Lane's SCA - 2006 SPC Rally (8)

Saturn technician Ralph

Two of the technicians at Saturn of Joliet race a SL2 in the mini-stock class at a local oval track. Ralph met us at the garage that acts as their base of operations to give us a tour.

If any type of racing could be considered "no budget", this is about as close as you can get. Even though the car that we were looking at had a lot of miles on it and had been seriously beaten around, this was an activity that many of us would love to do if we had the opportunity. With the budget and class rule constraints that this type of racing involves, it requires creativity and clever engineering that's on a whole 'nother level.

In addition to talking about the modifications to the car and discussing what we've learned throughout the years that may be of benefit to the team, Ralph told us something that would make our day.

Today was Friday, and the team was on the track tonight! It didn't even come into question - we would be there.

The action was held at Grundy County Speedway, in Morris IL.

We found some great seats and got ready for the action.

At left, Mike N, Geoff C, Larry D, Jarod, Kevin K, and Denise & Jeff P.

There were quite a number of classes and heats, but the #96 SL2 finally made its way onto the track. The car looked great (from several hundred feet away, of course), and after our long talk with Ralph, we were expecting to see him open up a can of whoop-ass.

Unfortunately, the car was experiencing some serious electrical problems. On the straights, it just flew. But in the turns, it lost power completely. The problem was later tracked down to a loose battery which grounded out against the body only in hard cornering. It is often the simplest things that cause the biggest problems.

Click HERE for some video of Ralph in the #96 SL2 earlier in the evening (1.1 mb).

Video requires DIVX 5 codec to play - info/download HERE. Be sure to turn up your sound.

Even though we didn't see that much action from the Saturn, it was still an enjoyable evening. The weather was cool, and the cars were loud. What more could you ask for?

The evening's racing action lasted almost four hours and ran late into the night. Afterward, we were back on the road for the half hour drive back to the hotel.