Amazing So Cal Vintage FF Community
Long post warning!
As a rookie who just did his first two race weekends, the first with HSR-West, the second with VARA (both at Cal Speedway), I just wanted to express my gratitude to all the incredibly friendly, helpful people I encountered along the way.
My first weekend, I just happened to be pitted right in between Richard Holladay's 2-car Crossle CF team, with what appears to be a 100-person support crew (because every member of his and his drivers' extended family wear Team Crossle shirts!), and the intense one-man, no-nonsense display of Brian Britton and his immaculate Titan FF.
Just me, the virgin rookie and his little non-Ivey, Cortina-powered, bought-2-weeks-before-the-race Elden pitted right between three of the fastest guys in the group! Perfect!
Richard Holladay and his sons Kelly and Jeff were incredibly helpful to me throughout the weekend. Their generosity was just extraordinary. They even fed me. And their gaggle of 10 or so kids played with my daughter. An instant community. (The group of kids actually formed a pit crew for me!)
Garage-mate Britton and other neighbor Bob Hatle were also patient and helpful, as were the race-winning drivers of Richard's cars, the Patterson brothers. Richard even threw a party with dinner and an FF 40th anniversary cake after Friday practice! And Ken, thanks for bumping me entering turn three! Squared me up and got me through the turn quicker! And now I don't have to worry about that "first contact". Been there - yawn! (And I promise I won't brake so early next time...)
A couple weeks later and it was VARA's turn. A lot of new faces; a few familiar faces. Yet another group of REALLY fast drivers. And again, a lot of cool, helpful, people. Thanks to Joe Babros for the brand new air cleaner! And I won a prize in the FF raffle! Great stuff.
I raced a 125cc two-stroke formula three motorcycle in the AFM club at Willow years ago, and being a somewhat obscure class, we all stuck together and really helped each other out (blown engine in practice gets rebuilt with everyone's help by race time, kind-of-thing). Guys in the other classes would barely lend out a 12mm socket!
I was hoping for a similar degree of camaraderie in the vintage car racing world, and I sure as hell found it.
Thanks everybody (including Ed and Darlene at HSR and Vara) for making a potentially nerve-wracking experience nothing but incredibly fun and rewarding. I'm hooked.
...Now if I can just find 15 seconds...
Pen Pendleton
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