Don
When Don decided to get into FF back in '87 my partner Jim Render and I had been talking to him while we raced with limited success our two '86 Van Diemen (not the fastest model). He expressed interest in buying Jim's car so we agreed on a price with he and Joan planning on driving up to Minneapolis from Chicago on a weekend to pick up the machine. Over a Friday night the Twin Cities had about 9" of rain while I was out of town on business to I was a bit worried about our shop in downtown MSP.
Saturday morning I couldn't get within 2 blocks of the shop and waded in to be greeted by the disappointing sight of our two cars nearly afloat in about 2 feet of greasy brown slime from a nearby creek which had become a river. As the water gradually receded we set to work collecting our equipment and around noon I hooked up a garden hose and started rinsing off the Van Diemens. With only about half a foot of flood still on the floor I heard Don's booming voice behind me. Many of you know Don had an occasional stutter when he started to talk but that was absent when he shouted "Tony, what the f---- happened here?" I replied "No problem Don, just detailing the car for you to take home."
Long story short, we agreed if we could drain everything inside the car and running parts, get it running and check gearbox, clutch etc and inspect again we would sell the car at a substantially reduced price. By late afternoon Don had it on the trailer and headed back south to start in behind the wheel with some SCCA events. He came back to Brainerd with the car at the end of the season and had a respectable finish. He said everything in the car worked ok after the submarine experience but his only complaint was every time he had it on track he came in with driver suit marred with ugly brown slime which continued to ooze out of the steel tubing frame.
The car eventually became a part of his original DF 1 which he set about developing the next year with various drivers including Render. Within a couple seasons the Piper DF models became the car to have in FF. Don, we will all miss you!
Reply With Quote