2014: A Disappointing Year for Corvette Racing

2014 marked a new season, new platform, and a new racing format for Corvette Racing.  A year ago I hoped for a repeat of the successes Corvette Racing had in the ALMS series:


Final Thoughts on ALMS Racing: 2013

This year started so well.  Then like the season that Notre Dame Football had in 2014, something went terribly wrong.

As you can see from the graphic above, we started a little slow with the new C7.R platform but then won four races in a row.  I was euphoric with our commanding lead at mid-season.  One of my car-genius buddies needs to explain to me how we went from first to last.  Can this be another Ford conspiracy?

The final standings were:

Porsche,           1st place, 343 Points
SRT (Viper),    2nd place, 340 Points
Corvette,          3rd place, 330 Points
BMW,              4th place, 328 Points
Ferrari,            5th place, 320 Points

Some will point out that in the Prototype Class the Corvette DP cars won their series over Ford, Honda, Mazda and Nissan.  That's nice, but I prefer the GT Le Mans cars over the prototypes.

Here's hoping that 2015 and the new Corvette Z06 can get Corvette Racing back in the lead in the GT Le Mans class of the IMSA/TUDOR racing series.

2015 C7.R Based on New Corvette Z06

Embracing Diversity

Christmas, 2014

I believe embracing diversity and inclusiveness is an honorable personal trait.  Especially at this time of year -- the Holiday Season and all -- we should strive for understanding and acceptance of those people whose beliefs  are different from ours.

So I'm going public with my new goal of enthusiastically embracing diversity.  From now on people who drive FORDS will be allowed to park in front of my house.  Here are three examples of the new me! 

Mike Reeves visited the house a few months ago in his way-cool 1934 Ford two-door Sedan.  He drives this car all over the country to car shows and big-time car events.  This year he drove the '34 to perhaps the biggest car event in the country -- Woodward Avenue in Michigan!  Since he visited the house he has driven to the Sacramento and the SEMA Show in La$ Vega$.  When I retire, Mike and I are going to do some serious cruising!

Darren Krohn runs Baldy's Classics, a full service restoration shop in Upland, California.  Here is a photo of one of Darren's recent projects for a client in Rancho Santa Fe.  This Mustang Mach 1 has been completely updated with modern horsepower, drive-train, suspension, electronics, interior and more.  Darren's website is:

Baldy's Classics 

  

My neighbor Alan has set the bar very high for horsepower in the Seaview Way neighborhood with his new purchase:  a 2014 Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra sporting a supercharged 5.8L DOHC 32 valve engine producing 662 HP!  Alan searched the country for a convertible with the amenities and color he wanted.  So far he has won the Horsepower race hands-down! Alan, when do I get to drive it?  Here is the story of the purchase in Alan's own words:

Just a quick note about the GT500...I bought the GT500 earlier this year over the internet so I bought the car sight unseen.  I found the car in Cincinnati Ohio after a lot of searching.  After I agreed to buy the car I was visiting my Dad in Tennessee with my brother. We decided to take a road trip to go see the car before they shipped it to California. It was everything I hoped for and couldn't wait to get the car delivered. It has a 6 speed manual transmission, 5.8 L V8 with 662 horsepower, with a top speed of 200 mph.  Carroll Shelby's  contract to build Shelby GT500s ended in 2014 so this year may be the last of the Shelby GT500. 

 

Please notice that all these cars have been seen in front of my house.  I love diversity!

2003 Corvette Museum Delivery

When you order a new Corvette one of the options you can list is R8C, or "Museum Delivery".

It was 12 years ago that Nancy and I took delivery of our 2003 50th Anniversary Corvette at the National Corvette Museum (and toured the Corvette factory which is across the street) in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Then we needed to drive the Corvette home in an enormous winter storm!  Here are some photos!

First we flew to Nashville Tennessee, rented a Dodge,and began the drive to Bowling Green.  We stopped at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, where they were featuring the 50th Anniversary Corvette in their lobby.  This was the first time we had seen in-person the car we had ordered on faith.

When we arrived in Bowling Green we toured areas behind-the-scenes of the Museum in a Corvette golf cart and were treated to a tour of the Corvette factory.  They wouldn't let us drive the Dodge over to the factory so someone had to give us a ride.

Finally they showed us our car!  Give us the keys!  Please!

Then we were ready to drive back to Carlsbad.  Then it started to rain . . . 

Our first stop was to see Marcia and John Lambert in Arkansas.  Then it started to snow . . . 

We pressed on to be home in time for Christmas.  The only vehicles on the roads were us and trucks.  The active handling of the Corvette kept us safe.  Not all the trucks were as fortunate.  This is only one of many accidents we saw on our way home.

And then the roads iced up and they started closing the Interstate Highways.  Our itinerary did not include an overnight stay in Amarillo, Texas!

The next day we pressed on toward New Mexico.  The Corvette ran great and was getting 28 MPG. 

Every chance we got we diverted to sections of Route 66 for sight-seeing or dining.

As soon as we crossed the California State line we dropped the convertible top.  We finally made it home in time for Christmas in a really dirty 50th Anniversary Corvette.  

Happy Holidays!

Restoring the Original 1967 Corvette License Plates

Like so many positive surprises on the 1967 427-435 Stingray, we were astonished to confirm that the license plates were the originals, and to uncover the original 47 year-old registration sticker!  Here is the story:

When we rescued the 1967 Corvette we were pretty sure the license plates, VAH-193, California Black plates with Gold letters, were the originals.

Operation Corvette Rescue 

Nan made two trips to the California DMV to confirm that the tags could be (re)used on the car and to get it registered with them.  Thank you Nan! 

The tags showed the patina of 47 years of use with light rust and a few dents.  Nan had found a service that specializes in restoring old license plates.  I arranged to send the plates to  Restore-A-Tag in Odenton, Maryland (not far from Beltsville).  Before shipping the plates off, for some reason, I decided to peel a few decades of registration stickers off both sides of the rear tag to see what I might find.  Using a razor blade and plenty of patience I removed many years' of differently colored registration stickers.  Counting backward through time I worked my way back from the yellow 1982 sticker (the last year the car was registered -- on the right below).  For some reason Ron Leahey (the original owner) had placed the original year registration sticker on the LEFT side of the plate (under the month SEP).

When I finally reaching the bottom of the piles of stickers I was euphoric to find the original bright blue 1967 registration sticker!  See below.

So now I was worried that if I had the plates restored the original registration sticker would be damaged or destroyed.  I called the owner of Restore-A-Tag, Shawn Mahaney, to discuss the restoration.  Shawn restores tags for plenty of people, including serious collectors such as Jay Leno.  Shawn promised me that the tags would come out fine and the original registration sticker would be in perfect shape. 

Boy, was he right!  Look how nice those plates look now!  I highly recommend Restore-A-Tag to anyone who wants a first-class job!  Thank you Shawn and Restore-A-Tag!

Here is the new rear plate installed on the car.