The ranks of the TxFot has been slim this year. Bob Kramer's old car is
now in Japan and the new one is not finished. The Kahler's have been
AWOL all season. For most of this season, Joe Hovey (Spitfire) and I
(TR3) have been carrying the banner. We had a total of 5 Triumph
powered cars at Hallett. Dan Duryee also came down, but did not bring
his GT6. After being out most of the season, John Price was back with a
new engine in his TVR 2500. He was having some fuel issues and then
broke a front A-arm on Saturday. Robert Batgell and James Bush brought
two Spitifires down from Springfield, MO to join Joe Hovey in the battle
against the hoard of Spridgets and Minis in Group 2. They said they had
raced a lot with VARA and had just recently brought the cars to
Springfield. Batgell's car was running strong with the lead pack of
Spridgets most of the weekend. Joe was running well until he had engine
problems Sunday morning. In Group 4, I had some unexpected competition
from Bob Lembcke and his very pretty Elva MK1. Bob also has a very fast
GP Spitfire. This is a case where one should know the competition.
After he ran a 1:34 in qualifying agains my second place 1:38, our
conversation went something like this.
Me: Where are you from?
Bob: Florida
Me: That's a good qualifying time, did you run the tune and test day
yesterday?
Bob: No
Me: So have you run Hallett before?
Bob: Yes, I grew up in Tulsa and held the HP track record for several
years.
Me: Okaaaaaay!
All I could do with Bob all weekend was beat him to turn 1. However, I
did turn a personal best of lap of 1:36.3 while I was chasing him.
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