September 21,2024 NCJOC Slalom

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I’ve been an enthusiastic participant in our club’s slalom event since becoming a member a few years back, and they have always been great fun.  The slalom we held on Saturday, 21 Sep, was extraordinarily successful, with the largest number of participants we have had in years, with lots of new drivers, and very impressive cars.

Doug Wolfire, our slalom chairman, took the bull by the horns on planning this event. He and John Larson met earlier in the week to map out the course in the parking lot of at the Unity Reed High School behind the Manassas Mall, where we have held the slalom for years now.  Their advanced planning really paid off, because on Saturday morning I arrived an hour early, and the course was all laid out and ready to go.  Their efforts, along with the assistance of David de Haan, had a huge impact of the conduct of the event, allowing us to efficiently easily get the 15 drivers through each of their five runs of the course.

We also had lots of side activities.  Bill Fox brought his Mark 2, which unfortunately had difficulty starting after his first run.  He had plenty of on-site expert advice, including from Peter Crespin NCJOC member and editor of the Jaguar Journal, to get it restarted but was unfortunately not able to continue.  His car was brought quickly up to speed with their diagnosis later in the week, so he looks forward to breaking some records next year.  George Cole, of Coca Beach, FL shocked us all by trailering his beautiful 1947 Mark IV to the slalom.  George has been hitting a number of slaloms on the east coast, which he says are getting fewer and farther between.  It was great to see such a beautiful car, and to be taken through the paces of the slalom.

During the slalom, we were able to monitor the times of other clubs’ participants that had been posted to the JCNA website, increasing the competitive of our timed attempts. We expect at the end of the competition season that some of our drivers will have some of the best times in the JCNA.  The times of the top three reported JCNA member in each car class receive an award from the JCNA and are posted in the JCNA Journal.  Overall best time of the day was posted by Lee Towne at 41.63 seconds.  I am convinced that each of our event’s drivers will be at the slalom next year, and we encourage all member members to join us!

At the end of the competition a group of us met for lunch nearby, trading stories on a wide array of topics.  Throughout the morning, each of us pitched in on the various tasks needed to make the slalom successful, from setting the course up, replacing cones during runs, and manning the start and end gates. It made for a “great day at the track”, and a very successful NCJOC event.

Finally a special thanks to Dee Cawthorn who did a masterful job as timekeeper.