The other drivers watched the screens in horror as they saw what had happened, particularly the Armstrong team, whose faces were buried in their hands. Charlie Brown, Rerun, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Morag, and Marcie all had that same look on their faces, as did most of the other racers.
The medics carefully lifted Pig Pen out of the car, onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, which transported him to the medical centre. The marshals then set about clearing up the debris and the stricken car. Once that was done, an announcement over the tannoy signalled that Qualifying would restart, though the drivers were less than okay with that. Despite that, they pressed on.
Thibault, unfazed by Pig Pen's accident went out and set a time of 1:28.218, sans front wing. Five then set a time of 1:28.925, before hitting the wall and losing his rear wing on lap 2, ending his session. Frieda then impressed everyone by finishing her 3 laps without hitting the wall even once, setting a time of 1:29.784.
Harold Angel was next to go out, setting a time of 1:28.015, before he damaged the rear of his car by hitting the wall, eventually dragging his car to a gap in the Armco. Schroeder damaged his front wing on his first lap, but still set a time of 1:29.670. Pierre lost his front wing on his out lap, before setting a lap time of 1:28.654, pitting on his second lap after hitting the wall.
Charlie Brown, apprehensive after witnessing Pig Pen's accident, was next to go out. He avoided the wall on every lap, and silenced any critics he had with a blistering time of 1:25.512, fastest by over 2 seconds, proving exactly what the car was capable of. Cormac elected to start without his front wing, setting a time of 1:28.695 before Eudora followed with a time of 1:30.921. Violette shot into second with a time of 1:26.935.
Linus then set a time of 1:28.204 after losing his front while, whilst Morag took over second place with a 1:25.718. Marcie slotted behind her into 4th with a 1:27.206. Lucy then set a 1:29.676, before Rerun set the final time of the day with a 1:30.704.
After the final time of the day, there came another announcement over the tannoy. It said Pig Pen was now conscious and awake, but was still being checked for injuries, including concussion.
At the end of the session, the grid order looked like this…
1st Charlie Brown [Renault] 1:25.512 2nd Morag McMurdo [Isdera] 1:25.718
3rd Violette Honfleur [ACE Racing Co] 1:26.935 4th Marcie Johnson [Cherokee] 1:27.206
5th Violet Gray [Zontec] 1:27.582 6th Franklin Armstrong [Armstrong] 1:27.822
7th Pig Pen [Armstrong] 1:27.933 {Withdrawn} 8th Harold Angel [Isdera] 1:28.015
9th Linus Van Pelt [Vittoria] 1:28.204 10th Thibault Rhodes [Sky] 1:28.218
11th Pierre Fermier [Vittoria] 1:28.654 12th Cormac O'Connor [Daihatsu] 1:28.695
13th 555 95472 [Cherokee] 1:28.925 14th Joe Agate [Sky] 1:29.295
15th Schroeder E. Schroeder [Bonn] 1:29.670 16th Lucy Van Pelt [Honda] 1:29.676
17th Frieda Rich [Bonn] 1:29.784 18th Sally Brown [Polestar] 1:29.792
19th Patricia Reichardt [Honda] 1:29.922 20th Rerun Van Pelt [Renault] 1:30.704
21st Eudora Elm [Polestar] 1:30.921 22nd Shermy Plepler [Zontec] 1:30.975
23rd Jose Peterson [Daihatsu] 1:38.551 24th Patricia Swanson [ACE Racing Co] 1:39.419
The organisers scheduled the post qualifying interviews 20 minutes after the session had ended, and the 3 front runners made their way hurriedly to the interview room.
I: Charlie Brown, you've taken your first pole position of the season, on what is an iconic and challenging track. How do you feel now that you've achieved this?
Charlie Brown: Well, I would much rather my success be in more joyous circumstances, given what happened today. I am of course very happy to be at the front, and the team have worked hard to get us this far.
I: Morag, you seem to be consistently at the front of the field, is there a secret to your success?
Morag: No. We have a good car, and as you've seen, we seem to do better at this circuit. I am of course going to challenge Charlie Brown for the win, but we trust each other to race fairly, especially with the track as treacherous as it has been.
I: Violette, your presence at the front of the field was a surprise to everyone, what was different about this session in particular that put you at the front.
Violette: I think a lot of people struggled with the surface of the track, and quite a few people, understandably, were cautious after seeing Pig Pen's accident, that might be why.
I: Thank you.
Championship Leader Pig Pen, unsurprisingly, was unavailable for interview, so his nearest rival, Schroeder was interviewed.
I: You're 15th on the grid, do you see yourself overtaking Pig Pen in the championship standings?
Schroeder: I don't think that's really a valid question, so I'm not going to answer it.
A couple of hours after qualifying was over, Charlie Brown, Rerun, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Morag, Marcie, and Franklin all headed to the medical centre, anxiously awaiting news of Pig-Pen's condition. They sat in the waiting room, with concerned and despairing looks on their faces. Not long later, a doctor walked out of Pig Pen's room. The doctor was a rather portly gentleman, with glasses, frizzy hair and a well-trimmed, and grey moustache.
"Oh, I see you're all here about Pig Pen, correct?" the Doctor asked. The drivers nodded.
"Well, he is awake, and talking. At the moment, we can confirm that Pig Pen has concussion, as well as a minor fracture on his right ankle. He most certainly will not be fit to race for at least 4, maybe 5 weeks." He announced. A couple of reporters took notes in the background while the drivers murmured. "He is allowing visitors, but I insist you only visit one at a time."
"Okay." Charlie Brown replied. The others gave him the opportunity to go first, so he did, with some hesitation. Walking into Pig-pen's room, the first thing he saw was Pig-Pen, lying on the hospital bed, his foot in a cast.
"How are you doing?" Charlie Brown asked, locking his hands together anxiously.
"I have a headache. My ankle hurts too." Pig Pen replied.
"You know what happened to you?"
"I don't remember what happened." Pig Pen answered.
"I mean your injuries?" Charlie Brown clarified.
"Yeah. Doctor told me. Can't race for a month he said. Where was I anyway?"
"7th." Charlie Brown replied.
"Damn. What about you? Where are you starting from?" Pig Pen asked.
"Pole. I'd be pleased, but it's not great seeing people get hurt." Charlie Brown answered.
"I'll be watching the race tomorrow. They put a little screen up there." Pig Pen pointed at the TV.
"That's nice."
"Good luck tomorrow." Pig Pen replied.
"Thanks. I guess I'll go now. There's a lot of people waiting to see you." Charlie Brown waved, before leaving the room. Upon leaving, Morag beckoned Charlie Brown towards her.
"So us 7 have agreed, we'll hold an emergency driver's meeting at 8, at the Isdera Motorhome. You in?"
"Of course. Make sure everyone else knows too." Charlie Brown replied.
8pm, the Isdera Motorhome. An impromptu driver's meeting was about to begin. 20 drivers turned up, with the exception of Pig Pen, for obvious reasons, Rerun, who was asleep, and Thibault and Joe. Morag was the first to speak.
"Now, those of you here will all know the reason we are meeting today. Tonight we will be discussing the conditions of the track, and what we can do tomorrow to avert further wrecks like that which we saw today."
"The track was slippery, we all know that." Peppermint Patty raised a point.
"It rained last night." Franklin replied. "It dried but the grip levels were still poor. Also the banking and the concrete didn't make things any easier.
"Definitely." Charlie Brown agreed.
"There is a legitimate question of whether it is safe for our cars to drive on this track, I think." Marcie raised. "This place has no shortage of fatal accidents."
"The walls are very close." Linus added.
"Racing is always dangerous though." Lucy pointed out. "We take these risks willingly, and I don't think it's fair on those watching if we were to cancel just because someone got hurt." Morag simply nodded slowly.
"Ok. We'll take a vote. All in favour of racing tomorrow, raise their hand." Morag replied. Violet, Lucy, José, Charlie Brown, Franklin, Pierre, Peppermint Patty, Eudora, Cormac, Violette, Linus, Frieda, Five and Harold all raised their hand.
"And those not in favour?" Sally, Morag, Shermy, Patty Swanson, Marcie, and Schroeder raised their hand.
"Alright. By a vote of 14-6, we agree to continue with the race tomorrow."
"Agreed." The rest of the meeting replied, as they all got up and returned to their respective motorhomes. By now, the news had confirmed reports of Pig Pen's condition, and his inability to race.
Sunday 1st April – Race Day at The Glen
A low mood hung around the grid as the cars were lined up on the grid, a lot of murmurs occurring among both drivers and the VIPs dotted around the track. Eventually, the time for the race came, and as all the drivers, with the exception of the absent Pig Pen, got into their cars, the race announcer made his trademark statement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your engines!" Charlie Brown did so, as did everyone else. The pace car led the formation lap, with the cars behind it weaving to get heat into the tyres.
"As the Pace car begins to pull into the pits, the driver will have to face 31 laps of The Glen. As the cars approach the starting line, the New York Spindycar Supertour Open is Go!"
The cars got away cleanly has they headed into the first corner, Franklin leapfrogging Violet. As the cars rounded turn 8 for the first time, Pierre went up the inside of Thibault, but Thibault turned in on him and was spun round, sending both of them into the gravel and out of the race. The two of them got out on their own and walked away from each other. The race was brought under yellow flags and they all lined up behind the pace car while the marshals cleared up the mess. At the end of lap three, when the pace car pulled in, the positions were… Charlie Brown 1st, Morag 2nd, Violette 3rd, Marcie 4th, Franklin 5th, Violet 6th, Harold 7th, Linus 8th, Cormac 9th and Five 10th.
On the restart, Morag overtook Charlie Brown into turn one. Marcie then overtook Violette on lap 5 and Linus overtook Harold Angel on lap 7. Further down the field, José had passed Shermy, and Lucy passed Schroeder into 12th. Joe Agate and five fiercely battled for 10th for several laps, with 5 having the edge. On lap 10, Charlie Brown repassed Morag into turn one, and led the race again. On lap 16, Franklin passed Violette for 4th, before Linus passed Violet on lap 20. The race started to settle, with Patty Swanson pulling into the pits to retire when faced with imminent electrical failure.
Frieda passed both Schroeder and Lucy on lap 26 as some of the runners developed tyre wear issues. Marcie also had tyre issues, which pushed her back into 5th on lap 28. Cormac also drifted into 12th after getting loose at turn 8. Lap 31 came around, and the race at the front was still pretty tight. Charlie Brown held off Morag with some spirited defending, before finally crossing the finish line.
"And Charlie Brown wins at The Glen! Morag is 2nd, Franklin 3rd, Violette holds onto 4th, with Marcie 5th, Linus 6th Violet 7th, Harold Angel 8th, Five 9th, and Frieda Rich passing Joe Agate on the final turn to finish 10th!"
"Joe Agate was 11th, Cormac 12th, Lucy 13th, Schroeder 14th, Sally Brown 15th, Patricia Reichardt 16th, Rerun Van Pelt 17th, Eudora 18th, José Peterson 19th, and Shermy Plepler in 20th.
In the Championship, the standings are as follows…
1st Morag McMurdo [Isdera] 45pts 2nd Marcie Johnson [Cherokee] 40pts
3rd Pig Pen [Armstrong] 35pts 4th Charlie Brown [Renault] 33pts
5th Schroeder E. Schroeder [Bonn] 31pts 6th Franklin Armstrong [Armstrong] 30pts
7th Patricia Reichardt [Honda] 25pts 8th Pierre Fermier [Vittoria] 25pts
9th Linus Van Pelt [Vittoria] 24pts 10th Frieda Rich [Bonn] 19pts
11th José Peterson [Daihatsu] 15pts 12th Rerun Van Pelt [Renault] 14pts
13th Violette Honfleur [ACE] 13pts 14th Harold Angel [Isdera] 12pts
15th Lucy Van Pelt [Honda] 10pts 16th Eudora Elm [Polestar] 10pts
17th Violet Gray [Zontec] 10pts 18th Sally Brown [Polestar] 6pts
19th Patty Swanson [ACE] 4pts 20th 555 95472 [Cherokee] 2pts
21st Cormac O'Connor [Daihatsu] 1pt 22nd Joe Agate [Sky] 0pts
23rd Thibault Rhodes [Sky] 0pts 24th Shermy Plepler [Zontec] 0pts
Charlie Brown parked his car on Victory Road and exited the car in muted celebration, shaking the hand of his competitor, Morag, before receiving the plaudits of his employees. The three podium finishers then headed for the podium. In the waiting room, Morag congratulated both Charlie Brown and Franklin, and they commented about the difficulty of the track and gave well wishes to Pig Pen. The three of them then walked out onto the podium. Everyone stood still and silent as the American anthem played, and the American and British flags unfurled. The French anthem played after the American one finished. When that was over, the competitors smiled, drank their milk, picked up their trophies and left for the pressroom.
In the pressroom, as always, the interviewer had a few questions for them.
I: Charlie Brown, you won today. How much do you plan to celebrate?
Charlie Brown: well, whilst I'm pleased that I'm now properly in the championship fight, my win is not as important as seeing Pig-Pen make a full recovery.
I: Morag, you lead the championship after today, do you see any rivalries developing in the near future?
Morag: Charlie Brown and I seem to have a friendly rivalry at the moment, which is good. As for the others, as long as everyone respects each other, I'm perfectly fine to take on all challengers.
I: Franklin, you battled from 6th to 3rd. In light of recent events, how special is this result for the team.
Franklin: Well, it's certainly been a tough weekend. A lot of us were thinking of Pig Pen today, and yeah, I do think that's partly what drove me to do so well. I'm also pleased that we still lead the constructor's championship.
Down in the paddock, Marcie was also interviewed.
I: You seemed to struggle with the tyre wear. Do you think this is going to continue in future races?
Marcie: I think Watkin's Glen is a special case with regard to what you've said, especially with how slippery it was yesterday. It's definitely going to be easier in Michigan, I think.
The drivers all went back to their hotel for the night and went to sleep, ready for the next morning.
