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 up.  It rained last night and they left me sitting out here at the track.  Don’t they know that I got wet and dirty.  Is that any way to treat a ZR-1?  I don’t think so!  Sam tries to make it up by washing me first thing.  I check out the sky and it still looks like rain, so his efforts may be wasted.  Gas is full, brake pads are fine, so it is back to the track for Sam’s first session.  Let’s see if he can complete this session without a spin.

 

I look around and there are two new cars here today.  Steve and Dave Beddor with their Ruf Porsches are here practicing for the One Lap.  They are trying lots of different tires and they are faster than Sam.  Sam’s best lap is 2'08" and Gin’s is 2'21".  Steve comes over to talk with Gin and I hear him tell her that I’m a well built and solid car.  This is coming from someone that drives one of those P cars.  He said that you would think I was built by the Germans.  I don’t think he is all that funny.

 

Once again, Sam holds true to form.  It seems that he is trying to cut a few seconds off of his lap times so he tries to carry more speed thru the carousel.  This causes him to be way wide on the exit and as he cuts back to try and set up the proper entry to turn 4, he drops the left rear tire into the grass, under braking.  This results in a 360 degree spin, but this time he actually keeps going and before I know it, he actually has the front end pointing in the right direction and we are actually on the track again.  A quick downshift and we are underway again.  The corner worker started to reach for his yellow flag, but before he can get it, we are underway again.  He kind of shrugs his shoulders and waves at us as we go by.  I guess if I has to spin, then the least we can do is do it with some style.  Gin says we are going to visit her mother on the way home so we won’t get home until late Monday night, then it’s off again on Thursday to Watkins Glen, NY for another Track Time weekend.

 

Friday, May 26 - We left Oswego at 3:30 am and arrived in Gang Mills, NY about 5:30 pm eastern time.  Mike Gerst comes over and I’m teched out for tomorrow.  It is good to see Mike again.  I hear Sam telling Mike that my brother, JJ100 will be at the track tomorrow.  It seems that Sam and Duane feel that they need all the practice they can get for the coming One Lap race.

 

Saturday, May 27 - So this is the famed Watkins Glen.  We got here about 7 am and my brother is saving a garage for us.  Boy this is nice, concrete floors, shade and all the comforts of home.  Sam and Gin meet their instructor, Jim Seafuse and before I know it, I’m out on the track with Sam.  Boy there is a lot of guardrail and no run off areas.  I hope that Sam behaves himself because I don’t think we’ll survive if he pulls his usual trick.

 

Here we go, the first lap is a warmup lap and Sam is trying to learn the track.  Hey, I really like this track!  Lots of straights where a hot ZR-1 can let it all out, and the curves are really fun as well.  There is a lot of elevation change which adds to the fun.  When Gin and I go out, I hear her say, boy this is a fun track.  Jim says, yes, but this track is an unforgiving track if you make a mistake.  No mistakes, PLEASE!  All in all, today was an uneventful day, good weather and good driving.  Once again, I get to stay at the track, only this time, I get to stay in a garage, protected from the elements.

 

Sunday, May 28 - Boy is it cloudy today and still quite cool.  I overhear them saying that we might only get to drive in the morning session because they are calling for rain this afternoon.  Well it is out once again with Sam and Jim.  JJ100 and I are running some really good laps when Sam misses his turn in point for turn 10.  I can’t believe it, he has done so well all weekend .  Well we slide thru the turn and just as he was supposed do, he straightens the wheel just before we go off on the right hand side.  We knock down a bunch of cones and we slide up on the concrete bumper.  This drops the right rear into the dirt and spins the rear end around 180 degrees and we are now sliding across the track towards the guardrail.  Don’t say OH SHIT Sam, just keep us out of the guardrail.  You know that Gin is going to be really mad if we hit the wall.  I don’t know if he was really in control or not, but Sam turned the wheel just the right amount in the right direction and the front end comes back around and before I know it, we are once again headed down the tack.  Jim breathes a sigh of relief and tells Sam that was a nice save.

 

Gin and I head out once again with Jim.  She is really smooth.  Jim says if it doesn’t rain this afternoon, he’d like Sam to ride with her to learn a little smoothness.  Well it’s raining so I back on the trailer and we are out of here about 1:30.  Everyone agreed that the Glen was not the track to try and drive in the rain.  Russ Wilson and Reed Kryder were here today to practice for the One Lap as well.  It is too bad that it rained, because it would have been fun to have the three of us running laps together.

 

It was a long, long drive home thru a terrible thunderstorm.  Next weekend is Memphis, then the week of the One Lap.  I think everyone is getting excited and I have to confess that I am looking forward to it as well.  I will write more latter and you can be sure that things will not be dull as long as Sam is behind the wheel.

 

Friday, June 2nd - I am beginning to hear that song “On the  road again” over and over in my ECM.  It seems that all I do anymore is ride on my trailer back and forth to another track.  Mind you, I am not complaining, except for some of Sam’s driving, I am having the time of my life.  We pull away from the house about 7:30 a.m. and head for Memphis.  Nice day and good roads all the way.  We made a quick pit stop in Effingham, IL to see our new friends at Mid-America Designs.  They are one of our sponsors for the One Lap Race and Sam thought that since we were in the neighborhood that it would be fun to stop and meet them in person.  Well I certainly had my 15 minutes of fame!  There I sat on my trailer in the parking lot and it seemed like everyone in the place came out to look at me and my Mid-America decals.  They looked at all my custom features and took pictures.  We said good-bye to Tom Christmann and Mike Yeager and headed for Memphis.

 

We got to Memphis about 5 p.m. and I looked around the parking lot and finally found my brother JJ100's enclosed trailer.  He gets to ride inside protected from everything, while I have to ride out here on my “open” trailer.  Oh well, at least I get to work on my tan.  Later that night I see my other brother ONE LAP X pull in.  It seems that he and his driver Steve got a late start from Chicago and so they both are going to have a short night.  Well I’ll try and get some sleep.  HEY, who’s messing around with my wheels?  “Let go of me”, I shout, but to no avail.  Someone just made off with of all things, the chrome valve stem covers from my wheels and those of my tow vehicle.  They apparently did not want the black plastic ones on the trailer wheels.  You just can’t go anywhere these days.  I don’t think I slept very well the rest of the night.

 

Saturday, June 3rd - Well here we are at the track, ready for another Track Time adventure.  We have never been to Memphis Motorsports Park before so everyone is really excited.  It looks like a pretty small crowd with only 5 to 7 cars in each of the four run groups.  I overhear Gin say that Mike Gerst with Track Time is both Sam and Gin’s instructor.  I think Gin sort of insulted him when she asked him if he knew what he was doing.  You see, we’ve only seen him handle the tech inspections and coordinate the pit lane. But Mike assured Gin that he had done this before.  So she and Mike went out for their first time with me.  Gin said that she noticed that he was sort of holding on, but Sam said he was just bracing himself, HA! HA!  It turns out that this is a fast little track since the front straight is the drag strip, then you turn right and it turns into a really neat road course.  No elevation changes, but a combination of fast and then some not-so-fast corners.  Sam proved that he could uphold his expected performance.  He claims that he was only practicing the “racing line” thru the “M’s” by driving straight from the beginning to the end without following all the paved part.  If you “cut thru” the grass, Sam claims that you can shorten the track and save several seconds.  I don’t think that Mike buys all this.  At least this was the only time that Sam pushed us off the paved part and into the dirt.

 

Things were going great, but I really got hot.  Everyone was looking for shade, then it RAINED!  I mean it really rained!  The front straight (the drag strip) is lined by concrete walls on both sides, and quickly became a lake with several inches of water standing right where we wanted to drive.  What a sight!  Here we would race around the back part of the track, then when we got to the front straight, it was back to single file lines, carefully driving down the “middle” of the track with water flying out on both sides of the car.  We looked like drag boats, instead of Corvette ZR-1's.

 

Sunday, June 4th - The forecast is for even hotter temperatures today, I hope that I don’t overheat.  Most of the other cars just have to run one session at a time, then they get to rest in the pits and cool off.  Not me, I have to run two sessions, back to back, and of course, neither Sam or Gin will take it easy.  Both of them want to be as fast as they can be.  Of course I have to do all of the real work!  Gin is really picking up the pace.  Both Sam and Gin got signed off yesterday, so they are both driving alone again today.  I think I saw 132 mph going into turn 1 with Gin today.  Hey, wait a minute, don’t we get that fast at Road America into turn 1?  I think she is starting to really like this speed stuff.  I know I do!  Gin’s best time for the weekend is 1'26".  Sam is not as smooth as Gin, but his best time is 1'21".  Hopefully, he’ll remember all of this during the One Lap.  The rest of the day is spent running lap after lap and trying the Michelin XGTZ tires that we are going to run during the One Lap.  They are not as sticky as our BFG R-1's, but they are the best tire we can find that is “legal” for use during the One Lap.

 

We left Memphis about 4 pm and drive thru the night arriving home about 2 am.  Sam kept doing one of his “doggie in the window” head shakes, so Gin ended up driving the last several hours home.  This way, we made it in one piece.  Everyone is really excited, looking forward to the upcoming One Lap.  Just a “few” more preparations and we’ll be ready to “run with the big dogs”.  I’ll write again soon and tell you all about our upcoming adventure, the One Lap of America Race.

 

Sunday, June 11th - Well here we are in Detroit and the beginning of the 1 Lap of America Race.  The event we have been training for all spring.  I look around and I see cars of all different types, but most importantly, I see that my brother ONE LAP X, and my cousin JJ100 are here too!  I see several other cousins that I haven’t meet yet, but that won’t take long.  Sam and his co-driver Ron Weilert have been busy applying all of the sponsor decals and I must say that I look marvelous!  In addition to the 1 Lap sponsor decals, I wear the decals of my sponsors, Desert Development Exhaust Systems; Performance Friction Brake Pads; Mid-America Designs; Morrison Motorsports; Autosports Performance Products; Stealth Technologies; Mobil Oil; D & M Corvette Specialists and Corvette Collection.  I really do look like a race car.  I can tell that Sam is feeling a little nervous about the race.  He keeps walking around me, looking at my engine and going over everything that is packed in the back.  I do my best to make him feel better, but I’m not sure he’ll feel better until we actually get started.  You know, all this standing around with nothing to do.

 

Other ZR-1 teams include Steve and Scott Ahlgrim; Russ Wilson and Reed Kryder; Glen Grieder and Phil DeJohn; Duane Grahovec and George Hall; Mike Varano and Gary Andrakowicz.  There are five other Corvettes here as well.  Out of the 85 cars entered, Corvette is well represented.

 

At about 9 pm we all start to line up and at 9:30 they start the race by bringing the cars up in car-number order.  There is a crowd gathered in front of the hotel and each car and it’s drivers gets introduced before they are sent on their way.  We are car #24, so we wait in line for a while.  It is finally our turn.  Sam pulls us into the spotlight.  I hear the lady introduce Sam and Ron and she finally gets to me, ...”driving a 1991 Steel Blue Metallic ZR-1.”  She finally introduced the most important member of the team, ME!  She goes on to say that Sam has a score to settle with turn 10 at Watkins Glen, since he spun there during a previous Track Time school.  Yeah, yeah, get on with this stuff and talk some more about me.  Well she finishes talking about us and wishes us good luck, which is our signal to go.  All of the previous cars have left with their best manners on, but not Sam.  I hear him tell Ron that this is the start of a race, and as such it should be celebrated.  With that, he drops the clutch and spins the new 335 tires that have been placed on my rear wheels.  The crowd goes wild!  I think this is the start of something wonderful.

 

We have been given a really thick book of directions on how we are to leave the hotel and get to each of the tracks, so things should be pretty easy.  Well if things are so easy, why do we not see car #23 somewhere in front of us?  Sam and Ron compare notes and determine that we are indeed “on the right road”.  Well we quickly settle into a routine, CB radio on and most importantly the Stealth radar jammer is in place and on.  Pretty soon we have a mini-caravan with JJ100 and several other cars.  It seems that we are always in the lead because the Stealth messes with the radar detectors if we are behind anyone.  Oh well, I tend to think that the rest of them have figured out what I have always known.  That I was born to lead!

 

The drive thru the night was pretty uneventful, except for a brief moment at a toll booth in Chicago, about 1 am our small group pulls up to this rather empty toll booth, we all slip into different spots at about the same time.  I looked around, but I’m sure I didn’t see a flagman wave the green flag, but it seems that everyone jumps out of the booths at the same time and “races” towards Road America.  Pretty neat, huh?  Oh great! Where was HE at?  I see red lights and hear sirens, they surely can’t want us.  I mean, Ron didn’t even spin the tires when we left the toll booth.  Well the trooper goes around us and stops the Levine brothers in their bright yellow Porsche 911 RS.  We later hear that he just talked with them about their car and sent them on their way.  We got to Road America without any further encounters of the strange kind and settled in for a couple hours of sleep before the first race.  430 miles behind us, many more to go.

 

Monday, June 12th - 6 am and we pull into a grassy area that is to serve as our pits.  Sam and Ron unload everything out of back and prepare for our turn on the track.  It is really cool and the track is cold.  I hear Sam telling Ron that we are only going to run the back 2 miles of the track and as such things will be somewhat different than we have run here before.  I don’t think that sounds too good knowing Sam like I do.  The first group is off on their practice lap.  My brother, ONE LAP X, is the second car in this group.  We wish him and Steve well, and they are off.  Before we know it they are back and waiting in line to begin their two timed laps.  Things seem to be going well.  Car #1 flashes by, then Car #3.  Hey what happened to my brother?  Well they finish running the first group and word comes back that Steve had a problem in turn 12 and got hung up in the gravel trap.  We really feel bad for them.  They were expecting to do really well this year, and without getting any points at this event, they are already out of the running.  Everyone is pretty sad.  I can tell that Sam is nervous, but he’ll get over it as soon as we get on the track.

 

Well it is our turn.  We line up with about five other cars and we take off on our practice lap.  Sam, Slow Down!  The track is cold, my tires are cold, my brakes are cold and Sam is driving like we just finished a 30 minute session on a warm summer afternoon.  Well we started at turn 5 and things went OK thru 6 and 7, but as we headed downhill into turn 8 the cold brakes and  slick track combined with our entry speed to produce our first “off-track” experience of the day.  Well it really wasn’t all that bad.  We drove off straight, lengthened our braking zone and then turned left and re-entered the track.  We didn’t even loose our position.  Well I don’t know about Sam, but I thought that this was the beginning of the end for us.  We made it back to the start-finish line and waited for the green flag to start our two timed laps.  Well we finished our two laps without any further adventures.  We finished in 23rd position at 209.203 seconds.  David Murry in a ‘96 Porsche 911 Turbo finished first, a position he would fill most of the time, in 192.209 seconds. JJ100 finished in 9th place with a time of 201.456 seconds.

 

We rushed back to the pits and before I knew what happened, Sam and Ron had everything loaded up and we were on our way to Blackhawk Farms for the second event.  The sun is now shining brightly and the drive to Rockton, IL is great.  We see a few other cars along the way, but nothing eventful happened during this segment.  We get to the track and things are really laid back.  We have some time to kill before we get on the track so Sam heads off for a shave.  I decide that I should take a nap.  I am dreaming of happy times when I hear Gins voice.  She asks me if Sam is behaving himself and if I am feeling OK.   Am I just dreaming?  I open my eyes and she is really standing here.  She decided to drive my sister up to watch the races.  It is good that we are all together again, with Sam driving me on the track, I never know if I’ll see my family again.  Well before you know it, the races begin.  Well this time, Steve and my brother had a much better run.  They finished in 2nd place with a time of 169.498.  Murry finished in 1st with a time of 169.214.  Do you believe it, less that 3/10ths of a second after 2 laps.  That is what I call racing!  Well we finished 24th with a time of 185.467.  Sam is upset with himself.  He didn’t drive a very clean line and we lost time in several corners.  Hey, come on, we really didn’t expect to win this thing!  Let’s just go out and do our best and remember, we started this thing to have some FUN!

 

Everything is loaded up and we say our goodbyes and our mini-caravan heads off for a checkpoint in Des Moines and our next track, Heartland Park, in Topeka, KS.  Once again, we find ourselves in front and the Stealth is working well.  Sam is busy explaining to just about every trucker just what all these cars are doing driving down the road with all the decals.  Pretty soon, everyone thinks that he should just put it on tape and play it back whenever someone asks.  The drive goes without event.  It soon becomes a routine of driving, stopping for gas, driving, stopping for gas, eat, bathroom, drive, drive, drive.  Not only do I look good with all my decals, but I really sound great with my Desert Development exhaust.  Lots of people have asked Sam just why I sound so good.  We arrive in Topeka in time to grab a few hours sleep.  1,140 miles behind us now.

 

Tuesday, June 13th - 7 am we pull into the pits at Heartland Park and unload all the stuff.  While we wait we look at the posted results and find that we are currently in 24th place overall and 18th in class, after two events.  Sam says we can do better.  After all, we have driven here before and we are going to run the full track, just like we practiced before.  We are going to run two separate events here.  Everyone will run the first and then we will repeat the process for a second time.  I am really pleased with Sam, he drives quite well and doesn’t do anything stupid.  He actually keeps me on the track for both sessions and really does quite well.  We finish 14th in each of the two races with times of 263.703 & 262.228 seconds.  We leave Heartland Park having moved up to 17th overall and 13th in class!  See Sam, I told you if you just put your mind to it, we could do better and have a good time as well.  After a quick pit stop at a local Chevy dealer to replace my oil pressure sending unit, we head south on the Kansas Turnpike towards Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, our next track.  Because of our service stop, we lost our caravan buddies so Sam decided to push it and catch up with them.  We coasted along under a really nice sunny day at a really comfortable 6th gear speed. 85-90 mph for printed records (maybe more if the truth were told) and before we got too far down the road we had caught up with everyone.

 

The combination of Morrison performance chip and Desert Development exhaust gives us the power we need to run competitively.  The Performance Friction brake pads have served us well all season and are doing the job for us on the track.  The clothes that Mid-America Designs gave us make sure that we look like a world-class racing team.   The camera mount from Autosports Performance Products is holding the new 8mm camera in place so that we will have a videotape record of all the track laps.  You know this way, the evidence can’t be changed to protect the guilty!

 

Well, we rejoined the rest of our 1 Lap caravan at a rest stop on the Kansas Turnpike.  Everyone was glad to see us because, we had the Stealth radar jammer and they had been a little worried about running without the “protection” we provided.  A quick bite of lunch, some gas for me and we were off to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit.  This was to be the first of the tracks that Sam had not driven before.  We arrived a little early, so everyone decided to “walk” the track to get a feel for what it was all about.  To say that it was hot is a wild understatement.  The track was melting under everyone’s feet.  Everyone decided that the best plan here was to take it a little easy and be sure to finish.  With all of the melted crack sealer and slippery pavement, fast times did not seem as important as finishing!  There was some “discussion” between the starters and some of the competitors about the starting order and we quickly found that #25 car moved up to an earlier stating position.  This was only fair since they were running in one of the top positions.

 

Well it is finally our turn and Sam heads us out onto the track.  The track is quite slippery, but I am surprised how well Sam handles these conditions.  The front straight is on quite a downhill slope and there is a hard left hand turn at the bottom of the hill.  We actually got a little drift going during our two timed laps.  Not being familiar with the track was pretty evident as I was all set to run when Sam was yelling, “which way does the track go”.  Anyway, we finished in 27th place with a time of 202.939 seconds, 22.144 seconds behind the 1st place Porsche.  Other ZR-1 teams finished better than we did.  Wilson/Kryder, (#8), finished 4th, Grahovec/Hall, (#25), finished 9th, Ahlgrim/Ahlgrim, (#2), finished 16th.  Everyone was pleased to have survived and it was off to a new experience, our first HOOTERS stop.  We have now completed 1,420 miles and it is still only Tuesday.  Are we there yet?

 

We drove on with a heightening sense of excitement.  It seems that we are to get our picture taken at Hooters with some of the lovely young ladies that work there and attach the photo to our check sheet to prove that we were there.  If we fail to get a picture as each checkpoint, then we suffer a 50 point penalty for each missed photo opportunity.  Everyone is pretty much in agreement, the 50 points don’t matter as much as missing the fun connected with getting our picture taken.  Well we pull into the parking lot and it is sheer madness.  There are cars all over the place and several lovely young ladies in the cutest orange shorts I have ever seen.  Sam and Ron wheel me into place and we find several “Hooterettes” and the pictures are taken.  Then it is inside for a quick dinner before the long drive to Memphis.  We have about 410 miles to go before we can rest.

 

Once again, the caravan forms and we head down the interstate towards Memphis.  The old routine sets in again, drive, drive, sleep, gas, junk food, drive, drive, drive.  Well the caravan has now decreased to about four cars and everyone is in agreement that we will try to find a motel in Memphis were we can get a couple hours of sleep and a shower.  Well, we head thru Memphis about 2 am, when the CB warns us of two unmarked troopers at the next exit.  Well since we were only doing 55 mph, we didn’t need to worry, yeah right!  We are now at the next exit and sure enough, they are here and they start to roll up the ramp as we go by.  Nothing to worry about, after all, here we are four cars, covered with decals, traveling together at 2:00 in the morning.  Nothing suspicious about that.  They fall back out of sight and then we find one of them running along beside us.  He waves his hand for us to follow him and off he goes.  Sam tells Ron that he is not going to fall for that trick and continues to run along at 55.  The CB comes to life and a voice says “Come on son, follow me”.  Sam is still concerned about a trap, but talks to the voice on the other end.  We determine that we are trying to get to motel that will be secure, where we can leave the cars without anything bad happening to them.  I think that is a great idea.  The voice comes back and tells Sam “Well come on, kick it in the ass, and follow me.  You’re not going to get this chance more than once in your lifetime”.  With that, Sam decides to follow the lead car and we find ourselves traveling thru Memphis at speeds well approaching twice the beloved 55.  The lead car rolls left down a ramp with one of those yellow 45 mph signs.  Sam looks down and we are doing over 90.  Hell, if he can do it, a ZR-1 like me can do it in our sleep, which is just about where we are.  Our escort pulls our little caravan past the sign that says Highway Patrol Headquarters, we are dead!  Well no, maybe not, he keeps going to a motel parking lot down the street and does a “U” turn.  The second squad brings up the rear.  All four of us are here.  They just wave and vanish into the night.  No one is quite sure what just happened, but all are glad to be here.

 

Wednesday, June 14th - 6 am found us at Memphis Motorsports Park.  Everyone is huddled around their cars and it is rather cool.  Long sleeve shirts are everywhere.  Memphis is a really fun track, 1.77 miles in length and the front straight is the drag strip.  The only “testy” part is thru turns 9 and 10.  Both are tight right-handers with concrete walls on both sides.  Not the place you want to mess up.  Sam runs well, somewhat to my great surprise.  We hit 135 mph going into turn 1 and finished in 13th place, 9.831 seconds behind the 1st place Porsche.  The ZR-1's did quite well. #8 finished in 2nd, #2 finished in 3rd, and #25 finished in 9th place.  Well everyone packs their stuff and heads off to Nashville, where we have a lunch stop at the Bridgestone headquarters.  They really put on a nice lunch for us.  After lunch it is off to another photo stop at the Nashville Hooters.  This one is a really quick stop.  Only long enough to get the pictures taken.  Our group is in a hurry to get to Atlanta.  We have an appointment with a garage there to have the cars checked over. Just another 250 miles and we’ll be there.  Nothing exciting happens along the way and we get to Atlanta just in time for rush hour traffic.  What fun, construction everywhere, I guess they are getting ready for the Olympics next year.  Well all goes well at the garage stop.  Quick changes of brake pads, oil and filter, and re-balance the tires and we’re off to dinner at Hooters.  The Mobil 1 oil and gear lube is really working well.  I hardly feel like we have driven this many miles.  Another photo stop and all is well.  We get to spend a real night in a hotel.  We pull into the parking lot to unload our stuff and find that all is not well with the ZR-1 teams.  The #8 team of Wilson/Kryder lost their oil pump and were forced to drop out of the race.  This was really bad news because they were really running well.

 

Thursday, June 15th - The next morning found us at Atlanta Motor Speedway, bright and early.  As we prepared to run, we heard some more bad news.  Steve Ahlgrim in the #2 car had been rushed to the hospital during the night and would not be driving anymore.  Did this mean that my brother ONE LAP X was out of the race?  No, Scott, Steve’s brother was going to drive.  Steve was here to cheer him on, but with the medicine he was taking, he couldn’t drive.  What a bummer, last year’s two top ZR-1 teams are now really out of the race.

 

This is the first time that Sam has driven at AMS.  We are going to run most of the oval, the chicane in turn 1 and then the infield course.  This is going to be fast!  All goes well for us.  Except for that part of the infield course where we got airborne, and the fact that we drove through the grass at the chicane during our 2nd lap,  Sam did a good job of driving.  As we rounded turn 4 on our second lap, it was a race to the finish line.  I heard Sam yelling to himself to keep his foot down and go for it.  I gave him all the power that I could.  It was a good run and we finished in 20th place, 19.938 seconds behind the 1st place Porsche.  I sense a pattern starting to develop here! #25 did a great job and finished in 6th place.  We got back to the pits and found that Duane had hit something and knocked a hole in the edge of one of his rear wheels.  He went to put on his “spare” tire and found that he had bottomed out the car somewhere and scraped thru the tire carrier and the sidewall of his tire.  It can not be said that the ZR-1 teams did not stick together.  Sam gave Duane our spare tire so we could all get back to a tire shop.  Russ Wilson then gave Duane one of his rear wheels, since they were out of the race.  We raced over to a tire shop and did a series of swaps so that the right tires ended up on the new wheels and it was off to our next checkpoint in Greenville, SC.  2,400 miles done and we are still in one piece.

Another Hooters stop in Greenville and then it is off to Charlotte Motor Speedway.  We arrive early and have time to walk the track.  We are not going to run any of the oval here.  It seems that there is a stock car school underway and they apparently don’t want to play with us.  So we run an infield course that looks pretty tough.  Outside of turn 1 is a couple of those concrete barriers like you find down the middle of a highway.  I don’t think we want to go wide there!  Then for the last turn leading onto the front straight you have to turn left thru an opening in the fence.  I mean you have to turn left and drive thru a gate at speed.  I don’t think I feel so good.  Well much to my surprise, Sam stays on the track and finishes in 18th place, only 13.771 seconds behind the 1st place Porsche.  Duane and #25 finish 14th.  We pack everything and head out for an overnight run of 380 miles to Summit Point.  A quick time/distance check shows that we have time for an actual sit-down dinner.  Something that is somewhat rare.  Our caravan is now about 8 cars and we enjoy the dinner.  Then it is back on the road for the next segment.  We drive thru the night and get to Winchester, VA in time for a couple hours of sleep.

 

Friday, June 16th - 6:00 am finds us at Summit Point Raceway.  It is a cold and damp morning.  We have been here before and even under ideal conditions, the track is slick.  The first group of cars are back and everyone is saying how slick the track is.  It is our turn and Sam has a tough time trying to get all my power down onto the track.  It seems that even a little throttle and my back end keeps wanting to come around.  So we “walk” carefully and try to keep it on the track.  All goes well, even though we got a real 4-wheel drift (I would call it a slide) through turn 10 onto the front straight.  This was the first track that the #1 Porsche did not take first place.  In fact, he finished in 2nd, almost 7.5 seconds behind the fastest car.  It seems that conditions got better later in the morning and many of the cars that ran later were able to run much faster.  This was the first time that so many cars with higher numbers finished so high in the standings.  We finished in 29th place some 23.721 seconds behind the 1st place car but only 16.444 seconds behind the #1 Porsche. #25 finished in 12th and #2 finished in 40th place.  3,100 miles behind us now.

 

It was on to Watkins Glen.  We had been here before and Sam spun me in turn 10.  I hope he doesn’t repeat that little trick again.  I don’t think it will help our times at all and I don’t want to get that close to the guard rail ever again.  We pull away from the pits on our practice lap and find that we are running the NASCAR course, which is only about half of the track that we practiced on.  When we get back to the starting line, we find that we are first in line for our group.  We get the green flag and Sam jumps on the gas.  Away we go in a cloud of tire smoke.  I soon remember how much fun it is to run thru the esses and just how fast we can go.  On our second lap, Sam carries too much speed into turn 1 and we slide off the track and onto the concrete turtles outside of turn 1.  To his credit, Sam does not lift, he keeps his foot in the gas and pulls back onto the track.  It was a fast, but very bumpy ride!  Everything I have still seems to be hanging on, but all of my spark plugs are rattling.  We are headed into turn 10 and there is a car in front of us.  Sam lifts slightly so that we don’t catch him in the middle of the turn.  As we go thru turn 11, onto the front straight, we expect the other car to go to the inside and let us pass on the left.  But we see him slide all the way to the left edge of the track so Sam pulls me inside of him and we fly by him down the inside and beat him across the finish line.  Things  like this are not supposed to happen.  We finished in 13th place at 194.854 seconds, some 15.948 seconds behind the winner. #25 finishes in 7th and #2, now driven by Reed Kryder, finishes in 10th.  We meet Jim Ballingall, a fellow ZR-1 Registry member, who came down to watch us run.  Thanks for being our cheering section.  Almost 3,500 miles done and I think that we are going to make it all the way.

 

We head off for a pit stop in Wyoming, NY at the famous Cannonball Pub, home of Brock Yates.  The entire town turns out to welcome all of the 1 Lappers to town.  They even have a street fair for everyone.  Everyone has a great time and we soon are on our way to the Hooters in Buffalo, NY for a midnight photo checkpoint.  We find the right spot and get our picture taken and it is off for an all-night drive to Nelson Ledges, OH.  Only 200 miles more to go and we get to the track.  Unfortunately, we waste another hour trying to find a gas station that is open at this time in the morning.  We get to the track in time to grab about an hours sleep in the car.  Sam and Ron and not the smallest guys in the world and trying to sleep in my seats is not that easy.

 

Saturday, June 18th - 6 am finds us in a grass field next to the track.  It is cold and very wet.  Everyone is trying to keep warm and soon they are piling the stuff on the tarp behind me.  Sam doesn’t look real sharp.  He is the first car in our run group.  We have never driven here before so we don’t have a clue what the track is like.  We line up for the practice run and soon we are on our way.  Our speed comes up quickly and we complete our practice lap.  As Sam pulls up to the starting line, he tells the starter that he doesn’t think he has the track figured out and can he have another practice lap.  Of course he knows the answer will be NO!  Oh well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.  We get the green flag for our timed laps and we are off.  Everything seems to go very well.  Sam is driving some really good lines and our speed is building.  Then we find ourselves in the carousal, turns 7, 8 & 9.  This time we are faster than we were during our practice lap.  I can’t seem to get any traction.  Sam keeps feathering the throttle and keeps working on the steering, but I keep drifting out to the left edge of the track.  I don’t feel good about all of this.  The tires seem to let go as we reach the edge of the pavement and when the left rear tire hits the wet grass, it is all over!  We spin 180 degrees and before I know it, we hit a tire wall at about 85 mph.  We bounce into the air and then crash back to the ground.  My entire right side has hit the wall and tires are flying thru the air.  I really hurt!  We sit there until the other cars in our group have finished and then Sam pulls away from the wall ever so slowly.  He said that he expected the wheels to fall off.  Much to our surprise, everything seems to be working so he pulls me slowly back to the pits.

 

Everyone is standing around looking at me and asking Sam if he is all right.  Sam says he is fine, but he is really worried about me.  One of our friends from the #25 car, George Hall, tells Sam to go sit down and rest, because he is pretty shaken up.  George, Ron and several other ZR-1 teams begin the process of checking me out.  Out comes the duct tape and a gill panel is so broken that it is removed.  Other than the radiator overflow bottle, nothing is leaking and nothing other than the fiberglass on my right side seems to be broken.  A quick check revealed that even my alignment was still good.  Everything was quickly loaded back inside and a low speed road test was conducted.  Everything seemed to be working so the decision was made to carry on to Waterford Hills, to compete in the last event.  Sam is really mad at himself for putting me into the wall.  Not only will he have to tell Ginger that he crashed, but the worst part was that we got a DNF and 0 points.  That did not help our position in the standings. #2 finished in 7th place and #25 finished in 19th place.

 

Sam was still pretty shaken up, so Ron drove the 240 miles to Waterford Hills, MI.  We pulled in and unloaded our stuff in the pits.  Those that left before we crashed, came over to see us and find out what happened.  The story was retold many times.  Sam said that I was one hell of a car to have survived such a crash and then drove over 240 miles ready to compete!  I still hurt, but I am glad that I protected Sam and that I was able to carry on.  We find ourselves ready to run.  It is really hot and the track is slick.  We have driven here before so Sam should know the track, but I don’t think he is all together for this run.  During our practice lap, we get a little fast into the esses and we take the shortcut through the grass.  I don’t think that is what Sam had in mind.  It is our turn for the timed laps and Sam does a better job this time.  No off track experiences, but you can tell he is just a little cautious.  We finish in 37th place, some 20.119 seconds behind the 1st place Porsche.  #25 finished in 10th place.  Our finish was not as high as Sam had hoped, but at least we finished.  I heard him tell someone that he was really proud of me and that it appeared that the only damage was to the fiberglass and after all, that could be fixed.

 

We motored back to the Dearborn Hyatt, where we had begun just last Sunday night, more than 4,100 miles ago.  Somewhat wiser, somewhat disappointed, but proud that we had finished.  Sam said that he was not looking forward to calling Ginger and telling her that he had crashed me into a wall.  Well the awards banquet showed that we had finished in 23rd place overall and 18th place in class.  If we had not crashed, we would probably have finished in 18th and 15th, which would have made Sam happy.  He wanted to finish in the top 20.  Well there is always next year.  I heard Sam and Ron already making a list of things to do differently next year.  The first item on the list was DO NOT HIT THE WALL!  I feel better now, I think Sam got his sense of humor back.  Congratulations go to Car #25 for finishing in 7th place overall.  The Grahovec/Hall team was the highest finishing non-factory sponsored, non-professional driver finishing position.  Even with all their problems, the Ahlgirm brothers in Car #2 finished in 27th place.  The Wilson/Kryder #8 car finished in 48th place even without running in the last 6 races.  There is much to do, but I think everyone will be back next year to try again.  I think it will be hard for basically factory stock ZR-1's with non-professional drivers to win against all of the factory sponsored, professionally driven teams.  But we have a point to prove.  After all, we are the King of the Hill, American sports car.

 

Friday, June 30th - Another Friday, another trip to Road America for a Track Time Driving School, I don’t think that life can get much better!  What’s this, there is a green metal car following us.  OH, it’s Nikki and Stephanie.  I guess they are coming along to watch me run this weekend.  I’m sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that there will be GUYS there!  The trip to the hotel is really uneventful, even with Sam driving.  We arrive around 6 pm to be teched out.  I see Mike Gerst from Track Time and he checks me over and says that we are OK to run.  I look around the parking lot and I see several of my brothers and cousins here.  I think I recognize some of the metal cars as well.  It should be fun running with everyone again.  Now for a good nights sleep before the fun begins.

 

Saturday, July 1st - We get to the track about 7 am.  Hey, where are the girls?  Sam says that they are still in bed and that they will be here later.  I can’t believe that they would rather sleep than get up at the crack of dawn and stand around looking at me!  Well, back to the details of the school.  I can’t believe what I hear.  Sam has not been assigned an instructor.  You mean that he is going to be alone from the very beginning?  I don’t think this sounds so good, but since I still have all of my One Lap decals and fiberglass cracks, I guess that I’m a real race car now.  Gin’s instructor was supposed to be Al Lee from the Nebraska Porsche Club.  He has been Sam’s instructor before at Heartland Park, but he is under the weather, so Bill Bauman is Gin’s new instructor.  She says she really likes him.  I look around the pits and I can’t believe my eyes.  There are ZR-1's all over the place.  Duane is here with JJ100, along with George Hall with his 40th anniversary ZR-1.  Other ZR-1's include Tom Miller from Oregon, Mike Doran, Rick Hartwick and Dean Nelson.  In addition to the 7 ZR-1's there are 10 other Corvettes here as well.

 

Well it is time for Sam’s first session.  There are 3 ZR-1's in this group and I am really surprised how well Sam is driving without an instructor to control his “enthusiasm”.  We finish the entire session without even going off the track even a little bit.  What has gotten into Sam?  I mean, we are going really fast, but he seems to be trying something new.  That is actually driving on the paved part!  I don’t know if this can last.  I mean, this is still Sam and we all know his history.  Well Gin is having a great time too!  She is signed off to solo during her second session.  Gin is her usual self, smooth and consistent.  Something Sam could learn to copy.  We had a great time today, lots of good laps running with the other cars.  Unfortunately, not everyone had such a perfect day.

 

There was a father and son team from Canada, driving a late model Corvette with a Callaway engine.  The son was running in Group C and had been doing nicely during the first two sessions.  During the third session, he was going into turn 12 (Canada Corner) and lost his brakes.  He got the car sideways into the gravel trap and the car flipped up and over the guardrail, landing upside down between two trees.  Not a pretty sight they said.  Both the driver and his instructor walked away.  Unfortunately, the car did not.  Being a Corvette, he did his job and protected the occupants, even though he was badly hurt himself.  That is the kind of cars we are.  Even though our owners take us out to play at some pretty impressive speeds, we know that our first duty is to protect our drivers.  Well, the accident took quite a while to clean up, so the last session of the day for the D group was canceled.  Tom tells them that they will make it up tomorrow, then proceeds to talk with everyone about the speeds that we are running and that safety has to be everyone’s number one priority.  Everyone is pretty somber and so the day draws to an end.  I am parked next to my trailer along with several of my brothers for the night.  Tomorrow will be another day.

 

Sunday, July 2nd - The morning came with sunshine and blue skies.  It is really beautiful here in the Wisconsin hills.  Sam and Gin are here early and I get a complete checkup.  New Performance Friction brake pads, all the way around, bleed the brake fluid, check the tire pressure, clean the windshield, new tape in the recorder and we are all set for another great day!  The morning sessions went well.  Sam continued his somewhat uncharacteristic style of driving on the track while Ginger continued to get quicker.  Life couldn’t have gotten much better!  But then, things returned to a more normal style for Sam.  It seems that we had been running several laps (quite quickly, I might add) following Duane and JJ100.  It is really fun to hook up with other ZR-1's and run laps together.  Well back to the real story.  It seems that Sam decided to follow Duane, taking turn 13, just a little too wide!  I tried to tell him that we should drive our own line and not follow the car in front of us, but NO!  Agricultural driving at it’s best.  As Duane went off, he ran over the track-out cone and it flipped up under me and somehow knocked a hole in my radiator.  UH, he got me!  Well we limped back to the pits, I sneezed, I coughed, then I threw up all over myself.  It wasn’t a pretty sight!  I had green stuff running out, all over the ground, and I had a temperature as well.  They pushed me back onto my trailer for the trip home.  Gin was not very happy with Sam.  With me sitting on the trailer, she did not get to run her last two sessions of the day.  Well that’s how it is, when you have to share a car with Sam.  I heard her talking to herself about getting her own car, so Sam couldn’t mess things up for her.  I am not exactly sure what she meant, but I am sure that she is working on a plan.

 

We got home early because of our early departure.  Sam is taking me to see Dr. Kurt tomorrow.  This should be fun.  I’ve never had to ride on my trailer to the doctors before.  I know that Dr. Kurt will make me all new again.  He is great, and Sam certainly gives him plenty of opportunities to keep in practice.  I guess that I have several weeks to recover, before the next event.  I’ll write again soon and keep you posted on what the doctor said and what else is new.  See you on the track!

 

Sunday, July 30th - Utica with North Shore Corvette Club is always a good time!  Hi, Little Z here, I’m the new kid in the driveway at Haldiman Lane.  I’m a 1995 polo green, Z-28 Camaro.  I know this is a Corvette newsletter, but I do have an LT-1 engine and I do wear a bow-tie, so my brother is letting me tell you about my first track experience.  My big sister, GINS ZR-1, had to stay at home today, so she was not a happy camper.

 

I think that they should call my brother and me Big Hauls Ass and Little Z.  I really look up to my brother because he can do many things that I can’t do, but today was not to be his day.  He did pretty good with his best time being 1.07 minutes with several DNF’s for being off the track.  My best time was 1.11 with no DNF’s.  Ginger says that I am an awesome metal car.  Sam finished 5th in class, while Gin & I finished 1st in Ladies and 2nd in class.  Am I good or what?

 

Sam says I get to go to Michigan International for a Track Time school.  It seems that Ginger has finally gotten her way and she will be driving her own car in the A group.  I understand that preparations are underway to prepare me for the track.  Racing tires and wheels have been ordered and I am so excited!  I will keep you posted on how things go.

 

Friday, August 25th - SAMS ZR-1 here.  I thought I would make the new kid feel like one of the family, by letting him tell you about his day in the sun at Utica.  I mean after all, it is a go-kart track.  Well for the past two weeks there has been a lot of activity here in the garage.  Sam has been busy getting me ready for another Track Time school at Michigan International Speedway.  The drill is pretty routine, bleed the brake fluid, check the rotors, new pads, check all the fluids and re-install the racing tires and wheels.  The routine is pretty well established and usually goes quite smoothly.  What I don’t understand is all the work that Sam is doing to that green Camaro sitting next to me.  I mean, stainless steel brake hoses, MY brake fluid, drivers harnesses, 5-spoke wheels and R-1 tires.  Where the hell does he think he is going?  Certainly not to the track!  Say it ain’t so Sam!  Much to my dismay, Sam says that Gin is going to drive the Camaro at MIS.  That means only one thing, I’m left with only one driver, you know the one, the same guy who spins at every track we have ever been at and the same guy who put me in the wall at Nelson Ledges.  Life doesn’t get much better!  I plead with Gin not to do this to me, but she says that everything will be OK and that she and Little Z will also be in the A group.  I guess that I’ll have to show him how it’s done.  I hope that he doesn’t follow us on the agricultural driving that I’m sure Sam will put us through.  With Gin driving I’m sure that he will stay on the track.  We meet Duane and his family, along with JJ100 and we all travel to MIS together.  At least I get to ride on my trailer.  Little Z has to drive the whole way there.  My tow vehicle now contains two full sets of tires and wheels, plus lots of tools and other supplies for two cars.  It’s starting to look like one of those Low Rider trucks, too much weight!  Gin continues to tell Sam that we need a diesel dually pickup truck.  We arrive at the track in the middle of the afternoon and soon everything is unloaded in the garages and we are all teched and ready to go.  I introduce Little Z to JJ100, Duane’s 94 ZR-1 and to Russ Wilson’s 90 ZR-1, from California.  We are waiting for my brother One Lap X to arrive.  This should be a great weekend, the weather is supposed to be great and the chance to get out on the track and play with my friends is always fun.

 

Saturday, August 26th - One Lap X arrives and we have quite a Chevrolet area here in the garages.  Four ZR-1's and a Camaro sitting side by side.  Lots of people stop by to look at us.  I am still wearing all of my One Lap decals, plus my fiberglass cracks.  Lots of comments are made about them and our experience during the One Lap.  Gin is not real happy.  It seems that once again, Sam has not been assigned an instructor, while she has one assigned to ride with her.  She tells me to be careful and try to keep Sam out of trouble.  Much to everyone’s surprise, Sam kept me on the track for the whole session, but true to form, during the second session, we went into turn 6 way too fast and off the track we went.  We sat in the grass and watched several cars to by before we could pull back on the track.  Much to my surprise, nothing was broken, not even my new brake ducts.  Little Z did real well.  Gin was signed off in the afternoon, no instructor needed.  Tom Reese was telling Gin to be careful with the Z-28 as the rear end might want to lead.  But nothing that exciting happened.  Little Z did real well, even if he isn’t a ZR-1!  Gin was building up speed and getting used to a new car.  Pretty soon, she was running with the pack.  She could do pretty well on the infield part, but once we got out on the oval, MORE HORSEPOWER, always wins!

 

Sunday, August 27th - We got to sleep a little later today.  They woke us up with a Formula 1 race on TV.  Heck, we could do that, NOT!  We’re good but not that good.  Sam opens the garage door and man is it foggy.  We have to run with our headlights on so that we all can be seen better.  We had several more good sessions, running lap after lap.  Sam is really excited!  It seems that we went past the 150 mph mark going down the front straight.  It kinda seemed like a walk in the park to me.  I mean, I was built to run at over 180 mph.  When is Sam going to let me run that fast?  Little Z has been doing pretty well, but we see him head for the pits in the middle of a session.  Sam thinks we better follow him and see what is wrong.  Well it seems that the power steering fluid has boiled out of the reservoir and the steering is not a smooth as it should be.  Sam checks it out and everything seems to be OK.  A little fluid is removed and after it cools down everything is OK for the next session.  Sam starts talking about a winter project to install a power steering cooler.  He says that since I have one, little brother can use one too!  Well the fog has disappeared and the sun is shining.  It is a really beautiful day.  We are having a great time as well.  There are four ZR-1's running in the A group.  We link up and along with a Prelude VTEC, we start running lap after lap.  Everyone is really flying and we all hold our positions until someone makes a mistake.  Sooner or later it happens, someone gets into a corner just a little too fast and they are off!  Everyone passes them and they rejoin the group at the end.  Life can’t get much better.

 

The group breaks up and we are all running somewhat by ourselves, when Sam yells with excitement.  It seems we are cruising down the front straight and he sees the black Dodge Viper pulling out of pit lane right in front of us.  Oh Boy this is going to be great!  We get one lap under our belt to let the Viper warm up, then the games begin.  The Viper is really strong on the oval!  Horsepower is King!  Sam tries everything he can think of to go faster.  We cut high on the banking going into Turn 4, then we cut down the banking and inside the white line thru the “D” of the front straight.  Nothing seems to work.  The Viper continues to pull away on the oval, but we always out brake him going into turn 1.  We have to go from 150 down to about 60 to turn left off the banking and enter the infield course.  Once that is down, we follow right on the Viper’s bumper thru the infield and then back out onto the oval where the Viper once again pulls away.  Only to have us close back up going into turn 1.  This continues for several laps, then Sam tries to go just a little deeper into turn 1 and decides that we are not going to get slowed down enough to make the turn.  So he points me between several orange cones and we continue down the oval to the next entrance to the infield.  Needless to say, the Viper kept going and the game was over for that session.  I am proud of Sam!  At least he was smart enough to take the safe way out rather than try to force me thru turn 1 at too fast a speed.  After all, there are concrete barriers on the outside of turn 1 and I don’t want to experience that feeling again.

 

All too soon, the day is over and I have to return to my trailer.  Everything is packed up and we head off into the sunset for the return trip home.  I am really sad!  Sam tells me that this is the last track event that we are signed up for this year.  We have a road trip to Mid-America Design’s FunFest in September, but this won’t be the same as getting to run lap after lap on a real race track.  It won’t be long now and winter will be here.  That always means that I get moved to another garage and I have to sleep for a long time before we get to go out and play again.  Well it has been good talking with you again.  I’ll write soon about our trip to Mid-America Designs.

 

Monday, October 16th - I don’t understand what all the  excitement is about.  Sam has been busy around the garage the last several days and now he is backing me out of the garage.  Wait a minute, it is way to early to be put in storage.  I don’t want to go to sleep yet!  I hear Sam and Gin talking and it seems that I am NOT going into storage, but instead, we are on our way to Road Atlanta.  Oh boy, things are looking up.  Road Atlanta is one of our favorite tracks.  I am up on the trailer now and something is really different.  Instead of the usual tow vehicle, the trailer is hooked to something new.  It seems that Ginger finally got her way, and there is a new tow vehicle in the family.  I am now riding behind an F-350 turbo diesel, dually pickup.  Somehow we now look more like a real racing team now.  As usual, I get the really easy part, I just ride on my trailer while the new dually does all the work.  We left in the middle of the night and drove all night long.  Early Monday afternoon we pulled into the pits at the track, and there were Tom and Mike from Track Time and Reed and Sandy Kryder.  Oh boy, this means that Russ Wilson will be here.  Sam rolls me off the trailer and Mike comes over and tech’s me out.  Stickers are placed on the windshield and once again, Sam is in the A group and Gin is in the C group.  This is OK because for this event, the B group is a bunch of vintage racing cars, preparing for the vintage car race here next weekend.  We are back to sharing one car, and Gin is starting to talk to Sam about his driving style.  She wants to be sure that she get the full weekend.

 

Tuesday, October 17th - Well the sun doesn’t come up very early in the hills around Atlanta.  There is a lot of activity in the pits and as I look around I also see Duane Grahovec and Tom Miller, but where is my brother, JJ100.  I hear Duane and Sam talking and it seems that Duane will be driving the Track Time Prelude. It seems that this weekend has quite a “One Lap” flavor.  Besides Duane, Russ & Reed and Sam, who all campaigned their ZR-1's, Duane’s instructor Shane Lewis drove the Corvette Fever Corvette to a 5th place finish.  Sam’s instructor is Randy Pobst and Gin’s is Linda Pobst.  Both Randy and Linda were part of the team that finished 3rd.  Sam and Gin are really looking forward to having Randy and Linda as instructors.

 

Well it is time for our first session of the day.  We have been here before, so Sam does know the track.  He and Randy are talking about what Sam wants to work on this weekend.  Sam says that he wants to work on developing a better rhythm and getting smoother.  To that I say YES!  Might I add that I hope he works on car control and doing a better job of staying on the track.  I am really surprised by the way Sam is driving.  He doesn’t seem as interested in raw speed and he does working on the basics and getting the “line” right.  Maybe he is working really hard because we found out that Randy and Linda are only going to be here today, so if he is going to learn something, it has to be today.  Anyway, the first session goes really smooth.  No slides, no spins, no agricultural driving.  I feel really good, because I heard Randy telling Sam how impressed he was with the ZR-1.  Well he hasn’t seen anything yet!  Ginger and Linda are out next and Gin does her usual excellent job.  She quickly slips back into a very smooth rhythm and is gaining speed with every lap.  The weather is fabulous and this should prove to be a great weekend.

 

We head out for the next session and Sam is starting to apply more power, you know his favorite phrase, MORE POWER!  The rhythm is there and now it is time to work on the speed.  The back “straight” at Road Atlanta is a real thrill.  It is anything but straight.  You exit out of turn 7 about 45 mph and begin to unwind the wheel as you apply the power.  At about the time Sam wants to shift to 4th, we crest a small hill and I tend to get rather “light”.  We then rocket down the straight, picking up speed as we approach a slight right hand turn and the beginning of “the dip”.  “The dip”, that sounds rather simple, doesn’t it.  Well the dip is downhill with about 70 feet of elevation change and then a left bend to the uphill portion.  Speeds in the dip can reach well into the incredible range and you don’t want to lift as you exit from the dip.  If you do, you will probably experience what it is like to “back” up the hill, as the back end of the car decides to lead for a while.  This is definitely NOT what you want to do because at the top of the hill, you have to go under the bridge and a blind apex right hander that goes downhill, more like off a cliff, into turn 12, which is a flying right hander that leads onto the front straight.  This is one fun track!

 

We continue running laps when we notice a cloud of smoke and dust in front of us.  Sam is busy slowing down and trying to pick a route, when we see the Duane’s rental car backed into a tire wall.  We later find out that there was a mechanical problem and something in the front end broke, which caused the car to pivot around that tire.  It was a good thing that it happened there, because the speeds were somewhat slower than many other places on the track.  We were very happy to hear that both Duane and Shane were OK.  Well that is about all the excitement that happened today.  Both Sam and Gin were signed off to drive by themselves, which is a good thing since Randy and Linda were not going to be here on Sunday.

 

Well today is over.  I am parked alongside of the other two ZR-1's and we prepare to rest for the night.  Because tomorrow is another day!

 

Wednesday, October 18th - Another beautiful day, lots of sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.  This sure beats sitting at home in the garage.  I am a bit apprehensive, because Sam will be driving without an instructor today.  We’ll have to wait and see how he does.  Everyone returns from the drivers meeting and Sam puts on his helmet and away we go.  Please, please, please be careful!  Much to my surprise, Sam starts off show and works on smooth, instead of speed.  I’m not sure this is the same driver I have had in the past.  Pretty soon, the speeds start to pick up and we find ourselves running lap after lap with a few of the other cars in our group.  These schools must be doing something for Sam.  He is faster that we were last year by about 8 seconds per lap.  He was a good boy all weekend and kept me on the track.  We didn’t even “drop a wheel” off the track all weekend.  Of course Ginger was her usual self and ran really well.  At one point, Linda told her that she had probably driven that lap as fast as possible.  It gets pretty tough to write about these weekends when Sam behaves himself.  There is nothing to tell when all we do is go out and run lap after lap without any agricultural experiences.  But you know, I think I like it this way.  I don’t have to go see the Doctor as often and I feel much better at the end of the day.

 

I don’t know if I get to do any more tracks this year or not.  After all, I really didn’t expect to be here at Road Atlanta this weekend.  Well, sessions were juggled this afternoon, so that we could get on the road as soon as possible.  It seems that we need to get back home to Chicago as quickly as possible, because Stephanie, the youngest daughter, and her partner start playing in the State Tennis finals Thursday morning.  We drive all night long, and pull into the driveway about 3 o’clock in the morning.  Sam and Gin leave me on the trailer and jump into bed for a couple hours of sleep.  This is what I call dedication.  Well I hope I get some more track time before I get put away.  I’ll write again soon and let you know what’s New from the Track.

 

Friday, October 27, 1995 - Just another boring day here in the garage.  It has been over a week since we returned from Road Atlanta and all the fun we had there with the Track Time driving school.  But I am tired of sitting here doing nothing.  The nights are growing colder and these colder temperatures cause the cracks in my fiberglass to hurt.  I seem to remember that when the temperatures get colder that Sam doesn’t take me out to play as much and then he takes me somewhere else and makes me take a long, long nap.  I am not looking forward to this long sleep.  After all, I am a ZR-1, a mighty street car that doubles as a race car.  It is not my fate to sit in a garage, I was born to drive the roads and tracks of America showing everyone just what a great car is really like.  Sam told me that he was going to fix all those cracks, but nothing has been done so far, what is the hold up?  Well here comes Sam, and he has the keys!  I hope this means that we are going for a drive.  He gets in and fires up my LT-5 engine.  I feel better already, and I really sound good, with my Desert Development exhaust system, the low rumble echos around the garage while I warm up.  Soon we back out of the garage and we are on our way.  Oh this feels great.  The sun is shining and we are on the road.  All too soon, Sam pulls into the car wash and shuts off my engine.  I know that I need a bath, but I really want to go out and play on the highway.  I know that playing in traffic is bad for kids, but it is what I do best!  Here I sit, while Sam is busy washing off the brake dust and the bugs and road grime and the pieces of rubber that had attached themselves all over my body.  It feels good to get clean again, but too soon we are back in the garage and Sam is cleaning my carpets and windshield.  The phone rings and Sam is talking to Duane, JJ100's driver, and I can’t believe my ears.  They are talking about catching a plane on Sunday and going to Las Vegas.  What is this all about?  Sam and Ginger haven’t been to Vegas in years.  They talk some more and then I hear Sam say that he is really looking forward to three days at the Bragg-Smith Driving School.  Just how does he think I’m going to get there if he is flying?  How can he go to a driving school without me?

 

I don’t know for sure, but I think Sam has been cheating on me.  After all I have given to him, I just couldn’t believe that he would go off and have an affair with another car.  I mean, I have given him the best miles on my chassis.  Who else would have put up with his driving habits!  I mean just who else would stand for all the high speed, hair-raising mis-adventures that we have been through together?  Didn’t I pay the ultimate price at Nelson Ledges?  Didn’t I sacrifice my fiberglass body to protect Sam, during his not so perfect lap?  Well before I carry-on further, perhaps I should tell you just what has transpired.  I hope that I am wrong and that Sam will explain away all my doubts and fears and that things will go back to the way it was in the beginning.  Just the two of us, like it was meant to be.

 

Saturday, November 4, 1995 -That awful day when he actually told me that he had just spent three days driving another Corvette, while I sat at home, all alone in the garage.  I can’t believe what I am hearing.  Things started out so much better.  Both Sam and Ginger took me out for a spin.  We headed down our favorite piece of country highway, the one with the high-speed esses and the “long” back straight.  We were having so much fun, then Sam started telling Ginger how this compared to the things he had learned at the Bragg-Smith Driving School.  What was he saying?  Had he really gone to another school and actually driven another car?  My oil ran cold, just thinking about Sam driving another Corvette on a track.  How could he!  Then my timing skipped a beat, I heard Ginger say that she too had learned several new pointers behind the wheel of a new LT-1 Corvette at the school.  Ginger too?  I was sure that Gin wouldn’t betray me, but now she too has turned her back on me.  It seems that they and Duane had enrolled in the school several months ago because they felt that they could benefit from a professional school where all of the students drive new LT-1 Corvettes, under the direction of Rupert Bragg-Smith.  Well I agree that Sam could certainly learn to drive better, but in another car?  I think Sam could tell how hurt I was, so he started to explain just why he had gone out and cheated on me.  Here is his story, you be the judge.

 

It seems that he had met Rupert at Bloomington Gold and then again at the Mid-American FunFest, and they talked at great length about all of the on-track adventures we had been through.  Rupert told Sam all about his Corvette Driving School and suggested that by completing his school, that Sam could move his driving skills up to the next level.  Sam was impressed with all that he was told, and he made the reservations.  The school runs for three days and is held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Rupert has his fleet of 10 LT-1 Corvettes and a specially designed skid car.

 

Upon arrival the students met each other and the instructors.  Sam told me that there were eight students in the school and three instructors.  The group was given an overview of what the school was going to present and just how it would be organized.  It was somewhat difficult to concentrate on what Rupert was saying because just behind the marker board were 10 shiny LT-1 Corvettes, just waiting to carry us to new adventures.  To further detract Sam’s attention span was the fact that the track is located just off the end of the runway at Nellis Air Force Base which is home to some of the best “jet jockeys” in the country.  Their daily practices sent planes over us throughout the day.  It was great!  If Sam can’t be driving a Corvette, then he would like to fly a jet fighter plane.  Needless to say, Sam spent a fair amount of time gazing at the fighter planes, instead of listening to what Rupert was saying.

 

Sam told me that he was really impressed with the school.  He admitted to Rupert that he expected things to move a bit too slowly for his taste, since the school really started at the beginning with attention to seating position and just where the steering wheel should be.  Boy was he surprised!  It seems that Rupert had some tips on how to make a minor modification to the seat and end up with more head-room.  Then it was on to the braking exercises.  What an experience!  A real key element to the teaching that the school provides is the fact that each student is alone in their car most of the time.  Communication is provided through radio’s in each car.  This way, you are not looking over at your instructor while listening to what advice is being given.  Many times I have found Sam distracted by the in-car instructor and not paying attention to where we were going, usually at a high rate of speed.

Following the braking exercises, everyone went back to the classroom and lunch was served.  This was really nice, and was part of the school.  Rupert’s wife Anne prepared lunch each of the three days and everyone enjoyed the carefully selected menu’s.  It seems that they are concerned about what the students eat so they will be able to concentrate for the entire day, and they don’t have to worry about everyone getting back on time.  The school continued with sessions on proper shifting techniques and the first introduction to the skid car.  Sam was really impressed.  Previous schools had used parking lots covered with water to try and simulate under- and over-steer conditions.  None of them ever gave the same degree of learning as did the skid-car.  In the skid-car, Sam was able to practice over and over at a slow speed so that he could really identify the beginning of the out-of-control condition and feel what was needed to correct it.

 

Day Two included more of the shifting practice and several exercises designed to teach a skill Rupert has named “Visual Scanning”.  This is learning to keep your destination in sight and using your peripheral vision to pick up important landmarks as you go by.  Cornering techniques were also covered.  Again the use of the radios really helped.  Instructors were stationed at the corners and they could see just how well each student traveled through the corners.  The radios allowed them to “teach” from a stationary position, thus allowing a very high degree of information between the student and the instructor.

 

Day Three saw us back on the drag strip practicing our shifting techniques.  Then it was back out onto the track for more cornering exercises.  Then the fun really began.  We began shadow lapping, starting at relatively modest speeds then slowly building speeds.  Lunch was a welcome rest period, then the afternoon session turned to what we had been training for, “Free Lapping”.  It was a tribute to the school that all of the students were able to complete the afternoon session without any sort of “incident”.  Yet we all achieved speeds that were far beyond our pre-school skills.  Sam told me that he would highly recommend the Bragg-Smith Advanced Driving School to anyone with an interest in learning to drive their Corvette in a safer more controlled manner, while being able to enjoy all of the performance built into our fine automobiles.

 

Well, I still don’t know how to take all of this.  After all, he has admitted to spending three days with another car at the track, and he actually talked Ginger into cheating on me as well.  Sam told me that he did it for me and that all the time he was with that other car he was actually thinking of me and how much better this would make our relationship.  I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a lot of bull to me.  But being the car that I am, I am willing to give Sam the benefit of the doubt and see about continuing this relationship.  Sam tells me that he is really going to fix my fiberglass damage, and to prove it he went out and bought a new hood.  He also registered for the 1996 One Lap of America Race and several Track Time schools for 1996.  I think this is something like bringing home flowers and candy.  Oh well, I guess as long as I get back on the track, then I guess I can stand an occasional transgression by Sam.  After all, we do use protection when we are on the track together.  Keep waving, and I’ll write again soon.

 

Saturday - January 13, 1996 - I’m not sure what is going on.  It is really cold outside and Sam is backing me out of the garage.  I guess we are going on a drive, but I’m not sure why or where we are going.  Pretty soon, my oil has warmed up nicely and Sam starts to give me more gas.  I respond like an LT-5 should, as I gulp down lots of cold dense air.  You know the kind that makes me go real, real fast.  Well before long, I find that we are at Mike Hill’s house and Sam is pulling me into Mike’s garage.  I hear Mike and Sam talking about things and then I hear something that makes my oil run cold!  Sam says that he’ll go ahead and disconnect my battery.  I remember the last time that he did this, I had to sleep for a long time, and he didn’t come to visit me either!  Well before I can yell NO, Sam has a wrench in his hand and he disconnects my battery.  Wow, it got dark really fast!

 

Sometime later - Is it time to wake up yet?  A spark runs through my circuits and my ECM says Wake UP!  Something is wrong, dreadfully wrong.  I can’t seem to get my bearings, my wheels aren’t even touching the ground, and they are covered with plastic!  Ouch, that hurts!  Pain is flooding in from every part of my body.  I can’t see, parts of me are covered with a blanket, all of my glass is covered with paper and tape, and I don’t feel like I’m all here.  Slowly, it all starts to sink in.  My nose is gone, my hood is gone, my rear clip is missing, my passenger side door is in pieces, what’s left of my skin has been sanded off, all of my light bulbs are gone and it hurts like hell.  What is going on here?  I just about get my senses together and I think I hear Sam’s voice.  Sam, where are you and what is happening to me?  Before I can ask him, the lights go out again!

 

Another day - Wham!  My ECM is jolted back to life!  Slowly, I regain my senses and it seems that things are somehow better.  I have new skin, and I must say, I have never looked so good.  My light bulbs have all re-appeared and it looks like my nose is back, my hood is in place, and the rear clip is back where it belongs.  The door is another story!  The mirror is not there and as I check, all of the interior trim is missing!  I’m still trying to figure out what has happened when Sam opens my door and starts to push me outside.  Oh, the sun is shining and it is really warm.  My, but things are starting to look better already.  I sit here in the sun and start to warm up, when all of a sudden, I am hit with cold, cold water.  My rubber hoses shrink, and I shudder!  What the hell is happening?  Oh, Mike is washing me, while Sam is cleaning out the garage.  I hear them talking about all that has happened while I was asleep.  It seems that in order to fix the damage that Sam inflicted upon me as Nelson Ledges last year, they have installed a new nose clip, a new hood and a new quarter panel.  The passenger door and the rear quarter panel have been repaired and several other cosmetic repairs have been made to correct some heretofore unnoticed defects that I apparently have had since my birth at Bowling Green.  There is still much to be done, but Mike and Sam are quite proud of what has been accomplished so far.

 

Come on guys, quite patting yourselves on the back and get busy putting me back together!  It may look like my nose, hood and rear clip are back on, but I start to feel the pain of missing screws and un-tightened nuts and bolts.  Sam is finished with the garage and he helps Mike complete my wash job.  They stand around and look at themselves in the shine of my new skin.  I think they look rather silly, but they seem really happy with themselves.  Before long, they push me back into the garage and damn!  The lights go out again!

 

February, 1996 - I’ve been asleep so long that I don’t know what day it is.  As quickly as the lights went out before, they come back on.  My ECM snaps to life and a new sense of wellness comes over me.  Sensor checks are flooding in from all of my systems and for the first time in a long, long time, I seem to be OK.  I look up and Sam and Mike are standing around looking at me.  They each have huge grins on their faces and they are telling each other that I look really good, considering that it was the two of them that put me back together again.  I don’t know just how good I look yet, but everything seems to be back together again, and all the pain is gone.  Who knows, maybe these guys did good?  Well we will have to wait until Ginger sees me, she will tell me the truth about just how the plastic surgery went.  We know that Sam and Mike are so full of it, that they couldn’t be objective if their lives depended on it.  Before long, Sam gets in and starts my engine.  It has been so long that I almost forgot what it was like.  My Desert Development 3" exhaust still sounds great.  That deep rumble combines with my natural good looks to create the perfect picture of what a ZR-1 should be.

 

Sam heads down the road towards home.  As my temperatures come up into the normal ranges, he starts to exercise my secondaries.  Apparently I still have what it takes because Sam is smiling.  He runs thru the gears and I zip away from every stop light we encounter.  Funny, I thought that was where we turn to go home.  I guess we are going to take the “short” way home.  All too soon we pull into the garage and Sam shuts off my engine.  I feel good.  Ginger comes out and she looks me over.  I wait nervously while she looks all around me.  She finally starts to smile and she tells Sam that much to her surprise, he and Mike did a great job!  I can finally relax.  If Ginger says that I look good, then those guys must have done a good job.  I start to relax, when Sam grabs the jack and before I know it, I’m sitting on jack stands with my hood up and all four wheels off.  What the hell is going on now?  I just got back together and Sam starts taking me apart again.

 

Hey, I’ve seen this guy before.  It turns out that Matt Hinman is going to be the co-driver for this years One Lap of America Race, and he is here to help Sam install some new Bilstein shocks.  Bilstein is on-board as one of our sponsors this year.  Sam is also installing a second FX-3 controller with something called a “race chip”.  I hear him telling Matt that we can switch to the race chip for the track driving and then back to the factory original one for the highway miles.  This sounds good to me, because I really like the touring mode when we are out just cruising down the highway.  Now that my battery has been fully recharged and stays connected, I think I have my memory back.  I think that my internal calender is OK as well.

 

April 15, 1996 - Sam comes out into the garage and he is mumbling something about taxes and he is not a happy camper.  Soon he crawls under me and changes my oil.  He also puts on a new set of Performance Friction brake pads and a new fill of fresh brake fluid.  There has been a flurry of activity around the garage over the last several weeks.  The UPS guy has really been busy!  16 new Michelin tires are stacked along the wall.  It seems that Michelin has agreed to provide 2 sets of their XGTZ tires for the 5 cars in our little “team”.  I know, 2 sets of tires times 4 wheels is 8 tires.  Why do we have 16?  The good news is that Ginger is going to run the One Lap this year in her Z-28 Camaro, and several new sponsors have joined on to help her get the Camaro ready to go.  They include Bilstein with new shocks, Michelin with tires, Motorsport Technologies in Houston, TX sent up one of their MTI Cold Air Induction systems.  In addition, Joe Pemberton with Desert Development in Artesta, NM has agreed to provide a new exhaust system, and Hypertech is going to furnish one of their Power Programmers and a set of under-sized pulleys.

 

Returning from last year is Performance Friction, who has again agreed to furnish brake pads for our team.  Their pads work really great on the road and the track.  Sam ran the PFC pads on me all of last year and he even got a set for the Camaro last year for Michigan International.  I know that I am looking forward to running their pads again, because they might just save my life with Sam at the wheel.  We can use all of the stopping power we can get!

 

Saturday, April 20, 1996 - Sam loads up some stuff and we head out.  But where are we going?  It is cold and dark and wet.  Wait a minute, it’s only 5:00 in the morning, just where do you think you are going at this time of the morning?  It seems that the Mid-West Council is having a drivers school at Blackhawk Farms and we are entered.  Well even if it is dark and wet and cold, I look GREAT!  We get to the track and things don’t look so good.  There are trees down everywhere and roofs have been blown off of some of the buildings.  Everyone pitches in and soon the sound of chain saws and work crews fill the air.  The track is swept and the debris are removed and soon we are ready to go.  The good news is that Steve Ahlgrim is the Chief Instructor and he will be Sam’s instructor today.  I get to set next to my brother, ONE LAP X and we catch up on what has happened since we last saw each other.  You know, that two steel blue ZR-1's sitting next to each other always draws a crowd.  Well Steve takes Sam out for some orientation laps and I sit here all alone.  I can hear the cars out on the track and I want to be out there so bad.  I am sure that my turn will come soon, but I am just a little bit apprehensive.  After all, I do have new skin and I would hate for Sam to mess it up again.  Well the guys are back and my brother tells me all about the track.  I start to remember it from last year and I remember that we slid off of turn 1 last year when we were here with the Porsche club.  Conditions were somewhat the same as today and I hope that Sam does a better job today.

 

Well it is our turn now, Steve and Sam are strapped in and we wait for the starter to let us go.  Green light and we start out slowly.  There are 15 cars in our group and we start to make our way around the track.  The instructors are guiding their students and the speeds start to pick up.  Sam is doing a good job and way too soon the session is over.  Back to the pits and we wait for our next session.  Steve tells Sam to be sure and get in line first for our next session.  This way, we can get up to speed early and run the course without anyone in our way.  Of course this suits Sam just fine.  We are first in line and just as Steve said, we jump onto the track and away we go.  Steve is telling Sam some of the finer points on how to get around here quickly, and much to my surprise, Sam is actually listening and doing what he suggests.

 

The days wears on and bits of blue sky peek thru the clouds.  The track eventually dries out and we get our first timed run.  The light turns green and Sam smokes my tires as we start out.  Good entrance, Sam!  The speed comes up quickly as we dart down the straight into turn 1, we go thru and get set up for turn 2.  That’s it Sam, hold it out a little longer, turn now and accelerate.  Oh boy, just like Steve said to do, we are flying into turn 3, brake, brake, set me up and turn!  That’s it, remember, Steve said that it was a “dance” around thru 3, minor adjustments, all the time on the edge of the slip angle.  Keep me out and now pull it in thru the “m’s” and hard on the brakes at turn 4, downshift into 2nd and turn, back on the gas and race to the turn in for turn 5.  Tap the brakes to set the front of the car and turn in, accelerate thru 5 and grab 3rd gear, hit the turn it and give me some more gas.  Oh yeah, the drift is working well.  We fly out of 5 and head toward turn 6.  Don’t forget to slow down enough so that we make the turn just like we’re supposed to.  Well just a little hot into 6, so we can’t get back on the power as early as we should have, short shift into 3rd and turn in, that’s it Sam, back on the gas and drift it all the way out to the left hand edge, keep your foot in it and let’s go.  Remember this is really the longest “straight” on the course.  Don’t forget the little “kink”, that’s it, bring me in across the edge and brake hard!  We get set up for turn 7 and it goes well.  We race to the exit and head up the front straight.  My Desert Development exhaust sounds so good.  We are flying now!  We cross the line and hard on the brakes.  The PFC 90 pads do a great job of hauling us down to “cool down lap” speeds.  We get back to the pits and find that we did the lap in 1' 30.24".  A time that Steve says is pretty good, given the cold temperature of the track and the fact that we were running on our Michelin street tires.  Sam feels that we can do better, so we wait for our next run.

 

Finally, it is our turn again.  We smoke up the starting line and out we go.  Both Sam and I agree that this lap is better and faster that our first lap and we can’t wait to see the times.   We pull back into the pits and wait until they are posted.  What do you mean the times are no good?  There was a computer problem so they threw out all of the second run times.  It showed that we ran a 1' 53" lap.  I certainly hope that they threw them out.  I know we ran at least as fast as our first lap, maybe even faster, but we won’t have the time slip to prove it.  Oh well, we really wanted the practice and the chance to learn how to get around here faster.  Even though it was less than a perfect day, we still learned a lot and as they say, “Any day driving at the track, beats the best day not at the track”.

 

We drive home in the dark and Sam tells me that we are in for a very special week.  I guess I will have to wait and see just what he has up his sleeve.  As soon as I find out, I’ll write and let you know.  Goodbye for now and I hope you are all out driving your ZR-1's and having a great time.

 

Friday, April 26, 1996 - Well Sam said that this was to be the beginning of a wonderful 10 day experience.  I just wonder what he was talking about.  Wonderful for who, him or me?  I can’t believe that we are leaving.  It is 5:00 in the morning and it is still dark!  Here I sit on the trailer all strapped down, which is a really good thing if you have ever ridden with Sam at the wheel, and the truck is loaded with all the tools and an extra set of Michelin XGTZ tires and several boxes of PFC brake pads.  I still don’t have a clue where we are going, but it is just Sam and me.  I guess I’ll just have to sit here and see where time and destiny take us.

 

As the sun starts to come up, I begin to recognize some of the route, and it seems like we are headed back east.  Well let’s see, this could be Michigan International, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, but all of a sudden, we turn north and head towards a part of Michigan that I have never seen before.  Where could we be going?  The truth is that Sam is probably lost and hasn’t figured it out yet.  Soon we pull into a gas station in South Haven, MI.  and Sam fills my gas tank.  This usually means that we are close to a track, but I’ve never been on a track in this part of the country, so I don’t have a clue what is going to happen.  We head east and soon I see a sign that says Gingerman Raceway.  Sam slows down and turns onto a gravel road and slowly heads up the hill.  There appears to be someone standing on top of some guardrail waving both hands over his head.  Sam heads in that direction and soon I recognize the guy on the guardrail as Steve Ahlgrim and there is my brother One Lap X.  I look around and we are the only two cars here.  Steve and Sam begin talking and it seems that Gingerman is a very NEW track and they are having an open testing day.  I guess it will be open as we are the only two cars here.  Soon I am off my trailer and Sam has my engine warming up.  Steve and Sam decide to act as if this was a typical driving school and soon we are out on the track doing slow speed “shadow lapping”, trying to figure out which way the track turns and just what the line might be.  Soon the speed begins to increase and Steve starts to pull away.  Sam is being a good boy and has kept me on the track so far.  Back into the pits and Sam is going to ride with Steve.  Out they go and soon they are back and Steve is riding with Sam.  Things are going well and soon everyone is back in their own car, and more “hot” laps are underway.  Then it happened!  It actually started to snow, and here we are, running laps around a race track.  The track starts to get a little slick and Steve and Sam take turns testing the limits of the track and all too soon we start testing some of the run-off areas.  Both Sam and Steve take turns being off the track for various lengths of time and at various locations.  Both my brother and I are feeling pretty good, even with these off-track excursions.  With the snow coming and going, we have rather cold, dense air, which allows us both to make lots of horsepower, which Sam and Steve try and use.

 

Soon the gas is about gone when Steve says he needs to head back to Chicago and get into the office and do some work before the day is over.  I assume that we are headed home too, but then Steve says that he wishes he was going with us.  Going with us where?  Sam loads me back on the trailer and we are soon on the road again.  The sun starts to shine and it appears that we are again headed east.  I don’t know where we are headed, so I think I will just sit here on the trailer and take a nap.  Many hours later, we pull into a motel parking lot, and I know I have been here before.  It finally dawns on me that we are in Mansfield, Ohio and that must mean that we are going to run at Mid-Ohio.  I remember that this is a really fun, fast track and that Sam did well the last time we were here.  I look around the parking lot and I see several cars and trailers that I recognize.  Dean and Mike Nelson are here with their 90 ZR-1 and 93 Camaro.  It seems that Dean has really taken to this road racing and he has decided that it is a lot more fun than drag racing.

 

I see Sam talking with Mike Gerst from Track Time and soon Sam returns with our window sticker.  It seems that Sam is in Group A and we have our Tech sticker.  It is cold and rainy out here in the parking lot.  I hope it warms up and drys out before tomorrow, or it could be less than fun with Sam at the wheel on a wet track.

 

Saturday, April 27, 1996 - The day dawns cold, but dry and the sun is starting to shine.  We head out to the track and there are lots of cars starting to find their way in.  Sam backs me off the trailer and soon I find myself parked beside the Kryderacing Trailer, which means that Reed and Sandy are here.  I wonder if Russ Wilson is coming?  We see lots of familiar faces and cars and soon we meet our instructor for the weekend, Bart Lami.  He and Sam hit it off real well.  We are soon on the track and Sam is taking it slow, re-learning the track and getting the feel of the Michelin XGTZ tires.  The last time we were here, I was wearing my sticky sneakers.  Sam tells Bart that since we have chosen to run the Michelin XGTZ tires during the One Lap of America Race, we need to do all of our practice sessions on them as well.  Sam is very pleased with the way they work and soon we are turning some pretty fast laps.  With Bart’s instructions, Sam soon settles into a very comfortable routine, running lap after lap, without any “agricultural” adventures.

 

It seems that since Mid-Ohio is so close to Track Time’s headquarters that everyone from the office is here this weekend as well.  Beside the usual Track Time crew of Jack Layne, T.C. Kline, Tom Reese, Mike Gerst and Mike Schindel, it seems that Mary-Margaret and Marilyn are here also.  Sam says that he has talked to both Mary-Margaret and Marilyn a million times, but he has never met them.  Soon I find that Marilyn has come over to talk to me.  Imagine that!  She said that she wanted to met the car that has survived being driven by Sam for so long.  We have a very nice conversation, and she wishes me well.  I like Marilyn because she seems to understand just how difficult a job I have with Sam as my driver.  Well before I know it, the day is over and Sam heads back to the motel, leaving me here all alone.  I think back to last year and I now remember why I liked Mid-Ohio so much.  Last year, my brother, One Lap X and I slipped into town and partied much of the night with a couple of cute Corvettes that we met at the local Chevy dealer.  We managed to get back to the track before either Steve or Sam noticed we had been gone.  Somehow, being here without my brother just isn’t the same so I think I will stay here and stay out of trouble.

 

Sunday, April 28, 1996 - The day starts out sunny and dry and we take up where we left off yesterday.  Sam is doing a fine job and Bart signs him off to drive alone.  Well this is usually where the fun begins, so I take a deep breath and expect the worst.  I am pleasantly surprised.  Sam hooks up with a BMW M6, which we later find out is turbo-charged and is running around 500 hp, we run lap after lap behind the M6 and then he gives us the pass signal and he chases us for several laps.  Things are looking good, nothing even close to “a moment” yet.  Then Sam returns to true form.  He does a very nice job of going thru turn 1 and we really carry a bunch of speed into turn 2, which we don’t quite make, so we go off the track on the left, thru the grass and re-enter the track at turn 3.  The whole exercise in over in a matter of seconds and I am just about to start breathing again, when we bounce over the concrete bumper on the inside of turn 3 and it rips off my right brake duct.  Ouch!  You big dummy!   We just fixed those and they were even painted to match my Steel Blue color.  Well Sam gathers himself and we continue to run the rest of the lap, then we pit for a mandatory check by the Track Time crew.  Everything seems to be OK, so they send us back out.  We go by and there is the brake duct, laying on the track.  For a minute, I thought that Sam was going to stop and pick it up, but he continues on by and we run another lap.  The next time we come by, the duct is laying in the grass on the inside of the turn and it doesn’t look so good.  It looks like someone ran over it.  Well later in the day, Sam got out on the track and retrieved the duct.  He said that with a little work, it would be as good as new.  I certainly hope so.  I don’t think he brought a spare.  With Sam driving, he should bring several extra ones.

 

All too soon, the day is over and Sam puts me back on the trailer.  I think that the fun is over and we soon will start the long drive back home, but I hear Sam and Reed talking about the route to Memphis.  Memphis is definitely not on the way home, so I don’t know just what they have planned, but I settle onto the trailer and remember that there really isn’t too much that I can do about it, except to ride along wherever Sam takes us.  It starts to rain as we pull out and before we get too far down the road, it is a real rain storm, complete with lighting and everything.  Next stop, Memphis, TN.

 

Tuesday, April 30, 1996 - Here we are at Memphis Motorsports Park.  We have been here before and Sam tells me that Memphis is once again, one of the One Lap tracks.  Russ Wilson joined us this morning and we soon start to practice on the drag strip.  I’m not sure this is such a good idea.  I mean, we line up at the line and then these lights start to blink on and off and then Sam stomps on the throttle and my rear tires go up in smoke.  They eventually get hooked up and we rocket down the track and in just about 13 seconds, Sam jumps off the gas and on to the brakes.  We slow down, turn around and drive back to the beginning, where we line up and do it all over again.  Is this really supposed to be fun?  Give me a road course any day.  Then Sam tells me that this years One Lap includes the drag strip here at Memphis.  The second half of the day is spent practicing on the road course and no matter how hard he tries, Sam just can’t match Reeds fastest times.  Once again, Reed’s skill and the extra horsepower in Russ’s car combine to create a challenge that we just can’t match.  We get within 5.8 seconds a lap, but that is as close as we can get.  Sam says that we will just have to learn to live with it.

 

Friday, May 3, 1996 - I begin to feel like a lost child.  I look around and this is definitely not home, but it has a strangely familiar look to it.  Finally I peer through the cloudy darkness and recognize it as my favorite track, Road America.  It seems that the Windy City BMW club is going to hold a drivers school here Saturday and Sunday.  This is fine, but what are we doing here on Friday?  Soon Sam is backing me off the trailer and I hear over the PA system that this is the instructor practice day and everyone is advised that the track is open.  Instructor day?  What are we doing here?  Well it seems that Sam is going to be an instructor and as such, we get to practice for the whole day.  All goes well and Sam does nothing to embarrass us in front of the other instructors.  Sam is really excited, because he just talked with Ginger on the phone and she says that we just got a packet of information from the Cannonball people and we are going to run the full 4 miles of Road America in this years One Lap.  This will help us in the overall times, since we don’t have to remember to slow down thru turn 13 and turn right, something that Sam was not particularly good at last year.

 

Saturday, May 4, 1996 - We meet our two students and find that one of them is driving an 85 Corvette and the other is driving a 3000GT VR4, twin turbo.  Sam is a little nervous about this first time instructor role, but he is sure he can adjust.  I can tell you that the next two days went very well and that both of the students did fine.  During the instructor rides portion of the weekend, there were a bunch of students that wanted to ride in the Steel Blue ZR-1.  They all commented on just how great my Desert Development Exhaust sounded as we ran down the front straight at 130 mph.  It was fun giving them all rides and watching them smile.  Our Performance Friction brake pads work so well that we can really carry a lot of speed deep into the corners.  This makes for some really fun laps.  Sunday it started to rain and several sessions were run in the rain.  Both the students did a great job of driving in the rain, and much to my surprise, so did Sam.  We actually did three days at Road America without being off the track once.  Even in the rain.  Just when I think that Sam has returned to his old ways, he surprises me.  Who knows, maybe his time at the Bragg-Smith school did him some good.

 

Well Sam tells me that after this weekend is over, we actually get to go home, some 10 days and 2,700 miles later.  The preparations will then begin for this years One Lap of America Race, which starts on June 9th at Watkins Glen.  I know Sam is really looking forward to it and I think I am as well.  At least if Sam continues to keep me on the track, I think I will have a good time.  The next time I get a chance to talk with you, I hope to be able to report that I survived the One Lap is one piece.  Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Thursday, June 6, 1996 - There certainly seems to be a lot of activity around the garage today.  Sam opens all the garage doors and as I look outside, I see a really big trailer sitting in the street.  Soon JJ100 is pulling into the driveway.  It is always good to see some of my ZR-1 cousins.  I hear Sam talking with Duane Grahovec and George Hall about the trip back to Watkins Glen.  Watkins Glen?  What are we doing and where are we going now?  Well it seems that this is the start of the 1996 One Lap of America Race.  Soon I am being loaded into this really big trailer and JJ100 (Duane’s yellow 94 ZR-1) is loaded behind me.  It seems that Sam went out and bought this 46 foot Pace trailer to haul me and little Z (Gingers Z-28 Camaro) back to the start of the One Lap.  Since Ginger broke her left ankle, and the doctor won’t release her to drive yet, JJ100 is riding in the trailer instead.  Ginger is standing here on her crutches watching all of this activity and I can tell that she is really disappointed that she has to stay home and will not be able to compete in this years One Lap.  But she says that she has already entered for next year.  I think that I am going to like this new trailer.  We are riding inside and we are protected from everything outside, which is only fitting for cars of our status.  Soon everything is loaded and the doors are shut and locked.  I guess we should get some sleep because I remember from last year that we won’t be sleeping much for the next week.

 

Saturday, June 8, 1996 - The drive here to Painted Post, NY was long, but uneventful.  As they open up the trailer I can see that it is a bright sunny day.  Soon JJ100 and I are unloaded and the parking lot around us is filling up with cars of all descriptions.  I look around and I see my brother ONE LAP X and there is Russ Wilson’s 90 ZR-1.  It seems that the four of us are back to run the One Lap again.  Soon Sam and his co-driver Matt Hinman are busy putting all of the One Lap decals all over my skin.  I am really starting to look like a race car.  I remember last year how good I looked until Sam put me into the wall.  I hope that we don’t repeat this experience again this year.  Well shortly after all of the decals have been applied, we get the once over from the tech inspection guys and I pass with flying colors.  I am OK to compete in the race!  Not much else goes on today.  We sit around the parking lot and lots of people are coming around looking at us and taking pictures.  I guess that we will just have to wait and see what happens next.

 

Sunday, June 9, 1996 -Here come Sam and Matt.  They load some stuff in the back and off we go.  It seems that they went to the drivers meeting this morning and we are now headed to Watkins Glen to start this years race.  We pull into the Glen and there are real race cars out on the track.  I hope we don’t have to go out and run with these guys, because they are really fast and I don’t think Sam has what it takes to keep up.  It turns out that we will start after the conclusion of the IMSA 6-hour race.  Well we sit around and wait and soon we are making our parade lap around to the pit area.  We are car number 16 this year and I can tell that Sam is really excited.  He keeps going over the checklist to be sure he didn’t forget to do something.  Soon it is our turn and we take off on our recon lap.  I remember this track and just how much fun it is to race thru the “esses” and shoot out onto the straight.  I also remember the spin in turn 10.  I hope that we don’t do that again.  Much to my relief, we get to the starting line without so much as a slipped tire.  We wait in line and soon we get the green flag to start our two timed laps.  We are off and flying down the front straight into turn 1, nice downshift and squeeze the throttle, OK, full power, then shift into 4th and turn in for turn 2, back on the gas as we wind our way uphill thru the esses.  That felt pretty good but don’t forget to brake as we enter the chicane.  Sam is being a bit too cautious because he started braking too soon, but at least we made it thru without a spin.  Back on the throttle and we head for turn 10.  I hope he gets it right, about 100 mph and turn in and feather the throttle.  Hey, not too bad for Sam.  Before I know it, we have completed our first lap and the second lap goes just about as well.  There is the checkered flag and we complete our cool down lap and pull into the pits.  We head back to the staging area and load up all of our stuff.  This is a routine that will be repeated many times during the next 6 days.  Matt checks out our times and finds that we ran our two laps in 3'23.042", which was good enough for 19th place.  Sam is both pleased and disappointed.  He knows that we could have run faster, but he tells himself that we will get better.  1st place here went to David Murry in the 96 Porsche at 3'01.978" and 91st place went to a Pontiac at 4'35.184".    (#5-2nd, #4-6th, #9-8th & #7-12th)  Reed Kryder is driving Russ Wilson’s ZR-1 and is car number 4.  R.K. Smith is driving Russ Anton’s 91 ZR-1 and is car #5.  Duane Grahovec is #7 and Steve Ahlgrim is #9.  This makes a total of 5 ZR-1's running in this years One Lap.

 

We are soon on our way to the next track, wherever that might be.  I have never been hit with so much radar in my life.  The New York State Police are out in full force tonight.  Highway 17 is literally lined with troopers and each one of them takes turns shooting us with radar.  We hear reports that many of the One Lappers tangled with the troopers and lost.  One car tangled with a deer and I think both of them lost.  The deer went down for the count and the car did so too.

 

Monday, June 10, 1996 - It is 3:15 am and we pull into a motel parking lot in Adrian, MI.  I hear Sam and Matt talking and we need to be at the Michigan International Speedway by 5:45 this morning.  That is only two and a half hours from now.  What are we supposed to do with all of this free time?  It seems that the guys left a 4:15 wake up call.  At least they got a short nap and a shower and shave.  All to soon, we are at the track, waiting in line to sign the waiver.  We are inside and the ritual of unloading everything begins.  It is not a very good day.  It is cold and foggy and the track looks wet.  I don’t think we want to run a high-banked oval on a wet track.  As we sit waiting for our turn, they warn us of a large pool of water standing at the apex of turn 6 and some missing pavement at the track-out point of this same turn.  Sam tells me that turn 6 sounds like a real throw away corner now.  Our recon lap confirms what they had told us and there doesn’t appear to be any way to get thru turn 6 fast.  We pull up to the starting line and wait.  When we get the green flag, Sam gets on the gas and we start rolling.  Something is not right here!  Why is my rear end slipping down the track?  I know that my nose is not supposed to be pointing at the concrete wall.  Fortunately, as my speed picks up, I get straight on the track.  I guess you are not supposed to go that slow on the banking.  Sam is driving well and the infield falls behind us.  I can tell that Sam is not very comfortable on the oval.  He is not to sure just how much traction we have so he is not pushing too hard.  I’m sure that he doesn’t want to risk sliding into the wall at these speeds.  We finished our two laps here in 3'18.081" which was good for 27th place.  Sam is really mad at himself.  He tells Matt that we should have run harder.  The Porsche again got 1st with a time of 2'50.557" and 88th place went to a Mercury Mercur with a time of 4'07.152".  (#5-5th, #9-12th, #4-13th, #7-19th).  And once again we are off.  This time to Putnam Park, IN.

 

We arrive to find that the skies are overcast and the track is somewhat slick, but the breeze should help dry it some.  We haven’t been at Putnam Park for about two years, but I remember it to be a really fast and fun track.  Everything is unloaded and we wait our turn.  During our recon lap, the car in front of us spins and throws a bunch of dirt on the track.  No contact, but I can tell that Sam is a little shaken.  Our time starts and we rocket down the front straight into turn 1.  So far so good, Sam just doesn’t have the line down yet.  He is yelling at himself to get it together and run!  We head into Dead Bear Turn and there is the same car sitting in the grass.  They have spun again!  We finish our second lap and start our cool down lap.  But it doesn’t appear that we are slowing down.  Sam is really smiling now.  He tells me that he thinks he remembers the line around here now and he wants to check it out.  He does seem to have found his way, but this lap is not included in our times.  Oh well, I guess you have to have fun whenever you can.  Our time of 3'08.523" was good for 28th place.  I am getting a little frustrated.  I begin to sense a pattern of high twenties and I don’t like the neighborhood.  We should be running much faster and finishing with much smaller numbers.  There is a new winner here.  Shane Lewis in a Trans Am beats the Porsche with a time of 2'46.154".  86th place is taken by a Subaru with a time of 4'05.661".  (#9-5th, #4-6th, #7-17th, #5-54th).  Well we load all the stuff and off we head for Road America.

 

Tuesday, June 11, 1996 - Things don’t look too good.  As we drove here last night the fog was so thick that you could barely see the front of the car and things are not much better this morning.  We sit around waiting for the fog to burn off but it doesn’t seem to be happening.  Sam is really disappointed.  We were going to run the full 4 miles here and he expected to do really well.  After all, this is our “home track” and given the chance, we should have done really well.  While we wait, several Indy car transporters roll in for some tire testing.  We have to be done by 9 am when the Indy cars take over the track.  I don’t think we are going to drive here today.  The word finally comes that the fog is too thick for the corner workers to see each other and for safety reasons, we are not going to run at Road America.  We load everything and head off for Blackhawk Farms.

 

By the time we arrive at Blackhawk Farms the skies are clear and the sun is shinning.  The track looks dry and fast.  I look around the pits and I see Ginger and Little Z pull up.  They along with Jim and Diane Daffron have come up to see us run.  The good news is that we are going to run two events here, since Road America was fogged out.  The first run will include a recon lap, followed by three timed laps and then a cool down lap.  The second run will not include a recon, but instead will be only two timed laps and the cool down lap.  That should be fun, we have to do our timed laps without getting a chance to warm up the tires, brakes or the driver.  Sam thinks we can improve here.  Our first run finds us in 18th position and our second places us in 22nd.  The overall standings after the first five events are #9 in 3rd place, #4 in 9th, #5 in 12th, #7 in 14th and #16 in 18th.  Once again, Sam and Matt load everything and we are off to Heartland Park via Des Moines, Iowa.

 

We arrive at Holms Radiator shop in Des Moines, which is the second of the three checkpoints.  Just like last year, the place is packed!  People and cars are everywhere.  Everyone is trying to look at the cars, but there is not much room in the lot so it is very tight quarters.  We get our sticker and off we head for Kansas City and then on to Topeka for a good nights sleep.

 

Wednesday, June 12, 1996 - Once again, we are on our way to the track and it is so early that the sun has not made an appearance yet.  Heartland Park is a track that we have driven before so Sam thinks that we should do okay here.  Heartland Park is more of a “throw the car” track and fits Sam’s old driving style better.  We also mowed a lot of grass here in a previous school, so I hope Sam behaves himself this morning.  It is our turn and away we go!  We start on the front straight (which is part of the NHRA drag strip) and we fly towards turn 1, which is a really, really slow right hand turn.  Sam does well and we find our way back to the starting line without any undue excitement.  We wait to start our two timed laps.  We are waved forward and then we are off.  I can hear Sam talking to himself, gas, shift, gas, brake, turn, gas, turn, gas, shift, gas, shift, well you get the idea.  Our two laps go quite nicely and Sam continues to keep me on the track.  We actually finished in 14th place here, with a time of 4'26.816".  Tom Reese in the Intruder (#8, 4'06.092") again beat the Porsche, this time by over 4.7 seconds, to take first place.  82nd place was taken by a Porsche 944 with a time of 5'32.159".  (#4-3rd, #5-4th, #9-6th, #7-15th).  It has turned into a very sunny day, and as everything is once again loaded, I hear Sam telling Matt that we are headed for Hallet, OK.  Let’s see, 1,800 miles behind us, and only 1,500 more miles to go.

 

The drive to Hallet goes quite smoothly, and the scenery thru the Flint Hills of Kansas was really quite beautiful.  As we enter Oklahoma, I begin to notice that it is really hot here.  I remember last year that the track was so hot that the crack sealer was melting.  I hope that the conditions are better this year.  I can always tell when Sam is not too familiar with a track.  He doesn’t talk to himself much and we don’t run very fast.  Sam has only driven a total of 4 laps here at Hallet and that was during the One Lap last year, so I was prepared for the worst.  There are several places here where they have concrete bunkers off the edge of the track surface.  I have never had to find out, but they look like they would really hurt if you slid off and had to run over them.  Sam kept me on the track and we finished 30th with a time of 3'26.383", not exactly one of our best finishes.  The Porsche took first place with a time of 3'03.435", while a Mustang finished 80th with a time of 4'12.040".  Reed Kryder in the #4 ZR-1 finished in 2nd place, less that 1/10th of a second behind the Porsche, while R.K. Smith in the #5 ZR-1 finished in 3rd place, 0.13" behind the Porsche.  What a tight finish!  The #9 car finished 7th and the #7 car finished in 14th place.  All told, not a bad run for us ZR-1's.  Sam and Matt load all the stuff and we get ready to leave, but we find the gate down and we have to wait for about 20 minutes before we can get across the track and leave.  This hurts, because we have a 460 mile drive to Memphis, and that could have been 20 more minutes of sleep!  The drive over lacks any excitement, but I-40 is one of the worst roads we have driven on.  Even the trucks won’t drive in the right lane.  My new Bilstein shocks really get a workout.

 

As we enter Memphis, I look for the police escort, like we got last year, but they must not have received our invitation.  We get to the motel and it is time for some sleep.  We don’t have to be at the track until 7:45 this morning.

 

Thursday, June 13, 1996 - Memphis Motorsports Park!  This should be good, instead of a road course, we are only going to run the drag strip.  We get one run that we can use to help set our dial-in time and then we run a series of bracket drags.  The one new part is that Matt is going to do the driving.  I remember that Matt and I practiced at Union Grove and he is a good drag racer.  In this first run, horsepower and tire hookup is the key.  It is finally our turn.  We stage and wait for the lights.  The yellow lights start down, and Matt starts to go when the last yellow comes on.  A great reaction time and we are away!  A little too much wheel spin, but the run is really good.  We finish in 17th place with a time of 13.829".  I don’t really like this drag racing stuff.  You sit around and wait for a long time and then it is over so quickly.  I like the road courses where you get to run for much longer, and the track actually twists and turns.  The Intruder took first place with a time of 12.598" and 81st place went to a BMW M6 with a time of 18.294".  (#4-3rd, #9-5th, #5-15th and #7-29th)

 

The second event today is going to be the bracket drags.  Here you have to select a dial-in time, which is your estimate of just how fast you can run the 1/4 mile and then you must not run faster than that time or you lose.  Today was not to be our day, we lost in the first round so we got an 8th place finish.  Russ Wilson in the #4 ZR-1 lost in the next round, and got a 7th place finish.  Russ Anton in the #5 ZR-1 lost in the 3rd round and took a 6th place spot.  Scott Ahlgrim in the #9 ZR-1 lost in the 4th round and placed in 5th place.  The big news is that George Hall driving the #7 ZR-1 took it all the way to the end and WON the bracket drags, taking 1st place and the 470 points that went with it.  George would be the only one to win an event in a ZR-1.  Way to go George and JJ100!

 

After the congratulations and the interviews, everything is loaded and we start the longest leg of the week.  We are now headed for Summit Point, WV, a mere 860 miles from here.  Let’s see, we have to be at the track by 6:15 tomorrow morning, so if we average 100 mph, we could be a good nights sleep.  Well we don’t average anywhere near 100 mph, so our good nights sleep turns into a short nap, and I mean short - my oil doesn’t even get cold!

 

Friday, June 14, 1996 - We arrive at the track at 6:15am and activities are underway.  The usual routine takes place and soon we are on the track.  The track seems to be dryer this year, but Sam has a hard time getting all of my horsepower down to the track.  There is a lot of slipping and sliding going on.  To his credit, he completes our run without so much as a tire off the paved surface.  The Michelin tires and PFC brake pads were well used here this morning.  Our time was 3'23.331" which was good for 29th place.  There were 3 cars that finished ahead of us, within ½ second of our time.  Shane Lewis in the #2 Trans Am won with a time of 3'01.005 seconds, some 3.61 seconds ahead of the #5 ZR-1 which took 2nd.  A Camaro took 83rd with a time of 4'04.315".  (#7-10th, #4-11th, & #9-12th).

 

We head out for Lime Rock, a mere 390 miles from here.  The drive ends up in some of the prettiest country we have seen.  Sam has never driven at Lime Rock before so he is studying the course map as Matt drives.  We get to the track and while Matt unloads me, Sam and Duane take off to look at the track.  There is a driving school underway, so they will not be able to actually walk the track.  I hope we do better here than we did at Nelson Ledges last year.  After all, Sam’s record at tracks he has not driven before is not that good.  Sam and Duane are back, and there are some more people here standing around talking.  One of them looks familiar, and then I remember, it is Phil DeJohn.  He was one of the “doctors” that duct taped me back together last year at Nelson Ledges.  It seems that Phil, Larry Merow and several other members of the Registry have driven up here to watch the ZR-1's run.  We also met Pete and Kathy Looby from the ZR-1 net, who are here participating in the driving school.  They are both driving their ‘93 Black Rose ZR-1, and I hear them both tell Sam that they are having a ball!  Well the time draws close and we wait to start.  The flag drops and we start our practice lap.  The first corner “Big Bend” appears to be the toughest to get right.  It is really two separate corners and getting set up for the second one could be a challenge.  We even catch a little air over the hill in the “Climbing Turn”.  This seems like a really fun track, and I think that Sam can do OK here.

 

We line up and wait our turn.  The green flag drops and away we go, the speed really builds fast and it is into “Big Bend” for the first time.  All goes well and it begins to flow, next the esses, then no-name straight, then the climbing turn and onto the back straight, then west bend and into the diving turn, downhill onto the main straight.  Things seem to be going well as we set up for big bend again.  Only this time we are carrying more speed and Sam doesn’t quite get the right line into the 2nd turn, I try to tell him to slow down some more, but it is too late, my left rear tire is in the dirt and suddenly we are spinning to the inside of the turn.  Oh no, here we go again!  There is plenty of guardrail in front of us, or is it behind us?  I brace myself for the impact, which doesn’t come.  Sam is busy at the wheel, and we actually end up in the grass on the inside of the turn, pointing somewhat in the direction we want to go.  I can hear Sam yelling at himself as he grabs first gear.  We start to “move” some of the grass with my 335 rear tires as we prepare to re-enter the track.  Sam checks the mirror and sees the car that started behind us starting thru the turn.  I am proud of Sam, because instead of pulling onto the track in front of this car, he actually lifted and waited until he had passed before he jumped on the gas and re-entered the track.  He later told me that rather than risk ruining the other persons time, he chose to wait until they had passed.  The rest of the lap was rather quick, but the damage had already been done.  We finished in 68th place with a time of 2'40.715".  Definitely not our best finish.  Shane again took 1st with a time of 2'07.187" and Tom Reese took 2nd place with a time of 2'07.863".  A Mustang took 86th in 7'04.346".  (#5-4th, #4-5th, #9-11th, and #7-17th).

 

Sam is really mad at himself, because of the spin, we fell to 21st place overall, and he is not sure we have the chance to make it up.  Matt is trying to cheer him up and tells him that there is plenty of time and lots of points to be had.  We say good-bye to everyone and off we go into the sunset, headed to Lancaster Speedway, near Buffalo, NY.  A walk in the park, at only about 340 miles.

 

Saturday, June 15, 1996 - The beginning of the last day finds us at Lancaster Speedway.  We are going to run two events on their 1/8th mile drag strip and then run their ½ mile oval.  Matt is again going to drive the drag events and Sam will drive the oval.  The drag strip is really tough because the starting area is on a slight incline and unless you hold your foot on the brake, you roll backwards out of the staging lights, an event that we would later find out causes you to “red light”.    Matt does a great job on the first run and puts us in 16th place with a time of 8.687".  Tom in the Intruder won with a 7.956" run.  You can see just how competitive the times were.  (#4-4th, #5-11th, #9-15th & #7-23rd).  The bracket drags were not too kind to the ZR-1's, with the #4 & #5 cars with 7th place finishes.  The rest of us ended up with 8th place finishes.  Both Matt and George “rolled out” of the lights to red light, so they “lost” before they had a chance to even run.  Well that leads us to the ½ mile paved oval.  Sam doesn’t have a clue on how to do this, but I keep telling him to keep me out of the Styrofoam blocks that line the concrete walls.  Remember Sam, the point here is to finish and get on to Watkins Glen for the last event.  Don’t do anything typically “you”!

 

For once, I think Sam listened to me.  He ran a rather conservative two laps and we finished in 30th place with a time of 48.410".  Shane in the #2 Trans Am won with a time of 43.280", while a Mercur took 86th with a time of 59.671".  There were 11 cars with times within the 48 second range, and 8 cars within the 47 second range.  Pretty tight groupings and tough to pull ahead, but at least, he didn’t spin me into the wall!  (#5-3rd, #4-4th, #9-11th, & #7-23rd).  We head off for Wyoming, NY and the Cannonball Pub.  Actually, the town of Wyoming is having a street party in our honor and we can’t wait to get there.  Everyone comes around and admires the important member of each team, why the car or course!  I really look forward to this part each year.

 

Well lunch is done and we head off to Watkins Glen, only 100 miles to go and we are done, more or less.  We are running along with JJ100 and things couldn’t be better.  George calls Sam on the CB and tells him that they are going to do a driver swap and that they will catch up with us in a minute.  JJ100 pulls over to the side of I-390 and we go right by.  We are on a downhill stretch of road and we round a bend in the road and suddenly the radar detector screams to life.  Even with the CB, radar detector and Uniden BCT-10 scanner, there is very little protection against a hidden Smokey with instant on radar.  Too little protection, too late.  Soon we are sitting on the side of the road talking with one of New York’s finest.  He says that he clocked us doing 81 in a 65.  I don’t think we were going that fast, but you can’t argue with them on the side of the road.  Sam signs the ticket and we head off to the Glen.  About 2 miles down the road, we get nailed again with radar, but this time we were going 65 mph.  Then another 5 miles down the road there was another bear hiding under a bridge and he shoots us too.  Sam is really gun-shy now.  He sets the cruise control at 65 to avoid further trouble.  New York must really need the money, because we have seen 10 times the number of troopers in New York that we have seen in all the other states combined.

 

Well we make it back to the Glen and get set for our last run of the 1996 One Lap.  Sam is kind of bummed about the ticket, so he goes off for a walk to clear his mind.  Matt does his usual great job and gets me all ready to race.  We have done well here before and if Sam can do well, we might just move back into the top 20 overall.  We again line up and do a parade lap around to the front pits, where they line us up in our run groups.

 

It is our turn to go and we start out on our practice lap.  It feels good to be back on a big track and I can tell that Sam is starting to feel better.  He really likes going into turn 2 and then up thru the “esses”.  We pull around to the starting line and wait.  Soon the green flag drops and we are off.  Sam is pushing hard and we fly down the front straight into turn 1, then downhill into 2 and up thru the esses, all is going well and Sam makes no mistakes.  He is still a little slow around the downhill carousel, but at least he doesn’t spin me (there is lots of guardrail here).  We finish our second lap in 20th place with a time of 3'20.138".  Shane Lewis in the Trans Am wins with a time of 2'57.484" and Tom Reese in the Intruder is 2nd with a time of 2'57.664".  Is that close or what?  All five ZR-1's finish in the top 20 for this run, with #5 in 4th, #4 in 5th, #9 in 13th and #7 in 16th.

 

Sam and Matt load everything for the last time and we head over to the Glen Club for the awards banquet.  All of the ZR-1 teams are happy that they finished this year without any medical, mechanical, or crash damages.  The food and fellowship at the banquet was great, but everyone was waiting for the final results.  At last, Brock Yates takes the microphone and begins the program.  He announces that the team of Tom Reese and Billy Edwards, driving the Intruder, has claimed 1st place with a total of 6,930 points, while second place went to team of David Murry and David Scrivener, driving the 96 Porsche 911 (David drove this same car to win the ‘95 One Lap, and he also won the ‘94 One Lap as well).  Congratulations Tom for a fine performance!  Tom is a friend of ours because when he isn’t winning the One Lap, he is a Vice-President for Track Time and we have come to know him from all of the driving schools that we do.

 

All five of the ZR-1 teams finished in the top 20!  We did it, we actually moved from 21st place up to 18th place.  Sam and Matt are really happy.  We finished better than we did last year against an even tougher field of competitors.  The final ZR-1 team finishes are as follows:

 

     Russ Wilson/Reed Kryder in 3rd Place with 6,585 points

     Steve & Scott Ahlgrim in 4th Place with 6,510 points

     Russ Anton/ R.K. Smith in 5th Place with 6,505 points

     Duane Grahovec/George Hall in 13th with 5,940 points

     Sam Haldiman/Matt Hinman in 18th with 5,360 points.

 

Not too bad, when you consider that 1st and 2nd place were “factory sponsored” cars driven by professional drivers.  Well it is late Saturday night and the banquet is over.  All I have to do now is drive back to the motel and get some rest.  I know that Sam, Matt, George and Duane are going to get up early Sunday morning, load JJ100 and me in the trailer and drive back to Chicago.  My work is just about over and then JJ100 and I get to sleep all the way home in the new trailer.  Not a bad way to end the week, but after 4,300 miles plus the 15 races, all in 6 days, I think we deserve a rest.  I’ll write later and tell you about my adventure at Road America, July 13 & 14.

 

Friday, July 12, 1996 - Well things have really been busy here in the garage.  I have had to sit here watching while Sam worked on Little Z, you remember him, Ginger’s Z-28 Camaro.  It seems that Ginger was going to run Little Z in this years One Lap of America Race, but she broke her ankle and the doctor wouldn’t release her to drive.  Well she is ready to drive now, so “things” need to be done to prepare the car.  I heard Sam telling Gin that he was going to install the throttle body airfoil and then install the MTI free-flow air intake system.  With that being completed, Little Z made a trip to Farley’s for some more work.  Hypertech supplied an undersized pulley and belt, a 160 degree thermostat, and their Power Programmer.  All of these are designed to crank up the horsepower from the LT-1 engine hiding inside that little green Camaro.  The OEM shocks were removed and new Bilstein shocks were installed to “give him a little better ride”.  While the car was up on the lift, Sam pulled the stock brake pads and installed the new Performance Friction 90 compound pads.  These are the same pads I run, so I think that Ginger is planning on generating some speed while she is at Road America.  I know she can drive at Road America, because she has been behind the wheel during some of my most memorable laps.  Plus she is really pumped.  When Sam was gone, she was out here in the garage, talking to me and Little Z.  She was telling us that she had waited for a long time to get back behind the wheel and she was ready to get going again.

 

Sam just returned with that new trailer and soon he is making trip after trip from the garage to the trailer.  I remember when he used to just drive me to the track, then we would circle the track for two days, and then he would drive me home.  Now we travel to the track in this big 46 foot trailer, two cars instead of just one, piles of extra tires and wheels, boxes of parts, tools, jacks, jack stands, chairs, ice chests and hundreds of pounds of “stuff”.  I hear Sam telling Ginger that this used to be a lot easier.  I look over and see that Little Z is wearing his R-1 sticky tires while I am still wearing my Michelin XGTZ street tires.  I guess that Sam meant it when he said that we were going to do all of the tracks on the Michelin’s this year.  I really feel good.  Sam checked me over and really didn’t have to do anything except change my oil and filter.  I am still wearing the same tires and PFC 90 brake pads that I started and completed the One Lap with.  Something must be happening because last year, we changed brake pads after every weekend.  Maybe Sam is really getting better, or more likely, PFC is making their brake pads to last longer.  Soon we are loaded into the trailer and off we head for Elkhart Lake, WI, one of my favorite places.

 

We haven’t been on the road for five minutes when I hear Sam honking the horn, then I hear the air horn from a big truck and as we pass this truck I hear Russ VeZain yelling that he wants to come play with us instead of working.  Sam honks and just keeps on going.  I guess we are not going to stop and wait for Russ.

 

We get to the track without any significant adventure, which with Sam driving is a major feat in itself.  It seems that a Porsche club is using the track and we can not go up to the paddock today, so Sam finds a spot and drops the trailer, leaving us to sit here until they get back tomorrow morning.

 

Saturday, July 13, 1996 - Well it is bright and early and I hear Sam outside the trailer.  Soon we are once again hooked up to the truck and we are underway.  Up the hill and we pull up along side the WORLDSPORT Racing trailer.  It seems that JJ100, Duane’s 94 ZR-1 is here this weekend along with Duane’s SCCA racing Camaro.  I keep looking and there are lots of old friends here as well.  George Hall is here with his 93 anniversary ZR-1, Dean Nelson is here with his red 90 ZR-1, Reed and Sandy Kryder are here with Russ Wilson’s red 90 ZR-1, Rick Hartwick is here with his ZR-1 as well, and Glen and Mary Breitung are here with their 91 ZR-1.  Mike Nelson is also here with his 93 Camaro.  It looks like it is going to be a great weekend.  Sam unloads both of us out of the trailer and soon, we are getting the once over before the first session.

 

Things don’t look real promising from my viewpoint.  Sam is putting our group sticker on the windshield, and I see that not only are we already teched, but he is already signed off, which means that he will be driving by himself, without an instructor.  Why do things like this continue to happen to me?  Well maybe since he was an instructor here before, things will work out OK.  Well we can always hope.  Ginger is telling Sam that she is going to be driving in the C group and she has Gerry Kropolinsky as her instructor.  She asked to be placed in a slower group since this was her first time driving since last year.  This way, she can concentrate more on her driving and get used to using her “new” ankle without worrying about so much passing.

 

Well the first session begins and much to my surprise, Sam doesn’t do anything stupid.  We go out and run lap after lap of increasing speed and we don’t  so much as drop a wheel off the pavement.  I almost can’t believe it.  I mean, this really is Sam driving, and we don’t even have an instructor to keep Sam in check.  I am starting to get impressed with Sam’s driving.  Well maybe I won’t go that far, after all, we have almost two full days left and Sam has plenty of time to display his usual talents.

 

There are lots of things going on around our “pit” area.  Shane Lewis is here as well and he and the crew are working on his Intruder.  Soon they have it running and off he goes to run some laps.  Duane also takes out his World Challenge Series Camaro to get some practice laps.  They have a race here later in August, so both of them are hoping to use the weekend for some much needed practice here at Road America.

 

Well it is time for Ginger to head out on the track and off she and Little Z go.  We will just have to wait and see what they have to say when they get back.  Sam has to go to class while Gin is out of the track, so we can’t really watch them run.  The session seems to go on forever, sitting here in the pits, not knowing what is going on.  Well here comes Little Z, and Ginger gets out with a big smile.  Little Z says that everything went quite well and that Ginger is definitely back.  Ginger tells Sam that Gerry told her she didn’t need an instructor and she signed her off to drive by herself.  Way to go Gin!

 

Well, things are going way to good to be true.  Before I know it, we are headed out onto the track and it is actually RAINING!  This can’t be a good thing.  I mean it is tough enough for Sam to drive on a dry track.  A wet track means certain doom.  I try to hold my breath, but Sam keeps going faster and faster, so I have to start breathing.  Duane comes out in JJ100 and we run some laps together.  Kinda like the good old days.  Soon the session is over and I have to tell you that I have a new respect for Sam, he hardly got my rear end sideways, and he never pushed me off the track.  Perhaps I have judged him too harshly.  We will have to wait and see.  The rain ended and the track dried out.  Ginger and Little Z completed their second session.  Gin told Sam when she got back that things were starting to feel good again and that she was more comfortable with the increasing speed.  It was time for a quick trip to town and some gas!  Sam filled my tank and then filled the two five-gallon containers as well.  I guess if you are going to go fast, you have to expect to burn some gas!  Well before long, the day is over and Sam is gathering everyone from our pits and telling them to be sure and attend Tom Reese’s “Saturday Night” speech.  It seems that Sam and Gin have gotten Tom a plaque in honor of Tom’s winning this years One Lap of America Race.

 

Tom gives his usual speech and then tells everyone to go get a good nights sleep and he will see them tomorrow.  Everyone starts to leave, but Sam yells that he has a question.  The look on Tom’s face was priceless.  He knew something was up, but he didn’t have a clue what it was.  Sam moves up and takes Tom’s place in the trailer doorway.  Tom knows that he has been had, but he can’t do anything but stand there and see how bad it gets.  Sam describes what Tom has accomplished and then he reads the inscription on the plaque.  I think Tom was relieved that he didn’t get drenched in gatorade.  Everyone gave Tom a big round of applause and off they went to end the day.  Things really get quite around here, after all the people leave.  All the ZR-1's were parked here in a fairly small area, so we all caught up on what had gone on today and what we needed to look out for tomorrow.

 

Sunday, July, 14, 1996 - It looks like it is going to be a great day.  Blue skies and a gentle breeze.  Things can’t get much better than this.  There are people working on all the cars sitting around here and soon we all look ready to go.  I can’t believe my good luck.  We go out in the first session and Sam continues his good performance.  We begin playing with Norm and his Viper and with Mike in his slightly modified Mustang.  We are running lap after lap chasing each other.  We take turns changing positions and each of us leads for several laps with the other cars trying to catch us.  Everyone does very, very well and there are no “moments” for any of us.  We have several guests visit us this morning.  Paul and Karen Weston are here and Nikki and Stephanie are here again today.  Hopefully Sam can arrange for them all to get some rides during the student ride session.

 

Jay Bombach is here as an instructor with his Corvette and Sam goes to talk with him to see if he will give everyone some rides.  Bad news, Jay has a huge crack in his rear rotor.  It looks like no rides today!  Wait a minute, why is Sam driving me out into pit lane during the instructor session?  He pulls up to where Jay is standing and then he gets out and Jay gets in.  I don’t know what to expect, except that Jay was our instructor at Putnam Park and Sam said that he was an awesome driver.  Well off we went.  Everyone was lined up waiting to get a ride!  Before it was over, Jay and I gave rides to Paul and Karen, Glen and Mary and Nikki.  Sam even got Marilyn from Track Time in for a ride.  Every one of them got out with huge smiles on their faces.  Jay was a great driver.  He has never driven me before and he was running laps faster than Sam has ever driven me.  Way to go Jay!  Sam told Jay that he really trusted him, because he gave him me to drive without even turning on the video camera to record what took place.

 

Little Z even got in on the act as well.  Ginger gave Shane Lewis the keys and off he went.  Shane gave rides to Stephanie and Nikki and then several of his crew members as well.  Shane was really impressed with the way that Little Z performed.  He is used to driving his racing Camaro and it has a whole bunch more horsepower and the brakes and suspension are prepared for the track.    Steph and Nikki also got a ride with Reed Kryder and they were really impressed.  Steph even got a ride with Mike Gerst from Track Time.  I think she really liked that ride.

 

Before long, the day was over and everyone was saying their good-byes.  Sam loaded both of us into the trailer and we headed for home.  I don’t know what is next for us, but both Gin and Sam did real well this weekend.  Glen said that he had a great time (this was his first time on the track with his ZR-1) and he said that he wanted to do it again.  Sam has been selected to be an instructor for the Windy City BMW club, and Gin is going to be a student at their Blackhawk Farms School on Labor Day.  There really isn’t much for us to do except take a nap, because now that we have this enclosed trailer, I can’t see anything while we are driving down the road.  At least when I got to ride on my open trailer, I could watch the scenery go by.  Well, I guess that is it for now.  I’ll write again when I get out of the garage again.

 

Friday, August 2, 1996 - Sorry about missing the last couple of issues, but the One Lap, Bloomington Gold and Road America just wore me out, but I feel better now.  It seems that once again, we are “on the road” to a new adventure.  GINS Z-28 and I are riding along in that great big trailer, surrounded by tires and tools.  It seems that we are headed back to the GingerMan track in South Haven, MI.  The Chicago Porsche club has the track rented for the weekend and we get to play with them.  We arrive at the track late in the afternoon and there are a few people already here.  We look like a real race team as we pull in with the dually and this big trailer.  Sam finds a big spot in the paddock and drops the trailer.  John and Jeanie Ruther from the Porsche Club pull in the spot behind us, so it looks like we are well protected for the night.  Sam locks up the trailer and Ginger tells us to stay inside the trailer and not to go out running around!  Of course we both say “Yes mom” like we really mean it, but Sam doesn’t take any chances and he locks the doors from the outside.

 

Saturday, August 3, 1996 - Well it’s a new day and the sun is shinning.  Sam rolls us out of the trailer and checks us out.  Little Z and I look at each other and smile.  I think it’s time to eat some Porsche for lunch.  Since we have not run with the Porsche club before, they put both of us in the novice group.  I can tell this really frosts Sam, but he understands that we can move up a group if we behave ourselves.  We take off with the group and we run our warm up lap keeping our place in line.  Once that lap is over, we take off and before long we have passed all the P cars.  I forgot to tell you that we also had a couple of old friends here as well.  Norm with his black Viper and Mike with his highly modified Mustang.  The three of us chased each other around and around the track, passing every P car we encountered.  The session was over way too quick.

 

Gin and Little Z stay in the novice group all weekend.  I think she is holding back.  Of course this is their first time at this track, and Gin is still recovering from that ankle thing.  It’s our second time here.  We did some testing back in April when we were here with Steve Ahlgrim and my brother ONELAPX, what a kick, just the two of us on the track, lap after lap.  Well we continue to run, session after session, and I don’t mind telling you that we really held our own.  There were a couple of those P cars that just couldn’t stand to be passed, so they wouldn’t give us a pass signal.  Well after a while, Sam got tired of this so we just passed them anyway.  Before we were thru, the day was over.  It was back to the trailer and some minor mechanical checkup and Sam and Gin were off to the motel.

 

Sunday, August 4, 1996 - It appears to be another great day.  Sam talks his way into the advanced group and things really start to heat up.  We are now running with the really fast cars and we have to work hard to keep up.  Our best lap times are 1' 42" and the fastest P cars are running 1' 32".  We are running on our street tires and those P cars were running on race slicks.  We also are still street legal with power seats, air conditioning and even a CD player.  Those P cars were stripped down and they were really fast.  I have to say that Sam was doing some of the best driving that I have even seen.  He was really hanging it all out.  I have grown to expect the worst when he drives like that, but this time, he didn’t spin me or anything.  But there was a price to pay.  My tires got so hot that chunks of rubber started coming out.  Did that cause Sam to slow down, I don’t think so.  He just kept running lap after lap and we kept passing all of the P cars except the three that were faster than we were.

 

  Gin says she really likes this track, but of course she had never been at a track she didn’t like.  I guess that’s why she keeps spending Sam’s money to do this wild and crazy stuff.  All in all, it was a great weekend.  We got the chance to play with some old friends and even made some new friends as well.  Long before we wanted it, the weekend was over and we found ourselves back in the trailer and on our way home.  Little Z had lots of stories to tell me.  He doesn’t get to play at the track as much as I do, so I listened to him go on and on.  I heard Sam and Gin talking about our next track experience.  It seems that we will soon be on our way back to Michigan International.  This is a really fun track because we get to run on the banked oval and I have reached speeds over 150 mph.  Gin also said that Stephanie was coming along and this time she will be a student.  This may be the start of the third Haldiman with a crazy obsession for speed.  Well I guess we’ll just have to sit back and wait for the next time out.  I’ll write more about it after it happens

.

Friday, August 23, 1996 - Well here we are again, Little Z and I are loaded inside our big new trailer and we headed towards Michigan International Raceway for another Track Time School.  I overheard Ginger talking to the youngest daughter Stephanie, and it seems that she is going to do her very first driving school.  I hope she takes after her mother and not her father.  Sam said we’re going to stop off at the track first and drop the trailer, Little Z and me, before they head into Jackson, MI to pick up the rental car he got for Stephanie to drive.  He said that it probably wouldn’t look right pulling up to the rental agency with the dually and the trailer.  They might get the wrong idea about why we were renting a car.  They returned with a little Chevy Cavalier for Stephanie to drive.  She is a little miffed because it is an automatic, and she wanted to drive a stick shift.  Sam said that she needed to concentrate on learning the track and driving and not have to think too much about the shifting.  I can tell she is still very excited about getting to drive.

 

They get us and everything unloaded from the trailer and Sam does a brake job on the rental car.  MIS is really nice because we get to use the garages.  I look around and the only other car here is my cousin from California (Russ Wilson’s red ‘90 ZR-1) along with Reed and Sandy Kryder.  I’ll bet that tomorrow when everyone else gets here, we’ll see a lot of old friends.  Tom Reese is talking with Sam about how they plan to run our group for the weekend.  It seems that we are now in the B group.  This may sound like a demotion, but this weekend Track Time is going to try something new.  There is a select group of cars that have been assigned to the “Open” group.  It seems that if I had a roll bar installed, that we could be part of this “Open” group.  Well Sam rushed me out and had a roll bar welded onto my frame so we could play with this new group.  It seems that we will be allowed to pass anywhere we want to and we are actually going to use a side-by-side rolling start, just like they do in the races.  Soon everyone packs up and heads for the motel, and only us cars are left if the garage.  We all take turns telling the little rental car about all the fun he is going to have this weekend.

 

Saturday, August 24, 1996 - Sam really embarrassed Stephanie this morning.  He put some decals on her car, including a “Lego Racing” banner across the windshield.  She thought her name above the door was OK, but the Lego banner had to go.  Gin said that she was a little put out since she doesn’t have her name on her car.  Well everyone meets their instructors and we find out that this is the first Track Time school for Stephanie’s instructor.  Gin says that she is a little nervous since both Steph and her instructor are “novices”.  Sam tells her not to worry about it.  He must be good or Track Time wouldn’t have him here and they wouldn’t assign an instructor to Steph who wasn’t top notch.  Gin’s instructor is an old friend, Chip Holst.  Chip was Gin’s very first instructor.  He told her that he is not needed, and signs her off.  Gin asks him to ride along because they get along so well.  Everyone makes Steph welcome and the day begins.  Gin and Little Z are in the A group this weekend, so they head out onto the track first.  Tom Reese has put the “Open” group into the B group slot to try and make it a little less obvious what will be going on.

 

Steph goes out with the D group, she’s nervous, Gins nervous and we’re not sure if Sam is nervous or not.  All goes well and Steph does great!  When she came in her comment was that the Cavalier would only go 115 mph and that “I’ve got to get a faster car”.  Well another obsession is born.  Sam must have know it would be like this because we gave up his retirement and started a second career about a week ago.  He said something about needing a hell of a lot more cash if we’re going to have to do these driving schools with three people and three cars.  Sam talked to Steph’s instructor and he said she was going great, a real natural.  I’m sure she takes after her mother!  Nothing exciting happen today, and after all the track sessions were completed today, Sam was busy in the garage checking out all three of us.  Sam checked us out from top to bottom including a check of the braking systems.  Everything is fine, and soon it’s just us cars left in the garage.

 

Sunday, August 25, 1996 - Today should be a very interesting day.  Today is the day that the open group gets to line up in NASCAR fashion to take the green flag.  I wish you all could have been there.  We all left the pits in single file and go thru the infield course, when we come out onto the oval we start to line up side by side, heading toward the green flag near the pit entrance.  Tom throws the green flag and we’re off.  Sam slams my accelerator to the floor and I think we’re doing great, except why is everyone passing us?  Hey guys, wait for me, I want to play too!  It seems there is no substitute for raw power and a higher ratio rear end.  Well it was fun even if we weren’t the first car into turn 1.  We did this the rest of the day, and we had a ball running with the other cars.  I’m glad Sam had the roll bar installed so we could play in the open group.  For most of the time, Sam behaved himself.  We are still running the Michelin street tires and you know how competitive Sam is.  He wasn’t content to let the other cars with their sticky race tires pass us without giving chase.  We did pretty well, until the tires got too hot.  Except for the last session, when Sam spun we twice, we only spun once, and all three times, Sam kept me on the paved surface.  Not bad for him!

 

The other excitement came from the 3 stock cars that were here this weekend.  During the instructor ride session they took people for rides.  Tom Reese with Track Time was driving the HighTech stock car so Gin got him to give Steph a ride.  They were doing about 189 mph on the front straight, and when she got out she told Sam, “Dad we’ve got to get one of these, they’re awesome”!  I must admit I think Sam was pretty proud of his daughter.  They wanted to move her up into the C group, but they decided not to because her car wouldn’t go any faster.  I’m sure glad Sam didn’t sell the open trailer.  We may need it to haul the third car next summer.

 

It was a great weekend & what a way to send a kid off to college.  We got home late Sunday night and since Sam is working again, Gin and Steph unload the trailer on Monday morning.  The next track is Blackhawk Farms.  I’ll write more later.

 

Sunday September 1, 1996 - What’s this deal, the One Lap again, so soon.  Sam is loading me and my brother with all the junk, where’s our trailer!  We’ve gotten pretty spoiled since we got the big trailer.  Everything has been carried in the trailer and we get to ride too.  Not like today, when Sam loads all the tubs and stuff in back and he even expects us to drive to the track.  Well I must admit it will be fun for Little Z and I to have a lazy Sunday drive to Beloit.  What am I thinking about?  I forgot that the two drivers are Ginger and Sam.  I don’t think the two of them can drive anywhere “nice and easy”.  I just hope that both of them don’t get speeding tickets!

 

I hear them talking and it seems that we’re only going to Blackhawk Farms for the day on Monday so we don’t need the trailer.  Personally I like making a big entrance, but since we’re going to be there with the BMW club, Sam says we should maintain a low profile.  Little Z wants to know where his R1's are, and why does he have these new Michelins on?  I tell him they stick great and not to  worry.

 

Oh, did I tell you that Sam is going to be an instructor again for this BMW school?  I hope they know what they are doing?  He must have done okay with them at Road America or they wouldn’t have invited him back, right?  It seems that Gin doesn’t want to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, so we get to spend the night in the parking lot at the motel.  I‘m sure we will be up early to get gas and get to the track so I think we better get some sleep now.

 

Monday September 2, 1996 -It looks like I’m going to be an observer most of today since Sam’s instructing.  Gin’s instructor is Steve Ahlgrim.  This is Gin’s first time at Blackhawk as a driver so its good that Steve is her instructor.  Steve drives Little Z for a couple of laps to show her the line to drive then its her turn.  At first she sort-of putz’s along.  The next time they go out Steve says let’s hear those tires scream thru the turns.  You don’t have to ask her twice.  Little Z sounds real good as he comes thru the 4,5,6 combination.  I think she really likes this track.  Steve shows her how to trim seconds off  her time.

 

Sam was assigned two students for the day and it all started off well.  Sam got to drive them around the track for a couple of laps in their cars.  This is so that he can check out the cars to be sure nothing seems wrong.  It also allows the students to concentrate on learning the track without the distractions of driving at the same time.  The sessions went well, but I don’t like sitting here in the pits while the other cars get to have all the fun.  Well the instructor session finally got here and Sam pointed me towards the track.  We took each of the students out for some “hot laps” so that they could see what he had been talking about during their sessions.  We had a great time and it didn’t take too long for my Michelins to warm up and my Performance Friction brake pads did a great job as well.  Sam was pressing hard and soon we were passing lots and lots of other instructor cars.  Sam was really having fun, and we were really flying.  We were screaming down the front straight and then it was hard on the brakes and into turn 1, tires fighting to grip the track.  Sam really likes the carousal and he continued to demonstrate how to steer using the throttle.  Both of the students couldn’t quit talking about how much fun they had, but way, way too soon our time was over and Sam had to park me in the pits and those other cars got to go back out of the track and have all the fun.

 

Well wouldn’t you know it.  We couldn’t make it thru a school without someone doing something dramatic.  At least this time it wasn’t Sam. This M6 was going through the turn 5, 6 combination and spins putting the car on top of the tire wall and then the guardrail.  Fortunately, no one was hurt and the car wasn’t damaged too badly.  They pull the poor car off the wall and the guy drives it home.  Personally I think that is sort of a dumb way to get attention, but I guess I really shouldn’t talk since I’ve seen those tire walls up close and personal before at Nelson Ledges.

 

Before long the day is done and the school is over.  Sam loads all the stuff in back and we set out for home.  Sam tells me that this is the last track for 96, and that storage is the next thing we can look forward to.  I hear my sister will be the one sleeping this winter, and that I get to stay home and have my calipers changed over the winter.  I really need a new rear end ratio to but I think someone else will need to do that.  Since I won’t be doing any more tracks for awhile, I hope you all have a good winter and I will see you all in the spring.

 

Thursday, October 24, 1996 - Well I thought when we got home from Blackhawk Farms that we were through for the year, but here we go again.  The garage door opens and there sit the big trailer and the dually.  This is always a good sign.  Sam starts to load all of our supplies while Little Z and I check with each other to see if one of us knows where we are going.  Not a clue between us, so we just sit here waiting for some word about what to expect.  I look out the garage door and this black Corvette named Bad Habit pulls into the driveway.  Who the hell is Bad Habit?  I do not want Sam to get used to this phrase.  After all, we have made it through the entire season without Sam causing serious harm to my body parts so I do not want him to start this late into the season.

 

We finally hear Ginger and Sam talking with this other couple, and it seems we are going over to Gingerman for a day of testing.  Our friend Duane Grahovec needs to test his race Camaro so we are going along so we can share the cost of the track.  This means that there will only be a few cars so we get the run of the track all day.

 

The owner of Bad Habit is Mark Camille one of our FVCC members.  This will be his first track experience since he has completed the Bragg-Smith Corvette Driving School in Las Vegas.  I think he will have a good time.  His wife Deb wanted to go but she could not get away for the day.  Well they finish loading all the stuff and a pile of spare tires, then they load Bad Habit into the trailer.  Little Z and I look at each other and wonder which one of us is going to stay home.  After all, there is only room for two cars in the trailer.  Sam jumps in me and backs me out of the garage and points me into the trailer.  Gin goes over and tells Little Z not to feel too bad, there is just not room in the trailer and his time will come next spring.

 

Friday, October 25, 1996 - We pull away from the house well before the sun comes up and I start to tell Bad Habit what to expect when we get to the track.  He takes it quite well and soon we are good friends.  In just three short hours, we pull into the track and the trailer doors open.  Sam and Mark start to unload us and all of the other stuff.  I look around and guess who shows up.  It is One Lap X and Steve.  This should be fun.  Sam takes Mark out just like at a driving school to show him the track.  Duane takes his Camaro out, does several laps then the thing breaks.  They take the part into town to have it welded so they will be gone for a while.

 

Well my laps are done for a while because it is now Marks turn.  He and Sam jump into Bad Habit and out they go on to the track.  I can only watch from the pits, but it looks and sounds like Mark is doing a really good job.  Lap after lap his speed goes up and his times come down.  The next time around, they pull into the pits and Sam tells Mark to wait a minute and we would follow them to videotape some of their laps.  I think this is great because it means that I get some more track time.  We were soon back out on the track and following Mark and Bad Habit.  I must say, Mark did a great job for this being his first on a big track.  We ran many laps behind them and Mark did not make a mistake.  Way to go Mark!  Mark then pulls over and gives us a pass signal and well you know Sam.  A quick downshift and away we go.  We run several really fast laps and then it is back into the pits to see how Duane and the Camaro and coming along.

 

Sam walks down and starts talking to Duane and the next thing he knows I am headed out onto the track.  Gin just can’t stay out of the driver’s seat.  You know, that green eyed monster, competition, obsession.  Gin say’s she really wishes Deb had come so she could have someone with which to run laps.  Well maybe next time.

 

Gin did her usual great job.  We ran lap after lap without so much as a slipped tire.  She wasn’t feeling too good so she cut her track time short and went back to the dually to take a nap.  This gave Sam the chance to take me back onto the track and run some laps with Steve and One Lap X.  Steve was trying some different sway bars and used the day for some real comparison testing.  Sam even loaned Steve my Bilstein race chip to see how this suspension controller worked with the various setups Steve was trying.  This meant that I had to sit in the pits and watch my brother run laps and I could not join him on the track.  All I can say is that it is no fun sitting in the pits watching other cars having all the fun.

 

We had a great day, but all too soon Sam and Mark loaded everything back into the trailer and we headed west toward home.  We never got to play with Duane and the Camaro.  Just a couple of laps after they reinstalled the repaired part in the car, it broke again.  This time just above the weld.  So they loaded their stuff and left early as well.  We had a great time, and Bad Habit told me he hopes that Mark wants to do more track events as well.  We settle back and sleep and soon we are back home.  Saturday morning, Sam and Mark unload the trailer and I say goodbye to Bad Habit.  Sam puts me into the garage and covers me with my blue car cover.  So this is it, the beginning of the long winter sleep.

 

What the hell is all that noise?  I peek out from under my cover and now I have seen everything.  There is now a foreigner in our garage.   Gins ZR1 was loaded on the open trailer and sent off to sleep for the winter, Little Z and I are still here, the Grand Am disappears.  This RED (Sam has never owned a RED car) car comes back and is living here between us.  Well is seems that the youngster, Stephanie is going to do more driving schools in 97 so this is her little car, a RED 92 Mazda MX3.  How embarrassing!  We have always been an all American garage, but now we have this import sitting here and everyone is making a big deal out of this little red 5-speed sports car.  I guess Little Z and I will have to show her the ropes next year.  I hear Sam telling Stephanie that when it warms up, he will get the Mazda prepared for the track.  He even said he would see about getting a roll cage installed.  Looks like I can see who is going to be getting all the special treatment.  Still, I guess I can understand.  After all, Stephanie is the one that is going to be driving that car, and I know that Sam does not want to take any chances with her safety.  We will be reporting more about this import as things’ progress.  Until then be careful and we will “talk” later.