 This
morning was the last morning of The Great Race for 2002. Last night
Jerry had worked on the car, putting the old water pump back on.
It was leaking just a little but we figured that the leak wasn’t really
significant enough to slow us down if the weather remained relatively cool.
Cool was forcast. So at 6:15 am, John and I settled in our seats
and prepared for the last stage which would take us from Chula Vista (Near
San Diego) to Anaheim, CA about 115 miles north. The first leg started
in an industrial/office park which was deserted at 7:00 am on a Saturday
morning. Our order of start was 61, so exactly 61 minutes after the
first car pulled away, we went. It was complex leg with many short
pieces and a lot of turns and speed changes. Regardless, we felt
good about our performance and a few minutes after the 2nd time check of
the morning we were on Interstate 15 north, making a transition to the
next leg.
Then without
a bit of warning, clouds of white smoke and vapor poured from our exhaust
and the engine temperature shot up to 250 in seconds. We believe
we had blown a head gasket and with it had blown, not only the chance of
winning the day, but the opportunity of finishing the race. Very
disappointing for us both.
So, we waited
while the rest of the field, about 20 more cars, passed us by and waited
some more until the “sweep” vehicles appeared. Our car was speedily
and efficiently loaded onto one of the trailers. John accompanied
the car and I sat in the rear cab of another sweep truck as they continued
to follow the field through their second and third legs. The roads
we followed through the hills and valleys leading to Temecula, CA., were
wonderful and it made the reality of not running this part of the
race a little more bitter.
Temecula, California
was typical of the stops we made as we traveled across these western states.
The people came out by the thousands and there was an organized reception,
lunch or refreshments at every stop. The picture at right shows our
reception at our overnight stop in Williams, AZ
Temecula was
our lunch stop and from there the cars started off for the last 30 miles
or so into Anaheim. I was anxious to get to the finish since a lot
of my family, from St. Louis as well as California were going to be waiting
for me. So, I prevailed on the drivers of touring car #126, the Richardsons
of Phoenix, AZ, to take me along in the back seat of their very nice 1969
Cadillac. Thanks for the ride and the interesting conversation.
And finally,
I was there and out of the car and watching my granddaughter play in the
fountain and was listening to the Navy band and was able to give my kids
a hug and do all of the great things I do often but somehow seemed to appreciate
more at that minute of that day.
Later in the
evening, when my family had gone back to Los Angeles, our car was back
on the trailer for its long ride back home and I was having dinner with
John and his wife Patricia, daughter Vicky and husband John and grandkids,
I exhaled. It was an overall wonderful experience. When I get
home and get at some more pictures and have a period of time when I’m not
fighting to keep my eyes open, I will fill in some details.
So now it
is a week later and I am inserting some interesting pictures of some of
the cars and stops and other Great Race memorabilia.
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