| SARRC Invitational Challenge (SIC) |
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| SARRC Invitational Challenge (SIC) |
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Savannah Smiles
We had six road racers, two workers, and assorted crew, cooks, and roving reporters representing Chattanooga at the SIC this year. Everyone had a great time, with the possible exception of Rusty White, who took a good hit on his RX-7 only a few laps into his race and had to retire for the weekend. Sorry, Rusty. The car was running great, though. Dwight Floyd made it to Roebling Road for qualifying, but never raced. What happened, Dwight? The Chattanooga Region got three more SEDiv champions: Will Perry and Kenn Walker, first place in ITC and G Production, and Vesa Silegren, fifth place in ITC. Wooohoo! However, there are some “unofficial” awards that should be handed out: The “Are You Guys Human?!” Award for Best Race: Hands down, Will and Vesa provided the best spectating of the weekend. On Saturday morning, Will qualified 4/10ths of a second ahead of Vesa, his fastest lap a hair over 1:28. Then Vesa turned around and ran a 1:27 in the afternoon. Was that a track record in ITC? Good grief. They started their Sunday race side-by-side and didn’t let up for 15 laps. They even drag raced one entire lap! Will pulled ahead early, but Vesa grabbed back the lead and didn’t give an inch until the bitter end. Then, Will (who had been practicing the maneuver for several laps), ran around Vesa on the outside of turn #1, and won the race. Amazing driving, guys. The rest of the ITC field didn’t stand a chance. |
2004 Races November |
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This one goes to Dave Hester. Here’s how it went, according to Dave: During qualifying, I felt a bad shudder in the car coming out of turn #9. I shifted into 4th gear and it went away. “Hmmmmm.” Next time through #9 the shudder was worse, but it still went away when I shifted into 4th. Back to 3rd gear into turn #1. rrrrrrrrr. “Hmmmmmmmm.” Out of turn #2, halfway to #3 hard on gas, rrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRR then Clank clankity clank clank CLANK. “Uh oh.” I coasted off to driver’s right (can you REALLY coast at speed in wet grass?????). After missing a ditch I had never seen before, I pulled in behind the turn #4 worker station. The tow back to the trailer kinda sounded like dropping a bag of ball bearings and a couple of screwdrivers into a blender. That's it, ready to pack up and watch races Sunday. Well, not quite. Dave found a new trannie at the track Sunday morning. He and his crew (Linda and Matthew) had the sucker in his car and road tested in time for his race at 3:00 o’clock. Way to hang in there, Dave! The “Is That a Corner Worker I See Through the Red Mist?!” Award: This one also goes to Dave, who spun off at turn #4 and waited for a worker to wave him back onto the track, instead of running headlong back into traffic like a lot of his peers. All weekend long racers ignored flags, including at least three drivers who had to be black flagged repeatedly until they realized they were supposed to come into the pits. The “American Lung Association How to Quit Smoking” Award: Kenn Walker gets this one. Halfway through his first race lap, the cockpit of his CRX filled up with oil smoke. Ohhh, for a video camera to have caught Kenn’s “What the . . .?!” look as he passed the camp Soddy Daisy paddock spot on his way into the pits. He stopped at pit row, diagnosed a leaking transmission seal, checked his gauges to make sure everything was O.K., and got back into the race only a lap behind. How about that adrenaline rush? Kenn proceeded to pull two seconds off of his lap times and finish second in G Production, giving him enough points to win the championship. On his cool down lap, the car finally died. Kenn pulled up at the turn #3 worker station, and asked a particularly brilliant and talented corner worker who was stationed there, “Art, will you please get me a flat tow?” Kenn drove the whole weekend without crew. We need to find this guy a reliable wrench-turner next season. The “I’m Still Standing” Award: Art Thompson and Bill Perry share this award, for working two very long days at the SIC. Bill was the Tech Steward. I could swear I heard occasional guffaws coming from the tech shed as Bill passed judgment on various car prep infractions. “I’m sorry, but you can’t use racer tape to hold that door shut. Haw! Haw!” or “No, you can’t dangle your air cleaner out the window! Yuck! Yuck!” The loudest crowing came, however, when a certain Tech Steward’s son won first place in his race. Art endured a long, grueling Saturday at turn #3, and then came back for more on Sunday, ending the weekend with a two-hour stint standing in the pouring rain. He blue flagged, yellow flagged, and even got to do some radio communications. He got lots of good waves from the Chattanooga drivers and the aforementioned visit from Kenn Walker. Huge THANKYOU’S to Bill and Art. The “Oh NO! Not PB&J Again!” Award: Goes to Jamie Hamilton and Gail Perry for cooking up a really good dinner on Saturday night. That hot supper went down really good. And thanks to the Perry’s for sharing their cool, comfy motor home with sweaty and dirty racers and crew all season. The “Me Thinks He Doth Protest Too Much” Award: Chuck Fullgraf wins this one, for being the most steadfast and dependable wrench-turner in the Region. My best guess is that Chuck has crewed close to a dozen races this year, all the while insisting that he really can’t get back into driving . . .really . . .I just can’t . . .did you guys see that Formula Ford for sale over there? . . . No, really, I can’t . . . really. You rock, Chuck. There are numerous lesser awards to be given: The “Clanking Brain Bucket” Award goes to the formula driver whose unbuckled helmet flew off onto the track at turn #9, which caused a series of mishaps that ended with another car in flames at the entrance to pit road. No word on what happened after that. The “Why Me?” Award goes to the ITB pole-sitter who got punted into the pit row wall on the first lap of his race, leaving his front tires skewed at right angles. Sorry, dude. The “I Love My Roll Cage” Award was won by the ITS car that learned the hard way about the sand dunes at the end of turn #4. The world looks very different upside down. The “Dragnet” Award went to the Chief Steward and track manager, who went after a kid doing donuts in the east paddock on his ATV. The perp ran, evading capture. The “I Had Waffles For Breakfast” Award goes to the race chairs, who couldn’t figure out how to make the rain stop long enough to start the last race. The “Worker Appreciation” Award goes to the Buccaneer Region. Word on the street is that the SIC has the best worker goodies. Good for them. The “If It’s Raining, it Must Be Roebling” Award goes to all the Spec Racer Fords, who raced in a downpour and had fewer mishaps than any other race group all weekend. They looked like speedboats in all that water. All in all, it was a great weekend. The event was well-run and loads of fun! Thanks to all who participated and congrats again to our champs. -- Ruthie Cartlidge |
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October 12, 2004
