Karl
Moderator Emeritus
Road America may never be the same; the Fitzgeralds have seen to that! This was SVRA (Sportscar Vintage Racing Association) weekend, and the field would include cars from Corvairs, VW's, Mini-Coopers, to Ford GT-40's, Indy cars, Formula 1, and everything in between; not just restored, but meticulously restored and race ready.
Jerry and Ardra stopped at Elkhart Lake, WI for four days of what I'm sure they thought would be warm, calm, and quiet R&R on their journey from Minneapolis to the Indy 500. Not so. They arrived on Thursday while I was at the track for a private test day. The weather has been unseasonably cool and rainy recently, and this weekend was no exception. We met in the late afternoon at the Marsh Lodge restaurant called Three Guys and a Grill (they charcoal grill almost everything over real charcoal - well maybe not soup), and by the time I got there, Jerry, gregarious as ever, had gotten to know the owners, one of the owners mother, bartender, wait staff, and probably half of the customers, their children's names, and who knows what else, and spent a great few hours talking about all of you and enjoying a nice dinner. Forgot to mention that the restaurant is right on the campgrounds. Before parting for the night, I gave them instructions on where to go for their credentials. They had already been to the track, drove around quite a bit, went to the top of the Media Center, etc. so finding Registration wasn't a problem.
Friday loomed cool and early (I had to be at the track at 7:00 a.m.) and sure enough, by 11:00 a.m. they were walking up to Corner 5, commonly called the catcher's mitt because of all the cars we collect in our gravel pit and runoff area. It's at the end of the long, back straight (roughly one mile), and cars frequently come in a leeetle too fast to make the 90 degree lefthand turn at the end. That day was mostly practice followed by a 25 lap (100 miles) Enduro.
Saturday was taken up with 6-lap qualifying races, followed by a 50 lap Enduro. During the lunch break, we left the corner and went to the Media Center, which houses Race Control, where they were able to see the inner workings of a race event, view the track from all the tv cameras around it, and meet the faces of the people behind the voices on the radio known as "Control", "Safety", and perhaps one or two other things from time to time .
Time for the Enduro. Not unexpectedly, rain started falling half way through by the bucketful, with the wind was blowing it sideways most of the time. As you may know, road races are run rain or shine; not like those wimpy good 'ole Southern boys that always turn left , but some drivers chose to end the race early by driving straight off into the gravel pits or hitting walls, etc. One even went so far as to detonate his engine about half way down to Corner 5, leaving a strip of oil (3-feet wide, in some places). Remember that oil and water don't mix? Well, oil and water and racecars REALLY don't mix! In the space of roughly 1 minute, I had 4 cars in various states of disarray; one had mated with the concrete barrier and another two had decided to get up-close-and-personal with each other. And where were Jerry and Ardra while all this frolicking was going on? I have no clue, but I'm sure it was warm and dry!
Sunday is RACE DAY! Jerry and Ardra were planning on coming for another Enduro that starts 11:00 a.m., but it had gotten down to 33 the previous night, so I called Jerry from the track and told him to wait until it warmed up a bit. Uh-uh. They showed up just before 11; Jerry in multiple layers and wearing what could best be described as a poor-man's French Foreign Legion cap, and Ardra in her finest sweatsuit (with multiple layers underneath), and combat boots. I told her I had a formal function to go to in a few weeks, and asked if I could borrow them ;D After some do's and don'ts about working a corner and explaining the hows and whys and whens of using the various flags, I had them practice a bit before the races. What I forgot to do was tell them that all races are started under a double-yellow flag for the pace lap, where you hold two yellow flags together side-by-side at their tops and bottoms. It's really a simple process; one (almost) anyone can master after a few tries. You hold the sticks of the flags together in the center, one facing right; the other left with your right hand, then, while holding the flags in the air this way, you reach down and grasp the free-hanging corners of the flags (those directly below your right hand) with your left hand. Of course, Jerry had his own way of doing things : He held the two flags together with their sticks properly, but instead of raising them and grasping the bottom edges, he tried to reach over the sticks with his left hand to grasp them. Now he lifts his left hand high, his right hand with the sticks low, resulting in two yellow flags hanging shapelessly in the breeze! Those of you who witnessed his demonstration of the chaise lounge at the Red Hat meeting two years ago can really appreciate what it looked like
All in all, we had a great Sunday! Both Jerry and Ardra did an admirable job with the flags during the races, even when it got a little hairy out there. First and second laps are particularly exciting when 20, 30, or 40 cars are coming at you nose-to-tail and side-by-side; all looking to occupy the same piece of real estate! I don't think they quite realized how close they would be to the cars, how much noise they made, how fast they go, or how fast things can happen, even though I tried to tell them ahead of time. At one time, I had them remove their ear protectors so they could hear what a screaming Formula 1 car sounds like in real life and no more than 6 feet away from you.
Would I have them work with me on a corner again? You bet! Now if I can just figure out a way to get Jerry to stop talking for more than 15 seconds at a time...... ;D ;D
Jerry and Ardra stopped at Elkhart Lake, WI for four days of what I'm sure they thought would be warm, calm, and quiet R&R on their journey from Minneapolis to the Indy 500. Not so. They arrived on Thursday while I was at the track for a private test day. The weather has been unseasonably cool and rainy recently, and this weekend was no exception. We met in the late afternoon at the Marsh Lodge restaurant called Three Guys and a Grill (they charcoal grill almost everything over real charcoal - well maybe not soup), and by the time I got there, Jerry, gregarious as ever, had gotten to know the owners, one of the owners mother, bartender, wait staff, and probably half of the customers, their children's names, and who knows what else, and spent a great few hours talking about all of you and enjoying a nice dinner. Forgot to mention that the restaurant is right on the campgrounds. Before parting for the night, I gave them instructions on where to go for their credentials. They had already been to the track, drove around quite a bit, went to the top of the Media Center, etc. so finding Registration wasn't a problem.
Friday loomed cool and early (I had to be at the track at 7:00 a.m.) and sure enough, by 11:00 a.m. they were walking up to Corner 5, commonly called the catcher's mitt because of all the cars we collect in our gravel pit and runoff area. It's at the end of the long, back straight (roughly one mile), and cars frequently come in a leeetle too fast to make the 90 degree lefthand turn at the end. That day was mostly practice followed by a 25 lap (100 miles) Enduro.
Saturday was taken up with 6-lap qualifying races, followed by a 50 lap Enduro. During the lunch break, we left the corner and went to the Media Center, which houses Race Control, where they were able to see the inner workings of a race event, view the track from all the tv cameras around it, and meet the faces of the people behind the voices on the radio known as "Control", "Safety", and perhaps one or two other things from time to time .
Time for the Enduro. Not unexpectedly, rain started falling half way through by the bucketful, with the wind was blowing it sideways most of the time. As you may know, road races are run rain or shine; not like those wimpy good 'ole Southern boys that always turn left , but some drivers chose to end the race early by driving straight off into the gravel pits or hitting walls, etc. One even went so far as to detonate his engine about half way down to Corner 5, leaving a strip of oil (3-feet wide, in some places). Remember that oil and water don't mix? Well, oil and water and racecars REALLY don't mix! In the space of roughly 1 minute, I had 4 cars in various states of disarray; one had mated with the concrete barrier and another two had decided to get up-close-and-personal with each other. And where were Jerry and Ardra while all this frolicking was going on? I have no clue, but I'm sure it was warm and dry!
Sunday is RACE DAY! Jerry and Ardra were planning on coming for another Enduro that starts 11:00 a.m., but it had gotten down to 33 the previous night, so I called Jerry from the track and told him to wait until it warmed up a bit. Uh-uh. They showed up just before 11; Jerry in multiple layers and wearing what could best be described as a poor-man's French Foreign Legion cap, and Ardra in her finest sweatsuit (with multiple layers underneath), and combat boots. I told her I had a formal function to go to in a few weeks, and asked if I could borrow them ;D After some do's and don'ts about working a corner and explaining the hows and whys and whens of using the various flags, I had them practice a bit before the races. What I forgot to do was tell them that all races are started under a double-yellow flag for the pace lap, where you hold two yellow flags together side-by-side at their tops and bottoms. It's really a simple process; one (almost) anyone can master after a few tries. You hold the sticks of the flags together in the center, one facing right; the other left with your right hand, then, while holding the flags in the air this way, you reach down and grasp the free-hanging corners of the flags (those directly below your right hand) with your left hand. Of course, Jerry had his own way of doing things : He held the two flags together with their sticks properly, but instead of raising them and grasping the bottom edges, he tried to reach over the sticks with his left hand to grasp them. Now he lifts his left hand high, his right hand with the sticks low, resulting in two yellow flags hanging shapelessly in the breeze! Those of you who witnessed his demonstration of the chaise lounge at the Red Hat meeting two years ago can really appreciate what it looked like
All in all, we had a great Sunday! Both Jerry and Ardra did an admirable job with the flags during the races, even when it got a little hairy out there. First and second laps are particularly exciting when 20, 30, or 40 cars are coming at you nose-to-tail and side-by-side; all looking to occupy the same piece of real estate! I don't think they quite realized how close they would be to the cars, how much noise they made, how fast they go, or how fast things can happen, even though I tried to tell them ahead of time. At one time, I had them remove their ear protectors so they could hear what a screaming Formula 1 car sounds like in real life and no more than 6 feet away from you.
Would I have them work with me on a corner again? You bet! Now if I can just figure out a way to get Jerry to stop talking for more than 15 seconds at a time...... ;D ;D