Horst Kroll: A Crew-members Story} Part 4 - Championship Season & Final Farewell

After narrowly missing the championship the season before, Horst purchased one of the former Canadian Tire frissbees driven to the 1983 Can-Am Championship by Jacques Villeneuve Sr. With a strong backup car, Kroll would be able to approach the season much more aggressively. Anything other the a title, and the 1986 season would be a huge disappointment. Hopes were high as we headed into the season opener.

Mosport - June 1st, 1986

I arrived at the track Friday morning anxious to meet our new drivers, Bill Adam and John Graham. Bill would be driving the newly purchased Frissbee-Lola KR4 - Chevrolet V8. John would be in the KR5 Lola T-300, the same car Joe Demarco drove to a 3rd place finish the year before.

With such a strong three car field our team were set for a busy and exciting weekend. Horst wasted little time getting back to business on Saturday, grabbing the pole from Al Lamb in the Frissbee GR2 - Chevrolet V8 by over 1.5 seconds. Bill placed himself 4th on the grid behind Toronto's Jeremy Hill the fastest 2-litre car. John put the third HKR car a solid 7th on the grid.

With what was already a busy Sunday morning preparing the three cars and attending to the driver needs, the forecast of possible rain showers was adding havoc as race time approached. Rain tires were mounted and ready in case needed.

Horst quickly jumped to the lead of the race but things took a turn for the worst when John dropped out on lap 6 with mechanical failure. With heavy rain causing Al Lamb to crash on Lap 22 and poor visibility the race was stopped on lap 24. With Bill working his way to second behind Horst everything was playing out just fine for our team. During the rain delay Horst had told Bill " Hang in there and we'll make some money".

After a more than an hour stoppage in the race, a last minute decision was made to restart the two cars on rain tires. Little did we know havoc was about to set in. As Kroll tried to pull away the right front wheel locked and he was forced to watch as the field pull away without him. With the discovery of a bent right rim, Kroll was forced to go to the slicks and found himself at the rear of the field, handing the lead to Bill. Lou Sell briefly took the lead but Bill regained it when Sells engine let go on lap 32.

Still on rain tires and with a rapidly drying track, Bill found his lead slowly slipping away to a hard charging Kroll on slicks. Because of the rain delay the race was shortened by 15 laps leaving a desperate Kroll little time. I can still remember the excitement of being on the wall with the pit board, flashing Bill and Horst the ever dropping plus-minus signs. With two laps to go we were looking at the best finish in team history. I remember not really caring who won, except that we needed the number one position points for Horst and the championship run, as Bill was a one race deal. Bill had been a favourite of mine ever since his days at Group 44, and over the past three days was a real joy to work with. I could not help but feel a little sorry for him as he sat helplessly on the wrong tires as Kroll charged by with one lap to go.That bent rim turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Horst as he crossed the finish line for his second Can-Am win with Bill less than 1.5 seconds behind.

In the end it was a very good weekend to be part of Horst Kroll Racing with Bill and Horst leaving with a good payday and Horst with the maximum points available for the weekend. It was to bad we had let John down or the weekend could have been even more rewarding. On a historical note, Mauro Lanaro of Montreal finished third to give Can-Am its first 1-2-3 all-Canadian sweep.

Summit Point - July 5th, 1986

Fresh off the big win at Mosport and with championship hopes in sight Horst wasted little time getting back to business. With a blistering lap more that 3 seconds over the 5-litre March 84C-Chevrolet V8 of Bill Tempero, Kroll set himself firmly on the pole and made it clear he was going to be the man to beat this season.

Starting the race with the early lead the situation was about to take a change for the worst. With a bad oil leak and a trail of smoke Kroll was forced to pit on lap 19 handing the lead to Tempero. With most of the regular crew and myself back in Toronto, former teammate and Can-Am driver Mike Freberg assisted Horst in repairing a hole in the rocker cover. Returning to the race five laps down, Kroll fought his way to a 4th place finish to preserve the point lead. With the win Bill Tempero now emerged as a championship threat as the series headed to St Louis. With his repair and return to the race, Horst keep the record of most consecutive finishes alive at 20.

St Louis International Raceway - August 3rd, 1986

After two seasons of precipitous decline, the SCCA moved in to take over control of Can-Am for 1986. Relationships with the remaining competitors quickly soured and, in July, the SCCA announced they were folding the series after the next race at Mosport. That, along with Bill Tempero's win, coupled with his 4th place set back at Summit Point left Horst entering St. Louis with no margin for error.

The qualifying and race was all Lou Sell. Sell took the pole by more than 1.5 seconds ahead of Kroll and lead from start to finish. With his second place finish Horst was heading home with the point lead. Bill Tempero with his 5th place finish was clearly the man we needed to beat.

Mosport - September 14th, 1986

  After the 1-2 finish in June, the Horst Kroll Racing team entered the final Can-Am weekend with hopes set high on a Championship victory. Kroll basically needed to finish the race ahead of Bill Tempero. Back for the weekend was Joe Demarco in the KR5 he place in third the year before. The big excitement around the team also was the addition of the exciting rookie Paul Tracy. Many of us had been following Paul from his go-cart days, but was still finding it hard to except that Horst would turn the KR4 Frissbee over to this kid. However, we were about to find out the talent this young man had, as Paul was up to speed quickly after only a couple of laps in the car.

After a typical September rain and cautious team owner forced the eager young driver to sit the day before, Tracy arrived on Saturday morning with only one session to adjust to the bigger car and some 400 plus horsepower over his regular F-2000 ride, before the afternoon qualifying.

When the team arrived Saturday morning Kroll took the car around the track himself for 4 laps. You see, Horst was very protective of his cars, not just because he was the mechanic and driver, but also because most of his racing operation was funded by himself with a little outside help from people like Cero Gucciardi and Extrudex Aluminum as our weekend sponsor once again. Satisfied with the cars performance he turn it over to the eager young Tracy.

Calm and experienced, Kroll had driven Mosport many times over his 25-year career. Preparing to enter the race in a position to win the championship, however he also felt it necessary to help the young driver learn how to handle the car and qualify all in one day.

In Krolls own words "Paul, I would like you to drive behind me and we'll get faster every lap" Kroll was aware of Tracy's reputation for on-track aggression, but was shocked when the young driver showed he was more than ready for the challenge. After a few laps Kroll decided "Goodbye Paul" He said " I put my foot in it and do a lap, I look in my mirror and this kid is behind me" I still remember Horst telling me later "Every time I stepped it up a notch the kid was still in my mirror. I could not shake him. I knew then and there he had talent".

Qualifying went well with Paul edging Horst for the pole and Demarco putting the KR5 fourth on the grid. Most important for us was Horst keeping championship rival Bill Tempero behind him in third. However the team were in for a busy night. On the closing laps of Saturday qualifying, a strong crosswind spun Kroll into a guardrail between corners 8 and 9 and the car facing the track. Horst jumped out of the car just in time to watch a hard charging Tracy slam into it, sending us back to Kroll's shop for the night with two cars to repair. As the evening wore on Horst was becoming increasingly agitated by the fact that Paul just left the track, never stopped by to see how the cars were, or talk about what happened. That lack of concern and disappearance was what bothered Kroll, not really whether or not a rookie mistake was or wasn't a factor. Kroll just wanted to talk about it, but was really bothered by Paul's lack of concern for others or the cars. But that was just the way Paul was. However, for myself, Horst, and the rest of our small crew it was back to the shop and a long night ahead.

Following a late night at the shop a tired crew were at the track early Sunday morning to work on the race setup. Having not spoken to Tracy yet, and with only a few hours sleep, a tired Kroll was focused on his own job at hand, finishing ahead of Bill Tempero, and the championship he had chased for so many years, and so many miles would be his. After practice Demarco, Tracy and Kroll were all satisfied that the cars and the team went back to normal race preparation.

The start of race would quickly have concerns for Kroll. As he entered corner one the oil light came on causing him to back of the gas and championship rival Bill Tempero slipped into second behind Tracy. From his vantage point, Kroll could only watch in disbelief, "He's leading the race, Tempero is behind him, and I am forced to sit back" Kroll said with a laugh later, "Oh my God, there goes my championship, he's going to stick with Paul"

Lap ten saw Tempero grabbed the lead briefly. "Paul going off the track in corner 5, through the cars, bits are flying" says the wily veteran, knowing his only option is to hang back and finish, "Tempero has the lead and I just have to sit back and watch him win" However, Paul fought back regaining the lead two laps later with a nice move on the inside of corner 8. Paul never looked back as he held the lead the rest of the way to become the youngest winner in Can-Am history.

Things got even sweeter for myself and my teammates, cheering from the top of the tower, we watched Tempero drop out from clutch failure. Horst reclaimed the number two position for another 1-2 finish and finally the Can-Am Championship he had chased for so many years. Unfortunately Joe DeMarco was forced to pit on lap 21 with oil pressure problems. With this race Horst would also go into the Can-Am record book with the most consecutive finishes in series history at 22.

After the SCCA took back control of the series, the Can-Am Teams (CAT) declared their independence and devised a championship that included the four existing Can-Am races plus an extra race at Hallett, Oklahoma, in October in which Horst was declared the CAT Champion also.

"Paul and I finished one-two. It  was one of the greatest moments of my  racing career" Kroll said to me awhile ago "Having your cars finish first and second, winning the Championship I had worked so hard for, and helping a young driver on his way to a Hall of Fame career, as a driver and owner it was a great day"

For myself and my Horst Kroll Racing teammates it was also a moment to cherish. So many miles and long hours we had spent chasing down this dream, and there it was, our Champion driver standing on the podium, the Mosport crowd cheering wildly, and a young rising star beside him. It was a great moment in our country's motorsport history and I still to this day feel so so thankful and fortunate to be apart of it.

Back at the motorhome it was time to celebrate and let it all sink in, but something was missing. Just as quickly as he had arrived, Paul had gone. He showed up, did his job, won a pole and gave us another team victory, then he left. Little did we realize that day, we had just spent the weekend with a young man on his way to a Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame career and the guy we would all come to know as "The Thrill From West Hill".

 More about the Paul Tracy weekend can be found in Kroll's interview with author Paul Ferriss in the book, "Never Too Fast: The Paul Tracy Story"

The Final Farewell

 For me the race at Mosport marked the end of my time with Horst Kroll Racing and some of the most fun and memorable years of my life. Shortly after the season ended, I moved back to Nova Scotia, however during those times I made friendships that will last a lifetime.

Although we haven't had the chance to get together often over the years, I talk regularly on the phone with Horst, often just reminiscing about the times past. I will always have fond memories of the regular crew members, Birgit Kroll, Julie Bishop, Rolph Burger, Greg Dixon and the late Steve Dalnoki that I spent so many miles and long hours with on the road to the championship.

I think often of the other many great drivers I had the chance to work with, Duff Hubbard, Ken Adolf, Aldo Andretti, Paul Tracy, Walter Lechner, John Graham, Joe DeMarco, Murray Edwards and one of my favorites Bill Adam. As I said a final farewell to Horst and my teammates at the victory party in December, I returned to my native home with a load of fond memories. I hope through this blog site to share more memories and stay close to the sport I love so much. I welcome anyone with experiences, or photos to share, to contact me at: canadianautoracing@hotmail.com

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