Baxter's Historic Car Races, 2004

Jeffrey Butts

The annual GTS business meeting and trek to PIR was another great success. We lobbied for, and with a little help from Russ Lindborg, got a club corral of our own this year, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday dawned a little overcast, but fine for top-down driving in terms of Oregon weather. Steve Sanz showed up at my house just as I was closing up the garage. I'd seen him the night before, washing up his 1969 M-B. When he arrived Saturday morning, we talked cars for a couple of minutes and then loaded up as Bob McFadden arrived in his XK-E coupe. The three of us headed out to meet with the rest of the gang at Skyline Burgers.

As with last year, Bob and I did a couple of stoplight drag races on Murray Boulevard. The teener is no match for the Jag. He left me in his dust, or was that smoke? When we got up to Cedar Mill, Bob surprised me and headed off on a road slightly different than our usual route. In fact, we were treated to a much better way up the hill. Nice turns and only about 5-10 minutes longer in total time. Steve had his Benz doing pretty good. The uphill worked in his favor and the big sedan took the turns pretty well.

We had another surprise when we got to the rendezvous. Skyline Burgers was open for breakfast. Their morning clientele took our usual meeting spot and I saw various club cars on three of the four remaining corners. We settled on the biggest clear spot and were soon joined by the rest of the gang. One guest on hand was Ken Cadien, a friend from work. Ken drove his 1993 Mercedes 500E. This is quite the Q-Ship. From the outside, it takes a Benz connoisseur to recognize it as anything but a VP's trophy car. In actual fact, this 5-liter car is one of just 500 sold in the US. It has 322HP and 354 lb ft of torque at 3900 RPM. A long list of engine mods produce a 10:1 compression ratio. It will do 0- 60 in less than six seconds and has an electronically limited top speed of 155 MPH. Our final tally was nine cars, a new GTS record. We voted each of the club members as presidents once again (including those of you who could not be here) and then followed Kelly down through NW Portland to the track.

For the first time GTS had its' own corral at the races. Previously, once we arrived, we'd split up into our best parking opportunities and then gather together, magically, in the pits. This year we had a corral with 12 attendees booked. Russ Lindborg had dropped a positive comment or two in our favor with the organizers. For our money we got free autocross (suggested donation of $5), dash plaques, parade lap, and a place to park where you didn't have to worry about your doors. Although no one did the autocross, Ken David and Steve and Rose Sanz took advantage of the parade lap. Ken had brought along his youngest son, Paul, and I think he really enjoyed the experience. I hooked up with Steve for the pit crawl. There were some awesome cars there. Bruce McCaw, a serious collector with the cash to support the habit, had his newest acquisition there, a 1967 Ferrari 412P. Although we saw it in motion in the pits, it didn't drive on Saturday. Nor did the M8D McLaren. One that did was Bruce McCaw's other gem, a 1958 F1 2.5-Liter BRM.

The feature for this year's event was a double header. For the first time they had motorcycles as a feature and this was an opportunity for V-moto, a historic bike club. V- Moto fielded a 20-bike grid that got my blood pumping. I was looking at my Bonneville with new eyes when I came home (but then those broken bones started to ache). This year also featured historic Trans-Am cars and they had a grid of nearly 25 cars, including two Bud Moore Boss 302's, two AAR Baracudas, two Javelins, and three ex-Penske Camaros. Celebrities on site include Parnelli Jones and his Bud Moore teammate George Follmer. The resident bike celebrity was Joe Leonard, three-time AMA #1 plate in 1954 (Harley) and a successful car racer to boot, winning Indy in 1968 and two USAC championships (before the days of CART and IRL).

For the post lunch spectacle, we chose to stay on the inside of the track at the festival. Pretty nearly everyone got that message except for Bob McFadden. He told me later that he sat in the usual place and looked across at our grandstand, figuring we'd be there. Ken Cadien had also left earlier, but not until he had seen the cars in the pits and the first couple of qualification races.

First up were the V-Moto bikes. They did a push start and went around for a practice lap. The flag flew and they were off and running. The pack included a variety of size and vintages, from a Bultaco Metralla to big British Twins. Although there were some exotics included (Ducati's and Laverda's) the front three were Brit bikes. A 750 Twin led flag to flag. This was a fairing-less bike and it was great to see the guy blast down the front straight, almost lock them up for the Festival, and then lean it over in the corner. When he wicked it on again out of Turn 2, the sound was every bit as good as the V-8's to my ears. He was followed by another Triumph, a 650 Bonneville with full fairing. Third place was a nifty 500cc BSA single. I saw this bike in the pits and talked to the pilot. He said that he normally races modern bikes but that this was every bit as balanced and a kick in the ass to ride. It was for sale, by the way, for only $12,000. Choke.

Speaking of V-8's, the first car qualifier was for the big iron. A ton of Mustangs and Corvettes were there, the traffic was very thick. Good dicing and no major tangles at the Festival. Eric Dolson, from Sisters, Oregon, won the Qualifier in his 1969 Corvette. Next up were the big sportsracers and assorted fast cars. The ex-Al Unser F5000 car (not in the program) finished first in this qualifying race. He was turning times in the 1:19 range, pretty darn fast. The Lola T-292 that was featured in my story on Tom's Garage in Portland was the second place finisher. There was one exciting moment in the race when Menlo Park's Paul Goldman blew a tire coming into the left-hander in the Festival. It was quite the show to see the crews finally get his car off the track. The bigger sports car were next, mostly 2-liter and above that is, and they had a pretty good go too. John Delane, from Redondo Beach, was driving the wheels off of his Lotus 26R (Elan racer). I clocked one of his laps at 1:29. Monte Shelton had his 911 in this race but, again, we were not to see his patented "chrome-horn pass" coming into the Festival. Maybe the stewards made their point in 2002. One especially enjoyable moment came when one of the Lotus Super 7's, who was running third, spun in the Festival left-hander. Impatient to get back in the hunt after spinning, and facing the wrong way, he pulled a U right in front of a Cortina, forcing that driver to stand on his brakes. With a cloud of blue tire smoke wafting over the two of them, the Cortina driver blew his horn bringing the crowd in the grandstand to their feet in applause. The under 2-liter sports cars were the next up and they provided an acceptable, if not exactly exciting race.

It was finally time for the feature event; the ex-TransAm cars and they certainly didn't disappoint us. From the very start the sound was enough to give you goose bumps. There was very close racing and at least half a dozen lead changes in the race. The preferred method seemed to be to brake late coming into the festival, after which your binders were cooked and then someone else would do the same to you the next lap. These guys (the leaders) were running in the mid 1:20's. Early leader John McClintock, from Olympia, Washington in a Boss 302 gave way to the 1970 Dodge of Ken Epsman. Other front-runners included. Santa Clara's Rubin Scott, in a '71 Javelin, won the qualifier. Group 2, the formula cars, was next but I was indisposed at the time, and did not see GTS president Dave Isselhard in his Caldwell. I trust that he did well, he pretty much always does. This year he had his Healey on hand as well but no one to drive it. The final two qualifying races were fairly straightforward. I had been hoping to see the Ferrari in Group 7 but it did not drive.

It was a great year. The weather was pretty mild considering the month of July this year was a scorcher in Portland. Thanks to Russ for getting us the corral, to Bob for showing me a new way up the hill, and to Kelly for leading the train to the racetrack. More photos are available (I hope they're still up) from Adam Harrison, who provided some of the ones used for this story. Find them here.