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Star Spangled Race Meet
by Paul Bredenberg
Requests have been made to show the final results before the race report, so I'll provide that information first. Results of the CARC Main Event: 95, 20, 09, 55, 55, 24, 34, 87, 54, 12, 45, 33, 21.
The first of two race meets at Colorado National Speedway to celebrate the July 4th holiday included the CARC Mod Coupes, on Saturday July 3rd. A short but competitive field of twelve cars made their appearance. CNS policy calls for a field of at least 14 cars for a complete evening's show, and since there were only 12 cars, the Club was relegated to running a Main Event only, with no qualifying heats. This makes for a crap-shoot for car setup, as there is generally four hours or so between final hot laps and the Main. As I spoke to most of the drivers, they felt somewhat confident that their setups were going to be okay for the race. The weather was unsettled, as the day started out sunny and hot, but building clouds and rain the previous Friday set the stage for the possibility of more of the same. We were seeing clouds appearing and breezy conditions. The advertised fireworks display brought out a near-sellout crowd to the CNS grandstands.
Cris Muhler, representing the CARC with the #95 coupe, has been on a tear lately and started out the evening by winning the first truck heat. Speaking with him in the pits afterwards, he told me that he is SO glad to be racing with the CARC, and how pleased he is that the Club has accepted him quickly as a new member. He sees none of that "good 'ol boy network" attitude that is found in some other groups, and has been telling other racers about it. He said that Mod Coupe racing has brought the fun back into racing for him and he'd rather race a coupe than any other class of car at CNS. That being said, he also told me that he will be missing next Saturday's race at Pueblo due to a scheduling conflict; he'll be racing a motorcycle instead. I shudder at the thought (Google Dirk Piz).
Waiting on the pit side grandstand waiting for the circle drags to be over and the CARC Main to start, I noticed dark clouds building on the fringes of the Speedway but felt confident that we would get our Main in regardless. I was predicting good things for Gary Land in the #55 coupe, as he still hasn't been able to buy a break. He had a right rear punctured in hot laps and replaced it with a new sticker tire which hadn't been scrubbed in yet. He was a little apprehensive about that. Carl Vair's #45 has had its front axle reinstalled correctly and he said the car felt good. Starting from the front row, we'll get a good look at how good it is! Chet Graham felt secure in the handling of his #33, as well. It was good to greet Gentleman Joe Lehman Saturday; I parked right behind him in the pit parking lot. That's the first time I've seen him this season. A GREAT race driver in his day. Theron Bredeson had pictures of my old car, which has now been repainted and relettered as #41 for Bill Kolb to run later this season. Just as soon as a powerplant is done, BK will be in the car, probably next month. Good looking car, but somehow I think it was better as silver #7. . . .
Wind shifted from southerly to easterly and finally southeasterly. Gotta love Colorado. Few spots of rain just before the cars exited the pits, but that cleared up quickly with no delay. The cars lined up at about 7:15pm in this order: Carl Vair (#45), Cory Gordon (#21), Cris Muhler (#95), Chet Graham (#33), Jaime Bubak (#12), Rich Bubak (#20), Joe James, Jr. (#54), Gary Land (#55), Joe St. Peter (#87), Chad Guilford (#24), Frankie Denning III (#09), and Bryan Gossel (#34). It looked like it was going to be a tight field, and I was praying for a race where all competitors would finish in one piece, not just to keep our car count reasonable, but because I hate to see the expense of repairs and the possibility of injury.
At the drop of the green flag, Cory Gordon leaped into the first lead. It looked right away that JSP in #87 was having a problem and he dropped back quickly. It was great to see Carl Vair become aggressive and fight not only keep second, but charge back after Gordon. Cory held the point as long as he could. It looked like Muhler was a little too loose, as the rear end started to break loose, but he pulled it in and straightened her out. On lap two, Joe James came up on Chet Graham a little faster than he had expected to, and the result was a shower of sparks and the front nerfer of the 54 car went flying down the back stretch sans car. No other damage was visible to either car, and after a short yellow to clean up the nerf and set the field, we were back to green.
The first thing I noted was that Muhler looked like he was dirt-tracking the asphalt track. I know: a loose car is a fast car, but this looked a bit much for Cris to handle. The field was looking really good at speed, but especially Vair, who was driving has hard as I've ever seen him drive. His car looked perfectly neutral and he was really after it. I noticed a little farther back that 3D was driving a patient race, and I thought this was a good thing, noting his starting spot towards the rear of the field. I knew he'd have time to get up to the front during the 25 laps. In the meantime, Muhler had figured out how to adjust his driving style and broke into the lead, with Rich Bubak's #20 passing Vair into second on the next lap. Denning was moving up on the outside. It looked for a short while that the 20 car was gaining on Muhler, but after a couple more laps, it was evident that Muhler had it handled, at least for now. It was also apparent that Graham's car wasn't doing what he wanted it to and he fell through the field into the final spot. By lap nine, 3D had broken out of the pack and was alone in third, trying to chase down Rich. Joe James was desperately trying to find a way around Joe St. Peter, to no avail. It looked to me that JJJ had a somewhat tight condition.
Overlapping didn't start until lap 17, when Graham had to give up a lap to Muhler. That's a tight field for the CARC, though. I just wish we can get more cars. Then on lap 19 came the moment I had feared. Coming out of turn two, Cory Gordon felt it was time to pass Jaime Bubak, this time on the outside. It looked like it would be a quick, clean pass, but Jaime drifted up into Cory's lane. I don't know if she didn't know if he was there, or thought she had given him enough room, but despite an extraordinary attempt to keep the car going forward, Cory was not able to put it right. He was just going too fast and didn't have enough straightaway left! I really thought he would catch it, as the car wobbled to the right, to the left, and finally the back end snapped around and the car backed into the turn 3 wall HARD with the left rear, followed by the left front. Sadly, for the third time in three race meets, Cory's #21 Vicky was taken to the pits on the flatbed tow truck. I felt so bad for Cory, especially since he had made such a valiant effort to correct the car's trajectory. Once the car hit the marbles, Cory was pretty much just along for the ride. It was not the finish Cory deserved this night, as he was driving cleanly and carefully.
After a long cleanup period, the field was reset and restarted. Muhler was really looking good by this point, and either his style was working with the car or the car had settled in, he was looking neutral and very fast. The yellow might have been the big break for Rich Bubak or Frank Denning, but Vair was looking very comfortable running in a lonely third place. I was impressed that he was maintaining it. The field was backed up to lap 18 for the restart and I noticed that by this time there was a fairly hard wind blowing out of the south, where dark clouds were making their home. On the backstretch after taking the green, I suddenly saw sparks and dust, as Vair had gotten almost sideways on the inside lane. Gary Land used almost all of his immense talent and experience to avoid clobbering the red coupe from behind, just clipping the left kickoff bar. Carl had just added sideplates to his kickoffs and this part got folded back about 180 degrees and was barely scraping the left rear tire. It didn't look like there was any more damage, and the field reset for another restart. Bubak's #20 had gotten a great start and was just starting to pull ahead of Muhler when the yellow had come out. Vair was sadly (but correctly) put to the rear of the field. Poor Carl, like Gary, just can't get a break this year. . .
Since we had to restart lap 18, Muhler had the point and chose the outside lane on the two-by-two restart, followed by Bubak, Denning, and Land. Muhler got a great jump on Bubak, who admitted to me later that he had messed up that restart, and streaked off into the distance. I was wondering if 3D might have something for Muhler, but Cris had everybody covered safely. Bubak had fallen into the clutches of Gary Land, but fought him off. Suddenly, Gossel, who had been quietly moving up all evening, was outside of Denning, and I thought Bryan might pull off that pass, but it looked like that woke Frankie up, and he not only kept ahead of Gossel, but opened up a gap. Vair, in the meantime, dropped to the bottom of the field, going very slowly for about a half a lap, then suddenly picked speed back up and went after the quickly-disappearing group. He had a vibration, and his spotter thought he might be losing a tire. When that proved wrong, Carl picked the pace back up. Joe James was still trying to make his way around JSP, first on the outside, then the inside, then back to the outside. This had been going on the entire race, much to JJJ's frustration. It hadn't been a happy race for him in any regard. Chad Guilford was running a quiet and lonely race into fifth.
With all that drama behind us, the final few laps ran out with Muhler firmly in control. Bubak maintained his second place to the checkers and Denning eked out a slightly larger point lead over Land by taking third ahead of him. Muhler showed once again that he's an immensely gifted driver, and accentuated that point by also winning the truck main event later in the evening. He's also a friendly and modest winner; and an asset to the CARC. In Victory Circle, he gave a shout out to the Club and let the fans know that we're a friendly bunch, as well. Needless to say, in the pits there were emotions running high and a few crew members let their feelings be heard. I would suggest that the drivers need to handle it themselves, guys! Talking with Cory and Dennis Gordon, it looks like their season may be over. The quickchange rear axle housing on the 21 car was broken completely in half, and it looked like another $3,000 repair, which Dennis says may not be in the budget. If you have a good used quickchange, get a hold of Dennis, as I'd hate to see us lose Cory for the season. I'm afraid the front end got hurt pretty badly, too. When approaching Rich Bubak's pit, I arrived just in time to see him taping "For Sale" signs on Jaime's #12 coupe. It looks like Jaime doesn't have the heart to continue this season. I sincerely hope that this decision is one made in haste under the duress of emotion and she'll change her mind, but Rich sounded pretty firm. It was obvious that Jaime took the events of the evening pretty hard. I would say it's a racing incident, but nobody can see it from her perspective but her.
So we head to Pueblo's I-25 Speedway for next Saturday's race on the 10th. I will not be there as I have to attend a wedding in beautiful downtown Akron, Colorado, but I have some spotters taking notes and I'll collate them for my report next week. It sounds like it will be a short field for the trip south, as Vair, Gordon, Jaime, and Guilford have told me that they won't be there. Here's hoping for a successful race meet! |
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