At the appointed spot – the taxiway of Cumberland Airport – at the appointed hour – 5:00 pm, Friday, August 14, 2009, the fourth annual affaire d’honneur known as the Devil’s Duel unfolded under the hot waning sun. In this signature contest of the season, CACC and its motley crew of Cobras take on a collection of ringers, hand picked from among Cumberland’s fastest of the fast. At stake was the pride of the club -- symbolized by a gaudy crystal victory cup for the winners, and a weighty locomotive connecting rod of shame for the losers -- determined by adding up the times of the quickest eight drivers on each side in an elimination round. Also up for decision was the coveted King of the Hill crown, decided in a “you lose and you die” shootout among those fleet sixteen.
Mustered for the elimination round for the Forces of Light were the roadsters of Wee-Man Weasel Wade, Al Paca, Fast Freddie Kelley, Mr. Personality Larry Casey, John Assfault Hubbell, Doug Smith, Craig Smith, Cone Head Dave Thompson, Wayne Koi Boy Orchard, and in a rare appearance, our Father, Pappy Harrison. Rounding out CACC’s roster were not less than three Daytona Coupes, brought to the dance by Tink Phillips, Rob Burton, and your humble scribe.
Tres Coupe (Photo courtesy of R. Biancone)
For a while it looked like Al would not post, but he arrived in the nick of time, after manning up for an on the road alternator swap. Pinky scratched, reporting a busted lower ball joint.
The Forces of GoodThe side of Supreme Evil was represented by a terrifying legion of minions: Turncoat Chipper’s Snot Rocket, his brother in treachery Herb Smith’s Saleen, Brian Karwan’s transformer Civic, Jason Becker’s blood red Imola BMW M coupe, Jeff Duncan’s pale horse Ultralite, the deathly white Cobra Mustang of Joe Oxenham, flanked by the jet black Loper Camaro and Bane Mustang steeds, Sean Pfieffer’s flaming Crossle, the dark Vettes of gunslingers Smooth Jim Harris, Gary Miller, Bill Ngya and Steve Hotchkiss, Chris Fritz’s smoky Subie driven by Mike Moran, the ever-fearsome SuxAss Subie helmed by brother Jake, and Pistol Pete Harrison in his screaming S2000.
Axles of EvilCACC and your Scribe in particular, were lucky to have Wade’s lovely and talented wife, Beth, in attendance. She served as our second and recorder of Great Deeds. Allowing me to focus on driving. Badly. Also turning up, to our delight, were Chris Kelley and her young niece, visiting from out West. For a few brief fleeting moments, they were a positive moderating influence on our boorish behavior.
Three GracesMaster of Disaster Mark Boggs laid out a sharply angular course with elements to confound everyone. It began with a deeply offset zig zag, followed by a tight descending radius series of S turns, which abruptly fed into a short slalom, just as abruptly followed by a very short lead in to a tighter than usual terminal 180. Things got a bit better from there with a long straight into the showcase kink, which led to another reasonably straight section, followed by a gate offset to the right, feeding into a fast diagonal left hand crossover. From there, the hanger end 180, followed by a “thread the needle” gate and line, then back through the double cones of the crossover, to another maddeningly odd spaced slalom, which fed into a very tight 90 degree right hand box turn, and thence into the stop box. “Something for everyone,” Mark said. To hate.
The three runs of the qualification round went by in trice. In a cloud of feathers and blood, Mustang Boy forever destroyed his benign peacenik image. He nailed a hapless bird that made the mistake of fluttering across his track, leaving it flopping pathetically behind in his fuming wake. Other dramatic moments included the near misses of expected shoo-ins Casey and Karwan, each of whom waited until their third and last runs to post a qualifying on-course time. Both came through in the clutch, but had only one chance to do it on their last try.
Survivors on the CACC side after the qualifier were: Wade, Larry, Fred, Doug, Craig, Hubbell, Tink, and Al. Left standing on the All Star side were: Becker, Karwan, Duncan, Harris, both Morans, Miller and Oxenham. These sixteen drivers would square off in a sudden death elimination for King of the Hill: if the driver against whom you were paired beat your time, you were gone, and the victor advanced.
Waiting for the Shoe to DropIn the qualifying round, your miserable scribe had yet another occasion to regret ignoring all advice and insisting on manual steering. I could not wrestle the BDC around the tight places fast enough to finish in the top eight, landing in the ninth slot. But just as the roster for the sudden death King of the Hill elimination was made up, Tink Phillips scratched. Ironically, his power steering had lost pressure, While a handicap for sure, a lack of power steering did not disable the BDC and me. One man’s misfortune is another’s luck: I sneaked just inside the bubble as the next-fastest CACC driver.
After the first round pairings, there were 5 Cobras left: Wade, Larry, Fred, Doug and, remarkably, me. Not because of extraordinary driving prowess, but because Duncan spun off course in our face-off, while I ran slower, but steady and clean. Remaining after the first round from the All Stars were Becker, Karwan, and Jake Moran.
By the end of the quarterfinals, all the “Stars” had gone out, except for Becker. Cementing their positions as CACC’s top drivers, Wade, Fred and Larry remained in the game.
Semifinal action saw one of the more dramatic match-ups of the season, Frederick County’s own Fast Freddie and Larry Casey running head to head, each fast and clean, with Mr. Personality just barely, barely, squeaking past Fred by a ridiculous six THOUSANDTHS of a second—55.195 to 55.201.
In the other intense semifinal matchup, defending King Wade Chamberlain squared off against the formidable Becker, who had been denied last year when he missed a gate in the semis against Casey, after running clean, winning times all day. Becker looked like serious trouble as he had posted one lap in 54s and a 55 flat in the run up, well south of low 55s of the CACC drivers. Behind Jason by three tenths, Wade would go off first.
It looked very good for Wade as he barely made the kink and screamed through the crossover. But as the crowd held its collective breath as the Weasel completed the last slalom, he spun spectacularly through the speed killing tight 90 degree box right at the finish, saluting applauding and hooting spectators with a chivalrous flourish as he gathered himself up and moved off the course. Jason took a lazy victory lap around to end the semis. Thus ended Wade’s multi-year consecutive King of the Hill streak. Casey and Becker would duel for King of the Hill 2009.
The drama built as the organizers observed radio silence and shut down the timing display for the last round. As Jason rushed to cool his fevered rubber, the organizers moved him to the line. He hung it out all right, breaking for the first time that day the 54 second barrier, with a 53.9, unfortunately marred by an early and a late cone.
Becker Lines it UpWe do not know whether Larry, helmeted and waiting on grid, saw either of them. But Casey did not hold back too much, as he ran his fastest lap of the day, a 55.1, to take the crown.
King of the Hill
The BracketsWe now knew that Larry Casey was King of the Hill, but it took a while to tote up the Devil’s Duel results. Astonishingly, the eight All Stars again totaled out to be several ticks faster than CACC’s eight during the elimination round. We all figure it had something to do with the fact that Becker ran a 54 flat, nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, pulling the curve way down in favor of the All Stars. But all is fair in love, war and racing, and even though Jason did not take home King of the Hill, the All Stars (good drivers all) should thank him for sealing yet another All Star victory, their third consecutive Devil’s Duel win. Of course, CACC will return next year, out for blood. You won’t be so lucky next time.
The WeinersProfuse thanks to the folks who volunteered to work an extra day in the heat for no other compensation other than a (very nice) T shirt, and the spectacle of watching the indulgent matchup, to the NRA organizers for their time and effort, and to all the drivers who make this annual event so special and fun.
Stay tuned for your scribe’s coverage of the regularly scheduled Speedweek autocross.
