19.11.2017 Views

Slipstream - December 2017

The monthly newsletter of the Maverick Region of the Porsche Club of America

The monthly newsletter of the Maverick Region of the Porsche Club of America

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

M.L.:<br />

Yes, we were<br />

the team<br />

that was<br />

testing the<br />

Buick turbo<br />

engine that<br />

was the<br />

forerunner<br />

to the engines<br />

Buick<br />

used in its<br />

Indianapolis<br />

500 project.<br />

These<br />

engines<br />

were the<br />

two fastest<br />

Jack Griffin and M.L. Speer in 1985 with the Rondeau team qualifiers<br />

at Indy in<br />

self drove the March 84G Buick<br />

1985.<br />

prototype. We had a good qualifying<br />

run but we retired after 11 of you two racing there was one more<br />

BK: Now I’ve heard that after years<br />

hours with engine failure.<br />

race that put you in the same car?<br />

BK: And I understand that engine JG: Yes, apparently M.L. was a<br />

had some real significance in the future glutton for punishment, as I was<br />

of U.S. racing?<br />

invited back to race with the Bussi<br />

Rondeau team, and I included M.L.<br />

in the driver lineup for the ‘85 Le<br />

Mans race.<br />

M.L.: Jack and I co-drove with<br />

Christian Bussi in the ‘85 24 Hours<br />

of Le Mans, and we had a suspension<br />

failure in the fifth hour of<br />

the race. The left front suspension<br />

broke loose from the chassis in the<br />

right hand corner after the Mulsanne<br />

Straight. I was able to get the<br />

car back to the pits, but the damage<br />

was not able to be repaired so we<br />

were out of the race.<br />

And there you have it, two guys<br />

whose paths never ordinarily would<br />

have passed, but pass they did. Jack,<br />

who only wanted to “try” racing at a<br />

DE, and M.L., whose goal was to<br />

finish one IMSA race in 1977 and<br />

would walk away a happy man. I<br />

think we could agree that this<br />

might be the true meaning of “Driving<br />

Friendships.”<br />

13

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!