Submitted by Bob D'Amore (10-Jul-2006)

Wow! 3 days of racing with no rain.

The NEHA contingent at the 100th Anniversary gala event was represented by Butch King, Bill Rutan and myself.

PBS was there making a documentary so keep an eye on their T.V. listings. It was quite a circus but the racing was excellent.

Somehow Bill's 1952 "Tub" was classified as Vintage 2 (engines over 2500 cc) even though at 1500 cc the car was more than a quart down, as they say. Fortunately the pilot was not and he handily won his class coming within 2 seconds of his best previous time in the car there (1966). I think he said his driving suit and the tires were also from 1966, which might explain why he was 2 seconds off. He broke the Vintage 1 (MGA) and Vintage 3 (Bobsy FV) records by over 3 seconds -- the car should have been in either of those classes.

Butch as usual got matched up against the Special 3 FTD heavy hitters: An ITE Corvette, a Ford V8 special similar to Jerry's Patriot right down to the auto trans, and a methanol powered 1989 900 HP Lola T89 Indy car with full wings and ground effects. Our guy not only came within a half second of the first 2 cars but was only 2 tenths away from the magic forties. The V8 powered Ford Falcon also in the class never had a chance against him finishing more than 10 seconds behind. To establish a perspective with cars we are more familiar with Butch's 2WD Blazer is less than a second slower at Giant's than a rally prepared 600 HP Audi S4 with 4WD. The PA folk don't understand why the Blazer is so fast, but are quick to insist that Butch keep coming to their events. The spectators love it but it causes quite a bit of emotional turmoil as they are confused by a truck running faster than all but one of the Corvettes, and all the Porsches and Formula Vs. Butch should name the car The Iconoclast.

My McKee was having a bad time due to wheelspin. It appears that Hoosier sold me some tires that were well past their due dates. I would cross the finish line at over 7000 rpm (120+) but once I let the wheels catch up with the engine I discovered I was doing all of 71 MPH. Bill Rutan to the rescue -- he painted my tires with something sinister and lo and behold the next day I was literally able to chase a large bear off the course and set the 2d fastest speed thru the radar trap despite the wheelspin and more than a touch of driver reticince. While the Dankos' Indy Lola was more than 20 MPH faster thru the trap and also set a new overall hill record I was able to break their 2004 H3 record set with a Gurney Eagle Indy car by a fair margin. However I still feel like the fellow who brought a knife to a gun fight. I'll have to see what else Willi has in his bag of tricks. Danny did beat this Lola last year at Duryea so I'm in the right camp.

Another interesting car was George Bowland's S2 (B Mod) Shark. He won the SCCA's national autocross championship several times with it and was 2d fastest overall at Giant's, a mere 3 seconds behind the Lola. His snowmobile powered car's top speed was only 96 MPH yet he averaged almost 86 MPH across the course. This same car jousted with Don Peaslee's Bandit for many years at hill climbs and autocrosses. According to George they are evenly matched -- so let's hope Don gets the Bandit back together. George won Pagoda easily and was only .3 second behind the Lola T89 at Jefferson even though the Lola was clocked at over 160 MPH.

Other cars of note were Rick Shafer's 800 HP modern Trans-Am racer which made the trek from N.C. to run Giant's, Bob Ozwald's outrageous VW Ghia funnycar with which he finally beat both his sons in formula cars, a gorgeous Aston Martin DB1 replica, a GT1 Camaro, a turbocharged Cobra replica, some awfully fast C and D Sports Racers, a show quality '69 Mustang and some very pretty front engine Specials. Rob Campbell runs a 250 HP VW Bug that drops down into the forties but suffered mechanical difficulties all weekend. Rob and Bill Rutan usually duke it out in S2 when Bill brings the Scirocco.

I was amazed at how many cars were wrecked on Saturday, yet they showed up on Sunday ready to go. Many of the local people, to include the Dankos offered their garages and help, literally rebuilding cars overnight. It turns out that the shabby little engine shop halfway down the hill not only fixes lawn mower engines but builds all the engines for the Panoz racing team.

Overall it was an excellent event and I really appreciate all the effort that goes into putting it on. Kudos to Tim Royer, Nelson & Rick Kase, Matt Green, Tom Knorr, Matt Rowe and Joe Feuring. Everyone goes out of their way to make you feel glad that you are there. I'd love to see more of our NEHA group run the PA. hills -- I think we'd garner a few more of their records.

My only complaint was that rocks churned up in the paddock cut both my side pods. Next year I'll have to get into VIP row with direct access out onto the course.

Best to all,

Bob D'Amore