Sisters racers burn up the track in Portland

It was a mixed weekend at Portland International Raceway for three auto racers from Sisters.

Eric Dolson hammered the field in his 1969 Corvette, beating David Kunicki of Surrey, British Columbia and John Goodman of Seattle. Kunicki drives a '68 Camaro, Goodman another '69 Vette.

Dolson qualified on the pole and won all the races the three ran in Portland over the weekend. Though Kunicki got by on the start of each race, Dolson reeled him in and posted faster and faster lap times all weekend, capped with a run of slightly more than two minutes at 1:22:378 for the 1.977 mile, 12-turn track.

Probably the most exciting race was early on Sunday. Again Kunicki was exceedingly fast on the start, getting to and through the chicane before Dolson could get up to speed. Goodman, meanwhile, spun his Corvette and though he quickly got it back on the racing line, the two leaders were too far ahead to catch.

Dolson finally chipped away at the distance between his Corvette and Kunicki's Camaro. The two raced nose to tail for several laps through the left and right turns, and at speeds ranging to more than 150 miles per hour down the back straight.

Kunicki tried different lines, went deeper into turns, blasted out like a scalded cat, and Dolson kept his Corvette inches off the Camaro's bumper.

"I just wanted to fill his mirrors," Dolson said of the pursuit. "And he did," Kunicki said.

Finally the two came down into the chicane in front of the grandstand and Dolson made his move to the inside of the right hander. Kunicki gave him room. Dolson braked hard and slipped by, put power down a little faster and launched to the next set of turns, Kunicki just behind.

At that point, Dolson's greater comfort at his home track of PIR served him, and every lap he crept farther ahead.

Jerry Taylor of Sisters ran consistently in the middle of the field in his 1964 Studebaker Daytona. On Sunday, Taylor finished ahead ot Gunter Pichler, driving a blue 1964 Jaguar E. Another Jaguar, a '69 XKE driven by Mark Adams, finished fourth.

Popular Sisters driver Curt Kallberg brought a new car to the track for the weekend, and it suffered a variety of teething problems. First a throttle cable stuck, which forced him off the track the first day. Then his car had some issue with the brakes. Later, Kallberg's team put some sound baffles in to quiet the car when race officials said it was loud, but this may have led to overheating and a broken piston ring. The weekend was over.

Had Kallberg brought his Corvette "Forest Gump" to the race, no one doubts he would have been in the battle with Kunicki and Dolson for the checkered flag.

Kallberg did bring a second car to the track, a 1956 Corvette "Gasser" that he had shown two days before at a hot rod show. A fuel injected street rod with a giant engine of over 900 horsepower, the car drew crowds all weekend, with many asking for rides. Kallberg had to tell them he had misplaced the keys.