<VV> convention synopsis-longish

[by way of Harry Jensen <hljensen@comcast.net>]

all,
It was a lovely uneventful 5 hour trip to Lexington and back, and the
directions were right on.
    Since it was a short trip, my wife Sharon also drove her low mileage
purple metal flake air conditioned automatic 66 Monza. It was a lot better 
view
looking at her rear end for 5 hours than the usual view of a race car trailer.
     The first event for us was the outside vendors. We spent about a 1/2 hour
there before Sharon and I spent $1300. We got out of there in a hurry.
    We went to the drag race Monday in a "just happy to be there mode". I was
fully aware that a mid engined autocross car with all of the ballast to the
front would not be a successful drag car, but I wanted to be a part of it all.
Look where the battery and ballast is on the "real" drag cars and buggies.
    With just the sightest hint Billy Bruce asked Sharon in his gentle
southern charm manner if she would do him the honor of driving his drag 
car. Sharon
was flabbergasted and accepted. Sharon used to autocross all of our cars
including the open wheel formula car up to 10 years ago but  had never drag 
raced.
    She is a good student and Billy is a good teacher. It made my day to see
this 62 year old grandmother out there dicing it up with the good ole boys.
    My son Michael also had his very newly reassembled Yenko Stinger in the
drag race. He was also in the "just happy to be here" mode as the car had a
single purpose autocross transmission in it. The first three gears were 
very close
and then there was a huge gap between 3rd and fourth. You could tell easly if
you knew what to listen for.
     I had taken my autocross trans out of the roadster to run the Hill Climb
and just had a stock Saginaw and 3.27 axle.
      Sharon learned very quickly. Brian Oneill arranged and broadcast a
shoot- out between Sharon in Billy's car and me in the roadster. To everyone's
pleasure, Sharon beat me fair and square. It made my day as well as her's.
    It only took ten minutes before our daughter in Houston TX knew about it
as well as all of the conventioneers back at the hotel..
    Since all of the useless wheel spin made me uncompetive, I decided to use
the time to tune the carburetor.
    The roadster had to be short shifted at about 5500 rpm at the Hershey Hill
climb due to altitude richness---I thought. The same thing was happening at
the drag race due to 98 temp and 99.999 humidity---I thought.
    After the third leaner jet change- it was obvious that something else was
wrong. I noticed that the air cleaner was puckered at the edges. I removed it
and shook out what looked like an entire cement block residue . It was really,
really dirty and dusty at Hershey.
    The car then ran fine and I picked up an entire second.
    This was fast enough to have some fun dices with Billy and Clark
Hartzel---which they won..
    Since the car was improving, I dialed in a too fast time, and spent a lot
of time red lighting to make up for it.
     I still belive that bracket racing is phoney baloney, but it was great
entertainment. It was great to see Ultra Vans and ramp sides competing against
fast iron. It was unanimous that Steve Ritterman in the winning rampside 
should
get the Tweety's Choice award. The Top Tweety went to Billy Bruce with a 12.7
run. Billy Blasted all of the local muscle cars Fri. and Sat.
    We went to the Mystery dinner theater fo a fun diverson and also took in
the Hooch and horses tour. Bourbon tastes like kerosene!.
    The car display was well organized with cars in proper categories. The
star of the car display for me was the engineering in Frank Parker's Cadillac
North Star engine in the rear seat of a late model Corvair. Did you notice the
gently swelled all metal rear fenders?
    The autocross was staged by the Kentucky Region SCCA with George Schweikle
in charge. It was an excellent and fair layout for our Corvairs. The only
problem with the otherwise excellent event , was the inputing of class data 
into
the SCCA spread sheets. This was our fault for not requiring Class designation
on the convention registration. It was also the fault of every individual who
entered at the last minute. You need weeks in advance info  (as is required
at every major SCCA event) to have the computers ready.  .So you know exactly
whose is responsible for the start -up delay.!
    The course was excellently laid out. I don't believe that there was a
single "Did Not Finsh" due to getting lost. There also were very few pylons 
hit.
    The start had a correct "not drag race"  curve start to not strain our
fragile 40 year old differentials.
    Every turn was very visible with absolute barricade pointer pylons and
wide white outlines. There were also no arm wrenching ( for Corvairs) turns 
and
plently of width for choosing lines.  This type of course layout could be used
as a model for all future events. There was good hillside viewing for the
spectators. I watched the audience cheer for the spin-outs and the hiked- up
forward controls.
    The great breakfasts and lunches from the Main Street Baptist Church
didn't hurt a bit either.
    George Schweikle warned me about the slick seal coated asphalt. We run on
seal coat a lot in SCCA and on what I call sand traps and and gravel pits, so
I wasn't really worried.
    It was black ice!!!!! At least for a 1500 # , 250 hp, slick tired car. If
I barely touched the throttle, I was instantly sideways, If I turned the
steering wheel over an Inch, I plowed off of the course. A little road hugging
weight, some tread on the tires and a gentler throttle application wouldn't 
have
been a bad thing.
    I joked that what I needed to go faster was a babe in the passenger's
seat, if not for the incouragement, then for the weight. None would ride 
with me
though.
It really turned out not to be a joke, I needed the extra weight for better
turn in.
     Billy Bruce accepted a ride in the roadster. I had a great time watching
him adapt to it. Billy is a quick study and made giant improvements. I enjoyed
watching his runs more than running myself.
    It was great to have both of our sons , our daughter in law and my race
Stinger in the competition.
     The surface slickness was a great leveler for the competition. People who
are excellent drivers who just hadn't yet had the opportunity to prove
themselves had their day. A lot of things came together to made the 
talented cream
rise to the top. Sticky tires, soft suspension, and normal weight let talent
show through.
    Who would have expected an air conditioned street car to win overall????
    We insiders already knew of Tony Ellison's driving talent. He has a lot of
experience in very fast Karts. Now all of CORSA knows him as the winner of
the Don Yenko Award. Kudos Tony!!!
    The next event for me was the Cocktail Hour.
   Since the Flagstaff convention, sing -alongs have become an un offical part
of the activities----not every one there is car crazy.
    If all of the 3 to 5 DIFFERENT people who came to practice every afternoon
showed up at once we would have had 20 persons in the sing-along. Every one
has there own special scheduling problems so the final turn out is always a
great mystery. After begging, pleading, and threatening to get a real piano in
the Hyttop room, one actually showed up. After one practice song, two of the
piano key hammers broke. On to plan "B",  which was the back up keyboard.
    As I couldn't look around while playing, I can't be sure who all showed up
to help, but many thanks to you all. Many folks came up and joined us and
there was  much participation from the audience. Perhaps the stars of the show
were Tyler in the Tweety costume and the two "young" Sharons doing the twist.
    The final big moment of the evening after the trophies was the awarding
and donation back and subquent auction of the raffle car.
    I'm bummed that it's all over so soon.
   If a miracle occurs, the Bill Thomas/Doug Roe car will be "just happy to be
there" at Portland.
   Se ya,
Warren