July 15, 2004

San Jose gears up for estimated 120,000 partygoers and race fans

Historic stock cars guarantee a trip down NASCAR memory lane

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

As the thunder of over 100 Champ, Trans-Am, U.S. touring and historic stock cars roll into town, the excitement continues to build. History is about to be made in a big way.

Gary Sousa (left) owns car no. 3 with his wife Sue. At his right is Bill Alfaro, the mechanic and crew chief.

For starters, it will be the first time the streets—and the residents—of San Jose will feel the heat of 14-inch Goodyear Racing Eagle tires on the virgin streets and bear witness to a variety of first-rate, high-performance racing.

Then there’s all the other events, including crash courses in driving, $500 per plate fund-raisers, an outdoor film festival, meet-n-greet lunches, “back-seat driver” activities, and a plethora of parties scattered throughout the surrounding areas for a three-day festival, both on and off the track. Think of it as our very own little slice of Monte Carlo.

“We are doing well,” says VP and General Manager Bob Singleton. “Sales are going great and we’re on track to achieve our goal of 100,000-120,000 in two days. We’re at the point where we’re dotting our I’s, crossing our T’s, and waiting for the opening on Friday. “I think this is going to be a three-day festival. The off-track activities lend something for everyone to do. There are lots of things going on.”

But not all cars are created equal when it comes to street racing. Stock cars for example are designed to make only left hand turns and run at temperatures that require the air intake from steady, high speeds to keep them running. Without tweaking a little here and shifting a little there, they can be downright useless.

Reinventing the wheel—and the suspension, and the braking system, and…
What many race fans—especially stock car enthusiasts—may not know about street racing, lies in the endless list of modifications that must be made in order for the driver to attempt a feat the car was never designed to do, like right hand turns for starters. Then there are the countless gear changes and learning how to downshift just enough into a turn while keeping the speed high enough and the intake cool enough to keep the spark plugs and therefore the engine from overheating and stalling out.

Only when you compare the oval track with the twists and turns of a street course can you begin to appreciate how finely tuned these cars are to their environment. Put a NASCAR on the Monte Carlo course and you might as well try to take your driver’s license test in a Zamboni.

Just ask Bill Alfaro, the mechanic who knows Dale Earnhardt’s 1995 No. 3 Chevy stock car better than anyone. He has dedicated the past five years to every meticulous detail that has earned him the right to call it historic. Sue and Gary Sousa own the car and Gary drives it. Unlike the massive pit crews of today, this is a three-member crew ready for the challenge.

Sue, Gary, and Bill are one of a growing breed of historians, backyard mechanics with such a passion for authenticity that it even has its risks.

The demands on a late model stock car are grueling enough if it is headed for the street racing circuit. Most of the weight that favored the left side in an effort to better anchor the car in the turns will need to be rebalanced by resetting the weight bias and shifting lead around the car to even things out. Because they were originally designed to turn only left, they have vastly different front-end alignment settings. The tires will also have to be adjusted from a “toe-out” position, where the front tires lean inward as much as an inch.

Even the drivers of the pro cars, including Winston Cup racers, know when they’re licked and will hire local drivers to race the pro cars because they can’t get around on a road course too well.

“There’s lots of shifting and a lot of turn changes,” Alfaro says. “It’s hard. It’s really hard on the cars and extremely hard on the brakes. They’re up and down on the RPM range on those engines.

Maintaining historical classification with delicate modifications
Although the cars are basically the same, this class bears historical significance. They can only be modified enough to make them race and handle well, while remaining dependable and fun. Alfaro says they are terribly strict when it comes to keeping the “book” of the car exactly the way it was prepared—right down to the decals, paint job, pin striping, the bumper-to-bumper line.

“We make sure we get the grill painted the right shade the abrasions in the windshield are in the right place and the interior color is exact,” he says. “We try to duplicate the seatbelts. There is an allowable margin of tolerance however, in the seat because every driver is built different so the padding and the head rest changes a bit.”

Preserving history can be risky business
This club means business, especially when modern technology makes it safer than ever to survive a crash. They remain steadfast in their insistence to use old safety gear and fire system, even though today’s cars have extinguisher systems that will spray on the engine, the cabin, and the trunk where the fuel cell is located. In the old days, all they had was a five-pound extinguisher in the cabin.

“That’s it,” Alfaro says. “And there’s been a few historic cars burn to the ground because we keep them authentic. But we don’t intend to change them because it will ruin the value of the car and upset the integrity and accuracy of the year. Changing makes it an updated car and it would not be historic any longer.”

Spooky business too
“Most of the drivers will even wear driving suits copied right after the original drivers of their car,” he says. “You’ll see John Davis in his Richard Petty suit driving the 1992 farewell tour car when Richard retired. Gary Sousa is almost a ringer for Dale Earnhardt. He wears that same suit and when he puts his helmet and sunglasses on, it’s a little spooky. People do a lot of double takes, while others just stand there and do nothing—they don’t know what to say.”

With a five-year contract with Champ Cars and a five-year renewal, don’t be surprised if this becomes an annual event—a much-needed shot in the downtown economy’s arm and finally, something San Jose can call its own.

For more information on the Historic Car Racing Series, an organization dedicated to the restoration, preservation, and continued competition of former NASCAR stock cars, visit http://www.hscrs.com/.

For more information on the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose, visit www.sanjosegrandprix.com.