- just a bit of small town Triumph irony that made me feel big in racing -
My racing career officially started and continues every April with an event
that begins my yearly racing calender... and started me on a path of road
racing go karts. Every April, a sleepy little town in central Indiana erupts
with the sound of racing engines for a weekend of awesomeness. St.Joseph's
College in Rensselaer Indiana hosts a "little 500" endurance race for
both the current student body and an Alumni race. I have been a big
supporter and sponsor of the race fielding "Friendly Ghost
Racing" student Karts and racing myself in the Alumni race. I have not
missed one in 21 years. It is a big event for my family and friends. From my
own perspective, the race is quite like the real Indy 500. Hard to win, and
a major racing accomplishment ultimate goal for any racer. I suppose similar
to the, now famous Kastner Cup in our Triumph world.
Anyway, I had my GT6 down there with me this year. I was going to race
the "Little 500" on Saturday and my Triumph on Sunday, three hours away at
Blackhawk Farms. A knowingly ambitious plan that turned out to be a weekend
without Triumph racing due to massive rain on Saturday. So my big "Little
500" race was the only event for me. And that was fine anyway, because, as
it turns out, I was so sore and tired from racing my go-kart, a parlay would
have been a pipe dream.
With my race car on the trailer, word spreads fast in a small town... soon a
few of the town's racing legends were down at the local machine shop to
check out my ride. Racing is pretty big in Rensselaer. And at the top of the
heap is a fellow named Wedge Rafferty, an old time SCCA'er with
legendary endurance racing and sports car history. I have known Wedge for
over 20 years, he was a sponsor for my Go Kart teams and has great racing
"know how." I bought my first trailer from him 20 years ago. In the coarse
of bench racing chatter and B.S. with Wedge, someone who really understands
the thrill of racing, I was talking about how great this past year has been
for me racing the GT6, the coolness of FOT,meeting Kas Kastner, Racing the
Kastner Cup. etc. When I mentioned that I was racing against these great
Triumph guys....he instantly dropped the name Sam Halkias and continued to
divulge that Sam worked on his pit crew fresh out of school when, Mr. EP
Champ, was just a wee lad with a minimal interest in racing.
I won major points with that group when I told Wedge that not only did I
see Sam win the SCCA National Championship from Canada Corner at Elkhart
Lake, I also raced against him at Heartland Park and enjoyed a few
conversations with him at our last Kastner Cup. So yeah, Team Turtle, Wedge
Rafferty...old small town college road racing hero's of
mine, apparently helped Sam Halkias get some sort of introduction to racing?
Wedge was delighted to hear that all of us somehow knew each other and the
friendship and history made a neat conection of three generations of racing.
>From Wedge Rafferty, to Sam Halkias, to me.... so, Small world eh Sam?
Jason Ostrowski
Friendly Ghost Racing GT6 #27
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