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Dave Rauch cmi@inreach.com
For Watkins Glen, I pulled the head to check the valves and raised the compression a bit, although I couldn't get it as high as I wanted would have required a full rebuild. I also installed the 4.88 rear end and my overdrive gearbox, as I didn't want to get caught under-geared. It turned out not needed, so it was just extra baggage to carry around. I also weighed the car, finally, and found it came in at 2,235 lbs. empty. I actually thought it was heavier than that. Most of the other guys are about 200 lbs. less, but I had lost 33 lbs. myself, so some of the deficit was cut there.
I found the track delightful and followed Pat Enzman-Alspach around for several laps -- she leading me into her den, it turned out. Patty eventually ran laps several seconds faster than most of us -- really impressive. I managed to get to within one second or so of her times by the end of the meet.
I managed to qualify for the race in about 8th position and worked my way up to 5th overall and 4th 1800, again dicing with Gary Jebsen and Dave Winters at the beginning of the race -- actually passed Jebsen once, but got repassed and he would not have any more of that. Managed to get by Dave Winters and made it stick this time. Patty had a suspension failure ahead of us and collected the first turn wall, which shook her up a bit but she seemed fine afterwards, albeit a bit sore. Ken Rodenbush, Dave, Gary and I all looked to have a barn burner at the start, but Ken's car broke a rocker arm after two laps and had to retire. Richard Gordon from IPD finished the race in Ken's son's 1800, but had trouble with the shift lever and the clutch operation.
All in all a fun weekend -- and as a bonus, Ken, his wife Marty, Carron and I got to take in Niagara Falls on the Thursday before the race, Maid of the Mist boat trip and all. The New York countryside was gorgeous and very rural. An event to remember, even though the weather was a bit iffy.
 We had a clockwork trip home from Watkins Glen, but that night at home I got sick as a dog with both ends emptying and then felt weak as a kitten on Tuesday at the shop. Didn't get much done that day and came home for a nap, then went to bed early and slept 12 hours -- felt fine Wednesday morning. Carron had picked up stomach flu in New York and was feeling punk most of the weekend, but the stimulus of seeing all the old friends carried her through. She finally shed it about last Friday. While in New York, Ken was coaxing us to run a race at Willow Springs in California the next weekend, and Wednesday Dave Winters and I decided to do it, so we had all our cars dropped off the transporter except for Hayden's Riley cars at Willow Springs. We drove down there with our trailers to do more racing! When we got there, a nice row of four 1800s and my 544 were sitting in the paddock -- is that gentleman racing or not? BIG difference in surroundings though -- high desert heat and windy as hell. I helped Ken put the red car that Richard Gordon drove back in order. He fixed the shift linkage which had come adrift and I helicoiled the bellhousing for the slave cylinder that the bolts had pulled out from. Ken's son Josh arrived Saturday morning from San Francisco to drive that car. I borrowed a motorhome and brought along the 79-year-old lady who owned it -- a good friend of ours whose husband I used to work for years ago and who passed away a couple years ago. She wanted to see me race, as she used to accompany him to the races all the time years ago. Spent a few hours getting her motorhome ready -- had to wire up the trailer brakes and lights, etc. Thursday night. David Winters and Riley arrived about 10:30 Friday night from Seattle and we finally settled down about 11:30. Friday we had two practice sessions -- the second one was timed and gave us our grid positions for the qualifying race in the afternoon. I checked the tire pressures, topped up the oil from Watkins Glen, and off I went. The track was as I remembered it from '95 and the car felt good. I came in early to conserve my tires -- wasn't sure I could finish the weekend on them. Ken's car developed heavy smoking out the tailpipe on deceleration, and he came in and started diagnosis. David Winter's car had developed a high-speed misfire which we thought might have been points, so he changed those and also the plugs, although they looked fine. We found a valve stem seal which had come loose on Kens car and pushed it back in place to see if it made a difference. Also noted that the guide was a bit more worn than the others. During the qualifying session I got a few clear laps in and parked it again to save tires, and Ken's car started smoking again and he came in early. Winter's car still had the miss, so the order was me in 8th, Josh about 10th and Winters about 12th. We had about 40 cars in our group and this was a joint meet with another club that ran modern cars, so believe it or not the fastest ones were Honda Civic CRXs and Toyota Celicas! I was 2nd fastest in our class to a Triumph GT6. By the way, Ken was running in a different group than we were as his reputation preceded him -- he had been running D production with VARA and I hadn't run with them since I last ran in E. Josh regularly runs in E as he was not as aggressive a driver as Dad, so we were three 1800s in our group. The qualifying race for Ken was disappointing. He started out about 6th but dropped to the end on the warmup lap so as not to cause a problem for the other drivers on the start with his smokescreen, and then went about two laps and parked it with ugly noises emanating from within the engine compartment.
 I got a great start, jumped into 2nd place in the first turn and held off the rice burners for about two laps, then the GT6 went by with a beautiful exhaust note from that six, and I hung onto him for the rest of the race. Josh was gaining on me though, and was all over my rear end for about two laps then faded with a partially stuck open throttle cable. I was trying just to stay on the track as my tires were going away quickly, but I finished 2nd in class to the TR and 6th overall. Winters was about 8th in spite of his misfire and Josh about 12th. Sunday morning I decided to rotate the front tires to the rear, but when I pulled them off they were history -- down to the cord. I decided to park it, as I had had a great time already, but Ken scrounged around and found a set of good used tires that were identical to mine for $0, so I had no more excuse not to run and I offered to let him drive my car in his group, which went off right before mine. I scrubbed in those tires on the next session, and we mounted another coil and plug wires from the 544 on David's car, which solved his misfire problem. Josh couldn't get the cable replaced quick enough and missed his first session. Second session, I again ran a few laps -- started out behind Winters and managed a pass on the front straight after getting a good slingshot out of turn 9, then parked it again to save car, gas and tires. Ken started the final race in my car about one from the end and took a couple of laps to get the feel of it, then started closing on an Alfa GTV and had a good dice with him. I was standing by on pre-grid with a can of gas waiting for him to come in and turn over the car, but the officials neglected to give him and the Alfa the checkered flag, so they ran another two laps before getting the black flag. Now they were upset at Ken as he ran though the hot pits to turn the car around -- what a mess, with 10 officials all wanting to hang Ken.
All I could do was watch as the field left on the warmup lap. Then I slowly got in the car and started buckling up, and they finally got it sorted out and said I could join the fray on the green flag lap. By the time I got buckled up they had gone by the first turn, so it was catch-up time. By the end of the lap I had caught and passed five cars, going like the hammers of hell, passing clusters of cars, and suddenly lost power and looked down Dave Winters won the class in the last race, but Josh was catching up and actually ran the fastest lap of all of us -- brash youth that he is -- but sadly ended up off the track in a pile of dust, as brashness does at times. Great weekend! Top 3 photos: Michael Schultz. Bottom photo: Brooks Townes
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Had a great time at Watkins Glen. Half the fun was seeing old friends, and even though it has been three years since Elkhart Lake, it seemed like yesterday. The field was not as big as I had anticipated, but most of the familiar faces were there. Missed David Hueppchen, Dan Scully, Ray Freiwald and several others, but I understand the cost was pretty prohibitive for many. Lots of new faces too, and cars. I tried to get around to see everyone but never made it.
to see the engine temp way up. I pulled over out of the line on turn two, and after sitting for a moment climbed out to see what was up. Found the fan belt lying on top of the engine, so I rolled it back on and got in and started it up and the temp came down. I buckled back up, waved off the tow truck and rejoined the fray three laps down. Finished the race in 12th! Sort of anticlimactic, but oh well.