 SoCal had its first points race of the season at California Speedway on March 17-18, 2007 Ten racers showed up for Sat. including a great group from the Arizona 944 spec squadron.
Gormelly, Hamden, Hal Dunn, Mickey Dowling, Jon Ariano all came west to race with us and we had some great racing for them and some even better dinners over drinks. A few of us ‘bout had heart attacks laughing so hard at Paul Bloomberg’s (ex AZ 944 racer) leftover sandwich parts. From the SoCal group of 944 racers, we had Jim Richmond, Jay Barton, Tom Spargo, Mikael Weitze, and myself.
I got a couple tech inspections done before we hit the track on Saturday. Jay Barton's car was found by yours truly to have a deteriorating timing belt. (black dry powder coming out of the cam gear cover.) It was a nice save but poor Jay had to miss another event. I believe four other 944's came out for the HPDE portion of the event. These are our up and coming racers! Among them, Chris Barrington brought his 88 924S out and parked with the rest of our 944 crew. Chris had just come down to San Diego and had a blast at one of our local AX’s. Robert and Raffi, brought out their new AUTO GALLERY 944 racers as well. There was one other guy in the HPDE groups who had a 944 with a roll bar, but I didn’t get a chance to meet him. Jon Ariano's dad also borrowed his car to enter the HPDE groups. It was a good-sized crowd of 944 drivers and we worked together to make sure everyone’s needs were met, just like we always do in this class.
Weather was HOT on Sat. Much cooler on Sunday. Mark Foley, with his lovely wife, visited on Sun. in their black 951 on the way up to Big Bear to see Ray Dicius. Starts on Sat. and Sun. were bad. No fault of the NASA organization, though. Good racing up front and mid-pack on Sat. and Sun. I believe Sat. was Weitze, Gormely, Hamden. Mikael and Glen had an especially good dice. Sunday was Weitze, Hamden, Memo. The big story was Sunday's melee before the start.....at least four 944's damaged....including mine, Glen’s, Hal’s and Mickey’s. Bad accordioning of the group before the green flag was the cause. Here are a few pics:
The first is of the ever flamboyant Norm, his car, and mine in the background under the big top.
Hal Dunn's car with Mickey's in the background.
Glenn's new 924S (ex Chas Wirken car).
The German racing twins, "Liqui" and "Molly" adorning the CERATEC car. Thank you ladies!Knocked a half second off my lap time in the very next session!
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