A fraction of a second behind and taking Second Place Overall was AONE’s John MacDonald, Service Manager at Ellis Imports, driving a ... Pontiac Sunfire. John had the wheels off the ground on that car so much that it looked like it was floating! He might have come in first had he not snagged a cone (on a straightaway — doh!). Third Place went to a Porsche 911, and then a few of the C5 Corvettes started to show up in the standings.

AONE Director Steve Silverstein (AONE organizer for the event) and Members Stephan de Pénasse and Kevin Murphy brought their steeds and helmets along and had a grand time kicking up the chalk line. As Steve put it, Eliot narrowly edged him out by a mere 75 tenths of a second.

For his efforts, Eliot won the first ever AONE Carlo Chiti Trophy. This was a very handsome plaque of etched silver on rosewood created by Ellen Silverstein.

Many thanks to the Bay State Corvette Club for allowing us to participate in their Autocross. Not sure whether we should apologize for an Alfa crossing the line first — it’s sort of like being invited to a birthday party and then taking home all the presents.

Below are some of the results from the event that are of interest to Alfisti:

In March 1999, I purchased Matt Wilson’s ‘71 GTV to strip for parts; these will come in handy someday, and little did I know how handy. I spent my free hours from life with our nine-month son Reid picking the GTV apart little by little. This was the first engine pull (#1).

In April 1999, with the rusty shell gone and many spares in the basement, it was time to get my ‘71 GTV time trial car from winter storage. I spent a few evenings fiddling, making sure everything was in working order. Jonathan Kirshtein and I drove to NHIS early one cold April morning for a COM time trial. By 9:30AM, my day was done. I had stuffed the GTV I’d driven/raced since 1986 hard into the outside concrete wall at the exit of turn 2. I’d been the victim of cold tires and brain fade. I’d had "offs" before, even come close to walls. But, going out to the garage the next day, what I’d hoped had been a dream turned out to be reality.

On Monday morning, I started looking for a roller to rebuild. Andy Kress reminded me to check with the local Alfa shops. I called Paul Glynn who, as it turned out, had another blue ’74 GTV. He had bought it wholesale in 1979, and it had barely seen the light of day since. Consequently, it was far more rust-free than my ‘71, but was in the process of paint preparation. The decision was made to make it fast before making it pretty. I pulled its engine (#2) and put in the one I had pulled from the wreck (#3). I also swapped the running gear, cage etc. A number of pieces were broken and were replaced from the donor car I’d taken apart in March. I decided to go with Ward & Deane’s road racing suspension while I had it apart. I ran time trials at NHIS twice and Watkins Glen that summer.

I didn’t feel that the new car was very quick, the combination of being timid after the crash and the 1750 getting old. I was told of a ‘78 spider at a junkyard I could have for little money. When I put the 1750 engine up for sale on the Alfa Digest, it sold, but the buyer wanted it soon. In November 1999, with the ‘74 in storage with its 1750 engine, I drove home and pulled the engine (#4), then shipped it to California. With my friend Tyler, I went to the junkyard and stripped the ‘78 spider of anything useful, particularly the 2L engine (#5). Now it’s December 1999 and I’m beginning to rebuild the 2000 and have the GTV sans engine in the garage at home. It’s now time for our Mercedes Diesel to break an oil line and seize the engine. I picked up a used 5-cylinder turbo diesel at a local Mercedes repair shop, removed the seized engine (#6), and replaced it with the new/used one. I was beginning to think that I had a full-time job as an auto mechanic and a part-time job as an engineer! Fortunately, we have a pair of Hondas that provide us with transportation.

After a reasonably relaxed winter, by April 2000 I’d gotten the rebuild (with Wes Ingram pump, etc.) back in the ‘74 GTV. Alas, after a tough year of automotive calamity, I now have a great GTV, though in need of new paint.

Reid (almost two) and Celeste cheered me on to best a field of several Alfas and some 30 Corvettes with perhaps twice the horsepower. One of Reid’s favorite sentences is now "Dada Alfa race car." Alfas were well represented by Steve Silverstein’s 3.0 Milano, Stephan de Pénasse’s ‘73 GTV, Kevin Murphy in his ‘74 spider, and AONE’s John MacDonald in his ... Pontiac. The course was well-suited to the Alfa, as it was nearly all turns, with little in the way of straight sections. Thanks to those I mentioned above for their help and Steve Silverstein for getting some Alfas together for the Autocross.

—Eliot Shanabrook