Nice to be writing one of these again! If you haven't been around for more than a couple of years, you might not know that I race a Formula Vee in the Sports Car Club of America. This year I'm running the Southeast Conference Series (SECS) to attempt to qualify for the national championship Runoffs which will be held at Daytona in September.
Races 1 and 2 were at Virginia International, near Martinsville, a 3.1 mile road course with lots of elevation changes and the famous "Oak Tree Turn" and "Hog Pen". Paul Newman said "If there's a heaven on earth, it's VIR".
Alice and I left at 3:15 and had "a moment" on I-75 at mile marker 81 (Lenoir City). The van's right rear blew, and as I tried to get into the breakdown lane, with the trailer slewing behind me, I ran over the mile marker sign, blowing out the right rear. At this point, the trailer decided to lead and swung us 180 degrees and across the driving lanes. I got it stopped facing the oncoming traffic which all managed to stop themselves without hitting each other or me-amazingly. I looked down and saw the engine was still running, so I limped it back into the breakdown lane out of the way. There was some sheetmetal damage and the propane tank got knocked off the tongue, but otherwise, we were back on the road after getting the tires replaced by a truck breakdown service. We had decided while waiting on the tires that, after two weeks of prep work, we weren't turning around after 2 hours of driving, and that if we were still in our 20s, this would be an epic road trip, and not a setback, so northbound and down!
We arrived at VIR at 2:30AM. This gave us about 3 hours nap time in the front of the van. We had to register and have the annual tech inspection done on the car before we could go out for the 1st qualifying session at 8:30 AM. Any hangups would mean starting from the rear, or not getting to run the Saturday race at all! However, we made it out in time and were the fastest qualifier (we had three cars to beat in the class, which was part of a 26 car run group). The race went smoothly, except for some cars shedding debris on the track for everyone to dodge, and we won.
Sunday began with weather issues. It rained hard enough to wet the track, but not enough to go out on rain tires. This situation involves a lot of tiptoeing and finding out which parts of the track have grip and which don't. On the first hot lap of qualifying, a half-dozen (none of which were Vees) drivers forgot that, and as I approached turn one I saw dirt and smoke flying to the left, and frantically waving yellows and corner workers on the right. I drove through the mess and went on unhurt. Two laps later, they black-flagged the whole session and brought us in, several on tow trucks. After that, it was the same story as Saturday: pole position and another win!
The trip home was much longer, it seemed, but less dramatic. Thanks to Alice for all her help and encouragement! Next, Homestead/Miami raceway at the end of June.
