Formula Ford qualifying, coming over "Madness," out the front windshield of the motorhome
Bob and Patty's race cars (Bob's is a T2 M Coupe, Patty's is a SSB Z3 1.9)
That's Craig Nagler, doing the 1-man-band thing installing new shocks on Patty's car
And Bob, working on the tops of the shocks
TC leads Shauna during their final qualifying session
It was *cold* last night, down to 35 degrees. Of course, I was nice and cozy. But it was still only about 45 by the time I actually went outside. I didn't really prepare for weather that cold, but layers always work.
I did manage to hook up with Ren and Shauna and TC this morning by phone. They are staying down in Columbus at TC's house, which is over an hour away. What a pain that must be! But their qualifying session wasn't until the last group today, so they weren't at the track yet. So I wasted some time walking around, then headed out to their paddock area.
For a Solo II Nationals veteran, this is spectacular. Sure, at the Solo II Nationals we have over 900 drivers, and there are only 600 or something here. But there are so many support vehicles that the paddock area just dwarfs the one at the Solo II Nationals. You need to have a paddock pass to drive into the paddock, but I was walking. They make a lot of money on passes here.
I finally found their paddock -- actually, I was headed in the right direction, but I happened upon Scotty White, and he told me where to go. So I know people here. Also ran into lots of SCCA staff that I know, like Howard Duncan and Jim Leithauser, and I saw Bob and Katy Endicott too. When I finally found the TC Kline racing pit area, Ren, Shauna and TC weren't there yet, but Bob and Patty Tunnell were. They were surprised to see me. Eventually the Columbus gang arrived, and Craig Nagler was with them.
So, I hung out for most of the day with those people, watched a lot of the qualifying, and basically had a good time. This afternoon Speedvision did a quick interview with Shauna. Dorsey Schroeder did the interview, which was cool. I met him way back in '87 when Mark and I did a driving school at Lime Rock in Connecticut, and at the end of the school, Dorsey said that if any of us should ever happen upon him at a race track somewhere, come and say hi! It's been 12 years, but I did. He didn't remember me. Oh well. I remember him, of course, because since then he's been a professional driver and a great TV commentator.
Altogether, a good day. It did finally get up to 72 degrees today, late this afternoon, so it wasn't miserably cold all day.
Tomorrow, the racing starts. Scotty is in the very first race tomorrow, so I'll watch that before heading up to Cleveland to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and picking Dad up at the airport. The rest of my friends all race Saturday.