| "The update on Vaca Valley
and drag racing reminded me of racing there again, years after I had given
up sports car racing for graduate school. I was at UC Davis, close
by Vacaville. One Friday evening, heading for the Bay Area in my
Volvo 122S (stock then; much faster in later years) I noticed a lot of
activity at the track and turned off there. Drag racing was in progress
and I decided to join the fun.
With the trunk containing
a suitcase and a heavy toolbox I made several runs down that fam- iliar
straightway, the runoff area continuing around Turn 1 and the return to
the pits using the back part of the oval track, veering back onto the road
course to the staging area near Turn 7.
For a couple of the runs
I was paired with an even younger man in an MGA. The Volvo just barely
beat him (getting through the traps as I recall at about 83-84 mph) whence
we wheeled around Turn 1 and returned to the pits. After the second
run the MG driver commented to me that we had had a pretty good road race
around Turn 1. I demolished him by reminding him that we had taken
the turn at about 65 mph; when road racing there (in the DB3S) I was 40
mph faster, passing XKEs and Stingrays on the inside.
Those were indeed the
days, my friend; we thought they'd never end. (Thanks, Mary Hopkins.)" |