Heath Memorial -
Saturday morning greeted me
with blue skies and popcorn
clouds as I put new belts in the
B29 and prepped for the
evenings event at 5 Mile Point.
Thoughts of all the famous
drivers that carved their way
around the historic oval ran
through my head as I tinkered,
Rauch, Donahue, Diffendorf,
Akulis, Beagell, Cordes, on and
on. Many a great has driven
the point and tonight, we get
our shot once again, if you
can't get excited about racing
at a track like 5 Mile, you
shouldn't be racing. Dad calls
and then Jim Hilimire, we're
going to convoy which always
makes it fun, and draws a lot of
looks. As we pull onto Rte. 17 a
young fella in a Jeep asks with
a big smile, "hey, can we
borrow those?"
AHAHAHAHAHA, not a chance.
Thumbs up and smiles follow
us as we make our way to
Kirkwood and pull up to the
pit gate. Carl Nagel is signing
just ahead of us and shakes
hands with all as we wish each
other good luck. Across the
track we go and pit on the
backside, there isn't a bad seat
in the house and we look over
the revamped turns one and
two, lots more space but I'm
bettin' the fast way around is
still the bottom. The usual
suspects show up to race; Jim
Chase in the 2K, Gary Wood
with his #97 and a new engine,
Tom Witter with Tom Toomey's
#9, Larry and Howdy Witter
with their #4, Jim Hilimire and
his #99 and the Ackerman
Flatheads. It's a small, tightly
knit group, we get along well
and play well together, the
smiles and good natured
ribbing starts immediately. It's
truly a good time and I've
missed it over the winter.
The call comes for warmups
and the adrenaline starts
pumping, hey these new belts
are nice and strapping myself
into the car is like putting on
an old slipper. Red Shredder
fires up and the music is in my
head, it's like a pipe organ and
bellars out the sweetest song.
Onto the track and give a wave
to third turn flagger Ron
Doebler, the track is in good
shape but as I guessed, the
groove is still on the bottom.
And it's really the same, look
through the old pictures of
cars that ran the point and
you'll see screened in engine
and drivers compartments,
they knew what they were
doing. The green drops and my
smile widens as the roar of a
full race flathead fills my ears,
the car jumps at my command
and slides through the corners
as if in a ballet while I work the
wheel, it's a blast. And over
much too quickly, back in the
pits I'm greeted with toothy
grins and 'howz it runnin?'
Just fine. Dad's new camshaft
has woken up his engine,
Gary's pleased with his new
found horsepower and
everyone seems pleased with
the track, gonna be a good
night.
Sue Lowe has our lineup set
and is taking care of the
paperwork, thank god for her,
makes my job so much easier.
Before you know it we're lined
up for the heat and headed
back to the track. Howdy and
Jim Chase lead us to green
and all hell breaks loose as the
angry engines are given their
head. 5 Mile has always had
close competition, it's not a
horsepower track, you have to
handle there to make any
headway and it's great
equalizer, and a tough place to
pass. Howdy leads laps one
and two as we dice behind him
trying to gain advantage, there
are no slouches here. Chase
gains the advantage for laps
three and four but Howdy's
back to the point on lap 5. Tom
Witter is right there as well
and Dad's giving me a tough
time for fourth. The pack is so
tight that it worries me a bit,
one slip and we're all going to
wad it, nobody slips. It's really
a testament to the driving
ability of our club members, we
touch a few times but no-one
gets into each other hard. By
lap 6 I'm gettin' desperate and
take the high road around Tom
and Jim, Howdy's found the
high groove too which leaves
the bottom for me. That high
torque Jimmy is running and
I'm having difficulty getting
traction low but we pull even
going into the last lap. We
never touch and I slow it down
into three to stay low, off of
four and Howdy has the
advantage, punch it and pull
even at the flag. If ever there
was dead heat this was it, I
looked at the flag and thought
we were even, Howdy thought
so too and that's close enough
for me, Tom witter was third,
Chase 4th, Dad 5th, Rockola
6th and Gary Wood 7th, you
could've thrown a blanket over
the top 5.
OK, let's wrench. Rockola's
changing tires, Dad's looking
for the brake adjusting tool
and everyone's tinkering. I add
fuel. Rockola is giving up his
open faced helmet citing the
dreaded gritineyesitis that
afflicts many. Wimp. Gary's got
the pole for the feature and
looks ashen, we assure him
he'll do fine. The wind is
picking up a little and I don't
like the look of those clouds
but the cooler air sure wont
hurt that flathead. And we're
off again, Gary Wood leads laps
one and two, the first time I
think he's ever lead and he's
working it hard as we bunch
up behind him. Rockola takes
over on lap three figuring he's
ate enough grit tonight but
Gary hangs tough in 2nd while
Dad's got 3rd through lap 5.
Behind all this Chase, Tom
Witter, the B29 and Howdy are
all looking for racing room. By
lap 6 I decide to try it high into
one and just tick the wall, that
didn't work so well and I gather
it up. Chase is up to second
now and Howdy's third as Gary
pulls high in turn four and
takes Dad and me with him,
they're by like a freight train
on the bottom, now we really
got some work to do.
Shredder's up to it though and
I catch them going into three
on lap 7 and get to second with
three to go. Rockola's in sight
now and I'm gaining, hard into
one, what's that wet stuff
hitting me in that face,
temperatures good, it isn't
coming from my radiator, oh
brother...In a little hot and
sideways, this car never spins
out but does tonight as I can't
bring it back. Howdy moves to
second as Tom's engine starts
smoking heavily, and then let's
loose. Willy Wust called it
'tossin' the cookies' and Tom's
chevy has the affliction in
spades. Gather up the B29 and
now, it's raining pretty good.
OK, at least I know why it
spun, have to have a good
excuse right? The track's
getting to slippery and they
call it, too bad, I do believe it
would have been a whale of a
finish. Final: Rockola 99,
Witter 4, Chase 2K, Dad 43A,
B29, Witter 9, Wood 97.
Into the pits and now it's
pouring, get it on quick. No
matter, we're all getting soaked
as we help each other strap
them down. The rain let's up a
bit and Rockola's jawing with
me, "I was coming", "You'd have
never gotten me." He may be
right of course but then again..
Regardless, it was great time,
good for the soul and
something that I needed. We
want to thank the staff at 5
Mile Point for having us once
again, we sure enjoyed
ourselves.
Kudos and thanks to Sue Lowe
for helping us stay organized
all night. Members Jim
Florence, John Mason, and
Mike Newell for bringing their
show cars and conversing with
fans in the grandstand. Jim
brought his nice Ray Kennedy
#67 while John and Mike had
Chuck Akulis #40 and the Pink
Panther displayed. Wish I had
more time to talk with all of
them. Sue and Howdy also had
an announcement, they're
getting hitched this coming
May and we wish them all the
best. That makes the club one
up and one down in that
department as Nikki and I are
gettin' unhitched. I've held off
on saying anything until it was
official and only have to say
that it's been a cordial process.
She certainly did an awful lot
for our club as well as this site
and should be commended for
the job she did. Now, I'm
gonna pull a Forrest Gump
and relate, 'and that's all I got
to say about that.'
Next up is the Tioga County
Fair on the 7th for a full day of
displaying our cars, and then
the 'Legends of Penn Can' on
July 13th. Both should be a
good time, hope to see you
there.
Saturday morning greeted me
with blue skies and popcorn
clouds as I put new belts in the
B29 and prepped for the
evenings event at 5 Mile Point.
Thoughts of all the famous
drivers that carved their way
around the historic oval ran
through my head as I tinkered,
Rauch, Donahue, Diffendorf,
Akulis, Beagell, Cordes, on and
on. Many a great has driven
the point and tonight, we get
our shot once again, if you
can't get excited about racing
at a track like 5 Mile, you
shouldn't be racing. Dad calls
and then Jim Hilimire, we're
going to convoy which always
makes it fun, and draws a lot of
looks. As we pull onto Rte. 17 a
young fella in a Jeep asks with
a big smile, "hey, can we
borrow those?"
AHAHAHAHAHA, not a chance.
Thumbs up and smiles follow
us as we make our way to
Kirkwood and pull up to the
pit gate. Carl Nagel is signing
just ahead of us and shakes
hands with all as we wish each
other good luck. Across the
track we go and pit on the
backside, there isn't a bad seat
in the house and we look over
the revamped turns one and
two, lots more space but I'm
bettin' the fast way around is
still the bottom. The usual
suspects show up to race; Jim
Chase in the 2K, Gary Wood
with his #97 and a new engine,
Tom Witter with Tom Toomey's
#9, Larry and Howdy Witter
with their #4, Jim Hilimire and
his #99 and the Ackerman
Flatheads. It's a small, tightly
knit group, we get along well
and play well together, the
smiles and good natured
ribbing starts immediately. It's
truly a good time and I've
missed it over the winter.
The call comes for warmups
and the adrenaline starts
pumping, hey these new belts
are nice and strapping myself
into the car is like putting on
an old slipper. Red Shredder
fires up and the music is in my
head, it's like a pipe organ and
bellars out the sweetest song.
Onto the track and give a wave
to third turn flagger Ron
Doebler, the track is in good
shape but as I guessed, the
groove is still on the bottom.
And it's really the same, look
through the old pictures of
cars that ran the point and
you'll see screened in engine
and drivers compartments,
they knew what they were
doing. The green drops and my
smile widens as the roar of a
full race flathead fills my ears,
the car jumps at my command
and slides through the corners
as if in a ballet while I work the
wheel, it's a blast. And over
much too quickly, back in the
pits I'm greeted with toothy
grins and 'howz it runnin?'
Just fine. Dad's new camshaft
has woken up his engine,
Gary's pleased with his new
found horsepower and
everyone seems pleased with
the track, gonna be a good
night.
Sue Lowe has our lineup set
and is taking care of the
paperwork, thank god for her,
makes my job so much easier.
Before you know it we're lined
up for the heat and headed
back to the track. Howdy and
Jim Chase lead us to green
and all hell breaks loose as the
angry engines are given their
head. 5 Mile has always had
close competition, it's not a
horsepower track, you have to
handle there to make any
headway and it's great
equalizer, and a tough place to
pass. Howdy leads laps one
and two as we dice behind him
trying to gain advantage, there
are no slouches here. Chase
gains the advantage for laps
three and four but Howdy's
back to the point on lap 5. Tom
Witter is right there as well
and Dad's giving me a tough
time for fourth. The pack is so
tight that it worries me a bit,
one slip and we're all going to
wad it, nobody slips. It's really
a testament to the driving
ability of our club members, we
touch a few times but no-one
gets into each other hard. By
lap 6 I'm gettin' desperate and
take the high road around Tom
and Jim, Howdy's found the
high groove too which leaves
the bottom for me. That high
torque Jimmy is running and
I'm having difficulty getting
traction low but we pull even
going into the last lap. We
never touch and I slow it down
into three to stay low, off of
four and Howdy has the
advantage, punch it and pull
even at the flag. If ever there
was dead heat this was it, I
looked at the flag and thought
we were even, Howdy thought
so too and that's close enough
for me, Tom witter was third,
Chase 4th, Dad 5th, Rockola
6th and Gary Wood 7th, you
could've thrown a blanket over
the top 5.
OK, let's wrench. Rockola's
changing tires, Dad's looking
for the brake adjusting tool
and everyone's tinkering. I add
fuel. Rockola is giving up his
open faced helmet citing the
dreaded gritineyesitis that
afflicts many. Wimp. Gary's got
the pole for the feature and
looks ashen, we assure him
he'll do fine. The wind is
picking up a little and I don't
like the look of those clouds
but the cooler air sure wont
hurt that flathead. And we're
off again, Gary Wood leads laps
one and two, the first time I
think he's ever lead and he's
working it hard as we bunch
up behind him. Rockola takes
over on lap three figuring he's
ate enough grit tonight but
Gary hangs tough in 2nd while
Dad's got 3rd through lap 5.
Behind all this Chase, Tom
Witter, the B29 and Howdy are
all looking for racing room. By
lap 6 I decide to try it high into
one and just tick the wall, that
didn't work so well and I gather
it up. Chase is up to second
now and Howdy's third as Gary
pulls high in turn four and
takes Dad and me with him,
they're by like a freight train
on the bottom, now we really
got some work to do.
Shredder's up to it though and
I catch them going into three
on lap 7 and get to second with
three to go. Rockola's in sight
now and I'm gaining, hard into
one, what's that wet stuff
hitting me in that face,
temperatures good, it isn't
coming from my radiator, oh
brother...In a little hot and
sideways, this car never spins
out but does tonight as I can't
bring it back. Howdy moves to
second as Tom's engine starts
smoking heavily, and then let's
loose. Willy Wust called it
'tossin' the cookies' and Tom's
chevy has the affliction in
spades. Gather up the B29 and
now, it's raining pretty good.
OK, at least I know why it
spun, have to have a good
excuse right? The track's
getting to slippery and they
call it, too bad, I do believe it
would have been a whale of a
finish. Final: Rockola 99,
Witter 4, Chase 2K, Dad 43A,
B29, Witter 9, Wood 97.
Into the pits and now it's
pouring, get it on quick. No
matter, we're all getting soaked
as we help each other strap
them down. The rain let's up a
bit and Rockola's jawing with
me, "I was coming", "You'd have
never gotten me." He may be
right of course but then again..
Regardless, it was great time,
good for the soul and
something that I needed. We
want to thank the staff at 5
Mile Point for having us once
again, we sure enjoyed
ourselves.
Kudos and thanks to Sue Lowe
for helping us stay organized
all night. Members Jim
Florence, John Mason, and
Mike Newell for bringing their
show cars and conversing with
fans in the grandstand. Jim
brought his nice Ray Kennedy
#67 while John and Mike had
Chuck Akulis #40 and the Pink
Panther displayed. Wish I had
more time to talk with all of
them. Sue and Howdy also had
an announcement, they're
getting hitched this coming
May and we wish them all the
best. That makes the club one
up and one down in that
department as Nikki and I are
gettin' unhitched. I've held off
on saying anything until it was
official and only have to say
that it's been a cordial process.
She certainly did an awful lot
for our club as well as this site
and should be commended for
the job she did. Now, I'm
gonna pull a Forrest Gump
and relate, 'and that's all I got
to say about that.'
Next up is the Tioga County
Fair on the 7th for a full day of
displaying our cars, and then
the 'Legends of Penn Can' on
July 13th. Both should be a
good time, hope to see you
there.
