AMRCA 1982 Nationals Report

By Roger Phillips

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

The 1982 Nationals may be history, but not to be soon forgotten who were there. With the entries numbering 40 cars, it was the best attended race held at Anderson since the 1974 World Meet. There was a good mix of cars, with representation in classes II, III, V and a piped 5cc class which was very impressive. The idea of the pre-registration of the cars worked out extremely well, and in conjunction with some fine preparatory work by Phil and his computer, we did not have the traditional first morning "drags." Class V produced some excellent speeds, and we saw Burt Kuebler and Ted Dodd take top honors in the Hot and Cold Divisions respectively. A look at the top speeds in Class V show quick response to the cable size change, and that is certainly a promising thing to see. The new Fyco Engineering piped .29 cars presented an exciting alternative to the 10cc cars by running a closely matched race and with Butch Williams establishing the class record.

Not all of the time we spent at this year's Nationals was spent racing our cars. On Friday, for instance, we spent some time standing in the pit area ankle deep in water and soaked to the bone, after an incredible downpour eliminated the racing schedule for the day. Our real concern, however, should be over the time we spent scratching our heads and wondering why we had so many potentially dangerous mishaps at the meet. I do not intend to get into a sermon on safety at this time, but I do promise to give some careful consideration to a number of areas of both car and track construction, and possibly to appointing a safety committee to help formulate the proper course of action that should be taken to prevent such accidents.

As is always the case at the Nationals, we had the opportunity to get together with friends from all over. We are very proud to have had the attendance of Glen and Martie Fairabend, Bruce Underwood, Jerry and Shirley Anderson and from West Germany, Manfred and Heidi Pfefferle.

People are the most important part of the Nationals, and I would like to thank some of the people who helped out and made this year's Nat's possible. Thanks to Ron Kruse, Nick Tucci II and Bob Norwood Jr. for all their hard work on the center pole. Thanks to Greg Casto for helping to prepare the track, to Jerry Anderson for helping on the clocks, to my wife Kathy for her help on the Banquet tickets, and to Phil, who did a great job of organization, preparation, and in general, of running the show. Also, I want to thank everyone who attended the race, since they are the people who made the 1982 Nationals a success.

Briefly, I just want to mention that while I was passing through Binghamton, N.Y. last week, I decided to look up the old Tri-Cities track which is located at the Tri-Cities Airport in Endicott, N.Y. The track is still reasonably intact, and could be restored. It is an 85ft. (5 lap) track and would require a fence. The land it is on is owned by the City of Endicott, and I will try to find the proper authorities to talk with concerning the possible use of the track.

Nothing to report on the Bridgeport Fairgrounds track site at this time. Things there are still up in the air.

That about covers everything for now. It's back to the work bench and the machine shop for the winter months. ************************** Roger Phillips***************************