Ok here it is,
my story of the Molson S/V GT weekend.
The funniest part of this whole deal is after tearing up the car in Grand
Rapids the previous weekend we had decided not to even race the Molson even
though it is a mere 4 hours from home, UNBELIEVABLE! ;-)
So after some 6 hours flying home from MI. Sunday night talking to Nay
and the crew on the way home we changed our minds and decided to slam the
car back together for the Molson. As soon as I get up Monday morning I call
Nick who has only been home (Fl.) 1/2 day and ask him if he wants to come
early and thrash to get ready? He's in all the way! Ridicules airfare is
paid for 1 day notice on a holiday weekend, UGLY!$!$!
Nick arrives at 3am and I take him straight to the shop where the
*Hannah* (the transporter) has just arrived 2 hours earlier. We tear into
the *Hayleigh* (#97 W/C car) and begin
work on making her a race car again. I get the destroyed 1-off upper control
arm and begin pleading with Lou @ J&L Race Cars to bulid a new one in a day.
They did
it! UNREAL! This was the first of many things to fall our way this weekend
;-)
Long story short is everything goes well together and *Hayleigh* is
almost
back together with the exception of a fender which is needed to get on the
track as Mitch won't let cars start without proper looking bodywork...
We decide we will put *Hayleigh* together with only half of the fender we
had left from G/R. Upon arriving we find the Pirate crew preparing their C5
and Jim offers a nicely painted *purple* fender ;-) We decline knowing how
it would clash with our new blue accents.
While awaiting *Hannah* & *Hayleigh* I prerun the track in the Tahoe at
very low speed. This would continue through the night as Nick & Jack worked
all night putting *Hayleigh* back together and readying her for the weekend
activities. I continue to wake up every couple hours or so and run some more
laps studying braking, turn in & acceleration points along with visual
landmarks and apex's until I feel I have a handle on the track.
We are the first group out and the track is still wet in places from the
washdown it got all day Thursday. I am just dinkin around seeing if what I
figured out still works at a little greater speed but not using any throttle
at all. I end up between a couple buddies who tend to get a little racy for
practice at times so I just stay cool and let them lead the way, I'll turn
the wick up later ;-) As we come down the back stretch just after a
particularly hairy decreasing radius corner I see the points leader in the
fence hard! The car is done for the weekend and parts are still rolling down
the track as we come by, bummer for Bobby ;-(
I am 7th fastest in this session some 7 seconds off Kitchak, no worries,
I know what I have left ;-)
Next practice the track is dry and I decide to turn up the wick a little,
I run 9 seconds faster and now am about a second or so back of Kitchak &
Cooper. Ahhh, that's more like it ;-) We get some good tire temps as some
more people get concrete rash on their racecars. Archer is in his backup car
now after throwing his renter out on the curb. We confer with Doug Rippie
and make a few small changes in alignment and corner balance and get ready
for Qualifying with great confidence.
We line up for qualifying early so we're first out to get clear track.
Kitchak right behind us. They turn us loose and we drop the hammer right off
pit lane just like the ol cone masher I am not even giving a second thought
to the dreaded *cold tires* ;-) We get 5 laps in and the G-forces are just
getting warm when we come across a sickening sight, my buddy Pete Halsmer is
in the fence HARD in the same spot Bobby went in and he's moving real slow
;-( This particular corner is a 100mph decreasing radius with a couple nasty
bumps right at the apex. The qualifying session gets cut short and that is
it, we're done. We end up 5th only 1.3 seconds off Kitchen who is on the
pole but only .2 off Archer, Yippee! That is the closest we have ever been
to Kitchak!
For the race I feel really good about our prospects as I am sure I can
run with Biskup (ROTY points leader) and I even think I have something for
Archer, yep, I am thinking we have a podium car here. The prerace activities
are finally over and the pace car pulls off, noone to call the start for me
so I am on my own. Green flag and we're running hard for turn 1. As we
arrive in Turn 1 Brown is tucked in behind me in his Saleen and then all
hell breaks loose! Cooper & Kitchak touch, Biskup tags Kitchak in the rr
corner and Archer piles into all of them! I back off and so does Brown as we
want to finish this race under power. All of a sudden 3 cars are gone off
the track into the wall and Cooper emerges unscathed! I tag in behind Coop
as we go through turn 2 and into 3 and I can't believe my good fortune AND
Coopers.
I'm thinking, *well there goes the first win for a C5* Coop won't even
have to drive hard to stay ahead of us little guys. He & Kitchak seem to be
able to pull out a lead at will all year and nothing seems to have changed
since Coop got in a C5. Anyway, the next thing you know he turns in to 3 and
the car just doesn't seem to want to cooperate and he walls it right in
front of me! He just clobbers the wall at about a 30* angle and tears the
right front corner off the car right before my eyes! WOW! First I'm
thinking, *man I can't believe he did that* and then began to think maybe
something went wrong as it is not like Coop to make a mistake, especially
one like that!
The next thought is, *HOLY SHIT! I'm LEADING THE STINKIN RACE!!* I start
hollering on the radio, *Kitchaks out! Coopers out! Archers out! Biskups
out! I'M LEADIN THE FRICKEN RACE!*
Well, I musta been a little rattled cuz as we braked for 6 I let Brown
get position on me and pulled up the inside and beat me back to the flag, oh
well, I am pretty sure I can handle him on this track as he was not too fast
in practice or qualifying.
10 long miserable laps of yellow as Kitchak is in and out of the pits
over and over getting back out just before the pace car rolls by trying to
get the body work back on. Same with Archer. We go green again and as we
head into turn 1 Brown absolutely parks it in turn 1 and I can't get it shut
down and bump him almost hard enough to spin him. I'm thinking, *c'mon Paul,
gather it up, c'mon you can do it all the while knowing if he spins after I
hit him I will be penalized*. Brown gathers it back up and we continue into
2 & 3 and in turn 5 (the scary fast one) I take him on the inside for the
lead and begin to stretch it out knowing that Archer and Kitchak will be
comin...
Bummer, another yellow and Archer is on Browns tail. We get the restart
and I bring 'em down nice and steady but by turn 1 Archer is around Brown
and on my ass. Time to get busy and keep this awesome driver behind me. We
accordion several times as he is stronger in places and I am in others. We
run for maybe 5 laps like this but Archer gets a stop & go for jumping the
start. He's ignoring it and Nick tells me I don't have to race him, I saw
this happen with Kitchak at LRP and his crew cheif talked them out of the
stop & go, so I am not buying it, he's gonna have to earn it if he's gonna
get by me!
It gets kinda fuzzy after that but I know I kept drivin hard even after
Archer took his stop & go cuz Kitchak was still comin. We take the checker
and I can't believe it! We just scored the *first* Professional Road Race
Victory for a C5 Corvette in History!
I get out of the car and the whole crew is there and Nay is there to kiss
me and congratulate me! Calvin Fish sticks a camera and a microphone in my
face and I begin to pay homage to our incredible crew and Doug Rippie for
all their hard work to get there. And of course our sponsors Speedware
Motorsports and Tom Henry Chevrolet along with the NCM and the C5 fighter
Squadron.
They hustle us over for a press conference and ask us questions about
everything about the race. I make a reference to just being an ol cone
masher and this just being a big autocross with hard cones ;-)
The coolest part of the whole deal is that we had the second fastest lap
of the race behind Kitchak only .6 slower than Kitchak, a feat that
according to my records only Cooper has been able to accomplish thusfar.
*Hayleigh* is getting stronger and I am getting more and more confidence in
her every session thanx to Doug Rippie and the guys at DRM and our butt
bustin, ass kickin crew! These C5s are momentum cars and the suspension must
be perfect to be fast, if you have to give up anything in the corners you
are screwed! Fortunately I didn't have to last weekend ;-)
Remember to get your Discount Chevy parts at www.tomhenrychevy.com by
calling 1-877-TOMPARTS
sbw
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