Our race weekend was generally a very good one.   We clinched the Historic Enduro Championship, the IMSA Historic GT Championship and the World Com Dash Championship..Not Bad.  

The Harrington Report on the Weekend Follows:

  Change has come to Roebling Road! I know it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but timing and scoring is now located at the start/finish line, not halfway around the track. The system is not perfect yet, there were problems with the computer in T&S communicating with the printer in the paddock, but John Mitchell did a great job running results back and forth, and it will put an end to the confusion of who was ahead at the checker in those close finishes. Another change from the norm this weekend, had Tom Hardy filling in for Charlie Earwood as Chief Steward. Tom did a great job all weekend, keeping things running smoothly and on schedule.

Friday, when the cars took to the track for the first race of the weekend, the Klub Sport Porsche Challenge, it was hot and dry, contrary to the Weather Channel’s prediction of doom and gloom from tropical storm Isadore. In fact it was so humid, when I stepped out of my car, my glasses steamed up! As always this was a tight race right from the get go. The first time past John Harrold, ’72 914, had the lead with Terry Wolters, ’70 914, and Bill Riddell` ’70 914/6, hot pursuit. Next time around, Riddell had the lead with Harrold second and Wolters still third. The next change at the top came on lap five when Harrold had a "moment" dropping him back to eleventh, moving Wolters into second and John Hayt’s ’70 914/6 GT into third. Hayt only held the position for a lap though, as a lap later Bert Flagg was by him to take over the spot. At the top Riddell and Wolters had been running nose to tail with Wolters taking over the lead on lap eight. Riddell wasn’t giving up though, and on the tenth and final lap he retook the lead and held it to take the win with Wolters right behind him and Flagg just a second behind the top two, a great, close finish. After the day’s on track activities concluded a wine and cheese welcome party was held at the "Toad Hall" Racing Team’s enclosure hosted by HSR and Peter Kitchak/Toad Hall.

Saturday, and once again the weather forecast was wrong, as sunny blue skies greeted us instead of the threatened showers and thunder showers. While qualifying session’s and races occupied most of the days schedule, the afternoon’s activities started with the first of the weekend’s Enduro’s, the Rolex Vintage Enduro. At the drop of the flag Lee Talbot’s very pretty ’65 Ginetta G4 took the lead, chased by David Donohue, ’74 Porsche 914/6 GTR, and Joe Sullivan/Ron Zitza in Sullivan’s ’70 Porsche 914/6. The second time by Terry Wolters, ’70 Porsche 914, had moved by the Sullivan/Zitza Porsche to take over third. A large group at the front continued to run nose to tail with lots of shuffling in the pack, but no changes in the leader board until lap six when Wolters moved up a step to second. The 914s were clearly faster than the Ginetta on the straights, but the Ginetta was defending the line and opening enough space to hold the lead until lap fifteen when Wolters came by in the lead, just ahead of Talbot. With Wolters showing how to do it, next time around Donohue had moved by the Ginetta to take over second. Wolters was the last of the top runners to make his pit stop and when he did make it, Donohue was in a position to take over the lead, with the Sullivan/Zitza second and Wolters rejoining in third. It began to look as if that was going to be the final result, but the Sullivan/Zitza team made a final effort taking the lead in the closing laps, and holding it to the checker. The Saturday Night Social, a barbecue sponsored by Lotus, was a great ending for the day.

Sunday, and if this was a baseball game, the weather forecaster would be out, but this time it was not in our favor. Instead of the sunny skies with cloudy periods predicted we awoke to very, very gray, very,very dull and very wet conditions. When the cars took to the track for the start of the Rolex Classic GT/Historic Enduro light rain was falling, but by quarter distance it was pouring. From the start the Peter Kitchak/D. Moore ’73 Porsche RSR, came splashing by in the lead with the Brad Blum/Ron Zitza ’70 Porsche 914/6, just behind him in the spray. Third overall and the first in the GT category, Eric Bretzel, ’72 Porsche 911, was being hotly pursued for division honors by the John Bourassa/Lance Stewart ,’73 Porsche 911 RS, and Lee Stack III’s 74 Porsche RSR IROC. Two laps later the Bourassa/Stewart team had moved by Bretzel to lead the Classic GT group with Stack moving up the next time around to now make the GT order, Bourassa/Stewart, Stack and Bretzel. Meanwhile in the Historic class, at the beginning of lap five, the Blum/Zitza crew pulled a daring maneuver in the appalling conditions, out braking Kitchak going into corner one, passing him on the inside and taking the overall lead. The Blum/Zitza car then proceeded to draw away, opening up a comfortable margin and only relinquishing the lead while making their pit stop. Rounding out the top three Historic cars was Joe Hill’s ’79 Mazda RX7. In the GT class David Gressette’s ’84 Porsche 911 was up as high as third during the pit stops, but when they were all completed, Bretzel was second overall, and leading the GT Category , the Bourassa/Stewart team were next and Bob Snodgrass and Hurley Haywood in the Brumos ’70 Porsche 914/6 GTR were now third GT car. The Snodgrass/Haywood team were on the move now and with three laps left, passed the Bourassa/Stewart car, opening up a slight margin at the checker. The order at the end was : Historic; Blum/Zitza, Kitchak/Moore, Hill, Classic GT; Bretzel, Snodgrass/Haywood, Bourassa/Stewart.

The rain had mercifully stopped in time for the Porsche 914 feature race but the track was still wet. Brad Blum, 70 914/6, had obviously found the quick way around in the wet during the Enduro, took the lead at the drop of the flag and was never challenged. Behind him, Catesby Jones and Joe Sullivan, both also in ’70 914/6’s were second and third. Jones managed to hold second from flag to flag, but third was where the action was. Sullivan held the spot for two laps and when then passed by Bill Riddell’s ’70 914/6. Charles Gault, in yet another ’70 914/6 had started sixth but was now nipping at the back of Sullivan’s car. He chased him for three more laps before finally making his move and getting by. Once past he held the position, just holding off a challenge of the first of the four cylinder cars, Cliff Berry’s ’72 914/4. The track was still wet, but dry spots were starting to appear for the Group 2 race, the first of the WorldCom Dash races. At the end of the first lap it was, surprise, Keith Denahan’s green ’64 Porsche 356, leading Charles Huneycutt’s ’62 Lotus Super 7, and John Schrecker’s ’64 Porsche 356 SC. 356 Porsches just don’t generally lead Lotus Super 7’s at Roebling Road! Denahan held off the Lotus for four laps, but once by, on the drying track, the Lotus began opening up a lead. The lap times were coming down now and Shrecker was under serious pressure from Tim Baker’s ’62 Porsche 356. Baker passed Schrecker on lap eight, but on the fourteenth and penultimate lap, Schrecker reclaimed the position holding it by the slimmest of margins at the checker. Only .4 of a second separated second, third and fourth at the end of the fifteen lap race.

The line was mostly dry for the start of the WorldCom Group 3 Dash, but if you went off line, you were in trouble. As expected, Bob Wagner, ’66 Lotus 23C had the lead from the start, with a surprising strong challenge from Joe Sullivan Jr.’s ’71 Porsche 914/6 and Bill Riddell’s ’70 Porsche 914/6. On lap three Sullivan hit one of the wet spots, bobbled and was back to fifth. Riddell was up to second, right on the Lotus tailpipe with Peter Kitchak’s ’69 Porsche 911 third. Next time around Kitchak was slowing, heading for the pits and Catesby Jones, ’70 Porsche 914/6, took over third. The following lap Riddell was by Wagner and apparently drawing away. Just when it looked like Riddell had a comfortable lead Wagner very noticeably sped up closing the gap lap after lap. On the start of the last lap Wagner came by start/finish right on the Porsches tail, out braking him in turn one and took the lead, holding it to the end. In the winner’s circle after the race Wagner said it took him until the closing part of the race to have confidence the track was dry enough to put down the power. The Group 5 WorldCom Dash was a classic Porsche - Jaguar battle with a Cobra sitting behind waiting to strike if either made a mistake. Lee Stack III, ’74 Porsche RSR IROC, took the lead from the drop of the flag with Larry Ligas, ’61 Jaguar XKE and Howard Turner, ’65 Cobra pushing hard into corner one. Stack and Ligas were marginally quicker then Turner, but Ligas was pushing really hard, the E-type almost sideways coming out of corner three. Ligas found a way by on lap three and once in front, used the Jag’s power on the straights to keep the lead. A great drive and a great race! The last WorldCom Dash of the weekend, for Groups 6, 8 & 9, Bill Smith, ’87 Dodge Daytona, took the lead from the start and was never seriously challenged. Peter Kitchak had a secure grip on second in his ’73 Porsche RSR, with David Gressette’s ‘84 Porsche 911 rounding out the top three.

This was a weekend all about track time, with some competitors being on track so much, they ran out of gas. For those who never get enough racing though, Jack Lewis had added an Index of Performance Race with a handicapped staggered start based on lap times. Theoretically everyone should cross the finish line at the same time. It was great fun trying to guess how close the handicaps would be and at the same time it was great racing. The car with the "base" time had to pit with a loose plug wire, but the others could not see it sitting behind pit wall, so they were pushing hard, wondering why they were not catching it. At the flag Jack’s calculations were very close indeed, with David Gressette’s ’84 Porsche 911 taking the checker .071 of a second ahead of Bob Wagner in the ’66 Lotus 23C. George Siegel’s ’70 Firebird Trans Am rounded out the top three. Had it not been for the pit stop, the base car, Larry Ligas’ ’59 Sprite would also have been very close at the flag.

The 2002 Racing Season is rapidly drawing to a close with one event left on the HSR schedule, but it is a biggy, the Daytona Continentals, October 31 to November 3. With series finales, and year end presentations it promises to be a great event. See you there!!