What didn't make it into the Rolling article

P and B Motorsports team members Jim Perry and Dave Farrington landed a great article in January/February 2012 Rolling magazine. VCOA staff did a fantastic job laying it out (I especially love Adam Pepper's huge shot of three Volvo models racing together). As good as the article is there are always bits that fall to the cutting room floor so here they are:

In the end, the KIC was a good weekend. There were lots of people, lots of incredibly neat cars, lots of old farts driving cars that they woulda loved to be in when they had their reflexes, and a several really good women drivers, including Lisa Weinberger in Janet Guthrie’s ’72 Toyota Celica. She smoked me!

Lisa Weinberger (R), driving an early Janet Guthrie (L) car. was one of several of the excellent woman racers at the KIC. (Lisa Weinberger photos)

While waiting at registration I struck up a conversation with Richard Morrison from Salina, KS, who was there with his 1939 Lagonda V12 LeMans replica, Now that is one classic car. The cars in Group 1 may not be the fastest in the world, but they are among the most beautiful and speak of the really early days of road racing, with hand built cars. (Jay Leno interviewed Morrison recently; you can see that at http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/collections/pebble-beach/1939-lagonda-v12-le-mans-replica/)

Richard Morrison’s Lagonda reproduction was one of many beautiful Group 1 cars on hand at the Fall Festival (David Farrington photo)

Alex Christopher’s 1800 after a run in with Road America’s Kink (Jim Perry Photo)

Jeff Babcock (122) and Todd Jongen (142) do battle at Road America (David Farrington photo)

Nice ancillaries to the Elkhart Lake Fall Festival include a historic “reenactment” of the real road race course of the ‘50s on Friday night and a Gathering on the Green at the historic Osthoff Resort with a Concours de Elegance on Saturday. My ES got invited to the Concours, so we cleaned up at spent time looking at some wonderfully unique cars, sipping wine and listening to big band music in one of Wisconsin’s most beautiful settings.

P and B’s Chief Torque Wrencher Joy Perry with their award-winning ‘73ES “On the Green” at the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival (Jim Perry photo)

When I started the (Rolling) article I mentioned resources and that they are bit more limited than the big-time Volvo boys and girls with K-PAX. Of course there is a wide variation among we amateurs as well, but for us, long distance travel is quite a stretch. The Nissan Titan I pull the enclosed race trailer with gets about 7 mpg under tow. So going to Watkins Glen was quite the trip, but I’m glad we were able to swing it. Being on another big time track and staying at the Seneca Lodge was a great experience. As was seeing some of the Right Coast Volvo guys.

After hours at Seneca Lodge: Todd Jongen and Julie Gotham (Jim Perry photo)

Babcocks and Perrys caravanned. Doug Senk drove his modern Volvo out, and the Babcock groupies, erh … crew, met us there. Todd Jongen met us there. P and B Motorsports’ Crew Chief stayed behind, but the Race Engineer got to drive his ES from Rhode Island to the heart of New York. A 70’s advertisement said the Volvo ES was the car that could really haul. Farrington proved the advertisement, as he brought six, yes six, 1800 windshields that I had scored from a supplier from the Boston area. There are six happy people who did not have to pay $400 for their windshield!

Jim Perry racing in the rain at Watkins Glen (Adam Pepper photo)

I am really fortunate to have a spouse who is as bitten by this racing bug as I am. (She took our – you did not hear this – ’73 BMW 3.0CS to a HPDE day at Blackhawk herself, with me the crew and spectator. As the day dawned she told me she was not ready for this. At the end of the day she said she wanted to drive Road America.

Chief Torque Wrencher Joy Perry had time for a track day herself (Jim Perry photos)

GPS allows us to know where we are on the track each lap. Black is fastest line in Turn 1 at Road America. (Position on track is exaggerated for purposes of illustration.)