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Reply to author, not me.
mjb.
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From: "Tillinger, Richard (OLN)" <Richard_Tillinger@Dresser-Rand.com>
Subject: RE: The Glen Racing Results and etc.
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 08:21:29 -0400
Hi Mike and all,
Thanks for the many kind words. And thanks to all the friendship and support
from everyone over a tough but great weekend.
BTW, when we were sharing the victory champagne in the Seneca Lodge parking
lot Sunday evening, I neglected to toast Mike Unger and Tom Phelan for what
they did (they done good!), and to thank Mike Unger and Ron Freudenheim for
talking me out of giving up racing and selling everything about 5 years ago.
So, on to the weekend:
Thursday I punted an Alfa in turn 10; I thought that he was going to let me
by, as he did with the car that I was following, but he didn't; ultimately
it was my fault as the overtaking driver. Bob managed to massage the right
front fender out SO well that nobody who hadn't known about the incident
could tell.
Then there was the alternator failure (crack and then disintegration): "no
problem" sez I, "I have a spare!" DUH, it has a crack in it too! But I got
it welded. And, great news, we had cured the horrible braking and fuel
starvation problems that had plagued us at Mid-Ohio in June.
My good ultra-close tranny broke Friday morning. A 12-hour, 225 mile round
trip to Allegany, NY fixed that. Unfortunately my back-up ultra-close was
"not quite ready for prime time", so a real old middle-close was pressed
into service. The clutch was freshened up as the tranny failure had caused
oil leakage into the bell housing, and hell, while we were at it, we put in
a 4.11 Posi rear end (the 4.38 Posi was slipping). For the record, Bob and I
had the carbs and header off, and the engine-tranny out and on the floor
about one hour and twenty-five minutes after we pulled into my driveway!
Saturday morning qualifying proved that we had everything bolted together
right, but that the middle-close didn't shift well, and that the gear
combinations were far from ideal. Basically, 3rd was too high for the tight
turns, and 2nd was low enough that I was at red-line at the turns' trackout
point (or before!).
In the Saturday afternoon qualifying race, I spent most of the first three
laps dicing with John Parker's Volvo P1800 for 4th, as a Porsche 356, an
Elva Courier, and a little 1097cc sports racer slowly pulled away.
Apparently not far behind us on the first lap, there was a major "crash and
burn" incident at the chicane (er, inner loop) or bus stop (ala Spa). On the
second and third laps, a corner worker was holding a small sign out over the
track on a long stick at the top of the esses (turn 4). It read "loop
closed", and took me awhile to figure it out, but I could see lotsa lights
and yellow flags and stuff up the straight at the chicane. Everyone managed
to slow down, and go straight past the chicane. Other people told me that
they could not read the sign, because it was so small (and hey, we're going
by at over 100 mph).
John and I had swapped places a bunch of times, and had run side by side
through many turns. At the beginning of the fourth lap, there was a blue
passing flag at start finish, but no yellows. I dive-bombed John into turn
1. With him all over me like a bad suit, we ran the short straight to the
bottom of the esses (turn 2), and as I ran around that turn, I was surprised
to see the three cars ahead of me running very slowly behind the pace
car!!!! I braked, and got punted in the left rear and spun by John. Later
reports from the 3rd place driver said that there WAS a waving yellow at 1
(but I was on the other side passing John), and if there were full course
yellows (i.e., 2 yellows) at turn 2, they weren't obvious to us. Assuming
that you just had 2 cars blasting through a waving yellow at 1, you might
think that the workers would be pretty excited with the flags at 2 .....
Anyway, again, ultimately it was my fault.
By the time I recovered from the spin (3 or 4 cars had passed my stalled
car), had restarted the car, and had almost caught the field again up by the
chicane (maybe 20 seconds?), I looked in the mirror only to see a TR4
screaming up on me. I dove to the right, and he barely missed hitting me,
and some of the rest of the field! Well, maybe the yellows weren't too
prominently displayed????
Three agonizing laps later, the race ended that way, behind the pace car.
Fortunately, they posted the results as of the 3rd lap, so I was credited
with 5th.
Bob worked on the crumpled left rear corner for maybe three hours, and did a
phenomenal job, requiring only a lot of white duct tape to replace all the
flaked paint. He got applause and congratulations from the dozen or so
gaping onlookers! I've often said that I wouldn't ever have had one race
car, let alone two, if it weren't for Bob.
WHEW! Well then there was Sunday. Because they had rescheduled my race from
1:15 to 4:00, I actually had some time to watch some other races, including
the exhibition race of the Mark Donahue cars. Great stuff here.
When we gridded for the race, the very fast Porsche 356 that had finished
the qualifying race first and whom I really wanted to beat, wasn't there.
So, I still have some unfinished business there (almost had him at The Glen
in June, when he started first and I started dead last, by choice; I was up
a nose on him on the last turn, last lap, but couldn't hold it). That
therefore gridded me fourth. At the start, I out-accelerated the sports
racer, and followed the Elva Courier and the Volvo P1800 up the hill (the
esses). The Elva went down the back straight more or less in the middle, and
the Volvo went up the left side. I chose the right side, which got me run
off the track a bit by the Elva (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, and
assume that he was giving the Volvo room). Anyway, I was on the inside for
the chicane, and anyway, was there first. I was surprised that the Volvo
wasn't all over me like he usually is (we go way back to 1989!), but I think
I kept the lead from the Elva for the entire first lap. Then he was on me,
and a missed shift (told you the tranny was a handful) coming out of 6
allowed him the lead. Can't remember where I re-took him, and I think that
we went back and forth a couple of times, but the next lap he was again
behind me going into 6 and again a missed shift coming out allowed him to
get ahead again. After this, or perhaps after an additional swap or two, he
was gone (in front). But the partial good news was somewhere along the line
the Volvo disappeared from the rear. Then I had the little tiny, itsy bitsy
sports racer to contend with. I don't know how many times he got along side
of me (but never in front), but I do know that we went through at least 3
left-handers somewhat side by side. I was courteous, and although he was
only up to my door, I left him racing room (all I needed was a third
incident to explain to the stewards!). You may not be able to imagine what
it is like to be running very hard through a corner at perhaps 80 mph, and
look down to the left to see a little piece of red fiberglass barely a foot
off the pavement along side!!! Every once in awhile, another Porsche 356
would fight with the sports racer (THANKYOU!!), holding both of them up, and
sometimes it was the Porsche close by in my mirrors rather than the sports
racer, but the Porsche never was able to get along side like the sports
racer. My brakes and engine held together for the entire race, but the tires
(especially fronts) were getting worse and worse each lap. And so we
finished up in the order of Elva Courier, 2-Liter Datsun Roadster, sports
racer, Porsche 356. My only regret is that I did not witness any of the
undoubtedly great racing occurring further back in the pack.
Well, if I can find the funds and the time and the energy in the next four
weeks to get the car back into real working order, I'm going to try my hand
at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) on October 16-19th.
Best regards,
Dick
------- End of forwarded message -------
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