It was quickly apparent that three cars were going to take the lead and it was going to be anybody’s game in that group.  Terry Flannagan in his 1969 BMW mixed it up with the ever-present 2.5 front-runners of Jeff Hecox and Kevin McKee.  In practice sessions and qualifying practice these three had looked as if they were chained together for the entire time!  McKee had taken the pole in Saturday’s qualifier but it was so close, only 1/10 mph separation in the average race speed from 1^st to 3^rd place!

One driver explained it this way; “I was coming out of the turn 4 when I caught a glimpse of orange (Flannagan) in my mirror, by turn 6 it was orange and white as I now saw what appeared to be a very large white car glued to Flannagan.  By turn 7 I realized the large white car was really two cars that were so close they looked to be one.  I went high in 8 to let them have a clean pass.  Wow, they were nose to tail through the tricky turn 9, side-by-side down the straight and the last time I saw them they had merged back into an orange and white train going into Big-Indy (turn 2)”.

While the first two days of racing had been under clear skies, Sunday’s final race was under cloudy skies with an occasional sprinkle.  But the rain held off on Sunday and in the end Hecox would prevail in his 1967 BMW Tii for the winner’s circle, Flannagan would take second and McKee driving his potent Alfa would round out the podium in third.  The results page for Sunday’s race showed just how close they were as all three posted an average lap speed for the race that was within ½ mile per hour.

Great racing was not limited to the front of the pack in fact it appeared as if three groups formed after a few laps and each had intense battles for position.  The mid-pack group of positions 4 through 10 had a terrific battle that lasted the entire race.  In the end George Willet driving his 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV held on for a fourth place finish.  Rounding out the top-10 were Jim Froula, Clete Roberts, Alan McColl, John Hall, Brian Lane and Steve Schaeffer driving his rare aluminum bodied GTA.  These guys were so close that the average lap speed of the group only varied by 1-½ miles per hour!

Not to be outdone the next group had another series of battles and they too finished close together with an average lap speed difference of only 3 miles per hour.  Bill and Marissa Clay got their 1972 BMW running strong and finished in 11^th, closely followed by Mark Wilson in his nicely prepared Datsun 510.  Mark was especially quick through the turns, probably one of the fastest of the entire group, and his 12^th place finished is quite remarkable considering he is running a near stock 1600 cc motor.   Also in this group was a “Cortina Parade” with Kathleen Joy in her 1967 Cortina leading John McCoy, Ed Millman and Wally Held, all in Cortinas, to the checkered flag.  Close on the heals of this group was a gaggle of Alfa’s made up of Pete Steilberg, Rob Vincent and Doc Doolittle!

Many of the VSRG group had never raced at this track had heard stories about how slick, rough and narrow the track was, some even suggesting that it was “dangerous”.  Well for those that took to the track for the first time that impression seemed to be correct however they soon found, with a little time on the track, that they had formed the wrong impression.   The track did have some narrow and rough spots but if a driver followed the prescribed line they would quickly find it to be a fun, fast and challenging layout.  As the weekend progressed drivers found that the facility “grew” on them and looked forward to each lap, especially on the backside with it’s elevation changes the drive through this heavily wooded part of the track was really quite beautiful and exciting.  As was heard said by one driver, “if you feel like you are on rails here, then you are going too slow.  Sliding is the fast way around this place”, and it was.

Friday afternoon after the last VSRG race of the day, the VSRG founders and a number of members as well as friends and family caravanned into the downtown Seattle area for a visit to Children’s Hospital.  This beautiful facility was founded in the early 1900’s and from it’s early days in a small house it has developed into a well known and respected regional medical facility with an impressive reputation and where “no child is turned away”.   VSRG visited a number of the patients and handed out Magnaflow hats and T-shirts to each child visited and left a supply of hats and shirts with the nurses to distribute to patients the group was not able to visit.  At the end of the tour, VSRG presented a donation from of $15,000 to the hospital and before the weekend ended turned over another $2,500 in cash and services for a total of $17,500.  VSRG will continue it’s efforts to raise funds for Children’s Hospital for the remainder of this year.

Jim McAdory, co-founder of VSRG and the Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge said after the race; “We want to thank the Board and members of SOVREN and the SOVREN Guild of Children’s Hospital for inviting us to participate in this incredible event and want them to know that we have enjoyed being a part of the 14^th running of the Pacific Northwest Historics.  The level of professionalism and the dedication and determination of everyone associated with this event is exceptional.  It’s really hard to believe that this is an all-volunteer effort.”

The Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge will move next to Laguna Seca on the weekend of September 28.  More information on the series can be found at VSRG’s web site of www.bsedan.com.