Issue No. 509

13 September 2023

Red Rover, Red Rover Let SOVREN Come Over

Abbreviation Listing - To ensure all who read the enews know what the abbreviations used in the enews mean, a list is provided at the end of the enews. Reminds me of the T-shirt with the meaning of the flags in which the definition of the blue flag is "There's a race going on and you're not in it."

In This Week's Enews

• The Rant
• Title - SOVREN races whilst the All British Field Meet draws a big crowd
• Racing News - Coming up this weekend, Conference championship at Mission and SCCA at Portland plus a little recap from last weekend
• Other News -

1. Benjamin Pedersen at speed at PIR
2. Andy visits Dobson Stuttgart and Prova Motorsports
3. It's Like This Cat

• Racing Humor of the Week - That face
• Lulu gets the last word

Opening Rant

Isn't it great when you are anticipating something that will be annoying and it doesn't happen as you thought. At issue here is the lane closure on I5 at about milepost 20 over the bridge. There was talk all weekend in the paddock at Portland about how long the backup going North on Sunday night following SOVREN's Columbia River Classic at PIR. On the way down South on Friday, the back up was about 2 miles at 9:30 in the morning and at 11 am the backup was about 5 miles. Many were anticipating the worst on Sunday night.

Great news, the backup was minimal and for us it was less than a 5 minute delay! Hurray. Isn't it frustrating when there is a known delay and there is nothing you can do about it. Uhug! I heard this weekend they are going to work on the I90 bridge over the Columbia River next year and the project is going to take 3 years to complete. Of course as one of the thousands who survived the nearly 15 years of work on I5 at/around the Tacoma Dome, I can tolerate much. Still it is hard knowing that there are few if any options to get you through a construction site. Better than an accident though as you don't know how long it will take you to get through and what kind of delays to expect.

Welp I don't want this rant to segue into my standard rant about road construction in general. It is tough to accept that some project just take a long time to complete. They can build a football stadium that seats 80,000 fans in less than two years and a highway project that is way less complex takes 8 years. Oh I suppose it is like the mechanic complaining to the heart surgeon whose Porsche he is working on. "You are a heart surgeon and make 100 times more money than I do working on your Porsche. Still I have to be very skilled, know a tremendous amount of knowledge about mechanics, hydraulics and electronics to replace your pistons or valves. In fact I know more about your Porsche than you'll ever know and you can't troubleshoot or fix your car. What makes you worth so much more money?" The heart surgeon just shrugged and replied, "Try replacing the pistons on the Porsche with the car still running."

As I look ahead, we'll only have to go over the I5 bridge construction 2 more times this racing season and those will be Sunday morning after the Cascade Enduro and the Howl-O-Ween LuckyDog race. Next will be how they work through the construction in Fife where Highway 167 will be joined in. Already there are delays and it will get worse before it gets better. Hey at least now I can text while stuck in traffic. Hey everyone else is so I might as well join them. OK let's get on with it.

Title

One of my favorite games at elementary school PE was Red, Rover, Red Rover. You know the game where two teams hold hands and then call a person on the other team to come running over and try to break thought the line. If you couldn't break through then that person stayed on the winning side, if they broke through they went back to their team along with a player from the opposing side. Oooh, I was good at that game because it was all about knowing who to call over that was weak and then which place to try and break through where you thought the other team was weakest. I'm betting this game is banned from schools today for being too violent.

OK OK Andy this is a racing enews not a commentary of your childhood. Get on with it. Sheez are you readers strict. The title is all about the SOVREN Columbia River Classic race this weekend at PIR and held in conjunction with the All British Field Meet whose featured marque this year was the Land Rover (not Red Rover). Now do you see the connection? Sheakers.

There were a lot of Land Rovers. Here's a pic of just a few of them.

A few of the Land Rovers at the ABFM

Oh you want more OK here's another pic.

More Land Rovers

Here's a great one -

Land Rover named "Andy"

I don't know if I should be honored or embarrassed. Well you get the idea, there were a lot of Land Rovers. Oooh I learned why most Rovers have tents on top. So that the owners have a place to sleep while they are waiting for the repair guy to show up.

As it was the ABFM, there were other marques there as well. Check out these XKE Jaguars.

XKE Jaguars at the ABFM

And then there were Lotus's too. I'm sorry that I don't know all the models of Lotus's yet I wanted to share a few interesting ones. I've always wanted a Lotus Esprit black and gold John Player Special. Didn't see one this year and did see this Lotus -

Black and Gold John Player Special appearing Lotus.

Then there was this highly modified Lotus.

Note the driver position is in the middle of the car.

The owner of this car came by and made a purchase and talked about autocrossing the car out at Oregon Raceway Park. The group is called NW Autosports Association and they do a lot of events. Here's a link so you can check them out NWAutoX

This car was so different perhaps you'd like to see another pic.

Another view of this uniquely modified Lotus

As we are talking about unusual cars there was a beautiful 3-wheeled Morgan.

Three wheeled Morgan.

And lastly this Mini Cooper modified to all electric.

All electric Mini Cooper

There were all the traditional British cars there too from Mini woody wagons (another of my favorites) to MGs, Austin Healey, Triumphs, and on and on. I only spent about 45 minutes cruising and looking at cars and could easily spent several hours. On a personal note, once again my long time Bremerton Sports Car Club friends dating back to the 1970's Mark Nast and Lee Bradley were there along with Lee's significant other (who I'm ashamed to admit I don't remember her name). Mark lives down in Gold Beach, OR and Lee in Kingston, WA. Mark has an MG GT that he autocrosses at the ABFM.

Speaking of friends, and autocrossing my long time friends Susan and Ken Richens were there and Ken autocrossed his Lotus Elise and got top time of the day. Take that ABFM regulars. Way to go Kenny.

Lee Bradley, his friend, embarrassed Armadillo Andy for not remembering Lee's friend's name, Mark Nast and Armadillo Ana.

Next year you should plan to come down to the Columbia River Classic for SOVREN Racing and the ABFM.

What you mean there was SOVREN racing too? Oh yes and beautiful weather for it too, sunny and warm. The car count was down a bit due in part to a conflicting raced in Northern California and the lack of a noise variance requiring everyone to be at or under 103 Db. There was a round of the Emerald Cup for Formula Fords. Per organizer Mike Nau the winners were Club Ford 1st Quinn Posner, 2nd Russ Werner and 3rd Mel Kemper. In Historic Ford it was 1st Mark Smith, 2nd Bob Posner, and 3rd Dan Morrison. In total there were 16 cars, quite a group.

Meanwhile Stephen Newby reported the huge success of the Sprite Midget Challenge where there were 13 cars and 12 finishers. 1st overall Bill Okell, 2nd Stephen Newby, and 3rd Jeff Tupholme. All three are/were Canadians which is very suspicious.

An interesting note is that former SCCA National Champion and member of the SCCA Hall of Fame, Cat Kizer, was at PIR testing on Thursday and when invited to run in the Sprite Midget Challenge said "Yes." A quick internet search on Cat revealed this -

"During the 1979 season, Cat won four races. At the Mid-Ohio Bonus National sponsored by Red Roof Inns, she became the first woman to win a race in the track’s history and posted a lap record during the race. Cat won the 1979 Central Division Championship to qualify for the Runoffs.

Once there, Cat answered destiny’s call and became the first woman to win the SCCA Runoffs. An inspiring drive from 8th on the grid to take command of the race on lap four and win by a mere 0.162 seconds over a field that included four previous national champs, earned Cat the prestigious SCCA President's Cup award."

Not surprising Cat won the "B" class in her Midget and was awarded the British Cup for the best drive/British car. The cup is sponsored by Victory Lane Magazine and winning it is a real honor. Way to go Cat. It is hoped she will become a regular racing with SOVREN. Sadly I didn't learn about her presence until today whilst writing about the CRC. You will note that I used the term "whilst" to keep the British and Canadian readers appeased.

While the overall car count may have been a bit low, the event was outstanding and everyone enjoyed good racing and good weather. Plus all were able to enjoy the cars of the ABFM.

Racing News

By September I'm getting a bit worn out, mostly from all the trips up and down I5 to Portland. Nearly half the events we service are at PIR. Still the season still has some great events going on and coming up.

First, whilst SOVREN and all the British cars were at PIR, the LuckyDog Racing League was at the Ridge Motorsports Park. As of this time, I don't have anything to report. Based on the number of people who called looking for parts, I think and hope that the event was a good one and that the Monsters from Green Hell (aka the hornets, yellow jackets and bees) weren't as bad as a few weeks ago.

This weekend is a double feature which as you loyal readers know I don't like. The Sports Car Club of British Columbia is hosting the final round of the Conference 2023 Championship series. A quick look on Motorsportsreg shows nearly 100 entries so it should be a great racing weekend at Mission in Canada. You should head on up and race, volunteer or watch.

Also this weekend is an Oregon Region SCCA double regional at PIR. Running with them is the new NW Ground Pounders Challenge for stock cars and big bore cars over 3 liters. This group will also have their season ending championship at the Pacific Raceways Invitational. So if you are in the Portland area and wanna see some road racing come on out.

Looking ahead just one week, SOVREN will be hosting the Fall Finale. If you haven't registered to race or volunteer yet, there is still plenty of time. Just go to motorsportsreg and get 'er done.

Other News

* Just today ace photog Armadillo Brady Cooper, sent me a photo he took at PIR of Benjamin Pederson in his AJ Foyt IndyCar. Thought you might like to see it so here 'tis.

Benjamin Pedersen at PIR in his AJ Foyt racing #55 IndyCar.

After a tough season with the only highlight being Indy 500 Rookie of the year and qualifying 11th for the 500, Benjamin ended well at the final race with a 16th place finish last week at Laguna Seca. Here's to a better season next year.

* Today I was delivering Renegade 110+ racing fuel to Dobson Stuttgart in the Magnolia area of Seattle. They are preparing a Porsche for the upcoming Porsche Rennsport event at Laguna Seca at the end of September. Here is the car -

Porsche heading to Laguna Seca

A couple of things to note. This car raced in IMSA when it was called SportsCar. Note in the front of the car under the "S1" there are Exxon logos as Exxon was the official fuel of the series. All the fuels was created and serviced by ERC Racing Fuel that Armadillo Racing represented here in the NW for over 35 years until Mr. ERC, Rick Gold passed away. Great memories when I saw the car today.

The car and other Porsches are maintained at Dobson Stuttgart by owner Dominic Dobson. Dominic has raced all kinds of cars and ran 7 times at the Indy500 with his best finish 12th. He raced LeMans, Sebring and so many other tracks. Here's a pic of Dominic and I today in his beautiful shop in Magnolia.

A selfie with Dominic Dobson, owner of Dobson Stuttgart and former professional racer

Since Dobson Stuttgart is right near Prova Motorsports, I dropped in to see my good friend and owner Chris Benny. Leave me tell you about Chris. He is an Alfa Romeo guru and has the finest alignment shop anywhere in the NW. Lest you think I'm jesting, the Rohr Porsche that is heading to Laguna for the Porsche Rennsport will first get filled with Renegade 110+ leaded racing fuel, then go directly to Prova for an alignment. Chris also does all the alignments for Goodman racing and their phenomenal collection of race cars. The next time you need your race car aligned, call Prova Motorsports and you will cared for by Chris and his staff.

* I recently found an old book that I read when I was about 11 years old called It's Like This Cat. The story is about a 14 year old boy who lives in New York City and gets a stray cat that he names "Cat" because it is. Won an award or two for children's books. After a quick read to relax and enjoy a book from my youth, I've picked up one of the many racing books on my "to read list." This one is Jeff Gordon His Dream, Drive and Destiny by Joe Garner. I want to share just one quote -

“Every race he (Jeff Gordon) was learning something. You’re forever facing that challenge, whether it’s making the car better or understanding what you can do better as a driver……In racing, it’s what separates the champions from the also-rans.” Tom Cruise, Actor, in the forward to Jeff Gordon’s biography.

It seems I'm always stressing to each of you that to be successful in racing you must get smarter. Take every opportunity to learn something new. The Bible tells us that the smartest man ever was Solomon who asked God for wisdom not riches. So take a few minutes every day and learn something about racing and while you many never be a champion, you will have more fun each time you race and you will improve your lap times, speed and car reliability.

This is a lead in for our soon to be announced 29th annual High Performance Racing Seminar that will be held February 10, 2024 and it will be a live event. Details to follow soon.

Racing Humor of the Week

The End

Thank you to all who came by to say how much you enjoy the enews. Every issue I'm thinking what I can do to provide value, and entertainment to our readers. When you make an effort to tell me you read the enews each week and that you get something from it, I am thrilled and that is what keeps me going.

OK not the only thing that keeps me going. Texas beat Alabama 34-24 last Saturday in Tuscaloosa, AL. HA! You didn't think I wasn't going to mention that did you? Hook 'em Horns and to all those who don't like 'Bama, you are welcome.

Tune in next week when we hear Lulu say, "Does Prova do back alignments? I need mine adjusted by an expert."

Abbreviation Listing

1. ABFM - All British Field Meet
2. AL - Post Office abbreviation for the state of Alabama
3. CRC - Columbia River Classic
4. ERC - Engine Research Company
5. IMSA - International Motor Sports Association
6. IRDC - International Race Drivers Club
7. NW - Northwest
8. PE - Physical Education
9. PIR - Portland International Raceway
10. PNW - Pacific Northwest
11. PR - Pacific Raceways
12. PRI - Pacific Raceways Invitational
13. SCCA - Sports Car Club of America
14. SOVREN - Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiasts
15. OR - Post Office abbreviation for Oregon State

About Us

Armadillo Racing services the NW Racing community from our 28 ft. mobile showroom.  Information on products, a calendar of events and much more can be found on our website at www.armadilloracing.com. We hope you'll come visit. If you would like to email me directly you can just reply to this enews or write me at Andy@armadilloracing.com. We hope you'll come visit.