Monday 10th September
At a picnic table somewhere in Braselton, Georgia, near the hotel where they were all staying at, Morag was waiting patiently for Five, Linus and Charlie Brown. It was right next to the path, so they wouldn't be able to miss it, and within about 5 minutes, the three of them arrived, walking side by side.
"Hi Morag!" Five called out from a distance.
"Hi guys." Morag replied with a wave.
"Did we keep you waiting?" Linus asked.
"No, I only got here a few minutes ago. This park is quite big." Morag answered
"Five knew where we were going, so thankfully we didn't get lost." Linus added.
"Thank you Five." Morag replied. "Please." She gestured to the seats on the table, and the other three promptly sat down.
"So, any news since last time?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Well, Roy and I found out that the 5th man in the red tie is a Florida Republican, and he was chatting with the NASA man." Morag explained.
"They seem suspicious of us." Roy added.
"Good Grief." Charlie Brown exclaimed.
"Do either of these people have a name?"
"Well, I didn't say earlier but the Politician's name is Adrian Goldspur."
"Well you didn't want him to hear his name did you?"" Morag reasoned.
"Yeah." Roy replied. "We don't know the other guy's name, but we know they're definitely up to something."
"Indeed. With just the facts, we know that Mandy Wilcox has had meetings with Person 3 and this Goldspur character has spoken with him too, so we can say that NASA have a special interest in this event." She surmised.
"But they don't sponsor it." Linus added.
"That's the strange part." Morag replied. "I have a hunch, but it seems too far-fetched without any direct evidence. Roy, do you have your camera with you?"
"No, but I can get It back from dad if you want."
"Good, I have a feeling we may need it." Morag replied.
"Okay." Five responded.
"Want us to do anything?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious, and If I ring the phone at your motorhome, please answer it."
"Why would we need to do that?" Linus asked.
"In case things go pear shaped." Morag replied grimly.
"I see." Linus replied.
"See you in Florida." Roy lightened the mood, prompting everyone to part ways and return to whatever they had planned for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday, Frank published his news story about the parents, and how they were planning to stage a protest at the next round to call for a halt to racing on ovals. The report drew in some support from other concerned fans, as well as some ire from business leaders, the organisers, and some of the more old-fashioned crowd.
It wasn't until 10am Monday 17th that the Party bus departed for Sebring, with the top ten finishers on board. As for the others, Joe Agate and Thibault took Team Sky's Volkswagen Touareg, while Peppermint Patty Charlie Brown, Violette and Pierre took the team Honda Civic. Five, Violet, Patty Swanson and Rerun took the team Cherokee Jeep, and Sally, Harold Angel, Shermy and José took the Polestar team's Volvo XC90.
The party bus arrived in Sebring at around 8pm, with the others not far behind, after which they promptly went to their hotels and went to bed, before the teams, cars and the press arrived at Sebring the following day.
Thursday 20th September- Pre Race Press conference
As always, 5 drivers were picked, seemingly at random, to be interviewed in the pressroom in front of waiting journalists and other interviewers. These drivers were: Shermy, Eudora, Charlie Brown, Pig Pen, and Lucy.
I: Shermy, you've had a difficult run of results coming into this weekend, how do you think you can rejuvenate your season?
Shermy: Well, I know that I'm able to qualify well, but I know I need to keep people behind over a race distance, so if I work on that, we can expect better results.
I: Eudora, you on the other hand have had a strong resurgence in form. Is there anything in particular that you've changed in order to achieve this?
Eudora: Well, I'm faster, for one thing. Not really sure what else, but I'll get back to you.
I: Charlie Brown, you sit 4 points behind Morag after your race in Georgia, are you looking to bounce back from a bad result there?
Charlie Brown: Absolutely, I want to be leading the championship, whether that means scoring a handful or points more than Morag or winning the race. Needless to say, I'll be trying my best as always.
I: Pig Pen, you showed some promise early on in the season, but over the past few races, you seem to have been left behind in the championship battle. How badly do you need to win this race?
Pig Pen: Well I know I'm very capable of doing it, and I have been itching to get a good result ever since my first win, but some podiums would be nice too.
I: Lucy, you have shown some serious speed over the season so far, but to say your results are inconsistent would be an understatement. How do you plan on staying in the points race after race?
Lucy: A consistent run of points isn't everything. A couple of podiums can send me right back to the front, I feel, especially if I win.
I: Thank you.
Outside, in the paddock, a number of the driver's parents were protesting, calling for the remaining oval rounds of the championship to be cancelled. A reporter was there to interview them.
I: And what's your name?
?: Oh, I'm Pig Pen's mother, my name is Cara.
I: Cara, what brings you here today?
Cara: well we wanted to voice our objection to the use of the oval tracks; we think they're too unsafe for our kids to be driving on.
I: Really, is that so?
Cara: Of course, a lot of adults get injured really badly on them too. Why, it wasn't so long ago that Robert Wickens broke his spine on the fence. I wouldn't want that to happen to any of the kids, especially not Pig Pen.
I: But he crashed at the Glen.
Cara: I know, and I don't want it to happen again.
I: I see. Thank you for your time.
The protest continued for the rest of the day. It remained calm and peaceful and it did not get in the way of either the drivers or the teams. Nevertheless, it unsettled the organisers and forced them to call a private meeting on the Friday, which Goldspur, Wilcox, and the NASA man all attended, according to Roy, who took a picture of them from afar, and then showed it to his father.
Saturday 22nd September
Practice went by quickly, as the drivers learned the track and tested the limits of their cars, making ample use of whatever run off was available. Nobody hit the wall, thankfully, and before long, qualifying was underway.
Pierre was the first to go out on track, setting a tentative time of 2:00.158, with Thibault setting a slightly slower time of 2:00.308. Morag struggled to keep up with either of them, disappointingly, setting a 2:01.875.
Eudora was the first to beat Pierre's time, setting a 1:59.515, but this was swiftly beaten by Linus, who set a time of 1:57.635. Schroeder, however, was absolutely imperious, setting a time of 1:53.698, almost four seconds faster than Linus.
Lucy managed to qualify ahead of her brother, setting a time of 1:57.439, before Pig Pen went second with a 1:54.224. Rerun then qualified ahead of his siblings with a time of 1:57.294, and Frieda set a decent time of 1:56.677. Violette was slower, setting a 1:59.081, but not as slow as Sally, who set a 1:59.275. Cormac and Franklin continued the trend, setting a 1:59.579 and a 2:00.810 respectively.
Joe Agate qualified marginally ahead of his teammate, setting a 1:59.892, and Harold Angel also struggled, setting a time of 2:00.332. Shermy was quick once again, setting a time of 1:56.897, before Charlie Brown put himself third with a time of 1:54.779. Five surprised everyone by setting a time of 1:56.562, which at the time put him 4th. Patty Swanson struggled, crashing into the wall on the exit of the final corner on lap 2. She was unhurt, but her car could not continue, and her time of 2:02.276 put her in last place, saving Morag a little bit of embarrassment.
Marcie was not as quick as her teammate, surprisingly, setting a 1:57.898, right behind Linus. José set a time of 1:58.437, before Peppermint Patty went fourth with a time of 1:55.263, with Violet qualifying just behind her, rounding out the session with a 1:56.004.
At the end of qualifying, the grid order looked like this…
1st Schroeder E. Schroeder [Bonn] 1:53.698 2nd Pig Pen [Armstrong] 1:54.224
3rd Charlie Brown [Renault] 1:54.779 4th Patricia Reichardt [Honda] 1:55.263
5th Violet Gray [Zontec] 1:56.004 6th 555 95472 [Cherokee] 1:56.562
7th Frieda Rich [Bonn] 1:56.677 8th Shermy Plepler [Zontec] 1:56.897
9th Rerun Van Pelt [Renault] 1:57.294 10th Lucy Van Pelt [Honda] 1:57.439
11th Linus Van Pelt [Vittoria] 1:57.635 12th Marcie Johnson [Cherokee] 1:57.898
13th José Peterson [Daihatsu] 1:58.437 14th Violette Honfleur [ACE] 1:59.081
15th Sally Brown [Polestar] 1:59.275 16th Eudora Elm [Polestar] 1:59.515
17th Cormac O'Connor [Daihatsu] 1:59.579 18th Joe Agate [Sky] 1:59.898
19th Pierre Fermier [Vittoria] 2:00.158 20th Thibault Rhodes [Sky] 2:00.308
21st Harold Angel [Isdera] 2:00.332 22nd Franklin Armstrong [Armstrong] 2:00.810
23rd Morag McMurdo [Isdera] 2:01.875 24th Patricia Swanson [ACE] 2:02.276
After qualifying, the top three qualifiers were interviewed in the pressroom.
I: Schroeder, you've been brilliantly fast all season, but this is your first pole position. How did you manage it?
Schroeder: I kept calm and focused. Listening to Beethoven helps me to do that. I noticed a lot of drivers were struggling to keep their cars on the circuit, so i focused myself, and got a fast lap in.
I: Pig Pen, did you use a similar strategy to get as close as you did?
Pig Pen: I'm not certain, but like him, I kept the car on the track as much as possible, and didn't overuse the brakes. Like in Wisconsin, I think this track likes drivers that don't brake too hard.
I: Charlie Brown, after your bad luck in the past couple of races, this is a nice comeback, do you think you'll be taking the championship lead back tomorrow?
Charlie Brown: I'd hope so, but you can't be sure until you cross the line.
I: Thank you.
Down the paddock, Championship Leader Morag was interviewed as well.
I: Morag you start 23rd tomorrow, care to tell me what went wrong?
Morag: I'd say we had the wrong set up for the day, but really, our team is banking on it being a wet race tomorrow. Apparently there's a 40% chance of rain, so we had a wet setup for qualifying, and that's what compromised our running today. Harold Angel has it too, so here's hoping it rains tomorrow.
I: Indeed. Thank you.
The drivers went back to their hotel for the night and went to bed, hoping and praying it wouldn't rain on race day.
Sunday 23rd September
Many of the drivers were unimpressed at what they woke up to. It had rained steadily during the night and by now the track was seriously wet. It wasn't waterlogged, but the drivers were dreading the prospect as they made their way to the grid. Schroeder was sitting patiently in his car, waiting for the announcer, while Morag was relishing the prospect, happy to see her team's gamble pay off.
Before long, however, the announcer began to speak.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your engines!"
Schroeder did so, as did everyone else. The cars paraded around behind the pace car for the formation lap, struggling to keep the tyres warm on the cold wet surface. The announcer began to speak further.
"As the cars wriggle and struggle their way around this treacherous course, the drivers will face 31 gruelling laps. Will Schroeder dominate from the front? Or will we see a surprise winner from further behind? We will soon find out, as the pace car pulls into the pits, and the Florida Spindycar Supertour Open is Go!"
Schroeder made a good start, pulling away, along with Pig Pen and Charlie Brown, from the cars further behind, as they all struggled for grip approaching the first corner. Given that it was wet, cars going off would be an inevitability, and sure enough, José was the first to be caught out, hitting a puddle and running wide on the first corner, losing about 4 positions. The drama didn't stop there either, as at turn 10, Lucy spun off and fell to the back as she rejoined. On lap 2 Morag made a pass on Franklin under braking for turn 2, and was quickly let through by her team mate at the hairpin at turn 7.
Further ahead, Thibault passed Pierre on the approach to the final turn, getting past his teammate when he went wide, lacking in grip, and losing 3 positions. The following lap, Frieda got past Five at turn 5, while Rerun took advantage of Shermy's cautious driving and overtook him as they accelerated away from the hairpin at turn 7. Morag scythed past Pierre on the approach to turn 15, with Harold Angel mugging both of them at the last corner using a much better line.
By the end of lap 5, Linus had also made his way past Shermy, and Violette had run wide at turn 15, giving away 2 positions. On lap 6, Lucy had been stuck behind the rooster tails of Patty Swanson's car for several laps, and by this point, water was now getting into her engine, which flooded the electrics and caused her car to break down, forcing her to park it off track, away from danger. Two laps later, Shermy also fell victim to the conditions, spinning as he touched a kerb on the hairpin, and had to wait until there was a gap before re-joining in 20th place.
On lap 9, Rerun muscled his way past Five, under braking for turn 10, before both Linus and Marcie passed him too as his car twitched and forced him wide at the final turn.
At the front, Peppermint Patty made an attempt to pass Charlie Brown at the hairpin during lap 11, but out-braked herself and went onto what was now the wet, muddy grass. Peppermint Patty almost got her car beached, but kept it going, although she was now in 9th place.
José then had another spin on lap 12, under braking for turn 10, clattering into the back of Eudora as he did so, sending both of them out of the race. The pace car was brought out, but on lap 15, the race was underway again. Cormac spun on what were now cold tyres, on the exit of turn 13, losing about 5 positions, before re-joining in 18th place.
On lap 16, Violet aquaplaned off the circuit at turn 13, sliding with a thud into the barriers. The car was too damaged to continue, but Violet was thankfully okay, getting out without any difficulty. The pace car was brought out again, and on lap 19, the race resumed. Schroeder began to pull away from the field again, but Frieda manage to get past Charlie Brown into turn 1, pushing him back down to 4th.
Morag forced her way past Thibault on lap 20, while a lap later, Violette spun at turn 5, coming to a halt right next to the Marshal's post. The marshals pulled the car away within the lap, so the pace car didn't need to be called. At the end of lap 22, Morag had finally gotten into the points, passing Sally with ease on run down to turn 10, before Thibault did the same on the run up to turn 16.
On lap 25, Rerun eventually lost his concentration and had a spin at turn 15, but eventually recovered, dropping down to 13th in the process. Morag passed Five on the following lap into turn 1, and then passed Peppermint Patty in the same place a lap afterwards. Sally then fared a spin of her own on lap 29, dropping to 16th.
Marcie struggled to keep the car straight as her tyres struggle for grip on the final lap, losing a place to Morag coming out of the last corner, as the drivers ahead crossed the finish line.
"And Schroeder wins in Florida, with a 2 second gap to Pig Pen, followed closely by Frieda in 3rd! Charlie Brown is 4th, with Linus 5th, Morag a brilliant 6th from the back of the grid, Marcie 7th, Peppermint Patty 8th, Five in 9th, and Thibault rounding out the top ten! Harold Angel was 11th, with Rerun 12th, Shermy 13th, Pierre 14th, Cormac 15th, Sally 16th, Jo Agate in 17th, Franklin in 18th, and Patty Swanson 19th. Violette, Violet, Eudora, José Peterson and Lucy all failed to finish."
After the race, the championship standings are as follows…
1st Schroeder E. Schroeder [Bonn] 168pts 2nd Morag McMurdo [Isdera] 167pts
3rd Charlie Brown [Renault] 167pts 4th Linus Van Pelt [Vittoria] 165pts
5th Marcie Johnson [Cherokee] 158pts 6th Patricia Reichardt [Honda] 137pts
7th Frieda Rich [Bonn] 134pts 8th Pig Pen [Armstrong] 122pts
9th Rerun Van Pelt [Renault] 91pts 10th Patty Swanson [ACE] 75pts
11th Franklin Armstrong [Armstrong] 68pts 12th Eudora Elm [Polestar] 67pts
13th Lucy Van Pelt [Honda] 66pts 14th Harold Angel [Isdera] 63pts
15th Sally Brown [Polestar] 61pts 16th José Peterson [Daihatsu] 52pts
17th Pierre Fermier [Vittoria] 41pts 18th Thibault Rhodes [Sky] 24pts
19th Violet Gray [Zontec] 22pts 20th Violette Honfleur [ACE] 15pts
21st Joe Agate [Sky] 15pts 22nd Shermy Plepler [Zontec] 13pts
23rd Roy Tripps [Zontec] 8pts 24th Cormac O'Connor [Daihatsu] 8pts
25th Mimi Sonatelli [Armstrong/Sky] 6pts 26th 555 95472 [Cherokee] 6pts
Schroeder parked his car and raised his arms aloft, happy, and quite relieved the race was over. Pig Pen and Frieda were more outward, running over to celebrate with their mechanics at a great result, before they all headed up the stairs.
In the waiting room, the three of them congratulated each other on a great race, while Schroeder tried to ruffle the beads of sweat in his hair with a towel, not caring that his hands were red and sore from trying to keep the car on the circuit in such tough conditions. Once they were ready, they headed out onto the podium.
The rain had stopped by now, which was a relief, as the three of the stood still and waited while the American national anthem played, and the three American flags were raised. The German anthem played after the American one finished. The drivers received their trophies, drank their milk, and celebrated in front of the doggedly determined fans who braved the weather to come see their favourite drivers battle it out, before heading into the Pressroom, where the interviewers had some questions.
I: Schroeder, great win, your third win of the season, which as a result, means you are leading the championship standings. How do you feel right now?
Schroeder: Well, I'm happy, but mostly relieved. It was quite scary out there, with so many places to lose control, and it was very difficult to fight the steering in the conditions. See, look at my hands (He shows the interviewer his hands, which looked red and sore)
I: I see. And Pig Pen, was is a tough race for you also?
Pig Pen: Definitely, but the result was worth it, I may not be in the main championship fight, but I'm definitely not out of the running.
I: Frieda, you battled hard in that race to move up from 7th, how was it out there?
Frieda: Well it was clearly very difficult, a lot of people in front of me went off and Charlie Brown was the only one who actually made it difficult for me to pass, but it was a hard earned result.
I: Thank you.
Former Championship leader Morag was also interviewed, down in the paddock.
I: Morag, stunning race from the back of the grid, it felt like you really needed this result. Any feelings on you position in the championship?
Morag: Not really, that was exhausting. I'm glad I'm only one point behind, though. I look forward to seeing what we can do next race.
I: Thank you.
The drivers went to bed late that night, as their mechanics all packed their gear away, ready to move on, before they too went to bed.
