One of the coolest things about covering racing was having access to the pits. And it was as cool wandering the pits at Seekonk Speedway for a pro stock race as it was to do it at New Hampshire Speedway for a Cup race. Actually, it could be better. After all, everyone at NHIS (and it was “I” then, not “M”.) was at work. Pro stock racers and their crews were there – well – to enjoy the experience and challenge of going fast in a pro stock. This was what they did to get away from the very pressures Cup teams had to face at the track every race. You know, their jobs.
I get the chance to wander pits less these days, but every year I look out for the regional road-racing event held at Thompson Speedway by the Sports Car Club of America. I know they’ll be a ton of really interesting takes on racecars, some of which don’t even make sense. Yet, when you realize that for the driver, driving that car was almost more important than winning in it, you realize most of these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re – well – having fun. Remember fun?
Like the guy racing – road racing – a Troyer modified. This was an unusual choice, to say the least.
“I set it up for road racing,” he told me as I expressed just a bit of skepticism over his choice of racer. “I redid the suspension so it’s not offset, and shifted some weight.”
He roared away on his race’s start, immediately fell back in the pack, and returned to the pits after only a lap or two. He still finished second.
Huh? Well, he finished second in his class.
Understand, sports car racing has more divisions than Texas has cowboy hats. It’s great, because it provides for a wide and crazy variety of racecars. So many, sometimes, that there may be only one or two cars from your class racing in your race. So the SCCA sets up racing “groups” of similar-performing cars – they hope. And you wind up with, for one example, 16 classes running in the Group 7 race.
A race would end, and you’d see someone go by waving the checkered flag, on their victory-lap. Then you'd see another car go by, its driver waving the checkered. Then another. I mean, 16 winners?
The mod was in a class with one other car. Curiously, it was a Mazda Miata. Now, there were dozens of Miatas racing in other groups. But this Miata was the only one in this group, and its class included the mod, and only the mod. Later I saw a checkered flag sitting in the cockpit of the Miata. Evidently his “victory” was not worth a lap.
Who cares? I was there to see the cars, and talk to drivers, and fantasize how, with my love of formula cars and my background in motorcycles, it would be very cool to have one of those old Club Ford formula-cars with Suzuki GS 1000 power. Or maybe a Kawasaki KZ.
Or maybe, a sports racer with the same powerplant, or run a pro stock, or...