For those who may not know, the Bee was injured at Fontana near the conclusion of the Sat. POC race when a stack of tires abruptly moved into its path just before the front straight
Seriously, the truth is that I had a horrible Qualifying session, (the worst ever) and qualified 22nd overall and last in Class.
After the race started, the Bee then made up 10 or so positions in the first 10 laps, and was is in 9th Place overall, 2nd in Class and chasing "Lowyder" who was basking in the glory of 1st in Class. Anyway, we come around the final turn leading to the front straight in the 11th lap and there, in front of me, is one of the slowest cars on the track being lapped. There was a space about 2 cars' width between her and the final stack of tires to her right. I made a decision to pass on the right, especially since most of the slower cars had been staying left. It turned out to be the wrong decision, since she then moved directly towards the tires (after I committed myself to that side).I had no other choice than to hit the tires and that ended the Bee's weekend.
Enter John Simone!
To get the Bee back on track for this coming weekend's POC Tribute and be able to stay in the hunt for a 2007 Class Championship, John went the extra mile, as usual. After Michael Essa made the mechanical repairs and carted the Bee down to John's shop, John had all of a few days to fabricate a new body panel,modify it to fit properly, paint it to match the Bee's checkerboard paint finish and get everything back together so we could go to the track for a test/tune day before next weekend.
And, as expected, he came thru with flying colors.
Not only is the Bee lookin' good again. But, we got back to the track last Friday, and she's runnin' superbly!! (I've posted another thread on last Friday's session at Buttonwillow).
John has alot going on in his shop these days and you can't go there without running into buds, Ron, Bob (Brand) Jim (Duncan) and others. Many thanks to all of you for helping get the Bee back on the track. In addition to Bob's being one of the original guys to work on building the Bee with John, the Bee is now wearing a right rear quarter panel from Bob's new car!!!!! Thank-you Bob!! And, Jim, thank-you for pitching in when you coulda, shoulda been doin' other things!!
All in all, very grateful to Simone and his Posse!!!!
See y'all on the track --I hope soon.
JP
and no one hurt @FOS
