Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 7
2008 Race 38
Nov. 15, 2008
Nigelstone
As the song goes, "Smoke gets in your eyes" and your hair, lungs, and so on; due to the wildfires that started this weekend, stranding Gary in the Santa Clarita Valley (hope all's well, mate), we all ended up smelling like one of Ed Beer's cigars today as Round 22 of the OTHG World Championship took place at Nigelstone. Here's what happened (writer's note: we left the coughs in the transcript to show what things were like):
With (cough) more smoke blowing in the air than from (cough) behind an 80's Ford Escort at full song, the usual suspects picked their way (cough) through the pall much like A. J. Foyt did on the last lap (cough) at Indy in '67 to claim their usual reward. This class always provides close racing, and (cough, cough) though third place and below were tight between them, it was (hack) of course no match catching the top two. One bit of levity, combined with the (cough) ultimate bitch-slap from Lady (?) Luck on yours truly, occurred during heat 11; a collision in the first turn, caused by (cough) another car spinning in front, caused a (wheeze) screw to come loose from yours truly's, shorting the track, also causing first his car, then the whole track, to power down. Once the screw was found, Daniel handed it to (cough, hack) Mike Smalley, who instantly let out an expletive as his driving hand was burned by the red-hot fastener. (Why Daniel didn't scream is (spew) still under investigation by the stewards.) This "Taming of the Screw" caused no end of chuckling among the (cough) sadists of the club but caused no permanent injury to Mr. Smalley; it did, though, (cough, hack, wheeze) kill yours truly's chance at a podium, sliding from third to ninth in a scant three minutes.
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|
Ninco 50s Le Mans--Meet 22, Race
38: 15 November 2008
|
|
|
|
Nigelstone
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 13v
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Red
|
Green
|
Yellow
|
Blue
|
Total
|
Rank
|
Points
|
|
SNIPES,
Daniel
|
|
19.2
|
18.9
|
19.6
|
18.7
|
76.4
|
1
|
20
|
|
SMALLEY,
Michael
|
|
18.4
|
19.1
|
18.9
|
19.2
|
75.6
|
2
|
18
|
|
BECK, Bob
|
|
17.9
|
18.4
|
17.5
|
16.9
|
70.7
|
3
|
16
|
|
SCHNIEDEWIND,
Bill
|
|
17.3
|
16.1
|
18.1
|
18.3
|
69.8
|
4
|
15
|
|
RICK,
Nigel
|
|
17.4
|
17.6
|
17.5
|
16.9
|
69.4
|
5
|
14
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
|
17.6
|
17.5
|
17.6
|
16.4
|
69.1
|
6
|
13
|
|
SMITH,
Stan
|
|
17.1
|
16.8
|
17.6
|
16.8
|
68.3
|
7
|
12
|
|
BRACHER,
Russell
|
|
16.3
|
16.9
|
16.3
|
17.5
|
67.0
|
8
|
11
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
17.6
|
16.5
|
12.5
|
17.7
|
64.3
|
9
|
10
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
|
13.8
|
15.6
|
17.2
|
16.0
|
62.6
|
10
|
9
|
|
NICHOLS,
Roger
|
|
15.1
|
15.4
|
16.6
|
15.2
|
62.3
|
11
|
8
|
|
WESTON,
Tim
|
|
15.3
|
15.8
|
16.3
|
13.7
|
61.1
|
12
|
7
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
14.1
|
15.6
|
15.6
|
15.4
|
60.7
|
13
|
6
|
|
FERNANDEZ,
De'Angelo
|
|
14.6
|
13.4
|
14.3
|
15.2
|
57.5
|
14
|
5
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 6
2008 Race 32
Oct. 4, 2008
Farrout Raceway
Things got off to a jump start-not literally, but enough, due to yours truly accidentally posting the racing orders to the wrong races. SFJ specified different entry lists for each race, and your humble reporter accidentally interposed them, which led to the first heat being merely exhibitional. Nothing much changed with respect to the plot of the story, though, as the only one of the usual suspects present, Michael Smalley, won handily. SFJ finished a season-high second, with Terry De Los Santos third. Yours truly salvaged an otherwise average race with a nice turn on green to finish fifth.
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|
Loaners
Only (H Champ.)
|
50s/60s Ninco Le Mans--Meet 19,
Race 32: 4 October 2008
|
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|
|
Farrout Raceway
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 13v
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
Rank
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Red
|
White
|
Green
|
Orange
|
Total
|
Rank
|
|
|
SMALLEY,
Michael
|
|
19.9
|
19.2
|
20.9
|
20.7
|
80.7
|
1
|
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
20.0
|
19.0
|
20.5
|
19.8
|
79.3
|
2
|
|
|
FARR-JONES,
Stephen
|
|
19.9
|
18.7
|
18.6
|
19.7
|
76.9
|
3
|
|
|
RICK,
Nigel
|
|
18.8
|
18.8
|
19.2
|
19.2
|
76.0
|
4
|
|
|
PAWL,
Mike
|
|
19.7
|
18.3
|
19.3
|
18.6
|
75.9
|
5
|
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
|
18.6
|
18.0
|
20.3
|
18.6
|
75.5
|
6
|
|
|
SCHNIEDEWIND,
Bill
|
|
19.1
|
18.4
|
19.4
|
18.4
|
75.3
|
7
|
|
|
CHAN,
Chris
|
|
19.3
|
18.5
|
18.8
|
18.2
|
74.8
|
8
|
|
|
WOLFE,
Jim
|
|
18.3
|
18.6
|
19.1
|
18.7
|
74.7
|
9
|
|
|
WOODS,
Gary
|
|
18.9
|
18.7
|
19.1
|
17.8
|
74.5
|
10
|
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
|
18.3
|
18.1
|
19.8
|
18.1
|
74.3
|
11
|
|
|
EWING,
J.R.
|
|
18.3
|
18.1
|
17.5
|
18.4
|
72.3
|
12
|
|
|
WESTON,
Tim
|
|
18.4
|
17.5
|
19.1
|
17.3
|
72.3
|
12
|
|
|
BRACHER,
Russell
|
|
16.8
|
17.6
|
18.5
|
17.8
|
70.7
|
14
|
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
16.1
|
16.4
|
17.6
|
15.7
|
65.8
|
15
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 5
2008 Race 29
Sep. 6, 2008
Riverside Raceway
With catering provided by QuennaCorp, we were enjoying our usual Saturday drive when the oddest track anomaly of recent memory occurred; between heats 2 and 3, the timing and scoring box was nudged ever so gently by Craig, but this caused some sort of fault in one of the DS boxes, causing the blue lane to go dead. As the rest of us ate, Michael and Gary (and the rest of us) posed theories as to why it went down. Voltmeters were hauled out, power was cut and reset, but to no avail. Finally, a sharp-eyed observer who will remain nameless spotted why the fault was occurring, noting an anomaly with the Stop-N-Go box. Gary Woods, not an original entrant but who happened upon the scene, traced the problem back to the head unit, which was replaced with another, and things progressed normally from there. Bruce also showed up, so the original two heats were abandoned and rerun. The usual suspects humbled the rest of the field; Craig Williamson stood up for the also-rans by taking third. (No joke was meant of this; the gap from second to third was 7.3 laps, while third through thirteenth were spread by merely 4.7 laps!)
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50s/60s Ninco Le Mans--Meet 17,
Race 29: 6 September 2008
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|
Smalley's Riverside
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 13v
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Red
|
White
|
Blue
|
Yellow
|
Total
|
Rank
|
Points
|
|
SMALLEY,
Michael
|
|
27.6
|
28.1
|
28.1
|
26.3
|
110.1
|
1
|
20
|
|
SNIPES,
Daniel
|
|
27.7
|
26.6
|
26.5
|
25.8
|
106.6
|
2
|
18
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
|
24.8
|
25.3
|
24.6
|
24.6
|
99.3
|
3
|
16
|
|
PAWL,
Mike
|
|
25.3
|
24.8
|
25.7
|
22.5
|
98.3
|
4
|
15
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
|
24.8
|
22.8
|
25.8
|
24.8
|
98.2
|
5
|
14
|
|
SCHNIEDEWIND,
Bill
|
|
24.6
|
23.6
|
25.2
|
24.5
|
97.9
|
6
|
13
|
|
POLAKOW,
Bill
|
|
23.6
|
24.4
|
24.8
|
24.5
|
97.3
|
7
|
12
|
|
RICK,
Nigel
|
|
24.5
|
24.1
|
24.5
|
24.1
|
97.2
|
8
|
11
|
|
WOODS,
Gary
|
|
23.4
|
24.3
|
24.7
|
24.4
|
96.8
|
9
|
10
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
|
23.7
|
23.7
|
25.3
|
23.3
|
96.0
|
10
|
9
|
|
BECK, Bob
|
|
25.2
|
25.1
|
25.3
|
20.0
|
95.6
|
11
|
8
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
23.6
|
24.2
|
22.7
|
24.3
|
94.8
|
12
|
7
|
|
SMITH,
Stan
|
|
20.3
|
25.4
|
24.8
|
24.1
|
94.6
|
13
|
6
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
21.5
|
20.4
|
22.7
|
21.8
|
86.4
|
14
|
5
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 4
2008 Race 26
Aug. 2, 2008
Autodromo Baia della Sud
We were about to enter another dimension, a dimension not of sight or sound, but of mind and short circuits and dead computers we were about to enter the Team-Race Zone.
Meet 15 of the OTHG World Championship resembled a day on the 405 as we once again dealt with issues on track. The "B" drivers for the four teams did the qualifying with the tipsy Porsche 356 on the blue lane, and like usual, each succeeding driver supplanted the last to capture provisional pole; Stephen Farr-Jones set the early standard for Team Smalley (Mike, Jim Wolfe, with SFJ and J.R. Ewing relieving), only to be bettered in turn by Gary Woods for Team Beck (Bob, Gary, Stan Smith), then Chris Chan for Team Williamson (Craig, Chris, SFJ, Ed Beer), then finally by Thomas Lauffenberger for Team De Los Santos (Terry, Thomas, Mike Pawl, J.R.)
While qualifying was smooth, the race was not nearly as such; power issues with the yellow lane caused an early abandonment of the race, followed by at least two track calls during the second attempt. Early racing proved very close among the four lanes, but car issues on the blue lane caused Team DLS to fall off the pace. Team Beck had the quarter-pole lead, followed by Team Smalley only 2 laps back, Team Williamson 6 back, and Team DLS 18 in arrears, but hopefully done with the troublesome lane.
Troubles continued in the second round; after the first leg ran uneventfully, power issues resurfaced-first on one lane, then on all four as some of the cars began to ground out and cause short circuits. Finally, the computer hosting the timing and scoring crashed and would not reboot properly. After some masterful diagnosis by Craig and Gary, the computer problem was worked around, the program brought back on-line, and the race resumed, only to suffer more shorts and car issues. At halftime, Team Smalley took the overall lead, with Team Williamson second, Team Beck falling to third, and Team DLS still floundering at the tail.
Due to the extra time needed for the first two phases, a quick discussion followed on whether to cut the other two phases in half and halve the scores from the two completed; it was decided that our delay issues had been sorted out, so no changes were made, which made for an extra exciting day.
The third phase was uneventful, thankfully; there were more circuit-breaker issues, but nothing fatal with respect to conduct of the race this time. Team Smalley maintained the lead, but now faced the dreaded blue lane, with Team DLS now moving to third after a good show on red (though still 33 laps down). Team Beck now held second, with Team Williamson last; although 43 laps down, they had a decent lane to run on (yellow), so the miracle prayers were again being chanted.
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|
50s/60s Ninco LeMans--Meet 15,
Race 26
|
|
|
|
Autodromo Baia Della Sud
|
45 Minute Heats
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
|
Red
|
Green
|
Blue
|
Yellow
|
Total
|
Rank
|
Points
|
|
SMALLEY,
Michael
|
|
241.0
|
240.7
|
226.2
|
220.0
|
927.9
|
1
|
20
|
|
WOLFE,
Jim
|
|
|
|
|
x
|
8.3
|
|
20
|
|
FARR-JONES,
Stephen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
|
EWING,
J.R.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
|
BECK, Bob
|
|
241.2
|
222.3
|
218.0
|
238.1
|
919.6
|
2
|
18
|
|
WOODS,
Gary
|
|
|
x
|
|
|
-7.3
|
|
18
|
|
SMITH,
Stan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
|
231.6
|
242.5
|
204.4
|
233.8
|
912.3
|
3
|
16
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
|
|
x
|
|
|
|
16
|
|
PAWL,
Mike
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
|
JRE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
|
216.0
|
230.9
|
212.0
|
236.5
|
895.4
|
4
|
15
|
|
CHAN,
Chris
|
|
x
|
|
|
|
16.9
|
|
15
|
|
SFJ
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 3
2008 Race 21
Jun. 21, 2008
Circuit Villeneuve
With the memory of last week's Le Mans race still fresh on our minds, we constructed some history of our own. The usual suspects were gone this week, making it a true free-for-all. Once the track temperature came up (it didn't take long-!) the lap times came down-and so did the controversy; as usual, the question of riders and laps not counting came into play, leading to heated (how else can it be described?) debates over totals. When things calmed down, Craig Williamson came from behind in the last heat, edging silver medallist Terry DLS by a tenth. J.R. Ewing earned his maiden podium as well; yours truly had a bad last drive and sank one spot to fifth.
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|
1960/70's Fly Le Mans -- Meet ,
Race 21: 21 June 2008
|
|
|
Circuit Villenueve
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 13v
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Red
|
White
|
Green
|
Orange
|
Total
|
Rank
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
|
27.3
|
26.7
|
25.3
|
22.6
|
101.9
|
1
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
|
28.0
|
25.9
|
23.5
|
24.4
|
101.8
|
2
|
|
EWING,
J.R.
|
|
26.9
|
24.8
|
23.1
|
24.2
|
99.0
|
3
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
|
24.5
|
23.9
|
23.0
|
22.7
|
94.1
|
4
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
24.2
|
23.3
|
21.3
|
23.6
|
92.4
|
5
|
|
BECK, Bob
|
|
22.4
|
23.3
|
23.6
|
22.8
|
92.1
|
6
|
|
SCHNIEDEWIND,
Bill
|
|
26.5
|
23.2
|
20.8
|
20.4
|
90.9
|
7
|
|
RICK,
Nigel
|
|
24.1
|
22.5
|
21.9
|
22.0
|
90.5
|
8
|
|
BRACHER,
Russell
|
|
23.5
|
21.8
|
21.3
|
19.7
|
86.3
|
9
|
|
SMITH,
Stan
|
|
21.2
|
21.7
|
19.4
|
20.2
|
82.5
|
10
|
|
NICHOLS,
Roger
|
|
22.8
|
18.3
|
21.6
|
19.2
|
81.9
|
11
|
|
WESTON,
Tim
|
|
22.1
|
19.8
|
19.1
|
18.3
|
79.3
|
12
|
|
PAWL,
Mike
|
|
16.7
|
22.4
|
19.3
|
20.7
|
79.1
|
13
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
14.9
|
18.7
|
18.7
|
15.5
|
67.8
|
14
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 2
2008 Race 10
Mar. 15, 2008
SSI Raceway
The table doesn't lie; we had a most interesting occurrence in this race as the top five drivers had the top five scores on all four lanes. The usual duo finished one-two (or was that two-one?) with our gracious host Rene Cortez picking up the bronze. Top-flighters Terry DLS and Cruisin' Bob rounded out the top 5; yours truly continued his streak of mediocrity with a decent, if unimpressive, ninth.
|
|
Ninco 1950's Le Mans --- Meet 6,
Race 10: 15 Mar 2007
|
|
|
|
SSI Raceway
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 12v
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Red
|
White
|
Blue
|
Yellow
|
Total
|
Rank
|
Points
|
|
SMALLEY, Michael
|
|
21.3
|
22.2
|
22.1
|
22.2
|
87.8
|
1
|
20
|
|
SNIPES,
Daniel
|
|
22.4
|
21.3
|
21.3
|
22.3
|
87.3
|
2
|
18
|
|
CORTEZ,
Rene
|
|
21.6
|
22.2
|
21.5
|
21.2
|
86.5
|
3
|
16
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
|
20.8
|
22.1
|
21.6
|
21.9
|
86.4
|
4
|
15
|
|
SCOTT,
Bob
|
|
20.3
|
21.6
|
21.5
|
21.6
|
85.0
|
5
|
14
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
|
19.9
|
21.2
|
20.2
|
20.3
|
81.6
|
6
|
13
|
|
PAWL,
Mike
|
|
19.2
|
20.6
|
20.2
|
20.5
|
80.5
|
7
|
12
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
|
19.7
|
20.1
|
19.7
|
20.6
|
80.1
|
8
|
11
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
|
19.5
|
20.5
|
19.6
|
19.1
|
78.7
|
9
|
10
|
|
EWING,
J.R.
|
|
19.4
|
19.4
|
20.0
|
19.5
|
78.3
|
10
|
9
|
|
WOLFE,
Jim
|
|
19.1
|
19.3
|
19.5
|
20.3
|
78.2
|
11
|
8
|
|
SMITH,
Stan
|
|
17.1
|
20.5
|
19.6
|
20.2
|
77.4
|
12
|
7
|
|
CHAN,
Chris
|
|
19.7
|
18.8
|
19.0
|
19.5
|
77.0
|
13
|
6
|
|
WOODS,
Gary
|
|
19.7
|
19.7
|
18.6
|
18.3
|
76.3
|
14
|
5
|
|
HOUCHLEI,
Sarah
|
|
18.9
|
19.4
|
16.1
|
19.2
|
73.6
|
15
|
4
|
|
WESTON,
Tim
|
|
17.1
|
19.1
|
18.1
|
19.1
|
73.4
|
16
|
3
|
|
BRACHER,
Russell
|
|
16.7
|
18.1
|
16.1
|
17.1
|
68.0
|
17
|
2
|
|
BARNES,
Opel
|
|
14.8
|
17.6
|
16.9
|
17.7
|
67.0
|
18
|
1
|
|
BEER, Ed
|
|
19.1
|
16.0
|
14.6
|
16.9
|
66.6
|
19
|
0
|
|
Ninco 1949-62 Le Mans
Series Race 1
2008 Race 6
Feb. 16, 2008
Woodside Raceway
These cars work well on the short, twisty course that is Woodside Raceway, but this fact did not play into the hands of the others, as the usual suspects drove their way to the podium. Yours truly managed to recoup on the inner lanes to post a respectable fifth-place finish, but again the definite gradation of the club is showing itself.
|
|
Ninco 1950's Le Mans--Meet 4, Race
6: 16 February 2008
|
|
|
|
|
Woodside Raceway
|
3Min Heats: Clockwise 13v
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lane1
|
Lane2
|
Lane3
|
Lane4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Driver
|
Car
|
Yellow
|
Blue
|
White
|
Red
|
Total
|
Avg
|
Rank
|
Points
|
|
SNIPES,
Daniel
|
Ferrari
166
|
31.4
|
31.6
|
30.5
|
30.8
|
124.3
|
124.3
|
1
|
20
|
|
SMALLEY,
Michael
|
Ford
Cobra
|
30.8
|
31.3
|
29.6
|
29.9
|
121.6
|
121.6
|
2
|
18
|
|
DE LOS
SANTOS, Terry
|
Jaguar
XK120
|
29.3
|
28.9
|
27.8
|
29.7
|
115.7
|
115.7
|
3
|
16
|
|
WILLIAMSON,
Craig
|
Chevrolet
Corvette
|
26.2
|
29.1
|
28.3
|
28.2
|
111.8
|
111.8
|
4
|
15
|
|
LAUFFENBERGER,
Thomas
|
Loaner
Cars
|
26.6
|
29.8
|
28.4
|
26.9
|
111.7
|
111.7
|
5
|
14
|
|
TALAMON,
Bruce
|
Loaner
Cars
|
27.5
|
28.4
|
28.4
|
27.2
|
111.5
|
111.5
|
6
|
13
|
|
EWING,
J.R.
|
Ford
Cobra
|
27.4
|
28.3
|
28.9
|
26.5
|
111.1
|
111.1
|
7
|
12
|
|
FARR-JONES,
Stephen
|
Maserati
Birdcage
|
29.2
|
28.9
|
26.3
|
26.0
|
110.4
|
110.4
|
8
|
11 | | |
