ROAD TRIP! The OJOA Paw Packers cross the 1930s Ambassador Bridge
linking Windsor with Detroit on their way to Indianapolis.
JCNA Challenge Championship
Indianapolis, Indiana
July 31 - August 4, 2007
A very heartfelt thank you to members of the Jaguar Club of Greater Indiana
for all their tireless hard work. You guys did a magnificent job!!!
All photos courtesy of Ross Hamilton, Cindy Fraser, Rob Hutchinson& Jeff Booth
By Jeff Booth The Ontario Jaguar
SUPERLATIVE:
adjective. a) of the highest
quality or degree b) something
embodying excellence, the highest form c) an expression of abundant praise.
IT's hard to find the proper superlatives to describe the 2007 JCNA Challenge
Championship experience.
First-class,excellent, fantastic, paramount, ultimate, supreme ... all these
superlatives fall short of the mark. They fail because its virtually impossible
to adequately describe such a broad-ranging experience which offered
so much to so many people over such an extended period - and did it all
so well. Every one of the participants at this year's Challenge Championship
-- hosted admirably by members of the Jaguar Association of Greater
Indiana -- took away from Indianapolis their own unique experiences and
memories, made so by the levels of activity they chose and by their experiences there.
And what a range of activities: they included a Midwest barn dance,workshops,
a JCNA Rally, a Tour, the JCNA Slalom, a historic lap of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway (yes, the Indy, as in the Brickyard), a number of
dinners, a Concours d'Elegance in a breathtaking location, several awards ceremonies,
lots of socializing and, as goes with driving a number of classy,
fussy cars, a portion of breakdowns, mechanical failures and ... ahem
... Jaguar-specific eccentricities. And much more...
But above all of this, was a level of hospitality and friendship shown by scores
of fellow enthusiasts. And the hard-working corps of volunteers,
under the working several-jobs-at-once watchful eye of Jagin president Cliff Burke
pulled it all together. And pulled it together magnificently.
Magnificently.
Also at the highest level of contribution to the success of the Challenge Championship
was Dr. Richard Foster and his wife Diane, who opened up their amazing
Jaguar collection to several busloads of fellow enthusiasts - from across
the United States, from Canada and from Mexico - and then presented supper
for them all under a marque on their expansive front lawn.
The Foster collection is much more than just desirable cars, it includes advertising
(neon and other), trinkets, a spacious made-for-entertaining bar and
a huge workshop, in an adjoining building, that's just about clinically clean.
Dr. Foster's collection includes a stunning 1938 SS100, in British racing
green, an 1934 SSII saloon, in period buff and chocolate, and representatives
of every major chapter in Jaguar history.
In addition to the Jaguars, the Fosters also have an impressive collection of
classic North American automobiles. There is currently chat on a JCNA Forum
about nominating Dr. Foster for JCNA Member of the Year. This writer wholeheartedly
agrees. Appropriately, when it came time for the parade of cars,
driving from Indiana University-Perdue University Indianapolis to fabulous
Monument Circle, it was Dr. Foster and his SS100 who led the line, behind
an escort of motorcycle police officers.
By the way, the universities' sports teams are called ... wait for it ... the
Jaguars ... and everywhere you go on the sprawling campus, you see the prowling
IUPUI Jaguar, ready to spring. How cool is that?
It's also worth noting that the parade of cars into the very heart of the state
capitol took place during a Friday morning rush hour -- and the major routes
that the Challenge Championship Jaguars took were closed to all other traffic
to accommodate our parade. The route was nearly two miles in length.
Just think of it: Driving your own Jaguar in a parade of some of the
most marvelous Cats in North America ... all the time police motorcycles leapfrogging
past each other and repeatedly roaring past you to co-ordinate the
blocking off of major and minor intersections to co-ordinate with the moving
parade of Jaguar cars. But everything and everyone was cleared out of the
way -- just so you could parade in style. Truly, the stuff that life-long
memories are made from.
But the parade to Monument Circle wasn't the only such memory made, in Indianapolis.
Another cherish-the-memory-until-I-breathe-my-last event was staged
on one of the other packed Challenge Championship days. The location: IMS
- the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Challenge Championship participants
were allowed the privilege of driving a ceremonial lap of the world-famous
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which has been in operation since 1909.
The track is 2.5 miles around and, even at the modest speeds were obligated by
contract to drive at, the experience was over much too quickly. While it may
have been only a few brief moment of Indy 500 fame, the memory can live on,
thanks to 8 X 10 colour photo presented to those who drove the ceremonial
lap. The photo was taken just as your car got to the white finish line
at the Brickyard.
The track is known as the Brickyard because it was once surfaced with 3.2 million
paving bricks. Today, three feet of those original bricks remain, in a
track-wide strip at the start/finish line. Challenge Championship participants
can see the line of bricks in their crossing-the-finish-line photos,
just ahead of the white finish line.
At the risk of understatement, driving the second-oldest motor racing track in
the world is quite an experience. Seating capacity at The Indy is
impressive,well actually, more that that. It's time for another superlative.
It has seating for nearly 260,000 spectators, plus infield
capacity which takes the total to about 400,000. This is reportedly the largest-capacity
sporting facility in history. Those who drove the lap will
have no trouble believing that because when we came done into the valley with
the stands and control tower is was like passing through a deep valley, the
spectator stands were so high on both sides. Michael Schumacher, A.J. Foyt
and Rick Mears may all have tasted Indy wins, but each and every Challenge
Championship Indy driver gets to -- forever -- enjoy having crossed
the finish line at The Brickyard. Amazing.
Then there was the racing event at The Indy ... the JCNA Slalom. The Challenge
Championship's racing event took place the same day as our Indy lap.
And it took place on what seemed like the most brutally hot day in the middle
of an extended mid-summer heat wave that stressed more than the grass around
your garage. It was so hot, you could feel an uncomfortable level of warmth
coming through the soles of your shoes.
The CC Slalom saw some of the fasted racing Jaguars in JCNA slalom territory travel
to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, there were D-Types, and
XKSS, and heavily modified cars, plus a solid complement of stock Jaguars.
And if the temperature was blisteringly hot, it was not nearly as hot
as the competition on the course.
OJOA's own Slalom Chair, Ross Hamilton, competed against a group which included
Steve Weinstein, the JCNA Slalom Chairman and holder of two North American
Slalom crowns (6-Cylinder E-Type and Z-class, non-Jaguar). At the end
of the drainingly hot day, our own Mr. Hamilton stepped toward the podium
... and stepped right on up to the top spot in all of North America in
his E-Type class, having defeated the reigning champion, who ended the day
in 2nd Place in North American standings.
Ross, by the way, was racing with OJOA stalwart Nelson Burkhart's blue E-Type
OTS. Moreover, Ross wasn't the only member of the OJOA Scorched Paw Pack
to take Slalom racing honours at The Indy. In 3rd Place was none other that
Nelson Burkhart himself. Other OJOA competitors taking home Slalom racing
honours from The Indy were Rob Hutchison and son Mike, 2nd and 3rd respectively
in the V12 E-Type class, Don Kochan with his modified XJS cabriolet,
and this writer, with a 3rd in the XJ class.
OJOA folk who know Nelson Burkhart may know that he regularly permits Ross to
use his E-Type -- and is regularly beaten by him. And Nelson is just a happy
about this turn of events as Ross is. This writer also had the privilege
of lending his Jaguar to a fellow enthusiast who found himself at the
Slalom without a car. Mark Stephenson, Chief Judge of the Jaguar Club of Central
Arizona, was a hard-fighting competitor. Fortunately, he's also very knowledgeable
about X300 Jaguars, which this writer was racing. As it turns out,
the X300 suffered the dreaded "Can't Get Out of Park" failure between laps
4 and 5 for the pair of us. With literally minutes before the car had to
return to the competition track, Mark was able to effect the needed repair.
So how often do you see people lending their Jaguars to others to drive extremely
hard and extremely aggressively against the actual owners who lend them?
Likely not too often. Bottom line: everybody ended up a winner, both on
the podium -- and in sportsmanship. Fred Hill, OJOA vice-president, by the
way lent his Championship XJS to two others at last year's Ontario Inaugural Slalom.
The Challenge Championship Concours d'Elegance was stunning. It was staged in
the circular plaza which surrounds the 284-foot high Soldiers' and Sailors'
Monument. The monument is the heart of Indianapolis and it is breathtaking
in its monumental limestone architecture, sculpture and bronze. The
Indiana Statehouse was just blocks away, clearly visible from one part of the circle.
The circular plaza is covered in patio-style pavers, somewhat shaded by towering
office buildings, trees and calmed further by two large pools and cascades
of water falling from the monument, which honours Hoosiers who were veterans
of the American Revolution, territorial conflicts that partially led
up to the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the US Civil War. It
was completed in 1901 -- eight years before Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Not to be outdone by anything else were the formal, sit-down dinners. The five-star
main course experience here was the formal banquet where Concours awards
were announced. Special guest speaker for this fete was legendary sports
car driver Brian Redman
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Redman
)
This Friday evening fete featured no less than the restored
main hall of the historic India Union Station, a magnificent Romanesque
revival building made of red granite. Imagine, if you will, the main
hall of Toronto's downtown Union Station turned into an elegant dining hall.
But if the truth be told, the Indianapolis station is much more interesting,
has more history, more interesting architecture and is .... well,
much nicer. And so it should be.
The Indianapolis Union Station was the first union station in the world. It opened
in 1853. (Union stations are train stations where tracks and
facilities are shared by several railways, allowing passengers to transfer easily.)
The station is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is
taken up in part by the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is where Challenge Championship
folks stayed. The main hall / dining area was resplendent in period
ceramic, pillars, iron railing, dark, wood paneling, huge stained glass
windows -- and a 100-year-old bar. And as breathtaking as the main hall
was, the station's nether were just as interesting, as a lucky group got
to learn the evening before, thanks to a kind hotel staffer.
Not only do the subterranean levels have hidden chambers, tunnels and funky-atmosphere
halls but it even has a historic stand of urinals -- and everyone
in the tour, men and women too, got to enter the well-hidden Men's Room
to view it. There were more than a few noticeable wide grins of mirth and
satisfaction ...
There were other somewhat unique aspects of the complex that made up the Union
Station/Crowne Plaza Hotel complex. One was the fact that it was still a
working railway station. This became abundantly clear on the first night at
the hotel .... that loud rumbling noise at 1:30 a.m. -- the one that caused
the bed to vibrate so much (really) -- was merely a trail moving through.
Hotels guests, upon check-in, are cautioned that the building was a working
train station. Good thing, too. The basic room rate for the Jag fans,
by the way, was $109 US, plus taxes -- less than half the regular rate.
Mind you, some rooms were so railway-like they looked like working Pullman coaches.
That's because they really "were" (as in past tense) Pullman coaches.
Thirteen of the hotel's rooms have been created from Pullman coaches,
which today sit on their own track inside the hotel. They were all named,
such as the "P.T. Barnum", of circus fame; the "Diamond Jim Brady," businessman
and philanthropist. OJOA's Nelson Burkhart and Ross Hamilton called
one of these home for the Challenge Championship. Yes, they cost a bit
more than conventional rooms, but offered a very unique, if somewhat narrow,
experience. They also allowed those sleeping in them to get very, very
close to the trains that rumbled through the station throughout the night.
Hmmmmmmm?
Other unique aspects of the station/hotel complex was the architecturally inspired
feature of exposing reinforcing steel in strategic areas of the hotel,
which used to be a locomotive roundhouse. The exposed girders, complete
with huge rivets and the occasional CARNEGIE STEEL CO. stamping visible
to guests. This is the same Andrew Carnegie who was as well known for
his philanthropy as for his acumen in the swelling steel industry of late
1800s North America. He is particularly well known for funding more than
2,500 Carnegie Libraries, with 156 of them in Canada. Carnegie Steel eventually
became the U.S. Steel Co., which is still in business and which, only
recently, bought Canada's Stelco (which today produces steel for Chrysler cars).
And if the exposed steel superstructure was unique, so too were the fascinating
population of "ghosts travellers" who haunted the hotel's environs. On
every level of the complex, and often in interesting spots, these white, fiberglass
ghosts recalled past times from the station's long life. There
was the Second World War sailor, complete with his duffle bag, lighting his cigarette.
There was the early 1900s police officer, with hisunusual-for-America
English Bobby style helmet. The late 1800s mother and daughter.
The Depression era kids -- playing dangerously on the open steel girders.
And many more...
Some of you may be wondering about breakdowns. The answer is yes.
Actually, the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, etc. But we all made it home OK and so
did all of the Jaguars. On the way to Indianapolis, Rob Hutchison's V12 E-Type
decided it should seize its brakes. And it couldn't have decided on a
worse spot to do that -- right in the middle of a one-hour traffic jam at the
US customs line while sitting ON the Ambassador Bridge. Then, moments later,
Don Kochan's XJS starter decided not to work. Both problems seem to have
been related to overheating from being in the arduous, high-above-the-Detroit-River
traffic jam at the border. Later, Nelson Burkhart's
E-type needed a bump start, due to the early E-Type's electrical system.
Pssst: Don't tell the hotel manager, but they even had to sneak the battery
into their Pullman coach room one night, to charge it.
Again, there was the "Won't Come Out of Park" failure in the middle of the Slalom
at Indy, for this writer. Up to this point, as a group, we were able through
luck and/or some skill to be able to get every Jaguar on its feet again.
Then there was the breakdown on the way home.
Just after we got off the Ambassador Bridge and were rolling on Canadian roads
again, the Hutchison E-type died. Just died. Fortunately, were able to roll
the Burkhart E-Type off its trailer and push the dead V12 up onto the trailer
and everyone got home safely. As it turned out, the failure was the
ballast resistor in the ignition circuit. But, Rob, ya know, in every dark
Jaguar cloud, there's a silver lining. Now you're a candidate for the end-of-year
Prince of Darkness Award.
So, who from OJOA went to Indy? Well, for the whole 5-day fling, there was Ross
Hamilton, Nelson Burkhart, Rob Hutchison with son Mike, Don Kochan with Cindy
Fraser, and this writer. For the Concours, also Julien and Pat Brosseau.
How did everyone do? Everyone -- yes, everyone -- came home with some hardware.
Three participants came home with two trophies. And boy, were the trophies
nice, much different from the normal, drop-dead-gorgeous JCNA awards.
Here's the rundown:
SLALOM RESULTS
(at infield of Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
Class D
E-Types - 6-cylinder
1st:
Ross Hamilton, 44.668 seconds
3rd:
Nelson Burkhart, 45.342 seconds
Class E
E-Types 12-cylinders
1st:
Rob Hutchison, 48.259 seconds
3rd:
Mike Hutchinson, 49.845 seconds
Class SPH
Street Prepared Heavyweight
1st:
Don Kochan, 47.062 seconds
Class F
XJ saloons,6 and 12-cylinder,XJ8
3rd:
Jeff Booth, 47.900 seconds
During the Friday evening main banquet, a handful of JCNA members were called
to the stage by JagIn president Cliff Burke, for a special show of Hoosier
hospitality.
These were:
Guest speaker and legendary sports car driver Brian Redman
JCNA President Denis Eynon
Vick Powell, "The Voice of JCNA" and president of the Nation's Capitol Jaguar Club
Jaguar North America Product Manager and JCNA Designated Director Greg Sanguinetti
