part 2:
After a few libations we had back to camp, anticipating clean up tomorrow, and proceed to drink with the paddock crew. One of the fellow’s who’s names I’ve forgotten whips up some awesome bbq, and Joe headed into town and bought a pickup’s full of chow. We pound 6 bottles of wine and bunch of beer.
About 9pm talk turns to finding a substitute car. Mike is selling a car, but none of us has that kind of coin to drop, and we don’t have time to do a proper setup, so we’d be lucky to run well – and we’re short on luck this weekend...
We talk about borrowing Dave Vodden’s old car, but its pretty beat up and would be tough to win with. I come to realize there is a fully setup, winning caliber car sitting at Dean’s house – the Mo Laps Sm #72.
I float the idea of going to get it (a 7 hour round trip),. We debate this for about an hour. We read the rule book. Marcus is resolutely against it (too much work). Dean thinks about it (I know his car gets enough wear and tear and he doesn't need two more races on it). I’m ready to go get it by myself, with zero impact to the rest of the crew, if Dean’s heart is in driving. It’s a draw. Those still awake in the paddock think it’s a good idea. Dean calls Laura to see what she thinks, and if she minds us raiding her garage at 1am. Laura thinks it’s a great idea and volunteers to help.
Its on.
Our paddock spot is a mess. It would take us an hour to fish the truck out, so Juan really saves the day (and I mean really), by offering up his f350 dually. This is the nicest truck I have ever towed with. Its incredibly comfortable and without it, I might not have been able to make the 7 hour round trip without incident. My truck wears me out, something I hardly noticed until I towed with Juan’s.
Dean opts to ride along and loans yet another piece to the puzzle – a valentine one radar detector – enabling us to push at an aggressive pace without fear of jail time.
So, we head out. The trip down is uneventful, with frequent flashes of the V1 and slow periods where we avoid the long arm of the law. We do a nascar style pit stop loading the car and some ancillary bits at Dean’s houue (since it is 1am in a very quiet residential neighborhood and spec miata are not really quiet) and I drop Dean off at the hotel at 3:30ish (we beat the 7 hour mark, thanks Valentine!). and head to the track to catch a nap.
I awake at about 6:30 to find Marcus and Dean have offloaded the car and are prepping it. I’ve now gotten 7 hours sleep in two days. I’m Dead. Marcus is the best rested with maybe 10 over two days, but we’re all still drained from the previous day’s events.
Dean makes the necessary adjustments to his entry for a car change with registration and we make the grid with ease. With the 2 minute board showing I realize we may not have torqued the right side lugs and run across the paddock (I’m fat, remember) and get that done as the cars roll off.
The ITA race is… something. We start second, the start is a mess, Dean loses some spots. Charging through the field he gets knocked off course TWICE by the same guy, in the same corner. Once losing little ground, the other time spinning off sideways and losing a ton of spots. Dean spends the race charging back up through the field in an electric drive. A late race caution bunches up the field and Dean retakes 2nd, but with only 1 lap left cannot chase down Kim Willcox for the race win. Kim having been one of many who saved our weekend, its hard to be upset about – since just 8 hours before we didn’t even think we’d make the race.
In impound after the race, the car has no clutch. Crap. We push it back to the paddock spot and Marcus, Dean and Scott Neville (new arrived spectator, another who lends a hand in the weekend's mayhem) set about to repair the car while I make another 4 hour round trip dash back to Fairfield to drop off the dead 68 car (we’ve got two race cars but only one truck/trailer). Juan once again loans me his awesome tow rig (at his own expense, his race ending before I return, so he has to wait around for me) and with the Valentine 1, the trip is long, but uneventful.
The mechanic team finds a damaged clutch slave cylinder, likely from being throw off track in the race, and make repairs. I know we didn’t have one, so we probably borrowed this from some unnamed soul who continued to contribute to our race weekend.
I return just as the cars roll off for the race, remember, we’re on Pole.
Dean has a good ITX race with the faster classes as he got a great start. He holds point on the field and takes the win. The other cars in class have nothing for Dean.
This definitely ranks as one of the four hardest race weekends in Miller Motorsports history... We've had less stressful 25 hour races!
Thanks to everyone who pitched in to make this happen – named or not, I appreciated your help immensely.
Scott
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Originally Posted by Knestis
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