September 2003

In this issue, Mike Driscoll profiles Dan Maloney. Mark Johnson begins press duties with recaps of
the July event in Flagstaff and the August practice day at AMP. Mark and Mike report on the efforts of local drivers
at the recent Nationals in Topeka. Finally, Scott Meyers reviews the September event that began our Fall 2003 Series.

Our next event is on Sunday, October 12 (not October 19), at Arizona Motorsports Park.

Copyright 2003.
Duplication allowed in whole or in part, provided full acknowledgment is given.
Mike Driscoll & Scott Meyers , Co-Editors

the pylon points to: Dan Maloney

by Mike Driscoll

photo ARIZONA REGION – One day when Dan was ten, his father came home from a business trip driving a new 1954 Corvette: white exterior, red interior, Blue Flame inline six. Dan has been car crazy ever since.

Dan's first career was as a professional photographer. That was in his native Michigan, which pretty much explains why he moved to Sedona in 1979, where he built and operated One Hour Photo Express. He moved to Phoenix in 1984, and by 1990 had sold the Photo Express business and started Protechtics Manufacturing, a worldwide supplier of custom sunscreens for the inside of aircraft windows. An assistant he hired in that business, Nancy, is now his wife of six years.

Dan is one of those people whose energetic pursuit of varied interests makes other people feel tired. He's an avid sportsman: snow skiing, water skiing, tennis, golf, fly fishing, trap, skeet, racquetball and even rollerblading (for a while). He pilots private rotorcraft and single/multi-engined commercial aircraft. And he drives cars. Lots of them.

He began modestly, with a six-cylinder column-shift two-door white/blue 1960 Ford Fairlane, a hand-me-down from an older brother. He soon graduated to a silver over black 1964 Pontiac GTO equipped with tri-power (three progressively linked two barrel carbs), Hurst shifter, posi-traction, dual Cherry Bomb mufflers, Red Line tires, white tire smoke, and black tire marks.

You should probably be sitting down for the rest of these, okay? A 1967 Ford Cobra 427, fresh off the showroom floor, metallic blue over black. After going sideways upon shifting into third under too much power while passing another car on a dry two-lane highway, Dan re-assessed his current driving skills and sold the Cobra. Later, a school-bus yellow 1968 Lamborghini 350 GT, whose brakes failed during his first hour in it, taking him damage-free through some oncoming traffic and onto a golf course. Later still, a 1972 Ferrari Daytona Coupe 375 GTB4, which he owned for a record ten years before selling it to a Ferrari collector here in Phoenix.

And those are just the highlights among the 60+ vehicles Dan has owned. Those include a DeTomaso Mangusta (forerunner to the Pantera), numerous Detriot products (including three Corvettes), most of the foreign brands (Audi, BMW, Bugatti, Ferrari, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mercedes Benz, Morris Mini, Mitshubishi, Porsche, Volkswagon, Volvo), a 1929 Rolls Royce (for that special touch of elegance), and a Lotus Super Seven kit car (because it was there). Car crazy, beyond doubt.

Dan dates his interest in automotive competitions from 1989, when he and one of his sons did the Bondurant School. Two weeks later he entered an SCCA Pro Solo. Through the years, he got into open track events and club racing. So his continuing search for a larger and better solo pad led, ultimately, to the purchase of some land near Luke Air Force Base about three years ago. He says he then "hired a professional track designer and, voilà, AMP."

Rather easier told than done! So say hi and thanks to Dan sometime during our first complete autocross series at Arizona Motorsports Park.

Cones Amongst the Pines, Again

by Mark Johnson

20 July 2003, FLAGSTAFF – I think it was Kevin Venisnik who pointed out the lightning. It was before the first runs of the day and the lightning was striking the tops of the volcanic San Francisco Peaks off in the distance. A storm was moving into town, signaling the beginning of the 2003 monsoon season in Flagstaff.

The storm wasn’t the only thing coming to Flagstaff that day. The American Solar Challenge had 20 cars rolling in that afternoon as well. The futuristic-looking electric vehicles and their support teams started in Chicago earlier in the week and were making their way to Claremont, California in a rally across the country, powered by sunshine. Although they weren’t in Flagstaff to autocross, we were!

The second annual (we hope) Cones Amongst the Pines autocross, sponsored by the Cactus Corvair Club of Phoenix, drew about 80 drivers – all driving cars powered by fossil fuel. Some of the dinosaurs on hand, such as the Corvairs, didn’t even have water pumps, radiators or coolant. Seemingly from the Mesozoic era, but really from the Las Vegas Region, was Brian Berleman’s V8 powered Datsun Z car, making good use of old fashion high octane.

The CCC folks put on a first-rate event, drawing from their experience last year when they hosted the CORSA International Convention. Many thanks to Tom Schrum, Greg Schumpfer, Greg LaCost and others who made this year's event possible.

Some of the older cars have made the leap to modern technology. Ted Lewis’ Lotus had aftermarket fuel injection – handy for tuning when playing “above the rim”. The local High Altitude Motorsports crew knows what it takes to make power in thin air– there were lots of blow off valves and waste gates evident on their cars. Aside from forced induction, cubic inches and VTEC paid good dividends, without the rude noises.

For many drivers, this was their first autocross ever. They were thankful for the opportunity so close to home. There were spectators on hand who had never seen such a spectacle. They called their car friends and stayed to watch all day.
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For others, it was their first autocross in a new car. Patrick Fisher debuted a familiar looking Mustang Cobra. Dave Munsey (a founding member of the DaveM club) was seen in a white Z06. Both Brian Peters and Tage Evanson left the race (oops, sorry, autocross) cars at home, competing instead in the family grocery-getters. At least Sarah Peters knew what Brian was up to; she ran in a later heat.

For a few drivers, it was like old home week, as “retired” veteran drivers came out for a low-key, fun event and an opportunity to catch up with old friends. It was old home week for some cars, too. The famous ex-Meyers’ ex-Roberts’ DSP MGB, widely known as Migba and now owned by Mel Russell, looked menacing in its shiny black paint. But it was civil to the soon-to-be ex-Meyers’ ES Miata, christened Migba 2. And those two cars were lobbying the Roberts’ BS Honda S2000 about the appeal of personalized license plates.
The autocross was held in the J.L. Walkup Skydome parking lot at Northern Arizona University. The CCC guys put down a fun course that included several elements within the confines of the not-too-big lot. The mini road course layout, with pylons lining the edge of the course all the way around, made it look tight. It drove well, was easy to follow, flowed nicely and included a stop cone after the timing lights. To drive it quickly with a high-powered car required some restraint on the loudness pedal. With so many cones, the penalties for a misstep were high – a lesson not easy learned by some.

The stop cone was designed to keep folks off of the curbs at the narrow driveway leading from the course to the paddock. It worked well, but proved to be a spoiler for some fast runs. (If the stop cone was displaced, the run was recorded as a DNF.) Part of going fast is being able to stop fast – although some pushed the limits a little by steering around the stop cone as they were hard on the brakes.

Although the solar cars never appeared on course, the storm made a dramatic entrance during the fourth run group. The wet pavement really changed the character of the course as drivers adjusted to new braking points and counter-steered into lurid slides. The course workers kept an eye on the sky, an eye on the cars and an eye on the cones. They did their best to put downed cones back where they belonged, although in most cases the actual chalk box had washed away.

It seems that there has been no posting of complete standings, but the Forum does include a pertinent thread. Just do a keyword search on Flagstaff PAX while at the SCCA Solo II discussion page.

The rain subsided just as the event ended in the early afternoon. We packed up our toys and followed the thunder to Phoenix as the solar cars arrived. Who knows what autocrossing will look like in the future? I hope it’s still as fun as this year’s event in Flagstaff.

August Practice Day

by Mark Johnson

25 August 2003, ARIZONA MOTORSPORTS PARK – The August practice day was conceived as a way for drivers going to Nationals to refresh their skills and get some extra practice. After all, the autocross season was in full swing across the rest of the country, while here in the Arizona Region we were taking a summer break. The drivers from the rest of the country would be at the top of their form at Nationals, while the Arizona drivers might be a little rusty.

What emerged during the practice day were fast times and and high temperatures. The drivers weren’t rusty, as it turned out, and everybody was reminded that a summer break is not such a bad idea in the central deserts.

It was hot! How hot was it? It was over 95_ F as Kevin Venisnik unpacked the truck and Kevin Gleaton set up registration. It was even hotter as Charlie Clark opened Tech. By the time the course was finalized, it was already over 100_ F. During course walks, it was hard to see because everyone was carrying an umbrella even though no rain threatened.
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The course featured some big sweepers and a tight slalom heading into the finish. The design was intentional as the long sweepers allowed steady state cornering and the slalom tested the transition abilities of the car. The sweepers were fast and flowed nicely into one another. The slalom had a fast entrance which drew you in then put the hurt on you with an attention-demanding offset part way through – excellent training for Topeka and lots of fun for all.

With the first car out, it was pushing 105_ F. It was so hot; the course workers felt like short order cooks working on a griddle. The cookies in my lunch slowly melted.

With so many talented drivers assembled in one place, there were a lot of contenders for the top PAX score. Jim Harnish in the FSP Honda emerged as the PAX leader for the day with an excellent drive, clean and right on the marks. Chuck Voboril was tweaking the brake bias on the FM Zink, producing some sidewise motions uncharacteristic of him. Dave Young seemed immune to the heat, making his runs with the SM BMW windows up and (presumably) the air conditioning on full blast. Dawn Maxwell’s HS MINI was seen veering off course occasionally, as the electric power steering pump would overheat and shutdown.

The practice day offered a lot of seat time with some drivers getting up to 14 runs. Other drivers, perhaps the more sensible folks in the group, chose to leave after the first run/work round. It was an opportunity to justify putting on new tires on for Topeka because the old ones were used up after the day.

By noon, they say it was 110_ F in the shade - we fooled them by staying out in the sun. I had a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting for me. Drivers would come to the start line with brand marks on their hands from fastening the seatbelt. It looked we were all from the same place – the R Looney Ranch.

Some concessions for the workers were implemented. Run groups were limited to 30 minutes to minimize exposure during the first round, then shortened to 20 minutes for the second round. Lots of water was available, as is standard practice at Arizona Region events. Most notable were those workers who volunteered their time, but didn’t drive. People like our chief safety steward Bev Sattler and her husband Don, both of whom were there from start to finish. Davis Koffran, a long-time SCCA road racer who is returning to auto sports by preparing a VW Rabbit for autocrossing (but hasn't finished it yet), spent the entire day on waiver duty. He started early, actively approached people as they came to the site, thereby conducting our best waiver patrol in a long time, and then stayed to help load the equipment truck.

The practice day drew not only those competitors going to Nationals, but also the local diehards and a handful of novices. For some, this was their first autocross experience. If they thought it was cool on this day, it can only get better. One novice, Khay-Wai Leong, driving a Toyota Camry, stayed and helped with the clean up duties. As we put things away, he told us how autocross works in Singapore.

As the event wound down, many drivers were faced with the challenging task of changing tires and packing the car. Normally, this isn’t a big deal, but with everything sitting out in the sun all day, gloves were necessary. The paddock sounded like a Fourth of July fireworks display as everyone gathered their belongs – Oooh! Aahhh! Eeeh! Ouch!

The air temperature peaked out at 116_ F in the afternoon. The track temperature was measured at 160_ F. Tires were getting heat cycled just sitting in the paddock. It was so hot, the course teardown crew had to mop up the pylon puddles at the end of the day. The chalk boxes had long ago evaporated.

Once again and in brutal summer weather, the Arizona Region put on a well-organized, safe and enjoyable event. For practice, not points. Everyone drove hard and had fun. That's the point of SCCA Solo 2, after all, safe fun.

SCCA Solo 2 National Championships

by Mark Johnson & Mike Driscoll

   
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9-12 September 2003, FORBES FIELD, Topeka, Kansas> – The twenty-seven Arizona Region drivers who participated in the Nationals at Topeka collectively took five national championshipships and five other trophies! Their run classes, raw times, ranks within class, PAX points nationally and among themselves (last column) are shown at the right. The forecast rains did not stay away this year, with results evident in the the spread of PAX scores. Full results are available from the national web site, as are several galleries of photos.
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driver class time   rank
  in-class		  national
PAX 		 arizona
PAX
David Schotz ESP 107.800 1 969 1000
David Rock STS 115.347 13 954 985
Dawn Maxwell HSL 116.872 1 949 979
Dan Maloney ESP 110.916 12 942 972
Chuck Voboril FM 102.662 1 940 970
Mark Shaw HS 119.346 23 929 959
Scotty B. White SM2 109.611 1 925 955
Jason Isley AS 114.187 2 913 942
Glenn Duensing FS 117.974 28 907 936
Jim Harnish FSP 117.174 4 904 932
Ted Lewis ASP 113.141 4 901 930
Mark Huffman ASP 113.640 5 897 926
David Webb HS 124.772 27 889 917
Tage Evanson SM 116.438 12 889 917
Nancy Maloney ESPL 117.681 2 888 916
Jennifer Isley ASL 117.551 1 886 915
Jim Witkowski ASP 116.081 11 879 907
Dave Young SS 117.575 19 877 905
Jim Rohn SM2 116.583 18 870 897
Steve Eymann SS 118.683 23 869 896
Brian Peters SM 120.454 25 859 886
Joel Schotz SS 120.289 28 857 884
Deb Eymann SSL 122.268 5 843 870
Larry Petrucci AS 123.662 25 843 870
Mindi Cross ASPL 122.453 4 833 860
Frank Miller SM 125.917 32 822 848
Charlie Cave FM 126.958 25 760 785

Not Enough Hours in the Day
The First Event of the Fall Series

by Scott Meyers

14 September 2003, ARIZONA MOTORSPORTS PARK – By way of explanation and apology: there is such a thing as too much success. We had a record number of entries for this event, but nothing in our previous experience indicated that we couldn't handle the load. We had always finished by the 5 pm deadline in the past, with time to spare. But, for this first event of our fall series, half of the usual production crew was unavailable for duty due to the overlap with travel back from the SCCA Solo 2 Nationals.

photo So things got a bit complicated. Those filling in for the absent regulars did very well, but were understandably not as practiced at getting things done. A little slower here, a bit more slowly there, all adding up as the day progressed, until we ran out of time. The result was that time-only runs had to be cancelled. (No one will lose any money. It will either be refunded or credited toward the October event.) We apologize for the inconvenience, and have taken steps to prevent such difficulties in the future.

Now on to the good stuff! After individual course walks, a novice course walk conducted by Dave Young, and the usual drivers' meeting, some 186 drivers made their competition runs. The event results show that many good battles are shaping up for this series. The course was something of an enigma, different enough to have drivers wondering if the course was odd or if they were rusty. Narrow lanes and tight corners had many reaching into their horsepower bags for acceleration off tighter and therefore slower than usual corners, with payback on the intervening long straights and slaloms.

photo SS Open finds Joel Schotz leading by a bunch in his Z-06 Vette; seems like he's finally figured out this beast. Mark Johnson takes the first battle in CS by 14 points, but as usual the first four places here were within only 23 points. Scott Meyers eked out a win in DS, but had trouble keeping the RSX-S revs in VTEC range. Lee Imler bested Kevin Venisnik in this first ES battle with somewhat similar equipment. Kevin's new "R" tires are now officially heat cycled, and Lee seems to like his new larger front sway bar. Wonder if Kevin will be getting one soon? Kevin Gleaton brought out the venerable ex-Meyers ex-Greacen Neon ACR and proved with a win in GS that he's up to the task of matching the previous owners' successes. Beating Mini Coopers these days is no easy task, but Kevin did it. Greg Schupfer in his Corvair pulled a 912 PAX score on a very difficult course for the HS win, beating a 2003 Golf in the process. To be fair, let's note that the Golf has a diesel engine and an automatic transmission.

ASP Open found the '93 Porsche 911 of Erik Davis jumping to an early win. The ESP group was treated to a show of just why Dave Schotz is the current ESP National Champ: he set this day's top PAX and top raw time too. Something for all of us to shoot for, eh? Sheryl Zavion and Alan Wagstaffe battled closely in CM, with Sheryl taking the win by 32 points. The DM contest was Miata territory (again) with the constantly developing Black Beast of Dave Lahey winning, but with Don Sattler driving. Got that? Harry Berzes is now running EM in his turbo Miata (new engine, long story, don't ask) and edged the 260Z of Brian Berlemann.

photo The SM group is even larger for this series, as it's popularity grows. Looks to be a lot like the CS Miata bash as all seven entrants were within 36 points. Talk about a good one to observe! Larry Pertucci's Firebird is this round's winner, but Steve Steel's Mustang is not used to finishing second, so watch this one. Oh, did I mention variety? Firebird, Mustang, Honda Accord, Cobra Mustang, Mustang GT, Honda Accord and Impreza WRX. In STS, another popular newer SCCA Class, we find Ron Huber's Impreza RS leading Mark Eddy's Impreza by nine points. It's pretty much an Impreza bunch since Dave Rock went to PRO class, but change is in the wind. STX, or "STS on Steroids," is also a well-attended class locally. Josh Sorter takes Round One by a bunch, but as said earlier this was an unusual course. The Houser Mini and a host of others want another crack at Josh. Be sure to watch Round Two.

The indexed class report starts with PAX Ladies. Dawn Maxwell, fresh from her National victory in HSL takes the win here. Jodie and Glenda were "back in the pack." Nice to see Jessica Jackson testing the Open waters from her victories in STL. Not a bad first attempt running STS class. The hot and heavy PRO class found Dave Rock's Celica the top dog this day, with Ron Conrad and Steve Ryan close in the mirrors. Sportsman (SPM) class is another place some top drivers tend to group, and this day was no exception. They only differ from the PRO class in that they run for trophies and have run group choice. Brain Peters (our newest car slut) is sharing the SM Integra of Tage Evanson (reigning car slut). Brian wore out his welcome quickly by beating Tage's best time, and then winning SPM too! Dave Young typically runs first in this class, but not this day. He has a way of sucking it up and coming back stronger, so if I were Tage and Brian I'd stay sharp as this one is far from over.

photo Where do over half of our entries run each event? Right, Street Tire and Novice classes. ST1 provided some entertainment with the first eight places within 26 points of each other. So if leader Kim Kemper feels any hot breath on the back of his neck, it's the seven other guys right behind! ST2 has four drivers within 32 points, but Chad Mizner seems to have a handle on what it takes to win here. Pulling a 940 score on street tires is nothing short of "Oh my gosh, what if he switches to R tires!" panic. (He would have won GS Open with that score.) The developing Yantzer 240 SX sedan seems to be one capable of inching closer, as his 920 score is pretty close on a lot less development time. Another good battle to watch. ST3 is our newest local class, and still developing a following, but Clint Child leads the current entrants by a little, with the Davis Fiero right on his tail.

Looks like another good crop of Novices, and NV1 is yet one more class with a large cluster of drivers all very near the top. David Steele's '92 Mustang leads Troy Messina's '00 Firebird by only two points, and the rest are ever so close. In fact, four other drivers have tie scores here. Good thing it's a four event series. NV2 also has four drivers with tie scores, but not Henry Iglesias and his '89 240SX. He leads this group and the Jesse Silva 99 Civic by nine points and hopes to keep it that way. We shall see. The NV3 folks have a strong leader in Jayme Martens, but there is a gaggle of others vying for second so far. Integras, VW's, 240SX's, SE-R's, Fieros … what makes these indexed classes so much fun is the variety of brands and models. NVL has five contenders, and Sanjna Kohli's '01 Integra leads Lorena Porter's Civic Si by one point! Wow.

Well, that's it for this event. Our next event is the second Sunday of October, the 12th not the 19th. (Our web site had it wrong for a long time, so recheck your personal calendars.) After Round Two we will see some more shifts in leaders and contenders, and some patterns will begin to emerge. Logistic glitches will be fixed, and we'll be back to business as usual. Don't miss it!

Thanks to Tage Evanson, Mark Shaw, Brian Peters, Jim Rohn, Dan Short, and the SCCA for contributing photos to this issue!

(Posted 22 September 2003. Formatting corrections made 6 & 21 October 2003.)