Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/304092
May / June 2014 27 By Richard Bennett GUEST COLUMN IT'S SHINING IN CHICAGO you think you have it all under control you're thrown a curve ball. We had a nice contingent of KCRPCA members and cars. Al Hess brought out "Car 54" the old faithful 944, fresh with new paint (that's worth a second a lap right there). Al chose to go the zero penalty route as opposed to his BMW that would have been 4 laps. He is joined by Kris Lovelace, Wes McCullough, and Eric Peterson. We also have Ron Leonard with "Fine Sausage Racing" . They have gone the opposite way as Al having abandoned their Porsche 944 platform in 2013, converting over to BMW e30. "Throw them out of the club I say!" Ron has Michael Braun and Boris Peharda, as his crew. For my F1 1ab Team, I am joined by Brian St Dennis, Jason Whitney and "Fresh Meat" Paulo Dominguez. Driving the ever faithful Helga. We touted Paulo as our hired hot shoe Indy driver. The young Brazilian from Mexico City! People were actually buying the story, as he looks the part. We start the Saturday race with a 3 lap penalty. Depending on where the green flag for the start of the race falls, you can find yourself either at the front or almost a lap down. Much to my dismay the green flag falls just after us, so now we are essentially 4 laps down. No big deal I think. Saturday is a shakedown for the car, and have Paulo get used to Chumps. We also need the car for Sunday so no sense in pushing too hard. We are running something like 40 out of 45 cars that started. Paulo drives his 1hr 40 stint gradually improving his lap times, and we are gradually moving up the order. Al is not having as much luck in 54, and the 944 is misfiring on RH turns and then on LH as well. Brian St Dennis takes Helga's wheel next, and is off to a blistering pace, setting fastest lap and moving us higher up the order. We get caught out by being in the wrong position when the pace car comes out, and that puts us down yet another lap. Oh well, it has to get better. Car 54's problems continued. The car was leaking gas both inside and outside the cabin, and they were black flagged to address the issue. It was also their shakedown/test and tune day, and that's exactly what they were doing, unfortunately they were shaking fuel out of the car. Jason went 3rd in Helga. He continued to lap consistently. With no mistakes, blackflags or other delays we were now up to 9th position but still something like 4 laps down on the lead so little chance of challenging for podium. Car 54's cutout problems had worsened to the point of a failure to start or run. The hope was that the car could be fixed so that they could have a good run Sunday. Testing showed