Cars that did not start

Bob Earl did it

This race was to feature a classic Mazda-Pontiac battle, with the latter manufacturer getting more and more aggressive, to the spectators delight. A third manufacturer could also play à little more than second fiddle, in the name of Porsche. Luis Mendez, the local hero, running very strong at his home track. In fact, he would even be easily the fastest on a track he knew quite perfectly. It was on a wet track though. He would post à sixth place time on a dry track. Mazda had the three top spots on the grid, just ahead of Bob Earl's Pontiac Fiero. The race seemed to be your classical Mazda parade, as was expected, but it would not be. In fact, two things happened early in the race. Luis Mendez would start the race from the pits to have a finger-tight wheel nut torqued. He would have to run like hell, which he did. At the start, twenty six cars rushed on the track, and Bob Earl would sneak by Tom Kendall and Bob Reed, placing in second place and trailing Roger Mandeville. He would lay just behind him, waiting for a mistake which he did almost immediately. His Mazda RX7, on cold tires, slid to the wall. By the end of the first lap, Bob Earl's Pontiac Fiero led the race. Louis Baldwin hit the wall and lost his hood : he had to stop for a new one. It looked like he could pull away easily, but he did not. He ran over à piece of paper, and the temperature started to go up. Terry Visger spun on lap three, but was quickly back on track. The two leaders would run the entire race together, with a gap maintaining around two or three seconds, depending on traffic. Amos Johnson was a distant third, hoping for à mistake. Bob Reed blew his Transmission. The action was behind them, with Luis Mendez running like hell, as expected. By lap ten, he was twelfth, and ten laps later, he was in sixth place. Paul Romano scraped the wall, but went back, although finished far behind the leaders. Roger Mandeville was trailing Bob Earl, obviously aware of Bob Earl's overheating problem. He would have to think twice, as Bob Earl made some brave moves in traffic, also making some slight mistakes, but it was his day, and he kept his leading position until the chequered. 1.9s was the final gap. Bob Earl garnered his seventh career win. Third was Amos Johnson, Tom Kendall was fourth overall. Luis Mendez grabbed fifth place from Terry Visger one lap from the end.