 The third attempt for us conquering Mike's Elden will be this weekend at Road America for the VSCDA's Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival. Find us in Group 4 with the renumbered #121 ride. If things go well, we'll also run the Elkhart Lake Cup race on Sunday.
The Eagle DGF motor is installed from the carburetor to the clutch, and we anticipate a much more befitting showing this go-round in respect to the history of the car and the man who made it fly in 1973.  Project ⁷ is coming along nicely. All new metal in the cockpit, and we tentatively have a color picked out. It will stand out, for sure.
We've been looking for a proper trailer for our Formula Ford effort for a while now. Far and wide, we've looked. Ramp trucks, open trailers, and even the thought of a certain Thames 800 in our shop...
But then our friend Carrol Jensen messaged me that I need to talk to Bobby Green, aka the man behind Old Crow Speed Shop and other vintage delights in the Los Angeles area. Messages ensued, and he sent us photos of the 1973 AAR team trailer he purchased not long ago, coupled with the thought it should go to a team that runs Eagles. The trailer in question was designed specifically for AAR's open wheel cars and served as a hauler for their efforts until at least 1979. It was last registered as a road worthy trailer by AAR in 1991 and was finally sold to a private user in 2001. This trailer also took another Eagle DGF to the 1978 SCCA Runoffs. Be still, my heart, as they say. Virtual hands were shaken with Bobby, and the trailer is now at safe our shop here in Wisconsin. It'll take some work to make it road worthy again, let alone safe to load - but it'll be an absolute gem in the paddock. We're still researching the various liveries it carried, and if anyone out there has any more photographs of it in period, it'll help greatly in the restoration efforts.  We had a full lot at KMPR for the past few weeks.
It was a pleasure to host the Inception/Optimum Racing squadron as they prepped a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo for the Road America IMSA round, where they narrowly finished 2nd in GTD. They are a fantastic, hard-working lot. Even PJ was impressed! Their transport driver, 'Stretch' Baker, is a friend we met at the AAR Eagle Reunion in 2022 and once upon a time was a transport driver and refueler for AAR. He's many things, though; mainly a dynamite individual that you could trust with your life, as many have. His stories could fill a book. The Random Vandals BMW squad also had a stay at KMPR after their IMSA GS race - they will be racing in the Fanatec SRO event at RA this weekend. Look for Kenton Koch throttling the #92 Crowdstrike Racing BMW at the front. Kenton is a flipping gem of a driver, but you should already know that. Another rig will be pulling in shortly, but it is going to be here to stay...  The bay in which we usually use for oil changes had something more unusual parked in it as of late.
Best of luck to Inception Racing and their #70 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo car this weekend at Road America in the IMSA GTD class. A fine group!  Hersey, PJ and Stretch. Two AAR alumni on hand today for another classified thing in progess, and the man that keeps the KMPR fleet in check.
 The Eaglet motor, Ethel, was installed today. It just looks right, not that another Kent engine would, but it just does. More subtle changes were made to the Elden to force more speed out of it. Two AAR alumni who were in the area also helped Paul put it all together, so there is a hint of Santa Ana going into the final recipe.
All signs point to our issue from the WIC being eradicated. The chassis itself was prime last time out, and we might have ourselves a quick little Elden when September is over. [Andrew Milam Photo]  Sjoukje Argetsinger, Peter Argetsinger and Michael Argetsinger at the Mainz-Finthen Airfield on either June 30 or July 1, 1973. Special thanks to Simon Kirkby for sharing the photo.
Mike's Elden is sporting #245, a number he sported only that weekend. In the race, 19 cars took to the grid, and #245 failed to finish. It was relegated to 18th in the final order. Two neat things about the Elden in this photo include the kill switch mount on the left-hand-side, which was later removed, and Mike's initials, MRA, aft of the AmEx stripe. But the real neat bit about the photo is seeing Sjoukje, Peter and Michael together, a little over 50 years ago.  Pointing a F2 Brabham by on Friday morning, as I was working up to speed for the first time with the Elden around other cars.
But that wasn't just any old Brabham. I couldn't believe my mirrors when I saw the car in which Ian Raby was fatally injured in coming up behind me. Raby exported our Lotus Seven in late 1963 and suffered severe injuries at Zandvoort in 1967 in that very Brabham after his rollhoop failed. A bad blood transfusion did him in, sadly. The Elden was much quicker than the Brabham in the race, but a mechnical fault sidelined us. Better things ahead at the VSCDA ELVF. [Bill Nesius Photo] |
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Kettle Moraine Preservation & Restoration
KettleMorainePR@gmail.com Hubertus, Wisconsin 'Where History and Integrity Meet' |