Cue Jim McKay, “…the thrill of victory…the agony of defeat…”
It’s been a theme for a year now and it didn’t change in Spokane.
The drive to Spokane is longer than the drive to Portland, but feels shorter because there is rarely any traffic. Rod and I hit the road at Noon and Thursday and roll into the paddock around 4:00, sidling up next to Randy and the other Spridgets.
Unload is quick and easy and after a quick bite to eat a few of us go for a track walk. The patches in the many cracks across the track and now also splitting, and we find out the next day it’s gotten bumpier as a result.
This is my first time ‘camping’ in the trailer…I just couldn’t stomach hotel costs on top of nearly $400 in gas to tow there and back. Anyway, Friday night in the trailer is just fine, despite the rock concert going on next to the track. And it’s fun to be able to hang out in the paddock without a drive after, and waking up and already being at the track is cool.
Friday morning I go on an odyssey to find doughnuts, landing unwittingly at a shop near downtown Spokane that sells the world’s smallest doughnuts. I find this out when they hand me a container about the size of a short shoebox that contains two dozen. I’ll choose differently next time.
Back at the track I get signed up for the Turn2 Lapping test and tune day, attending the driver’s meeting, and then get ready to go out. Turn2 is a well-run org and they’ve arranged the schedule so each of the four run groups goes out once an hour at the same time. Our group, SOVREN closed-wheel, gets 15 minutes of track time at the 45 ALL DAY. Easy to remember, great value. Thanks, Tom and Company!
The first session feels good; lots of time on Friday to improve speed, just want to remind myself how the track drives. But when I come back in Stephen is right there to let me know the car was smoking around turn 9. Crap.
Opening the bonnet it’s immediately clear: There is oil all over. New crew-member Anthony finds the source- oil is dripping and gurgling out between the bell housing of the transmission and the engine backing plate: Rear main seal. D’oh!
Bill Greenman has a spare and we launch into pulling the motor. Once it’s out we find that whatever after-market seal kit is on this motor isn’t the same as the Moss kit, for which Bill has the spare seal; the spare is a bit too small. Stephen heads out into Spokane to seek a replacement and, in a true miracle, finds one in stock. Seal replaced, clutch assembly back on, reinstall motor…it’s about 7:00 PM, right after a brief dinner break, that we re-fire the motor. Cheers erupt in the paddock (such great support). I’m wiped out and it would have been so much harder without great help from new crew-members Anthony and Archer. They were Energizer Bunnies of help all over the paddock all weekend.
I sleep like a ROCK in the trailer on Friday night and am glad we’re not out until 9:45 on Saturday. My plan to get a bunch of practice on Friday didn’t pan out, so qualifying is still mostly a practice session. Still, with no sports racers in the grid, I manage a surprising-to-me P3 at 1:47.6, behind Stephen and Bill.
In the first race I get a rare good start. and benefit (unfortunately) from Paul and Stephen mechanicaling out. Chasing Stephen down the front straight for a pass on lap 2, the car hits 120MPH for the first time ever. I see Paul out on the inside after 2, broken throttle cable. Stephen is coming hard at me down the front straight, when he suddenly fades back. He goes out with what turns out to be a broken lifter. With Bill racing his first laps at the track I manage a comfortable win, only my second ever.
Race 2 I start, uncomfortably, on pole, with Bill next to me. With Stephen out for the weekend, it quickly turns into a two-car race for first. With Bill still learning the track I have a slight advantage and leverage it to string together a start-to-finish lead and a 1.3 second win.
The fourth session of Saturday, and third race, is the Sprite-Midget Challenge race and everyone comes out ready to race. By the third lap sprinkles of rain are falling and the track gets damp, especially at the ends, for most of the rest of the race. With the good fortune of the lead, I drive a bit conservatively…making Bill take more risks on an increasingly wet track with both of us running on Hoosier tires. He almost makes good on it, as the track dries a bit for the last lap, but his inspired last lap comes up just short in the final turn, and I eek out a 0.6 second win in a mechanically depleted field of seven Spridgets.
Saturday night is the delicious pizza feed at the track, then we get Rod’s head gasket changed out. The no-engines time here is 9:00 PM, which is a welcome difference from the 6:00 PM limit at Pacific.
Sunday dawns clear and cold; 43F as I drive to get coffee. I slept well in the trailer though.
Group Race 3 starts with me on the wrong side after I wasn’t clear with the splitter. Bill nips me for the lead and now it’s my turn to give chase. Lap 3 is officially timed at 1:44.322, a personal best at Spokane. On lap 4 I go inside at turn 4, he slows a bit early, and I nip around. On the run from Bill, I run 1:44 laps from 3 through 7, building a comfortable lead and manage a win by 3.5 seconds.
Race 4 I get back onto the better side at the start, but Bill pulls alongside. We get close in turn 1…looking back I think he had more room that he used, but I also should have left him more. Paul had downloaded the track now and hangs close in third. Bill and I get close again at the end of turn 9 on the third lap. Looking at the videos over and over I’m not sure how much is me not leaving enough room and how much is him not being comfortable with the room that’s there, but later in the race I leave more with him on the inside of turn 7; regardless of the gray area, I want to be a driver that people feel safe with in a corner. I also chat with Bill after the race and via email after the weekend. It’s a great race, and I only get some breathing room when Bill points Paul by to have a go at the lead.
Bill and Paul head home to California and Oregon before Race 5, so at the start Rich is next to me, with Mark and Al in the next row. Absent my weekend competition, I manage to build a lead in the first lap and have dialed it back just a bit when I notice Jake surging forward in his Corvette. His C1 Corvette has boatloads more power and is substantially faster in the straights, which are abundant here, so I really start to push. Lap 2 I hit 120MPH down the front straight again in lap 3. That lap is also an unofficial 1:44.214, a personal best. Jake and I have had some great dices over the last couple years and this is setting up to be another. Going down the front straight on lap 5, I shift to 4th and ignition shuts off entirely. No fire, no tach, no electric water temp. Bummer of a way to end the weekend, but Jake goes on to record his first overall P1, which is great.
It was a cool, very windy weekend- we took the canopies down on Saturday and while we were changing the rear main seal on Friday, the bonnet, stood on end, blew over. This is the first weekend I’ve slept in the trailer; it was just fine and even better than a hotel in some ways. There was a crazy number of mechanical issues, even for Spridgets, with me, Paul, Stephen, Mark, Randy, Rod, and Ted all requiring repairs or retiring. But in the end, the car ran well, felt predictable, and I did a decent job driving it.
Videos!
Friday, Test & Tune 1
Saturday, Qualifying
Saturday, Race 1
Saturday, Race 2
Saturday, Sprite-Midget Challenge Race
Sunday, Race 3
Sunday, Race 4
Sunday, Race 5