[Fot] Blackhawk Classic Race recap (delayed)

[Jason Ostrowski]

Midwestern Fot'ers braved the intense sun and blistering heat at the 20th
running of the "Blackhawk Classic"

Socially, it was a great time as 3 generations of Triumph lovers gathered
around campfires and grills. A fun group of kids (3 years- teenagers) pal
around rooting for their Dad's.
The Alexander's celebrated a Triumphant 20 year anniversary of racing
together as a family. Joe Alexander was a very proud Papa as he was
presented with a beautiful plaque at a family dinner commemorating 20
years of awesomeness that has snowballed into a quite nice family business.
Congratulations A.R.E. on 20 years! Here's to another 20!

Group 2 action was pretty fierce as the buzz of some half dozen
terrifyingly fast bug eyes filled the grid ahead of our guys. Some very
fast cars tiny cars were out there!
Tony's video shows that the guys at the front meant business. There was
never a dull moment from the spectators point of view as there was great
racing going on all the way back to the final position. I got real nervous
for Wismer in his choice Talisman as a BRG MGB went wide coming out of turn
5 and slid through the grass right next to Bob totally on the edge... any
steering twitch (from the MGB) would have been disastrous for the beady
eyed racer... a little too close for comfort.
Scott Barr was a bit off his usual pace but was out there mid-pack with a
motor he finished putting together just prior to leaving for the track. Tom
Strange was seen tweaking Valves and Springs and fine tuning the new
set-up several times throughout the weekend.
Sean Alexander had one of his first off track excursions in many years.
Apparently getting a little crazy in turn 1 having a good ride through the
grass leaving some creative tire management options as they headed to the
grid "the lone Triumph" for the Enduro. With help from brother Mark at the
wheel, they completed more laps during the weekend than any other
Triumph in their well worked #197.
In spite of his spin in turn 7, the new orange TR3 driven by Andrew
Williams looks solid and has real promise to become a contender in our
ranks. Looking Good!
Red Wire wheels-a-rollin...Ken Suhre was back in the saddle, driving a real
classic vintage looking 1961 TR4.
The beady eyed guys hung out towards the back, making no excuses, as usual
having fun and hauling mail in their 2 beautiful and legitimately "period
correct" prepped cars.
John Holton was back there as well, but intermittently and short on laps.
His car is a real treat for the eyes... a double bubble topped Triumph
powered Kellison (REALLY neat car)...but suffering on the mechanical end on
this Father's day.

The Friendly Ghost Racing GT6+, alone in group 8 was dealing with Alfas,
Datsuns and of note had an epic battle with a rather Gigantic Boss Mustang.
I was back and forth with this guy a couple times per lap... able to out
break him into all of the fast corners as he was passing me on the end of
the straights. I had him hounding me all the way around the track. Against
my better judgement I looked past the smoke coming from the rear for the
first two laps of the sprint race on Saturday. The smoke stopped on the end
of the second lap. I kept pressing on kind of knowing it was not going to
end well. I just couldn't get myself to pull in as I saw people in turn 1
raising their fists and cheering as my little car pounded a ground pounder.
I have to say it was probably the most fun 8 laps I have had yet... at no
small cost my weekend ended with 1 lap to go... a day early. DNF and broken
rather significantly, the destroyed and terribly stinky rear end
obnoxiously fogged our pit area for the rest of the evening.

Safe to say good time was had by all.

Our Triumph cars and driver's sorted on weekend's best Time
1. Tony Drews TR4                            1:28.255
2. Jason Ostrowski GT6+                   1:28.332
3. Sean/Mark Alexander TR4A            1:29.410
4. Scott Barr Spitfire                              1:33.367
5. Andrew Williams TR3A                      1:33.883
6. Kenneth Suhre TR4                           1:40..904
7. Bill Dentinger TR3A                            1:44.625
8. Bob Wismer Talisman                        1:45.129
9. John Houlton  Kellison                         1:54.000

Race report respectfully submitted by Jason Ostrowski, Friendly Ghost Racing