{"id":1836,"date":"2016-06-19T12:24:57","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T19:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erikdolson.com\/?p=1836"},"modified":"2016-06-19T12:27:10","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T19:27:10","slug":"sovren-racers-kicking-it-at-indy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/?p=1836","title":{"rendered":"SOVREN racers kicking it at Indy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/del>It\u2019s an exciting weekend at Indianapolis for racers from the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

Dave Kuniki of Surry, BC is okay after hitting the wall on Saturday,\u00a0 <\/span>June 18 at the SVRA Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lifted and touched the brakes. The car jumped to the right and slapped the (retaining wall). It was a hard hit. That\u2019s when I realized I had no steering. The car came down into the grass and I tried to ease on the brakes, but the car jumped to the left and started to spin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The car then hit something with the left front. The cause of the mishap was a mechanical failure. A nut that holds steering mechanisms together came off. Kuniki had no way to control the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an uneasy feeling. I don\u2019t recommend it,\u201d he said.\u201cBut I never felt my life was threatened. I have a container seat, and a strong cage. But they took me to the medical center to get checked out, took my blood pressure, asked me questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the damage looked slight, once Kuniki and mechanic Freddie Jonsson got under the car, they found the impact had bent the a shaft holding the lower \u201cA\u201d arm that supports the right front wheel, and the left side tie rod was bent. That was it for the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just don\u2019t know if something is cracked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tom Cantrell had an excellent race on Saturday in his 1998 Ford Penske Taurus stock car, taking first place in the SC3 race group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got way ahead of those guys. I hope I keep my cool and make it happen again,\u201d he said, looking forward to Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n

Driving his Can-Am car, Cantrell said he was still getting used to the machine.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s really, really fast,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re hitting a buck eighty (180 mph) or more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he has to slow down and turn 90 degrees left on the Indy track.<\/p>\n

Matt Parent came close to giving the Northwest a one-two finish in that group on Saturday, coming in third in his Skoal Bandit stock car.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"2016-06-19
\nMatt Parent’s Skoal Bandit, prepared by Horizon Racing<\/em><\/h5>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a really good weekend, so far. We finished third overall (on Saturday) with Cantrell in first. They waved us into victory lane, put us on the podium, had us drink milk (an Indy tradition).<\/p>\n

\"2016-06-19\"
\nMatt Parent on the podium. Photo provided.<\/em><\/h5>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also doing well in the Corvette in B production. We were third in that group, and Tony and I (Tony Darmey of Horizon Racing and Performance<\/a> who prepares race cars for Parent and several others in Seattle) ran in the enduro,” said Parent.<\/p>\n

Another SOVREN car from the Pacific Northwest, a 1964 Studebaker owned by Jeff and Jerry Taylor, won \u201cBest of Show\u201d at the event, possibly the most significant in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came by and asked us to bring our car down to the area where they were having the concert. There were two other cars there. They gave an award to the best open wheel car, and one to the best prewar car. Then they gave us the award for \u201cBest of Show,\u201d said Jeff Taylor, of Sisters Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018Best of show?\u2019 I wanted to ask if those guys had been drinking. I think they\u2019re nuts, with all those incredible cars there,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n

\"2904883377_652c9a59b0_z\"
\nThe Rex Easley Studebaker race car. File photo\u00a0by\u00a0AeroSportPhotography<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/h5>\n

The Studebaker has always drawn admirers, and the well-constructed history of it\u2019s first owner, Rex Easley, has always brought a smile. Kuniki, with one of the many beautifully prepared cars at the event, was pitted next to the Taylors all weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere must have been 300 or 400 people who came by. They pretty much didn\u2019t see my car, they were there looking at the Studebaker,\u201d Kuniki said.<\/p>\n

Curt Kallberg, another racer from Oregon, had a good race. On Saturday, he started in 16th.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of these guys have never seen a \u2018Kallberg start.\u2019 I jumped about five of them by going up near the wall on the start into the first corner. I got to ninth, but gave two spots back, ended up 11th,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"2016-06-18\"
\nCurt Kallberg, #68, next to Corvette driven by legend Al Unseer Jr.
\nCar prepared by Jon Bibler. Photo provided by Patti Cordoni<\/em><\/h5>\n

But always for Kallberg, it\u2019s the people and the fun that matter as much as the racing. \u201cThis is the maybe the best event we\u2019ve ever been to,\u201d he said, reflecting on the history of Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the quality of the promotion and the cars.<\/p>\n

Everything was top drawer, with music provided by Three Dog Night. It was rumored that after hearing Kallberg sing along, which most people in the audience were able to do, he might be asked to tour with the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cNah, that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Kalberg said. \u201cI was singing loud, but when they heard me, they left the stage. I was devastated. But I also know \u2018Achy Breaky Heart,\u2019 and I\u2019m going to sing that for Billy Ray Cyrus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an exciting weekend at Indianapolis for racers from the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n

Dave Kuniki of Surry, BC is okay after hitting the wall on Saturday,\u00a0 June 18 at the SVRA Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lifted and touched the brakes. The car jumped to the right and slapped the (retaining wall). It was a hard hit. That\u2019s when I realized I had no steering. The car came down into the grass and I tried to ease on the brakes, but the car jumped to the left and started to spin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The car then hit something with \u2026 Read more\u2026 → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[356,78,295,79,360,302],"class_list":["post-1836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-can-am","tag-corvette","tag-race-cars","tag-racing","tag-stock-cars","tag-vintage-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3mcOb-tC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1844,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836\/revisions\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}