Spring Weatherly was held June 10-11, 2023 in Weatherly PA, and was the second event in the 2023 PHA Championship series.
Photo credit Judy Desrosier
I was unable to attend this event, but did watch the WLYN broadcast on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed Tom Knorr’s commentary. I then grilled everyone about the event. So I’ll start out with a few comments, and then finish up with a report from someone who was actually there.
But first thank you to everyone who gave me event updates and permission to use their photos! There were many excellent photos taken and I’ll include a list of where to find more at the end of this post. BTW, if you click on any photo, you’ll be able to see a larger image.
The weather was close to perfect except for a brief shower toward the end of the day on Saturday for last runs. But the road was completely dry by Sunday, so it just affected last runs Saturday.
I found the contest for FTD to be riveting! Bill Feist had FTD for most of the event, but eventually ended up in fourth place, so I had questions. I learned that his car broke Sunday morning, and that he was unable to defend his time. By the end of the day on Sunday, the top 6 places were separated by just over a second, with Bill in fourth place.
Kurt Eikenberg pulled off an amazing last run to take FTD in his Cheetah SR1 with a 50.402. Congratulations to Kurt. Kurt also took FTD at Fall Weatherly 2022.
Photo credit Brian Murray
Mark Aubele placed second in his Ford Mustang, with a 51.030. In third place was Martin Donnelly in a Crosskart with a 51.161. Bill Feist was fourth with a 51.245. In fifth place was Gary Smith, also in a Crosskart, with a 51.327. And in sixth place was George Bowland in his Purpose-built V BBR Spec Avon with a 52.555. Great racing everyone!
Photo credit photos 1, 2, 4, 5 Brian Murray; photo 3 Jovan Jackson
On Sunday at lunchtime, there was a battle of the up and coming generation of hillclimbers.
Photo credit Rich Rock
Friday night, the Mystery of the Missing Spanner started when Bill Norton was helping Mike White sort out his new-to-him car. Bill made an adjustment, set his wrench down, and it was never seen again. This is not the first time that Weatherly has swallowed a tool, as I’m sure many of you can attest. I know I have personally experienced this phenomenon. Perhaps we have a pit area ghost?! Either that, or the rocks in the pit area are exactly the same color as most tools and are perfect camouflage.
Fortunately, whatever became of the spanner, it wasn’t to the detriment of Mike’s car.
Photo credits – photo 1 John Pitman; photo 2 Keith Kennedy
And for my last observation: Sue Salsburg reported that her trunk latch gave way just as she went over the jump, and credits the trunk lid for an impressive aerodynamic effect. So she is thinking of adding a wing to her car. Or maybe not! 🙂
Photo credit Keith Kennedy
And now for a much more interesting take on the event! Mike Robinson posted his weekend wrap up, and I am sharing it with you with his permission.
A bit late but here’s your Weatherly weekend wrap up.
Normally I focus on the class battles and where they end up. This time was a little bit different. I got to hear and see a lot of personal battles and that pretty much had my attention all weekend.
In no particular order, let’s get to it…..
I’ll start with Eli Sharp. Vince and Eli have pretty much battled that car from day one. There just always seemed to be things not going right, parts breaking, or just being a general pain in the ass!
Looks like they finally got it. They hardly touched the car all weekend. Eli did a great job of driving and came oh so close to the class record!
Look out in the Fall!
Photo credit Brian Murray
Jason Fraley drove his father’s/brother’s GT Pinto. The engine tune on that car has been unhappy for a little while now. Jason kept at and was able to turn in a very respectable time!
Photo credit Brian Murray
Rick Johnson has been very busy helping with timing and being a grandfather to another child, not leaving any real time to concentrate on racing. Yet he managed to pull off another 1st place in SMR. Thanks for all your hard work buddy!
Photo credit Brian Murray
While we are on SMR…..
Bryan McCrea finally beat his personal goal and went under a minute. I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time with Bryan this season so far. It’s been a lot of fun! Let’s also mention he brought a knife to a gun fight and is holding his own!
Photo credit Keith Kennedy
Michele Aubele also limped her car up the hill to a 58.x with basically an open rear. Anyone who’s done this hill knows a trip to the dentist is more enjoyable then doing the one wheel peel off of every corner! Seriously….it’s hard to get in to the 58’s on one wheel. Great job Michele!
Photo credit Keith Kennedy
Geoff Craig won his class by .150 and set a PB while he was at it. All this while nursing his knee back to health! I got to tell ya, this guy is just plain fun to have a beer with! I always look forward to hanging with him.
Photo credit Keith Kennedy
Jim Swift in his home built open wheeler battled tuning issues all weekend as well. He never gave up and always had a smile on his face. He gets what this is all about!
Photo credit Brian Murray
Mike Frohman brought his gorgeous GTR and completely trashed my SSP record. He did have to fix a rear control arm before doing so. Nice job man!!!
Photo credit photo 1 Jen DeHart, photo 2 Don McLaughlin
We also have a bunch of new faces to welcome to PHA.
Sarah Baylor driving her Spec Miata, Melinda Heiser Axarlis co-driving with Mike Axarlis in their VW and Marc Lewis with his Mini who came in tow with Ian Brown. All three showed perfect novice behavior while dropping their times on every run. I don’t think I ever saw them with out a smile all weekend.
Photo credits photo 1, 2 Keith Kennedy; photo 3 Jovan Jackson
Photo credits Keith Kennedy
SSM was looking like it was going to be a battle. It was definitely close for a while. In the end I finally found my groove and nailed it down. Personally I’ve been very distracted well before our season started and the hills are a perfect time for me to forget about everything and just have fun with the family. (That’s all of you!)
Photo credit Brian Murray
Intentionally leaving this for last……FTD was really a battle. The top 6 were only separated by 1.1 seconds!
At one point it looked like Bill Feist was going to come home with another FTD but Mark Aubele, Kurt Eikenberg and Martin Donnelly had a different idea.
Mark spent more time on the lap top then he did racing trying to get his transmission to agree with him. Ultimately he never got it a 100% right, but got it good enough for a blistering 51.030 and 2nd overall in a door car!
Kurt came out on top with a 6/10ths faster 50.4 after breaking his car on first run back at Jefferson!
(see beginning of post for pictures)
I can’t say enough about the town of Weatherly and the hard work they put in to this event. Every time I roll in to that town, they make me feel like a rock star!
Photo credits Jovan Jackson
Big thanks to all the volunteers and workers. None of this happens without you!
Photo credits Jovan Jackson
Photo credits Patti Murphy
On to Pagoda next week! See ya there!!!!!!
And now for more photos, because there can never be enough photos!
Brian Murray was only at the event briefly, but took some great photos of group 2 cars, many of which were featured in this post. His complete gallery can be found in this post from the PHA Facebook page (you don’t need a Facebook account to view it). Here are a few more.
Wayne Domkowski took some excellent photos as usual. You can reach him on facebook, or via his website at http://blackdiamondimaging.com/. Here are a few examples of his work.
Keith Kennedy also took some great photos that were featured throughout this post. You can see all of his images on the PHA Facebook page in this post — again, you don’t need a Facebook account to view the images.
Jovan Jackson took many good photos as well, especially of the pit area — see his Facebook post. I wish I had more room and could feature them all.
Don McLaughlin once again took a great set of pictures — here’s a link to his Flickr album.
Patti Murphy and Jen DeHart are also people I can count on for great photos of events — more of their photos can be found on their personal Facebook pages. Also thanks to Rich Rock for sending me that great photo of the next generation of hillclimbers, and to John Pitman for the missing spanner story and picture!