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Flatwater Austin Healey Club Newsletter
 Page 2

reunion at the "June Sprints" (sixteen of us). Son Dave had the longest travel (from England).

I've known Richard since the 1960s when I first got my MGA and interests in English cars. Through the 1960s Richard prepared several Porsche Speedsters for SCCA EP and repaired many (mostly foreign) cars and farm implements on his farm in Hokah, Minnesota. Although he now works the family farm (where he grew up), his training at the Porsche Factory in Germany has sure paid off in keeping his daily driver (a 1917 Model T Ford) on the road. His buddy Ernie Tuff whom Richard was a team chief (NASCAR) for in the late 1950s had just recently prepared a flat head Ford which set a speed record on the flats of Utah. He has settled quite nicely into his current life of raising pigs by the hundreds. Our conversations were, as usual, about circus music, raising wild animals, hogs, racing as it was, being antisocial, and politics. His favorite subject is Bill Clinton and the President's statements on how well the economy has been doing. He wasn't too sure of Clinton's credentials because buying pigs for 30 dollars, feeding them for 60 dollars, and then selling them for 22 dollars does not result in too much prosperity.

It was with less effort than usual that I got my preferred spot on the starting grid being 42nd out of a starting field of 44. I always enjoy the first several laps prior to seeing the race leaders in the mirror. I don't think many people can really enjoy the true Road America experience because as in the movie "Patch Adams" they always seem to see just four fingers. The car never missed a beat-so I finished 11th of the 17 EP starters. While the Toyota Supra gearbox doesn't have the most ideal ratios it does seem to keep the revs and

engine heat down. The Chicago Region of SCCA was celebrating their 50th year so there was a special display of historical "June Sprints" racers. In addition to three big Healeys there was a variety of open wheel and closed wheel cars. These included a Ferrari, a Cheetah, a McKee, a MG TC, a Mustang, and a dozen others. SCCA has a goal for this to be the last year of EP as we know it. The cars will be pushed off to another group possibly combined with FP to form a P2 group. P1 will be reserved for the new generation of EP racers that have the "potential" which means Honda, Mazda, Datsun, and Toyota. From a wonderful June day in 1965 to a fun filled gathering of family and friends in 1999, EP has been a big part of my life. But I guess it is time to move the racers to the back of the building and get on with the many restoration projects. I think after the Austin Seven Cooper I'll bring the Jaguar XK-150 back to life-the last time I drove it was the day before I went into the military in 1968.

About the middle of May I got a call from Bob Hubbard. Bob had been a member of SCCA since the late 1950s and still raced his FP MG. I first met him at Jack Beck's Orion Engineering in Papillion, Nebraska six or seven years ago. Hi was then in the process of modifying a Datsun 1200 for GT-5. I got to know him much better during the two winters I worked for Jack mostly on restoration projects. Bob was best at home in his machine shop where no mill or lathe project seemed beyond his skills. As we worked in close proximity he was always showing me his latest project or providing a guiding light on how to proceed with a task that seemed beyond my skills. I guess what Peter Zekert had to say following his roll over at the Runoffs - "The driver simply ran out of skill prior to the end of the curve" describes many of us. As a boy I had


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