A Racer's Letter:

From Vancouver

by Marybeth Harrison

Well, my 1998 race season is off and running (or should I say raining?!!)

Yes, if I can say anything about this weekend's race in Vancouver, I can say it rained. And rained. And - did I tell you it rained?

Ah yes, we were treated to on and off torrential downpours for all three track days! The good news was, I got the chance to try these amazing Goodyear rain tires. And boy were they awesome! We had practiced on non-Goodyear slicks all day Friday (with the Easter holiday here we were unable to get the rains mounted until Saturday) and I couldn't believe what a difference the rains made.

After being repeatedly passed by EVERYone on Friday, it felt good to actually start putting in some good laps on the rains.

However, being it was my first (almost) time in my new Formula car, I felt that the time on the slicks was actually great experience. I got to feel what the car would do under the most extreme conditions. Not only did it help build my car control skills but also my confidence.

The weekend consisted of two race classes. The first was a regional open-wheel class (O/W) made up of Formula 1600's, World Sports Racers and Formula Vee's. The second was the Canadian Formula Drivers Association (CFDA) class made up of newer and older chassis Formula 1600's.

The "new" cars (like my 1993 Euroswift) have to carry a weight handicap. In fact, we ended up 25 pounds OVER the handicap as the rules changed in between our car set ups (no, it wasn't because of all the chocolate I ate this Easter!!!)

SATURDAY - O/W
I managed to qualify second in the first O/W qualifying session (although there was a very small field of nine with only three Formula 1600's). A "guaranteed" second place finish plan was thwarted when my throttle pedal get jammed in behind the stopper going into the hairpin at Turn One.

Luckily lots of run off room afforded me some "hmmm, what is happening here?" time to think about why my engine was revving at about 9,000,000 rpm!!! Ooops!! I had the sense of mind to shut the thing off however and ended up watching the rest of the race sitting on a wall with a turn worker.

Good news? No apparent damage to the motor. And my first tow ride back to the pits. :-)

SATURDAY - CFDA
Qualified 3rd in Saturday's CFDA qualifying session despite having a tough time on a very slippery track. (No CFDA race Saturday.)

SUNDAY - O/W
Sunday's O/W qualifying session resulted in another #2 grid position. But this time, it was driver error that "drove" me away from a "made-in-the-shade" second place finish. In all the excitement of the start, the cold tires and a little too much steering input under braking, I spun going into Turn One.

I was able to make a number of passes before getting back into 3rd before spinning yet again!!! Aaacck! I wasn't impressed as I watched my arch rival of the weekend slip by to steal my 3rd place points while I ended up with 4th! Still ... 4th was pretty good.

SUNDAY - CFDA
Big news!!
Sunday's CFDA resulted in a pole time!!! :-)
I was virtually ONE FULL SECOND (0.97 secs) ahead of the rest of the field.

I had a feeling that I had done well. The car had felt really good and once I had overcome my fear of overheating the Goodyear rains (the track was starting to dry), I decided to put in some fast laps and see what I could do.

When I got into the pits, my mum had timed me at a 57.7 (the official qualifying time ended up being a 57.622, and next door my big rival's best time was a 58.3 (his official qualifying time ended up being a 58.592). So needless to say, I was super excited about that result and was looking forward to a podium finish THIS time.

Well, as it turned out, a podium finish was pretty impossible NOT to get as the field dropped down to a mere three competitors and the race was cut short as a result of the small group (20 minutes as opposed to 30).

I was just thankful to get out on the track at all and didn't mind the odds of standing on the podium for my first CFDA race!!! I had a relatively good start (my first standing start from the pole position) although the two other guys did get a jump on me going into Turn One. I made a pass to take 2nd and was hot after the lead when I started to run out of gas!!!

I couldn't believe it!!! I had to pit and (sigh) hadn't the top of my carburetor come loose! By the time we got it fixed I was a couple of laps down and had to settle for third.

On the positive side, it was really cool to be on the podium!!! And I had my first champagne shower!!! (de-alcoholized champagne of course!) So needless to say, I'm really excited about the season and so happy to have the opportunity to be racing this year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my car owner Gary Josefczyk, my crew chief Marty Knoll, my sponsors, and all my friends.

--Marybeth Harrison

To send a letter to Marybeth, send email to marybeth@thunval.com

Check out the Distant Thunder archives for previous entries by women race car drivers