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Re: Dad and Tony

To: "Jack W. Drews" <vinttr4@geneseo.net>, FOT@autox.team.net,
Subject: Re: Dad and Tony
From: Tony Drews <tony@tonydrews.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:35:18 -0500
Here's the version I sent to the Nascar fantasy cup league that I run 
stat's for:

I had an excellent weekend at the track and don't think I have anything 
really expensive to fix afterwards. I do have a couple of repairs, though. 
We had 3 days of practice sessions culminating in the Sunday race. After a 
minor re-jetting of my carburetors, my dad and I had virtually identical 
speed cars. We spent most of the weekend drafting by each other. I think 
one lap we passed each other 3 times. What a gas! In the race, I was 
gridded on the inside of the 6th row, and he was on the inside of the 7th 
row. At the start, I got the jump on a car or two and put them between 
myself and the old man. But, in turn 5 I went wide through the kitty 
litter, kept it going and came back on the track right behind the old man. 
I eventually got by him, and going into turn one discovered that I had 
broken the gearshift knob off of the gearshift lever. Normally that 
wouldn't be a problem, but I've got an electric overdrive and the switch is 
in the gearshift knob. So, I grabbed the knob in my right hand and figured 
out where the switch was. I spent the next 5 laps driving with my left hand 
on the steering wheel and the right on the gearshift knob / lever. This is 
100+ MPH through "the most dangerous corner in North America"... I wasn't 
going to give in, though. The old man and I traded places a couple of 
times, but I had a lead going into the last lap. I had him far enough 
behind that he couldn't draft by on the front straight, on the back 
straight, and then through the kink on the last major straight. Going into 
turn 12 (2 corners to go), I figured I had it - his next drafting 
opportunity would be past the start / finish line. Coming into the apex of 
turn 12, I found that my gas pedal was no longer connected to the 
carburetors - I had broken the throttle linkage. I pulled off and came in 
on the rope. Still, it was a rewarding, hero drive and my left arm's not 
too sore from turning the car. Amazing 'cuz I had to brace myself against 
the roll bar to keep it turned through the carousel each lap. We've both 
got in-car video that I haven't been able to play back yet - should be fun 
to watch. I'm going to try to edit it into a video so you are watching from 
the rearmost car most of the time so you can see all of the passing that 
occurred. At one point, we went through turns 5 and 6 side by side. What a 
battle.

- Tony Drews

At 09:00 PM 9/22/2003, Jack W. Drews wrote:
>I wasn't going to report on this weekend's race, but I just finished 
>watching my in-car tape (again) and can't resist giving you some statistics.
>
>For those not familiar with "uncle jack's racing", it consists of son Tony 
>in a red and white TR4 and Dad in a blue and white TR4. The cars are 
>prepped quite differently but both are capable of about the same lap times 
>and speed. Both drivers are about equal, with me (ahem) being a little 
>better, of course.
>
>Well, anyway, this weekend saw us at Road America. I was gridded directly 
>behind Tony (must be a bad transponder) for the feature race of 8 laps, 
>which on this four mile course takes about 24 minutes.
>
>Now, we have all had great dices, but get this:  Tony passed Dad five 
>times, and Dad passed Tony six times. That sixth one came when Tony's 
>throttle linkage broke just two corners from the finish. Of course it 
>broke because he was stomping the pedal 'way too hard trying to keep in 
>front of Dad. At least that's MY story. Passes came by drafting and 
>slingshotting on the front straight, passing inside and outside in corner 
>5, 6, and 12 -- we ran out of ways to do it.
>
>To be able to race this way with my son gives me almost more joy than I 
>can handle.
>
>uncle jack

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