NOW I REALLY MISS THAT CAR! Congrats to Bill Babcock for a very great
weekend.
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Babcock <BillB@bnj.com>
To: <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 5:38 PM
Subject: Your basic great weekend
> I had one heck of a great weekend in Peyote at SOVERN's PNW race at
Seattle
> International Raceway (SIR) this weekend. Peyote ran great, though my
> unfortunate choice of some 60 series tires (I left the damn 70s in the
> driveway at home) left me geared much too low and put me into the historic
> big bore (over 2 litre) vs. vintage class. But that turned out to be a
very
> good thing, because Phil Hill was the guest driver and was in my group.
Talk
> about best seat in the house!
>
> I ran out of RPM before the halfway mark on the front straight, and had
time
> to macrame' a beverage holder while waiting for turn one with the revs at
> 6200 (drone). The rest of the track was all 3rd and 4th gear. But I still
> set a personal best time of 1:45:22 (previous best was 1:58.40 in the TR3)
> while Mr. Hill (we are not worthy, we are not worthy...) did 1:44:92 in
> Craig McCaw's Panamerica Ferrari (with the carbs going sour in every turn,
> some very spooky body roll, and great big BAGS of horsepower when the gas
> drained back down into the carbs). Thankfully I did not turn a better time
> than Phil since I would have had it tatooed on my forehead, and that would
> have smarted, methinks.
>
> Peyote is an absolute blast to drive. I passed a gaggle of Ferraris,
> including 2 Testarossas, some very fast Devlins (corvair and Porsche
> powered, a bunch of other good racecars, and everyone else in my class,
> giving me two class wins for the weekend and an eight overall. Too much
fun.
>
>
> I've got some great Video of both races that I'll have to show off at the
> VTR get together--including great shots of Phill Hill with Peyote's nose
> knocking on his door in the long sweeper at PIR they call Big Indy while
his
> carbs splutter. Of course then the gas drops back into the float bowls,
the
> tires hook up and he screams away--what fun. And what an elegant driver he
> is. Anyone who's coming to VTR that has racing videos should bring them,
> I'll set up a projector and we'll show 'em on a fifteen foot screen.
>
> So I had far and away the best racing weekend of my life. Phil signed the
> decklid of Peyote (rather blandly before the race, though he was much more
> curious about it after--he wanted to know what the heck it was). The
little
> junkyard dog thoroughly peed all over a host of pedigreed cars, ripping by
> them pretty much at will, anywhere but the middle of the straight.
>
> I don't know how many of you have met Phil Hill before, but it was a huge
> thrill for me to meet a guy I have idolized since I was ten years old, and
> find him to be warm, kind, and genuinely interested and excited to be
> playing around in old cars. He's as much of a nut as all the rest of us.
It
> was an honor to meet him and a thrill to be on a track with him at racing
> speed. He started at the back in the first race--I was gridded 21 of 45,
and
> when he passed me on the seventh lap you can see my arm pumping in the
video
> camera. I was overjoyed to have him in front of me so I could get him and
> that gorgeous big car on video. Not that I slowed to let him get by or
> anything--I held him off for two laps.
>
> It was a very messy weekend for some--Ray Marty thoroughly destroyed his
> Alpha when he hit a huge oil slick deposited in turn one at the end of the
> straight by Old Yeller blowing it's motor to bits (I stuck my right rear
> wheel into the same slick, but nothing bad happened--just wobbled a bit).
> Vic Edlebrock turned his lovely Lister Corvette into junk, going off in a
> very improbable place (turn four, which is hardly more than a kink),
plowing
> up a lot of agriculture, and winding up back on the track, upside down.
> Neither racer was seriously hurt, though their cars were trashed. Both
were
> in my race group. Vic's mishap ended my second race after the seventh lap.
> Monday was a race day too, but it was raining heavily in the morning
though
> it stopped about 8:00. I like racing in the wet, but I decided if it
rained
> again after 10:00 AM that I'd call it a day and save the car from any
mishap
> for next weekend. It did, so I did.
>
> What a weekend. And next weekend is the Portland Historics.
>
> Bill
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