[Fot] Charlie Kates and his TR4

[Mark Wheatley]

 It was great for me to be reminded with many of these recollections. I knew pieces and parts, was at Mid Ohio in 2002 just getting started so was fortunate enough to participate.
But the best for me was the sharing of the conversation between Sandy and Betty.  Man if only she knew!!  
I knew from the beginning Charlie was all in.  If he was you know Mike was as well.  I learned quickly of Charlies efforts and decided to maintain not change.  That has paid huge dividends for me and to this day I annually reap the benefits  and  always am thankful for his commitments, efforts and engineering.
I have had Charlies car for over 20 years and I suspect it is not much different today than it was when I acquired it. That says it all for me.
I will be at Mid Ohio, I am expecting  the same great fun described within this thread.
Mark

    On Thursday, September 26, 2019, 2:35:24 PM EDT, Mike Jackson via Fot <fot at autox.team.net> wrote:  
 
 Charlies old TR4 is now owned and extremely well driven by Mark Wheatley.  It is a joy to see it every time its at the track with us.
I dont want to bore everyone with a hundred stories of that '92 weekend.  But, here's my favorite..Charlie and I remain great friends even tho he races some Jap thingy now.  We had been running literally door handle to door handle all weekend long and having a great time at it.  His wife Betty passed away some years ago but she and my wife Sandy were on the hillside at the keyhole for the "big" race that weekend.  During the race as we continued to come thru the corner either nose to tail or side by side Betty says to Sandy "I sure am glad Charlie doesnt take this too seriously and only does it for fun".  Sandy bit her lip and said nothing.  After the race she got Charlie off to the side and told him that he would "owe her forever" for not explaining to Betty just how seriously we did, in fact, take it.  
Ok, one more... in the paddock he blipped the throttle and it ran up more like an F1 car of the era.  "Charlie you POS, it's supposed to have a flywheel on it!"  His reply "It does".... "Well it's supposed to have a weight at least in two digits"...."It does!  Eight point five"
Dear God, there are so many more Charlie Kates stories both that weekend and thru the years.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Dean via Fot 
Sent: Sep 26, 2019 12:11 PM
To: "fot at autox.team.net" 
Subject: [Fot] 1992 Mid Ohio


Don’t know if this will transfer, but this is from the race in 1992 carried in Vintage Motorsports Annual. I Photo

Showing Mike Jackson and Charlie Kates.

  

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

  

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