Some great racing and many memorable stories were made at the Midwest’s regions first 944 Spec event this year. First up was Gateway International Raceway – a fun banked “roval” in St. Louis. Four new 944 Spec drivers went through comp school enjoying the support and enthusiasm of the Rocky Mountain region, led by 944 Spec Drivers Chuck Taylor and David Dirks.

Back to the racing: Saturday, Eban Bell broke the Dirks/Taylor dominance by qualifying on the pole, though Bell, Dirks, Taylor, and Wright were all closely packed in the 1:15’s. Phillip O’Brien, Weston Pawlows, Cullen Winter, and Bruce Bell, and Eric Kuhns (no times d/t transponder issues) rounded out an impressive grid for the Midwest’s opening race. Unfortunately, David Wright collected the wall pretty hard with the side of his 944. Due to his halo seat and good protective equipment, he walked away, and through great 944 Spec teamwork, was able to get his car race ready again the next day. Before the day was out, there were some more car casualties, namely Cullen Winter’s motor losing oil pressure, and Eric Kuhns breaking a CV joint. With a spare axle from Andy Berberich, and quick work by VFC Engineering, neither Eric nor Angel Basquez, who was sharing that car for comp. school, missed a single session.

Eric did, however, find himself distracted by his new Spec Director duties while the field started pulling out of grid! Pulling out from pit lane, Eric saw a busy, but clean start, and got to work moving through the field, enjoying some good, clean, and fast racing through the banked roval, setting a lap record of 1:14.469 that would hold up through both days. Meanwhile David Dirks was running up front, with Chuck Taylor hard in chase. Chuck “Captain Oversteer” Taylor did Eric the favor of spinning in front of him on the transition back to the oval, leaving the track open to Chase down David, who was handicapped by driving his wife’s lesser built car (Michelle Dirks is on one the Rocky Mountain Regions newest Spec Drivers). Several laps of side by side, pass & re-pass racing ensued by before Eric was able to get clear and put a little distance on David. The elation of the pit-lane to 1st place run was short lived as Eric realized on the cooldown lap that he had neglected to put up his window net in his rush out of the pits. A safety checklist now resides on his dashboard, motivated by the sting of being moved to last place. This moved Dirks up for yet another win, followed by Chuck, an impressive 3rd for Phillip O’Brien, followed by Bruce Bell and Weston Pawlows.

Sunday, the comp school graduates joined in to the mix, with Ray Freundt, and BJ Meyer qualifying an impressive 3rd & 4th place respectively. David Dirks had a fuel leak, leaving Chuck to take the pole with a blistering 1:14.421, with Eban Bell second at 1:15.887. The grid was rounded out by Bruce Bell, Jeff Eshelman, Angel Blasquez, and David Wright. Eric turned his car over to Angel to complete comp school, and enjoyed running the VFC Engineering, ex-World Touring Car Challenge, VW GTI that day.
Sunday saw more close racing, with few incidents. Rookie Ray Freundt, having overcome fueling issues and binding rear Delrin Bushings with help of VFC Engineering, impressed everyone by running with veterans like Chuck Taylor and David Dirks, finishing a strong 4rd behind winner David Dirks, then Chuck Taylor and Eban Bell. Also impressive was BJ Meyer, who despite only having 2 gears left towards the end of the race, put in a heroic effort to hold onto 5th. Angel Blasquez and Jeff Eshelman rounded out the finishers, completing their first race cleanly, and graduating comp school to join the growing ranks of 944 Spec Drivers.
In addition to the comp school money from VFC, Ray Freundt earned another $50 for the hard charger award, as well as some Toyo bucks. For his iron man drive from New Mexico to St. Louis behind the wheel of his race car, only to experience an engine failure, Cullen Winter will be getting a check for $50, Sponsored by Doc’s Upholstery.

Speaking of Sponsors, CDOC awarded over $600 worth of prizes, and Toyo over $800 through the weekend. The Ekquist Racing trailer sales “longest tow” contingency went collectively to the racers coming all the way from Colorado, augmented by cash from VFC and Doc’s Upholstery. Robyn from VFC also provided food and hospitality providing friendly and relaxed environment that good food and drink bring to the 944 Spec “camp.” Well over $2,000 of contingencies was awarded to 944 Spec Drivers in the season opener. While no one’s making money on this, it sure helps to get more drivers out having more fun with some cash and prizes to come home with! Onto Putnam!