Sunday brought new challenges and 1.5 miles of it in fact. The full 4.5 mile layout was used and with only one 15 minute practice on this new configuration qualifying would be down to how fast you could learn the track in very limited lap times. The ultimate winner in the quick learn challenge was Paluch. Supported by a good understanding of the 3 miles that he ran for 150 miles in Saturday’s enduro left him with just 1.5 miles of track to learn. In short order Paluch was turning laps well below the two year old 3:37 track record set by Norm Hamden in 2006. When qualifying was done Paluch had pulled off an amazing 3:32.0 in less than 8 laps of practice which was about ½ a second faster than the next to best qualifiers, Dirks and Lofgren. The always fast Hamden was the only other driver with a sub 3:33. The short practice time lead to large gaps in qualifying times with Ariano and Foxx about 2 seconds slower than Paluch with 7th, 8th and 9th 5, 6, and 7 seconds back from pole.

Paluch lead the 20 car 944-SPEC field to the green in Sundays main event race. He was jumped at the start and quickly fell to 6th in class. This drop was in fact expected as he had been struggling with acceleration during the starts all weekend. Even so Paluch was quickly able to secure 5th position on the first lap and the group of five cars started pulling away from the field. Dirks, Hamden, Lofgren, Foxx and Paluch all ran nose to tail for the next 10 laps constantly probing each other for weakness.

Fast corners were taken side by side more than once in this tight clean battle. While Paluch may have had a speed edge racing is not about lap times, but about track position and as such was never able to fully take advantage of that speed. As the race wore on it was Jim Foxx that was the first to fall off the back of the pack. His tires started to go away could no longer hang with Paluch in 4th. Next to succumb to fading tires was Lofgren who like Paluch and Foxx was on aging tires that had just past their prime.

Paluch quickly took advantage to secure 3rd and set his sights on 2nd when about ½ way through the final lap his tires also went way.

This sent him off track in the Attititudes and allowed a slowing, but steady Lofgren to regain 3rd while Paluch waited for the dust to settle. By this time he was just able to regain the track in front of Foxx and Ariano who both had their moments in the final few turns of the race. The race finshed with Hamden in front followed by Dirks, Lofgren, Paluch and Foxx. Hamden also managed to set a new track record of 3:32.8 on the 4.5 mile full course.

Hamden’s win on Sunday and Second on Saturday set him to be the unofficial Miller 944-SPEC champion. Despite driving his street legal race car 600 miles to Miller he proved to be both fast and consistent on all 3 days of racing. He was always near the top of the time sheets and never put a wheel wrong when all was on the line. Speed and consistency win races and Norm is classic example. To top it all off Norman is a wonderful racer that embodies the spirit of 944-SPEC racing both on and off the track. Great Job Norman!