It was a great weekend of safe, fun racing in Spokane. The executive TL/DR summary: Even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts.
Of course, the first nut I found is Stephen Newby. After my engine break-down at Spring Sprints he generously (beyond words) offered to let me race one of his cars at Spokane. The implied confidence in me within this offer is the biggest compliment I’ve had in my racing career. I didn’t take it lightly, and I considered it for days before accepting.
I load up Thursday night and head to Spokane Friday morning, hoping I might sneak a few laps in at the end of the day. The drive over is pleasant: Little traffic, scenic, and at four hours, just enough time to relax.
While the laps aren’t in the offing, arriving early allows me to setup, visit with friends, and after a dinner grilled up by Stephen, walk the track. I’m glad for the walk the next day, to be sure.
The first session on Saturday, qualifying, feels a bit like the first time I raced: Disoriented in the and on the track. “Be safe, have fun, be safe, have fun”, I remind myself over and over.
I get a bit of a feel for the car and track in the first session, recording a 1:57 lap as my best. On the cool-down lap the car dies and won’t even crank to re-start. The fuel pump isn’t running. My first thought is that a wire has come loose, then I remember that the car doesn’t have an alternator; it’s just a flat battery. We resort to charging the tiny lithium-iron-phosphate (LiFePO) unit after each session.
The first race is smoother and I take 9 seconds off my lap time, to a 1:48. But as I go faster my shift and brake points change, so it’s an iterative learning process. I also watch several experienced drivers go off at devious turn 4 and elsewhere and this gets rolled into how aggressively I’m pushing out brake points and turn-ins.
The third race is the first Sprite-Midget Challenge race of the year. It’s a thin group this time; only five cars, and I start on the front row with Stephen on the pole. At the end of the first lap I manage a little outside to inside pass on turn 9 and go through start/finish, to my astonishment, in first place.
Before turn 1 I slow and downshift, as I have been. Stephen, having not been behind me at all, doesn’t know I’m still doing this (he takes turn 1 flat out), and nearly rear-ends his own car. Oops! Sorry, Stephen!
Now I get an education in my mirror for several laps, watching where Stephen narrows the gap and noting those spots as areas I can likely carry more speed.
At the end of the tenth and final lap I’ve run three 1:46 laps in a row and take the checkered flag in the lead for my first overall win ever. Looking back it seems odd that I didn’t have a sense of euphoria. In fact, it didn’t occur to me that it was my first overall win until I was driving home Sunday night. Great race, great car.
In true form, Stephen is the first to get to the car in the paddock and congratulate me. We both wear a big smile from the great fun on the track.
Race 2 and now it’s hot at the track: Upper 80s and I’m in my cooling vest. It’s a full Groups 1-4 grid and I start 7th, right behind Stephen. Now I get to follow Stephen and, just ahead of him, Jason Roosa in a fast Triumph. More education. I start just lifting before turn 1, instead of downshifting.
On the second lap, between turns 6 and 7, a downpipe or something comes off a car ahead of us and soars through the air, landing just in front of Stephen. It lays in the middle of the track most of the race, until a Formula Vee runs over it late.
At the end of lap 5 I go inside on Stephen again and manage a pass…momentarily. He tracks out, carrying more speed, and get back past me before start/finish. More education.
On lap 7 Stephen goes right of the downpipe laying in the track and I have an open run on the outside. We go through turn 7 side by side, but this time I get to track out and carry more speed. I’m able to make the pass stick. Unfortunately, just after start/finish I reach to shift to 4th and, as I’ve done several times in my car, flip off the ignition. Stephen pounces and goes back in front of me. I later jokingly accuse him of installing an extra-long toggle switch, knowing that I’m prone to doing this.
At the end of that lap I nip him again on the inside of turn 9, but make it stick. On the back side of the track I come up on a slower car in a great spot and go by. Stephen gets stuck behind it in turns and that helps me stretch the lead just a bit. By the end of lap 10 and the checkered flag I’m catching Jason and the car ahead of him, and record 1:47 and 1:46 last laps. I’m starting to get the hang of this track and this fast car.
That’s the end of Saturday for us. Once the track is cold we cool down with ice-cold beers and have a cook-out, with Stephen as grill-master. The time relaxing in the paddock is, for my, just as fun as racing.
I get back to the hotel around 7:30, very tired from the racing and especially the heat. I groggily call and check in with my wife and am asleep before 8:00 PM.
Sunday first session is our race 3. I start in P4, behind Jason in his Triumph, Greg in his one-off historic “Zerex Special”, and a Lotus 17. Stephen is right behind me and down the front straight I eye him maneuvering for a hole to get past. The car is just faster, though and I hold position.
Jason spins in turn 9 on the first lap and I go by. Now I’m ahead of the non-sports racers, which is a first and very strange for me.
The Lotus is way faster on the straights, but I find myself catching up in the corners. Greg, in the Zerex, had jumped out to a big lead but is coming back to the Lotus. A two-liter Alfa whizzes by me on the straight, but other than that nothing changes for several laps: No one behind me, I’m chasing jack-rabbits in front. A yellow from turns 7-9 limits action for some time.
By the last lap, the Lotus has gone by Greg and I’ve caught him. He’s braking early and has a bit of wiggle in corners; I think I might catch him in the last few turns, and be able to hold on through the short straight run to the finish. My inexperience crops up though, and I try to do too much in the first of the last four turns and loop the car. I think I’d have had a good chance if I waited and setup turn 9…another lesson. Instead I get to watch as Stephen drives past the stalled car I’m working to re-start. I give him a thumbs-up so he knows all is okay. Chasing the jack-rabbits I record a 1:45 and a 1:46 lap.
Our last session of the weekend is right after lunch. I guess we start by best lap time, which has put me on the front row with the Alfa. Another jack-rabbit to chase. In Stephen’s remarkable Midget I keep up for several laps, recording a 1:44 lap in the process. But the Alfa starts to pull away by a few tenths each lap and I can’t see any cars behind me, so I dial it back just a bit. The Lotus and Zerex absent from this session, I finish in P2, recording three 1:46 laps, three at 1:45, and a best-of-weekend for me 1:44.
I had a GREAT time in Spokane. And none of it would have happened if not for Stephen very generously offering me the use of his excellent and fast car. If you have any interest in racing, know that *this* is how our groups rolls: Everyone pitches in when there is a car down. Yes, we race hard and competitively, but when we get back to the paddock we are a family: Hugs, high-fives, and congratulations are exchanged, beers, dinner, and tall-tales are shared.
