Turnout was a little light for this event for the new Texas region 944Spec racers, but the strong growth continued to show with three new drivers completing Comp school and getting their racing licenses! Phil Hanson and Jason Stanley joined the fray for the whole weekend after Friday's comp school. Kilynn Weber completed the school but his sharp 924S needs a few safety items before it can compete.

Phil Fromme took home three out of the four wins, showing both he and his car are in top form. The rest of the 944Spec world needs to be worried about Hallett next month as that is one of Phil's favorite tracks. Al Fernandez won the fourth race, while rookies Phil Hanson and Jason Stanley dramatically improved their lap times until they were within a mere second and a half off the pace over the relatively long TWS track. That is just excellent progress!

The next Texas region event is at Hallett, which always draws entries from the Rockies and even the Great Lakes and Midwest. You dont want to miss that one!

The NASA 944 Spec Midwest season opened April 20-22 with smokin’ lap times, close competition, and clear, cool weather at Autobahn Country Club.  The conditions were perfect for great racing: 50 degrees; sunny; and a double digit field of sharply prepared cars at the nation’s premier motorsports country club.

Sprint Race #1 – Saturday April 21

Did I mention that the lap times were smokin’ fast?  The field jumped into Round 1 qualifying as if the offseason never occurred.  Eric Kuhns took the pole under lap record pace, with Neal Agran only a hundredth of a second behind.  Dan Pina and Angel Blazquez captured row 2, followed by Ken Frey, Sid Chhikara, Michael Dalton, rookie Kurt Ristow, and Ray Freundt, who started “shotgun” after a malfunctioning transponder left him without a recorded qualifying lap.

At the start, Kuhns did a masterful job of moving Agran over to the left, giving Pina an opening to move forward and challenge for 2nd.  Agran and Pina ran through Turn 3 mirror-to-mirror, with Pina coming out the victor, Blazquez close behind in 4th, and Kuhns taking advantage of the melee to build a small gap.  Agran managed to re-pass Pina under braking for turn 11, by which time Kuhns had built a three second lead.  An epic chase followed, as Agran and Kuhns reset the lap record time and again in their identical Pine Tree Motorsports cars.  After 35 minutes of lapping at sub-qualifying pace, Agran managed to close only half the gap; Kuhns took the checker with a 2 second lead and scored the new lap record of 1:39.8 to boot.  Perfect bifecta!

Behind Kuhns and Agran, Pina held third over Blazquez, nicely working traffic to open a gap.  Frey, Dalton, and Chhikara engaged dramatically for 5th, swapping the position before Frey regained it for good over Dalton in 6th.  Ristow finished in 7th, while Chhikara was forced to the pits with an unfortunate cut tire and Freundt retired with a leaking exhaust.  Lap times across the field were… smokin’!  Several drivers recorded a personal best and reached their target times for the weekend.



Sprint Race #2 – Sunday April 22

Sunday dawned with a clear blue sky, lots of sunshine, and more cool temperatures.  With ideal conditions ahead and everyone back in the groove, several drivers took advantage of TraqMate data coaching and a chalk talk by Agran and Freundt on Sunday morning.  And the lap times reflected it.

Agran took the pole, with Pina on the outside of row 1.  Positions three to seven qualified within tenths of each other.  Series regular Sam Grant and Frey secured the second row (Kuhns was unable to attend the Sunday race and generously loaned his car to Grant for the day).  Blazquez, Dalton, Chhikara, and Ristow filled out rows 3 and 4.

When the green flag fell, Agran held off Pina for the lead through the opening turns.  Pina was not to be denied, hounding Agran for three laps with a pace below the prior lap record and some cagey feints.  Agran was ultimately able to use traffic to stretch out a lead, at which point he went to work trying to regain his lap record and take the overall win from FFR driver Brian Sanders.  Sanders and Agran exchanged the lead twice, with Sanders taking the overall win and Agran coming *this close* to getting the lap record back (picture a thumb and forefinger a tenth of a second apart).  Pina turned in a flawless drive for 2nd (and 3rd overall).

Frey and Grant also deserve special mention for hard charging laps in this race.  NASA Instructor Frey took advantage of our regional allowance permitting him to use up a set of TOYO R888 tires and came within a couple of tenths of the R888 lap record.  Grant took 4th never having seen the wickedly technical Autobahn south track before (or driven Kuhns’ car) and turned amazingly competitive lap times.  Absolutely incredible!

Sometimes it all just comes together, and that’s what happened at Autoclub Speedway in early March.  The pros might be racing in Fontana later this month, but they are not likely to match the fun had by 944 Spec drivers this past weekend.  The weekend started out well, with 18 entries from as far away as the Midwest Region lined up in their garages and ready to race.

Saturday morning was so windy you could feel the wind pushing against your car on the front straight, yet times were still very competitive.  By race time the wind had died down, and the large class was lined up and ready to take the green flag.  The battles throughout the race were competitive.  By the last lap, it was Tyler Palmer, last year’s National champion, in first, Norm Hamden, visiting from Arizona region, in second, Eric Kuhns, National 944 Spec director, in third, and Everett DeLano, SoCal’s own 944 Spec Series Director, in fourth place.  As they approached turn 3, the sharp left hander at the end of the banked oval, both Norm and Eric went into it too hot.  Eric spun out and Everett slipped into third place.  Everett gave Norm a good run for his money and the two were in a tight race to the finish line, with Tyler finishing in first, Norm in second, and Everett in third.  That night the bench racing was fierce and fun.

Sunday’s weather was warmer and expectations were high for another good day of racing.  In practice, Tyler ran a lap time just over 2:00, very fast at this track.  At race time, the top four qualifiers decided to add a little spice to the race, starting in the back of the pack.  Once again, the battles on the track were fierce as those qualifiers made their way through the group of outstanding drivers.  There was considerable passing and re-passing as the cars jockeyed for position throughout the event.  At the checkered flag, it was Tyler in first, Norm in second, and Eric in third place.  As the drivers packed up and headed on their ways, it was clear this had been one spectacular weekend and plans were already being made for more great racing in the months ahead.

Round 2 of the NASA Texas 944spec 2012 season was March 17th/18th at Motorsports Ranch Cresson. In spite of only having four 944spec cars in attendance, the competition was fierce with all of the cars consistently lapping within a few tenths of each other. Chuck Taylor was in attendance from the Rockies region, along with Texas regulars Phil Fromme, BJ Meyer, and Al Fernandez.

BJ and Phil each took a win on Saturday while Al took both wins on Sunday. The racing was furious multi car battles with the lead swapping hands several times and finishes of under a tenth of a second. Unfortunately during race 3 Phil slid over a curb that cracked his oil pan, but otherwise these tough 944s survived the punishment these drivers dished out.

The next race weekend in Texas is in April at Texas World Speedway where we expect the return of several 944spec regulars for a bigger and even more competitive field. See you there!

NorCal crowned their 2011 944-Spec Champions with a awards luncheon followed by a competitive go kart race.

Congratulations to Steve Lewis, Ron Dale and Jerry Whitteridge!