Friday, May 6th - Well the day has finally come, the beginning of track season.  Today I get to wear new sneakers and a few other new bobbles.  My new sneakers are Goodrich R-1's, and they tell me I look really good in them.  I also get to ride to the track on my trailer.  My twin sister and older brother (the 86) wanted to know just where I thought I was going in such luxury? The sun felt so good that I told them we were going racing. My older brother was jealous since he wasn't racing anymore. My sister said she wanted to hear all about it when I got back, and mumbled something about how she never gets to do anything fun!  We left around noon and got to Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI about 4 pm.  Boy did I turn some heads riding on my trailer.  Someone even called on the CB radio to talk about how fast I looked.  We pulled into the motel and my owners unhooked my trailer and left me there while they went to eat dinner. I was kind of scared since I wasn't sure where I was, but hey I'm a big boy.  We had to be at the track at 7 am the next day so it was early to bed.

 

Saturday, May 7th - My owners got me to the track at 7 am.  I'm not used to being up so early.  When we got there, there were only about 4 of my cousins (you know Corvettes) there.  A lot of strange looking, boxy cars called Beamers were there and a few Porsches, oh and 2 Lotus cars. My triplet brother was there, wait till I tell our sister.  I hadn't seen him since last fall.  I got to go out on the track for the first session with my male owner.  While I was on the track with him, my female owner was in class.  She said when she went in and sat down she really felt like she was in the minority.  She was the only girl in a group of 29 guys. Needless to say this day we did a lot of the pass signal when she was in my seat.  My male owner is quite aggressive when he drives, I LOVE IT!  My new sneakers work wonderfully and we run faster and faster with each lap.  Sometimes my feet get really hot, but the cool air from my Race Brakes cools me right off.  With both my owners driving me, we had to get gas at noon because, I am drinking too much.  Today our instructor is Steve Ahlgrim with North Shore Corvette Club, he drives my brother, and knows just how to drive cars like us really fast!  My owners learned a lot from him.  We finished at about 5 pm and I was put back on my trailer and went back to the motel. My owners and Steve and Sally (his fiance) went to dinner.  I was left alone again, but this time I wasn't scared.  Everyone said really nice things about me all day and I ran fast for lots of laps.  I was nice and tired so I slept well.  We'll show them more tomorrow!

 

Sunday, May 8th - I was back at the track at 7 am again and my owners have a new instructor, Chris (Steve had to leave).  He seemed real nice and he was driving a Pontiac Firehawk. It looks like we might be related because, he was pretty fast.  My female owner took me out first today, and she's getting more aggressive, good for her!  The guys in her group aren't passing us quite as much.  I think we're going faster, as I recall, 115 mph on the front straight and 100 on the back.  Oh, by the way, today she turned on the power key.  Well it's afternoon now and my male owner was out on the track when a race car dropped all its oil on the track.  Things got real interesting so we had to come back in and wait until later for our last run of the day.

 

Well here we are waiting in line for our last run of the day.  I can tell he is getting anxious to get out there and prove his and my stuff.  Power key on and away we go, it is a drag race out onto the track.  I sound so good roaring away from the start line.  My female owner is on the back straight timing us.  Our best lap time was 3 minutes flat.  We were awesome! 130 mph on the front and about 132 on the back straights. We are going faster and braking harder than we did all weekend.  Boy are we having fun!  None of those other cars can even come close to us.  On my 5th lap they point this black flag at me and made me come into the pits.  They said I was smoking (oil problem) under hard acceleration.  They could find nothing obvious, but when they put me back on my trailer there was oil leaking onto the trailer bed.  He drove me too hard! HA! HA!  We got back home about 9 pm and they left me on the trailer so I couldn't talk to my sister or older bother until the next day.

 

Monday, May 9th - My owners took me off my trailer and gave me a bath, because my wheels were rather dusty and I had oil specks all over my rear end.  Then they took me to the hospital to have my oil problem diagnosed.  The doctor took me apart and found a leaky cam cover.  I'm all better now so I got to come home on Wednesday, and I have been talking to my sister and older brother about my adventures.  I'm going to Road Atlanta and Heartland Park in Topeka, KS in June.  Keep watching your mail, maybe I'll send you a postcard.

 

Thursday, June 2nd - Well I'm out of the hospital again.  My male owner had a little problem last Friday night in St. Louis & I had to go back to see my doctor.  If you want to know the particulars ask my owner.  Well the good news is that I am back on my trailer and it is off to Road Atlanta.

 

Friday, June 3rd - We arrive in Atlanta about 9 am Chicago time, a mere 14 hours after we left home.  We make a pit stop at Atlanta Motor Speedway to see some of my new '94 Corvette cousins.  Chevy had a Dream & Drive the infield program.  My owners said they like me better cause I'm a ZR-1.  Sam offers to take me off the trailer so we can all play together, but those in charge don't think that is a good idea so I have to sit here and watch all of those other Corvettes run around and have fun.  Tomorrow's the big day so it's early to bed.

 

Saturday, June 4th - 7:15 am - we're here at the Road Atlanta track, boy is it early!  They check me over while my owners get registered.  Well aren't I HOT STUFF!   Some of my Corvette cousins are here, but I'm the only ZR-1.  I was on the track a total of 6 times today.  Both of my owners really put me thru my paces.  My male owner is always an aggressive driver.  I think he gets disappointed in himself because he hasn't pushed me to my limit yet. (Between you and me, I have no limits).  My female owner starts out rather conservative, but as the day/weekend goes on, she gets more daring.  She sure likes going over those rumble strips in the corners.  It feels real funny and it tickles my sticky sneakers.  As I sit cooling down between runs, my hood is up and lots of people come over to admire my LT-5 engine.  I'm so proud!  It's 6 pm and I'm back on my trailer going to the motel.  Boy I'll sleep good tonight.

 

Sunday, June 5th - It's 7:15 am again, uk!  Today my owners are going to time their laps.  After lunch Sam notices a hissing sound in my engine.  A bolt on my cold air box has pierced my air conditioner, so I guess I'll be back to see the doctor soon.  Road Atlanta is a very challenging track.  It is like a roller coaster with all the ups and downs, twists and turns and deep dips.  Sam's best lap time for the 2.52 mile circuit is 1'52.76" (80.454 mph).  To show that Gin is no slouch, her best time was 1'56.27" (78.025 mph).  I think Sam better watch out, she's coming on fast.  We met some really nice people & cars this weekend and after all I got to run a total of 345 miles around the Road Atlanta track.

 

They put me back on my trailer and we drove to Nashville & spent the night. There was a terrible thunderstorm and it really rained hard, but no hail, thank goodness!  We got back home about 4 pm Monday.  It was a really long drive for my owners, but SHE says we're going back next year, WE had a ball!

 

Friday, June 10th - Hi!  I'm back on my trailer heading  to Topeka, KS.  A mere 9.5 hours later we pull into the motel.  I get teched & my owners get registered.  This way, we don't have to do it at the track in the morning.  You know how I hate to wait in line!

 

Saturday, June 11th - It's 7:30 am & we're at the track.  I'm off the trailer & waiting for Sam to take me out.  This track looks a lot easier than it is.  There are a number of really slow corners, a carousel and the front straight is a NHRA drag strip!    Both of my owners start the day at a slow, learning pace.  As the day wears on, both their speed & smoothness continues to increase.  After lunch we are scheduled to do "exercises".  I want to tell them that I don't do jumping jacks!  Well I overhear them talking about straight line, threshold braking and I think, "I can do that".  Sam does 2 runs perfect.  Gin does her first run and brakes short of the cones.  Can I help it if I have really GOOD brakes?  Well her next run is a little different.  She accelerates down the course and gets to the first cone, hard on the brakes and WOW, it's the 4th of July!  Sparks and fire are seen coming from inside my wheels.  Is this what they mean when they say "Lite 'em up"?  Well it's back to the pits and up on the jack stands.  Off come my wheels and out come the brake pads.  No one can see anything wrong so they put me back together and it's back out on the track.  It is really hot here today so by the end of the day, I'm ready to head back to the motel and get a good nights sleep.  I hear Sam say he thinks he getting the feel of the track.  I think this means he's going to try and run a lot faster tomorrow.                   

 

Sunday, June 12th - We leave for the track at 6:45 am so all my brake pads can be checked before we start another fun day at the track.  We should have gotten there by 7 am, but while my gas tank was being filled, some jerk backed his car into me!  My male owner is NOT a happy camper, but he walks away so the jerk has a chance to call the Sheriff to come save him.  The damage turns out to be pretty minor, but I still hurt a little bit.  By the time we get to the track, everyone has heard about the incident and comes over to look at my bruises.

 

Our day at the track is going great.  Sam & Gin are getting smoother corners with every lap.  I can't believe what I see, here we are, 3 Corvettes running nose to tail, lap after lap, faster and faster.  Well Sam pushes it a little and finally passes both of the other 2 Corvettes, here we are in the lead now!  Well you know how it is, when you are in the lead, you have to go just a little deeper into the corner and just a little faster thru the turn to show the cars behind you just who it the best!  Well we both know that you don't lift in a turn, but it seems that we are going just a bit too fast to get thru this turn and stay on the pavement.  Well it won't hurt anything to just "breathe" off the gas "just a little bit".  Well  we're doing about 90 mph and well you know the routine, my rear end starts to come around on the right!  He almost saves it, but then we run out of track and it's time for the "agricultural driving lesson".  We recover just fine, except for the right front race brake scoop.  Funny, but I don't remember that it came from the box with the "break away feature".  Sam's instructor Al, said that we could come and play with their Porsche Club any time we wanted to.  The next time out, I see that we have "left our mark" at Heartland Park.  There are several new black marks on the track and some "mowed grass" that wasn't there before.

 

Well both Sam and Gin were signed off to drive by themselves.  Gin does a really good job.  She actually kept me on the track surface the whole weekend.  This was a really fun weekend.  There were 3-ZR-1's, 2-LT-1's and an '84 Corvette and did we have a GREAT time playing together.

 

Well all good things do have to end, so it was back on the trailer at the end of the day and a 10 hour drive back home.  We get back at 3 am Monday morning.  Everyone is really tired!  Sam took me back to the Doctor this afternoon to have my air conditioner fixed.  I think my twin sister is glad that she gets to stay home.  She doesn't have to go to the Doctor nearly as often as I do, but I think I get to have a lot more fun!

 

Well that's all for now, but next weekend the Fox Valley and the North Shore Corvette Clubs are getting together at the Norway track for some "timed laps".  It should really be fun!  The following weekend it is off to Springfield for Bloomington Gold.  This will be my first time and both my sister and I are looking forward to seeing all of our cousins.  I'll write more later about these adventures.

 

Saturday, June 18th - It's about 10:30 am and we leave the house and head to the track in Norway, Illinois.  Sam is driving me as it is a short distance and Gin is following in the van (you know my Support Vehicle).  I see lots of fellow Corvettes here and I even see my twin brother.  He still has all of his sponsor decals all over him, cause he just finished the Car & Driver, "One Lap" Race.  I'm so proud of him and his owner Steve Ahlgrim and his brother Scott.  They finished this 5,200 mile event in 3rd place overall and 2nd in Class.  WAY TO GO BROTHER!!

 

I can see this track is really going to be tight in the corners & not real long in the straights since it is a go kart track.  Sam takes me out first, power key on, my rear end keeps wanting to come around.  Too much power for the curves.  The next time no power key, but his lap time is slower.  When Gin has me out the first time, I thought we were out for a SLOW Sunday drive.  Needless to say she needs to get some *all's!  As the day wears on, she turns on the key and her times continue to drop.

 

Neither Sam or Gin win any trophies with me today, but we had a good time.  Two of my Fox Valley cousins, Art Christofersen & Russ VeZain each won a trophy for their classes.  I'm real proud of them.

 

Friday, June 24th - Well this is a rare treat, both my sister and I are out of the garage at the same time, we hear them talking about going to Springfield for something called Bloomington Gold.  Neither one of us has a clue as to what this means, but hey if we get out of the garage, then it can't be all bad.  Here we sit in the restaurant parking lot, all packed up and surrounded by lots of my Fox Valley cousins.  Sam & Gin are inside eating breakfast with lots of people wearing red and white jackets.  Sis & I got our tanks filled across the street earlier.  Well here comes everyone and all of these engines begin to rumble and well here we go!   Why am I at the back of the line?  I don't understand this at all.  We are driving really slow and we are still at the back of the line.  We stop near Ottawa and pick up some more of my Fox Valley cousins, and it is off again down the interstate.  My sister and Gray Ray decide they are going to play so I have to stay at the back with Sam for some stupid reason.  Why do they get to play and I don't?  Well Sam decides to move up the line and see what my sister is doing, I see her running ahead and it looks like she is really having fun.  But wait, why did her back up lights just come on?  Well I guess you will just have to ask Gin the next time you see her.  Well anyway, Sam decides that the easiest way to get to the back of the line is to get off at the next ramp and wait for everyone to go by and then get back on.  Well we pull up the ramp and turn around to watch everyone go by but to our surprise they are not going by, they are all driving up the ramp behind us.  You know what they say about teaching an old dog!  Someone said something about following me anywhere.

 

Well we had a nice drive to Springfield and Sis got to stretch her sneakers several times.  We both get a bath and we think that there is nothing else to do until the big show tomorrow.  Well it got dark so I was sure there was nothing else to do but get some sleep.  Was I wrong!  Sam jumps in and off we go, but not very far, hey this looks like a parking lot!  Why are we backing down between all of these cars?  Why are there people standing all around and why are they saying something about big tires and "burn outs"?  Well I soon find out just what this means.  Sam revs me up and dumps the clutch.  We never leave 1st gear then he slams on the brakes.  Hey if we wants to go fast, why is he slamming on the brakes?  Well we back up again, a few words of encouragement and off we go again, this time he slams 2nd gear then 3rd gear before the tires finally hook up and then I feel my ABS start to work.  Well we run around the motel and he parks me for the night.  Later I find out that "we" left our marks in the parking lot, two 12-inch wide strips 90 feet long.  Too bad the parking lot was so short!

Saturday, June 25th - WOW, look at all our cousins, my sister is very impressed, she has never seen so many Corvettes in her life.  I take her by the hand and we proceed to the ZR-1 Registry tent.  As we pass the Fox Valley Corvette Club tent they yell at us "Where are you guys going?"  My sister and I laugh because we're going to be with the big boys today.  See you later guys.  We all look so nice sitting here in the bright sun with about 40 other ZR-1's, but it does get a bit hot in the sun.  People are so impressed with my sister and me and they seem to like our license plates too.  Sam & Gin meet some really nice people.  My sister has been kind of  scared being left alone outside the last two nights, but I'm there to comfort her and tell her she's a big girl, she'll be okay.  Well its about 5 pm and Gin comes and tell us we are going to have some international guests with us for the road tour.  My rider is from Australia & my sister's is from Dallas Texas (that's International?).  Oh well around 6 pm it's gentlemen and lady start your engines.  We leave the fairground and we're off. Gin is right there in my rear view mirror, when we hit Williamsville, the burn outs begin.  Sam gives Gin the sign to stay back, it's our turn.  Great!  Gin & sis play it cool, no burn outs for them, but when we hit the sweeping right hander, she hits about 92 mph.  My sister loved it.  She stays right there behind me, she has quite a bit of power for a girl.  After the tour, I hear Sam ask Gin’s rider, "Well how did she do?"  He said that he always said "women should not be given car keys, but your wife really knows how to handle the horsepower!"  I thought good for Gin and my sister, I'm so proud of them.  Well we are in a sever thunderstorm watch until 2 am, I hope it doesn't hail, that is not a good thing for glass cars.  We get to go home tomorrow.  My sister and I will be glad to get home to our garages where we'll be safe and warm.  We hope you (our cousins) had as great a time as we did at this years Bloomington Gold in Springfield.

 

Friday, July 8th -  Well I hope you had a better 4th of July than I did!  I had to get a new thermostat so I had to spend several nights at the hospital again.  Well I'm back home now and on my trailer again.  I hear them talking and it seems we are on our way to another Track Time school at Road America in Elkhart, WI.  When we got to the motel, three men ask Sam all kinds of questions about me.  I think my ego is getting the best of me.  Well Mike from Track Time finishes my Tech Inspection and says that I am in really good shape and it is OK for me to run around the track tomorrow.  I look around the parking lot and I see a couple of my ZR-1 brothers are here and a bunch of my Corvette cousins as well.  We all compare notes about tomorrow and decide that we should all get a good nights sleep.

 

Saturday, July 9th - Well here we are at Road America, what a great track!  4 beautiful miles each lap with 14 fun corners.  We get to run really fast.  Both Sam and Gin have a great first session.  After lunch the clouds come back and they opened up with a downpour while Sam and I were out on the track.  My sticky sneakers are not what you would call "rain tires".  Sam squirreled my rear end a couple of times but recovered quite nicely.  Gin decided not to go out after hearing this bit of news.  Hopefully it will blow over by her last run of the day.  Once again, fate takes Sam and I by the sticky sneakers, and it's not pretty!  New race brake ducts all the way around.  We did some agricultural driving this afternoon.  Sam says it was something on the track.  All I know is that I'm not, I repeat, I am not going to the hospital again.  Sam duct tapes my ducts back together and away Gin and I go.  I'm a simple car, I deserve a simple life, but racing is more fun than sitting in the garage like my sister.

 

Well the track has dried up and Gin and I are cooking.  Here we come up the front straight and I recall seeing 124 mph on my speedometer.  She had a great last session for the day.  What is this I hear Sam & Gin talking about?  They are going to leave me and my trailer here at the track overnight.  Sam moves me closer to my 2 ZR-1 brothers from Ohio.  They ARE leaving me here, but my brothers and I will stay up late trading stories about our owners.  What FUN!

 

Sunday, July 10th - It's 7 am and I'm having my brake pads checked.  They look OK so Sam goes to help another ZR-1 owner, George Hall, check out his brakes too.  What a great day, not a cloud in the sky.  The track should heat up nicely and my sticky sneakers will be great.  Well Sam & I have a great morning run, Gin says we were really cooking.  Gin and I go out and what's this?  I see 130 mph on the front straight and 115 on the back.  Boy is she getting more confident, she shaved 5 seconds off her best time from last May.  I think I did hear her instructor say BRAKE, BRAKE a couple of times, but its so much fun to go fast.  I noticed she is coming out of the carousel at around 77 and into the kink at about 80 mph, and we fly along.  She even passed a Porsche today.  Gin says that Sam better look out, she is getting better all the time.

 

We all had a great day and guess what?  One of my brothers from Ohio is coming to spend a couple of weeks at our house.  His owner, Russ Wilson, lives in California and is coming back for his high school reunion next weekend, so his car will stay here so he can drive his ZR-1 to the reunion.  Three ZR-1's in our garage, boy will the neighbors talk now.  They already think Sam & Gin are nuts, this will just confirm it.  Can you guess what color my visiting brother is?  It is not steel blue!

 

Sunday, July 24th - Well here we are, on the road again, to another Track Time school.  This one is at the famous Mid-Ohio course, 2.5 miles with 15 corners.  We stop by Glendale  Heights to pick up my steel blue brother and his owner, Steve Ahlgrim.  They are going to Mid-Ohio with us.  My support vehicle is carrying his sticky sneakers since my trailer only carries one car, and that is me!  It's going to be fun having my brother there to chase around the track.  But come to think of it, he'll probably be in A group, while I'm stuck in B & C groups.  I've got to get some better drivers, I want to be in the A group too!  We got to Mansfield, Ohio about 7 pm, checked in with Tom, got our packets and got teched OK.  Guess what?  My brother and I are both in group B.  This is going to be fun, cat & mouse all weekend.  LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

 

Monday, July 25th - It's 7 am and my brother & I are at the track.  He's getting his sticky sneakers put on & I'm off my trailer.  Sam & Gin put up an awning for them to sit under, out of the sun.  They leave my brother & me sitting out here in the sun, but at least it's not raining.  Boy is this a fun track, lots of curves & turns, ups and downs.  Believe it or not, Sam keeps me on the track all day.  This is two days in a row now, is he trying to set some kind of a record?  My brother and Steve got signed off after his second session today.  Something about taking a turn as "fast as it could be taken".  I don't think Steve's instructor wants to ride with him anymore.  Anyway, Steve and my brother are really fast!  Gin & Sam have the same instructor.  Sam seems to get along fine with him, but he does seem to say Brake, Brake, Brake an awful lot to Sam.

 

Now Gin on the other hand is not getting off to as good a start with the instructor.  Gin shuffle steers me and her instructor says to keep your hands at 9 & 3 thru the turns.  I can tell she doesn't feel good doing it this way, but she keeps trying anyway.  Well she decides to tell her instructor that since she is the driver, she is going to shuffle steer where she feels like she needs to.  We all have a great day running around and around the track.  Everyone packs up to go back to the motel and away they go, leaving my brother and me parked at the track.  My brother, ONE LAP X, decide that this is OK, he is going to tell me all about his "One Lap" adventure this year.  I am going to tell him that I'll be there next year with Sam.  I can't wait, you know how sibling rivalry is.

 

Tuesday, July 26th - Well it's 7:30 am and Sam, Gin and Steve are back at the track.  Sam and Steve are talking to each other, and both of them are sure that we had at least a half a tank more gas last night than we do this morning.  Well it's off to town to fill up both tanks so we can run today.  Both of them can't figure where the gas went.  Well my brother and I sure are not going to tell them that after everyone left last night that we cruised into town looking for some hot redheads. We found a couple at a local Chevy dealer.  They really liked our big engines and sticky sneakers.  We barely got back to the track before everyone else did.   You know how 2 brothers are when they are out of town and left alone.  I mean come on, it's like Sam and Steve were never single!  What did they think we were going to do, drink milk and eat cookies?  I mean, after all, we are steel blue, ZR-1's!

 

My brother and I had a great day today.  Steve was turning lap times around 1'49" even with lots of traffic.  Sam & I weren't far behind.  Gin goes out for a ride with her instructor, Dave.  WOW can he really drive his red '94 Corvette.  It was like the best roller coaster ride you have ever had, fast and fun!  She said she said OH SHIT once and closed her eyes a couple of times, but she had a ball. She said that maybe Dave wasn't such a bad guy after all.   Sam & Gin were both signed off today, and we really had a great time going faster and faster.  Sam asked Derek Ross, Track Time's classroom instructor to ride with him during the last session so we could work on a new technique to get thru the Keyhole faster.  It seems that if we "lift" a little, just at the right time, we are supposed to be able to get me pointed in a different direction and get back on the throttle faster.  You know, we are supposed to be able to get thru the turn faster.  Well I'm not so sure about the whole thing.  You remember, every time that Sam "lifts" in a turn, we end up off the track picking grass out of my race brake scoops.  Well Derek does a really good job of talking Sam thru this maneuver and guess what, we do get thru the corner faster.  Lap after lap, they keep working on this and by the end of the session, we are exiting the turn almost 15 mph faster.  Sam was feeling really good.  Can you believe it, he managed to complete both days at Mid-Ohio without going off the track.  This makes 3 whole days in a row that we haven't done any "agricultural driving".  Tom Reese and Mike Gerst from Track Time are surprised that he did it.  You see, it seems that Sam is somewhat "infamous" because of his unique driving style.  Oh well, someone, who shall remain nameless, told him that if you don't come home sometimes holding only the steering wheel, then you are not really trying.

 

Well before we knew, it was time to pack up and head for home.  We got home about midnight after a long drive thru lots and lots of truck traffic.  I mean, who would have thought that all those big trucks would be out in the middle of the night.  I am kind of sad that I don't get to run around the track anymore today, but Gin says not to worry, both my sister and I get to go to Utica on Sunday, July 31st and run with the cars from the North Shore Corvette Club.  Sis is really excited, who knows, this may be her only glory in life.  Gin says that Steve and our brother will be there too!  Gee a family reunion of sorts.  Sam just piled some new R-1's in the garage and said something about having them mounted by the time we head off to Michigan International Speedway in August.  You mean I get to go run on a high bank oval?  I can't wait.  Well I be back as soon as I can to tell you all about it.  Bye for now!

 

Sunday, July 31st - Hi! GINS ZR1 here.  Yes, I can talk too!  What woman can't?  My brother and I thought you might like a woman's point of view for once.  Yes, Sam has granted me the right to go to a track this year.  Who knows, maybe there will be more in the not so distant future.

 

My brother is on his trailer and I get to follow behind since I'm wearing my street tires.  Gin tells me we are really going to have a good time today at Utica.  Here comes our brother & his driver Steve Ahlgrim, his fiance, Sally brought her car to race too. (It's one of those metal cars).  There are lots of Corvettes here since the North Shore Corvette Club has rented the track.  The first cars finally get out about 11 AM.  Boy, do I have a lot of power with my chip & borla's.  My rear end wants to lead, but Gin knows how to handle me.  Smoothness, that's the key.  Sam & my brother have a great day.  He keeps him on the track all day.  No agricultural driving today for either of us.

 

Steve had a bit of trouble, he went a bit too deep into the corner and ran off in turn 1.  Sally was riding with him at the time.  I wonder what she had to say?  Sam's best time of the day was 1'06", Steve had a 1'04" and Gin ran a 1'12".  Our owners got some great family pictures after all the racing was done.  It is not very often that all three of us get to be together.  I can tell you that this was the most fun I've had in my life.  Gin is trying to get Sam to buy another set of wheels so the old race tires can be mounted for me to use at Utica next year.  He said he knew what she was up to.  I will not be allowed to run at Road America.  I know why, because I would be faster than my brother.  I think it's one of those macho guy things.

 

Well my brother will be off to Michigan International soon.  I'm sure he will have lots to tell you all.  It's been great talking to you, bye for now.

 

Friday, August 26th - Well, I'm back.  Hope you enjoyed hearing from my sister about Utica.  She gets out so seldom I just had to let her fill you in on her one day of glory.  I'm on my trailer heading east for Michigan International Speedway and another Track Time School.  I can't wait to see Tom, Mike & Derek again & the rest of my cousins and friends.  We got to the hotel about 6 PM, just in time for registration and tech inspection.  We made a rather grand entrance when we arrived.  It seems Sam didn't see the hotel entrance as soon as he should have so it's time for some heavy braking, and lots of screechy noises.  When Sam & Gin check in, Tom says he knew Sam was here because he heard his approach.  Yes sir, it's going to be one of those weekends.  After our grand entrance to the parking lot, we find that there is no place to park the trailer so we have to go next door and park under a light in the shopping center parking lot.

 

Saturday, August 27th - We get to the track about 7:30 AM and I'm sharing a garage with my brother from Ohio.  You know the red ZR-1 who spent two weeks at my house earlier in the summer.  It's great to see him again.  We exchange stories about what has happened since we last saw each other.  Then we decide that it's time to let the games begin.  Sam & Gin have a great instructor, John Mahler from Toronto, Canada.  He is a very good teacher, but with such a great car and well, Can we talk? Well you know what kind of drivers I have to contend with.  Sam's looking forward to continuing his "perfect driving" record to 5 days, if he can keep me on the pavement both days.

 

WELL, so much for "perfect driving".  I hear Sam telling Mike that he believes that it is good to practice all the defensive driving techniques that might be needed, so that if he has to drive off the track to avoid a dangerous situation, he will know how to do it.  Oh please!  It seems that less than 10 minutes after the beginning of the first session of the day, Sam feels that we can go just a little quicker thru turn 6 than we did the lap before.  Well you know the rest of the story.  It was another one of those four wheels off trips.  Sam really does handle these off track trips quite nicely, but I'm getting tagged with the same reputation that he is.

 

Gin is really smooth on the road course part & she is picking up speed on the oval.  By the last run of the day, both Sam, Gin and I have been moved up to groups A & B.  You can guess who's in which group.  I hear them talking about heading off to the go-kart track.  After driving here all day, they want to race some more?  Well they say it will be fun, but I'm the one who's done all of the work today, so I think I'll stay here with my red brother and get some sleep.

 

Sunday, August 28th - It's 7 AM and Sam has my sneakers off checking my brake pads.  Fronts are fine, but why are the rears wearing unevenly?  He finally figures it out and the sneakers go back on.  I hear them talking about the fun they had at the go-kart track.  It seems that Tom, Mike and Derek were there along with Reed and Sandy Kryder, Jim Lincoln, T.C. Kline and Russ Wilson and his son Cameron were all there.  To hear Sam tell it, they spent a lot of money driving those little karts round and round that little track.  The idea of non-contact racing doesn't seem to apply to these "short track" events.  Well anyway, Sam tells Russ that he just wouldn't believe some of the local drivers that he encountered on the trip from the go-kart track back to the motel.  Seems that some of them Michigan drivers had some really weird ideas on what the "rules of the road" really were.  Not withstanding all they had to contend with, everyone made it back to the motel without a scratch.

 

It seems that everyone planned on going out to dinner together last night, but no one could pick a restaurant.  Well the Bristol stock car races were on the big screen TV in the motel breakfast room so everyone sat around and ate the pizzas that were delivered to the motel.  Perhaps this is the best way to complete Tom's homework assignment of "driving two perfect laps in your head".  I'm not sure that those were the laps he was talking about, but what the heck, after all, Tom was watching the races too!

 

It really stormed last night, but my brother and I were dry here inside the garage.  Sam takes me out in Group A and we are really cooking on the oval.  I think I saw 143 mph down the front straight.  When is Sam going to start braking?  Finally he starts to brake, but something doesn't feel right.  We are not slowing as much as we should.  Hey, we just passed the turn in point for the infield course.  I don't think we are going to make it.  Yep, it's thru the cones.  I know Sam wanted to run the complete 2 mile oval, but this is ridiculous.  Well I can at least say one thing, there is never a dull moment with S.G. in the drivers seat.  Back in the garage, we find that there is a crack in one of my front rotors and my rear brake pads have worn down to the metal.  Sam puts new rear pads on and off he goes again.

 

We are out on the track and really running fine.  Lap after lap, we just keep getting faster and faster.  And can you believe it, we've stayed on the track most of the weekend.  Wait a minute, what's that black flag doing there?  They can't mean us can they?  A quick check of the gauges, everything is fine, but they are definitely pointing at us.  Well OK, it's back to the pits to see what they want to talk with us about.  Oil smoke!  Where the hell is it coming from now?  Up goes the hood and a quick check shows that, can you believe it?  The dip stick has come out of the tube and oil has spilled out and down onto the exhaust.  A quick "technical fix" and the dip stick has a new shape.  Back into the tube and out on the track we go.

 

Gin has to go out with Group C for her last run because of the time Sam lost when he changed the brake pads.  There is a blue ZR-1 running in C and Gin catches up with him and all of a sudden it's the Dave and Gin show.  Dueling ZR-1's, man is she all over his butt on the road course.  She even has the gall to wave at him as he looks in his side mirror.  Man, she even stays with him on the oval, 132 mph, BRAKE, BRAKE, turn one, down shift 5th to 3rd.  We fly thru the road course and shoot out onto the oval & she catches him, and it's bye bye Dave.  Sam is watching us as we go by.  I'm sure he's real proud of us.  Gin says she thinks Dave lifted, but who cares, we're the one in front. Ha Ha!  All in all we had a great time and  man was it fun driving on an 18 degree banked oval.

 

Well it was another boring ride home, but I hear them saying that my new drilled rotors should be here next week.  This is good!  Looks like I'll be ready for Putnam Park later in September.  I'll let you know what happens then.  See you later.

 

Friday, September 23rd - Well we must be going out to play again, Sam and Gin are busy loading the van.  I'm just a little worried because I hear them talking about "rain tires" and how my well worn R-1's probably won't work well in the rain.  What are they talking about?  If they expect to take me out on the track in the rain, I will need more than "rain tires" to keep me on the track.  Like I've said before, I need better drivers.  Well they load me on the trailer and it's off we go again.  We pull into the motel parking lot about 250 miles later after driving through lots and lots of rain.  Man am I wet and dirty.  My usual shine is no where to be found.  I look around the parking lot and see lots of my friends from earlier Track Time schools are here.  We all say hi and start talking about how much fun we are going to have tomorrow at Putnam Park Road Course.

 

Saturday, September 24th - Things did not go well last night.  Sam and Gin slept in a warm dry motel room, but I had to set out here all night in the cold and rain.  The only excitement I had was watching the light show from all the lightning.  We finally arrive at the track about 7 am.  I'm busy looking around for the usual Track Time guys who spend all weekend looking out for my best interest by trying to teach Sam how to keep me on the track.  Well I finally found Tom, but who are these other guys?  Well was I impressed, it seems that one of them is the Head Guy, the Big Cheese, the Top Dog himself, the infamous Jack Layne, President of Track Time, then I remember that I met Mike Shindel, who is doing the classroom instruction, at Heartland Park earlier this year.  It seems that Mike Gerst felt it was more important to attend his sister's wedding than to come play with all of us this weekend, so they brought in Kyle "the California Kid" Shields to take his place.  It was good to see my brother from Seattle (Tom Miller's red ZR-1) again.

Sam and Gin seem really excited, it seems that they have been assigned to the A & B groups for the whole weekend. They meet their instructor, Jay Bombach, an orthopedic surgeon from Columbus, Ohio, who just happens to drive a red ZR-1,  my kind of guy.  This should prove to be some kind of weekend.  Sam says he feels a little intimidated by the guys in the A group, but not Gin, she loves the challenge of driving with the big boys in B group.  Putnam Park is a relatively new course, built in 1991, with 10 turns packed into 1.8 short, but fast, miles per lap.  We spend most of today learning the track and recalling previous schools on how to do things right.  Jay is a wealth of knowledge (Gin says he also has a cute butt).  The clouds went away so the "rain tires" stayed in the van.  The temperatures were nice and cool so I had lots and lots of cool dense air, you know, the kind that ZR-1's like to drink.  So I kept running faster and faster.

 

This is really turning out to be a fun weekend, Reed and Sandy Kryder are here and Reed installs a gas pedal extension so that Gin can heel & toe easier.  Plus, I get to try my new drilled rotors that Sam got from Porterfield Enterprises.  Wow, all these new toys AND lots of track time as well.  I don't believe that the day is over already.  I mean we've been round and round the track all day and Sam hasn't decided to drive me in the dirt once today.  Is he trying to start some kind of new record?  Oh boy, I hear them say that I'm going back to the motel tonight so they can get gas in the morning, looks like I won't have to sleep at the track by myself tonight.  Gin says they are going to start bringing gas with them to the track, it seems that with both of them driving as fast as they do, and with the power key on, that my EPA mileage estimates for "City" driving seem just a bit too optimistic.

 

Sunday, September 25th - I think I'm going to tell Sam not to do me any favors next time.  The motel parking lot was full of pickup trucks packed with coon dogs and all they did last night was cry for their owners.  I tried singing them a song, but for some reason they didn't like Deadman's Curve, or I Get Around.  Oh well, what do they know, after all I'm not the one stuck in the little box in the back of the pickup.  We're back at the track at 7 am so Sam can check me over again.  It is important to keep an eye on everything mechanical.  At these speeds, who wants something to break? Tires, brakes, rotors, everything looks fine so I guess we get to run more laps today.  Most of the day was cloudy and gray and I kept thinking maybe "rain tires" might be nice.  Sam & Gin are both signed off and they are out running solo laps.  Sam's best time was 1'29" and Gin's best time was 1'34".  During their last class session, Sam & Gin observed that Jack was having a really good time in turn 4.  They thought that maybe some score sheets should be placed in the windows.  Someone else suggested that maybe the class could "moon" him as he came back down pit lane.  Fortunately for everyone, cooler heads prevailed, and everyone returned to the lessons inside the class room. Then as fate would have it, the rains came for Gins last run of the day.

 

Where are those "rain tires", wait Gin, get Sam to put on the "rain tires" before we go out, please WAIT! Does she wait, NO, the starter points at us and off we go wearing nothing but a helmet, a smile and me in my sticky sneakers.  What a woman.  Our speed is down from earlier in the day, but she keeps both of us on the track for the whole session.  Earlier today, she passed this guy driving a Lotus and another guy driving a Kenny Brown Mustang.  I think she has really learned a lot this summer.  She says she loves driving me, she thinks I'm the best car in the world.  Well this is the last track event we have scheduled this year.  Gin did the whole season without going off the track and Sam, well Sam finished the last weekend without going off.  If you don't count the first 10 minutes at Michigan International, he managed to drive the last 7 days without going off.

 

Well we're off to Great Lakes Drag Strip on October 8th, then the fall color run on October 16th.  I'm afraid after that it may be the big sleep for the winter, but we'll see.  Let's keep in touch, I'll write again soon.

 

Saturday, October 8th - Well after a couple of weeks of taking it easy, I'm back on my trailer.  Gin says we are heading for Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin.  This should be interesting, I overheard Sam and Gin talking, and it seems that Gin is not going to drive today, and Sam has never raced a car at a drag strip either.  I told my sister I hope I get to come home in one piece.  Right now we are waiting in the rain for some of my Fox Valley Corvette Club cousins to join me on my new adventure.  One by one, my extended family shows up.  Of course Sam tells them we are going, after all, the rain will surely stop by the time we get there.  Personally, it does not look like the rain is going to quit.  It just keeps raining harder and it is getting darker.  I am sure I remember from Putnam Park, that rain and slick tires do not really work well together, but does anyone ask me?  No!

 

Well it must be time to go, because everyone is jumping in their cars and starting the engines, and we are off.  Lots of people honk and wave at us as they pull through the toll plaza.  Looks like we brightened a few peoples days just by setting by the side of the road.  Well we keep driving and it keeps raining, so Gin decides to call the track to see what the weather is there.  Well we are about half way there when we finally gets through, and well you guessed it.  They CANCELED the drags for today.  Our little caravan turns around and heads home, cold, wet and dejected.  After a bit of searching, the drivers find a cafe and stop for a late breakfast, then everyone heads for home..

 

Wednesday, October 12th - Where are we going now?  It is the middle of the week and these two big boxes came today.  Sam is busy unpacking this stuff and loading it into one of the metal cars in the driveway.  Gin jumps in and fires up my engine.  It feels good to be going for a drive again.  Well before I know it, we are parked in front of Farley's garage.  Why am I here?  I don't think I need to see the doctor again, after all Sam had been good lately.  Well it seems that I'm going to get a new exhaust system.  Joe Pemberton with Desert Development is going to be one of our sponsor's for the One Lap Race next year.  He sent us one of his 3-inch exhaust systems with the E.E.E.S. crossover and a pair of Stormer mufflers.  I heard Sam and Ken talking about just how big the 3-inch pipes looked and how they could see light when they looked through the mufflers.  Well they left me here so Ken could install the new system.

 

Sunday, October 16th - Hello from the both of us.  Yes this is rare, SAMS ZR-1 and GINS ZR-1 are both going to the same event.  The Fox Valley Corvette Club's Fall Color Run begins as a somewhat gray and overcast day.  But soon the clouds begin to part and the blue sky is starting to show.  We find ourselves in the parking lot at the boat house, overlooking the Fox River, in Batavia, Illinois.  One by one, lots of our Corvette cousins begin to arrive.  We look around and see many different years and colors, and we even find our triplet brother, ONE LAP X, and his owner Steve Ahlgrim.  It was great to catch up on what has been happening to him.  Everyone stood around and talked and ate donuts.  Are we going to take a drive today or what?  Come on, let's get the lead out!  Finally we start to pull out of the parking lot and the line of Corvette's stretches for a long, long way.  Boy this is fun, the back roads are almost empty so we get to stretch our legs a little.  We get to Yorkville and find more Corvettes waiting for us.  A short stop and everyone is ready to go again.  Now there are more of us than before so the line is even longer.

 

This time we are off to Silver Springs State Park.  Our caravan now holds 43 Corvettes and do we turn some heads as we travel along.  People even stop and let the whole line through several intersections so we can all stay together.  I don't know why we need to keep stopping all the time.  Here we are at Silver Springs and all of us Corvettes are in lines next to the road and all the drivers are in lines next to these cute little buildings back by the trees.  They kept saying something about bladders being full from all the coffee they drank before.  That's funny, our tanks are not as full as when we left this morning.  A couple of more Vettes join us here so our line gets even longer.  It's off for more back road fun.  Our next stop is going to be the Starved Rock Marina along the Illinois River.  We really had some fun on this leg.  Lots of twisty, up and down roads.  We even have a foreign passenger for this leg of the trip.  Deiter from Germany is riding with us.  Seems he has never ridden in a ZR-1 before.  I think he was pretty impressed.  He tells Sam that we could really have a GOOD time on the autobahn.  Well, we are at the back of the line, so we find this stretch of back road that is really straight and flat and we can see for almost a mile.  Sam lets all the other cars get way out if front of us and then he switches the dash over to metric units so that Deiter can watch the numbers in a format he is accustomed to.  Well these metric numbers are a lot bigger that the MPH numbers that I'm used to seeing, so they don't really mean much to me, but it seems that Deiter was impressed.  Okay, I've kept it to myself for way too long.  The new Desert Development exhaust system is AWESOME!  I mean do they sound GREAT or what?  Everyone keeps telling Sam that this is what a Corvette, especially a ZR-1, should sound like.  Yes, they are loud, but who wants to listen to the CD player anyway?

 

Well back to the road trip.  Thanks Mary Ann for the really neat downhill curvy road.  Sam and I really enjoyed it, but the cars in front were going way to slow.  Do you think we can go back up the hill and come down again?  We finally arrive at the marina and everyone heads inside for something to eat and drink.  The sun is shining brightly and it has really warmed up.  Here we all sit in the parking lot, over 40 Vettes and our owners are inside.  We don't get a chance to talk with one another like this very often.  I found out lots of inside information on most of the owners driving mis-adventures from my cousins.  But don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.  Well, at least until I need to tell someone about them.

 

We're back on the road shortly and we soon arrive at our usual parking stop inside of the Starved Rock State Park.  The place is packed with people enjoying the great weather and the beautiful fall colors.  Our caravan really attracts lots of attention as we drive through the park.  Well who wouldn't stare at a line of 45 Corvettes?  Pat tells everyone that they have two hours to relax or wander around the park and just have fun.  Almost everyone decides to stay put and enjoy the colors.  Well almost everyone!  Sam is talking to several people and soon he's back.  Off we go on our own "mini" trip.  I look behind us and there are five others following behind.  No planned route, just driving.  Down the road this way for awhile, then turn here and go that way for awhile, then turn.  Well you get the picture.  My sister said that she saw 115 mph once.  We really don't look anymore, it has a tendency to freak you out sometimes.  Luckily, Sam was in the lead with his radar detector.  My sister is getting a little too big for her sneakers.  I was turning this one corner and Sam was looking in his right hand mirror and my sister and Gin came up on our left.  I kept trying to get Sam's attention, but he was busy looking to see that all the other cars knew which way we went.  Well by the time he listened to me, Gin was going by us like we were sitting still.  Well we tried to keep up, but Sis really kicked our butt.  She is pretty fast when she wants to be.  After all, she has that special chip in her ECM.  I've got to get Sam to get me one of those before we do the One Lap next year.  Since Gin was in the lead, we all followed her back to the park where we sat around and told all of our cousins just how much fun we had.  We left the park and headed into Ottawa where we again stopped at Monte's for dinner.  Once again, everyone left all of us in the parking lot while they went inside and enjoyed a wonderful dinner.  Afterwards they all came outside mumbling something about having eaten too much.  Everyone said their good-byes and headed for home.  What a great day, the weather was perfect and it was really fun getting to go out and play with so many of my cousins.  I can't wait until we get to do it again.

 

We are still waiting for when the drags will be re-scheduled and Sam told Gin that he and Steve are thinking about going back to Road Atlanta on December 3 & 4.  Well I've got to get some sleep.  I'll write later when I know more about the drags.

 

Saturday, November 12th - Well I guess we're going to try this again.  It's about 8:30 am and I'm on my trailer heading for Great Lakes Dragaway.  I look around and all I see are gray skies and it is really cold.  I thought they said it was supposed to be sunny and mild today.  The last time we left here it was really raining.  At least today, the roads are dry.  I hear everyone talking about drag racing.  This is something that Sam knows nothing about.  Again I hope he brings me home in one piece.  Everything I hear about the drags sounds like fun.  You know, two cool cars sitting side by side, revving up their engines, and they sound so mean.  Whoa, before you know it I'll start singing.

 

Well we get to Union Grove without any problems, and the place is starting to really fill up.  Seems like lots of people get into this.  I can't believe all the different types of cars here.  Everything from junior dragsters with 5 hp engines to a real funny car.  There are a lot of Corvettes here so we should have a really good time.  Sam is talking to several people to try and learn what to do so HE doesn't make us look bad.  I don't understand what the big deal is, after all, you just wait for the lights, then go as fast as you can.  First one across the line at the end of the 1/4 mile wins! Right?  What's so hard about that?  I hear Sam telling Ken (one of my doctors) that he's concerned about the cough that I've had for the last several weeks.  I don't think it's anything to worry about, but it seems that when I'm cold, I cough under hard acceleration and then my power key goes off.  Sam doesn't think that will do us any good trying to run the 1/4 mile with only 240 hp.

 

Here we are in line and soon we start to roll forward.  Sam does a couple of quick burnouts to try and heat up the tires, but the track is really cold and slick.  Here we are, it's our turn.  We roll forward ever so slowly, the Pre-Stage light comes on.  Inching forward, the Staged Light comes on.  My engine rev's come up and we wait.  The lights start down.  Let's see, what did everyone tell us?  Go when the last yellow light comes on.  That way, you can try and cut a good reaction time.  OK, the last yellow light comes on,  and WE'RE OFF!  Hey, why aren't we going anywhere?  Let's see, my engine's running, the rear tires are turning, but the front tires don't seem to be going anywhere.  Almost to redline, shift, 2nd gear and the rear tires are still spinning.  I look over and the car in the other lane is out in front of us.  Well the rear tires finally bite and we're off.  We catch the other car and I look up to see the big W light up on our side.  I think that means we won.  Later, I hear Sam mumble about our first attempt.  It seems we ran a 15.889 at 92.8 mph.  Doesn't sound too good for a ZR-1.  We did a good reaction time though at .241 so Sam drives us back into line for our next attempt.

 

This time, we're not so nervous.  We stay out of the water and we really heat up the rear tires.  We watch the lights and Sam really jumps when the last yellow comes on.  We got a .088 reaction time.  This time, the tires hook up a little better, but OUCH we don't seem to get 3rd gear real well.  I see the win light come on.  This time we got a 13.777 at 104.4 mph.  Better, but not as good as I can do.  The next run, I think Sam was asleep!  We got a .533 reaction time and lots of wheel spin, 3rd gear just doesn't want to engage.  We run a bad ET at 14.269, but our speed is up to 105.5.  We don't win this time.  The other guy ran a 13.321 at 106.9 mph.  Sam is really upset with himself.  Sam says that the new 3" Desert Development exhaust system seems to have helped add some power.  Our only problem is that we can't seem to get the tires to hook up with the track.  We are spending way too much time with the rear tires just spinning.  Let's lower the tire pressure some more.  Now we're only running 18 psi in the R-1's.  I hope they stay on the wheels.

 

Okay, we're back in the pits and Sam is talking with Tony (he drives a 10 second Corvette) about how you figure out what to pick as your dial-in time for the bracket racing.  Seems that if you pick the wrong dial-in time and you actually run faster, you lose.  Well after careful review and consideration of the 3rd gear problems, it seems that Sam doesn't think we can do better than the 13.777 so they agree that 13.8 will be our dial-in.

 

Here we are in line again, this time the run is for real.  Sam really heats up the tires this time.  We roll into position and the lights start down.  We're off with a .269 reaction time.  We seem to really be flying down the lane, I take a quick look for the other car and see that they are behind us.  Slow down Sam!  We don't want to break out by running too fast you big dummy.  As usual, he doesn't listen to me.  We fly through the lights at the end and we cross the line first.  I look up and the win light comes on, but in the other guy's lane.  How can this be?  We crossed the line first!  Yes, but just a little too quick.  Seems we ran a 13.252 at 106.4 mph.  We broke out of our bracket, the other guy ran a 13.781 and his dial in was 13.7.  That's what I call cutting it really close.  Well we're done for the day, so Sam leaves me in the pits so he can watch the other cars run.  After it was all over, everyone said they had a really great time, even though they were cold and tired and we still had a two hour drive to get back home.  I heard Sam telling Ken that we would definitely be back in the spring to practice this some more.  I also heard him tell Ken that he is going to take me back to the doctor to get my cough looked at and to get 3rd gear fixed.  I'll let you know just how the operation went.

 

I'm feeling kind of sad during the ride home, because I know that after I get back from the doctor's, that Sis and I are going to be "put to sleep" for the winter.  I think this is a really bad thing, but I don't think there is anything I can do about it.  Wait a minute, what is this I hear?  Sam is telling Ginger that he needs to check out our supply of brake pads and other stuff because we're going back to Road Atlanta December 3 & 4.  You mean I get to go racing one more time before the Big Sleep?  Yes, Yes, Yes!  I don't think life can get any better.  It looks like there may be more to tell you later.  I'll keep you posted about all the fun we had.  Bye for now and we'll talk soon.

 

Tuesday, November 15th - Well we had lots of fun last weekend at the drag strip.  Sam decided that the grinding noise when he tried to shift into 3rd gear wasn’t all that normal so here we are at the doctors again.  He tells them that I have a cough and some congestion and that they should try and figure out how to make me well again.  The doctors gather around me and decide that a test drive is in order.  They claim that this is needed to better diagnose the problem.  It seems that sometimes Sam doesn’t describe the problem clearly enough.  They hook up the Tech 1 to my computer port and away we go.  Hey, this looks like it could be fun.  You know me, any opportunity to strut my stuff is okay with me.  Well we’re back in the shop before I know what happened.  It seems that a “brain” transplant is needed to cure my cough, and Sam is right, there is definitely something wrong with my transmission.  The brain transplant is covered under the emissions warranty.  The transmission is still unknown.  Several calls later, an adjuster from the warranty company shows up and Kurt takes him for a ride.  Sure enough, he agrees that the trans needs to be fixed.  Good news! The warranty company agrees to pay for a new trans.  It seems that Sam and the doctors told them a long time ago that there was a problem with the trans and that it might go out at some point in the future.  Well as they say, The future is now!

 

Sunday, December 25th - Christmas Day, I think Sam is mad at me.  I’ve been here in the hospital for over a month and he hasn’t come to see me once.  I don’t think it was my fault that I got sick, so why is he mad at me?  The doctors have completed the brain transplant and I feel pretty lucky.  I can still remember most everything that happened before the surgery, but I can’t feel my legs.  They have to push me around everywhere I go and I don’t feel like “the king of the hill”.  What is wrong with me?  Will I ever get to run and play again?  I sure hope so, this is not the way a ZR-1 should live.

 

Wednesday, December 28th - I can feel my legs again!  My transmission came back today and the doctors put me back together again.  Isn’t life wonderful.  They called and Sam came over to get me.  He said that he wasn’t mad at me, he was really glad that everything went well and we went for a drive after we left the hospital.  It was like old times again.  He told me that we would have to hurry up and get me ready to go into storage for what’s left of the winter.  We have been really lucky so far.  Here it is almost 1995 and we haven’t had any real snow yet.  My sister has been asleep for almost two months now.  I feel really bad about having to go into storage so soon.  I mean, I just got back to where I can run again, and now I have to go to sleep for several months.  Sam tries to make me feel better by telling me that we are scheduled to do the Car Guys school at Summit Point, WV on March 4 & 5.  It still seems like a long, long time to be asleep.  He reminds me that we did this last year and I guess I just don’t remember.  Something about the battery being disconnected or something.  Sam also tells me that we can look forward to a full season in 1995 and that we are definitely going to run the One Lap of America Race in June.  It seems that we are going to try and squeeze several practice sessions in before we run the big race.  It seems that Sam and Gin are thinking about Summit Point, Road America, Blackhawk Farms, Heartland Park, Watkins Glen and Memphis all before June 12, when the One Lap starts.  I feel a little better knowing that they still want to play with me after my long winter sleep.

 

December 31st - Well here we are at the storage place.  It looks really nice and it is big enough that I get to stay on my trailer, inside a heated garage.  I see my sister sleeping under her blanket and I tell her hello, even though I know she can not hear me.  It has been a long time since I last saw her.  Sam gets my blanket out of the back and unfolds it.  He checks me over once and then he tells me to think happy thoughts and dream of all the fun we are going to have in the Spring.  He opens my hood and slowly things start to get dim, lets see, here we are at Road America, or is it Mid-Ohio, dimmer and dimmer, until the lights go out.  Sleep, sleep, sleep until later.

 

Saturday, February 18th - How did I get here?  The last thing I remember was being inside of some garage and then things got dim and then I think I blacked out.  I don’t seem to remember anything after that, but here I am, sitting on my trailer in the bright sunlight.  Sam gets in and turns my key and I jump to life.  My LT-5 engine roars to life and my Desert Development exhaust system purrs so nice, just like a Corvette is supposed to sound.  I look around and here is Glenn Breitung with Sam listening to my engine purr.  It seems that Glenn is thinking about a ZR-1 for his garage and soon he and Sam are inside with seat belts on and away we go.  It really feels great to be off the trailer and running down the road.  This is what ZR-1's were meant to do.  All too soon, we are back at the house and the ride is over.  I thought the day was over, but Sam and Gin take me to the car wash and clean me up, because we are going to meet Steve and Sally Ahlgrim and my brother, 1 LAP X, for dinner.  We cruise down the highway into Naperville and pull up in front of the restaurant.  Here comes the valet and Sam actually lets this guy park me.  Well actually Sam had to show him how to shift me into reverse so he could back me up about 20 feet into a parking spot in front of the bar.  In just a few minutes, here comes my brother, and Steve parks him right next to me.  Sam and Gin tell me later that the reaction inside the bar was unbelievable about two identical ZR-1's parked next to each other.  Well I’ve always believed that we were meant to be the center of attention.

 

Saturday, February 25th - We get all cleaned up and head out for pizza and bowling with the Corvette Club.  It soon gets dark and cold, it is just too cold for me to be out here.  Sam leaves me in a parking lot at the Lincoln Inn and at the bowling alley.  Can you believe it?  He actually left me in two parking lots in the dark.  I’m not sure what this means, but I plan on staying healthy and being as good as I can.  I hear Sam and Gin talking about next weekend.  It seems that we are going to Summit Point, WV for two fun-filled days with Car Guys.  Sam says that he needs the practice since Summit Point is on the One Lap schedule.

 

Sunday, February 26th - Here we go, I’m getting all dressed up and it seems that I have someplace to go.  Sam is installing the new bar and driver’s belts.  I’m starting to look like my old self once again.  Tires off and street brake pads are now in the box.  Racing pads are soon installed and my R-1's are back on the wheels.  I think I can almost remember how much fun we are going to have at Summit Point.  Sam crawls in the back and installs the new camera mount.  European Autosports in West Palm Beach, Florida sent us one of their units for use during the One Lap Race.  Now all we have to do, is get a sponsor to provide us with a smaller camcorder and we will be set to record our on track adventures.  Well that’s all I know for now, so until we return from Summit Point, I’ll say goodbye.

 

Thursday, March 2 - Here I sit on my trailer, behind the van waiting to hit the road.  It seems that all of the preparations have been completed.  My sticky sneakers and new Performance Friction brake pads have been installed.  I guess this means we are going somewhere.  All I know right now, is that it is COLD out here.  A temperature in the low 20's is not my idea of a good time.  Oh well, as long as we get to go racing, I guess I can put up with a little discomfort.  I talk with the van and he tells me we are headed for Summit Point Raceway for a Car Guys On Track Driver Education School.  It seems that Summit Point is on the One Lap schedule so Sam thinks it would be good to practice.

 

We leave about 2:30 am Chicago time and we arrive at the motel at 3:30 pm Eastern time.  Let’s see, 720 miles in 12 hours...I think Sam was working on his One Lap pace.  It is always a thrill riding on my trailer with Sam behind the wheel of the van.  I think that sometimes we are going a little fast since I have no control over my fate.  I overheard Sam telling some people at the hotel about this new device he is testing.  It seems that Stealth Technologies has provided him with one of their VRCD (Vehicle Radar Clocking Device) units to test out.  Sam checked it out with our local police department and sure enough,  their radar units did not “see” us until we were right in front of their cars.  It must have worked great or I don’t think we would have gotten here in only 12 hours.

 

Friday, March 3 - HEY, wait a minute!  What the hell is this white stuff falling from the sky?  It just can’t be snow, I’ve never even seen snow at home, but here I sit on my trailer with snow falling all around me.  This doesn’t look good for the next two days on the track.  I mean, how can you go really fast with snow on the track?  This means that we’ll probably have more of an adventure than we usually do with these two driving.  I look around the parking lot and I see lots of other cars, waiting like me, for the fun to start tomorrow.  I look forward to seeing two of my ZR-1 cousins from Chicago tomorrow, so I guess I better get some sleep before the BIG day.

 

Saturday, March 4 - We arrive at the track about 6:30 am so we can pick our spot in the paddock.  What a sight to see!  There are five ZR-1's sitting in a row.  Three are from Illinois, SAM’S ZR-1; George Halls, ‘93, GWH62; and Dwayne Grahovic’s, ‘94, JJ100.  The other two are from Pennsylvania, Dave Yanoff’s, ‘90, QWK PHKR, and Maryland, Zack Parzow’s, ‘95.  There was even a Callaway Vette here from North Carolina.  It seems that Tony Hobbs just couldn’t wait to try out his Callaway and he wanted a record of the weekend.  So since he runs Barnyard Productions, he brought his film crew to capture the weekend on tape.  Oh, before I forget, Gin said I was supposed to tell Tom Reese with Track Time, Hi, from Bruce Hollander.  Bruce was Gin’s instructor for the weekend.

 

We go through the usual routine, tech inspection, meeting our instructors, familiarization laps in the instructors cars, etc.  Hey, when will it be MY turn on the track?  Sam is here and he checks me over from top to bottom, oil level, tire pressure, lug nuts torqued.  Then he puts on his helmet and fires up my engine.  Even if I do say so myself, my Desert Development exhaust sounds great.  Throughout the weekend, people are always telling Sam that whatever he did to me, I sounded the best of all the ZR-1's running.  Well, we pull into line and our instructor, Rich LaBarbera, gets in and buckles up.  We exchange basic information and soon we are taking our first turns around Summit Point.  All goes well and we are soon gaining speed as the turns become more familiar.  The skies are overcast and the track is very cold and VERY slick.  We actually make it through the entire 25 minute session without going off the track.  The second session began in the afternoon and true to form, Sam decides to do a little agricultural driving.  It seems that he managed to get his right foot kind of hung up between the brake and gas pedal extension as we were going into turn 5.  Sam says that rather than try to force it through the tight left-hander, he decided to “go deep” into 5 and just drove straight off the track and then waited for the corner workers to wave us back on.  It seemed like the right thing to do, I mean, we didn’t break anything and it didn’t even look all that thrilling.  There was no great squealing of tires, no spinning, or any of the usual exciting stuff that Sam has become “known” for.  Just a well executed, measured response to a situation that wasn’t quite right.  Man does that sound dull, or maybe Sam has learned something from all these schools?

 

Anyway, back to the track, Gin is out for her sessions and she is picking up speed.  Of course, SHE keeps me on the track all the time.  The third session with Sam was a joy to behold.  It seems that there are three ZR-1's in our run group, Duane, Dave and us.  We come out of the pits somewhat separated, but soon the other 14 cars have all been put behind us and here we are, three ZR-1's running nose to tail.  Well somewhere, the track gods were smiling.  We ran like this for about 10 minutes.  We reached speeds up to 132 mph going into turn 1 where we had to slow down to about 42 mph for the hard right-hander.  Then we reached speeds up to about 103 mph through other parts of the track.  We were starting to get noticed, people were starting to gather in the pits to watch us go by.

 

The next thing we know, two more cars join us on the track.  The first was driven by Peter Krause, who pulled in front of Duane and led the way, the second was Kenley Smith ( the “Grand Poobah” of Car Guys) driving his ZR-1, who jumped in front of Dave and Sam.  They served as the tools to separate the three of us.  At first I though that our fun was over, so Sam started to back out of it just a little, so that there was a little more room between us.  Our instructor, Rich, suggested that we could run with the others and that we should put our foot back into it.  Well that was about all of the encouragement that Sam needed so before I knew it, we were again three ZR-1's running nose to tail around Summit Point at speeds over 130 mph.  It was really funny to watch Dave as he entered the braking zone for turn 1, his car would suddenly “explode” into a cloud of brake dust, then quickly turn right and away we went.  It was like this for another 10 minutes or so.  We must have really put on a show, because during the cool down lap, the corner workers and the large crowd in the pits kept waving, clapping, and giving us the “thumbs up” sign as we circled the track.  I think Sam was running on about 200% adrenalin.  When we got back to the pits everyone stood around and talked and talked about what a killer run that had been.  Hey did you guys forget that it was me and my ZR-1 cousins that carried your sorry butts around the track?

 

Gin said that she had a great time in her session as well.  It seems that George Hall passed her, but she didn’t hook up with him so she watched him pull away.  She did pass many of the other cars in her group.  I think she is really having a good time.

 

Sunday, March 5 - Well it’s another cloudy day.  I hope the rains don’t come, because I want to run like we did yesterday.  That was really awesome, I mean how many times do you get to have 3 ZR-1's running nose to tail like that?  Sam and Gin were both signed off in the morning session.  I really like this track.  It is really fun, even though it is so slick.  Turns 1 and 5 are very tight turns and a bit of a challenge, but we seem to be getting better with every lap.  Our friend Dwayne blew a power steering hose and of course none could be found at any of the local parts houses.  Well a “pit” repair was tried.  He ran several laps in front of us before it blew again.  Smoke and oil drops on our windshield told us his weekend was done early.  They put his car back in the trailer and he got an early start for home.

 

It did start to sprinkle during Gins last session, so she got to practice the “rain line” some.  She did real well and kept me pointed in the right direction the whole session.  Unlike what we would have expected from my other driver.  We got back to the pits and Sam had the trailer all ready so it was off the track and onto the trailer in less that a minute.  What a weekend we had!  The drive home took a bit longer.  It rained most of the night and Gin kept doing her Peppermint Patty “fall asleep” routine.  Sam wasn’t doing much better, so we did a couple of sleep stops.  It took 17 hours to get home.  I think they had too good a time and wore themselves out.  Right now, the next track event is scheduled for May 6-7 at Road America, one of my favorite tracks.  That seems like such a long time from now, but who knows, maybe Sam will find something to do before then.  We need to get a new video camera to record our on-track adventures.  The new bar and the video camera mount from European Motorsports just doesn’t provide enough space for the old full-size VHS camera to fit.  So I guess it’s off to the sponsor search to find a new camera that will fit.  We ran two sessions with “loaner” cameras and we can’t wait to get the tape from Tony Hobbs so we can enjoy the weekend over and over again.

 

If you are interested in running the One Lap of America Race with us, or would like to become a sponsor, please contact Sam at for more information.  I don’t think we could have too many ZR-1's running.  Bye for now, and we’ll talk soon.

 

Tuesday, April 25 - Here I sit on my trailer, behind the van waiting to hit the road, but something doesn’t seem right.  I mean, where is Ginger and all the stuff that usually goes in the van when we go to the track?  Sam gets in the van and away we go, I guess I’ll just have to ride along and find out what he has planned.  Wait a minute! What are we doing at the doctors?  I think I feel fine, after all, we did get a clean bill of health at the BMW tech the other day.  Well at least I see a familiar face, Ken Farley is talking to Sam about something.  I then overhear them talking about getting all the preparation done so that the van and trailer will be ready for the coming season.  I begin to wonder, “What am I doing here then”?  Then Sam starts down the list of things that they are going to do to me.  Let’s see, new spark plugs, clean oil and filter, a new fuel filter, new front brake rotors, new brake pads, clean synthetic fluids for the transmission and differential, clean brake fluid all the way around, and even new tape on my brake ducts.  Wow, sounds like a long day.

 

Well we’re back home now and everything went real well.  I feel like a new car and I am really looking forward to the next two months.  Sam and Ginger are talking about the Ron Westphal car show this Saturday and how they need to clean both my sister and me.  Sam keeps looking at me and my new Performance Friction decals.  He says they really look good.  We had to send the performance chip back because there was a minor glitch that was messing up my brains.  You know how easily I get mixed up.  They expect the new chip here any day now.  Sam even went and got new contacts so he could see better.  I think he is really starting to get into this.

 

Sam tells me he is talking to several companies about a new helmet and a new video camera.  Both are needed for the One Lap.  I am glad that Sam is taking care of all these details and all I have to do is run, whenever Sam takes me to the track.  Speaking of tracks, when are we going to get back on the track?  I believe the schedule is for Road America, Waterford Hills, Heartland Park, Watkins Glen and Memphis as practice sessions prior to the One Lap in June.  Then we get to do them all again during the One Lap.  We get back home just in time to head to Springfield for Bloomington Gold.  Then it’s back to Road America for another weekend.  Then it looks like I get some time off before we head to Michigan International for some more fun.

 

As you can see it looks like Sam has a full schedule planned for us.  I can’t wait to get back on the track.  I look around the garage and see a pile of tires I haven’t even started to wear out yet, and I heard them talking about even more on the way for the One Lap.  This time off is killing me, you know how I hate to just sit around the garage.  I would much rather be out on the track having fun.  I’ll have lots of stuff to tell you next month.  Until then, keep the car on the track and have fun.

 

Thursday, May 5 - Hello again, here I sit on my trailer, all packed up and headed to Road America with the Windy City BMW club.  I just got back from the doctors and it seems that I have a minor leak in the transmission.  No time to fix it now, so Sam applies a liberal coating of gasket sealer to the outside of the case and it seems to be holding for how.  It just doesn’t seem right.  The little puddles under me, makes it seems like I’m not house broken.  I hope this stuff holds until it can be fixed for good.

 

It is raining off and on the whole way there.  Personally I think Sam needs some “road” driving schools as well.  He just doesn’t seem to get it that with me and the trailer and wet pavement, you need longer stopping distances to make it work.  It sure is a thrill just riding with him, sort of like the Run-a-Way Mine Train at Disney World.  You know that the ride will end sometime, you are just not sure that you will be alive when it does.  Well to his credit, we did arrive at the hotel safe and sound.

 

Friday, May 5 - Well it’s Instructors Day and I am surrounded by all of these Bimmers again.  They sure are boxy looking cars, not sleek and refined like, Moi.  Gin says I have to stay on the trailer until tomorrow, since Sam is not yet an instructor.  Sam is here to learn how to be an instructor.  I hope he learns something because sometimes he has a tendency to bark orders at everyone.  Well I’ll just take a nap until they come for me.  Well here they are, I’m taken off the trailer and out onto the track we go.  It seems that my brother ONE LAP X is in the shop and Steve Ahlgrim is going to drive me today.  This should be lots of fun.  Here we go for the second session and Sam is driving.  It seems that as part of the instructors school, Steve and Sam have to do some “role playing”.  I’m not sure just what this is, but it sounds like of kinky to me.  Well we manage to run the whole day without anything exciting happening.  I’m not sure, but I think Steve is a GOOD influence on Sam.  We’ll see if this holds true for the whole weekend.

 

Saturday, May 6 - Hey, ONE LAP X is out of the hospital, but he says that his rear tires are rubbing so Steve is making some field adjustments.  Sam is out first this morning.  Preparations are being made and as I look around the pits I see my yellow cousin, JJ100.  Duane Grahovec is here with his ‘94 ZR-1.  We should have some real fun this weekend.  They repaved the track late last year so Sam has to re-learn the lines.  All of the old marks are gone, so we have to find new ones for the turn in and braking points.  This could prove to be Sam’s downfall.  Well I hate to admit it, but Sam really surprises me.  He not only is going faster than last year, but he actually keeps me on the track all day.  I can only look forward to tomorrow, you know his reputation.  The new Performance Friction brake pads are working quite nicely.  Lots of stopping power and they seem like they will last the whole weekend.  My Desert Development exhaust system, really sounds great coming up the front straight at 130+ mph.  Sam says he can’t wait to watch the video tapes.  We just got a new 8mm camera that mounts on the European Motorsports camera mount and it seems to be working great.  You know a smaller lighter camera helps to reduce the weight I have to carry around the track.  Now if I could only get Sam to lose some weight.

 

Gin & I go out for the first time, boy is she more aggressive than last year.  We’re now doing over 130 down the front straight, 128 mph down into turn 5 and 123 mph into Canada Corner.  Boy are we flying.  I notice she is braking much later going into the turns.  Steve says he likes the say she handles the Kink at about 90 mph.  As the day wore on, I could tell she was getting a little tired.  We were early apexing some corners, but it was a great day.  I think everyone will sleep well tonight.

 

Sunday, May 7 - Sam gets signed off after his first run this morning.  I think Steve didn’t sign Gin off because she’s carrying more speed into the turns than last year so he thought he should stick with her.  Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that Steve, Gin and I did some agricultural driving, when she early apexed in turn 8.  She tore both my air scoops loose, what a woman!  So it was back to the pits for a quick check and to duct tape the ducts back into place, quackity quack!  I guess this means that Gin can’t give Sam a bad time anymore about being off the track.  Back to Sunday, Sam’s best time of the weekend was 2' 49" and Gins was 3' 04". They both took 11 seconds off of their best times last year.  Who knows, maybe all of these schools are starting to pay off.

 

Today was not a good day for several drivers.  A Porsche and a Nissan MR2 each crashed in the kink.  No one was hurt, but the cars didn’t look too good.  Later in the day, a Lotus and an MR5 ended up in the gravel trap outside of Canada Corner.  Much to my surprise, Sam kept me on the track all weekend and we all came home in one piece.  This is starting to be lots of fun.  Next stop will be Blackhawk Farms with the Chicago Region Porsche Club.  I can’t wait, more foreign cars.

 

Wednesday, May 11 - Well here we are at Blackhawk Farms.  It rained all the way here and things are really wet!  I am wearing my slick, sticky tires, and I’m not sure they are the right tires for the day.  Gin & I watched a red Porsche do a 360 coming into turn 4 while Sam was registering for the day.  I think some street tires would do well today.  I look around the pits and it appears that I am the only Corvette here.  I guess I will really need to behave myself today.  It looks like it has quit raining so maybe the track will dry out soon.  Since we have never been here before, they assign us to the Novice group.  Our instructor quickly decides that we are doing OK and should move up a group or two.  He tells us to be careful and not get caught up in anyone else’s mistakes.  He also tells us that Corvette’s don’t do real well here so we should let the Porsche’s pass whenever they come up behind us.

 

Well Sam doesn’t take this news too well.  He reminds our instructor that a Corvette, ONE LAP X, won here last year in the One Lap, and that if a Porsche or any other car can catch us, then they will certainly get the pass signal.  But they are going to have to earn it.  Well we go out with the next group, starting first, and before the 20 minute session of over, we have lapped all but two of the 20 cars in our group.  So much for giving them the pass signal.  Boiled brake fluid, ended our day early.  We passed three cars on the front straight doing 110 mph into turn 1, only to find that we had no brakes.  We slid straight off the track and stopped at the edge of the trees.  No damage to anything, just our pride.  The grass was so wet that we couldn’t back up and we had to be pushed back onto the track.  Not the way we would have wanted it, but we showed them who was fastest.  Our best time was 1' 30".  There were a couple of the Group A Porsches that were running laps at 1' 22".  I think that 8 seconds off the pace on our first time at the track was pretty good.  Well Waterford Hills is coming up next Tuesday.  I’ll write more later to tell you just how that went.

 

Friday, May 19 - We finally arrive in Topeka after an overnight pit stop at Sam’s parents.  It seems like I have been on this trailer forever.  When are we going to the track?  I look around the parking lot and I see a lot of foreign cars.  I can’t wait to ask Sam just what he has gotten us into this time.  We are parked pretty close to the hotel bar and people seem to be partying late into the night.  I hope I get some sleep before tomorrow.

 

Saturday, May 20 - We’re finally here at the track, off that damned trailer with my tires on the ground.  Gin is busy washing my windshield and Sam is checking my oil and tire pressures.  I am ready to hit the track.  My brother, JJ100, Duane’s yellow 94 ZR-1 is here and I can’t wait until we are running laps together.  Al Lee, J.R. Sanders and Larry Woscyna from the Porsche club are here as well.  I remember the last time we were here with Al as our instructor, Sam spun me thru the grass, I hope this weekend goes better.

 

Here we are in line for the first session.  Something is terribly wrong.  There is no instructor in the car.  Who slipped up and let Sam out onto the track without an instructor?  Well maybe it will be OK, after all, he has gone to a number of schools since we were here last year.  Things go better that I thought.  We actually get around the track without going off the hard surface.  Who knows, we might just survive the weekend.

 

Gin is headed out without an instructor too!  I can hear her talking to herself, brake, brake, apex, power, power, thru each of the turns.  The new Performance Friction brake pads are working great, and my Morrison chip combined with my 3-inch Desert Development exhaust gives me that extra boost to power my way thru the corners and down the front straight.  We have a great day and way to soon, it is over.  Gin tells me to keep an eye on the trailer because they are leaving both of us at the track tonight.

 

Sunday, May 21 - Hey, it’s nice that Sam and Gin finally show