Lisa Devlin's Racing Diary

Season Finale at Sears Point

portrait of Lisa Devlin

September 24-26 marked the last race weekend in the regional championship for the SF Region SCCA. It was a double regional - which means two races in the same weekend - at Sears Point, which is the track that I've never escaped unscathed. As you may recall, my first race of the season at SPIR I blew the motor, the next race I got punted on a restart and went from third to sixth... And we won't even go into my record there prior to the D. Even open tracking with the Mustang, I've never gotten along with Sears Point.

Still, I went in with as optimistic an attitude as I could muster (it didn't help last time).

it could happen...

Going into this weekend, Andy and I were separated by 10 points. For me to win the championship, I needed him to not finish one race and come in last in one race while I won both races (it could happen) or I needed him to not finish both races and me to just finish both races.

Practice went pretty bad. I couldn't get it together and was running in the high 1:40's - 1:46-1:48. Now while this was acceptable my first time at Sears Point, it was abysmal for this weekend. Andy came in with ignition problems that he ended up fighting the entire weekend. It almost looked like he wasn't going to make the race because he couldn't get his car started. While this may sound good for me, I really didn't want a championship that way. Andy has deserved it.

Qualifying went OK. My times were back down and I qualified third in class - two seconds behind Ray Samuels and a half second behind Jim Caldwell. I qualified with a 1:43.7 and was running consistently in the 1:43's and 1:44's, which is where I was at the last race. I really wanted to get a 1:42 for the weekend.

a strange race...

The first race was on Saturday and it was a really strange one. When I saw that Ray was a half lap ahead of me, I backed down a notch and just went for the finish. Well, I guess you can say that I have arrived as a driver because when I started losing ground to Jim, the announcers started speculating that I was having mechanical problems. Looking at my chart later, my times hadn't dropped any, Jim was just getting faster. Well, Jim was going faster until he spun in Turn 11. I went by him and ended up with a second place finish.

Sunday, people kept asking me how my car was because they'd heard I was having mechanical problems on Saturday. So people are listening!

Sunday was a much better day. I had no way to win the championship now and since I had nothing to lose, I decided to test my new carburetors - 41 mm Keihin flat slides. Sweet. They did pretty well in practice, 'cause I got my personal best time at Sears Point of a 1:42.5! I've got a little fuel starvation problem in Turn 11, but that's just a float adjustment.

I made a pass on Jim...

The race also went much better. I couldn't fix the carbs at the track, but I decided to leave them on anyway. Good choice. I kept sight of Jim from the beginning and we ended up having the same type of dice we'd had at Thunderhill, but with a much different outcome. About 20 minutes into the race, I made a pass on Jim at the top of the track. The photographer was there and got the entire sequence from Turn 2 to Turn 4. I was right under him through Turns 2 and 3 and came up on the inside of him into Turn 4 and took the line away. Then I almost lost it trying to keep him behind me. I managed to ignore him in my mirrors long enough to put a bit of distance between us and won second place with a much more comfortable margin than I was working with at Thunderhill. I scanned the three pictures of the set up and pass, so send me an email if you'd like to see them.

So that ended the season for the regional championship. I ended up netting second place - six points behind Andy. Not too bad for my first full season of racing and my first season in a completely different car. Besides the SFR Regional Championship, I also got second place in the Racing Drivers Club championship. And if that weren't enough, at the RDC Awards Banquet, I was presented with the James Hughes Memorial Trophy for the Most Improved Driver in Northern California. This is a perpetual trophy that goes back to 1960 and, yes, I am the first woman to be awarded this honor. I'm in some pretty good company, too, with such drivers as Tom Gloy (1971) and Bill Maier (1976).

I guess I need tell all of you who don't know yet, that Ted and I have split up. He says that the engine in my car is his and he doesn't want me to use it. What this means is that I could not do the Pacific Coast Regional Road Racing Championships or the two hour Formula Car and Sports Racer Enduro.

Oh, and I need to get a new engine before I can go racing again. The first race in SF Region is a National in March, but I think I'm going to stick with Regional races for another year. The first Regional race is at Sears Point on April 1. I have found and bought a new motor for the DSR that needs to be put together and installed. That's all that needs to be done to have the car ready to go. To get me ready, I need a truck and a trailer that can haul the D. I need tools, support equipment and all kinds of other stuff that I'm sure I haven't found yet. It's going to be a busy 3 months until the first race. I'll keep you all informed of what's going on.

--Lisa Devlin

To send a letter to Lisa, email to drlisa@racindc.com

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