Slipstream - May 2005

Club Race Corner
By Doug Molny
Our season opener at Texas World Speedway (TWS) proved
to be another exciting challenge for the Maverick group.
The club race was hosted by the Lone Star Region. Many of
us were plagued with mechanical gremlins, including myself. As
frustrating as this can be, we are very lucky to have so many people
quick to pitch in and help.
The particular problem I had involved my clutch pedal. I was
shifting from third to fourth heading down the front straight and
the pedal stuck to the floor! This was on Friday, the first day of
practice. I immediately pulled over to the inside wall in front of
the grid, I gave them the flat tow hand signal and waited for the
session to end.
I was towed in and believed that the event was over for me.
I was ready to head home. My dismay turned into absolute
excitement when Jim Buckley insisted this was fixable. The
engine and transmission needed to be pulled. I had to find a
clutch, though, and all the parts that are necessary to complete
the repair. I thought this was near impossible to do at the track,
but within 60 minutes I had a donated clutch and every other
part required. It took 7 hours and the help of many other racers,
who worked until 7:30 PM that evening. I arrived at the track
Saturday morning at 7:00 AM to find every one of those guys
there finishing the repair. By mid-morning my Porsche was ready
again. I was tremendously grateful for the help I received and
thrilled to participate in the Sprint races later that morning. This
was truly a humbling experience!
Permit me a moment of racer’s pride. I finished 2nd in class
in both sprint races, and 16th and 15th, respectively, over all out
of about 37 cars. Unfortunately, I had an oil line break during the
enduro. Yes, they threw the meatball flag at me and I took a DNF.
In true racer’s retrospect…even with the clutch failure it was
worth every minute!
Please stay tuned as this is the first of many articles we have
planned for this column. These articles will come from a different
club racer each publication. We will cover the club races attended
by our Mavericks, technical articles, race preparation, and racing
tips. I hope that you enjoy this special new section of Slipstream.
Here are the podium finishers for our Mavericks:
Green Group:
Sprint Race 1:
Class Name Place Best Time
G Doug Molny 2nd 2:00.701
Sprint Race 2:
G Doug Molny 2nd 2:01.386
Red Group:
Sprint Race 1:
GTC3 David Master 3rd 1:46.000
GT4R Jeff Vanderpool 1st 1:59.396
GT4S Wayne Brown 1st 1:52.038
Class: D Steve Patti 1st 1:59.643
Hamp Williams 2nd 2:04.278
Sprint Race 2:
GTC 3 David Master 2nd 1:47.050
Barry Moore 3rd 1:54.372
GT4R Jeff Vanderpool 1st 1:58.334
Class D Steve Patti 1st 2:00.736
Hamp Williams 2nd 2:04.278
Enduro:
GTC3rl Carl Amond 2nd 1:51.808
Barry Moore 3rd 1:51.674
GT4S Wayne Brown 1st 1:50.610
Class D Patti/Sanders 1st 1:59.757
Photo by Doug Molny
The Photo is Worth a 1,000 Words or Perhaps a 1,000 Pieces!
Just a side note: Jim Buckley set the track record for the
weekend in the GTC3 class driving a 2005 996 Supercup car with
a smokin’ 1:45.726. That is an average speed of over 98 mph on
that track. Imagine turn 13-14-15 at that speed!
If your race was omitted or you were not mentioned it was
my mistake and I take full responsibility. The green run group
did not have a podium finish in the enduro. I listed only
Mavericks who finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the sprints and the
enduros. For all club race results, go to mylaps.com or the PCA
National web site.
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