[rustomatic]

It was cool seeing your Pantera out there, Bob--I'd take it over the Maclarens and Vipers any day! I thought your Firebird was nice, but the Pantera is definitely in another league!

My luck wasn't so great, but I had a good time--how can you not do this when being allowed to race your car around Laguna Seca?

I made it through two sessions. On the last lap of my second session, my alternator exploded, sending shrapnel into my upper radiator hose. Simultaneously, I boiled my brakes, which resulted in no pedal pressure, so I was removed from the track via flatbed. At least it was my last lap, and there was at least one guy I'd passed twice...

In my row in the pits, there were three guys whose engines tanked, two of whom had broken cranks--the Fairmont guy Bob already mentioned, something to do with pistons and valves contacting. There was indeed some interesting carnage, but I guess I was lucky overall. What was cool was that the guy with the worst damage, the black TCP fastback, was letting me cannibalize radiator hose components off of his car. Another guy threw me an alternator and a hose, along with a pile of wire and a stripper. I tried, but failed; I overheated in the staging area trying to get out for the fourth session. It was my fault for either not burping the cooling system or not noticing a failed water pump. I learned some stuff...