Seven States…Seven Days: SAAC 31
The Shelby American Automobile Club made its first visit to VIRginia International Raceway over the weekend of June 30-July 2, 2006 for its 31st Annual Convention. The event was a big hit with participants and fans alike. The Shelby American Automobile Club Convention is open to all Ford performance vehicles. Car shows, track time, driving schools, vintage racing, vendors of Ford performance parts, auctions, all types of Ford performance automobiles, and most importantly, friends. Sounds like the formula for a road trip!
Taking a trip in a sports car whose design dates to the 1950’s is a trip back in time. My best friend made that comment to me once and I am always reminded of it while planning a road trip. Words do not describe the lines of the Cobra. It is aggressive, low, and mean, but smooth and gentle appearing from some angles. Difficult, it is very difficult to describe these cars with words. I have never been reluctant to leave home in my Superformance Mk III, Cobra replica. There is very little protection from the elements; the heater/demister is practically non-existent, very little luggage space, and no radio. Nevertheless, no radio can be a good thing. The song of a Ford V8 is entertaining and little storage space means packing wisely and light! The confined cockpit requires that you have a close relationship with your companion. The transmission tunnel only gets warm, not unbearable, since the manufacturer provides excellent heat shields. The seats are very comfortable and break in nicely to support extended driving experiences. The instruments work as well as any British sports car with Smiths and Lucas gauges. Subtle chromed ringed black faces with white numerals are easy on the eyes. The tachometer is constantly in your natural sight line, while the speedometer is off center, proper for a race car. Lucas, the Prince of Darkness does not lurk within a Superformance. I have not experienced problems with the gauges or electrical system. The Superformance Mk III happily lacks the electrical gremlins that early British sports cars harbor. With these thoughts in mind, nothing stood in our way to plan a 1,000-mile road trip!
I received notice from Mike Stenhouse that Second Strike and Olthoff Racing were planning a gathering of owners at this years’ event, my son, Will, and I began making plans. It is about 500 miles from Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Danville, Virginia. Preparation is imperative to making long trips successfully. Of course, the obligatory
oil change is in order. One, for the assurance that you have clean, fresh
oil in the engine, and two, it provides the opportunity to check the tightness of all fasteners under the chassis. Essentials to carry along are a daunting list, but it all fits in the boot of the Mk III with ease.
First, we assembled the necessary tools and spares to make minor roadside repairs, for example, spare alternator with matching pulley, accessory drive belt, assorted fuses, tire repair kit, extra small nuts, and bolts, and tools among other things. Second, the afternoon before departure, we washed, waxed, checked air pressure, and verified that our wheels were tight. Third, on Thursday morning, we packed our digital camera, handheld GPS, maps (who relies solely on electronics?), a pillow, pocket change, credit card, a couple of camp chairs, and bags. One last whack on each knock-off and we were ready for our trip at 4:30 AM.
During the planning stage, I estimated the roundtrip at 1000 miles. From previous trips to VIR, I knew we would drive at least 1200 miles. I began thinking (dangerous) that surely we could make more of the trip than that. Dead week for Will’s high school football team practice occurred the week prior and during the Independence Day holiday. His high school football coach could not hold practice. With time off from the weight room, we thought we would make the most of it. Will is a senior and plays Right Guard on Offense and Nose Guard on Defense. It was great to be able to take this trip with Will! At 5’ 9”, 200 pounds, and all muscle, he’s an aggressive Single A football player that enjoys soccer and is a state championship Trap Shooter! What more could I ask of a traveling companion, my son, Guard and ‘dead-eye’ shooter all in one! My wife, Charlotte, made the SCOF SSR IV trip with me to Branson, MO. This time she wanted to leave for the Florida Gulf Coast and give Will and me a few days together. Charlotte picked up my nephew that is the same age as Will and they left the day after we did with our miracle dog Buddy (Buddy is a another story!) Gears started turning, why not leave VIR on Saturday, drive to Atlanta, and spend the night in Acworth with Jerry Witt, owner of SP410, then leave at 0’daylight early for Panama City Beach? Plans confirmed! Our short, 1200 mile, trip would now be a circle without backtracking estimated at 2,000 plus miles. This would be a nice trip!
We would leave Tennessee and travel through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Then back through the Heart of Dixie into the Volunteer State of Tennessee and home again, seven states, seven days, only a small feat in our reliable Superformance Mk III.
I kissed Charlotte good-bye, scrubbed Buddy on the head while Will gave his mom a big hug and moments later we had the car started, idling roughly in the cool early morning air. The Windsor settled down, liquids at the requisite temperatures, off we headed into the morning chill. Top? Who needs a stinking top? Of course, we had our soft-top and tonneau on board, but at the bottom of the trunk buried under all our gear. Besides, it’s June 29, it will be 90? by 9:00 AM! Easing away to prevent disturbing neighbors we picked our way through the tree lined lanes with streetlights glowing overhead. We took Tennessee 96E which leads out of town and into the countryside, the scenic route to I40E. The sun rose in all its glory just as we arrived at I40 in Silver Point, TN. We pointed the long nose east, and down the ramp. We rolled along, gathering speed to merge with a herd of transport trucks. In a burst of speed, our backs shoved into the leather seats, we pushed ahead of the pack, air horns blaring in support of our entrance! We waved at each smiling face looking down at us as we shot past. Back down to cruising speed, we savored a long ribbon of asphalt in front of us, the sun rising over the mountains, and chilly air blasting all around us!
First stop was Cookeville, for a bite of breakfast and coffee at McDonalds, after answering all the usual questions, “is it real”, “does it have a 427”, etc… we were ready to get back on the road. Will has just turned seventeen recently and is a responsible driver. Through no fault of his own, he recently totaled his Mini Cooper S. I replaced it with a ’06 Mustang GT; five speed with the optional polished five spoke 18”wheels. On occasion, Will has piloted SP604 for short distances. Feeling confident in him, as we walked across the asphalt toward the parked car, I handed him the keys and asked him to take the wheel for a while. With a big smile, he said, “sure”! Back on the interstate, he smoothly accelerated and took us up to cruising speed. As we climbed the Cumberland Mountain, the air got much cooler, time for the heater. The warm air stirring around our legs felt good! We welcomed the warm air from the anemic heater.
Taking a cue from Hal Copple, the most experienced civilian Mk III driver, we cruised into the rest stop just past Crossville. According to Hal, “Rest stops give your senses a break and let you relax for a moment, even if you just cruise through and give the gawkers some pipes.” We quickly exited the car for a restroom break. As we walked to the building, Will commented that he could see his breath! I tested the air and agreed! This is a wonderful crisp, cool morning in the mountains of Tennessee. Back on the road, Will the pilot and me the navigator, we soon crossed the mountain and headed toward Knoxville. We changed from Central time to Eastern before we reached Knoxville, so we arrived after the rush hour. I pointed out the hotel on Cedar Bluff Road where SCOF met for SSR V, the base site of the Tail of the Dragon, US129, and the tour where the Dragon bit the Snake! Jerry Witt, SP410, can explain how this can happen! The traffic flowed smoothly as we traversed the hilly town and pushed east toward Bristol, the holy city of NASCAR short tracks. Bristol, known as the ‘bull ring’ of Nextel Cup racing, is a popular NASCAR venue. By now, the sun began to warm us and the heater was no longer necessary.
A few miles east of Knoxville, we picked up I81N and pressed on toward Bristol. The higher mountains of East Tennessee loomed ahead of us. We stopped for gas after 230 miles. Not on fumes, it only held about 12 gallons! As we passed through Bristol on the interstate, Will was shocked that there was not much to see. We looked over our shoulder and said goodbye to our home state for about a week as we entered Virginia. Just above Abingdon, we exited the interstate onto US58E, which is a winding two lane for most of the trip to Danville. At Independence, we circled the old county Court House and paused a few moments at the monument for the Veterans of the War Between the Sates. My great-great-grandfather, a Sergeant Major in Confederate Army of Tennessee, lost his life in the Battle of Murfreesboro, a bloody siege in January of 1863. Many of my forefathers fought for the Confederate States of America in War of Northern Aggression (in the South, we have many names for the war, but we don’t call it ‘Civil’, as there was nothing civil about it). My great-grandmother instilled in me respect for those that lost their life fighting for their land. We stopped in Independence for lunch at Brown’s Restaurant and had a long break at the local establishment. The packed parking area provided a clue that it was good or it was the only place in town! As we left, a local deputy stopped to admire our car. The deputy spent several minutes looking the car over; we knew we were safe!
As we traveled east, the road began to rise in elevation and a natural twisting ribbon stretched out in front of us. Will developed a smooth rhythm diving in and out of each curve with an easy blast of the throttle for the short connecting straights. Not a ‘Tail of the Dragon’ but, equal to most roads in East Tennessee. Hwy 58 stretched about 200 miles toward Danville. We enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenery and wished all the while that we had brought some trout fishing gear with us. Mountain streams babbled along side the road for several miles of the trip. Once again, we passed through another Southern town famous for its NASCAR roots, Martinsville. The navigator fell asleep at the map and Will took the business route in lieu of the bypass. I awoke at the first traffic light as we toured downtown and enjoyed the old historic district. At the next gas stop, we flipped a coin and I got to drive! I took the wheel for next thirty miles. Outside Danville, Will took over again with me working as navigator, awake, we found the Holiday Inn Express.
The first person we saw happened to be Mike Stenhouse. After a greeting of loud pipes, we laughed, shook hands, and left SP604 under the canopy with SP218 and checked into our room. After unloading our gear, we followed Mike out to VIR to pay our gate fees for Friday and Saturday. Along the route, a few attendees that were lost joined our caravan to the track. Once there, we ran into Mark Ray, Bob Jordan, Larry Miller, and others from the Olthoff Racing shop. They had arrived early to set up an area for the Superformance Paddock.
Being proper Southerners and connoisseurs of bar-b-q, we freshened up at the hotel and raided Short Sugar’s Barbi-Q for supper. We had a great time at supper inhaling some fine ribs. Rubbernecking came into the conversation and we received a lesson in fluid dynamics from Mike. Mike’s dissertation prompted me to offer the difference between a Yankee and Damn Yankee to Anthony and Carol from Pennsylvania, and others around the table provided similar profound life changing advice. Mike said that later he would explain the difference between ‘naked’ and ‘necked’, a term that sounds similar but have profoundly different meanings to a Southerner. Sadly, I do not recall that Mike ever provided an annotation. Later, I shall leave that to Mike for later.
Friday morning, we ventured out to VIR in the midst of Cobra’s, GT350’s, Mach I’s, Boss 302’s, new GT’s, a thundering herd of Mustangs of every color, and trucks pulling trailers with who knows what inside! Great, people are enjoying their cars and making friends along the way. You know what? For the first time, no one asked if it was real or a kit! I think that there is about as many GT350 knockoffs as there is replica Cobras. It is only eleven miles from Danville to VIR, what a parade of Ford iron! The route takes you through beautiful countryside, in and out of North Carolina, and through Milton, Virginia, a quaint, rural Southern town.
At the track, we found our parking area with the rest of the Superformance group and renewed many friendships. Soon, we ran into Hal Copple from Rock Hill, SC, Steve Bush from Kennesaw, GA and many others that form the Superformance family. Will and I walked down through the parking area with Hal and looked at the various Cobras and other Shelby Automobiles. At the Shelby American trailer, Hal commented that there had to be millions of dollars of original Cobras under the canopy. He was right! We all prayed that a gust of wind would not topple the canopy and cause the destruction of the priceless Cobras. That would have been a tragedy!
GT350s........