And speaking of reunions, Duane Matejka, driver of the odds-on P-1800 favorite for the weekend, was born and raised only a few miles away, in Erin, N.Y. Duane's experiences at The Glen date at least back to age 16, when he and girlfriend (now wife) Margo used to sneak Duane's Porsche 356-powered VW Beetle onto the track for a few practice laps.
Duane came to The Glen this weekend after a long string of wins in various Volvo Historic Series races the last 5 years, where his strongest challengers have been Mustangs, Corvettes and Porsches. Imagine, this from an old P-1800! The Volvo Historic Series is not affiliated with this weekend's HSR racing, but Duane has established a strong record. In fact, he has been the series winner each of the first four years it has been in existence. And it takes a win in at least 6 of the 10 or so races in each year's series in order to be the overall Series Winner. The guy's a hot shoe, folks, with an exquisitely prepared car.
Cars and drivers began to arrive at the Glen late on Wednesday afternoon, with Thursday scheduled as an extra practice day particularly for newcomers. Arrival weather was sunny but with a constant 15- to 25-mph wind out of the west. Perched on top of the hills overlooking Seneca Lake, you feel every rustle of the breeze. Weather proved interesting this weekend.
Thursday dawned clear but chilly; at 7 a.m. Wow! Should be great horsepower weather. First time out on the track I was amazed with how much more elevation change I found than expected from the videos I had previewed. After three sessions on the track, I thought I was beginning to get the feel of it. Then some more experienced friends offered some pointers on my driving line. Back to ground zero!
WGI is truly a grand prix race course, technically demanding. Each turn flows directly into the next, and you realize, for example, that screwing up turn one (which I did regularly) leaves you struggling for revs halfway around the track near "the bus stop" chicane. You can see it clearly on the tach, falling 4500-rpm short. Sheesh! By contrast, Road America gives you at least three locations on the track to recover, if not lap times at least top speed. No such offering from The Glen. But it's a great track to drive-challenging, yet rewarding when you hit the right line, as I occasionally did.
Friday practice began in overcast which turned to rain by afternoon. Is this place ever intimidating in the rain. Runoff areas shrink. Guardrails move toward the driving surface. And these bowl-shaped turns seem to go on for the entire track length. Coming through turn 2, looking up-track (distinctly uphill) toward the trademark Esses, the track seems to narrow to a point. And with all this water, your mind keeps asking, "Where am I going to put it when I get there?" But you hold the throttle down and, miraculously, the track opens up and you're through. Every time. Imagine.
The rain tires themselves are another story. Several years ago, on a thoroughly soggy weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park, we got tired of the car sliding all over the place, but had no rain tires, only the DOT-registered "slicks" I always run. Yokohama AOO8s, 195/60-15. Great on a thoroughly dry track, but the slickest tires in existence on wet grass. Trust me on this one. Unfortunately, no longer in production. Naturally. Anyway, eventually we decided to jack the '88 Volvo 745 Turbo tow vehicle up and take the Michelin MXV4s off and put them on the race car. Beat the heck out of standing under the canopy watching the rain. And the car ran well at IRP, so when I sold the 745 a year later, I just kept the tires for rain tires on the race car. With them it just drives like an old Volvo in the rain, which I've been doing for over 35 years.
But I digress.
By Friday evening nearly all the racers had arrived, along with many of the Volvo Sports America concours cars. Old Volvos were everywhere. And old friends who see each other infrequently-and always around an old Volvo or two-were greeting and swapping stories and parts. The purpose of these gatherings for the non-racers may well be to gather enough parts to get the old girl home again.
No visit to this area is complete without a stop at The Seneca Lodge and a tip of the elbow in its crowded, noisy tavern. So off we went after the race engines had quieted down. Jack the proprietor seemed to have been in place for most of its racing history, and the racing memorabilia was plentiful and authentic. As was the benchracing. Racers were 15 deep around the tiny bar. We offered a couple of "Volvo at The Glen decals" for the backbar. Make sure to look for them when you're there. Every suburban mall in the country seems to have a kitsch-bedecked eatery attempting to replicate The Seneca Lodge. This was The Real Deal, a clone of Siebkin's Resort in Elkhart Lake, with atmosphere and heritage to match.