Pictures from Indianapolis Raceway Park on 5/8/00

Headed down to Indianapolis Raceway Park this weekend for Indy regions double regional. It was my first race of the year and packing was a chore. Note to self: wash drivers suit before the first event next spring. My busy month has included getting married and buying a house along with a van and a trailer. At least I don't have to drive the car to the track anymore. Leave Milwaukee, hit Chicago rush hour and Indiana construction but I make it in time to register, tech and unload the car Friday night. I run into Rick Swarts and a couple of other folks from Solo and David ? who also came down from Milwaukee. Registration is nice enough to move me from group 2 (GT1-ITS) to group 3 (ITA-ITC). There were no other Spec Rx7's there but lot's of other IT and SS cars to play with. IRP is much like Gratton, long drag strip front straight and then lot's of fun twisties coming back. Everyone walks away from me on the straight but I make it back up in the turns.

The Sat morning practice starts out well. Taking it easy, the new calipers are working fine. After a couple of laps to relearn the track I start to lean on it a little. The problem is that it starts stumbling coming out of the tight right handers. I've run with 1/4 tank at Blackhawk and Road America but apparently the long sweepers here are starving the fuel pickup. Guess I'll be starting even further back than normal.

I get some film with the camcorder and then the weather turns ugly. Halfway through group 2's race David's beating all the AS cars with his stock motored ITE Mustang when it starts to rain. I rush to throw on the full tread Kumho's. I don't want to follow the AS Camaro's lead and go through the fence outside T1. I remind myself how slippery the VHT is on the drag strip. I tell myself I'm the only one in my class so I shouldn't push it. But then the race starts. I don't lose much ground on the long straight and get inside a SS Neon going into T1. Does he see me? I go extra deep to make sure he does and the car sticks fine. I get another one in T3 but now I'm on the outside for T4. There seems to be a hold up on the inside so I pass on the outside. The next guy gives me way to much room on the inside of T5 so I make another pass. Heavy braking for T6 and I get another one. Hey, this is fun. By lap 2 I've moved from 18th up to 8th. I guess I'm a mudder. It helps that the SS guys are doing the off road thing.

Then the rain stops. The track starts drying out and here they all come. I hold off the SSB Acura for a lap but I can't stay with him on the straight. Next comes a gaggle of ITC 510's. Todd Buehrer bump drafts me down the straight. I figure I don't need this so I let them all go by in T1-T3. Another SS car goes by and immediately goes off course. Did something just hit my right foot? Going into 15 the corner worker is jumping around and waving the yellow like she's having a heart attack. I come around to find the white 510 has t-boned the X1/9 and they're sitting in the middle of the track so I take the high road. Thank you, mam. The rest of the race is uneventful and I fall all the way back to 16th. Best lap is a 2:04.8 or 4 seconds off the top ITC guys. Geez, I'm closer to them at RA, gotta step it up tomorrow. Fred Albright (ITA RX7) had a great race with Brian Duncan (ITA CRX) and pulled out the overall win for the Rotary crowd. Lot's of protest talk between the SSB guys regarding rough driving. Rough or just bad?

When I get to impound I find that the car won't idle. I have to give it some gas or hold the choke out otherwise it dies. Back in the pits I play with the idle settings but I can't find anything. It has power above 2 grand but won't idle. I can't see how it would be related, but I find a gold nut in the drivers side foot well. Must have been what hit my foot during the race. With some upside down acrobatic maneuvers I get my head down there. It looks just like the nuts that are holding the gas/brake/clutch pedals on but I can't figure out where it came from.

I run into Ken Bonneau at the beer/pizza party that night, along with an apologetic Buehrer. Hey, no harm no foul. I stop over at the oval track to watch a little of the truck/late model action and then head back to the hotel.

I put the worn tires back on for Sun mornings qualifying. The rear is pretty loose and I have to anticipate the bumps with the steering wheel (never lift). Confidence is high and I'm braking a lot harder and later. I get 2 clean laps in at the end and they're both 2:03 flats. While up in T&S I can see that they're short handed so I play runner for group 5. Thanks to Sue Young and her helpers who did a great job all weekend with a skeletal crew.

The clouds tell me rain is coming so I put the full treads on and load up the van as much as I can. I do my rain dance in grid but we only get a couple of sprinkles. I'm on the left side at the start and the Fiat in front of me doesn't get moving. I find out later he's stuck in 3rd gear. I go left but get blocked by the row of cones at pit out. The SS Neon behind me hits the brakes and there's no room on the right. We wait til it's clear and then play catch up the rest of the race. The Pinto and Scirroco give me point bys but Jerry Martin made me work for it in his ITB Suzuki Swift that he drove to the track. Started 16th, fell back to almost last but finished 15th with a little more help from the SS off road crowd. Brian Duncan (ITA CRX) took today's group 3 overall win.

Put the car on the trailer and head for home. The 302 in my 92 Ford E150 pulls decently and gets great gas mileage in either D or OD, (15 mpg). I had a blast, learned a lot, met some more friends and the cars in good shape (minus the idle problem). I call that a successfull weekend. Hope Road America is the same next Sunday. Looks like we'll have 5 Spec 7's running there. The camcorder has been dying a slow death and finally gave up the ghost when I got home. Should have better picks from RA with the new one.