the drive south was a long trip. gas and go over and over. the arrival
atthe track late tuesday was a very interesting experience. registration
did not open for un untill wednesday at noon. we wanted to drop out big
trailer and my rig so we could try to find a motel for 1 night before we
camped for the remainder of the week. a couple of big teams were waiting
to get in and we were told to follow them! so we did! we got parked right
next to dan gurney's rig , behind the red ferrari wich was in the movie "le
mans"! we were accidently parked (and unloaded) in the high rent district.
this was nowhere near where they sent all of the rest of the vintage racers.
this was to our advantage. we were right near the "good" bathroom and 1 row
behind the fence at turn 1. wednesday came and we finally got back in and
ready for first practice. this was a bit of a bad time for me as i fouled
a plug on the hot grid . i did a few laps on 2 cylinders and figured i
had better pit to see what was wrong. #3 plug was fouled and we replaced
it and i went out for a hot lap finally running the way it should. that was
my big mistake! now with it running right i was going much faster and was
a bit over confident. i headed into the old hairpin way too fast, hit the
brakes too late and when i turned into the chicane they have installed i
started to roll to the left. big time roll! luckily i turned into the roll
and got back onto 4 wheels. (fast thinking? instincts? more like just
dumb luck!) the rest of the session was uneventfull. i did find we were
running in a group of cars wich showed in the registration forms totaled 82
cars! i'm presently uncertain how many actually were on course at any
given time. that was the vintage group. the historic group had a bunch
of entries but i really did not pay much attention to those cars (untill
saturday morning when they combined the 2 groups for the exhibition race
prior to the 12 hour race start).
my co driver in the 1 hour endurance race was ed diehl. ed co drove the
63-65 corvette grand sport for chevrolet at sebring. he was 5-6 seconds
faster than i was in my car per lap. he was very good at the wheel of my
saab. we decided a pit stop and driver change at the 30 minute mark. all
went well and we finished. the traffic with all the porsches out there was
incredible!
we took a bunch of cars to down town sebring. 70-80mph down public roads
waving at the police was a great experience! he-he-he!
friday was my 1/2 hour sprint race. i drove well and had a blast out on
course.
saturday came way too fast! we lined up for the exhibition race and headed
out on course. well! the historic cars were so darn fast compared to my
car it was suprising to be passed by gurney's toyota gtp car! it went past
and actually sucked me in as it passed ! i could feel the car roll towards
the toyota as it passed . in a moment or even less it was gone! talk
about fast! i'm positive the corvettes and camaros and mustangs were going
nuts trying to pass me inthe corners . they saw more of the side of my car
and my "up on 3 wheels in a corner" driving wich probably made them very
nervous around my car. (the saab is a very difrent car to drive compared
to my bugeye!) i worked very hard on watching my mirrors to be curteous to
my fellow competitors. we usually are not grouped with cars that have such
a diferential of speed at other events. this meant i had to be on guard
full time!. now it is the responsibility of the overtaking car to safely
pass a slower car. and it was my responsibility to drive my line so they
could determine where they could overtake me. they were probably cursing me
under their breath. but i was doing my best to give them a chance to get
by where there was room. so once again the saab came home unscathed and
still running.
now my preperations are towards the hershey hillclimb in april (20-21).
i have worked very hard to get to sebring and have it be a sucess. right
now i'm a bit low emotiuonally as all the excitement and hype is over .
it's hard to get back to normal after such an exciting event! the sunday
orlando paper reported there were 160,000 spectators. and i do not doubt
that at all! it also appears as we were the only factory sponsored vintage
team there! so not only did the list help me live a dream but also
participated in a very special effort ! i can still smell the racing
fuel and my nose is still peeling from the blistering sun.
i feel like a kid at an amusement park.....daddy? can i go again??????
later i'll explain about the offer to go to france to run the vintage 24
hours of lemans that i was asked about going to! yeah! france!
chuck
orange saab #25
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