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 2nd
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 7th 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 2nd 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.
