The front straight at Laguna Seca

Rich McClosky contemplates qualifying on the pre grid.

 Longitundal view from the rear of Rich McClosky's Crossle32F

The Skip Barber cars undergoing maintenance.

Jockeying for the best qualifying spot for Group 4 actually

begins  well before the cars are called to the Pre-Grid.  

The idea is to have minimal traffic in front of them during

the first few laps.  It is not uncommon for these cars to come

in well before the qualifying session is over, frequently after

only three  or four laps.

Here, three of the faster cars, the Swifts of Dave Jalen, N50, Michael

Bernstein, N12 and Peter Nosler, N16 line up for best positon on

the Pre-Pre-Qualifying Grid.   Not seen in these pictures are the

cars already on Pre-Grid for the group to qualify before Group 4.

The immaculate engine of the RM Racing Cossle 45.

Normally this car races as a Club Ford, which are required

to use American Racing tires.  But on this particular weekend,

the driver, Brian Forester also entered in the National Race as

a Formula Ford.  This allowed him to run Good Year tires.  

Brian qualified 7th, well in front of many Swifts, but during the

start the motor lost oil pressure so he immediately pulled over

to minimize any damage to the motor.   The soft warm tires

collected a nice coating of dirt and small stones.