Never had that fake chicane on the back straight when I raced there, but I never raced in anything even half as fast as a GTP car. OTOH..the heat is real. In SCCA, we used to call our summer points race there the "July Fry". Southern heat combined with the radiation from that concrete bowl was brutal.
Anyhow, GTP went there. Klaus Ludwig 'blows up real good' in the Probe, not long after Ken Squire says Ford may be challenging Porsche domination. After that, a lil' Stuck vs. Bell. Yeah, GTP ain't Gp.C. Here in the US, they weren't team-mates! Coke vs. Lowenbrau..at the time, I had both in my cooler.
Derek finally gets around Hans Jr. And then the motor dies. I'm watching the Dyson car, though. Humans aren't the only things feeling the heat -- with that kind of track & tire temps, Drake Olsen is drifting a 962, y'all.
One Busby 962 retires, the other continues to provide great onboard video of John Morton and Darrin Brassfield.
Hendricks' Vette comes on strong, but eventually breaks. Doc & Sarel could drive, they actually won at Road Atlanta earlier in the year. Kinda broke my heart to see it limping around without boost for the last few laps. In the end, Team Dyson brings it home, and Price & Drake talk about how great cool suits are, if you bother to put on the vest.
Weird thing about the Charlotte road course: First time I went over there as a turn marshal, it scared me to death that they just moved part of the NASCAR pit wall, and pinned back some gates in the fence to let road racers into the infield. First time I ever saw it from the inside of a car, I was surprised at how "big" that hole was. Yeah, putting on a helmet changes the way you think.
As always, my lazy ass doesn't edit out the ads. Enjoy the '80s goodness! I love the Dodge stuff, but IMO the Gillette things are so stupid.
Apologies in advance for the poor editing..the source tape is in really bad shape, and it took me about three passes in Roxio to get it all. I felt I had to do it, though. This one's another from my dead friends' collection. I don't see them in this one, but I'll bet they were working a turn at it. Charlotte's not far from Knoxville.
From the collection of Jacob W. and M. Vivian Shoemaker.
22 май 2016
