Pre-Historics 2002
Chaparral 1, s/n 002
By: Paul Brown, Driver

It started as a nice, sunny day at the famous Laguna Seca Raceway for an event called the Pre-Historics. It's the test weekend before the big Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Tom Hollfelder, from Tiger Racing based in Covina, CA opened the trailer and rolled out his 1962 Chaparral 1. In pictures it looks a little awkward, but in person it's absolutely beautiful. Tom had invited me to drive the car for this year's Historics at Laguna Seca from Aug 16-18 and thought I should run the car prior to that to get me familiar with it before the event. With an offer like that, who could refuse? I was both honored and very, very nervous. Tom had just finished a two-year restoration on the car and I was to debut and race it for the first time in the US since 1967. There were only four built originally and only three still existing. This is car #002 that was the original Meister Brauser car that Harry Heuer raced alongside his teammate Augie Pabst who ran the Scarab back in the day. The front and front body work/hood opens up and hinges forward to reveal a 327 Corvette small block with Hillborn injection with eight trumpets reaching to the sky in search of air. The motor is set back flush with the firewall with a fuel pump where the distributor should sit. The magneto is mounted on the front at a right angle and the water pump is in front of that. The water pump looks like a small turbo with a water line pulling out of the radiator sending it forward to the engine, frost plugholes and back again. The shiny, black tube chassis and its maze of tubing and supports surround the engine and all its parts. The front suspension is independent with Koni coil overs and disc brakes.The cockpit is another work of art. All polished aluminum and black chassis tubing. The cage wraps snugly around the driver. The sides of the car are actually part of the fuel cells and they're just monstrous. Only one of them is being used, but the craftsmanship is beautiful. There is a strange transfer tube running between them that we can only guess was for long endurance races and allowed the filling of both tanks from one side of the car. The rear section of the car opens with four small dzus buttons and hinges at the bottom. Lurking under it is the Halibrand quick-change rearend and inboard mounted disc brakes on the independent suspension. The all aluminum, hand beaten body just shines from within.Sitting in the car is a treat, but it's very tight quarters even with the open cockpit. The doors are little half things that are only about 8" tall. The hinges are integrated into the fuel cells, more for show than function. It's a bit awkward to sit in. The steering wheel sits a little crooked. Your left arm is extended about two inches farther than the right. Your right arm is tight against your body in the cockpit, but is still manageable. To start it, you turn the magneto and the low-pressure fuel pump on, hit the starter button, then turn the high-pressure fuel on and the engine jumps to life. The open headers and side pipes rumble and when you crack the throttle, you can watch people jump. Throttle response is quick and precise. Amazing that the injection is 40 years old and works like it's new technology.I suited up for the first time Saturday morning, then drove the car up to the pregrid. Sitting on the right is a little strange, but hey, it's got wheels so I was sure I could handle it. No biggie, other than I kept dropping the left front tire off the track setting up for right hand turns. It is a little different with that extra three feet to the left of you when you line up for the corners. After a short time, I thought I got that problem fixed or at least I was watching it. The car is a rocket, at around 2000 lbs. and making in the 500 hp range, she flies and it wasn't long before we started passing Testa Rossas, Scarabs, Listers and whatever else was on the track. Practice went great.For Saturday's race, we pulled up to the grid around the third call. Grid at the Pre-Historics is a little different than most. When and where you pull up is where you start. They don't keep or post times. I started 30th out of 34. This was a 10-lap exhibition race and by the end I had sliced my way up to third. Second was only a turn away, but I just ran out of time and I had been a bit cautious about getting to know the car. For Sunday's race, we figured the grid thing out and showed up early, way early, so we started from the pole. Over the weekend one of the Lister drivers was complaining about the car since we had Goodyear tires on instead of the Dunlops that everyone else was running. The Chaparral is a '62 while most of the other cars in the group were pre-1960. Steve Earle, the promoter, came over Sunday and told us that we had to change for the following weekend for the Historics and run the Dunlop tires. "So Tom, what do you want me to do in the race? Run a pace or run with a couple of the other cars?" I asked him before we started. "No, the heck with it, go win." So on that note, the Lister and I started side by side on the front row.Green Flag...I was short shifting the car, so it didn't look so bad at the start. I still got a good jump and led the field into Turn 2 on the first lap. With the Lister right on my tail, I started to lean into the car. Still short shifting at 5000 rpm (Tom said the engine's good to 6500-7000 rpm if we need it... didn't need it) I just worked on my line and at being smooth, very smooth. Nice gentle turn-ins, progressive on the throttle, easy on the brakes. I was concentrating on saving the car and kept telling myself to just be easy. At the end of the first lap I had a three second lead and just kept stretching it from there. I finished first with a 15-second lead over the second and third Listers who had battled for position the entire race.Tom was pleased with my performance and thrilled with the car's and we were ready for the next weekend at the Monterey Historics.

Part II, The Monterey Historics 2002
Chaparral 1, s/n 002
By: Paul Brown, Driver

After the great weekend at the Pre-Historics, I thought nothing could stop us at the big event. Boy, was I wrong. It started with putting the new Dunlop tires on the Chaparral. We switched from a nice, 25" tall and 8.5" wide, sticky race tire, to the earlier style, Dunlop bias-ply tires that have what feels like water for sidewalls. The tires were then 27" tall and had a whopping 5.3" of tread on the ground in a harder compound. More like a passenger car tire with a high tread life. The car that I thought was so perfect turned into a monster with a mind of its own.We started with the tire pressures recommended and noticed how close the clearance was to the fenders. Pulling the shock and spring off to make sure that we had full travel was first. Looked good, back together and head out for practice. The car was everywhere, the soft-sided tire seemed to roll more and have the wiggle that you feel like when you are in a boat. No problem, just drive a little smoother and wait for the tire to move before planting the power. Then the next thing I knew I had a loud whirring sound coming from the rear. Rear end's making noise, that's new. So I ducked into the pits to tell Tom that the rear was making some new noises and came to find out that the sound is the tire rubbing on the bodywork. This hand beaten and formed, perfect aluminum body had buckled on the left side and was rubbing on the tire. The tire had grown enough to catch it and bend it back. Tom flipped the body open and with a couple swift blows of a hammer slammed it down and yelled, "GO". With that I pulled away slowly with a pit in my stomach thinking of the damage and finished a couple laps of the practice session well off the pace.At the paddock, we pulled the rear clip off to check things over. The damage was slight and luckily the panel beater, Barney, who had made the body and was in from New Zealand to see the car make its debut in the States fixed it on the spot. Touch up the paint and back to perfect. We decided to make an air adjustment to get the wave out of the tire and what a difference that made! Pushing the car harder than I had run it before, we qualified 3rd on the grid out of the 26 cars. Rob Walton and Brian Redman were on the front row in a pair of Scarabs for the start of Saturday afternoon's race. For those of you that are new to motorsports and may not have heard of Brian Redman, well, lets just say that he is a legend in racing. He has driven everything and has won in everything from Formula 1 to a championship in F5000 in Europe to Can-Am and sports cars in the states. Even the huge, vintage event held at Road America in July every year is called the Brian Redman International Classic.Tom turned to me after seeing the grid sheet and said, "he might be a problem," meaning Brian. Before the race, with the cars all lined up and looking so pristine, it was like taking a step back in time. Some of the best cars in the world were all competing in this prestigious event. We filed out onto the track behind the pace car bringing the cars up to temperature. The pace car pulled off as we pulled onto the straight anticipating the green. The flag dropped, the engines roared to life as we flew down the track all looking for best position into the first turn. Rob took the point with Brian trying to make a pass on the outside of Turn 2, which left me room down the inside. Tires spinning and cars twitching all in search of traction running corner to corner. Rob, Brian and I checked out from the rest of the group on a pace that brought the crowd to their feet. Rob stretched out a two-car length lead while Brian was on a defensive line keeping me from going by. I could pull half way up on the left or the right, but just not quite enough and with these cars you don't force the issue. We caught the Jaguar of Norman Dewis on the fourth or fifth lap between Turns 3 and 4. Brian and Rob split him with one going down each side. I followed Rob and found myself out of track as Norman moved over after being startled and didn't see me coming up the outside. Two tires in the dirt and a big sigh as the cars came uncomfortably close. This allowed the two Scarabs to pull about 10-15 car lengths on me by the time I saved it and got by Norman.Thinking that they were not too far out of reach I dug in and started running laps that seemed blistering. I noticed that Brian had made it by Rob and the two were now battling among themselves. Just a couple laps later I had caught them and started putting pressure on Rob. We came to Turn 8, also known as the famous Corkscrew, as a three-car train. We pulled up on another pair of cars battling for position and Brian jumped the curb to go down the inside, Rob ducked outside and then we were three wide out of the Corkscrew. I made a dive around a backmarker and Rob met me on the other side, we swapped sides of the track as he crossed in front of me and I made an aggressive move to the outside of Turn 9 and raced him to Turn 10 to grab second place. With just two laps to go Redman had put a nice gap between us again and I was in pursuit mode once more.

I caught Brian on the last lap and the chase was on. I tried putting pressure on him with not even a crack or a glimpse of a mistake to open the door. Brian was as cool as ice, everywhere I wanted to go, he seemed to be there. We made the last turn onto the straight with what seemed like just inches between us. He spun the tires hard and I was feathering the throttle to get a run. Side by side it was a drag race to the finish. I pulled up on him with the checkered flag waving, but wasn't enough. I fell short by a couple feet and finished second to Brian Redman by 0.166 of a second. We gave each other a good-job thumbs-up after the line as we cooled the cars down and that's when it hit me.

My emotions overcame me; I was driving a priceless piece of art, against one of the best in auto racing, at the biggest vintage race in the US and on one of the best tracks in North America. I was sad for losing and elated for finishing second. I had poured my heart into the drive and it had drained me both emotionally and physically. I had the privilege of racing Brian Redman and felt a lot of pride for finishing a race well run. I can't begin to thank Tom enough for the honor that he allowed me. I feel like a part of history now.