Racing in the rain, at night, in a $500 car

The invitation on the Web site was a challenge: "So, do you think you've got what it takes, chump?" What it takes to enter a 12-hour endurance race in a $500 car. What it takes to last. What it takes to do well.

Jeff and Jerry Taylor from Sisters, with help from a few friends, wanted to answer that question. So they did. And they did have what it takes.

Team Firechicken took sixth out of more than 70 cars entered in the Chump Car World Series race, held in Portland over Halloween weekend.

Father and son Taylors (they own Taylor Tire Center in Sisters, an independent Les Schwab dealership) built the race car out of a reclaimed Firebird traded for some tires, or for a wreck, or parts, or traded for something, it wasn't clear. They thought it would make a good "Chump Car" to enter in Chump Car World Series

(www.chumpcar.com.)

Chump Car rules state that the car must be "valued" at less than $500. The range of cars that showed up at Portland International Raceway ranged from ex-police Mustangs to full race Miatas.

Jeff Taylor said "I read it as the rule book, others read it as rule suggestions."

Team Firechicken sported a rooster's comb and a paint job Jerry designed at the beach drawing in the sand. There were Volvos with café tables and mannequins that somehow remained attached to the roof, wearing lingerie that somehow remained attached to the mannequins. A seven-foot logging ax was through the top of another. Ghouls rode in the back of another; it was Halloween, after all. Hondas and Volkswagens and Pintos, oh my.

Why did they do it? Few involved with auto racing can answer in an adult way. The best Jeff Taylor could do was "Why? I don't know, to try our hand at endurance racing. I saw things I never thought I'd see at the race track."

Jerry Taylor didn't do much better: "It's just 'Jeff and Jerry.' Doing this chump car race is every bit as screwy as building a Studebaker and having it go door to door with Camaros and Mustangs." (The Taylors also race the only Studebaker in vintage races in the Pacific Northwest.)

Helping out the Taylors over the course of the 12-hour endurance race were Fuel Manager and Race Advisor Curt Kallberg and driver Eric Dolson, both of Sisters, and imported "Hot Shoe" driver David Kunicki of Surrey, British Columbia.

The racing was hard. Day and night, in the rain, against drivers of all abilities in cars of all sorts, and contact, some of it intentional. Firechicken came back to Sisters a little worse for wear.

"That car had to have been in the grass six times," said Jeff Taylor. "There is mud in places you can't figure out how it got there. Neither door opens. The passenger side mirror was nearly torn off at the base, and the tow hook at the front was bent sideways."

Dolson knew why the driver's door did not open.

Coming into the chicane during his nighttime stint, he tried to pass a green car (the only identification he would offer) on the inside. The green car driver yanked his wheel to the right, trying to send Dolson into the wall. Dolson backed off to think about this, and let another car by to watch the green car's bad habits.

On the next lap, Dolson saw the green car go wide out of Turn 3, and again went to the inside. Again the driver yanked the wheel, this time slamming into the Firebird's driver's door hard enough to push the Firebird over a couple of feet. Dolson held his line and pushed back, wondering what damage had been done. Most of it was to the green car, which blew a tire from bent sheet metal.

The Firebird settled down, as if it were more determined than ever. But then Dolson missed a downshift from fourth to third and cooked it a little hot into Turn 4 in the rain. The car went off the end of the track in a slow spin, but Dolson gathered it up while the car was sliding sideways across the field, pointed it parallel to the track, and hit the gas. Throwing mud and without losing position, he came back on the pavement at nearly full speed.

Kunicki the Canadian had more than one similar experience:

"It was difficult to see with the lack of illumination on our car (at night in the rain). I had to start timing where the corners were, how long to go down the straight and then hit the brakes smoothly.

"We all searched for grip in the rain; I found the most grip was around the outside where the asphalt was rougher and there was less oil.

"The brakes were a bit of an issue on our car, when the car would lurch to the right. I kissed the wall along the back straight, but just tried to maintain a consistent pace and drive smoothly."

"Smoothly" needs some definition. In "kissing the wall," Kunicki tore the passenger side mirror from its base. He was put into a tire wall by a Pinto that failed to make a right-hand turn, but damage was light and he was able to get back on the track.

After a Camaro tried to aggressively block him from a pass, the tow hook of Firechicken was used to gently suggest the Camaro take a trip through the grass at Turn 9.

Jerry Taylor said things had a way of balancing out.

"Kunicki got hit; it cocked the steering to the right. Dolson got hit and it straightened out again."

Jeff Taylor said "running in that much traffic is unbelievable. I was laughing and yelling driving down the track, and I have never done that before. You are racing against a car (matched to yours) and get to one of those slow cars, and the two of you split and go around, one on each side. I didn't expect to bring this home with any paint.

"One guy was going down the back straight backwards. I never expected to be on a (race track) with cars coming at me. "

Though they weren't sure their car would be able to last, the Taylors had hoped to get their car into the top 10. They were very pleased with the sixth-place finish.

Jeff gave a lot of credit to Jerry for doing the "tedious, boring stuff" that contributed to the car lasting for 12 hours.

Jerry said they went through every component, rebuilding the transmission, the u-joints, the rear end, to make the car reliable.

"I don't think I would have given you 50/50 it would run six hours, let alone 12," he said. "To have zero mechanicals was incredible. We opened the hood (after the race) and it looked like it had when we closed it. No oil leaks."

Taylor remembered making a small shield in what some would call obsessive attention to detail:

"I looked at the fan belt and saw it was a half-inch away from the radiator hose. So I put a shield there just in case. Sure enough, at the end of the race that shield had been polished by the belt. But the hose wasn't cut."

There was plenty of luck, too. A jumper wire to a safety switch was burned bare, insulation gone, cooked for twelve hours, but it held. The tread on each of the two front tires was cut from fender damage, "but it did not cut into the cord and they held up," J.T. said.

Kallberg offered cool, calm guidance. When asked if the team should take time to torque wheels during the pit stops, he said, "Do you torque wheels when you drive to California?" He reminded drivers to grab their track exit slips and avoid penalties.

After the race, everyone was already looking forward.

"Better weather would have helped us, I think we would have done better in better weather," said Kallberg. "But it was a good effort, the drivers did not pass under yellows, there were no penalties in the pits or on the track. That's pretty important. For a first time out, it was a pretty amazing effort. I could see us having two or three cars next year."

Firechicken will race again.

"I checked the oil and it was fine, a little dirtier but that's all. We'll hammer out the fenders and rattle can (paint) the body work," said Jerry.

Jeff said, "I did the math, and I know we could have done better. We could have had one less fuel stop, and could have (gotten) third. If those brakes were better, there is some lap time there, too."