« Kevin York invited to drive at Team Continental NBCF Grand Prix | Main | »
July 23, 2005
Kevin York has another podium finish at Team Continental NBCF Grand Prix
Adversity doesn't deter effort.
Kevin York passing yet another competitor at Spokane Raceway Park. Photo courtesy of Walt Conley.
Once again we were honored to be invited to drive the "little Neon that could" by our friends at Forgey Racing and Mascot Theory Motorsports.
Having had such a good run - with lots of FUN at Seattle in May - all parties planned on the same for Spokane...
The event we were to take part in was the Team Continental presents National Breast Cancer Foundation Grand Prix. This race was round six of a twelve-round series that stretches from April to October. The series is sanctioned by the International Conference of Sports Car Clubs (ICSCC). The ICSCC was founded in 1957 and is the largest sports car racing sanctioning body in the Pacific Northwest. It consists of five member and five affiliate clubs in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.
Transporting racing vehicles to each motorsport venue is sometimes more of an effort than racing the cars they haul!! I know Rob and Paul feel that is a gross understatement given the trials and tribulations they suffered just trying to get to Spokane Raceway park!!
The duo and the haulers set out on the Thursday afteroon preceding the weekend and arrived at the track Saturday morning at 2AM - after what is supposed to be a four-five hour trip!!!!
Fuel injection and turbo system failure in the big Ford truck and cooling system and engine management issues with the smaller Ford truck meant that both Rob and Paul had their patience taxed to the limit!!. After much consternation, creativity intervened and both Dodge Neon ACR racing cars made it the front gate of Spokane Raceway Park and the duo fell fast asleep - in the cab of the remaining-as-running big Ford truck.
Meanwhile, at the comfy Holiday Inn nearby, we were sleeping soundly in our beds after a nightime blitz accross Washington state in our trusty BMW 528i, "Hans" - so named by my son)...
Paul Forgey telling his chosen deity how he feels about things. Photo courtesy Dunn Photographic.
With the theatrics of getting the cars out of the way, it was down to the business of racing!!
Rob and I were both entered in the Improved Touring A (ITA) class and set out for morning qualifying (having missed all preceding practice sessions - see above...). After three warm-up type laps, the session was promptly black flagged (!) for someone else's major mishap in the ultra-fast approach to Turn 1... The result from the short qualifying? Well, we started last and Rob was a few spots in front of us!!! Aarrgghh!!
The good news was that we had some cars to think about passing and that fact turned into a boat-load of FUN in the race!!
Both cars ended the race with top-ten results: we worked our way up to and finished in seventh while Rob in the Mascot Theory Motorsports car ended up in tenth. Respectable results considering our starting positions.
In addition to those events, the 744 Forgey Racing car that we were driving saw double-duty as Paul drove it in a different race group (Group 7). His group has tremendous variations of cars that are somewhat mis-matched in terms of power output. Nonetheless, Paul put in a solid and consistent effort and finished the race with a huge grin!!
Aforementioned grin on Paul of Forgey Racing.
For Sunday's events, all parties were well-rested!
Morning qualifying found both cars running a bit faster and this time , qualifying in the top ten. (Kevin in 8th and Rob 10th)
It should be noted that there was a brief moment of despair when our car (744) was found to have a power steering hydraulic failure. MASSIVE amounts of fluid purged underhood and found the outside of the car too... YECH!! What a mess!! We immediately set out to troubleshoot it and found a failed pressure hose. After cleaning up the fluid, we eliminated the power assist system altogether and we were ready to race!!
We got a decent start and focused on driving the car to the maximum of its adhesion - oh, and passing as many cars as possible in the alotted time too...!
To that end, we had some spirited battles and drafting was key in several passes.
The waning laps found us dicing with Chris Romney in one of the TC Motorsports Miatas. TC Motorsports is a great friend of YORK Motorsport but that's only between the checkered and the green flags...!! Chris eventually ended up off-track in his efforts to get back around us once we'd passed him.
Our finishing position of third-in-class was decent and we certainly worked for it. Rob ended up a very respectable tenth after having to pit in order to correct a loose hood (:-o).
Through all of it my fantastic son, Evan was there digging in to help and be supportive. Words alone cannot express how much the time we spend together means... His efforts are always appreciated!
On to the next race!! Pro Spec Miata?? Grand Am?? ARCA?? Who knows??!!
What it's all about for us - having fun in the sun with the son!! :-)
HUGE thanks to Rob Dunn and Paul Forgey!!
Posted by YORK Group at July 23, 2005 01:36 PM