season. These great performances clearly showed that Balto Wolf was back to what he used to be. Not every driver fully recovers their driving from such a serious accident, so one might argue that Balto was very lucky. But had the impact occured flush with the cockpit, the Nissan might have come straight into the cockpit of Balto's Sauber Mercedes C9, possibly killing both of them.
The morning of the race, Balto, Jenna, Boris, even Kyle met up for a morning jog around the track before any of the day's racing activities were to take place. It was a chance to just hang out, loosen up, and for Balto and Kyle, to get physically ready for the race.
Due to the physically demanding nature of racing, driver fitness is a high priority. But it wasn't as big an issue in 1989 as it is today. Balto found out how beneficial fitness was to his racing after finding himself fatigued after 45 minutes of racing early in his GTP career. After emerging from the car sweating profusely after a stint late in the 1987 12 Hours of Sebring, Balto passed out from exhaustion and dehydration and was hustled off on a stretcher. After this experience, he was determined to avoid having this happen to him again. After consulting with two doctors at the hospital where he was treated, Balto put together and started an exercise program to help him meet the rigorous demands of sports car endurance racing. Boris also used it to get in shape for motocross racing, as it is also a physically demanding sport. And Jenna got into it at least so she and Balto would have something they could enjoy doing together both at and away from the racetrack.
Eventually, the start of the race drew near. Balto would be the starting driver in his Porsche 962. Last minute preparations for the car were being made on the grid in the waning minutes before the cars would roll off on their warm up laps. Speaking of warm up, it should come as no surprise that Balto was fastest in the morning race warm up. In the minutes before the command to start the engines was given, Stan was giving last minute advice advice to both Balto and Kyle. Jenna was on the grid with Balto as well.
"You gonna go get a seat somewhere?" Balto asked.
"Actually, I already have a seat," Jenna replied. "Stan graciously offered me a seat on top of the team's pit box. I finally get to watch a race from where you're at!"
"Really? Well, how about that!" said Balto in a noticeably delighted tone.
"Yeah!" Jenna added, laughing a little.
The two leaned in and exchanged a kiss before Balto put his helmet on, which he was carrying in his right paw.
"Good luck, baby," said Jenna with a grin on her face.
Balto smiled back, managing to slip in a "thank you".
After the playing of the national anthem, the drivers climbed into their cars and soon afterward, the command to fire up the engines was given.
"Gentlemen, start your engines!" the grand marshall called out over the loud speaker. The whole grid roared to life. A minute or so later, they rolled off of pit road and onto the track.
Starting alongside the Balto Wolf/Kyle Fox Porsche 962 was the Busby Racing 962 of Bob Wollek and John Andretti. Behind them were the two factory Nissans (#83 & #84) from Electromotive Engineering. Rounding out the top five was the #60 Castrol Jaguar in the hands of Jan Lammers and Price Cobb.
After a few warm up laps, the pace car pulled into the pits. The green flag waved and the race was on. Balto surged into an immediate lead, followed by the Bob Wollek/John Andretti Porsche, the two factory Nissans and the Jan Lammers/Price Cobb Jaguar. By the end of the first lap, which passed without incident, Balto held a lead of about half a second over his Le Mans seatmate Bob Wollek.
Eventually, the leaders began to catch and lap the slower GTP Lights cars. This is where things could get hairy. Yet, it's all part of the reality of multi-class racing. Drivers of cars in the faster classes have to be careful when trying to pass cars in slower classes. And drivers competing in slower-class cars need to be aware of faster-class cars attempting to lap them (or possibly pass for position if the faster car has fallen behind.)
For the most part, Balto kept his cool in traffic, despite being forced wide by a backamarker at one corner, sliding the car to the point of almost spinning and losing the lead to Geoff Brabham in one of the Nissans. Fortunately, he got it back the next lap. The first round of pit stops passed without trouble, although an on-track incident shortly afterward brought out a full course caution. A car had stuffed itself into a tire barrier and was in a potentially dangerous position. The pace car was sent out to sort out the surviving cars. Because pit stops for the top GTP class and most of the Lights cars had already just taken place, pit road activity was rather sparse.
After seven laps behind the pace car while the car was being moved off the track, the race went back to green.
Balto Wolf and Jan Lammers were now locked in a fierce battle for the overall lead, both trading fastest race laps tenth for tenth. Even in traffic, they kept the battle going. But it wouldn't last much longer. Under braking at the end of the backstraight, a Mazda rotary engine-powered Kudzu Lights car locked its brakes after it hit an oil slick dropped by a blown engine. It slid, hit the the back of Lammers's Jaguar, which in turn clouted the back of Wolf's Porsche. The car spun around and backed into the tire barrier with a fairly hard impact.
"What the...?!" Balto exclaimed, stopping in mid sentence at a momentary loss for words.
"That's TWICE today I've gotten dumped because of backmarkers!" he exclaimed as he pounded the steering wheel in anger and/or frustration "Or was I?" he thought. All he could see was Jan's Jaguar. He couldn't see the green Kudzu.
"Are you alright, Balto?" Stan asked over the radio.
"I think so," Balto replied. "Somebody just drilled me hard!"
The track announcer called out the accident description with a fair amount of energy and conviction, although not quite as much as Balto just did expression how furious he was over the accident.
"Hold on, they're showing a replay," added Stan as the accident was shown again over a television monitor in the Fox/Ridgemount Racing pits. Kyle leaned in to watch as well.
"According to replay, Jan was hit from behind by a Lights car. I can't quite tell who it was yet," said Stan.
"He got pushed into me?" Balto asked. "Now I know that's twice I've been screwed by slower traffic!"
"Calm down now, Balto. Can you drive the car back to the pits?" Stan asked his driver.
"I think so," Balto replied.
Somehow, Balto kept the engine running and was able to drive away. Lammers and the Kudzu, however, were out on the spot having. Jan had suffered terminal rear suspension damage, the Kudzu had terminal front suspension damage. Both cars were out of the race. Another full course caution was thrown, sending the pace car out for the second time that afternoon.
The hit from behind had punctured the left rear tire on Balto's Prosche and damaged the shock absorber. He could only drive slowly back to the pits to keep the tire from tearing up the rear bodywork. He also had to be careful not to damage the left rear suspension too much. If the suspension was damaged badly enough from either the hit from the behind, the flat tire, or both, it would be game over.
Balto did manage to make it back to the pits without causing too much damage. As a precautionary measure, the left rear suspension and brake rotor/caliper assembly were checked for damage. Neither sustained any damage. The rear bodywork was checked over. It, however, needed to be replaced, as would the left rear shock absorber. Because the race cars would travel at a greatly reduced speed behind the pace car, a lap behind it would take much longer than it would under green flag conditions. The Fox/Ridgemount Racing pit crew used this to the maximum advantage that they could get.
Kyle Fox stepped into the car to start his stint behind the wheel after Balto climbed out of the slightly mangled Porsche 962. He was due to take over for the remainder of the race.
"Are you okay?" Jenna asked Balto after he sat down on the pit wall.
Balto was still fuming from the accident. His face was still red from rage. The crash would more than likely cost him any chance of going two-for-two on street circuits this season.
"I will be if those other two cars can't continue," he responded.
Just then, he looked up and saw Jan Lammers walking towards the Jaguar pits. He figured that if anybody knew who pushed the Dutchman into his own car, and then into the tire barriers, it was him.
"Jan!" Balto called out as he stood up and walked toward Lammers.
"Yeah? What do you want?" Jan asked, sounding disgusted.
"What car was it that hit you?" Balto asked.
"It was a Kudzu," Jan responded. "I don't know who was driving it at the time. I'm gonna go see who it was."
Jan continued walking to his team's pit, where he checked with his team's boss to find out who had rear-ended him and caused the crash. Balto followed, hoping to find out as well.
Howard Katz was at the wheel of the #63 Mazda Kudzu when the accident happened. After Jan found out who, he then told about Balto who the culprit was.
"It was the #63 Jim Downing/Howard Katz Mazda-Kudzu that knocked me into you," Jan explained to Balto having found out who caused the accident.
"Really? You mean we both got taken out of contention for the race win by a LIGHTS car!" Balto exclaimed, raising his voice.
"That's what it looks like," Jan put in. "My car is done for, by the way. The hit I took
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Pehaps I myself should try my hand at a racing fic now. Your fic really made me want to try one now.
Overall, great fic.