The Devin Story - part 3: 1992 Wine Country Classic: This is an annual event held by Steve Earle at Sears Point raceway. It was my first time on the track and the course certainly does not feature rookies. It was an interesting race in which Don Orosco qualified on the pole. I was on the outside of him in the front row. In the second row was Ol' Yeller driven by Peter Shea. Peter had a 500 C.I. motor and an immense amount of torque. Don Orosco is a great driver. Just before the race, Orosco "couldn't start his car" ( I think he was sand bagging ) and started from the back position Peter Shea and I had a great race. It was all I could do to keep him behind me. On about the sixth or seventh lap, I was still in the lead when Orosco passed me on the inside of the Carousel. This is quite an impressive off-camber decreasing radius turn to be passed on. I know that I was very impressed and was very pleased with my second place finish.

1992 Monterey Historics and Pebble Beach: Bill loved his cars and enjoyed watching the owners of Devin's race them across the country. Bill attended several races and was a great supporter of not only my efforts, but the other Devin race campaigners. Bill and I met in Monterey in August for the fabulous Monterey Historic Races. Bill stayed in his motor home at the race track. There were always bets to see if Bill's Winnebago would make it to the events. It had a rather large accumulation of miles on it. I remember that his throttle cable broke and we drove about 50 miles to find a replacement cable and installed it for him that weekend. Ed Henning attended from South Carolina. Bill couldn't wait for another pair of Devin rivals square off. However, Ed crashed his car in the Corkscrew in practice and wasn't around for the race on Saturday. The bottom line of the race for the Devin were summarized with brakes that overheated and resulted in cruising around the track in third gear most of the race. We finished about fourth to a few much slower cars. The highlight was again being invited to the Concours D'Ellegance by Lorin Tryon at the races. When Bill and I were sitting on the paddock waiting for the race to begin, Lorin asked me if I would kindly not crash the car this time and would Bill and I please attend the Concours the next day. Bill was in the Devin when we crossed over the viewing stand.

After the race, we cleaned up the car and loaded up for the Concours the next morning. Bill met me there and when our time came, we drove together over the podium. We were both thrilled. The following morning, however, Bill and I enjoyed something that he said was one of his greatest thrills of his life.

1991 Monterey Laguna Seca Ferrari Club Event: The Ferrari Club event at Laguna Seca is a day when the Ferrari Club rents the track and members can drive they machines on a great race track. I met Bill Devin at the track and Bill helped pit that day. When my turn came to drive, I was in Group 4, the fastest cars. This group included Ferrari's fastest cars, like the F-40s and 288 GTOs. I started last. On about the fourth lap, I caught the leaders and entered ducked inside turn 11 at the hairpin. The four fastest Ferraris in the group were just ahead of me at the outside and proper line for that turn. I started to accelerate up the hill. Before the top of the bridge at start-finish, all four Ferraris were tiny dots in the mirror. I completed the remainder of the session. When I came in, Bill had tears in his eyes and said, "Barry Watkins, this is the happiest day in my life. I been waiting for forty years to beat Ferrari and you just devastated and embarrassed the best cars they ever made." My little blue Devin could not corner nor brake near as fast as any of the Ferraris, but there was no comparison in the acceleration. The Devin's 425 HP and 2,000 pounds of weight make one very confident that they would race for pink slips with practically any street legal production car.

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