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Oppressive heat and humidity welcomed us to Barber Motorsport Park in Birmingham, AL for the KONI Challenge race over the weekend of July 18th.  A full day of testing the day before the event really helped get the car dialed in.  A full day of testing is a bit of an anomaly in this series.  Drivers Terry Heath and Dr. Gary Grigsby used it to full advantage. 

It's always been a challenge at this track to get the front end of the Porsche 997 to stick or "bite".  The majority of the turns have altitude depletion at and beyond the apex and the hotter the track gets the more push the car developes.  It was decided Terry Heath would qualify the car.  The closer he came to qualifying the faster the car was running.  The entire team sensed the breakthrough they'd been anticipating might be at hand.  They were on to something! 

Terry Heath in the midst of his row two qualifying lap 

The qualifying sessions are short, only 15 minutes.  It's usually difficult to get clear laps in these short sessions so picking the right spot on the track in relationship to the rest of the field can be as important as your ability to lay down a clean, quick run.  Terry decided to let everyone else go out first in order to get an open spot at the end of the group.  Seven other drivers had the same idea.  As the rest of the field exited pit lane to take to the track, Terry and the other seven drivers waited...and waited...and waited.  Finally, Terry couldn't take the suspense any longer and hit the gas, fully expecting the other seven to be filling up his rearview mirror.  The racing Gods must have been smiling on Terry because the mass exodus from pit lane never materialized and he found himself on the track with practically no one in sight.  Well chosen tire pressure set up would have him golden at lap 3.  On lap 2 he leaned on it hard and turned his best lap of the weekend.  The team was elated as Terry was holding pole position with lap 2!  As the minutes in the session ticked by, Terry's times held - good enough for the 3rd place position - the team's best position ever! 

In Grand Am the first 5 qualifying cars are routinely impounded.  In impound  weight, height, camber settings, fuel samples and engine management data are examined.  It was discovered the car was 2 millimeters too low.  We would lose our qualifying position and would be starting from the 32nd pole position - dead last. 

The 2 1/2 hour race would start with 95 degree air temp, 146 degree track temp and high humidity.  Terry would be counting on the usual 3 or 4 yellow flag sessions to give him a breather, particularly since he would be battling his way up from the back of the field.  As luck would have it, for the first time ever the race had ZERO yellow flag laps.  The team settled in for 2 1/2 hours - 89 laps - of green flag racing! 

Terry running in 25th position (last car in photo) making his push up to 8th

Terry inarguably had the drive of his life, running from last place (32nd) up to 8th.  He was driving unconscious!  At lap #41 he handed over the controls to Dr. Grigsby.  Gary did an excellent job.  He came out of the pits in 21st position and brought the car home in 15th.  As they both would say afterward, "Not too bad for a couple of old farts!"  The race was televised on Speed the following weekend and Terry's miraculous drive to 8th from last place was prominently featured.