Racing in early January is definitely an Arizona thing as the weather is always perfect.  2009 was no exception.  This year’s season opener was going to be different in that the past two championship winner’s were absent.  However this left the door open for new winners and new opportunities. The only question was who could step up.

The missing included 2007 Champion Norm Hamden in San Deigo for business, newly crowned 2008 Champion Glenn Gormley away with prior engagements and perennial front runner Jon Ariano also away on business. However Jim Foxx was back following a strong late season charge in 2008.  Also returning were front runners Rich Geisler, Darren Griffith and Joe Paluch. The depth of field in Arizona would still make for strong racing in the front of the pack.

With ideal weather conditions good times were expected and Saturday qualifying did not disappoint.  Unfortunately pole hopeful Jim Foxx never made qualifying as in the day’s second practice a the number 1 rod let go putting hole in the bottom of Jim block ending his weekend.  Rich Geisler, with practice times in mind, right from start cranked out a very nice 1:13.2 which was the fastest lap of the weekend so far.  Knowing it to be very good lap he came in early with some confidence that he would be in front.  However Joe Paluch was able to use a combination of a fresh motor, some critical set-up changes and key testing early in the day to find a level of speed he had not seen in 5 years. Lap times started in the low 1:13’s and before the session was done multiple high 1:12 laps were completed with the fastest  being a personal best 1:12.866 and good enough for pole.

Down the order Darren Griffith took 3rd with Steve Marlow in 4th.  Also making news was the return of the silver 19 of Jim Richard.  The car and Jim have a history in 944-spec spanning from the birth of the class in early 2002.  It was very nice to see Jim back out and racing again and nice to see the nearly time capsule like 19 car back in action. 

The 11 cars of 944 spec class was given a split start from the rest of the filed. This gave the entire group a chance to race and have things begin to settle out before dealing with traffic.  As the green feel Geisler used a slight edge on his outside line to gain the advantage through 1 and 2 and come out in the lead with Paluch closely behind. Griffith and Marlow were glued to the leaders and the 4 car train battled its way into a gap to the rest of the class. 

Paluch tried passing into the high speed turn 1 and Geisler expertly stayed even with Paluch forcing the fight into turn two and beyond. Paluch was able to fend off Geisler until turn 9 when he came right back and took the lead. One lap later Paluch tried to pass again in 1 and Griffith was right on this battle and found a gap and snuck under both Paluch and Geisler in 2.  Going three wide in two makes for some hairy moments and Paluch became the meat in sandwich and was shuffled to 3rd.  He charged hard on Griffith and was able pass him back into turn 9.  This 3 way battle raged for laps until the fast race leaders came through.  This created just slight gap in front of Griffith that allowed Geisler and Paluch put away just a few car lengths reducing the battle to just two.

This battle continued deep in to the race until a bobble by Paluch in turn 2.  This created enough of a gap that Geisler was able hold on for his first win 944 spec in only his 4th race in class. Paluch closed strong, but could never quite bring the fight back to Geisler and finished 1.2 second behind despite taking race fast lap with a 1:13.070. Darren Griffith got third and Steve Marlow ran a personal best of 1:13.970 when chasing the lead battle acting as a camera car to the leaders!  Nice Job Steve.

Here is a link to Steve's in Car Video

The mid pack also saw some pitch battles with Cliff Orbach defeding against the advances of Austin Newmark with Dave Hauck just waiting to capitalize on any mistake made by Orbach or Newmark.  A few laps in Newmark made a pass on Orbach, but Orbach did not give up. He battled back and they were bumper to bumper once again, Hauck lost touch with battle however when he was forced to give up his line repeatedly for faster traffic. Eventually Newmark was able to pull a gap to Orbach and Hauck started to gain ground, but it was not enough.  

Vaccaro maintined a steady gap in front of  Newmark/Orbach/Hauck battle and earned a solid 5th followed by Austin Newmark, Cliff Orbach, Dave Hauck.  Jim Richard ran a clean steady race in 9th and Dean Schaefer ran good early but was forced to retire and finished in 10th.  Hal Dunn had a kill switch fail on him on the warm up lap and was forced to watch the race from his car off the end of turn 9.

  Sunday 

 Sunday seemed like it would be a continuation of the tight 3 way battle, but events would conspire to put that in doubt.  Griffith was not able to attend Sunday’s racing due to family concerns so that left the lead battle to Geisler and Paluch.  However that all went out the window on the warm up lap in the first 9am practice session.  Traveling at a very gentle 40 mph Paluch did a very normal side to side action to get a feel for track’s grip in short straight between turn 4 and 5.  Suddenly a pop was heard and the car turned hard left shooting across the track coming within 1 foot of the inside retaining wall. Luckily the speeds were low and no contact was made however it was clear something broke in the suspension or steering.   After the session the damage was clearly seen a broken left front spindle.  The car was hoisted up on the front tow hook and pulled back to the pits.  Paluch had a spare spindle, but it turned out to be for the right side.  So with seeming no other options to even put the car on the trailer he was set to make the hour drive back to the parts cars where one did exist.  It likely the day was done for Paluch.  However Dave Hauck caught Paluch in truck and asked which spindle he needed. Hauck had one and even a spare caliper which was also broken in process.  Within minutes the car was being readied for the replacement left spindle and caliper.

Rich Geisler’s first practice turned out very different using the cool air to crack out an amazing 1:12.708.  Now however the race was going to be in pits. Could Paluch get the car repaired in time to battle Geisler and his new speed?   If not it seemed Geisler would have clear edge at race time.

The spindle replacement proceeded almost without a hitch.  That was until some damaged threads on the tie rod end caused a short delay to repair.  However just about 10 minutes into the second practice the spindle was on and the car ready to go or at least seemed so.  A run around the paddock showed the camber was way off and brakes were spongy. So the camber was a simple, but time consuming fix.  The brakes were bleed multiple times, but to no avail.  Qualifying was up and Paluch took the car out hoping for the best.  Poor braking performance and feel plagued Paluch’s qualifying with him being able to must only a 1:13.9.  It was good enough for second behind Geisler’s 1:13.5, but the prospects of a repeat fight seem bleak.  Paluch again took a look at brakes and realized the pads had been flipped during process of installing the new caliper.  These were swapped back, but hopes were low that it would resolve the poor braking. The good news was the car was still in the show and fast enough for a good result.

Sundays race saw 9 944 spec cars take the green mixed in the general field.  Geisler and Paluch were set to start side by side with two other cars between them and Marlow and Hal Dunn who came back from his electrical issues to get nice 4th with a 1:14.8.  The cars approached the green well back of the flag stand and were in catch up mode when the green feel.  Paluch darted out, but soon saw masses of  brake lights and puffs of smoke in the pack in front and backed off fearing serious issue in front.  Since the front straight is lined by walls on either side an incident at the start can block the entire track rapidly. 

Fortunately there was no incident and almost as fast as it happen cars when go again.  Paluch used this pause to pinch Geisler behind other class traffic pulling in front in turn 2.  Paluch then used these cars to create at first a small gap such that when Geisler cleared the traffic 1 lap later he was a few car lengths back unable to challenge directly.  The brake issue Paluch suffered from earlier was much improved, but the pedal feel was still less than ideal.  Despite this Paluch then set about turning fast laps chasing the PTD Nissan of Jeremey Renshaw trying to create as much space in front of Geisler as possible.  This proved to be the critical time of the race as Paluch has set race fast lap at 1:13.170 and was able to inch away and extend the gap over the 40 minute contest to achieve his first win in his last 42 races in his 94th race start. Geisler continued on to complete second in class.

Here is Hal Dunn's Video which shows the start pretty well.

Steve Marlow’s race was also quite interesting.  Marlow found himself caught out at the start an lost 4 positions in class. He then set about the hard task of chasing down the competitors eventually working his way past all of them to finish in 3rd right where he started.  Marlow really had to earn that  podium. 

Here is Steve's Sunday Race Video 

Dave Hauck finished in 4th after a nice battle with Hal Dunn.  Vince Vaccaro got  5th just narrowly in front of Austin Newmark.  Newmark ran strong, but a late spin cost him and he was forced to play catch up.  Hal Dunn had a nice finish in 7th and Jim Richard completed solid weekend in 8th.  Cliff Orbach also ran strong race until he came up 3 laps short on fuel. 

Photos by Kent Buckley, Video by Steve Marlow and Hal Dunn