Wheezing Along 40 Years Later

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

A cousin this weekend wanted to see the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He’d never been there and he was about to sign up for a high speed driving course.

So off we went only to find a Sports Car Club of America regional weekend underway. We could have been the only real fans not attached to a car on the track. There was only half a dozen or so on the sign-in sheet at the front gate.

There were lots of Miatas, a winged Mustang, superfast Radical sports racer and a trio of Vipers that were being driven as hard as the drivers dared.

But the one that brought my biggest smile was a 20-year-old sports racer with a 40-year-old Pinto engine. I think it was the Sports 2000 class. And that car was one of the fastest on the track Saturday. Lap after lap.

Whenever we think of motor racing we automatically see dollar bills swirl down the bowl. And, for sure, those teams Saturday were spending money but probably no more than some of you spent at the casino, corner bar or wrong girlfriend last night.

However you bring fun into your life, you can do far worse than a 20-year-old chassis and a Ford Pinto engine still wheezing along and showing its tail to far more expensive dreams.

Lap after lap.

Peace.