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In the beginning, there was Flashback Racing. Back in 1979, Craig Leinicke decided to go to SCCA drivers' school at Mid America Raceway. He took Dave Jone's Datsun 510 and made it through his first school, although not without a blown engine before the day was completed. (I won't mention the 10 gallons of my H&H racing gas at 2.75 that was lost. - remember this was when gas was $.75 per gal.) As such, Craig decided his next trip would be in his car, one that he had control over all aspects of it. Enter the TR-3. For a mere $575, here was a race car ready to go to the track, ready to compete, ready to win. And we've got a bridge to sell you. |
In the background you can see |
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$2700 later, we made it to the track the first time. Of course, it looked and acted a lot different than the white car Craig dragged home. During a test session at MAR, Bill and Helen showed up in time to watch Craig disappear around the track and not come back. Going into Turn 3, the front left wheel came off and decided to bounce around the track, adding insult to injury when it ran into the back of the car, scuffing the brand new paint job on the car. |
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Of course, Bill decided to help us out, probably more to keep us alive than to help us go racing. Craig made it through Drivers School in April 1980 and began racing at each race that came to Mid America Raceway. Of course, the nearly stock TR-3 was well down in E-Production, running with MGBs and old Porsches. Things would change, one of which was my penning of the name, Flashback Racing, in August while on our way back from a canoe trip with St. Louis Corvettes Unlimited. Originally, the name was to cover all of our racing, but it quickly became just Craig's team. |
Craig Leinicke headed down the |
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And did things ever change. Flares were added, wheels widened, and work to make this a real race car made it better, more dependable, and even a little quicker. This shot in July 1981 shows some of the changes that had occurred to the look. Still, being in E Prod meant running in the A-Prod to E-Prod group, so you had Cobras and Corvettes screaming past at speeds that sucked you sideways. |
July, 1981 on the false grid at |
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A new car was built. Hopelessly trapped in the love of the TR-3, Craig built a TR-3 GT car, sort of. It had all the features of what were to become the GT class as far as the cage and removable body panels. When it showed up at the Run Offs in Atlanta in October, 1983, there were more than a few who stopped by to look at it. Still, it was a TR-3 at heart, being gridded around 30 and moving up to 14th by the end of the race. |
Out of the esses at Road Atlanta, |
