Traction hard to find

It was a long, wet and slippery Labor Day weekend in Portland for race car drivers from Sisters.

Jeff Taylor, Curt Kallberg and Eric Dolson were there for the Columbia River Classic. The number of entrants was down, probably because other racers had seen the weather report.

It rained on Saturday, washing out qualifying for the Sisters drivers. It rained on Sunday morning.

"It was a frustrating and fabulous weekend," said Jeff Taylor of Sisters, driving the Rex Easley Studebaker. Jeff and Jerry Taylor had rebuilt the Studebaker in less than six weeks after it blew an engine and was hit last July in Portland at the Baxter Auto Parts race, with Jerry as a driver.

This was the first race in Portland with Jeff behind the wheel. He was not able to qualify because of the rain. So Jeff's first lap at Portland in a race car had him out there surrounded by traffic of various speeds in a full race.

The car ran beautifully, its new engine strong and the Taylor style of meticulous work resulting in a car that handled and stopped better than ever.

It wasn't until the afternoon race on Sunday that the track really began to dry out. But there was a problem.

Because some cars with smaller motors had decided to qualify in the rain, they earned a better starting position than those who sat it out. Kallberg and Dolson were gridded way back in the pack, 25th and 26th, in their ground pounding 427 Corvettes, behind small engined BMWs and Porsches and British cars.

Other Corvettes and Mustangs (and the Studebaker) with big motors were also in the back. Race workers were nervous. What would happen as 30 drivers tried to get through a tight set of turns, fastest cars behind slower ones?

Kallberg showed how it could be done.

When the green flag came down he went to the left, the outside, as everyone else crowded to the right. He put the hammer down and passed most of the field as easily as a cop with flashing lights in the fast lane on a freeway. By Turn Three, he was in the lead.

Dolson, not nearly as wiley or bold, got pinned by the small cars and took longer to get clear. When he did, he went after Kallberg. But Kallberg's lead was huge.

Then Kallberg spun in oil put down by a Triumph at the end of the back straight.

Nobody handles a spin better than Kallberg, with vast experience in spinning cars. He barely lost momentum as he pointed the car back down the track and launched down the straight.

Dolson still thought he might be able to catch up. Then he hit the same patch of oil, spun several times and traveled through the grass backwards, hoping he would not meet the wall. He was clear, but his engined died and would not start. When he finally got it fired, he was back in the chase.

But by then officials decided the small lake of oil at the end of a straight was too dangerous. They called everyone back to the pits, but there was confusion. Race over.

On Monday, officials decided that starting Corvettes behind Triumphs was not the best idea, so they gridded the large bore cars at the front. It was a good race, though rain overnight left the track damp for the first half of the race.

Dolson chased Kallberg until the end, when Dolson made an illegal pass under the "No Passing" caution flag. He did not see the turn station, but could have known the yellow flag was flying since the car that caused the caution was still on the side of the track.

The last race of the weekend was a back-and-forth duel between Dolson and Kallberg for the lead, Dolson diving under Kallberg to make a pass in the turns, Kallberg taking back first position in traffic and on the straights. Eventually, Kallberg put a wheel off the pavement in Turn 12 coming on to the main straight and spun. Dolson squirted away, and Dave Edelstein of Bellingham Washington got by as well.