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| For close to 30 years Jim Glass Corvettes of Kingston NY has been
a friend, customer as well as a Corvette vintage racer, builder, tuner,
preparer and fun loving fellow. This past Limerock, Jim introduced me to
Mark Ferrara who races a 1970 Corvette; a beautiful 355 cu Red, White
& Blue convertible that is patriotic inspiring to me. We hit it off
great & went on to have a blast filming Mark just get faster & faster
with each 10-12 lap session. Regretfully Jim had engine trouble as I root
for him too. Friday there were two practice sessions, AM and PM. There were 30 entries in Group 7. Mark practiced the first session, but sat out the second and told me he was penalized for missing that. His starting position was moved farther back, but the effect seemed to have been opposite as it motivated him to move up & he sure did. In Saturdays AM session he started 17th & finished 7th or better. In Mondays AM race he started 9th and finished 3rd. In Mondays PM race he started 3rd , behind a 911 & a 351 Pantera (supposedly was a ex-factory prepared 1 of 11 racer). From the start- finish line to turn 1 called big bend & into the esses he managed to pass the 911 and the Pantera!!!! Holy Cow. In not even half a lap, he was the leader & led to the checkered flag. The 3 Silver Donovan prepared XKE’s (supposedly ex factory prepared racers) always seem to dominate this race group at Limerock. On the last 2 laps one XKE seemed to catch twice Mark as they crested the top of the big hill, but each time Mark still came around in the lead. The Donovan XKE #61 started last in the last race because he was a dnf in the previous race. However he went from last to 2nd or 3rd at the end. I’m looking forward to another great match next race. Down in the paddock afterwards, he was so pumped and jubilant, celebrating. It was great meeting him and all but one of the other Corvette drivers that I missed meeting. But I heard Joe blew up & left early. I’ve still got 100’s of jpegs & video of the other 6 Corvette racers & plan more videos with them, so as not to slight them for the great entertainment that they also provided. Plus I don’t want Mark to get a big head. :D Congratulations Mark you have the hot shoes. Go Corvette. Shame on you New Englander Yankees for not going. I can understand the others, but I still fly a 13 star American Flag in my office & root for the home team Corvette always. You missed incredible weather, racing, you would have to go to pebble beach to see more exotic Ferrari’s & Bugatti’s and more. The number of Ferrari’s that show up here always amaze me. Plus 320 different race entries. Hundreds of other’s that are just driven to the 4 day festival. Plus we went to another fair, the Goshen Country Fair. Beautiful pigs, chickens, goats plus some exceptional Farmers daughters. Labor Day weekend and I had to work: hot, dusty, smelly, noisy but somebody’s gotta do it. |
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