IniezioneIniezioneIniezione May 2009 The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club

All Italian Car Gathering… Triple X Drive In

In This Issue:

The Fiat Enthusiasts Northwest put on their All Italian Gathering once again. The place was the

Triple X Drive In located in Issaquah. The 80 +/- cars filled the parking area nicely. From Alfa Ro-

meo, Fiat, Ferrari, Lamborghini, DeTomaso, to Lancia.

One of the Lamborghini‟s had a wild paint job. Seems funny to take a wild car and add wild paint, but to each their own. There was a Fiat 500 Wagon… it‟s about 12” longer than a standard Fiat

500. The Pantera section had a number of very nice, scary sounding cars. The sound of a big V8 is really impressive from those cars.

The Alfa Romeo section had a great turn out of cars… from multiple Duettos, numerous Spiders,

Gordy‟s JrZ, Merril‟s GTV6, a few GTVs and even more Alfa‟s in the parking areas around the show.

When people thought they‟d seen it all Pasquale showed up driving the attention grabbing Alfa

8cCompetizione. That drew a crowd and sure sounded great. (Especially as he left you could hear him take off down I-90.)

The awards for each make of car are awarded solely on People‟s

Choice. They had a number of great cars

to choose from and in the end they chose Sharon

Crosetto‟s very nice Gold Spider. Nice day and nicely done Sharon! By Fred

Russell

* President’s Column..pg 2 * News…….……..…......pg 3

* Club Meeting……......pg 4 * Martin Rudow ..........pg 5 * Tulip Rallye……….....pg 6

* Villa d’Este.……….....pg 7

* Bremerton Track…...pg 8 * April Lapping………..pg 9 * Membership………...pg 11 * Classified Ads…..... pg 12

* Calendar………...…..pg 12

Next events... * Club Meeting ……...May 12 * Lapping Day...….....May 22 * Lapping Evening….June 17

Pasquale’s 8c and Cindy’s Spider look good together

Alfa Fun and unique!

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club

Harry

President’s Column By Harry Reed

NWARC in Excellent Shape

As I pen this column I can see bright sunshine in the garden, such a deal. The LaConner Tulip Daffodil Rallye is upon us. My daughter (the naviga-

tor) and I are ready for a top down drive and a good tour. This will be our fourth Tulip Tour; each year seems to get better. We have yet to win the

gimmick rallye. Just being there among all the neat cars makes all of us who participate a winner.

John Gates has stepped forward to head up our tech inspections on track days. This is a very important function to the club and helps us ensure we

have a safe track event. Our thanks to John. I look forward to seeing John and his red Alfa on the track.

Our club has purchased twelve new radios for our track events. We put them to use for the first time at Pacific Raceway. Our communications were

much improved, which makes for a safer lapping day for both the drivers and the track workers. Greg Miller obtained three bids for radios. The Club

Board made a decision as to which radios to order and the purchase was made. Then the hard work began. Greg was able to fit the twelve radios,

headsets, battery chargers, hand mics and radio belts into two footlockers. Greg then installed a cooling fan in each footlocker to cool the batteries

during the charging cycle. The charging system is wired in series so that all twelve radios may be charged at the same time. All this is accomplished

by using just one standard 120-volt household outlet. This was a very labor-intensive project, THANKS GREG.

You may or may not know that our Track Events support all of our club activities. It is not unlike a College Football program, in that the funds from

football support the other student activities. Most of the club dues we pay go to run the National Alfa Romeo Owners Club. The dues that do go to

our club do not cover our annual expenses. Our club is in excellent financial shape, unlike some of the banks we know about. Our good financial

condition is due solely from the income of track events. Our outstanding Competition Committee, of course, puts on these events. Competition Di-

rector, Brian William‟s, and all his helpers have a full schedule of events the next five months. Please give them your support whenever possible.

Martin Rudow made a great presentation of Italian Racecar History, from the 50‟s, through the 70‟s at out last meeting. These Italian cars all had a

history of racing in the Northwest. Martin‟s enthusiasm was certainly contagious. Thanks Martin, for a great Italian evening.

We have had all winter to get our Alfas ready for driving. Guess what, its time. Hope to see all of you on the great Northwest back roads.

Ciao, Harry

Pasta Nova

17310 140th Ave NE Woodinville, WA 98072

(425) 483-3716 www.pastanovaitaliano.com

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club News For The Drying Out Alfisti

Seattle Times wants you… for the Sunday paper: E-mail a photo of you

and your car (172-dpi, about 5 by 7 inches) plus your name; phone num-

ber; occupation; car's year, make and model; and complete the sentence "I love my car because...". Send to: mycar@nwautos.com Our members are invited to show, or attend the Uptown Car Show May

30th in Gig Harbor. The show will be held from 10 am to 4 pm. All cars are welcome… even Alfa Romeos. To be together as a club, either phone Dorothy Brinz at (253) 534-9600 or indicate “Alfa club” on the registration form. You can learn more about the show at www.UptownCarShow.com.

Jon Shirley wins Trifecta at Villa d’Este in Italy.

See page 7.

Chrysler / Fiat deal still on, despite filing bank-ruptcy. The reorganization is one of the steps so it looks like the deal will still go through as planned.

We‟ll just have to wait and see what‟s next. Sunriver Festival of Cars at Sunriver Oregon: We

are invited to attend or display cars in this very popular car show in September. The event draws around 200 cars and is a casual, yet very nice show. The date of

the show is September 19.

For more info: www.sunriverfestivalofcars.com John Barchasch wins the Tulip Rallye for the second time in a row. See more on page 6.

Sharon Crosetto wins Best of Show / Alfa at All Italian Car Gathering in

Issaquah. See more info on page 1.

Online Newsletter Option The Iniezione is now online… the enhanced

(color, active hyperlinks, printable) version is now online at the club web-site. This issue has been loaded to the site, e-mailed to you (if you„re in

the club‟s e-mail directory) and mailed to you. Those who didn‟t get this as an e-mail may need to update their e-mail list-ing within the club.

To do so, send a message to: info-subscribe@nwalfaclub.com If you want to keep getting the mailed copy, you don‟t need to do anything except read and enjoy. If you only want the e-mail version, make sure you‟re in the club e-mail list, send an e-mail to: editor@nwalfaclub.com

that simply says “online only” and has your name showing.

Club Liaisons Board Members

Italian Car Club of British Columbia

Fritz Duernberger (604) 988 7904

Society of Vintage Racing

Enthusiasts (SOVREN)

Steve Schaeffer (206) 789 9317

Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Oregon

Dan Sommers (503) 274 0064

www.nwalfaclub.com

The Iniezione is the monthly newsletter of the

Northwest Alfa Romeo Club, a non-profit organi-

zation of Alfa Romeo enthusiasts. NWARC is a

regional chapter of the national Alfa Romeo

Owners Club (AROC). Chapter meetings are held

the second Tuesday of every month except De-

cember.

Membership dues are $63 per year, which in-

cludes subscriptions to the Iniezione and the

national publication, Alfa Owner. For information

about joining the club, contact the membership

director, whose name appears on the previous

page.

Opinions expressed in the Iniezione are those of

the author and do not necessarily reflect those

of the club. Publication of articles describing

technical procedures does not constitute an en-

dorsement by the club, its officers, or AROC. It is

the responsibility of the person performing any

procedure to accept all consequences of his or

her actions.

Committee Directors

President Harry Reed 8111 184th St. SW Edmonds, WA 98026 harryreed@access4less.net Vice President Tom Mous 595 SW Mount Cedar Drive Issaquah, WA 98027 (425) 391 6429 Thomas.a.mous@boeing.com Secretary George Gibbs 23326 55th Ave S Kent, WA 98032-2817 (206) 465 9415

AlfaMale1@gmail.com Treasurer Ron Calkins PO Box 33512 Seattle, WA 98133 (206) 403 3445 ron_calkins@hotmail.com Activities Merril Gordon (206) 290 4704 mgordon_gtv6@msn.com Competition Brian Williams (206) 444 5115 veloceracer@gmail.com Membership Mirko Freguia Mirko@copperfin.com (425) 898 0232 x100 __________________________ Iniezione Editor Fred Russell

editor@nwalfaclub.com Technical Editor Wes Ingram 15613 “C” Peterson Road Burlington, WA 98233 (360) 707 5701 wing@nwlink.com

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club May Club Meeting in Bellevue! May 12, 2009

Tuesday - May 12, 2009

6:30—7:30 PM Showroom Wandering 7:30—9:30 PM Meeting / Presentation

Location: Park Place Ltd. www.parkplaceltd.com

13710 NE 20th Street Bellevue, WA 98005

Special Guest: Don Kitch, Team Seattle

http://www.teamseattle.com/

Please come join us for an evening at Park Place Ltd. in Bellevue, cour-

tesy of our host, Shannon Low and crew. The shop once again has of-

fered to host our monthly meeting and to tell us about their newest de-

velopments.

We will also be featuring Don Kitch, who will be racing with Team Seattle

at their first attempt at this year‟s 24 Hours of

Le Mans in France. Team Seattle has been rais-

ing funds for Children‟s Hospital for many years

at the 24 Hours of Daytona and has now

stepped up to Le Mans!

Don will tell us all about the teams new cars

(Ferrari 430 GT), the upcoming race, the fund-

raising programs like the “Your Face at Le

Mans” , as well as anything else we want to

know.

We will hold our general meeting around 7:30 and then hand over to our

hosts. They are certainly going to entertain us with plenty of racing and

new car stuff.

Monthly meetings are usually held on the second Tuesday of every

month. See you there!

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club

Martin Rudow Shares NW Racing History

Our April club meeting brought us a history lesson on the cars, drivers, and

tracks from the rich racing past here in the northwest. Martin Rudow, club

member and accomplished author, brought great photos and stories along

with his latest book, Weekends of Glory. This book covers local racing

through the years of 1962 to 1970.

Martin grew up in a family that was very active in the local race scene so

many of the stories included first hand accounts of racers and races. Each

car has a story, and each person a character. Martin focused on the Italian

cars to keep the meeting under 10 hours long. We heard about races at Pacific

Raceways, Westwood, and Portland, but also about Ft. Lawton, Tillamook, Bremerton,

Paine Field, and Golden Gate, among others.

The mix of cars was amazing with big budget cars on the track along with local garage built, low

budget racers. Often Martin knows who built the cars, how they ran, and where they are today.

Many of the drivers are still very active within the vintage race

clubs like SOVREN, and can be seen on the local tracks.

The setting for this “schooling” was the loft area of a great restau-

rant called Tutta Bella located in the Columbia City neighborhood of

Seattle. They served us great Italian food and pizzas while we hustled through our

meeting and then lazily listened to Martin. It was a great way to spend the evening.

Then, the great people at Books4Cars.com opened up late for us. They are located

less than a block away and we had our own late night

shopping for fun Alfa and other car related books.

I have shared a few of the pictures from the book,

but to really enjoy the depth behind this, make sure

you find Martin and buy his latest book… Weekends of

Glory. http://

www.rspubs.com/

(Just note, his previous book “Long

Straights and Hair Pin Turns” is out

of print and selling used for hun-

dreds of dollars so buy the current

book now for just $69.95 and be

ahead of the curve.)

by Fred Russell

1957 Abbotsford, BC

1954 SCCA Nationals Bremerton, WA

Lancia Flaminia

Alfa GTA

1953 Siata at Paine Field, WA

1960 SCCA Regional's at Pacific Raceways

Gary Gove in a Cheetah at Pacific Raceways

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club Tulip Rallye Wrap-up April 25, 2009

The 28th annual MG Car Club Tulip Rallye was held

on April 25th with a record number of cars and peo-

ple. It serves as one of the funnest gimmick rallies

we get to drive. This year was no exception. Goofy

questions, great roads, outstanding scenery, and a

wonderful variety of cars makes for a great way to

spend the day with a bunch of like minded people.

The NWARC had a good turn out with approximately

10 cars! The other car clubs showed up, with 25

Corvettes, a few old Minis and 30+ new Minis. Of

course the MG club had plenty of great examples of British creativity including MGTC, TD and

TF models rattling their way around the course. In all, 306 cars were in this year‟s event… a

new record.

The weather was great for the day and the tulips were in perfect bloom… though the tough

competition didn‟t leave much room to stop and

enjoy them. At the start, they handed drivers one

of three different course instructions so you can‟t

follow the people in front of you. The paths lead

us through the tulip fields then down onto Whid-

bey Island as we answered the funny questions.

After Ebey‟s Landing, always a favorite place for

me, we stopped in Coupeville and dropped off

food and donations for the local food bank. When

the final scores where tallied, one of the most

amazing parts was that over 735 pounds of food,

and over $1400 of cash had been donated. It‟s

great to have fun with make a difference.

In the end, the awards were handed out to the

winning team from each car club. The NWARC

winner was a repeat by the John Barchasch team

driving their Alfa Spider! Nicely done and now

the pressure is on for 2010 for a threepete.

By Fred Russell

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este April 24—26, 2009

One of the premier car shows on the planet is held annually on the shores of

Lake Como in northern Italy. Concorso d‟Eleganza Villa d‟Este! Jon Shirley

displayed his beautifully restored dark blue 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C2900B and

established a new high mark win.

The Concorso d‟Eleganza Villa d‟Este is perhaps the most significant of all

events celebrating the

mystique of Historic Cars.

It is undoubtedly the most

traditional event which

was held for the first time

as early as 1929. Over the years it wasn‟t always held, but was revived

in 1990 and has been a must see event ever since.

They award three top trophies; First is the Coppa d’Oro Villa d’Este

which is voted by secret ballot from the special guests, general atten-

dees, and actual entrants. Next is the Trofeo BMW Group - Best in

Show which is the vote of the event judges. Third, there is the Tro-

feo BMW Italia voted on by only the general attendees.

For the first time in event history, one car took all top three honors…

Jon Shirley and his Alfa 8C2900B. Congratulations Jon!

Trivia Question for May… Alfa Romeo built 2640 of the RLTF from 1921 to 1927. The question is… What key

thing was added for the first time in 1923? We still have this on our cars today.

Trivia Answer for April… What kind of household appliance did Alfa Romeo

manufacture just after WWII?

The answer is stoves… They were an odd Gas Electric stove. Half of the burner elements were gas and half

were electric. I‟m told that the reason was that so much infrastructure was damaged during WWII that nei-

ther power source was dependable. Logic was to simply have both so you could use whichever was avail-

able. If it burned oil it would have more in common with my current Alfa Romeo. Fred R

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club Bremerton Track Day Coming Up May 22nd

Bremerton Raceway is a 1.25 mile temporary road

course.

Track layout for lapping day is delineated by cones

and varies slightly every event. The illustration

above is the general area used to layout the track

for our track events.

This NWARC lapping event is a great chance to

practice or perfect your skills and car settings. This

is also the place to learn what our lapping days are

all about for anyone new to this. To Register for

the day:

http://www.nwalfaclub.com/track/registration.php

Schedule

7:00 a.m. Gates Open

7:30 a.m. Registration & Safety Inspection

8:30 a.m. MANDATORY driver's meeting

12:00 p.m. Lunch

4:00-5:00 p.m. Track closes

Be sure to read and understand all of the NWARC

Safety rules posted at our web site.

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club

April Lapping Day at Pacific Raceways Wrap up!

The weather tried to scare us away, but the number of

people signed up was higher than normal, and they all

showed up at the April 23rd Lapping Day at Pacific Raceways. For me, the day started with a swing past John Van Rensberg‟s (JVR) home to pickup his Alfa 75 to take him

to the track. It is always a great way to make friends with the neighbors when you start his fire breathing 3.7 ltr monster at 6:30 AM to drive it into the trailer. With a lot of noise and a little grunt work, the car inside,

strapped down, and on the way. The spotty rain showers had stopped while we were still

on our way to Pacific Raceways and held off all day…

though cold, it was fine for the track event. The track registration was a bit behind schedule, and

with higher than normal volume of cars, we ended up get-ting a late start. Once going Group A had a good session

that included a number of very fast cars… a black Lambor-ghini Gallardo, a twin turbocharged Cor-

vette, and a number of Alfas. Group B went well for

a while on their first

session… until one Race Mustang lost an oil line and dumped nearly 10 qts of oil on

the track, right on line

from turn 3B to just before turn 6. 100

pounds of grease sweep and 2 hours later we

were back to driving. (The Mustang driver was cool to apologize to everyone during the drivers meeting!) The unfortunate casualty

of the oil was a BMW that spun in turn 5 and hit the tire barrier hard enough to dent the entire side of the car. The afternoon sessions went well with a large

number of cars in each outing. Group C had one casualty in mid afternoon when a stu-

JVR setting up to pass a Mini.

Red Ryder Running Right

Chris Benny leading a Lamborghini

The newsletter of the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club April Lapping Day cont’d...

dent and instructor in a BMW M3 missed a shift, spun and took a hard hit on the wall in turn 9. Nobody was seriously

hurt, thanks to seat belts, airbags, and a good car. Turn workers, emergency response, and track crew all did a great job and we were back to driving quickly.

Great job to the Comp Committee for another well run track event even with a couple challenges. Great job to all the driv-ers and instructors who made it another successful and fun

day at the track. (oh, yeah… thanks to JVR for having the Alfa 75 monster at the track and to

Tom Nuxoll for spending so much time entertaining us with your car sideways and back-wards.) by Fred Russell

Ferrari tries to hold off an Alfa in turn 9 Fred Wright getting some fast laps

A pack of Porsches running from a fast Lamborghini

Alfa e’Alfa

Putting 500+ HP to good use!

Name:_________________________________________________________ Spouse:________________________________________________________

Address:_______________________________________________________ City/State/Zip:__________________________________________________ Home Phone:___________________________________________________ E-mail address:_________________________________________________ Work Phone:___________________________________________________

Do you wish to be affiliated with the local Alfa Club, NWARC? ____________ Please indicate your interests: Technical_____ Tours_____ Social______ Rally______ Vintage Cars_______

Cost: $60 annual + $3 to join NWARC

Make check payable to: ALFA ROMEO OWNERS CLUB E-mail:Admin@aroc-usa.org

Mail to: ALFA ROMEO OWNERS CLUB P.O. BOX 12340 KANSAS CITY, MO 64116-0340

NWARC / AROC Membership Application

Welcome New Members!!!

On behalf of the entire NWARC, a warm and enthu-siastic WELCOME to our new member who have

joined the club within the past couple months. Brian Gillow, Everett

Thank you for taking the time and joining, we‟re very glad to have you as part of the group. We look forward to seeing you at monthly meetings and events, and to sharing our passion of Alfa Romeo.

The following members have volunteered to pro-

vide Alfa Mentoring!!! Ciao, Mirko Model/Series Member Name Contact GTV-6, 164 Randy Rumley rjrumley@yahoo.com 164 Dan Jardine thosejardines@comcast.net GTV Dave Emerson dj.emerson@comcast.net 70‟s Spiders, Series 4 Greg Miller gmiller@pqei.com 70‟ Spiders, GTV Fred Wright alfafredly@hotmail.com Spiders (101/105) George Gibbs alfamale1@gmail.com 80‟s Spiders Harry Reed harryreed@access4less.net Everything! Fred Russell FKTMRussell@msn.com

LL

C

The Alfa Club National Convention is coming to-

gether. The details are in the Alfa Owner and the

AROO / Convention Website is working. Either way,

do your planning and get signed up.

http://www.velocenelverde.org

AROO is looking for volunteers for many of the

events.

Contact Roger Dilts at arcvolcon@gmal.com or

503 768 4437

AROC National Convention

July 15—19, 2009

Wanted: A set of 4 Campagnolo wheels for and Alfa Spider.

I‟m looking for wheels in Good Condition. If you don‟t have Cam-

pagnolo, but you have nice wheels, contact me (Marke). sim-

mons.marke@gmail.com

For Sale: After racing it only once a year for the last three years

I've decided to sell my RX-7 Pro7 racecar and free up the garage for

new projects. The car is straight, never crashed, turn key and

ready to race. It is fast in its class, and amazingly reliable! I built

the car myself from a straight, rust free, one owner streetcar. The

car still has the original engine but it is as quick down the straight

as the guys with their shop built $$ 'stock' engines, in spite of my

shift points being much earlier, and does not show any signs of old

age. The car has maybe 10 races since I built it, if that and I have

not even replaced the sparkplugs in that time! Obviously I've

changed the oil, brake fluid and brakes but that's it. Car can sit for

months and then fire right up. I even usually drive the car to the

track and many times don't even open the hood on a race weekend,

and the car is as quick as the ones that have been tinkered with all

weekend. Last fall I drove the car to the track, on the race tires,

skipped the Saturday practice and Sunday morning qualifying. Was

underweight in the Saturday qualifying so I had to start at the back

of the field, did not touch a thing on the car all weekend, except fill

it up with gas, and finished third in class (out of 6 Pro7 cars) and

20th out of 36 cars overall so the car is very capable.

$3500 for a quick and hassle free sale. The car comes with 3 sets

of wheels, Toyo RA-1 rain tires in great condition and used up

shaved RA-1s on the other two sets. Also includes a spare transmis-

sion, a locked rear end, extra carburetor and brake calipers and

misc other bits and pieces. Any questions please email me at:

moltek@hotmail.com Thanks, Thomas Moll

For Sale: 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio Very nice origi-

nal condition. Excellent grey leather interior, no cracks. Red exte-

rior has a few minor nicks. Everything works, 49K original

miles. Factory hardtop. Recent clutch, exhaust, brakes, tires, and

rubber replacement parts. $8500.00 Call Gene in Port Townsend

at 360-379-0209 or gktenney@cablespeed.com for photos.

ALFA Classified Ads Calendar of Events

May 12 Club Meeting Park Place / Bellevue

May 22 NWARC Bremerton Lapping Day

June 17 NWARC Pacific Raceways Lapping (Evening)

July 3-5 PNW Historics Pacific Raceways

July 15—19 AROC National Convention Portland OR

July 22 NWARC Pacific Raceways Lapping Day (TBD)

August 6-9 AROO NW Classic Rally XXI Oregon

August 27 NWARC Pacific Raceways Lapping Day (TBD)

Sept 6 17th Annual Italian Concours

Sept 26-28 Terry and Joan Larson 3 Day Fall Tour

October 15 NWARC Bremerton Lapping Day

Are you advertising in Iniezione? Why Not?

Many of us would prefer buying services from fellow Alfisti before looking

outside the “family”.

Advertisements in the newsletter are a win, win, win. 1. Ad

revenue goes to the club. 2. Members feel better about who they contact.

3. Your business gets added exposure during this very tight economy.

From contractors, attorney‟s, designers, printers, landscapers, etc… Spread

your word by placing an ad.

Advertising Rates

Full Page: $25 Monthly $175 Annually

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Bus Card size: $15 Monthly $ 90 Annually

E-mail a tif, or pdf file (300 DPI) to editor@nwalfaclub.com

CC ron_calkins@hotmail.com to arrange payment.

Interested in placing a classified ad? E-mail to editor@nwalfaclub.com with your text. Please include

name, phone, and preferably an e-mail address. Add in a photo

if you‟d like but keep it small. Your ad will run for sixty days or

two newsletters.

Want your ad to continue to run for another month? E-mail: editor@nwalfaclub.com before the 15th of the month.