On Thursday morning, we headed out for the 2 ½ hour drive to Ozark International Raceway in Gravois Mills, Missouri. This is one of the most exciting road courses in the entire USA.
This year, VSCDA (Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association) joined with CVAR (Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing) and with RMVR (Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing) in sponsoring this weekend of racing. This is a driver’s track that takes advantage of the area’s natural terrain with four miles of track, 19 turns, 1200 feet of elevation change, esses, switchbacks, 9 blind turns and more! It’s quite a rush to just be on this track.
Driving to the Ozarks in the fall is a real treat. The leaves are changing colors and you drive 100 miles on 2 lane country roads, which takes you through Amish/Mennonite country. We saw numerous horse drawn buggies on the road as well as stopped and bought some large and beautiful mums (10 for $80)! We got to the track in plenty of time to go through tech, getting our annual tech inspection, set up our paddock in the large car garage, and then went around seeing old friends. There were many drivers there from Dallas, Houston, Austin, Tulsa, and Denver. A great group and wide selection of vintage race cars from many different race classes.
My crew for this event consisted of Gary Sudin, Mark Shapland, and Floyd and Rita Allyn. After we had everything ready to go, we headed over to the house we rented on the lake. Quite a place with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a boat dock, and more. We had a nice dinner at a local bar and grill in Gravois Mills and then Gary Sudin played his guitar and entertained us while we sat out on the deck. On this weekend, we would be introducing our new Taxman Racing Shirts and my new race suit.
We had two 20-minute practice sessions scheduled for Friday morning, however, right before we were to go out at 8:45 am, it started to rain and didn’t let up for 4 hours. That meant that our two practices were cancelled. We finally got out on the track at 1:30 pm. It didn’t take much time for me to get back in the groove, even though it had been two years since I’ve been on the track. The track was still a bit damp and cold, so the times weren’t great, however, it was just a practice. I was also testing out some different driving lines to see what worked best for the Jag. On the damp/cold track I ran a 4.39 lap time. Really safe, really slow. The first Qualifying race was at 3:30 pm and the track was now completely dry. I used my new lines and dry track working on where I could speed up. It worked as I brought my best lap time down to 3:28. Dorsey Schroeder, a wonderful person and a great race car driver who won over 40 professional races, graciously agreed to autograph the door of the XKE, right next to the autograph of Bob Tullius. VSCDA had a catered dinner in the garage and we all enjoyed the wonderful BBQ, cocktails, and comradery.
Saturday was cool and opened with a very dense fog, which caused our 8:30 qualifying race to be cancelled. Lots of low clouds on the track. We finally got out on the track for our 2nd Qualifying race at 11:00 am. I finished with a best lap time of 3.23 time, and was very pleased with the way the Jag was handling. My qualifying times gave me a 9nd spot on the grid out of 22 cars in my race group. We had our first Sprint race at 3:30 pm and I was running great….until I wasn’t. I was in fifth place and staying with the four Mustang GT350s, when I down shifted from 3rd to 2nd at turn 11 and then had no gears. I knew immediately something was wrong with the clutch. I did manage to get back to the garage under power, but knew our racing weekend was done. I was running very well with a tap time right at 3:00 and improving, then nothing. Since we were done racing for the weekend, I decided to run an errand. I had a blown tire on the trailer on the way down to the track, so I then decided to drive the truck down to Osage beach to pick up a replacement. After I got back to the track and installed the new tire, the five of us went to Big Dick’s Half Way Inn, located on the lake in the middle of nowhere. Afterwards, we went back to the lake house, where several other drivers stopped by and we had a great evening of guitar playing, sampling bourbons, and playing some games. (one of the other drivers owns a bourbon distillery).
Since we were done racing, we all went out for a big breakfast, then headed home. We didn’t have much success on the track, but we had a great time overall. It was a short season for me, only 3 venues, but really enjoyable. Looking forward to 2026 and doing 5 to 6 venues. The XKE is already down in Benton, Illinois, getting a new clutch, release bearing, pressure plate and flywheel. We are also upgrading from the ozone-depleting halon fire suppression system to the latest in “green” replacement, FK-5-1-12 fire suppressing agent. Of course, complete fluid change, check the rotors and brake pads and everything else you do at the end of a season. Here is my projected schedule for 2026:
April 11-13 Ozarks International, Laurie, Mo
May 15-17 Gingerman Raceway, S. Haven, MI
June 19-21 Blackhawk Farms Raceway, S. Beloit, Il
July 16-19 Road America Intl Challenge w/ Brian Redman, Elkhart Lake, WI
Aug 14-16 Grattan Raceway, Belding, MI
Sept 18-20 Ariens Art on Wheels Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI
ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A COUPLE OF NEW PEOPLE TO HELP PIT CREW, LOTS OF FUN, NO REAL MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED! Send me an email or call me if you want to join us at one event or more.
Thanks to all those who helped crew during the year and those JAGSL members who came out to support us. We are usually the only Jaguar racing at these events and take pride in defending and representing our Marque.
PhilipTaxman
