Well, the bipolar experiences at the track from 2025 have nosed their way into 2026.
I excitedly hook up the red trailer with the Arnold car inside and head to Pacific Raceways at Noon on Thursday. Load-in isn’t until 5:30, but I need to make two trips to get both cars there, I have to run to Auburn to get gas, and southbound traffic on the main road out of town degenerates into an ooze of movement after about 3:00 PM.
I’m the first in line when I arrive. I quickly drop the trailer and head back home. On the way back with the 12 car, I decide to go directly to Small & Sons to get race fuel instead of dropping the black trailer first. This adds difficultly maneuvering the trailer at the station, but saves time.
Back at the track there are now other racers in line…all Spridget drivers! The Quackenbushes, Newbys, and Bill Greenman are there, and Rod and Owen Duncan pull in shortly after me. As a bonus, David and Cat Kizer are there. Cat was SCCA runoffs champion in 1979 and is an SCCA hall-of-famer.
By and by the track opens and we load in, with me making a second trip to the entry road to pick up the Arnold car in the red trailer. Seeing all my racing buddies again is just the best. Beers and tall tales are shared. Folks are excited to see the Arnold car.
Friday Test and Tune. My plan is to alternate sessions between the Arnold car and the 12 car, starting with the Arnold car. Getting into it, driving to grid, and rolling out on the track feels nothing short of surreal. The plan to run two easy laps turns into three- the car is driving, tracking, and braking great. I go back to the paddock with a smile on my face.
I don’t remember the first test and tune session in the 12 car. I guess it was fine? The second session in the Arnold car, right after lunch, was going to be a full 20 minutes on-track for the car, pushed a bit harder. An on-track incident involving two other cars early in the session resulted in a full-course black and it ended early.
For those who don’t know, I co-founded and manage the SOVREN Youthful Driver Assistance Program. I thoroughly enjoy helping this group of younger drivers race more with the org and I thrive on their boundless energy. Jack Stark received the inaugural SOVREN Vintage Spirit award last year, given out to the YoDA driver who best embodies the spirit of vintage racing. Jack lost the engine in the beautiful Marcos GT at Fall Finale. He’s the third generation to race the car in his family and he and his grandfather do all the work on it. The replacement engine showed up just ten days before Spring Sprints and they busted their butts to get it in the car and running well, already signed up to race, Jack’s plan was foiled at the last minute by a balky clutch.
In a example of vintage racing spirit, Jack came down to the track on Friday anyway, to be part of the weekend and pitch in. It was a moment of divine serendipity when I ran into him and the words were hanging between us before I’d consciously considered them:
“Jack, would you like to be the first driver to race the Arnold car since 1980?”
His face lights up and despite me explaining that we weren’t planning to race the car this weekend and that there would almost certainly be some issues with the car, he’s unreservedly onboard.
The 12 car won’t start in grid for the last test and tune session, mysteriously flat battery. But it doesn’t dampen my mood: After three years of work, and nearly 500 hours since the end of December, the Arnold car is GOING RACING AGAIN!
And that’s how I find myself following the car to grid, onto track, and for a couple laps of qualifying on Saturday morning. Thankfully, the cameras that I struggled with all weekend, work for this session and Jack also runs his helmet cam. It’s a momentous occasion for me.
I get video for race 1, in which I get a marginal start partly due to a driver who flat wasn’t ready for the green flag, get past Newby in an ailing car, and spend the last few laps chasing and trying to get around a very wily Paul Quackenbush, who has a magical ability to make his Speedwell Sprite as wide as a battleship in good passing zones. Chasing him on lap 8, I come within 0.006 seconds of a personal best lap at Pacific. Great fun.
Race 2 the battery is flat again. Very frustrating, as I’m running an alternator. I’m still not sure what was going on, but I’ve replaced the alternator and am bringing a generator to Spokane so I can charge between sessions if needed. The 12 car is getting a full re-wire in the off season.
The cameras didn’t work, partly my fault, for the Sprite Midget Challenge race. I run to second behind a very speedy Evan Eldridge, but the car emits a ‘bang-bang’ sound right at the checkered flag. It turns out to be two bent valves and that was the end of the 12 car for the weekend.
Saturday night we all pitched in and chased a water leak on Pete’s #8 Bugeye. He’d been told it was the head gasket, so we changed that. It turned out to be the water pump gasket, which we got changed around midnight, and he was able to race on Sunday. I spent the day helping out where I could and watching Jack run 1:50s in the Arnold car, with a mild 1098 and a rev limit.
Jack did the car and himself proud on its first race weekend since 1980, and patiently endured to tow-offs (distributor came off, didn’t notice a missing rotor-retention pin on the distributor) and the rear end bottoming out a lot on Saturday morning, until we got the lowering shims removed at lunch.
In the end it was another example of a race weekend going in ways I never imagines. Racing is like a box of chocolates…
Videos
2026 SOVREN Spring Sprints Test & Tune Session 1
The Arnold car returns to the track after 46 years.
2026 SOVREN Spring Sprints Test & Tune Session 3
2026 SOVREN Spring Sprints Saturday Qualifying
2026 SOVREN Spring Sprints Saturday Race 1
Jack Stark posts his race videos here (like and subscribe!):
https://www.youtube.com/@jukes6064
Here’s the Sprite-Midget Challenge from his helmet-cam: