| Dawn breaks... |  |
| Second Strike salutes the special kids at Thompson Children's Home in Charlotte to whom the event was dedicated. |  |
| Getting ready for the day in the NASCAR garage. This is hallowed ground. |  |
| The
instruction started early on the Figure-8...
(The Millers took "Greatest Distance - Driving" honors for driving up from their vacation home in Florida. With all that practice, you wouldn't think extra instruction was necessary.) |
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| And it continued... |  |
| And it
continued...
What I heard was, "If you do good, you will get a 'special' reward". |
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| Some folks just can't wait! |  |
| Do I want to go fast... |  |
| Or have fun... |  |
| Bob gives Teddy some instruction. |  |
| Angie gives nauseous Teddy comfort! |  |
| Scott Bigham took FTD (fastest time of the day) in Autocross on Saturday and overall for the event. |  |
| Steve Niebauer
took FTD in autocross on Sunday. He also won the award for most
miles in the past year. SP1116 is a little over a year old and has
20,000+ miles.
That's Steve's car with Amanda driving in the Figure-8. |
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| Carol "Ma" Barker took FTD in autocross for the ladies. |  |
| Amanda
Niebauer at the wheel on the NASCAR banked oval.
Amanda took second in Autocross for the ladies. She also took the "Where were the girls like this when I was a teenager" award. |
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| Lowe's Motor
Speedway. Felt by many to be the best motor sports facility in the
world.
The Track Event was held on the infield oval portion of the road course. The 0.7 mile track (dotted line) has 8 turns and a short 100 mph straight. Average speed for the fleet of foot was a quick 60 mph. |
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| At the end of the straight are a series of three increasingly tighter right hand turns. The last right and the following left provided the greatest "entertainment" for the fans. |  |
| The excellent
staff of instructors provided in car instruction to all who requested
it. Here Bob Olthoff shows Charles Mansfield the correct line
through this challenging turn.
Charles is showing Bob how fear can enable an ordinary man to poke grip holes in the dashboard with his bare hands. After changing his Depends, he was good as new. |
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| Thrill seeker Mari Mansfield signed up for the "Richard Petty Driving Experience" - three hot laps around the banked oval in a NASCAR stocker at speed. She then left the event for a while and came back with a fresh set of clothes. What a fashion plate! |  |
| Chris Copple
shows good form here. Note that the outside tires are well planted
and the inside tires are just skimming the track.
Later in the day a deep off track penetration into the tall grass won him the "Greatest Agricultural Accumulation" award. With a little water and fertilizer, he could have started a turf farm on the hood and trunk lid. Hal and Chris have 40,000+ miles on SP672. |
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| Nobody can
push the envelope of adhesion like Dennis Olthoff. This time it gave him
the opportunity to push a broom as well - removing his spin residue from
the track.
Dennis went home with the "Golden Broom" award for his efforts. |
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| "Best Rig" went to Bob Davis |  |
| "Greatest
Distance - Towing" went to Steve Hamm from Edina, Minnesota!!
Alas, when I went to take his picture, Scott Sommer from Bristol, Wisconsin drove in front of him and blocked the shot. But what the heck. Wisconsin is just about as far away. |
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| Three of the 14 registered 427 CID 351's have a family meeting in the NASCAR garage. |  |
| Bob and Diana Walker set the style with matched driving suits... |
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| ... and set the standard for honesty in license plates. |  |
| Sunday started
with several parade laps around the NASCAR banked oval.
The red, white, and blue cars on the front row all have Willment stripes and are about the only cars that do. Red- Bob Jordan SP181 |
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| Well Pat, is it steep? |  |
| NASCAR Turn 4
at speed
(Photo by Pat Stenhouse hanging off the back and really talking about it! I mean a lot! And loud!) |
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| Snakes in the mist... |  |