Yup, Peter drives the bejesus out of a car. It's hard for me to pass him
because he's so much fun to watch. On Sunday during practice I finally got
the track somewhat sorted out and started driving faster. I was a gear up in
almost every turn. Damn, Peyote handles superbly! Some of the turns that I
was gingerly going through in third were actually fine flat out in fourth. A
little lift for luck, and right back in it.
I ran away from everyone for the first few laps and finally realized that
when I was at the end of the short front straight I couldn't see anyone on
the back straight. There wasn't anyone anywhere to play with. So I slowed
way down and waited for Peter and Thor Thorsen in his Lotus 11 to catch up,
waved them by, and started following Peter. What fun! What a car, what a
driver!! You'd have to see it from that viewpoint to even understand. I'm
sure that if this was 1935 he'd be in contention for the world championship.
Thor was getting away though, while Peter and I slid around, and I decided
I'd like a win at Sears, so I passed Peter and started chasing down Thor,
but the track went yellow after a hideous wreck involving what looked like a
red GT6 and a red Alfa and the race ended under yellow. Ah, well.
One funny thing though. When Thor and I got past the wreck there wasn't a
yellow in turn eleven, so we both jumped on it. As we came into the entrance
of the turn there was an MGA going probably 60mph slower. We split and
zipped past him on both sides (me on the left) and then I ducked back in
just in time to clear the wall. The driver must have wet his pants. I'm sure
I would have.
On to Thunderhill.
The tail end of the previous post got lopped off somehow. It said that I me
both Nick and Editor Gary. Great to see them. Nick is limping around with a
cane following a surgery gone bad (I relate to that) and grumbling about his
scorpions. Get better and go racing, buddy. Nice to meet both of you guys.
Sorry I couldn't talk longer. I have to fiddle with my car on race
weekends--it's genetic.
Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
-----Original Message-----
From: William G Rosenbach [mailto:wgrosenbach@juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:21 AM
To: Bill Babcock
Cc: fot@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: Cool day at Sears
Mr. Giddings pushes his Alfa harder on asphalt than anyone would do so on
dirt, without the benefit of any form of rollover protection. Thought we
lost him at Steamboat one year when his Alfa pinned his helmet to the Earth.
He is sure fun, if not frightening to watch and looks good doing it.
Bill
On Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:59:04 -0700 Bill Babcock <BillB@bnj.com> writes:
> Sure had fun today. Finished second after leading the field of 50+
> cars for most of the race. Peter Giddings in his 1935 Alfa Formula One
> car stayed on my tail all through the race, on the second to last lap
> I dropped a cylinder. Was going to pull in when it suddenly came back,
> and only Peter had got by so I started chasing him down. He saw me
> coming just as he encountered a big plug of lapped traffic. I've never
> seen anyone go through traffic so ruthlessly. I was laughing so hard I
> could hardly drive.
> Looked
> like a shark scattering a school of minnows. He was about 50 feet
> ahead at the checker. Great fun.
>
> I also met Mr.
>
>
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