The Straightpipe asked all the MARRS season series winners to write a short description of their winning seasons. Here is what Jerry Mowery – E-Production Champ wrote:
I started racing about 10 years ago, in a 1964 TR-4 I bought off eBay. I must say that it was a beautiful car. But if you have heard people refer to a car as a “brick”, they were probably describing a 1960’s era Triumph. It had a welded rear and only wanted to go in a straight line. I could not keep the thing on the track. It wasn’t until I got a car with a real LSD differential that I discovered that I COULD drive around a corner without using the grass areas. Anyway, I graduated to a 1972 Datsun 240Z, built from the ground up by Kearney Racing. It was the last complete racecar built by Don Kearney and his crew before he passed away. Absolutely stunning car.
I have always hated Japanese cars, but Kearney insisted that this was the car to move into. He had driven the same car to national titles in his day and knew how the car should be built. So my daughter and I went around the country buying up parts cars and dumping them at Kearney’s garage. About six months and a zillion dollars later, I had my gorgeous E-Production car. (See the picture). For a long time, my kids teased the heck out of me because I couldn’t bring home anything but third place trophies. Then two years ago I started getting a few seconds. Last year, placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in almost every race, and eventually won the E-Prod Championship by virtue of having an exceptionally well performing, dependable car (Datsun Dynamics built my second motor that proved to be fast and near bullet proof). And somewhere in there I did learn to stay on the track for an entire race…guess that didn’t hurt my points total too much either.
Just so my 2005 season doesn’t sound like a complete cake-wlak, let me tell you about a few bumps along the way. There was the damn ground hog on the straight at Summit that tore off the right front fender and right rear break line on its trip to heaven by way of my undercarriage. (Can I say, “scared the crap out of me” in this article?) And then, the time a mechanic left the bolts on the differential mounting bracket loose and on about lap 13 the differential all but fell out of the car. (Did we decide that I could or could not say, “scared the crap out of me” in this article?). Lastly, I have always wanted to drive The Glen. Got me a brand new F-350 Turbo Diesel truck to pull the trailer to NY. Never had on of those. It was cool! Only trouble was that the turbo intake tube would blow off every ten minutes, or at the exact moment the RPMs reached 3,000. Let’s see, stop every ten minutes from Alexandria, VA to new York… and don’t g over 3,000 RPM even going over a mountain…TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET THERE! Yes, just another memorable event on the trip to the championship.
The good times way outnumbered eh bad, however, and my outstanding crew (Marvin Lerfald and Marjie Hendren) and I truly enjoyed last season. One of our very best days was when some kids stopped by the paddock and wanted to show us some pictures. I thought they were selling them, but no, they were showing us pictures of their “favorite car”! Damn, I had a fan club! It was such an incredible feeling to know that one or two people outside of my team actually cared about the car. Another great moment was driving Watkins Glen for the first time. Now, that’s racing. I could use another 25 hp or two more gears, don’t know which, but that track was FUN!
I never expected to win the championship. All I wanted to do every race was beat the Pintos and catch the Acuras. E-production drivers are a tough lot. Any time I could beat them into turn one from the green flag was a thrill beyond explanation. It is that feeling that keeps me coming back. It is the rush of taking turn 10 wide open in fourth gear (and staying on the track) that makes me think I can get away with lying to my wife about how much money I spend during the season. (Talk about living on the edge!)
So the #88 Yellow 240Z is the MARRS WDC Region Champ. I think Don Kearney would be proud.
March 2006 Volume 54, Issue 3.
