Superficially this would seem to be a photo of San Diego Region SCCA key persons Carl Kapp, Marge Binks, and Phil Binks, south of the fence that faces the Firestone garage, RIR. It might actually be on the edge of what's left of the short oval. It might also be on the same day as my "missed photo" story on The Pits page One. I mean, in the CLICK large view, look at young Al: isn't that the guy I described? Could that be Michael's hair-do to Al Jr's left? Could be . . .

Are you beginning to get the idea this corner was a good spot to hang out? You're right: for a racer to take his car from a garage or paddock spot to the pre-grid, racing pits, and re-entry, he pretty much had to make his way to the gate in the southwest corner of the enclosure. That's it directly behind Phil Binks' head, a bit of the opening showing to the lower right between Phil and the Champion® sign. There were a couple pedestrian gates, and one car gate that led to a lane and the pits behind the wall (look at the gas station photo on Pits One) but the latter was very carefully controlled, and seldom open as a default on big-league weekends.

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The garages and paddock southwest gate are at the lower left.

See. . . ?

Look again at that CLICK large view of the top photo: across the way you can see the Timing and Scoring building. To its north, visible in the small view, is the south end of the Tower.

If you had been in the Kapp-Binks position above, twenty or so years earlier and on the right driver-school weekend, you might have looked south and taken this picture. But I still don't remember who you are/were. These cars are parked with their backs to the inner edge of Turn Four in the short oval. The Triumph belonged to Howard McCubbin, if I recall correctly. He might be the fellow in the blue driver suit. Your OBedient Servant squats behind the TR. Trouble is, it might be Bill Swan in the blue, and his dad, Frank, in the hat. Note RIR "backlight syndrome."

Can you see from the condition of the fender behind the MG's right front wheel whether I had hit the Turn Nine wall yet? If not, it's imminent. Looks to me as if the panel is pristine in this shot. The wrinkle occurred in the first of two practice races. I was passing a blue Fiat Abarth roadster at the entrance of Nine and either went too fast or hit a patch of oil. Maybe blue was the color of the churning clouds of Goodyear tire smoke as I did about a right-90, a left-180, and a right-270 that ended with a mild crunch of the right side and right rear corner against the wall a few yards downtrack from the flag position.

Look at Mr. Teo Fabi, a very, very fast qualifier and front-runner. See him at about two-thirds pucker as he sets his sights on a young, browned target. I have no idea what the red-shirted dude is about, but he and Teo have this in common: I caught them in a caricature pose, one that begs for a caption. I have another photo of Fabi on this (?) weekend: he is at the exit of Turn Six, catching an exaggerated slide during one of his qualifying laps (Thumbnail    Big    Biggest). I also have a promotional mini-poster of Fabi and another driver (Holbert?) issued by the sponsor, a tobacco company (cough, cough), or an oil company (cough, cough). If I ever get organized . . .

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