Reno Historic Races
May 2009

Photo courtesy of Scott Jaenicke - Excellent photo Scott !!!

We just got back from Reno Nevada racing two cars (Old Yeller II and the 1958 legendary Kilpatrick Speedster) at the Reno Historic Races. The track is one of the most challenging race tracks with so many turns and elevation changes.

We had “carby” fires again during two different sessions with the Old Yeller II and fire was coming from under the car as the marshals were flagging me in. I got to know the Fire Emergency Crew at the track very well. We changed the fuel hoses and brackets then re-sealed the header. We finally changed the float levels and we were now running “lean”... but we finished the last race of the weekend. We raced against Rob Walton with his very fast Scarab Sports Car. We had great crew support from Bill Erikson and Will Kalbermatter of Ventura California.

Bob Bondurant was the Grand Marshal for the event and he wanted to take a parade lap in the Old Yeller II so we had him go out on the track at the noon session with Elaine... what a photo opportunity for us (and a reunion with the OYII and Bob) and also Bob spent time with all of us at our pit space... and he even stopped by before he left the track early to say goodbye to our crew and everyone!  One of the highlights was jumping from 6500cc Old Yeller II to the 1500 cc Kilpatrick Speedster and that is a challenge for sure.

Ernest Nagamatsu