The BIR Jinx Returns... With a Vengeance!

The 2016 running of the annual ChumpCar World Series at our local track, Brainerd International Raceway, was the first time that Fart-hinder Racing had taken a checkered flag under that combination of sanctioning body and track. Not only that, but our Saab 9-3 finished in the top five overall both days! Consequently we were optimistic about our chances for the 2017 running of CCWS at BIR.

The early entry list was sparse, with only a couple of potential fast cars in our class. With about a week to go, several late entries appeared, including past winners. To our surprise the list included that pesky Saab from out East, the #90 rbankracing Saab 9-3 known as “Jerry” (named after Jerry Seinfeld, who drove a black Saab in at least one episode of his TV series). Now we were looking forward to the challenge even more.

Our other team car, a Mazda Miata, was the recipient of a fresh engine and it was believed to be quicker than the tired stock engine of last season. Unfortunately, car owner Mark Fitzpatrick decided not to enter the car at the last minute after his mother was admitted to the hospital for surgery just days before the race weekend. Family before fun; always acceptable.

With about a week to go, the Saab was nearly ready. However, what appeared to be moisture was seen on the dipstick. A compression check and leak-down test indicated that all was well, as did an oil change, so we loaded up for the trip to BIR. There had been six drivers for the two cars we were going to run, but with Mark tending to family matters, that left five to pilot the 9-3. New to the team were Derek Chan and Toni McCartney, who both had extensive HPDE experience. They were interested in driving the Miata, but were up for the challenge of the much faster Saab. Mike Mandy, Aidan Hicks and team captain Tim Winker were the other three drivers.

At the drop of the green flag, our Saab was among those in the front running group, running as high as 2^nd place overall at the hands of Derek. He had driven his own car on BIR's 2.5 mile Competition Course, and with that experience it wasn't long before he ripped off a lap of 1:54.145, besting last year's quick lap by just over one second. Toward the end of his driving stint his times fell off by a few seconds, settling in 7^th place after faster cars had worked their way through the field. We had hoped to stretch our fuel stops to a full two hours, but the low fuel light came on and Derek came into the pits after about an hour and 40 minutes.

Toni went out next, and after getting used to the car and the track, settled into quick lap times as well. His driving shift was uneventful, and after about the same amount of time, he pulled into the pits. As he slowed on pit road he noticed that the oil pressure light flickered and the water temp was high. The oil level looked good, but the overflow bottle was empty and very hot. It took nearly a gallon of water to top it off. While checking torque on the lug nuts, one of the studs on the left front snapped. It took about a half hour to remove the broken stud and replace it with a standard wheel bolt.

Aidan was the next driver, but he came in to the pits after less than an hour in the car. The water in the overflow was absent again and the engine was very hot. We determined that the head gasket was leaking. We made calls to local parts stores, but there was nothing to be found in stock. Tim made a couple of phone calls to Saab friends in the Twin Cities.

Paul Moormann had a head gasket set, but he was in the process of installing it on a customer car. He made a few phone calls and found what we needed at at parts store that would be open until 10 PM on a Saturday.

Jim Hickstein returned my call with an affirmative response. Not only did he have a gasket set for a Saab B204 engine, but he was willing to deliver it to the track, nearly three hours from his home in St. Paul. Aidan collected his tools to remove the head. By the time Jim arrived, the removal was nearly finished. The head was back in place and fired up just before 9:00 PM. Unfortunately it did not sound quite right. Aidan took it for a drive around the paddock and pronounced it ready to run.

The original 3.1 mile Donnybrooke course is seldom used for road racing these days as the 5100 foot straightaway has been primarily taken over for drag racing. There are walls on both sides to contain any out of control dragsters, and the tractionizing resin at the start line becomes slimy whenever it rains. The major sanctioning bodies no longer race there because of this, but ChumpCar arranged to use that traditional configuration for the second day of racing at BIR. Two tracks in the same weekend for the price of one! That long straightaway, the longest of any road course in the U.S., combined with banked turn 1 and the slight bend that is turn 2 mean that most cars are flat out for nearly half of a lap.

With the strong acceleration of our Saab, we were hoping for a competitive run on the big track. We sent Aidan out as first driver to make sure all was well with the repairs. Unfortunately our dreams of a fine finish fell apart on lap 2 when the engine stalled and would not re-fire. The team worked for several hours to determine the cause, finally tracing it to a complete lack of fuel to the engine. The fuel filter, which had been replaced the previous season and had less than 5,000 race miles, was completely blocked. A local parts store had a fuel filter in stock, so we made a parts run. Once the filter was replaced, the engine was fired up again, but it didn't have the usual healthy sound to it. Aidan strapped in again, but made it less than a lap before there was a loud bang and all the smoke leaked out of the engine. A connecting rod had ventilated the block.

So ended our race weekend. There had been high hopes of a top five finish; instead the Saab was the first car to retire. Comparing lap times with the cars that did take the checkered flag, the Fart-hinder Saab could have been Top Five again. Instead, it appeared the BIR Jinx had returned.

The rbankracing Saab fared a bit better, finishing 3rd overall and 2^nd in class C. “Jerry” led much of Sunday's race, but a broken serpentine belt failed with less than two hours remaining to the checkered flag. The team did not have a spare, so they were out for the rest of the day.