San Francisco. You simply can't find better beer,
and our Pinot's stack up to the best. 

SOVREN is very strict about racing classifications for it's members, but
more flexible for outsiders. I'm sure I can work with them to ensure that
anyone that wants to come can race. I'm also pretty sure I can get an
all-triumph race. The CRC has plenty of track time--it runs Friday through
Monday with Thursday usually available as an inexpensive test and tune day
through the Lotus Club. You can wear yourself and your car out at the CRC. 

The All British Field Meet runs the same weekend in the same venue (yes,
there are sometimes some space problems but we can overflow to the Pro Pits
which are nicer for camping anyway). They have car shows, autojumbles, and a
big vendor area. It's a well-attended show that draws from car clubs all
over the coast. There is a short on-track autocross that's kind of a PIA,
but I'd like to set up a better and longer running autocross in the propit
area--we've done that before. 

I think PIR is kind of ideal as a west coast venue for the Kastner Cup.
Seattle (Pacific Raceways) is too far from other facilities--it's in Kent,
Washington--and the major race is the Northwest Historics, which is a pretty
crowded event. The Portland Historics is an HMSA event, and they're hard to
work with on car classifications. Thunderhill is a wonderful track, but it's
east of nowhere. Sears (Infinion) is fabulous and wonderful Sonoma is close
by, but the only likely event is the CSRG Charity Challenge and it's often
filled. CSRG is an excellent organization, but they might be a bit tough on
car classification. I'm not sure any of the SCCA cars would be allowed to
run. Laguna is too restricted--they don't have many dates anymore. We'd all
need sand filters for Willows. 

The only limitation at PIR is noise--you'd all need mufflers.

It's not too early to start planning. How do we get this going? 

On Sep 9, 2008, at 8:35 PM, Chasgee at aol.com wrote:

Bill,

Funny you should mention those two venues, because I was discussing this
with some So Cal brethren and we came to the same conclusions.  It is the
West coast's turn again and I think Portland would be fantastic.  Let me
know if I can help organize this.

Chuck Gee
Blacksmith Racing

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Babcock <Billb at bnj.com>
To: Henry Frye <henry at henryfrye.com>
Cc: fot at autox.team.net
Sent: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 11:55 am
Subject: Re: [Fot] Our weekend at the Glen

I'm thinking it's time for the left coast. Maybe Thunderhill? It's a hell of
a track, though the surrounding facilities suck. Portland would be great,
the Columbia River Classic is the weekend before this SVRA race (Memorial
day weekend), and it's a high-track time event. Most folks are sick of
racing by the time the Monday races roll around. it also encompasses the All
British Field Meet which a lot of Triumph folks attend as well.  

I know I could get SOVREN to roll out the red carpet for FOT since I helped
to give this race a boost a few years ago. The Saturday at-track party is
legenday, an opportunity to get out your vintage duds, and I can commit to a
pretty cool FOT party at Casa Babcock. 

On Sep 9, 2008, at 10:38 AM, Henry Frye wrote:

We came, we raced, we marked our territory with our racecars. Some more
than others.

We hung out with TS 1 LO, parked under thI'm thinking it's time for the left
coast. e tent with the beer. What were
they thinking. Anything could have happened. Nothing happened... I
think.

We shared some special moments remembering uncle jack.

Many of us were able to put faces with familiar names. Before I just
knew the names. Now I have faces in my brain so I will forget all your
names. Sorry, that's just how it works.

My car rose to the occasion. First, somehow it became the poster child
for the event, landing on the front page of the local daily newspaper on
Saturday. 

Then it drove into the paddock hemorrhaging oil from every orifice after
the All Triumph Race, but I achieved a few lofty personal goals in the
process. 

Then on the start of the Group 3 race my car pulled me down the inside
line to pass a bunch of guys in turn one, then I passed the start/finish
line in third overall a couple times. Running way up there in a SVRA
feature race is something I never thought I would do. Then the track got
a little slick from rain and I backed off a bit, I will never be a brave
rain driver. Too much to lose, nothing to gain. Still finished well, no
complaints there.

There was less attrition than I expected over the course of the weekend,
at least until Sunday. It was nice to spend time with our friends
sitting on chairs with a beer in hand, not under cars requesting
wrenches and sockets. 

Many big names in our sport were there, both past and present, and
getting face time with them was a real treat. 

Congrats to Tony Garmey on winning the Kastner Cup. This was the third
time I have seen the TR250K on track, it was always fast. This weekend
it was amazing. During Kas' presentation of the cup, he said he has not
seen the car go as fast since he ran it at Sebring in '68. He then
issued a manufacturers recall notice, but I think Tony is going to take
his chances!

Congrats to Larry Young for the Bill Ames Award, well deserved. 

The Western PA Triumph gang was there in force, as was a big contingent
of New England Triumph folks. Bob Lang brought Khartu, his TR6
autocrosser for the folks to enjoy. Dave Hutchinson drove his pristine
Italia. If I continue to try to mention all the special cars that came
out to support the event I would miss several, I don't want to do that.

Many thanks to Jack Woehrle and the rest of SVRA for treating us Triumph
folks better than we deserved. Jack was never too far from the Triumph
ghetto, and made sure we got what we needed.

So, it was a great weekend, sorry if you missed it... Where to next
year?
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Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
Billb at bnj.com
503.936.7660
www.bnj.com <http://www.bnj.com/> 

Editor
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Paddlesurfing's Web Journal

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blog: www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog

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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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