Laguna Seca National

[El Guapo]

July 14 Laguna Seca National results. 55 cars started the race. There were 51 finishers. In the interest of brevity, only FC results listed:

1 Travis Irving Chino Hills, Ca. 01 VD
2 Sean McIntosh Coqitlan, B.C. 01 VD
3 Jeff Sakowitz Camarillo, Ca. 99 Mygale
4 Michael Renna Austin, Tx. 98 Tatuus
5 David Burkett Corpus Christi, Tx.01 VD
6 Jeff Smith Martinez, Ca. 01 VD
7 Peter West Sierra Madre, Ca. 98 VD
8 Dennis Goughary H. Harbor, Ca. 99 Carbir
9 Les Phillips Bakersfield, Ca. 89 Reynard
10 Greg Pizzo San Jose, Ca. 98 VD
11 Browning Williams Houston, Tx. 99 VD
DNS Thomas Copeland Fremont, Ca. 94 VD
DNS Ken Garza San Francisco, Ca. 95 VD

[Purple Frog]

What was Les doing up in 9th?????

The stock in old Reynards just went up.

Way to go!

And of course, Thanks El Gaupo for the report.

[Purple Frog]

El Guapo,
I just know you are going to ruin it, and tell us Les was 9th in FC but 49th overall...

[El Guapo]

Frog, Les Phillips has been racing in FC and F2000 for a long time. In fact, when I debuted my 84 Van Dieman F2000 car in FC in 1985, he was one of my first competitors. He is a terrific driver, and has had a win in the F2000 pro series. He and his son are sharing the 89 Reynard, with Peter (the son) doing Regionals, and Les (the Dad) doing Nationals. Currently, Les is the track manager at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in California. Just for general interest, here are a couple of other notes on the Laguna Seca weekend. There must have been 400 race cars at this event; while we were waiting to get in to the track on Thursday afternoon, I wandered down the line of transporters looking at license plates from Oregon, Idaho, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona etc., etc. Also of interest, Trans-Am drivers Tomy Drisi and Paul Gentilozzi entered Spec Racer Fords in the SRF event, as well as running them as Club Sports 2000's with our group for Sunday's regional race. Speaking of the regional, I managed to finish 5th, despite being down a little on horsepower. Laguna Seca is a world class facility, and a complete ball to drive. Unlike most of the tracks we race at, Laguna is only about 4 miles from Monterey where one can find a plethora of fine restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, tourist destinations (first rate aquarium) etc. This makes it a very civilised place to race. My crew enjoyed eating at places with decent food and tablecloths, as well as going out to night spots. Our usual fare is Denny's followed by the pool at the motel. Had a blast!

EG

[TEC]

As a follow-up Travis Irving also broke the FC race record on Sunday with a 1:29.157. Compare that to the Formula Atlantic of Tom Dooley who did a 1:30.005. Keith Lively did
a 1:25.388 in the National Race. So Irving
was smoking. Wonder what he had under his engine cover? Also alot of these guys looked like they came right outta the pro series. Exotic transporters, professional prepared cars, and the like. Put my old tired-looking '94 Van Diemen to shame. Anyway, my car had problems all weekend hench I was DNS. It was quite a field nonetheless. The largest FC field in the SF Region this year. Normally I only got the FM's to kick around.