This month also marks the start of a series of short articles about the local people whose volunteer efforts make our club activities possible. There won't be much rhyme or reason to the order of presentation, but it's logical to begin by profiling Tom Dukerich, because he is the person who starts the process that gets one of our autocrossing events up and running.
Garry has prepared some tables summarizing current within-class standings. Check them out if you want to see the numeric details behind Scott's summary of current series standings. Learn where you rank before heading out to May's event, the finale of our four-event spring series! It's on Saturday, May 11, at Firebird. What might D.N. Effer have to say about that?
First of all, Tom keeps our equipment in working order. Days ahead of an event, he's charging batteries for the radios & the timing lights and replenishing supplies of shoe polish & trash bags. As is the case with so many things, Tom's work goes unnoticed precisely because it's done well and on time.
Secondly, Tom gets to the site early - 6:00 am! - to start setting up for the day's event. While a few others begin laying out the course, Tom focuses on the generator, the timing system, and the PA system. Even while the event is in progress, he's replacing trash bags, refilling water coolers, and so on. When the event is over, he amazes anyone who's stayed around to help by putting all the equipment back into our small truck.
His ability and consistency at doing that is evidence of his strong spatial visualization skills, skills that Tom uses in another hobby: flying. He has a private pilot's license and is building a kit plane.
Tom says he's not really a car nut, but that he loves autocrossing, which he's been doing for 4 years now.
Professionally, Tom works with electronic payment systems.
SS seems to be Corvette territory these days; where's a good Viper when you really need one? Steve Eymann is having his way with the other Vettes so far this Series. Jim Rohn is 'Mr. Lonely' in the new AS, as he either has failed deodorant or is intimidating any competitors. In BS we see BMW M3 vs. Chevy Camaro. What? Even though it's an SS Camaro, it seems like an unfair advantage to me.
The CS Miata clan are at it tooth and nail, as they again slug it out. Boy, if I ever wanted to buy a car for a class with serious competition, this would be it. Not for the faint of heart. Carol Anderson is the current top dog, but Tom T., Don, and Tom D. are nipping at his heels. Better watch the DS Nissan Spec V of Ron Mercer, as it's putting down some serious PAX times. ES finds some decent competition with a mix of different cars: Paul's 944 leads Garry's Miata, which is ahead of Carl's Honda CRX-SI.
FS is the same old Camaro-vs-Mustang story, with the Mustangs a few ponies short, so far. Brandon Laborde is leading the herd! GS is a new mix of cars, and nationally it's up for grabs as to what is the car to have. Locally, the Meyers's Neon ACR leads the Fisher Probe by less than a second, but that's on tighter slower courses. Scott is really hoping we keep the local 'slow and narrow' philosophy for one more event! HS is another hotbed of competition, "and that ain't no bull." Yes, the Eric Evans Ford Taurus leads this pack of different cars. I guess Dave and Keith feel like they are in the "Running of the Bulls," the way Eric is running over them.
ASP is where the 'Big Boys' play, and the Corvette of Pat Soukup bullied the BMW of Jason Boles this go-round. CSP finds a new player, with the Audi TT of Tyler Thompson putting the squeeze on Jan Shank's 944. Must be a German car class, huh? ESP is Mustang vs Dakota, but Brian Weikert needs to keep the loud pedal down as the Mingus truck is not your ordinary pickup; it hauls! FSP is almost a German car club, too, except for the pesky Datsun 510 of Ben Schaut being only one tick behind the Shaw Beetle. Kevin better keep 'McPeeking' in his mirrors as that Beetle is right on his tailpipe.
The prepared and modified crews are looking for some more competitors, as most are single car classes.
This is the world of the newer SCCA classes. It's an interesting set of classes that the SCCA is still tampering with, as they try to define what they want them to be.
SM (Street Mod) is a mixture of many different makes, but they will all have seating for more than two. Ben Clement's Integra GSR was quickest this time out, ahead of the WRX of Geren Smith. The Mustang of Steve Steele is just behind, which is amazing since he collects pylons nearly every run. A very bad habit! SM2 has the same rules but for the two-seaters, and it's turning into Corvette and Miata territory: horsepower vs handling. Horsepower won this time, as Paul Hamersly's Vette proved. STS is one of the more popular of the new classes, and David Rock's Celica snatched victory away from the evil Subaru's. Mark Eddy was close behind, but still behind. Other contenders: Neon, Supra, Geo, Accord.
The PRO class, intended for the local hotshoes who want to match 'horsemuscles,' is where many of the drivers with National experience play. Once again, Mark Huffman's Lotus squeaked (or roared) by the Voboril Zink by a few tenths. Others back in the dust were Dave McCombs' new S2000 and the Bandes Vette. The next five cars were all within one second of each other. Talk about 'Fast and Furious.' This was! PXL (PAX Ladies) is becoming a real contest, with Marilyn Rohn regaining her winning form and Jodie Warren right behind. The final event of the series will tell which of the four are at the top. Wonder what next month's course will be like? SPM (Sportsman) class finds Marc McCombs' new S2000 at the top (oh, oh), ahead of the Rippy Camaro and Young's new M3. Wiggy's FS time here was nothing short of phenomenal, given the nature of the course.
There were 15 entries in ST1, with the top four all within one second. Seow Sheng-Wen's S2000 has once again found it's way to the top, as Seow masters its handling characteristics. The Sneizek Corvette was only two clicks behind, however, and Jack Drummond's Camaro a sneeze behind him. Lots of action here. ST2 had 19 contestants, with Dwight Smith's 2000 Focus clearly focused on the mission at hand. He had to be, because Ross Meyer's '85 Scirocco was only 44 thousandths of a PAX second behind. Kilpatrick's Type R was another three tenths back, so this is a tight group too: five cars within one second here. In STL, Melinda McClelland in her Scirocco has taken control with a convincing win over Mindi Cross. Tate Ashley's Corvette shows promise here, as well.
In NV1, 17 hardy contenders. Larry Petrucci's Firebird showed its heels to the '94 Formula Pontiac of Brian Klinker. They are followed by a Mustang GT and a, ah, Mercedes? Yep: an SLK model. Goes fast and looks good, the best of both worlds. In NV2, the Subaru WRX of Jay Balducci has the top time, leading the Civic CX of Danial Gurka. Only five hundredths behind him is Rob Bittner's '86 MR2, and following him are Josh Kutcher (Subaru WRX) and Kevin Hongo (Prelude), separated by only .004 seconds! Close enough for you? NV3 (the mini-muscle cars) has Anthony Ohmer leading the pack by a second with his '97 Accord. But Matt McComb's Acura, Mike Shapiro's '96 Accord, and Dick Rivenes' Mini Cooper are within half a second of each other. Debbie Cox in NVL wonders where all the other gals are hiding. C'mon guys, bring out the ladies! Don't worry, you'll probably beat them. Probably.
A great event: over 160 entries, lots of great competition, and a very friendly crowd. We finally have a great snack wagon consistently doing a great job, and the final event of the spring series is coming up. Hope to see you all there on Saturday May 11.
In PRO class, real "International" in flavor (Japanese, American, British) Vic Malchesky leads by only 11 points over the Bandes’ Vette, and first event their scores were only one point apart. Ted Lewis is in third, and closed the gap some last event, a good one to watch.
C STOCK has Carol Anderson firmly in first by 38 points, but Don Statler and Tom Tkacik are TIED for second at 1907 points! Tom Dukerich is only another 17 points back. One of the most entertaining contests to watch. E STOCK finds the 944 Porsche of Paul Bloomberg out muscling and out handling the early edition Miata of Garry Swanner, but Garry has closed to gap each event. A trend, perhaps? The F STOCK race has the ‘98 LaBorde Z-28 Camaro only 20 points behind Don Hyland’s ’00 Z-28, very interesting because Don has beat Brandon the last two events. A fight to the finish here. G STOCK is a battle between a Probe and Neon, two ‘elderly’ warrior cars demoted to lesser status by the newer factory hot rods coming out these days. The Fisher Probe leads by 25 points, and Meyers’ Neon has averaged 19 points better each of the last two events they have gone head-to-head. Scott better change spark plugs or something, as Pat seems to have a slight upper hand. H STOCK has the Evans "muscular" Ford Taurus leading the Crusoe "wimpy" Civic Si by a healthy margin.
The ASP crew is another international affair as the American Corvette of Pat Soukup leads the German BMW Z Coupe of Jason Boles by 48 points, but Jason gets closer each event as he learns his new car. The Shank 944 is beating up on the Girard CRX-Si in CSP. The ESP group is best known for loud, fast, and furious…….and those are only the drivers! J The cars are too, actually, and the ’99 Mustang Cobra leads here by a good margin over the Mingus Dakota. If the courses open up a little, watch that truck close the gap. Of course, Cecil Walker is trying hard to "picture" himself moving up in the ranks as he only trails by 17 points. Want a definition of "close"? Just look at the FSP results (I’m surprised they’re not in German). Robert Pepper leads by 5 points over the Shaw ’99 Beetle AND the Murray ’00 Golf — yep, a tie for second, and only five points to first. Kevin McPeek’s ’95 Golf did win the last event, but lagged some in earlier events. He might pull off a trophy with a great fourth event.
STREET MOD is an exciting new class, with more marques that you can shake a stick at.Ben Clement’s’95 Integra GSR leads the ’02 Subaru WRX by 9 points, and the Billson Mustang is just a few more back. SM2 has the Hamersly Vette ahead of the Miata crew (Berzes, Bauman), but the next course could upset this applecart. The STS gang just never lets up, and David Rock seems to have found the answer to the Subaru puzzle as he is pulling away. The Eddy bothers are right behind, and unless it rains likely to stay there. STX finds the ’02 Subaru WRX leading the ’01 Type R Acura by a healthy margin.
PAX LADIES is filling in again, as Deb Eymann (Vette) leads Glenda Meyers (Neon) by about 50 points, but Jodie Warren (Miata) and Marilyn Rohn (Vette) all have beaten each other at these assorted events, so the final event will decide it all. SPORTSMAN is the place for Open cars needing run group choice, and Dave Yound ain’t getting any younger with Tage Evanson right on his tailpipe. Man, that’s gotta be a bad feeling. Only 21 points separate the two, with Wiggy Gracean and Richard Rippy ready at any moment to step up. They were recently heard muttering, "One open course, please one open course……..".
On to Street Tire classes. Where the "hard rubber meets the road" to paraphrase an old saying. In ST1 Dan Sniezek’s ’94 AS Vette holds a ‘solid’ (???) 3 point lead over Ryan Yantzer’s ’96 BSP Vette. Of course, 3 more points back in third is Sheng-Wen Seow’s BS (soon to be moved to AS) ’01 S2000. The ST2 crew has a great battle of new vs old with the Smith ’00 Focus ahead of the Meyer ’85 Scirocco by 21 points. Chad Mizner’s ’95 Del Sol VTEC is another heatbeat, (14 points) back of Ross, and the next four drivers are all within only TEN POINTS!!! Tough place to play. Mindi Cross leads STL by 5 points over Melinda McClelland, but Melinda beat her at the last event, so this one isn’t over by a long shot.
The NV1 contest has Larry Petrucci leading by 37 points over Brian Kinker’s older Firebird, so Brian might need a little "black magic" to take this crown. NV2 is led by the ’02 Subaru of Jay Balducci, 65 points up on Rob Bittner’s ’85 MR-2. The Hongo Honda Prelude is well within trophy striking distance here too. The NV3 struggle is a "2 pointer" as Anthiony Ohmer’s Accord is that far ahead of Matt McCombs’ ’99 Integra GS-R. The Shapiro Accord could gain ground with a good fourth event score here.
I think that’s it — This fourth event of the 2002 Spring Series will be a real scorcher. At least as far as class contests go. We should call it the "2002 Trophy Shuffle"!!!
Suspicions arose, however, when it became clear that the Speedster had more than one driver. Investigation by the Braking Committee revealed, sadly, that it was a replicar, albeit a very sharp one with a beautiful creamy pearl paint job, and that neither of the drivers was James Dean, or even named James. Or Dean, for that matter.
Disappointed old movie fans and disappointed fans of old movies took solace from the presence of two other rides in the classic European tradition: a bright yellow 1962 Morris Cooper S, severely modified out of its previous existence as a self-propelled insect fogger, and a 1975 Triumph TR6, painted a proper racing green.
The Braking Committee doesn't know what solace was found by disheartened Elvis fans.
(Posted 30Apr02, Reformatted 23Sep03)