SpeedVision World Challenge

Race Report

by Caroline Wright

"Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it," my father always said. Indeed, I wished to participate in the fastest growing road racing series in North America, the Speedvision World Challenge GT Series. Sunday, March 4 at Texas Motor Speedway, that wish became reality. I contested the SVWC GT race for the first time on the 2-mile "roval," a road course and oval combined.

This was clearly the biggest jump I had made so far. Ive never shied away from taking the plunge into new territory. I charged to the front of the Runoffs in the rain in a borrowed Ferrari 355 without so much as scratch. I started and won a night race in a GT car I had never driven on a track I had only 5 laps on. I survived and finished my first the Rolex 24 without incident. But this was very different. I was about to race a 500 hp Grand Sport Racing Corvette C4 GT on street tires in a blood and guts 50-minutebattle from an exhilarating standing start. In addition, I was going to provide periodic color commentary during the race for the track spectators. This was a whole new day.

The 33-car SVWC GT field is made up Porsches, Saleen Mustangs, Audi S4’s, Corvettes, a Ferrari, a blown Acura NSX, and BMW’s. These are heavily modified, race-tuned production cars. There is no shortage of talent and experience. I’m going head-to-head with the likes of Derek Bell, Bill Cooper, Michael Galati, Peter Cunningham, Randy Pobst, Mike Fitzgerald, G.J. Mennen, Boris Said, Stu Hayner, et. al. And the series is televised for the Speedvision world to see.

My first session at TMS, I tooled around the track at 80% just to get a feel for the car and the track. Even at 80%, I was still hitting 5th gear at over 150 MPH on the steep banked oval. I spied the venerable "Wild" Bill Cooper in the Pirate Racing Corvette C5 coming up hard and fast behind me out of the last corner. Bill Cooper, a winner of Le Mans and a sage Bondurant instructor, has about the same rep as the late DE for intimidation and contact in this series. Since I was not completely up to speed, I expected him to quickly pass. I checked my mirrors. I looked left, no Cooper. I looked right, no Cooper. Then I glanced up at the rear view mirror. Just above the rear spoiler of my C4, I saw the yellow roofline of the Pirate Racing C5. Cooper was camped out inches from my bumper. He stayed there long enough to make sure I noticed, and then he peeled off into pit lane. That was his version of "Rookie Orientation." I had to laugh.

Friday, it rained. 500 hp, no ABS, and intermediate street tires made for a dramatic day. On the front straight at TMS, you have to shut the car down from 5th gear at over 165 MPH for a 2nd gear chicane. I experienced what was described as a "lurid slide" on the front straight. In the braking zone, the car came around and the back end was heading straight for the concrete wall. I gave the brakes a pump and cranked the steering wheel to get the back end away from the wall. I dodged that bullet, but then I was rolling down the banking right into the path of oncoming traffic. Jeff McMillin and PD Cunningham were coming straight at me. Once again I hit the brakes so I wouldn’t roll into their path. McMillin and PD went by me with inches to spare. Whew. Of course, all this had to happen in full view of the entire pit lane. I thought it was a respectable heads-up save. However, our team manager advised me that the crew would like me to bring them pastry for breakfast the next morning, preferably donuts…. large ones. An anonymous prankster left a roll of toilet paper in my gear bag.

The driver’s meeting covered the usual matters regarding logistics, presentation and conduct. Pat di Natale, the Chief Steward of the series, advised us hat he’s been racing for 30 years, He said, "There’s not a single excuse I haven’t heard because I’ve used them all."

Series Administrator Alan Wilson covered the matter of racing incidents. He said, "We have created a series where there will be very close racing. As such, we understand that there will be contact. We don’t have an issue with it as long as it is not part of your racing strategy."

Race day was a perfect spring day in Texas; sunshine and 70 degrees. The World Challenge makes a big production out of the pre-race festivities. We have manufacturer flag bearers for each car. Most of the teams find attractive young women to serve as their flag bearers. I felt it was only fitting that I should have a handsome young man for my Corvette flag bearer.

SVWC also does a parade lap to wave at the fans and to give a guest a low-speed tour of the track. I chauffeured one of the Speedvision VIP’s. We fired up the cars for the parade lap. I flipped on several switches to engage the fans and pumps. As we are about to pull away, a small trail of smoke snaked out from the dash of my car. My guest looked very concerned. I calmly reached over and turned off a few switches, and told my passenger, "Don’t worry, it’s nothing." I paused, then said, "but if I tell you to bail out of the car, BAIL!"

After the guests departed from our cars, we lined up for the formation lap. Our crew buckled us in, and then we go out for one lap to scrub the tires. We would come back to the front straight and stop in the marked positions for the standing start. The red lights come on. Within eight seconds of the lights coming on, they would go out and we would be racing.

The standing start was the thing I looked forward to yet dreaded most. It is the single most intense racing start you could ever experience. There is nothing that can adequately prepare a driver for the standing start. Drag racing and solo might be good for basics, but try drag racing with several rows of cars in front of you.

As my team manager buckled me in, he paused and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Listen very carefully," he said. "Most rookies screw up their first standing start. Their attention wanders, they zone out while watching the lights. When you pull into position, keep your eyes on the lights. Do not look away. Put the car in first gear, rev to 2000 RPM and wait for the lights to go on. Once they on, rev to 2800 RPM and start counting to five. When the lights go out, GO. When I radio to go, ‘GO," or when you get to the count of 5, GO! Whichever of these three things happens first, drop the clutch, break the wheels loose, then modulate the throttle to get the tires to bite. Get to get inside. Go to the bottom of the track. Go to the apron if you have to, but whatever you do, get to the bottom of the track. There will be some kind of tangle at the first turn. Find a hole and Go! Go! GO! Got it?"

Yessir…which is EXACTLY what I did. By the end of the first lap, I moved up 9 positions. I avoided the first turn melee and got some breathing room for several laps. Culver’s BMW and Tommy Safar’’s Saleen Mustang closed in on me by the 4th lap and a heated battle ensued. We swapped positions lap after lap. The BMW and Saleen would dive under me in the braking zone; they had a bad push, washed out at corner exit right across my front bumper. Although they had better brakes, I had better handling and exit speed. I could I go back into the throttle a little sooner and retake the point. There was some "incidental" contact as a result.

Halfway through the race there was a full course yellow. I was called into the pits for having no brake lights. I also was experiencing a miss in the engine. The pit stop was executed very professionally. There was no panic and everyone knew what to do. The crew chief was upside-down under my dash fixing my brake light wire (remember the smoke on the parade lap? It was burning wire insulation.) The rest of the team had the hood off and was replacing plug wires. Meanwhile, I was giving commentary on the track PA system explaining the events of the race and the damage to my front bumper.

"Caroline, you appear to have some damage to the nose of the Corvette. What happened?" asked announcer Tom Hnatiw.

"TC Kline needs to tell his driver to quit parking that German lump at my apex," I responded.

I returned to the race, down two laps, but at full song. Several laps later, the brakes began to fade badly. Three laps from the finish, I’m entering Turn 3 with the leaders to my left and a slower car ahead of me. I went to the binders…nothing. I pumped…and pumped…and pumped…. I had NO brakes at all.

KAPOW! I hit poor Phil McClure’s C5 squarely in the back end of his C5. He never knew what hit him. I cranked the wheel to keep from going into the tires with him and went wide through the dirt. I don’t know how, but I made the corner and got back on track to finish. Simultaneous to my impact, a Porsche smacked the wall at another turn one bringing out a FCY. The race ended under yellow. I finished 21st, even after an unplanned pit stop.

The front end of the Grand Sport Racing C4 was badly damaged. The entire nose was completely gone, but the doubled reinforced crash bar took the majority of the abuse. Otherwise, the engine would have been in the glove box. Unfortunately, there would not be enough time to repair the car in time for the Sebring race. My next SVWC GT experience would have to wait until later.

It was dramatic. It was eventful. It was not a quiet debut. It was not a first impression I wanted to leave. But it was an experience I would not trade for the world.

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