The BIR Jinx Strikes Again

When Fart-Hinder Racing was formed in 2010 to compete in the ChumpCar World Series race at Brainerd, the team built the entire car in about eight weeks. We got to the track in plenty of time, and our 1992 Saab 900S was among the cars to take the green flag for that first race. Despite some clandestine back road testing prior to the event, it was only a few laps before the first driver, Greg Wold, brought the car into the pits with a knocking noise. It was diagnosed as a rod bearing and we didn't have a spare engine so we were done for the weekend.

At BIR in 2011.

There were two races scheduled at BIR in 2011. Greg, Darrell and John had teamed up with Bill "Crash" Collins to race a Dodge Dakota because Bill ran a truck driving school and was willing to pay the expenses as sponsorship. It was decorated to look like Tow Mater from the CARS movies. Tim couldn't come up with a team of drivers so the Saab missed the first BIR race. A few weeks prior to the second race Tim got an offer from Dave Steen to form a team which included Dave's son, Rick Moe and Jim Seubert from the Porsche Club, and former Indy driver Herm Johnson. Tim made an effort to prep the car, but he did it largely on his own and the car suffered from several ailments early in the race including a water pump failure. A chronic overheating problem ultimately put the Saab out of the event after only a few hours on the track.

In 2012, Mark Fitzpatrick and Mike Helmicki agreed to join Tim for the BIR race weekend, but we needed a fourth driver to make a team. Instead we joined up with Jasper Drengler's team and drove his V6 Mustang. The Saab stayed home until the Road America race later in the season.

Which brings us to 2013. The Saab was entered under the team name "Vintage Ice and Gravel Rally Racing Association" (VIAGRRA). Mark Fitzpatrick was back, along with Mike Mandy from Ely, and Travis McCormick who drove with us at Road America last year. The engine and gearbox in the 900 had a lot of hard racing miles. The engine had about 200,000 on it before it was installed in the racer, and it had about an additional 40 hours of racing. A compression test revealed a problem with the #1 cylinder, probably bad valves. And the gearbox was as stock unit that had not been rebuilt before it was put into service in the race car. So Tim felt that a new(er) engine and gearbox would be a very good idea.

A Saab Club guy in So. St. Paul was selling a 1993 900S for parts. It had the 2.1L engine we wanted, but an automatic transmission. The engine passed the compression test, but we pulled it apart to renew gaskets, seals, timing chain and bearings. As long as we were that far into it, we put on a head from the first race season that had been cleaned up and shaved slightly.

With two weeks to go, Tim took a couple of gearboxes to mechanic Mike Speiring, who agreed to assist with building one good gearbox. The job should have taken a day or two, but the gears inside the two boxes were not compatible. That meant several days of tracking down parts and it was nearly a week before all was ready.

Mark and Tim removed the old engine from the car on the Saturday one week before the race. Tim picked away at finishing the engine and gearbox, but there were several setbacks, including having to separate the engine/gearbox unit again to check bearings. The engine would not turn over once the flywheel was installed. The problem turned out to be the wrong flywheel bolts, which were about 1/4" too long and bottomed out on the rear main bearing cap.

Mark and Mike work on a few details
while Travis tries to fix the coolant leak.

Mike drove the long distance from Ely on a regular basis and helped to get a lot of the work done, including removing some spares from the parts car and replacing the front brakes with new parts. He helped install the new drivetrain , which then refused to start. That ultimately turned out to be an engine ground problem, and a battery ground problem.

We made it to the track in time get through tech, then discovered water in the oil. The problem was apparently a couple of missing bolts that pass through the water pump and timing chain cover. The bolts are hidden by the water pump pulley so it was difficult to see and easy to miss. They hold a gasket in place between a water passage and the crankcase oil. Travis attempted to install new bolts but the gasket had failed. We considered heading home to swap in last year's engine, but decided we were all pretty burned out from all the work of the week prior and chose instead to pack it in for the weekend.

In the paddock at Brainerd. Never made it onto the track.

A lot of other drivers came over to express their disappointment that we would not be racing. The car looked good with all of the sponsorship and other decals in place, and there were plenty of positive comments about it.

Tim spent the weekend taking photos and posting regular racing updates on the ChumpCar forum. Mark volunteered to work as a pit marshal. Mike wandered around the track just taking in the action. Travis was able to find a ride with another team, but after a few laps got tapped from behind and spun into a wall which pretty well destroyed the car.

So the BIR jinx continues. We have decided to enter the Road America race in October. With a couple of months to rectify the problems, we might even have a little time left over for improvements. Lest we forget, thanks to the sponsors who support our racing effort: eEuroparts, and Lake Superior Brewing Co. Thanks also to those who helped on this project with advice when things went wrong: Jeff Hofslund at Foreign Affairs of Duluth, Claude Hutchings at Tired Iron Repair in NY, and Jerry Danner at Mile-Hi Body Shop in CO.