LCR Race Reports - Watkins Glen 2002


	From left to right, Lee Chapman, Van-the-Man Gulick, and Bill-the-Wonder-Boy Pedersen
TEAM-LCR REPORTS

WATKINS GLEN - U.S. Zippo Vintage Grand Prix September 5-8, 2002 (click on small photos to enlarge)
Pete Gulick, a.k.a. "Van-the-Man," turned out to be the Team-LCR Star of the weekend, with a podium finish for his '73 Chevron B23 in the Group 5/7 Sprint Race - only beaten by a 6-litre Lola T70 and a 2.5-litre Lola T294. But the real story here was the battle waged for third spot between Van and Joe Blacker in a Lola T298, with countless overtakings and re-takings right up until the final lap, when Pete got by Joe's Lola one last time.	Pete Gulick (right) enjoying his Podium Finish at Watkins Glen 9/8/02
	In his '78 Chevron B42 F2, Van was subjected to a reality check about the true nature of cut-and-thrust, formula-car competition by a conspiracy of more experienced F/A drivers. No worries - having had his eyes opened, Van will overcome and give the same back to them in no time.

Paul "Superstar" Flowers should have been 'the man' this weekend for winning the Vintage Enduro in his '63 Elva Mk7 - but, alas, he was robbed. He fell afoul of the fickle flagging that has been char-acteristic of Watkins Glen these days, losing a sure first-place overall. After pulling out the length of the front straight (through hard and tactical driving), he was passed over when the full-course yellow was thrown at the start/finish line, thus relegating him to almost a full lap behind the rest of the frontrunners. Frustrating, to say the very least!	Flowers - foiled by fickle flagging in the Enduro at Watkins Glen.... - Photo by Bob Harrington
Paul Flowers in his '69 Brabham B29 F/B - Photo by Gordon L. Jolley	Paul's Toleman F2, in its first time out with us, had to be parked after two laps. However, waiting in the wings unbeknownst to Paul, was his '69 Brabham B29 F/B (which we had secretly brought along, thinking that we might very well have problems with the Toleman this first time). In the Brabham, Paul was up to speed straightaway, placing second in class and fourth overall (almost third after an F2 car spun out). (Paul had pole in his Elva for the Sprint Race on Sunday, but had to leave before the race started. He prefers to pilot his plane home in daylight.)


Gordon Medenica, in his '67 Chevron B6 GT, placed strongly in the Vintage Enduro, which moved him up to third place in the Michael Stott/UBS Paine-Webber Enduro championship. A 6th-place finish in the Sprint Race on Sunday belied Gordon's strong challenge, as Groups 5 and 7 were run together.
Phil Meany, in his '70 Aldon F100, was still in sorting mode - trying to overcome some curious handling problems and, later on, overheating of the oil system after having had a humungous oil leak part way through the weekend. Phil has had the worst of luck this race season. However, progress was made with the handling issues at least.	Still smiling, ace-driver Phil Meany gracefully enduring a bad race season
	Pete Schultz returned to the fold this weekend with yet another fresh restoration (by us) of his silver-grey '63 Lotus Elan S1 (more beautiful than ever we think). The car ran strongly and well, and Pete brought it home sunny-side up this weekend, totally unscathed. Way to go Pete!

Ed Mettelman - ever the advocate of Porsche racing-car supremacy - had to rely instead on his trusty, recently-restored (by us) '66 Lotus 47 to enjoy the balance of his weekend after his Porsche terminated (again?). He made a quick, overnight trip back to our base on Friday, and returned with the 47 (totally unprepped after Lime Rock the previous weekend) for Saturday and Sunday at the Glen. This was a first-rate effort on Ed's part, as he then ran both the Endurance and Sprint races, finishing strongly in each. He was a welcome addition to Team-LCR in our Watkins Glen garage (below).
Altogether, a great weekend. Well done everyone!
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