Slipstream - November 2003

Leadfoot Reunion
By Noby Takahashi
Ahhh, late September. When the north Texas weather starts to
become bearable and fall is right around the corner. Oh,
that’s right; I keep on forgetting that Texas doesn’t have four
seasons. In any case, it’s the time of year where the competitive
driving season for Maverick Region nears an end and we try to lure
the old (in experience, not age) leadfoots back out to Mineral Wells.
The Leadfoot Reunion for 2003 consisted of Time Trial #5 on
Saturday utilizing Course 2 and a huge course designed by Rocky
Johnson on Sunday for Autocross #6.
I loaded up my Boxster S on the new open trailer and towed
out to Mineral Wells on Friday evening. Since I left Dallas a little
late, I missed the gang having dinner at Baris. I also missed hitting
cement poles sticking out of the ground, for which my trailer
fender (and my bank account) was very grateful. After a good
night’s sleep at the Executive Palace and a greasy #1 breakfast at
Braum’s, I headed out Mineral Ring to find out that a large group
of people had shown up before 7AM. On-site tech and Intro to
Time Trial 101 overview both seemed to work out just fine and
the Driver’s Meeting commenced on time at 9AM.
I found out that my only competition in Class 7 was going to
be Tom Lang in his Boxster S. Well, it wasn’t going to be a day to
get a very high Driver’s Index. Course 2 is the one with a 90°
right-hander in the back left corner and the long infield. Quite
gravelly as usual and that darn pothole seems to be getting larger
for the 90° right-hander. I just didn’t drive very aggressively and
Walking the autocross course on Sunday morning was interesting,
it took nearly 30 minutes to walk it once. This event also
gave Charlie an opportunity to roll out some of the equipment
being prepared for Parade ’04. The event was delayed slightly in
the morning, due to an oil leak on Rick Gonzales’ good looking
914-6. We even had to modify the course to avoid the slick spots.
After all was said and done, Mark Steele looked really smooth in
his 993 and took TToD honors. Since I usually don’t excel at
autocrosses, there isn’t much to talk about my driving on Sunday.
...Mineral Wells wasn’t miserable
for a change...
Many thanks to everyone that showed up to make this a great
weekend and Mineral Wells wasn’t miserable for a change. We
were all blessed with excellent weather for the entire weekend.
Special thanks to Richard Diller, Tom Lang and the Gohlke’s for
showing up on Saturday, Richard for watching all of our cars and
trailers on Saturday night, and Richard (once again), Ed Mayo,
Fran Ussery and our illustrious Prez Keith Olcha showing up on
his birthday (what was it, 50th?) for the autocross.
PS Rick Randall owes me 5 gallons of 87 octane gas, I was
planning on putting that in Machala’s Boxster…
[See page 24 event results and series standings]
Wendy Cody Mark
Photo by Kevin Hardison
Photo by Kevin Hardison
my time lagged behind Rocky and Chuck. Currently, I am blaming
my slower times on the 18” Kinesis wheels I bought from
Rocky. Like my golf game, it has to be the equipment, not the
operator. The big highlight of Saturday was watching Cody Sears
borrow the Gohlke’s 914 and rip out a TToD, beating out an
excellent time by Richard Diller. Before I forget, there was a cone
down on every one of my afternoon hot laps, and Cody was in
front of me. Did anyone call in those cones on Car Number ‘66’?
We had a large turnout for the dinner at Baris. I can’t repeat
what Chuck had to say about my driving in this publication, but
I agreed wholeheartedly (or should I have hit him over the head
with my anchovy pizza?). Rocky rode with me during Fun Runs
and had very similar comments; I was losing a lot of time in the
hairpin turn. Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback.
18
A good crowd enjoyed the sunny, but not sweltering weather.
Photo by Kevin Hardison
Bryan Bell in an early run kicking up some dust and cleaning up the line.
Richard Diller setting up for the tricky finish at the Autocross.