Labor Day Weekend -- August 31-September 2, 2002 

Three of Chattanooga's Road Racers; Anthony Henderson, Will Perry and Art Thompson, went to Road Atlanta for the Labor Day Double SARRC / Pro IT event. All of the drivers entered only the SARRC races since the Pro IT has become somewhat carnivorous for ITC cars, and, of course, Anthony's FV isn't eligible. Vesa Silegren with his crew chief (and now wife) Theresa missed this weekend since they were on their way to visit family in Canada. Assisting at the races in the form of crew were Chuck Fullgraf, Jamie Hamilton, Misty Henderson, and Bill and Gail Perry. Dave Hester represented Chattanooga by working F&C in Turn 12, and Dave Marino was seen around the Tech Shed.

While the temperature couldn't have been more comfortable on Saturday, the sky was a threatening gray for most of the day.

The day had some gray notes for Anthony and Art as well. Anthony lost a motor in his FV due to a burned piston. He and Misty drove to Chattanooga to retrieve their spare motor with their trusty support New Beetle Turbo. They, with crew and numerous assistants from the FV community, worked late into the night to change motors. Art showed up too late for Sunday qualifying, but got permission to start at the back of the pack. He did manage to qualify third for the Monday race.

2002 Races

November
   Sebring
   ARRC
October
   Roebling Road (SIC)
September
   Road Atlanta
July
   Road Atlanta
May
   VIR
   Memphis
April
   Kershaw
March
   Gateway Park
   Road Atlanta
 

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Will on the other hand, qualified a solid first in class for both Sunday and Monday races. Not bad for only the second outing of a recently resurrected car.

Sunday morning comes, and Anthony's race was before quiet hours. He completed one lap under green, then had to pit due to a slipping clutch. Art made the adjustment on pit road using Universal Anglo-Metric tools (read that as pliers) on a mostly German car. Anthony completed 9 out of the 15 scheduled laps for the race; enough laps to get credit for a finish. Even after losing five laps in the pits he still beat another Vee that wasn't running at the end of the race. Later, a piece of a cotton rag was found to be the only thing keeping oil in the crankcase of Anthony's Vee. It had apparently been stuffed in an oil temperature sender orifice to keep dirt out while the engine was on the bench, and had been, um, overlooked during the late night engine change.

Will and Art's Sunday afternoon race was uneventful with Will taking first with a comfortable lead, and Art working from last to battling an MG Midget for second at the end of the race. Art finished third.

By Monday most of the kinks had pretty well been worked out. Anthony completed a clean qualifying and a clean race with only a spin in turn one early on, finishing in fourth place. Will and Art finish in their qualifying order: First and Third respectively. Art enjoys a battle with two other cars early in the race. One of them is the second place ITC Rabbit and the other is an ITB Rabbit with what appeared to be an inexperienced driver.

One word of caution: If you are going to Road Atlanta as a driver or crew, be sure to get there while registration is open!! Otherwise, they are the only track I know of that has the petty habit of charging spectator admission and parking fees to people driving trucks with racecars and trailers attached. In the past they had the courtesy to hold your driver's license until you could prove that you were legitimately registered. Now apparently they just need the extra $20.00.

That being said, I prefer to end this report on a positive note. Thank you very much to the Chattanooga people who helped me finally get out of the rut of being "almost ready" to race the new car. You will find their names at the start of this article.

-- Art Thompson