Race to the Swift; Hearts to Eagle

Eagle Performance Racing of Santa Barbara went to Le Mans last week with an obsolete race car, an untried engine, two rookie drivers on a bread and cheese budget--and France loved every audacious moment of this lone Yankee Doodle effort.

But worship wasn’t enough. Eagle’s 2-year-old Chevrolet Corvette prototype did not finish in the francs.

In fact, after being nibbled to death by mechanical problems, it did not even start the prestigious 24-hour race.

“It was a lot of little things that added up to a lot,” said team driver Dennis Kazmerowski. “The first problem was a vapor lock in one radiator that caused overheating.”

Overheating burned pistons and scored cylinders. Race inspectors declared the car a centimeter too short here, a millimeter too long there. The exhaust pipe measured too low. The rear spoiler rose too high.

“Even our American driving suits didn’t meet safety requirements for European racing,” said Kazmerowski. “We got everything fixed and then found the alternator was not pumping out enough juice (electricity).

“Out in practice, after about 10 laps, the car just quit, dead, and we couldn’t get it started again in time for the race.”

Yet buoyed by fun and friendly headlines (one French newspaper described the American car with its huge, 900-horsepower engine as: Le Monstre Retour ), the support of fans (two California tourists located the team and presented them with a story about them that had appeared in the Los Angeles Times) and informal invitations from race officials to compete again, Eagle Performance plans to return to Le Mans next year.

Failure, says Kazmerowski, always is integral to maximum effort. That’s racing. Also c’est la vie.