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Scott Chan took his 1991 Taurus SHO to Buttonwillow '97.

His report follows :



BUTTONWILLOW TRACK REPORT

"SHO VS. WINSTON CUP THUNDERBIRDS"



I spent a great weekend at a rather unusual open-track event at the new Buttonwillow Raceway in California's Central Valley cotton belt. The absence of sound restrictions at this course brought out an eclectic mix of retired and vintage race cars as well as the usual V-8 street cars which dominate the Green Flag Driving Association's events.



Since I can usually give a credible effort against most street cars on fast tracks like this, I signed up for the "green", or fastest run group. But lining up on the grid Saturday's first session, I felt like Dorothy when

she dropped into Oz... a Viper, a ZR-1 and several C4 Corvettes, a 427 Cobra replicar, a half-dozen Shelby GT-350 vintage racers, Peter Gregg's Trans-Am Mustang, Mark Donahue's '69(?) Trans-Am Camaro, its acid-dipped body resplendent in Sunoco blue and yellow livery. More recent retirees included a Bud Moore-built #15 Motorcraft T-Bird, last run by Geoff Bodine in 1992, and another T-bird driven by Bill Elliott to win the 1987 Winston Cup championship. And there I was with my '91 Taurus SHO. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto...



Mark Donahue was a hero in my youth, and in my attic I still have an H.O. scale slot-car which I painted to match his Trans-Am racer. And the #15 Motorcraft Thunderbird matches the one on my daughter's favorite

T-shirt, although hers is from Dick Trickle's 1995 season. So being on the track with "them" was an unexpected thrill for me.



The track is quite long and can be run in many configurations and in both directions, so we spent the first few sessions getting acquainted with it. It is mostly flat, but has two interesting elevation changes, a set of esses, and three fast straights.



Clearly, my SHO is the bottom-feeder in this run group, but the Viper and a couple of Corvettes courtesly wave me by after I tail them through the twisties. On the long straightaways I am able to pass some of the stock Mustang 5.0s, but otherwise it is I doing the point-bys. "Geoff Bodine" streaks by like a rocket, seven hundred unmuffled horses emitting an ear splitting roar. "Bill Elliot" appears out of nowhere and latches onto my bumper on the twisties. Thank goodness it's not "Dale Earnhardt" back there, and "Bill" patiently waits until the next straight before passing me. "Peter Gregg" outbrakes me at the end of a straight. "Mark Donahue" spins out in front of me, and we manage to hit the brakes and get around him without drama. Jeez, who's next? I half-expect to see a Williams-Renault with Ayrton Senna's name on the cockpit.



A number of people stop by my paddock and they're pretty impressed by the SHO's performance. Apparently we're lapping faster than most of the 'Vettes and Mustangs in the slower run groups.



On Saturday afternoon, the course is reconfigured to include the three-quarter mile long straigtaway. Entering it from a sweeping right hander at about 75 miles an hour, the SHO easily hits 100, but after upshifting to fourth gear, we never top 112. This straight is followed by a 50 MPH hairpin, so everyone's brakelights are on conservatively early.



With so many fast straightaways, this course is tough on brakes, but fortunately the South Bay Motorsports van is there and sells me a new set of pads for Sunday. A Mustang GT owner cracks a 13" rotor on his PBR brakes. This is the third PBR failure I have seen, and I am glad to have installed the SHO Stopper/Wilwood big brakes instead of the Baer/PBR kit or the '96 SHO upgrade. The Wilwoods with CM93 pads are tough, and I notice no fade through over 120 miles on Day 1.



On Sunday we head back out, but I am concerned about my BF Goodrich R1 tires. The soft compound has worn away, leaving only a thin layer of harder stuff. The car feels a bit loose, and I am unable to keep up yesterday's pace. Late in the morning, I lock up the brakes approaching a hairpin and flat-spot the front tires (for a variety of reasons, I disconnect the 3-channel ABS for track events). These tires are history, the cord layers are showing. The local dealers specialize in tractor tires, not racing doughnuts, so I am SOL. I switch the rear race tires to the front and stuff my GT+4 all-seasons on the rear, and head back on track with a slower run group. However, the back end is way too loose, and rather than risk spinning it, I call it quits and retire for the weekend.



I spend the rest of Sunday bumming rides in a co-worker's Corvette and a '89 M3 Club Racer. Except for the roll cage, the four-cylinder M3 is stock, and the driver is really fast. I've ridden in a fair number of showroom stock and IT racers, but rarely have I gotten such a white-knuckled, wide-eyed thrill as this. The driver uses 110% of the race track and flat-foots the gas pedal through the infield twisties, where some of the slower drivers are using the brakes. The guy has cojones grandes, fer sure.



By mid afternoon, I pack up and start the long drive back to the Bay Area. Arriving home before sundown, I unload the SHO and re-install the kiddie seats. The transformation from weekend road racer to weekday

rat-racer is complete. It's hard to believe that only yesterday, "Bill Elliott" was in my mirror, not my three-year old.

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Scott Chan 4/14/97