Team Tiger Racing News
By Barry K. Schonberger
Oct., 2000
We wish to welcome Barry Schonberger, racing participant, along with Tom Patton (1999 SCCA GT2 Champion) with Team Tiger. Barry has been writing of their racing experiences for some time now, and has had his reports published in a number of local newletters. He has graciously consented to pulish them on the TigersUnited web site as well.
We hope you will find these periodic reports informative and fascinating, as we watch 35 year old cars currently competing successfully against the current racing field..
Enjoy.
Your Editor
"How we spent our fall vacation at the Runoffs"
With the 2000 SCCA Club Racing season over, Tom and I are both
home and back to our daily routines. The anticipation and excitement of
preparing for the SCCA Runoffs and wanting to prove to the competition at the
National Championships that the TIGERS are still contenders is long gone. This
year’s run for a championship had its ups and downs as we competed in our SCCA
Divisions for points to qualify for the Runoffs. The tuning of the engine with
the new 390cfm-carburetor rule, along with both Tom’s and my having early season
contact with hard objects on or next to the track, kept us busy. After my
running six National events and Tom eight, we both qualified for the national
championship known as the SCCA Valvoline Runoffs.
Team Tiger went to the Runoffs with the cars at their seasonās peak. Our testing in mid July at IRP found that the flow work and tune of the 390cfm carburetor was critical. At the August National at Mid Ohio Tom sat on the pole with a time under the Runoffs track record for GT2. The upgrades to my car over the winter and season had resulted in my running one to two seconds faster all season. We went into our paid practice days on Friday and Saturday with great anticipation that Tom could defend his championship and I could improve on my fifth-place finish. Friday in practice Tom ran .3 under the track record. On Saturday during my paid practice I was also under my previous best qualifying time. We were both quick again on Monday during official practice. On Tuesday, the first day of qualifying, Tom ran a 1:32.199 for the pole. That was 1.5 seconds faster than any other car in the class. Just before he went out for that qualifying session the Stewards advised him that he had been protested and to report to Impound after the session. After the session I was also directed to Impound and told that I could be used as a comparison. When we arrived in Impound the officials there had not received a copy of the protest. As we understood it, the Stewards Of the Meet had asked that the protest be written more specific as to the alleged violation of the rules. We asked if we could leave to change back into our street clothes and then return. Upon our return the details of the protest still had not been received, and they did not have any idea when it would arrive. We were told, however, that it concerned our heads. We asked if we could return to our garage and have them contact us when the protest arrived. Two hours later we had not been contacted. At that point I requested to leave Impound because I had not been protested. About an hour later Tom was called to Impound and presented with the details of the protest submitted by the Toyota team of Reid. They claimed that the Tiger needed to run cylinder heads with FORD casting numbers for 1965,1966,or 1967. Tomās response was that the GT rules are not specific to years like the Production rules and that year specific heads were not required. He also confirmed that the heads on the car did not meet that criteria. (note that at no time during this entire process would the valve covers be removed from the heads to see what was being run) The SOM then took that information back for consideration. Tom requested that the car be released from Impound so that he could return to the garage and start prepping it for the next days qualifying. This was granted, but required that a Tech person remain with the car. We now had the car back, with the hood sealed and a Tech baby sitter. Late that afternoon we heard that the protest had been upheld, resulting in Tomās Tech. stickers being removed and the Tuesdays qualifying times withdrawn. At this point in the process, Tom's next step was to appeal the decision.
In the appeals process it appeared that the SOM and the Court of
Appeals were stepping back from their belief that we had to run heads numbered
with years corresponding to the years the car was manufactured. They were now
saying that we had to show a lineage of FORD part numbers that would show the
heads we were using were a stock replacement head for the originals. Tom’s
appeal was based on the fact that the spec. page for the Tiger states "cast
iron, two valve, crossflow heads" The rules also state "the valves must remain
in their stock location" Our position was and always has been that the DART
Windsor Jr. head is a stock configured,crossflow,cast iron head, with two valves
in the stock location. For the past eight years we have believed that these
heads lived up to the spirit, intent and letter of the rule. This is the very
head that was taken off the car and inspected in Impound after last year’s win.
Because the Windsor Jr. head does not have a FORD part number and because it is
the direct competitor with FORD's GT 40 head, we could not produce the lineage
as requested. That was after we had talked to key people at FORD Motorsports,
and Roush. As a result, the COA denied the appeal. Tom was told that he could
run a FORD numbered head between 1965 and 1984. If he could switch to those
heads, he could run on Sunday after clearing Tech. a second time. Understand
that Tom was not accused of cheating, which would have removed him from the
event and, potentially, suspended his competition license. He was found to have
"misinterpreted the rules". Tom is about as competitive a person as I have ever
met. He was not about to give up on his effort to defend his national
championship. In preparation for the worst, Doug Jennings had rounded up a set
of bare FORD castings. Tom loaded the car up and headed for Cincinnati. The plan
was to spend Wednesday night removing the engine from the car at home, arrive at
Ellison Engines Thursday morning and build a new set of competition heads from
scratch. Tom Ellison and his son basically closed the shop down and the three of
them went to work. Tom did the porting while they did the decking and fitting of
the valves and springs. By Friday afternoon the new heads were back on the short
block and Tom was headed for home to reinstall the engine. The engine was fired
up Saturday morning and he was at the track by 2:00pm and through Tech. by 3:30
pm. Because he had no qualifying times, Tom would start 19th on the
grid.
Keep in mind that during this entire process I am waiting for the axe
to fall on me. Even though I had not been protested, I was up front on the fact
that Tom and I had identical heads, produced by Butch Stetson. After Tom’s
appeal was denied Wednesday morning, I was convinced that I would be asked to go
to Impound after Wednesday’s qualifying, and my week would end there. It didn't
happen. On Wednesday I set my fastest lap ever at 134.4, 1.6 seconds faster than
my qualifying time last year. I was 6th fastest and only 1.5 seconds off the
pole. However, if I finished in the top six on Sunday I would have to go to
Impound, and the reality was they would have to check me. One of the reasons I
was quicker was that Alpine owner Jan Serviatas had just finished a new helmet
design for me. Jan was kind enough to do a helmet for Tom a few years ago, and
offered to do the same for me this year. The design features a Tiger head with
the helmet face shield screen as the mouth. Look for pictures in future
articles.
Sunday
was forecast to be cold and wet. Perfect weather for Tom, who is very
comfortable and fast in the wet, to make a run at the leaders. The forecast was
dead on. It rained, sleeted, hailed and snowed on Sunday. At the 2:30 pm race
time it had just rained and snowed on the previous race, and it looked like the
same for us. There were rumors of black ice forming on certain section of the
track. The majority of the GT 2 field was on rains or intermediate tires.
Because of the cold temperatures, most of the grills were taped up to some
point. For those of you who caught the Speedvision broadcast of the race and saw
them focus in on my right front wheel just before commercial, you may be
wondering why I was running one of Tom’s wheels on my car. On Wednesday during
qualifying, I broke a right front hub. Not having a spare I called the
manufacture of the aluminum hub to get a replacement shipped. To my surprise
they no longer manufacture that hub in a five-bolt pattern. Called Tom Wednesday
night to find out he did not have a spare. We laid the plan of ordering the hub
in a four-bolt configuration and borrowing one of Tom’s wheels for the race. We
received the hub Friday and it went on with very minimal work. When Tom arrived
at the track Saturday, we picked up the wheel from him and had my tire mounted.
(I still run bias tires to Tom’s radials) When we went to put the wheel on, we
found that Tom’s wheel did not have a recessed lug nut area and the lug bolts
were too short. This is about 4:30 pm Saturday. We immediately called around
looking for longer studs, to no avail. We went looking for 1/2" by 4" grade 8
bolts or cap screws to no avail. We could not find a _" fine thread bolt
anywhere! Jerry Dinser was in town from Colorado helping both Tom and me. He
suggested that we take a run down to Columbus, OH, to a factory his employer
runs and check their replacement bolt bins. 8:00pm Saturday night we are on the
road to Columbus. 1:00am we are back in Mansfield with five grade 5 fine thread
bolts, with the heads machined to fit the hub. I put a groove in the threaded
end for a screwdriver just in case they started to spin when we put the nuts on.
The wheel fits, the nuts torque up, and that is why we looked like the Beverly
Hillbillies when they did a close up of the right front wheel. You do what you
have to do.
AND NOW FOR A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS
If you haven't taken the
opportunity to purchase your 1999 SCCA Runoffs GT 2 Championship shirt now is
the time. Our combined inventory includes: 4 med., 5 L, 6 xl, 3 xxl and 1 xxxl.
$20.00 plus $3.20 shipping will get one of these collector items in your hands.
Act now; don't delay!
The track was wet when we left the grid. At the last minute my
crack crew of Jerry Dinser, Sr. and Jr. Jennings and John Engle, switched from
slicks to rains. This was a major decision for me. The truth of the matter is
that I had never raced the car on rain tires before. I am now about to find out
what it is like to race in the rain, in the national championship race. The
Goodyear tech. folks strongly suggested that we put significant effort into
warming up the rain tires on the warm up lap, prior to the start. At least one
car went off the track on the warm up lap. You did not see it on the Speedvision
broadcast, but Tom spun almost immediately after entering the track from grid
and stopped just inches from the wall. He backed up, then continued wondering
what was about to happen when he put the pedal to the metal at the start.
Considering the wet and cold conditions, the start went well with Tom moving up
to ninth by the first turn after the start, turn 6 and my maintaining sixth
after getting boxed in. That's when it all started to go away. The pole sitter,
Reid spun at turn 7 and ended up in the tirewall. The fourth place car,
Blakewell, spun on turn 9 and moved back a number of places. I had now moved up
to fourth and Tom was seventh. On turn 11 I spun off. I was able to get it
slowed down before my left front fender just bumped the tire wall. I got the car
restarted and off I went. A check of the car found that it appeared to be
running all right, but I did have a little front wheel shake under braking. The
pack had all passed me by and now it was a matter of catch up. I passed one car
on the short straight and started to close on another on the back straight when
in turn 9 I spun again. (I was now the third car to spin there in just one and a
half laps) I did not hit anything, and I got the car started and headed off
again after the field from 19th place. I moved through the field and by lap 15 I
was up to 10th and that is were I stayed. Tom had moved up to second by lap 3
and appeared to have that position nailed when the track started to dry. His wet
set up, with the roll bars disconnected, just didn't allow for a good handling
car in the dry. He said that at times he had to go full lock on the steering
wheel to correct in the kink of the back straight. Now that is a scary thought
at 100mph plus. Blakewell was on slicks and as it dried he became faster by
almost 8 seconds a lap over Finch, the leader and Tom. He caught Tom and moved
into second. Finch had built up a lead with good consistent driving that put him
out of reach. It is ironic that Blakewell ended up with slicks on the car,
because he had tried to switch to rains on the grid and just ran out of time.
Tom’s drive from 19th to 2nd in just three laps was spectacular. Considering the
events of the week and the changing conditions during the race, a third place
finish and appearance on the podium was honorable.
Our challenge in the off season is to again respond to the
opinion of key GT 2 competitors and the Competition Board that the TIGER is too
competitive for the class in its current configuration. The new 390cfm
carburetor had a 40-hp impact, but, combined with improved handling, Tom was
able to remain competitive. We understand that the earlier discussion of
requiring a restrictor plate has surfaced again. We will be submitting a request
to the Competition Board to make the DART heads legal as an alternate head. We
will keep you posted as we work through this next set of challenges. We both
want to keep racing, but the yearly challenges to Tom’s success are getting
old.
Barry Kent Schonberger Team Tiger Evansville, IN 47712 (812) 464-1862. (812) 465-7021(FAX)
OCT 2000 UPDATE
Team Tiger Racing News
By Barry K. Schonberger
Oct., 2000
We wish to welcome Barry Schonberger, racing participant, along with Tom Patton (1999 SCCA GT2 Champion) with Team Tiger. Barry has been writing of their racing experiences for some time now, and has had his reports published in a number of local newletters. He has graciously consented to pulish them on the TigersUnited web site as well.
We hope you will find these periodic reports informative and fascinating, as we watch 35 year old cars currently competing successfully against the current racing field..
Enjoy.
Your Editor
"How we spent our fall vacation at the Runoffs"
With the 2000 SCCA Club Racing season over, Tom and I are both home and back to our daily routines. The anticipation and excitement of preparing for the SCCA Runoffs and wanting to prove to the competition at the National Championships that the TIGERS are still contenders is long gone. This year’s run for a championship had its ups and downs as we competed in our SCCA Divisions for points to qualify for the Runoffs. The tuning of the engine with the new 390cfm-carburetor rule, along with both Tom’s and my having early season contact with hard objects on or next to the track, kept us busy. After my running six National events and Tom eight, we both qualified for the national championship known as the SCCA Valvoline Runoffs.
Team Tiger went to the Runoffs with the cars at their season’s peak. Our testing in mid July at IRP found that the flow work and tune of the 390cfm carburetor was critical. At the August National at Mid Ohio Tom sat on the pole with a time under the Runoffs track record for GT2. The upgrades to my car over the winter and season had resulted in my running one to two seconds faster all season. We went into our paid practice days on Friday and Saturday with great anticipation that Tom could defend his championship and I could improve on my fifth-place finish. Friday in practice Tom ran .3 under the track record. On Saturday during my paid practice I was also under my previous best qualifying time. We were both quick again on Monday during official practice. On Tuesday, the first day of qualifying, Tom ran a 1:32.199 for the pole. That was 1.5 seconds faster than any other car in the class. Just before he went out for that qualifying session the Stewards advised him that he had been protested and to report to Impound after the session. After the session I was also directed to Impound and told that I could be used as a comparison. When we arrived in Impound the officials there had not received a copy of the protest. As we understood it, the Stewards Of the Meet had asked that the protest be written more specific as to the alleged violation of the rules. We asked if we could leave to change back into our street clothes and then return. Upon our return the details of the protest still had not been received, and they did not have any idea when it would arrive. We were told, however, that it concerned our heads. We asked if we could return to our garage and have them contact us when the protest arrived. Two hours later we had not been contacted. At that point I requested to leave Impound because I had not been protested. About an hour later Tom was called to Impound and presented with the details of the protest submitted by the Toyota team of Reid. They claimed that the Tiger needed to run cylinder heads with FORD casting numbers for 1965,1966,or 1967. Tom’s response was that the GT rules are not specific to years like the Production rules and that year specific heads were not required. He also confirmed that the heads on the car did not meet that criteria. (note that at no time during this entire process would the valve covers be removed from the heads to see what was being run) The SOM then took that information back for consideration. Tom requested that the car be released from Impound so that he could return to the garage and start prepping it for the next days qualifying. This was granted, but required that a Tech person remain with the car. We now had the car back, with the hood sealed and a Tech baby sitter. Late that afternoon we heard that the protest had been upheld, resulting in Tom’s Tech. stickers being removed and the Tuesday’s qualifying times withdrawn. At this point in the process, Tom's next step was to appeal the decision.
In the appeals process it appeared that the SOM and the Court of Appeals were stepping back from their belief that we had to run heads numbered with years corresponding to the years the car was manufactured. They were now saying that we had to show a lineage of FORD part numbers that would show the heads we were using were a stock replacement head for the originals. Tom’s appeal was based on the fact that the spec. page for the Tiger states "cast iron, two valve, crossflow heads" The rules also state "the valves must remain in their stock location" Our position was and always has been that the DART Windsor Jr. head is a stock configured,crossflow,cast iron head, with two valves in the stock location. For the past eight years we have believed that these heads lived up to the spirit, intent and letter of the rule. This is the very head that was taken off the car and inspected in Impound after last year’s win. Because the Windsor Jr. head does not have a FORD part number and because it is the direct competitor with FORD's GT 40 head, we could not produce the lineage as requested. That was after we had talked to key people at FORD Motorsports, and Roush. As a result, the COA denied the appeal. Tom was told that he could run a FORD numbered head between 1965 and 1984. If he could switch to those heads, he could run on Sunday after clearing Tech. a second time. Understand that Tom was not accused of cheating, which would have removed him from the event and, potentially, suspended his competition license. He was found to have "misinterpreted the rules". Tom is about as competitive a person as I have ever met. He was not about to give up on his effort to defend his national championship. In preparation for the worst, Doug Jennings had rounded up a set of bare FORD castings. Tom loaded the car up and headed for Cincinnati. The plan was to spend Wednesday night removing the engine from the car at home, arrive at Ellison Engines Thursday morning and build a new set of competition heads from scratch. Tom Ellison and his son basically closed the shop down and the three of them went to work. Tom did the porting while they did the decking and fitting of the valves and springs. By Friday afternoon the new heads were back on the short block and Tom was headed for home to reinstall the engine. The engine was fired up Saturday morning and he was at the track by 2:00pm and through Tech. by 3:30 pm. Because he had no qualifying times, Tom would start 19th on the grid.
Keep in mind that during this entire process I am waiting for the axe to fall on me. Even though I had not been protested, I was up front on the fact that Tom and I had identical heads, produced by Butch Stetson. After Tom’s appeal was denied Wednesday morning, I was convinced that I would be asked to go to Impound after Wednesday’s qualifying, and my week would end there. It didn't happen. On Wednesday I set my fastest lap ever at 134.4, 1.6 seconds faster than my qualifying time last year. I was 6th fastest and only 1.5 seconds off the pole. However, if I finished in the top six on Sunday I would have to go to Impound, and the reality was they would have to check me. One of the reasons I was quicker was that Alpine owner Jan Serviatas had just finished a new helmet design for me. Jan was kind enough to do a helmet for Tom a few years ago, and offered to do the same for me this year. The design features a Tiger head with the helmet face shield screen as the mouth. Look for pictures in future articles.
Sunday was forecast to be cold and wet. Perfect weather for Tom, who is very comfortable and fast in the wet, to make a run at the leaders. The forecast was dead on. It rained, sleeted, hailed and snowed on Sunday. At the 2:30 pm race time it had just rained and snowed on the previous race, and it looked like the same for us. There were rumors of black ice forming on certain section of the track. The majority of the GT 2 field was on rains or intermediate tires. Because of the cold temperatures, most of the grills were taped up to some point. For those of you who caught the Speedvision broadcast of the race and saw them focus in on my right front wheel just before commercial, you may be wondering why I was running one of Tom’s wheels on my car. On Wednesday during qualifying, I broke a right front hub. Not having a spare I called the manufacture of the aluminum hub to get a replacement shipped. To my surprise they no longer manufacture that hub in a five-bolt pattern. Called Tom Wednesday night to find out he did not have a spare. We laid the plan of ordering the hub in a four-bolt configuration and borrowing one of Tom’s wheels for the race. We received the hub Friday and it went on with very minimal work. When Tom arrived at the track Saturday, we picked up the wheel from him and had my tire mounted. (I still run bias tires to Tom’s radials) When we went to put the wheel on, we found that Tom’s wheel did not have a recessed lug nut area and the lug bolts were too short. This is about 4:30 pm Saturday. We immediately called around looking for longer studs, to no avail. We went looking for 1/2" by 4" grade 8 bolts or cap screws to no avail. We could not find a _" fine thread bolt anywhere! Jerry Dinser was in town from Colorado helping both Tom and me. He suggested that we take a run down to Columbus, OH, to a factory his employer runs and check their replacement bolt bins. 8:00pm Saturday night we are on the road to Columbus. 1:00am we are back in Mansfield with five grade 5 fine thread bolts, with the heads machined to fit the hub. I put a groove in the threaded end for a screwdriver just in case they started to spin when we put the nuts on. The wheel fits, the nuts torque up, and that is why we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies when they did a close up of the right front wheel. You do what you have to do.
AND NOW FOR A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS
If you haven't taken the opportunity to purchase your 1999 SCCA Runoffs GT 2 Championship shirt now is the time. Our combined inventory includes: 4 med., 5 L, 6 xl, 3 xxl and 1 xxxl. $20.00 plus $3.20 shipping will get one of these collector items in your hands. Act now; don't delay!
The track was wet when we left the grid. At the last minute my crack crew of Jerry Dinser, Sr. and Jr. Jennings and John Engle, switched from slicks to rains. This was a major decision for me. The truth of the matter is that I had never raced the car on rain tires before. I am now about to find out what it is like to race in the rain, in the national championship race. The Goodyear tech. folks strongly suggested that we put significant effort into warming up the rain tires on the warm up lap, prior to the start. At least one car went off the track on the warm up lap. You did not see it on the Speedvision broadcast, but Tom spun almost immediately after entering the track from grid and stopped just inches from the wall. He backed up, then continued wondering what was about to happen when he put the pedal to the metal at the start. Considering the wet and cold conditions, the start went well with Tom moving up to ninth by the first turn after the start, turn 6 and my maintaining sixth after getting boxed in. That's when it all started to go away. The pole sitter, Reid spun at turn 7 and ended up in the tirewall. The fourth place car, Blakewell, spun on turn 9 and moved back a number of places. I had now moved up to fourth and Tom was seventh. On turn 11 I spun off. I was able to get it slowed down before my left front fender just bumped the tire wall. I got the car restarted and off I went. A check of the car found that it appeared to be running all right, but I did have a little front wheel shake under braking. The pack had all passed me by and now it was a matter of catch up. I passed one car on the short straight and started to close on another on the back straight when in turn 9 I spun again. (I was now the third car to spin there in just one and a half laps) I did not hit anything, and I got the car started and headed off again after the field from 19th place. I moved through the field and by lap 15 I was up to 10th and that is were I stayed. Tom had moved up to second by lap 3 and appeared to have that position nailed when the track started to dry. His wet set up, with the roll bars disconnected, just didn't allow for a good handling car in the dry. He said that at times he had to go full lock on the steering wheel to correct in the kink of the back straight. Now that is a scary thought at 100mph plus. Blakewell was on slicks and as it dried he became faster by almost 8 seconds a lap over Finch, the leader and Tom. He caught Tom and moved into second. Finch had built up a lead with good consistent driving that put him out of reach. It is ironic that Blakewell ended up with slicks on the car, because he had tried to switch to rains on the grid and just ran out of time. Tom’s drive from 19th to 2nd in just three laps was spectacular. Considering the events of the week and the changing conditions during the race, a third place finish and appearance on the podium was honorable.
Our challenge in the off season is to again respond to the opinion of key GT 2 competitors and the Competition Board that the TIGER is too competitive for the class in its current configuration. The new 390cfm carburetor had a 40-hp impact, but, combined with improved handling, Tom was able to remain competitive. We understand that the earlier discussion of requiring a restrictor plate has surfaced again. We will be submitting a request to the Competition Board to make the DART heads legal as an alternate head. We will keep you posted as we work through this next set of challenges. We both want to keep racing, but the yearly challenges to Tom’s success are getting old.
Barry Kent Schonberger
Team Tiger
Evansville, IN 47712
(812) 464-1862. (FAX) (812) 465-7021
 | Oct. '00 | Nov. '00 | Dec. '00 | Jan. '01 | Feb. '01 | Mar. '01 | April '01 | May '01 | |
NOV 2000 UPDATE
Team Tiger Racing News
By Barry K. Schonberger
Nov., 2000
We wish to welcome Barry Schonberger, racing participant, along with Tom Patton (1999 SCCA GT2 Champion) with Team Tiger. Barry has been writing of their racing experiences for some time now, and has had his reports published in a number of local newletters. He has graciously consented to pulish them on the TigersUnited web site as well.
We hope you will find these periodic reports informative and fascinating, as we watch 35 year old cars currently competing successfully against the current racing field..
Enjoy
TO BE CONTINUED
Barry Kent Schonberger Team Tiger Evansville, IN 47712 (812) 464-1862. (812) 465-7021(FAX)
take a look at our contributors list
| | Oct. '00 | Nov. '00 | Dec. '00 | Jan. '01 | Feb. '01 | Mar. '01 | April '01 | May '01 | |
DEC 2000 UPDATE
Team Tiger Racing News
By Barry K. Schonberger
Dec., 2000
We wish to welcome Barry Schonberger, racing participant, along with Tom Patton (1999 SCCA GT2 Champion) with Team Tiger. Barry has been writing of their racing experiences for some time now, and has had his reports published in a number of local newletters. He has graciously consented to pulish them on the TigersUnited web site as well.
We hope you will find these periodic reports informative and fascinating, as we watch 35 year old cars currently competing successfully against the current racing field..
Enjoy
TO BE CONTINUED
Barry Kent Schonberger Team Tiger Evansville, IN 47712 (812) 464-1862. (812) 465-7021(FAX)
| | Oct. '00 | Nov. '00 | Dec. '00 | Jan. '01 | Feb. '01 | Mar. '01 | April '01 | May '01 | |
OCT 2000
Team Tiger Racing News
By Barry K. Schonberger
Oct., 2000
We wish to welcome Barry Schonberger,
racing participant, along with Tom Patton (1999 SCCA GT2 Champion) with Team Tiger. Barry has been writing of their racing
experiences for some time now, and has had his reports published in a number of
local newletters. He has graciously consented to pulish them on the TigersUnited
web site as well.
We hope you will find these periodic
reports informative and fascinating, as we watch 35 year old cars currently
competing successfully against the current racing field..
Enjoy.
Your Editor
"How we spent our fall vacation at the Runoffs"
With the 2000 SCCA Club Racing season over, Tom and I are both
home and back to our daily routines. The anticipation and excitement of
preparing for the SCCA Runoffs and wanting to prove to the competition at the
National Championships that the TIGERS are still contenders is long gone. This
year’s run for a championship had its ups and downs as we competed in our SCCA
Divisions for points to qualify for the Runoffs. The tuning of the engine with
the new 390cfm-carburetor rule, along with both Tom’s and my having early season
contact with hard objects on or next to the track, kept us busy. After my
running six National events and Tom eight, we both qualified for the national
championship known as the SCCA Valvoline Runoffs.
Team Tiger went to the Runoffs with the cars at their season’s
peak. Our testing in mid July at IRP found that the flow work and tune of the
390cfm carburetor was critical. At the August National at Mid Ohio Tom sat on
the pole with a time under the Runoffs track record for GT2. The upgrades to my
car over the winter and season had resulted in my running one to two seconds
faster all season. We went into our paid practice days on Friday and Saturday
with great anticipation that Tom could defend his championship and I could
improve on my fifth-place finish. Friday in practice Tom ran .3 under the track
record. On Saturday during my paid practice I was also under my previous best
qualifying time. We were both quick again on Monday during official practice. On
Tuesday, the first day of qualifying, Tom ran a 1:32.199 for the pole. That was
1.5 seconds faster than any other car in the class. Just before he went out for
that qualifying session the Stewards advised him that he had been protested and
to report to Impound after the session. After the session I was also directed to
Impound and told that I could be used as a comparison. When we arrived in
Impound the officials there had not received a copy of the protest. As we
understood it, the Stewards Of the Meet had asked that the protest be written
more specific as to the alleged violation of the rules. We asked if we could
leave to change back into our street clothes and then return. Upon our return
the details of the protest still had not been received, and they did not have
any idea when it would arrive. We were told, however, that it concerned our
heads. We asked if we could return to our garage and have them contact us when
the protest arrived. Two hours later we had not been contacted. At that point I
requested to leave Impound because I had not been protested. About an hour later
Tom was called to Impound and presented with the details of the protest
submitted by the Toyota team of Reid. They claimed that the Tiger needed to run
cylinder heads with FORD casting numbers for 1965,1966,or 1967. Tom’s response
was that the GT rules are not specific to years like the Production rules and
that year specific heads were not required. He also confirmed that the heads on
the car did not meet that criteria. (note that at no time during this entire
process would the valve covers be removed from the heads to see what was being
run) The SOM then took that information back for consideration. Tom requested
that the car be released from Impound so that he could return to the garage and
start prepping it for the next days qualifying. This was granted, but required
that a Tech person remain with the car. We now had the car back, with the hood
sealed and a Tech baby sitter. Late that afternoon we heard that the protest had
been upheld, resulting in Tom’s Tech. stickers being removed and the Tuesday’s
qualifying times withdrawn. At this point in the process, Tom's next step was to
appeal the decision.
In the appeals process it appeared that the SOM and the Court of
Appeals were stepping back from their belief that we had to run heads numbered
with years corresponding to the years the car was manufactured. They were now
saying that we had to show a lineage of FORD part numbers that would show the
heads we were using were a stock replacement head for the originals. Tom’s
appeal was based on the fact that the spec. page for the Tiger states "cast
iron, two valve, crossflow heads" The rules also state "the valves must remain
in their stock location" Our position was and always has been that the DART
Windsor Jr. head is a stock configured,crossflow,cast iron head, with two valves
in the stock location. For the past eight years we have believed that these
heads lived up to the spirit, intent and letter of the rule. This is the very
head that was taken off the car and inspected in Impound after last year’s win.
Because the Windsor Jr. head does not have a FORD part number and because it is
the direct competitor with FORD's GT 40 head, we could not produce the lineage
as requested. That was after we had talked to key people at FORD Motorsports,
and Roush. As a result, the COA denied the appeal. Tom was told that he could
run a FORD numbered head between 1965 and 1984. If he could switch to those
heads, he could run on Sunday after clearing Tech. a second time. Understand
that Tom was not accused of cheating, which would have removed him from the
event and, potentially, suspended his competition license. He was found to have
"misinterpreted the rules". Tom is about as competitive a person as I have ever
met. He was not about to give up on his effort to defend his national
championship. In preparation for the worst, Doug Jennings had rounded up a set
of bare FORD castings. Tom loaded the car up and headed for Cincinnati. The plan
was to spend Wednesday night removing the engine from the car at home, arrive at
Ellison Engines Thursday morning and build a new set of competition heads from
scratch. Tom Ellison and his son basically closed the shop down and the three of
them went to work. Tom did the porting while they did the decking and fitting of
the valves and springs. By Friday afternoon the new heads were back on the short
block and Tom was headed for home to reinstall the engine. The engine was fired
up Saturday morning and he was at the track by 2:00pm and through Tech. by 3:30
pm. Because he had no qualifying times, Tom would start 19th on the
grid.
Keep in mind that during this entire process I am waiting for the axe
to fall on me. Even though I had not been protested, I was up front on the fact
that Tom and I had identical heads, produced by Butch Stetson. After Tom’s
appeal was denied Wednesday morning, I was convinced that I would be asked to go
to Impound after Wednesday’s qualifying, and my week would end there. It didn't
happen. On Wednesday I set my fastest lap ever at 134.4, 1.6 seconds faster than
my qualifying time last year. I was 6th fastest and only 1.5 seconds off the
pole. However, if I finished in the top six on Sunday I would have to go to
Impound, and the reality was they would have to check me. One of the reasons I
was quicker was that Alpine owner Jan Serviatas had just finished a new helmet
design for me. Jan was kind enough to do a helmet for Tom a few years ago, and
offered to do the same for me this year. The design features a Tiger head with
the helmet face shield screen as the mouth. Look for pictures in future
articles.
Sunday
was forecast to be cold and wet. Perfect weather for Tom, who is very
comfortable and fast in the wet, to make a run at the leaders. The forecast was
dead on. It rained, sleeted, hailed and snowed on Sunday. At the 2:30 pm race
time it had just rained and snowed on the previous race, and it looked like the
same for us. There were rumors of black ice forming on certain section of the
track. The majority of the GT 2 field was on rains or intermediate tires.
Because of the cold temperatures, most of the grills were taped up to some
point. For those of you who caught the Speedvision broadcast of the race and saw
them focus in on my right front wheel just before commercial, you may be
wondering why I was running one of Tom’s wheels on my car. On Wednesday during
qualifying, I broke a right front hub. Not having a spare I called the
manufacture of the aluminum hub to get a replacement shipped. To my surprise
they no longer manufacture that hub in a five-bolt pattern. Called Tom Wednesday
night to find out he did not have a spare. We laid the plan of ordering the hub
in a four-bolt configuration and borrowing one of Tom’s wheels for the race. We
received the hub Friday and it went on with very minimal work. When Tom arrived
at the track Saturday, we picked up the wheel from him and had my tire mounted.
(I still run bias tires to Tom’s radials) When we went to put the wheel on, we
found that Tom’s wheel did not have a recessed lug nut area and the lug bolts
were too short. This is about 4:30 pm Saturday. We immediately called around
looking for longer studs, to no avail. We went looking for 1/2" by 4" grade 8
bolts or cap screws to no avail. We could not find a _" fine thread bolt
anywhere! Jerry Dinser was in town from Colorado helping both Tom and me. He
suggested that we take a run down to Columbus, OH, to a factory his employer
runs and check their replacement bolt bins. 8:00pm Saturday night we are on the
road to Columbus. 1:00am we are back in Mansfield with five grade 5 fine thread
bolts, with the heads machined to fit the hub. I put a groove in the threaded
end for a screwdriver just in case they started to spin when we put the nuts on.
The wheel fits, the nuts torque up, and that is why we looked like the Beverly
Hillbillies when they did a close up of the right front wheel. You do what you
have to do.
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The track was wet when we left the grid. At the last minute my
crack crew of Jerry Dinser, Sr. and Jr. Jennings and John Engle, switched from
slicks to rains. This was a major decision for me. The truth of the matter is
that I had never raced the car on rain tires before. I am now about to find out
what it is like to race in the rain, in the national championship race. The
Goodyear tech. folks strongly suggested that we put significant effort into
warming up the rain tires on the warm up lap, prior to the start. At least one
car went off the track on the warm up lap. You did not see it on the Speedvision
broadcast, but Tom spun almost immediately after entering the track from grid
and stopped just inches from the wall. He backed up, then continued wondering
what was about to happen when he put the pedal to the metal at the start.
Considering the wet and cold conditions, the start went well with Tom moving up
to ninth by the first turn after the start, turn 6 and my maintaining sixth
after getting boxed in. That's when it all started to go away. The pole sitter,
Reid spun at turn 7 and ended up in the tirewall. The fourth place car,
Blakewell, spun on turn 9 and moved back a number of places. I had now moved up
to fourth and Tom was seventh. On turn 11 I spun off. I was able to get it
slowed down before my left front fender just bumped the tire wall. I got the car
restarted and off I went. A check of the car found that it appeared to be
running all right, but I did have a little front wheel shake under braking. The
pack had all passed me by and now it was a matter of catch up. I passed one car
on the short straight and started to close on another on the back straight when
in turn 9 I spun again. (I was now the third car to spin there in just one and a
half laps) I did not hit anything, and I got the car started and headed off
again after the field from 19th place. I moved through the field and by lap 15 I
was up to 10th and that is were I stayed. Tom had moved up to second by lap 3
and appeared to have that position nailed when the track started to dry. His wet
set up, with the roll bars disconnected, just didn't allow for a good handling
car in the dry. He said that at times he had to go full lock on the steering
wheel to correct in the kink of the back straight. Now that is a scary thought
at 100mph plus. Blakewell was on slicks and as it dried he became faster by
almost 8 seconds a lap over Finch, the leader and Tom. He caught Tom and moved
into second. Finch had built up a lead with good consistent driving that put him
out of reach. It is ironic that Blakewell ended up with slicks on the car,
because he had tried to switch to rains on the grid and just ran out of time.
Tom’s drive from 19th to 2nd in just three laps was spectacular. Considering the
events of the week and the changing conditions during the race, a third place
finish and appearance on the podium was honorable.
Our challenge in the off season is to again respond to the
opinion of key GT 2 competitors and the Competition Board that the TIGER is too
competitive for the class in its current configuration. The new 390cfm
carburetor had a 40-hp impact, but, combined with improved handling, Tom was
able to remain competitive. We understand that the earlier discussion of
requiring a restrictor plate has surfaced again. We will be submitting a request
to the Competition Board to make the DART heads legal as an alternate head. We
will keep you posted as we work through this next set of challenges. We both
want to keep racing, but the yearly challenges to Tom’s success are getting
old.
Barry Kent Schonberger Team Tiger Evansville, IN 47712 (812) 464-1862. (812) 465-7021(FAX)
**
