Valentine's Day 2018 was no ordinary day for Charlie Brown. He, and a select few of his friends and associates, had been invited, against all odds, to be part of an all new spec racing series, touring America to crown the best in Racing. With the prospect of no school, and an opportunity to participate in something that could change their lives, it was no surprise that all the invites were accepted. Teams were quickly assigned, and Charlie Brown and friends were ready for the test session on the 21st.
20th February 2018 - The Roster
Charlie Brown had signed for the Renault Team, one of Five Works Manufacturers in the Series. Joining him at Renault is Rerun Van Pelt, Brother of Linus and Lucy Van Pelt. The Renault has a Yellow and Black Livery.
Linus signed for Scuderia Vittoria, the only Italian marque, a company which styles itself after Ferrari but is nowhere near as well polished. Alongside him is Pierre Fermier, whom Linus has met once before, on a French exchange trip. The Vittoria has a Red, Blue and Black livery.
Franklin Armstrong's family created their own Team, Armstrong Racing. Racing for the team are Franklin and his long-time friend, Pig Pen. The car has a Maroon, Blue and Brown Livery
Marcie Signed for Orange Team Cherokee, Chrysler's Works Team. Her team mate is Fivefivefive Ninefivefourseventwo, Better Known as Five. The Car has an Orange livery, thanks to sponsorship from Orange, a major French telecom company.
Violette Honfleur, Heiress to the Baronetcy of Malvoisine, chose to race with ACE Racing Company, a branch of ACE Inc., a Minnesota based Local Conglomerate. Her team mate is Patty Swanson, not to be confused with Peppermint Patty. The car has a white, pink and black livery.
Schroeder, in keeping with his obsession with Beethoven, joined Bonn Auto Motor, a German engineering company running a racing team using Opel engines. Alongside him is Frieda Rich, an admirer of him, but not to the same extent as Lucy.
Peppermint Patty joined the Earth Power Honda Team, a works marque still licking its wounds from its last adventure in F1 over 10 years before. Joining her is Lucy Van Pelt, eldest of the Van Pelt siblings. The car has a green, blue and black livery.
Sally Brown chose to join Polestar Innovate Inc. an independent racing team recently picked up by Volvo's racing division after a copyright dispute. Alongside her is good friend Eudora Elm. The car has a Sky blue, Pink, and blue livery.
Violet Gray opted to race for Taiwanese outfit Zontec Motorsport, with sponsorship from Acer, with her teammate being Shermy Plepler. The car enjoys a lime green, green and white livery.
Team Sky, in an act of notoriety among the members of the paddock, have signed local cementheads Joe Agate and Thibault Rhodes. Their car also has a black and red livery, and has attracted sponsorship from a number of controversial businesses, such as Monsanto, ExxonMobil, and Take-Two Interactive.
Little known German manufacturer Isdera have their own entry into this series. Driving for the team is accomplished singer Harold Angel, and also Morag McMurdo, who keeps her real surname a secret, and is uniquely suspicious of the sport and is governing body, the All-American Motorsport Federation. The car has a grey and blue livery.
Toyota have been sick of losing every discipline they enter, so they have opted to enter under the Daihatsu name. They have Mexican-Swedish sportsman José Peterson and Irishman Cormac O'Connor as drivers. Their livery is red and white.
Of the Drivers entered, only Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty have any prior motor racing experience, although Linus van Pelt and Franklin have experience as pit crew.
21st February
Each of the individual teams held private tests at race tracks close to where they were based. As this was a spec series, there was little to do, besides getting the drivers accustomed to their vehicles and valuable track time for which to monitor data such as tyre degradation, fuel usage, and overall downforce.
Charlie Brown and Rerun had been flown by Renault to the Circuit Nevers-Magny Cours, where the two traded lap times. They both managed not to crash, which impressed the Renault team, as the circuit was not that easy to drive on.
Linus boarded a flight to Florence in order to get to Mugello, where the Scuderia Vittoria is based. Pierre took a series of trains and buses to get there from his home in Northern France. On the Mugello circuit, both drivers impressed the team.
Armstrong racing are local to Minnesota, so they have been testing at the closest circuit to them, Elko Speedway. Elko Speedway was not the most ideal place to test, given that it's a 3/8 mile oval, with not much opportunity to get the car up to speed. Franklin and Pigpen struggled for grip at low downforce in the turns and span a couple of times into the infield. Not helping was the fact that Ace Racing Company were testing here too with their drivers, Violette and Patty. Eventually the two teams helped each other out by practicing race craft and close quarters etiquette.
Marcie and Five took a road trip to Waterford Hills Road Racing Track, Michigan, in order to test with Orange Team Cherokee. The circuit was challenging, with long, fast, sweeping corners. Overall the team were satisfied with how the two drivers had performed.
Schroeder and Frieda were flown to Germany to test with Bonn Auto Motor. By chance, the closest track they could test was at the legendary Nurburgring. The Team sent them around the GP-Strecke for a few laps, before treating them to a lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Peppermint Patty and Lucy were flown to Oyama to test at the Twin Ring Motegi racetrack. The two got a good taste of the top speed of the cars on the long straights and Peppermint Patty was confident about her championship chances.
Polestar Innovate Inc. flew Sally Brown and Eudora to test at the Anderstorp racetrack in Sweden. It was bitterly cold that day, and Sally Brown and Eudora enjoyed the warmth the car generated. Both the drivers spun on cold tires, but after that, the cars and drivers improved, setting faster times throughout the day.
Acer Zontec Motorsports flew out Violet Gray and Shermy Plepler to Taiwan to test at the Penbay International Circuit. Violet and Shermy quickly got used to the car and were setting consistent lap times.
Team Sky chose to test at Snetterton, sending a private jet for Thibault and Joe Agate to take part. Joe Agate took time to get up to speed, whilst only 5 laps into his run, Thibault properly binned it into the wall at Riches. Thibault was unhurt, but the car was quite damaged and wouldn't be running for the rest of the day.
Morag flew to Oschersleben from her home in Scotland, whilst Harold Angel flew from the US. Isdera sent them out onto the track, where they quickly set representative lap times.
José Peterson and Cormac were sent to the Suzuka Circuit to test their cars for Daihatsu. José was positive about how good the car felt to drive, particularly through 130R.
From an outside perspective, it is difficult to glean how fast everyone is before the season actually starts.
Sunday 25th February- The Calendar
The Sunday after testing, the Calendar was released, showing a 26 race season, starting in March and finishing on the 2nd December. The Calendar is as follows…
Round 1- Delaware- Dover International Speedway- 4th March (O)
Round 2- Connecticut- Lime Rock Park 11th March (R)
Round 3- New Hampshire- New Hampshire Motor Speedway- 18th March (O)
Round 4- New York- Watkins Glen- 1st April (R)
Round 5- Michigan- Michigan Int. Speedway- 8th April (O)
Round 6- Wisconsin- Road America - 22nd April (R)
Round 7- South Dakota- Sioux Falls Regional Airport Circuit - 29th April (S)
Round 8- Colorado- Pikes Peak Int. Raceway - 13th May (O)
Round 9 - Idaho- Pocatello Street Circuit - 27th May (S)
Round 10- Nevada- Las Vegas Motor Speedway – 3rd June (O)
Round 11- New Mexico- Santa Fe Airport Circuit- 17th June (S)
Round 12- Kansas- Kansas Speedway – 1st July (O)
Round 13- Illinois- Gateway Motorsports Park – 8th July (O)
Round 14- Indiana- Indianapolis Motor Speedway - 15th July (O)
Round 15- Missouri – St Louis Street Circuit – 29th July (S)
Round 16- Kentucky – Kentucky Speedway - 5th August (O)
Round 17- North Carolina- Charlotte Motor Speedway- 2nd September (O)
Round 18- Georgia- Road Atlanta- 9th September (R)
Round 19- Florida- Sebring - 23rd September (R)
Round 20- South Carolina- Darlington Raceway - 30th September (O)
Round 21- Tennessee- Nashville Superspeedway - 14st October (O)
Round 22- Alabama – Talladega Superspeedway – 21st October (O)
Round 23- Texas- COTA, Austin - 4th November (R)
Round 24- Arizona- ISM Raceway, Phoenix 18th November (O)
Round 25- California- Laguna Seca- 25th November (R)
Round 26- Hawaii- Honolulu Street Circuit- 2nd December (S)
Saturday 3rd March
After the calendar was released the week before, the teams quickly headed off to Dover, Delaware for the 1st race at Dover International Speedway. The 1 mile oval course provided a taste of speed for many in practice and qualifying was getting underway. According to the Rule book, each car has 1 out lap and 2 flying laps, the best of which is submitted as their qualifying lap. Out first was Violette Honfleur who set a 0:26.999 as her best time. That time was immediately beaten by Cormac in the Daihatsu, who set a 0:26.614. Out next was Harold Angel, who set a 0:26.822. Rerun then set a 0:26.624, slotting himself into 2nd Place. Shermy then set a 0:28.891 putting him in 4th. Lucy then posted a 0:26.652 to go 3rd. Joe Agate then posted a 0:27.614 to go slowest, a whole second off the pace. Charlie Brown brushed the wall on his first flying lap, which caused him to set a time of 0:27.268. Schroeder then set a 0:26.651, which put him just ahead of Lucy. Peppermint Patty then silenced the competition with a 0:26.553, a good ½ a tenth faster than anyone. Eudora cut the track on the inside for both her flying laps, which led to her outlap being posted as the final time, putting her in last place. Linus also brushed the wall, setting a 0:27.070. Pierre was being absent minded, hitting the wall on both his laps, being forced to use his opening lap of 0:33.132, putting him at the back of the grid. Patty Swanson then set a time of 0:26.583, putting her 2nd. Frieda then set a 0:27.459. Sally then set a decent time of 0:26.706. Five tapped the wall, which made him set a 0:27.182. Morag then took a surprise second place with a 0:26.560. Thibault set a 0:27.313 after slapping the wall on lap 2. Violet set a 0:27.207, whilst José Peterson went 3rd with a 0:26.578. Pig Pen set a 0:26.703, but Franklin brushed the wall on both his laps, being forced to use his out lap of 0:32.262. At the end of the day, the grid order looked like this.
1st Patricia Reichardt [Earth Power Honda] 0:26.553 2nd Morag McMurdo [Isdera] 0:26.560
3rd Jose Peterson [Daihatsu] 0:26.578 4th Patricia Swanson [ACE Racing Co.] 0:26.583
5th Cormac O'Connor [Daihatsu] 0:26.614 6th Rerun Van Pelt [Renault] 0:26.624
7th Schroeder E. Schroeder [Bonn] 0:26.651 8th Lucy Van Pelt [Earth Power Honda] 0:26.652
9th Marcie Johnson [Cherokee] 0:26.685 10th Pig Pen [Armstrong Racing] 0:26.703
11th Sally Brown [Polestar] 0:26.706 12th Harold Angel [Isdera] 0:26.822
13th Shermy Plepler [Zontec] 0:26.891 14th Violette Honfleur [ACE Racing Co.] 0:26.999
15th Linus Van Pelt [Vittoria] 0:27.070 16th 555 95472 [Cherokee] 0:27.182
17th Violet Gray [Zontec] 0:27.207 18th Charlie Brown [Renault] 0:27.268
19th Thibault Rhodes [Sky] 0:27.313 20th Frieda Rich [Bonn] 0:27.459
21st Joe Agate [Sky] 0:27.614 22nd Franklin Armstrong [Armstrong Racing] 0:32.262
23rd Eudora Elm 0:32.436 24th Pierre Fermier [Scuderia Vittoria] 0:33.132
Post Qualifying, the top three were all interviewed. "So, how do you feel now you're on pole position?"
Peppermint Patty: "Well, I'm feeling quite happy right now, I feel like I can win this race tomorrow, and we can get the championship off to a good start."
Interviewer: Morag, you were 7 thousandths of a second off of pole position, do you think you could have got pole today?
Morag: I could have, but at the end of the day that makes me 8m behind her, and on a track like this, that distance is not going to matter. I look forward to giving you a good race. (glances at Peppermint Patty)
Interviewer: "José, sitting in 3rd place, you're the highest of the men. Do you feel bad about this?" (Morag and Peppermint Patty glare at the reporter)
José: "Absolutely not. This sport is a level playing field where the best driver wins, so I'm not too fussed who beats me. Of course I would like to win, but if somebody else wins, I will have to try harder next race."
Charlie Brown was also interviewed. "So Charlie Brown, P18, did you struggle out there today?"
Charlie Brown: "Yeah, I guess. I hit the wall a bit on one of the laps, which hurt my time. I need to have a good start tomorrow." Charlie Brown then walked back into his garage.
Sunday 4th March- Race Day in Delaware
The Cars were lined up on the long straight, ready to race. Charlie Brown sat in his car anxiously as the crowds of people started to peel off of the circuit. The announcer's voice was heard all around
Announcer: "Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!"
Charlie Brown did so, as did Peppermint Patty, and everyone else.
Announcer: As the pace car leads the racers on before the start of the race, you guys out there will know that these drivers face 100 gruelling laps in which they will have to fight over 1st place. And as the cars head toward the start line, the Delaware Spindycar Supertour Open is Go!"
Peppermint Patty led going into the first turn, with Lucy overtaking Schroeder, causing a number of positions behind her to change. At the end of the first lap, Charlie Brown had made his way up to 15th whilst Linus had fallen back to 17th. Morag took the lead going into turn 1 on lap 2, but Thibault and Pierre collided, sending Pierre spinning into the wall, ending his race. Pierre was unhurt, if a bit shaken. The race carried on quietly, until lap 13, when Thibault hit Violet from behind, sending both of them spinning, and out of the race. Peppermint Patty retook the lead at around lap 20 and the positions going into lap 25 looked like this…
1st Patricia Reichardt, 2nd Morag McMurdo, 3rd José Peterson, 4th Patricia Swanson, 5th Rerun Van Pelt, 6th Cormac O'Connor, 7th Lucy Van Pelt, 8th Pig Pen, 9th Schroeder E. Schroeder, 10th Harold Angel, 11th Sally Brown, 12th Marcie Johnson, 13th 555 95472, 14th Violette Honfleur, 15th Charlie Brown, 16th Shermy Plepler, 17th Linus Van Pelt, 18th Frieda Rich, 19th Eudora Elm, 20th Franklin Armstrong, 21st Joe Agate, (Ret) Thibault Rhodes, (Ret) Violet Gray, (Ret) Pierre Fermier.
By lap 37, Eudora had made her way up into 18th, just as Joe Agate spun off into the infield, ending his race when his right rear tyre was planted into the wall. At around lap 47, Cormac tapped Rerun at the last corner. This made Cormac's car wobble a bit, which allowed Lucy to pass him. Two laps later, Patty Swanson ran wide at turn 1, which lost her a few positions. At the halfway point, the positions were as follows…
1st Patricia Reichardt, 2nd Morag McMurdo, 3rd José Peterson, 4th Rerun Van Pelt, 5th Lucy Van Pelt, 6th Pig Pen, 7th Patricia Swanson, 8th Cormac O'Connor, 9th Schroeder E. Schroeder, 10th Sally Brown, 11th Marcie Johnson, 12th Harold Angel, 13th Charlie Brown, 14th Linus Van Pelt, 15th 555 95472, 16th Violette Honfleur, 17th Eudora Elm, 18th Shermy Plepler, 19th Frieda Rich, 20th Franklin Armstrong.
On lap 63 Five's car had an engine failure, forcing him out of the race. On lap 74, Morag overtook Peppermint Patty to retake the lead. By lap 75, Sally had jumped to 7th, while Patty Swanson and Schroederdropped to 9th and 10th. Harold Angel dropped to 14th whilst Franklin muscled his way into 17th, and Shermy dropped to 19th.
Morag and Peppermint Patty scuffled for the lead on Lap 87, before Peppermint Patty retook the lead on lap 99, on lap 100 all the cars were about to finish.
Announcer: "And Patricia Reichardt wins in Delaware!" "Morag McMurdo is 2nd, José Peterson finished in 3rd, Rerun Van Pelt finished 4th, with Lucy Van Pelt in 5th, Pig Pen in 6th, and Sally Brown in 7th. Patty Swanson was 8th, followed by Schroeder E. Schroeder in 9th, and Cormac O'Connor in 10th. Marcie Johnson was 11th, with Charlie Brown in 12th and Linus Van Pelt in 13th. Eudora Elm was 14th, with Violette Honfleur in 15th and Harold Angel in 16th. Franklin Armstrong was 17th, with Frieda Rich in 18th, and finally, Shermy Plepler in 19th."
Peppermint Patty parked her car on Victory Road and walked up to the podium. In the waiting room, Peppermint Patty greeted her competitors, Morag and José, before walking out onto the podium. Everyone stood still and silent whilst the American anthem played and the flags of the USA, the UK, and Mexico unfurled. The Japanese anthem played after the American one finished. After that, the competitors drank their milk and went off to the pressroom.
In the pressroom, the reporters had lots of questions.
I: "Peppermint Patty, you won the race, you're leading the championship, I guess your team is feeling really proud of you."
Peppermint Patty: Yeah. I haven't congratulated with my team yet, but I'm feeling pretty happy right now. I look forward to try keeping that lead next week in Connecticut (glances at Morag).
I: "Morag, you led for 43 laps, do you regret not holding the lead for two more laps?"
Morag: It's a shame that I didn't win, but I gave Peppermint Patty a good race, like I said I would, and I still have 28 more races where I can win.
I: "José, you stayed in 3rd the whole race. Did you not think to try overtaking at any point?
Jose: Part of me was hoping someone would make a mistake, but equally, if I tried a banzai move on either of these two, I could have taken all of us out. If I had a realistic chance of overtaking someone I would have, but I didn't.
The drivers went back to their hotel at the end of the day, and they went all went to sleep, ready for the next morning.