63 - 67 Sting Ray Registry
Friday, 5/30/03:
Saturday, 5/31/03:
I could stay with Vic Edelbrock (who's father started the whole "Hot Rod" movement along with Stu Hillborn, Dean Moon, and Ed Iskenderean), but could not get by his very expertly prepared car. Then 2 faster Corvettes driven by Bruce Levin and Dan Gallant came up behind us. I pulled over to let them by and Vic also pulled over. When they went by, I used that opportunity to also pass Vic Edelbrock, and was able to keep up with the two faster cars for a couple of laps, to see their "line" and learn from watching them. I turned my best race lap times of 2 minutes, 4 seconds during this practice time. I also gained immeasurably in self confidence, as the "view" of the track changes somewhat between a slower lap time and a faster time. However, I again found that my engine went off song with broken rocker arms. Ted and I ate a delicious catered lunch in the driver's lounge, then Ted changed the broken rockers….again. Jim Herlinger, who drives a blue 68 L88 Corvette, similar to the red 69 L88 that I used to race in IMSA pitted next to us, set up a tent, or awning to shield them from the strong California sun. He invited us to share it….which we did:
It made our time in the paddock much more enjoyable, and we enjoyed the company of Jim and his wife, who also introduced us to many of the other competitors. Our qualifying race was scheduled for 3PM to set the order for Sunday's race.. I was somewhat nervous, but when the green flag dropped, I did well. Then my car began to "miss" at high engine speeds. On the third lap, there was suddenly a "full course yellow" flag condition. This usually means an accident which may block the racing line on the track. I started looking, and finally after 2 laps, I saw a bunch of emergency and medical staff and cars clustered around the crash site of silver Corvette roadster #24, way off the course at turn 4. After another lap, the race was "red flagged" to a stop, and all of the race cars came into the pits and shut off engines. The course workers brought us all water, and told us there would be a delay and the race would be restarted. After about 20 minutes in the hot sun (all suited up) that happened. However, my engine continued to miss, so I didn't improve my position.
After the race, Pat, Ted and I returned to our motel and bathed and dressed for dinner. Saturday evening was special. We returned to the track, and State Police lead a long line of beautifully prepared race cars from the track to the town square in Sonoma, California, where the local vineyards had prepared a "Wine and Gourmet Food Festival". We all got free passes, but all others had to pay to join the festivities, and the cars were enjoyed by all. There were vicious Cobras and vintage royalty, like the D-Type Jaguar which won the 1953 Le Mans race driving quietly around the square. During the party, the rumor began that the injured driver, Glen Shaffer, had died of a heart attack, which precipitated the accident. This information was confirmed the next morning. About 8:30 PM, just before dark, the police escorted the race cars back to the track, and we all went back to the motel.
Sunday, 6/01/03:
Both were far in front of me, but I could see Susan's car and I began to slowly reel her in. After I caught her, there were several laps of trying to get by, and finally on turn #4, I was able to pass her entering the carousel. We had a terrific dice and I think the spectators got to see the good competition that they paid for. Meanwhile, there was some attrition at the front of the field as several of the Cobras dropped out with mechanical difficulties, so I moved up. I had improved my position from 28th to 19th when I got a black flag for mechanical problems (meatball) to investigate reports that I was leaking fluids on the course. These reports turned out to be false, but I was at tech inspection for "consultation" when the checkered flag dropped, and therefore was credited with a 25th place overall finish….which I was quite satisfied with. My race was won by Jim Click (who brought several immaculately prepared cars to race) driving a 1964 Cobra #19. Second place was a 1964 Ferrari 250LM driven by Rob Walton. It was a terrific weekend, and we achieved all of the goals we set for ourselves: namely, to finish but not to finish last, not to hit anyone or anything, and to be able to drive the car back onto the trailer, undamaged, at the end of the weekend. After our race was over, I cooled off and changed to shorts and t shirt. We went up into the grandstands to watch the best race of the weekend, the vintage Trans Am race. The field consisted of 28 vintage Trans Am Mustangs, Javelins, Alfas, and Camaros, from 1966 thru 1970, and the lead changed every lap. The racing was very close and professional, with thrilling late braking moves in turn 11 every lap, but there were no collisions or off track excursions. I saw several of the original Trans Am races in the 60's and this was easily the best, and most exciting Trans Am race I have ever personally experienced. After the Trans Am race was over there was "prize Giving: which consisted of a silver bowl given to a randomly chosen competitor in each race group, and a larger bowl for one competitor with the "best presentation" overall. Champagne was served liberally to all participants at the ceremony. In fact, I would have to describe this event as a "Champagne Weekend". We were playing far out of our league, but we certainly enjoyed being allowed to play in their league, and we were honored that the other players invited us to play with them. For example, in Race Group #2 for 1955 through 1962 production based sports cars, a (multi million dollar) Ferrari 250 GTO driven by Tom Price, was driven to the track, raced, WON his class, and drove home! Wonder what his insurance agent thought of that? In my race group, a "lost" lightweight Type-E Jaguar factory race car, which was just sold at auction in the UK for $1.6 million, raced me door handle to door handle, and several competitors entered several high dollar (Ford GT40, Cobra, and Ferrari 250 LM) cars for one driver to drive in several races. Few cars came on trailers, but most came in Fruhoff trailers of big rigs, with staffs of trained professional mechanics to attend them. After the prize giving, we packed up and said goodbys to our new and old friends. We decided to stay the night in Novato, and ate dinner and Margaritas outdoors, in a fabulous little Mexican restaurant. I want to point out that all weekend, I did nothing but drive, and that Pat and my friend Ted Filer did absolutely all of the work. Racing is a team sport, and without the dedicated help of my wife and my friend I would never be able to experience the thrill and satisfaction of racing. For us, racing is a social activity, a lifestyle centering around cars, about meeting other wonderful people with similar passions, and is not about beating people.
Monday, 6/02/03:
This morning, I drove it to work to show it off to mine. It's a beautiful old car, and there are certainly not very many race cars that you can drive to work on Monday, or just for pleasure. We had a great time, and we certainly wish you could have joined us to share this wonderful experience.
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2003 Wine Country Classic
By: Garrett & Pat Waddell
Thursday, 5/29/03:
Drove to Sears Point Raceway from Bend, Oregon, arriving around 3PM. It was cool, windy, and overcast when we met Ted Filer there. He had already unloaded the Corvette. We waited, and fortunately we were able to move to our assigned paddock area, and get our car and safety equipment through tech inspection. Other cars arrived. We went around to look at the other cars, and meet our competitors. We met two of the fastest Group 4 Corvette Drivers, Terry Gough and Bruce Levin. Later, Pat went to the Travelodge in Novato to check in. Ted took me around the track to offer his comments on the proper line through the turns, tricky camber changes, and other points of interest, based on his three days of watching race cars on the track. Finally, we drove back to the motel, bathed and dressed, and went to the Hilltop Café for dinner. This restaurant sits on the top of a small mountain in Novato, and has delicious food, as well as a commanding view of the lovely San Francisco Bay area.
We were up early for registration. We had breakfast in Novato, but were at the track by 7:30 AM. We were able to register and get a tech inspection sticker for our car. Our first Race Group 4 (Series Production Sports Cars from 1963 to 1966) practice was in the early afternoon, at 1 PM, and I was able to get Terry Gough to take me around the track (follow him) in order to learn the proper "line" for this very interesting and demanding racetrack (big elevation changes). Terry began to leak oil and was black flagged, so I continued learning the track, eventually winding up with a lap time of 2 minutes, 8 seconds (2:08). I lost my brakes entering turn 11 on the third lap. I was just learning the course and not threshhold braking, so I recovered without hitting anything or going off course. I decided to slow down, but stay out for the experience, to try to get as much track time as possible and continue learning the course. I continued to pump the brakes, and about three laps later, the brakes came back in again, and I continued to race cautiously, until the end of practice. Just as the checkered flag dropped after 10 laps, my engine began to run rough. Ted pulled the valve covers off and found I had a broken valve rocker arm. The Gallants, a husband and wife team who race Corvettes, came by to offer advice, and suggested that we were using the wrong brake fluid, and offered Motul racing brake fluid which we used. After replacing our fluid with Motul and bleeding the brakes, we never had any more brake trouble. It was a hot day. While Ted made the repairs, I cooled off and drank water. Our second practice was at 3PM. During this practice I managed to get my times down by 2 seconds, to 2 minutes, 6 seconds. The fastest Corvettes were lapping around 1 minute 58 seconds, and the fastest Cobras (and the Ferrari 250 LM) were lapping around 1 minute, 55 seconds. Again, just at the end of practice, my engine began to run rough. Again Ted found that I had broken rocker arms (We were later able to trace this problem to a restriction in the valve train oil gallery). When practice for all groups ended, we cleaned up and secured our cars, and then all participants went to the new corporate VIP building for a catered dinner. We all had abundant varieties of Napa Valley wines from all of the local vineyards, to complement the shrimp and chicken dishes.
We again rose very early for the mandatory 7:30AM Drivers Meeting. I met the organizer, Steve Earle for the first time. There were 350 cars entered in 9 race classes, so there were a large number of people at this drivers meeting. Some of the cars entered included pre-war cars like Bugatti and Alfa Romeo. There was a 1940 Maserati entry from the Indy 500. However, there were also pre-war cars I had never heard of. In the post-war era cars, Jaguar was the Featured Marque, but there were also Corvettes, Ferrari, Ford Cobras, Lotus, Morgan, Shelby Ford Mustangs, Alfa Romeo, Porsche, Ginetta, Ford GT40, and various open wheel (Foumula) cars represented. There was also very good representation of various marques by spectator car clubs. My first practice was at 9AM. I was beginning to learn the track. I ran 10 laps of practice and my times dropped steadily. I had a good dice with Vic Edelbrock in the number 614, ex-Dick Guldstrand, 63 Corvette Z06 Coupe:
Sunday morning we were up early in anticipation. It was much warmer, and it was evident the day would be very hot. Pat was already very sunburned. Ted bought a whole set of used (run-in) rocker arms and changed them all in anticipation that this would end our rocker arm troubles, and it did. He changed the coil and some ignition wires hoping that would end the high rpm engine misfire, but it didn't. In my race group "warm up" at 9AM, my car handled well but would not rev over 5500rpm. I ran 10 laps to see if the rocker arm problem would resurface. Since I had very little acceleration with a 5500rpm "limiter", it was very hard for me to avoid being overtaken by other competitors. It was also hot work, and a premonition of things to come. Ted and I ate a catered lunch in the driver's lounge. Pat walked up to Wine Country wine and gourmet food pavilion, located at turn 2 for her lunch. The sky was clear and the day was scorching hot by the time our Race Group 4 feature race started at 2:15 PM. I was grided 28th of a field of 36 cars. There were 7 Cobras, 9 Corvettes, 8 Shelby GT350s, 2 Jaguars, and 1 Ferrari 250 LM populating our field, among others. This huge field lead to a massive "bunch up" of cars entering turns for the first lap or so, before the field got strung out. I got passed by a Lotus Super 7, but I passed some other Corvettes in the bargain. My engine was missing badly above 5000 rpm, so I had no acceleration out of the turns. I worked very hard on driving technique, and short shifted so that I still had some speed, just little acceleration. Two Corvettes which I had run with and passed in practice were Vic Edelbrock, in the ex-Dick Guldstrand #614, 63, Z06 Coupe, and Susan Armstrong, in the ex-Paul Reinhart #6, 63, Z06 Coupe:
We got up at 4:30 AM and left Novato at 5:01AM for the journey home. Ted Filer followed us home to Richland, Washington to visit, and also to see some of the Pacific Northwest. We stopped for breakfast in Weed, California, and followed State route 97 back (through Bend) 708 miles to Richland. We had an easy drive through spectacular scenery (like right by Mt. Shasta) and down the mighty Columbia River Gorge to Richland. When we got home, Sarah met us, and we grilled steak and enjoyed Columbia Valley wine and good company, and reminisced about the fabulous experience which we had enjoyed, and vowed to do it again next year. On Tuesday we put the mufflers in the side pipes, and Sarah drove the Corvette for the first time. I have owned the Corvette since 1975, but Sarah has never been old enough to drive it before, so she was very excited to get to drive it and show off to her friends:--Garrett and Pat