Continued from} 17-Year-Old Paul Tracy Grabs Can-Am Pole - September 13th, 1986
Mosport - September 14th, 1986
Mosport - September 14th, 1986
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 would be his.
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"
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 Kroll as Tempero drop out with clutch failure. Horst reclaimed the number two position for another HKRacing 1-2 finish and finally the Can-Am Championship he had chased for so many years. 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.
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| Horst Kroll, the 1986 Can-Am & CAT Champion "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 becoming a Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member 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"
More about my years with Horst Kroll Racing and the Championship chase can be found at: