Thursday Afternoon. Spanky's is buzzing with work, pretty quiet day. What else would you expect on a Thursday. A familiar pickup pulls into the showroom parking lot and local leadfoot Chester Montgomery steps out and heads inside.
Chester: Mornin darlin! You sure are a pretty thing. Lets you an me head on over to the Double T and grab a nice quiet lunch.
Chester leans over the counter at Ms Lynette's desk and pushes his hat up. Givin a little wink, its clear someone has caught his eye.
Ms Lynette: Why Chester Montgomery, you still have all that high school charm you'd a had if you were there.
Spanky detects the tone of the conversation and shuffles out of the office, eyein up the youngster at his desk.
Chester: That's Chet. Now don't go flatterin yerself, Kitty!
Spanky: Can I help you. Step in my office and I'll see if we can cure what ails you.
Chester: Word on the track is you guys have some hot cars and I've seen the time slips, pretty impressive. Your driver though, I think he forgot where he came from. Well where he shoulda come from if he hadn't bought his way into a race car. Seems you guys bought yer way into all kinds of things. From the looks of it you didn't spend enough.
Spanky sits there and takes it. Meanwhile, Ms Lynette already put the call in and Fit's headin up from the paint shop.
Spanky: Is there anything you we can do for you Chet, or you just down here stirrin up trouble. You've been stuck in that ole short track since quarter midgets and there's no need to go blamin us.
Fit comes in the back door stuffing a shop rag in his back pocket. Wastes no time heading straight into Spanky's office. Seems Chet's stuck between Spanky and a Fit. All the comotion woke Johnny up and he's already snuck his way to the front desk.
Fit: (extending an open hand) Hey Chester, long time no see. What's it been 10-12 years. Yeah, 12 years, last time I was runnin the asphault sprints over at the Proving Grounds. What are you doin these days?
Chet looks down at Fits offering and peers out under the brim of his hat. Glancing over his shoulder at Spanky standing up behind his desk he puts his hands on his hips, shakes his head and takes a deep breath.
Chester: I've been runnin every local in this gawd awful town out their rent money once, twice a week. You'd remember the old crew if you stopped bye and watched a race once in a while. Ev'ry Friday night, just like years past. Some of us never stop racin, what are you doin, still runnin against the clock in your autocross sessions? There's no glory gettin to the top of a leaderboard, an you couldn't handle the traffic anyway.
Fit: Lemme guess you still runnin that beat up Chevelle of yours outta your uncle's garage. I'm shocked he hasn't made you work on it somewhere else. That is unless your still livin in this basement. You come down here to catch-up or you actually lookin to go faster?
Spanky walks over between the two of them and takes a referee stance on the corner of the conference table.
Chester: Tonights the heat races for tomorrows main event. You think you can still run with us, show up. Bring your whole pathetic shop. You'll need them to help pick up all the parts. If your as hot as you think put it on the track. 7pm, over at the Proving Grounds, here's a map (throws it on the table) seems you forgot how to get there.
Chester walks out, tips his hat and winks at Ms Lynette. Spanky looks over at Fit as his face and neck starts turning that shade of red. You know the one, about the same shade Cale Yarborough had on the back stretch of Daytona.
Spanky: Well, no sence talkin you out of goin. Can't back out when the shop rep is on the line anyway. That fool proably told half the town this mornin at the Waffle House anyway. You want me to pack up the Sagaris, Panoz or your CTS-V? Like to see him run you down in a Chevelle if your runnin one of those. Heck you could probably take the PT Cruiser out on the short track and really make him look bad.
Fit: Proving Grounds is no place for an A-classer Spanky. That's an entry level crowd, always has been. I'm thinkin we pack up the 500KR and head on over early, Tech inspection might not buy the IMSA Sticker, locals you know.
The rest of the day is spent cleanin up the KR. Fresh tires, tune up, nice coat of wax, and few tweeks of the alignment. Fit packs the hauler with a cooler, pop-up tent, some folding chairs, and the tool kit. Nothin special, just a shakedown package. It seems like his confidence is high and the entire shop is closin up to head over. Even Johnny Rotten stayed sober enough to get in as crew, and that's sayin somethin for a Thursday night. They pull up the the front gate, pay entry and set up a pit stall. No garages here so a small crowd develops to see what the Waffle House posted as the "reunion rundown". Seems Chet's been busy as his own promoter today.
Track Official: Tech Inspection, there aint none. You'd have to have a Series Sponsor and a set of rules in place for that. Csr looks fine to me, can't say it'll stay that way but your in as long as you pay the entry.
Fit: So there's no tire restriction, no power limits, no scales, nothin. How do you keep the cars competative?
Track Official: Competative, you think we make enough to pay a purse by bein strict. Its run-what-ya-brung down here. You think you brought enough?
Just then Chester pulls in in his Chevelle, sounds like a million bucks but from the look of the Firestone label its on stock rubber, and rallye wheels no less. A blip of the throttle and its plain to see that horsepower rules the roost in Chesters camp. But this is a local track, short, no real straights. Why is Fit becoming a jittery mess? After running back to the pits he finally finds Spanky.
Fit: Damn-it Spanky. We been set up. There's no rules here Spanky. I've seen slicks, full cages, even an old Pro-Stock motor in some of these cars. Chet won't even open the hood, just stands there starin at me. Go get the Vette, just drive it over, this piece of junk's gonna get slaughtered. Damn-it Spanky, whole towns here and every one's cheatin but us.
Spanky: Look at you with a case of the nerves. Just run it, stay smooth and let the chips fall. It won't be that bad. I'll never make it with the Vette, you got like 20 mins to get ready. I'm thinkin you hop in the hauler, get focused and make the best of it. Screw Chet, if he's cheating we'll work it out with the officials after its over. Now get with it.
Turns out nerves is the one thing Fit hasn't had to overcome in quite some time. Lining up a hundred thousand dollar Britsh speedster gets him goin but sittin in in the back row of a heat race in front of a home crowd and Fit looks like he want to go hide. Each and every race the radio traffic gets worse and worse. The screaming, the cussing, the sound of twisting sheetmetal and the result are the same in every race. Top 5, no better. Chet gets a clean sweep of each of the 3 qualifiers, as well as the shootout. Fit is the last one off the track and he has to drive past victory lane just as Chet gets his cardboard check and kisses the trophy girl. All while giving Fit the finger. Spanky's crew can hear the party coming their way while packin up and Chet's big mouth rings clear.
Chester: You think your sponsors want to hear about you getting slaughtered at your home track? I knew you were all hype, right guys. (the crowd is into it and not on Fits side) I'm sure the guys over at Panoz should see how their hard earned money is getting spent, payin entry fees on a losing horse and on the Proving Ground. I coulda beat you back in the Sprint car days but you always bought your trophy's. The shoes on my foot now and looks like I was the better driver all along. Best part is you get to come back tomorrow and watch me do it all over again. Lets go guys, first rounds on me, these losers need some space to pack up. (Turning back and talking directly to Fit) Money dont' mean nothin here, your cars all that matters. Yours can't cut it and I can't wait to see the look on your face when I blow past you again.
Fit and Spanky go over every lap of every race using telemetry and it seems they got out powered on every race. Chet's car was the worst of all. 700hp on stock tires, how could he have won, telemetry shows damn near perfect power delivery, near in-human. Spanky send the troops home to lick thier wounds but tells Fit to wait around no matter how long it takes. 2 hours later.....
Spanky: Fit, you still here? Hey Fit!
Fit: Yeah, I'm still here. Got most of the dents out but she might not be so pretty tomorrow. I'm real sorry Spanky. I let my ego ruin the night. We coulda pulled it out and at least got on the podium but my focus was elsewhere. Those cars are so fast. I've never seen that much power on the Proving Grounds before, I can't believe it.
Spanky: Not to worry. We didn't know what we were gettin it to. We were set up. Then we went and brought a knife to a missle fight. If you don't want to go back I ain't gonna make you. No hard feelins, we got a big picture to worry about, no need to get hung up in local politics. But I do have some news.
Fit: No, I'll go back, take my beating and hope for the best. If we quit now we could lose big. Just don't know how many customers are gonna let us fix their cars knowin a Rookie like Chet stuck it to us. Might as well give me the good news. (sarcasm)
Spanky: Turns out the old Proving Grounds is having a problem bayin its bills and with no Series Sponsor, they let Chet and his antics rule the roost cause the fans like the drama. If someone were to come along with enough money to save them from forclosure they could re-write the rule book on the Thursday Night Thunder Series.
Fit: You know anyone lookin to bail out a rowdy, lawless, local track that noone likes to race on. I don't. Honestly I just wanna go home and get some sleep. I'd rather forget about this whole thing once it over with.
Spanky: Well I agree cause your gonna need to be focused for the main. Call it a night but give this a look over before you go. (A few minutes goes by) While you were screamin your head off I ran back tot he shop and did a quick once-over on the D-class Hotlappers you got in the Muscle lot. Lots of similarities in them, a couple oddities but I think I made the right call. You just need to have me a 3' by 10' Spanky's Speedshop Superstock Series banner in time to open tech inspection tomorrow.
Seems the old man and the track owner have a bit of history too. Two old racers used to talkin about the good old days may have just developed a plan to save each other from ruin. Spanky sponsors the rowdy series and cleans it up, along with the finances. And the Proving Grounds gets to stay open for another year. Spanky even had the time to run a list of the updated rules over to the Waffle House. Poor Chester's not gonna be too happy when he gets his mornin coffee tomorrow.
More to come as the official challenge will be outlined in the following post. (For all those that don't want to read the stories)
