On page 44 of the just arrived issue of Sports Car, there is a picture of
the track at Kent Washington. It shows some of the original Trans Am cars
descending through the esses. The whole twisty part was all at a lower level
which made for good viewing. I watched Dan Gurney drive by and from above
you could see he only had one hand on the wheel, with an elbow just resting
out the window. Anyway, I was sitting up there on the hill where all the
spectators are in the photo, and between races, two local Lincoln-Mercury
dealers who had just taken delivery of two just introduced De Tamaso
Panteras, went for a few parade laps. The turn workers had spread out a
table cloth and were sitting and enjoying a picnic just about where the guy
with the white pants is standing. Well, by the third parade lap, the two
dealers were into some serious fun, and one of them had a serious failure of
will coming out of the first turn at the top of the hill. He backs off and
totally swaps ends, loses it, and just plows up the field sideways at speed
all the way from the top to where the course turns. The workers look up just
in time to see this, jump up and scatter. He goes sideways right through the
blanket.
Well, maybe the story isn't that neat but I was young and it made an
impression on me. The article is nice.
Tony
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