RACE: Mid-Ohio Runoffs Saturday notes #3

Runoffs Notes - 27 - Saturday copyright 1996 John P. M. Dillon

AS Top 3: 1st: Steve Kelso 2nd: Jay Morris 3rd: Steve Tollefson

All three drivers use Red Line Oil and Goodyear tires.

Press Room Interview ==================== Tollefson: Starting that far back, everything was wide open. You couldn't back off. I went off at the back straight, Jay took advantage of that, I lost that spot to Jay, but only the one spot. Engine temperatures went way up because of a new rule interpretation that required bodywork modification, but Red Line Oil held up fine, as did Goodyear. I didn't change my car for the rainy qualifying since I was fastest in the dry. I didn't want to mess with my dry setup; I just hoped it came up dry today.

Jay Morris: Came up from 20th. Everybody was polite; I just passed wherever I could. Everybody was nice. For some reasons I had really good brakes, and got off the corners quick too.

Kelso: Feels great. Really good to finish up front this year. It was a race from Day 1 until the end. Everybody's so tight, you either looked for a place to do it or you wait, and you couldn't afford to wait. Right at the start a hole opened up and I went from 9th to 5th on first lap. I got tagged slightly when I entered the corner with Olsen, I thought we were both going to go around. I could hear the fans cheering every lap as we were going around the corners.

Questions: We noticed a Ford sticker on the hood of your Camaro. Care to explain? "Ford pays contingency, Chevy doesn't, which is sad." Lot of shenanigans in the tent [as described in earlier postings].

We think this has been the first Cal Club gold medal in at least a couple of years. How do you feel about that? Feel great: Cal Club guys don't get a lot of credit.

How do you get more to come out? Jay: Make Ohio closer to California. Kelso: It's hard to get guys to play the rules- interpretation game. Tollefson: It's hard to race the rulebook; you just want consistent rules and interpretations so you can beat the guy on the track. A lot of guys just race locally and have fun rather than hassle with it.

Tollefson: It was a real good week all the way around. Well, maybe not during the rain.

Morris: I watched forcast 15 minutes before qualifying, oops, slid into a wall. Decided I'd follow another guy and see how he does. Then I realized he's on Hoosiers. It doesn't rain in California at all. Been to Oregon for a bunch of races, it's never rained there either; it's always beautiful there.

John Dillon Mostly SoPac