NorCal Retro Motown Raceway 08/18/19
Our race this month had a surprisingly light turnout but everyone was very cooperative in helping with marshaling and being patient with some fairly long races. As a result, we had three very good races with few problems and lots of fun. This month, the entire FTH contingent was absent but we had a few more from Motown than in the very recent past. From Motown, we had Dave Cummerow, Kenny Keys, and Rocky Rommel. The traveling Crew consisted of John Wilbur, Herman James, Tracy Chin, Mark Bauer and your homeless reporter.
As always, track owner Gene Braham gives us great support and he and his wife Jen helped us work the races all day. Tracy and Kenny who were not racing in the first race (stock cars) helped by turn marshaling so we never really had any issues in that regard.
First race of the day was for 4.5” stock cars on the Hillclimb. With 6 racers and two volunteers plus Gene and Jen as needed, we ran a center six race with 3 min heats. Early on, Jim, Rocky, Mark and Dave all showed good speed with similar lap times and heats in the 29-lap range. Herman came in late and started a run of 30 lap heats and ran that pace consistently through the race. Mark was possibly the fastest car in straightaway speed and Rocky was the slowest but Rocky was maybe the fastest in the turns and as usual, he made few mistakes. Herman was about ½ lap/heat better than the rest of us but of the next four, anyone could have nailed down 2nd. I Spun a gear late in the race and was out of the picture and Mark held sway over Dave and Rocky who ended on the same lap with Dave edging into 3rd by track distance.
We switched to the tight, flat Korkscrew for our next two races and this race was one of our rare Flat Track Can Am races. Once or twice a year, we’ll run Can Ams on the flat tracks and this was our first of two “switchup” races for Can Ams this year. For this race, we had 8 drivers but no volunteers available, so we ran the 4X4 (“Taliban”) rotation. With four on and four sitting plus Gene and Jen, the race ran very nicely although with 16 heats, it took a while.
There were some interesting sidelights in this race. First, Tracy who is a world class flat track racer was making his first Retro Can Am start with us in a couple years. Also, at sort of the last minute, Herman and I agreed to run Mini Brutes rather than our normal Retro Hawks as an experiment. There has been some discussion about doing this recently anyway and we just sort of jointly decided to try it out.
Early on, it was obvious that Tracy with his Retro Hawk was a notch faster than the rest of us. Honestly though, Herman with his Mini Brute was really not far behind at all. Rocky and I were very close to each other but a tic. Behind the two leaders. As the race went along, Tracy had us all covered although the gap at least down to Herman wasn’t very wide. Eventually, Tracy took the win over Herman by two laps. Rocky and I were close with Rock pulling out third due to his usual consistent speed.
Our final race was F-1 on the Korkscrew. Again, we had 8 racers so we ran the “Taliban” rotation and with Gene and Jen helping, the race ran very nicely. Neither of the first two races was a runaway at all but the outcome wasn’t too much in doubt. This race however, was very tight and it developed some drama near the end. Normally, I can’t relate the blow by blow but in this case I can since I was involved in it. Early on, Herman and Rocky both ran a 36 lap heat on white when they started while I think Tracy ran a 37 on white. Each then followed with a string of 38-39s to up their average. I started on white with a 37 which was good start, and then sat out four.
When I came back in, I ran a 39 and felt like I was in the hunt. My next heat was a 38 so I was still OK but then I finished my 1st half with a 37 for a 151 total at the ½ race switch. Herman had a 150 and I missed seeing Tracy’s 1st half number but I’m thinking he was either 151 or 152 setting all three of us up for over a 300 lap total.
The first ½ of the race was pretty clean for the 3 leaders but the 2nd half was a different story. Each of us managed to have a “Waterloo” heat in which we dumped a number of laps due to traffic, wrecks, unforced errors, mental instability and elderly brain fades. Many of the poor heats came on the treacherous inside gutter black lane. Tracy had the lead in lap average but then had his “Waterloo” on black. He then finished well on Yellow and was done. He was first in the clubhouse, setting the bar at 298 laps. I started on the track for the first heat of the 2nd half and immediately had my “Waterloo” heat on the good yellow lane. I then sat for 4 heats thinking I’d blundered away my chances.
Herman came back in just as Tracy was finishing and he had a modest 37 to start his final runs. I came back in with a very good 39 so I clawed back to close and with two heats to go, was only a little back from Herman. In the last two heats, Herman and I ran the gutters and I ran a 39 on Purple to his 36 on black to take a one lap lead. In the last heat, I was on black with a lap + distance over Herman who was on Yellow. Almost immediately Herman came off and I passed to go up two. He took advantage of his better lane and repassed to get back to one lap + distance but by then, I thought “OK….I got this if I don’t mess it up” Then naturally, I messed it up and Herman got back on the same lap. With a minute to go I knew Herman wouldn’t catch me but I didn’t really know where I was going to be relative to Tracy. When the power went off, I finished with a 298 and about 2/3 of a lap on Tracy also at 298. Herman came 3rd at 298 about 15 ft behind Tracy’s finish spot.
We give great thanks to Gene and Jen for helping us to get this race off and despite the light turnout, it all went very well. Thanks again to Tracy and Kenny for helping when they weren’t racing. I will launch a separate thread regarding next year’s plans and I’ll also discuss the potential for running Mini Brutes as our motor for Can Am in flat track races.
Get well soon.
