Triangle Chapter Report – November 2014

We had a great meeting of the Triangle Chapter on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Rodeo, in the Townridge Shopping Center. Lots of folks attended and we had some eager bench racing. Since the last two events of the racing season had just finished up, that’s about all we did, but we had a great time doing it!

The Chapter saluted our newest driver, William Wallace, on his inaugural outing at VIR. William joined up a year or so ago because he had a hot ‘69 Camaro that he wanted to get on track. The build had a ways to go and he enlisted the advice of the Region’s top tech guy, Buddy Matthews, before completing it. Now it runs in ITE. William finished his driver’s schools at Sebring this year but just got around to finishing the car in time for the Goblins Go. What a first go it was too, because the diff failed in his first race and he parked it at station 11. But in true SCCA fashion, William called an old friend who had a differential to spare, went and got it, and with the aid of his Air Force buddy and fellow new member, Kyle Jackson, they got the car back together about two in the morning. The race on Sunday was as smooth as the one on Saturday was bumpy, and William has a class win in ITE and a new competition license to prove it. Congratulations, man!

The Region also congratulated our own Doug Piner on his eight-place finish in P2 at the RunOffs. Doug provided us with a very entertaining PowerPoint presentation about his experience, especially the trip that he and his crew, Larry Mikovic and Dan Robson, made to Laguna Seca and back, 5600 miles total. I asked Doug, a former IBMer, whether he had a spreadsheet to go with his PowerPoint, and he smiled wryly and said that he was sure that no one knew exactly how much it cost, but if you multiplied the distance traveled and divided by the 12 miles per gallon that the motor home got, and then multiplied by an average cost of $3.87 per gallon of fuel, you’d have a good place to start. Ouch! The rest of the story was a fascinating mix of great scenery, minor catastrophes, and the kind of determination and pluck it takes to finish at the RunOffs. Doug’s car broke two wheels in practice; there was a melee and a fire on track involving some of his competitors during qualifying, which meant that he got one clean lap and a 14th place starting position before starting the race. There was another big melee during the race and Doug said he felt lucky to have come out unscathed and finished 8th over all. He also managed to score a big “win” for his car when the guys from Dauntless, who had purchased Stohr, the company that made his car, sold him all the molds for the body work, so that in the future he can make his own replacements. Great job! Great story too, Doug! Thanks for sharing!

The only order of business we conducted for the evening was to note that the time for elections was upon us, and that the positions of Treasurer, Assistant RE, and two Member-at-Large spots were open. Nominations will close at the end of the November Board meeting, Wednesday, November 19.

And in closing, our unofficial archivist, John Davison, who had been sharing old photos from the collection on his laptop all night, gave us a puzzle to solve. He has a picture of a trophy, a small, polished black and gold tray with the SCCA logo inscribed on it, along with a track map of Daytona and the small outline of a 1960 Chevrolet race car bearing the number 6 on the door. Anybody have any idea what event this was for? Send your thoughts to John, jdavison1@carolina.rr.com. All submissions welcome!

And speaking of being welcome, you are welcome to join us for the last Triangle Chapter meeting of 2014, Wednesday, December, 3rd. We will elect our Chapter coordinator for 2015. Who knows? I could get hit by a truck, go to Katmandu, or run off to join the circus, and somebody else would have to step in. Care to try it? Or just care to see whether I’ll be railroaded again? We’ll see you there…or at the races!

James Shanks
Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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