Triangle Chapter Report – October 2015

The October meeting of the Triangle Chapter was short and lively.  But we had a couple of new members to welcome, so we went around the room, as is our fashion, and introduced ourselves. Joining the SCCA that very afternoon were Rodney King and Mark Bradley.  These guys have jumped in with both feet and bought themselves a race car, an E36 BMW, and are eager to get started.  They’ll be attending driver’s school in the spring, and in the meantime, they’ll be hanging out with us, looking for pointers and technical assistance readying their car. Good luck, guys! And welcome to the club!

Back after a hiatus of several months were Scott Keadle, Treasurer Steve Keadle’s son, and long-time member Dennis Shaw.  We are hoping that Scott will be joining his old man at our October events.  Maybe Dennis will be there too, although his latest project has been rebuilding decrepit vintage Crosley engines for a collector of that marque who shares the building with his race shop.  Listening to his stories about the bizarre engineering behind a Crosley from the late 40’s or early 50’s is a treat, but they do make you wonder how the darn things ever ran well-enough for anyone to buy them.

The rest of the membership in attendance were eagerly awaiting our last two events.  Since the Runoffs results had been circulated and published on the web site, along with links to the race videos provided by Mazda, there wasn’t much more to say about that, except that we took time out to give a round of applause to Anna Crissman (not present), who had been named SCCA Worker of the Year in Timing and Scoring. That’s quite an honor. And Dan Robson had stories about all the work he and his buddies did for Doug Piner and Chad Bacon so that they could finish as well as they did.

As for new news, SIT John Snodgrass told us about his trip out west to the Rennsport (that’s Porsche to you Bubba) Reunion out at Laguna Seca.  John said it was amazing to see half of the world’s 918 production being driven around like so many VWs at the mall, alongside famous vintage racing machines and many of the drivers, now retired, who drove them.  Wow! Wish I could have been there too, John.  The only racing news was provided by FF driver Ric Cooley and his crew chief Reid Garrett, who had co-driven a Toyota Corolla, along with the car’s owner in a Lemons event at Carolina Motorsports Park. Billed as a 24-hour event, Ric said it really only lasted 14 hours, split over two days; but they each got in over 4 hours of track time.  They had a blast!  I don’t know whether that will help Ric do better in his Formula Ford, but it clearly has Reid thinking about getting his own SCCA competition license.  More power to ya, Reid!

We didn’t really have a business meeting since there wasn’t much new business at the last Board meeting.  We are about $5K ahead of where we were at this time last year, and it looks like we will need every nickel unless the entries for the 13-8 hour Halloween Enduro pick up.  But the competition for the overall win at that event could be fierce.   Local pro Jim Taggart has entered his factory-built Porsche GT3 race car, and the driver’s list includes Tom Long, Randy Pobst, and Jim Stout.  They’ll be up against at least one Superlite coupe out of Maryland. It’s not the same one as last year, so who knows whether there might be two. Should be exciting!

And it might even be exciting to talk about when it’s all over.  Why not join us for the next Triangle Chapter meeting, Wednesday, November 4th and find out?  I’ll see you there . . . or at the races!

James Shanks, Triangle Chapter Coordinator

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