"Das Boot" at Pocono!

August 25, 2004 -- The U-boat commanders lined their weapons of war on the grid for the Pocono Double National Laps to Conquer M.S., wait U-boat Commanders? You heard me, and I can not believe myself.

While God uses the SCCA at Pocono as his clue to water the flowers according to Fay Teal, he turned the hose on and must have picked up the remote to the heavenly TV for a football game because in all of the years that I have attended races at Pocono I have never seen anything like this. Within the space of one hour, almost four (4) inches of rain fell on the track. (See story with pictures at www.motorsports-marketing.com/bbs/pocono2004/) The downpour flooded trailers racecars and even floated my friends Porsche 996T away. How come NASCAR never has this problem? Anyway, back to racing. (By the way, because I was in a front wheel drive car, I was praying for rain, but maybe I over did it!)

It was a great weekend for the Zenas Technologies Honda Prelude. It was the first weekend that the car was running in its new configuration and on full slicks provided by Goodyear. The new tires where perfect for front wheel drive cars in the 475 compound. Pat Versace of CompTire East was dead on when he instructed me that the first session with the Goodyear Tires would be a little "greasy" but then after that heat cycle they would be very consistent and would last the weekend. Additional braking power provided by the gripping Goodyear's was handled easily by the Performance Friction Brakes installed. The combination proved to be extremely effective, as I was able to out brake and accelerate better out of the corners than my competition. (Now if the SCCA would allow me to remove the 600 lbs. of weight in the car, I would be very happy.)

In Saturday's race, after a day long rain delay, and Noah cleared out the animals, we were grided according to practice times and the Zenas Technologies Honda Prelude started 26th out of 39 cars. Because of flooding, the chicane was not being used which would release us to run NASCAR Turn 1 flat out. Pucker Time! The SCCA did a great job drying the track and hats off to the workers. The race was great as the Zenas Technologies Honda Prelude went from 26th to 12th and 5th in class. (Because of a wing infraction, I was moved to 20th and 7th in class with a 2-lap penalty. More about this later.)

In Sunday's race, the Zenas Technologies Honda Prelude also started 26th because no qualifying was held due to the Pocono monsoon. This day the chicane was used. It also was one of the best days for racing I have ever attended weather wise and I guess God wanted to make up for forgetting leaving the hose on Saturday. Anyway, the Zenas Technologies Honda Prelude started 26th and finished 7th overall, 5th in class. With my penalty, I was moved back to 13th and 7th. All in all, not a bad weekend. Oh the wing infraction?

You are not allowed to run wings unless factory installed. Honda Preludes have factory-installed wings. The wing I was using was a after market replacement because the factory wing will not hold up under competition conditions. Bottom line, I will write the competition board and get approval for the wing. I will also install a periscope in the car just in case for next years running of the Pocono Double National Laps to Conquer M.S. Wonder how the race stewards would view that?

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"Das Boot" at Pocono!
August 23, 2004
Beach Lake PA



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