[Fot] 2013 Kastner Cup: GT6 Notes from the FRONT

[Jason Ostrowski]

>From my perspective, the weekend was met by perhaps the fiercest multi- GT6
contingent seen in America since the 1969 runoffs at Daytona. Right off the
bat, it was Chuck Gee’s immaculate yellow beauty setting the quickening
pace for our group 8 coupes. Early on, it was seen that our GT6’s would
have to be in the low 2:50’s to even be a contender for the Cup. Road
America seems to eat GT6’s up. I knew that from a disappointing trend of
half-finished race weekends there over the past few years. So, going in I
had focused very hard on presenting a car that was stout enough to go the
weekends many session distance requirement. VSCDA weekends offer over 3
hours of track time in a variety of different races, practice and
qualifying. My weekend goal was simple and threefold; get in enough track
time to feel totally comfortable, beat my own personal track record and
without-fail be the fastest GT6 in the end! (When Chuck set that time
pretty easily right off the bat, clearly it was going to take some real
inspired driving to be running at the front.) Like any race track disguised
as a gorgeous national park, Road America can take the very best cars and
put them on the trailer early. Such was the fate of the booked-about
hot-rod of my new friend Chuck Gee…broken on session 3.

Enter Scott Janzen and Clark Lincoln. Scott’s car is set up with an eye for
high quality. His giant, daunting, Webber Carb set-up brings the hot breath
of a mid-evil dragon to the 2 -liter table. Scott’s car has a great vintage
history and he has updated it beautifully. Surely a bit more seat time and
better qualifying race conditions would have put him closer to the front.
Clark’s orange and black car has taken the rear end of the GT6 into a new
and totally different dimension. Rich in fresh conceptual development, the
#71, is a fearsome new contender. His hard thought choice for a
transmission set-up ratio at Road America made him a bullet on the front
stretch. And he turned out to be the one in my sights or in my mirrors as
the weekend progressed. Jeff Clark also brought a car that he and his
inspired crew stuck with and maintained all weekend, against diversity, a
long way from home. (Nice work)

Friday, I broke a velocity stack. It fell off the car at full song towards
the end front strait. The noise was significantly explosive as it popped
the bonnet upwards. I rolled in under my own power back to the paddock.
Like a factory sponsor, my dear racing friends and trick part’s supplier
Alexander Racing immediately provided me with an updated ARE stack with
reinforced flange welding.

In the first qualifying session Saturday, I went careening off the track in
spectacular fashion at turn7 as the bottom of my right front upright
sheared off at the top of the trunnion. Through the gravel trap, into the
grass and near ye wall. John Reed jumped on car like a young George
Bignotti and had the whole thing taken apart and determined what we needed
to replace. Pretty quickly, he had the upright, and ball-joint replaced
from our magic parts bin and a new trunnion was sourced from Scott Janzen.
We were back in action before the lunch break. Yet, the removal of the
“kitty litter” rocks, measured by the pail, continued for quite some time.

Then it started to rain. I really like to race in the rain. This played
into my hands quite nicely as a drying track allowed me to leave the rain
tires in the trailer and go out on dry tires in slightly wet conditions. I
played it fairly conservative in the slippery conditions and posted a 3:03
for a final qualifying time. Somewhat to my surprise, that meager 3:03 had
put me 3rd on the grid for the Cup race. This was golden for FGR, as Sam
Halkias was choosing to start in the back to wage war with the 250K. It was
an all GT6 front row for 2013.

The pace lap was slow and my car was acting funny. Some strange fuel
delivery gremlin seemed to haunt me from the get go. I yelled at myself
through my helmet; something to the effect of “This is Your Race to Loose!
Drive this Car! This is your chance!” (Really, I did).  I was in the
perfect mindset; totally psyched yet almost calm. I felt a sweet confidence
in both myself and the car, and just kind of told myself to drive through
the fuel problem and push it like I never have before. And so I did. In a
nice little drag race and a game of same-direction” chicken” with Clark
Lincoln, I led the pack into 1 and got a pretty good run out of 3. I led
through 5 and up the hill… but the car, she coughs a bit. Under the
circumstances, things were really ticking along good until the car cut out
bad coming out of the kink and opportunistic Mark Weatley and Tony Drews
were able to slip by. Seeing my good racing buddy Tony go by really got me
focused on staying up front. In a wonderfully spirited Battle Royal Tony
and I swapped spots back and forth several times each breaking our own
track records during the fight! Clark was back there too, but we were going
so fast that the rear view mirrors showed nothing but vibrating
nothingness. Somehow I seemed to pull away a bit until I saw the grey and
blue Ken Knight in shining armor on a charge from behind.

As I entered Canada Corner with the Knight in my mirror,… the car, she
breaks. And in a poetic lost Joust, I violently bounced across the rumble
strips, skipped across the runoff and coasted along the grass. I came to a
stop close to the wall, no contact, but beaten by equipment. I gave it all
I had but it was not my year to win the cup. This time the #69 broke it’s
other (right) front upright in the same spot. This has never happened
before, yet, here… twice in one weekend.  Surprise, surprise, as we all
know… it is fairly easy to make these toys go faster and faster for shorter
and shorter periods of time. For what it’s worth even though I had to break
the wheel off doing it, I met my goal and set the fast GT6 time of the
weekend in the Cup race with a nice and tidy 2:52.7. The GT6 class win went
to Clark Lincoln in his ready to race #71 hot orange coupe.

In spite of my defeat, the personal rewards for me were great. The positive
comments I got from Kas will keep me chasing the cup for as long as there
is a cup to chase. I got A Big Bear Hug from Tony Drews and lots of
complements from so many drivers and some of my favorite FoT folks. I’ll be
smiling all the way to Eagles Canyon.

A big thanks to my crew chief John Reed and our FGR mechanical genius Brian
Garcia. Brian went out Friday afternoon and sourced a new tach and got me
out there Saturday with some well needed RPM info, as the Friday sessions
were ran on a glimmer and a hope that I was in the proper range. John did
everything he could to keep the car running up front all weekend. The car
carries with it his long legacy of front running and it was an honor to
drive it his way and to his approval…we were fast and at the front.  Having
a good performance and racing with the best of my Triumph Friends in front
of Triumph legends…Don’t wake me up! I think I must be dreaming. Thank You
ALL!

Jason Ostrowski

Friendly Ghost Racing

Owner/Racer of 2 original privately owned historic GT6+ racecars.  #27… The
David Dooley SCCA National Contender. And, The #69 Zippy Racing, Crystal
Tack Cloth “Zippy” ; the most raced GT6 ever.
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