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the pylon points to: Don Sattler

by Mike Driscoll

ARIZONA REGION – Don Sattler first started autocrossing in 1975. He drove by a mall in Bismarck, ND while a Porsche club was holding an event in the parking lot. That event was actually a gymkhana (with garages, backing maneuvers, and so on). Don pulled in and gave it a go in his brother-in-law’s 1975 Camaro. The Camaro's automatic transmission was great for the garage & backing parts of the course, and Don earned himself a third place trophy.

He liked it. So he teamed up with a small group of other people in and around Bismark who didn't own Porsches, in order to form their own autocross club. The overhead involved (insurance, mainly) led them to form a new region of the SCCA. The Badlands Region, covering the entire state of North Dakota, was sanctioned in 1978. Check out their web site if you'd like to go autocrossing on ice sometime. Don recalls tires popping their beads because of the extremely low pressures that people used, doing well in a Jeep Cherokee Chief with a limited slip center differential, and "being cold."

Don took first place in the Badlands Region's Prepared Category in 1981 and 1982, driving a 1972 Datsun 240Z. He was thrice the region's most-points champion, in 1984 (running a Honda Prelude), in 1990 (Acura Integra), and in 1993 (Nissan 240SX).

Don placed in four divisional competitions during those years: 1982 Midwest first place in AP (1972 Datsun 240Z), 1985 Northern Pacific first place in GS (1984 Honda Prelude), 1987 Midwest third place in ES (1986 Honda Prelude Si), and 1992 Midwest second place in FP (1976 Datsun 280Z). He also made it to the Nationals in Topeka nine times between 1982 and 1992. He trophied twice, in 1985 driving his G-Stock 1984 Honda Prelude to eighth place and again in 1992 driving the 1976 F-Prepared Datsun 280Z to sixth place.

Don and his wife Bev relocated to Minneapolis in 1994 and were active in the Minnesota Autosports Club until they moved to Arizona in 1999. His trophies from those years are still packed away, but he recalls that he placed second a couple of times, in D Stock. Don believes he's missed one Arizona Region event since that move. He's found the competition in the stock Miata class here to be at a very high level and the camaraderie within the class "warmly welcoming."

Don enjoys building cars for autocross, maybe more than autocrossing itself. So he especially appreciates the offer from Dave Lahey to develop and co-drive The Beastie, which began life as a 1994 Miata. The car is such a blast to drive that Dave and Don have recently been joined by Dave Maxfield as co-developer and his daughter Lindsay Maxfield as co-driver.

Don has other interests, notably hiking and photography, but "autocross is the one hobby that I've pursued consistently since I started it." He credits Bev's support for that, along with the hopeless addiction for teasing pylons that many of us share.

Don recently took charge of Waivers for our Arizona Region Solo 2 Group, an activity that's related to Bev's long-standing work as our chief Solo Safety Steward. Together, Don & Bev Sattler spend long days at our events, taking care of essential details with a quiet competence that is easily unnoticed.

Don worked for 32 years doing tech support in telecommunications and wide-area networking. He's been enjoying his retirement for two years now.

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Run for the Roses
Event 4, Culminating the Spring Series

by Mark Johnson

8 May 2004, FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY – The Spring Series wrapped up with a Saturday event at Firebird International Raceway. With a field of 146 drivers and the series in the balance for many classes, the tension was almost as high as the temperature. The results from the event series standings have been posted.

Some described the course, designed by Mark Shaw, as the best yet. It was a refinement of sorts, taking the best elements of earlier courses and combining them into a fairly open and wide course that challenged the drivers. As with most FIR courses, there was a loop just after the starting gate, but with a variety of radii. Exiting the loop was a tight right-hand clubhouse turn leading to a long slalom, around some offsets in the back, past the quarter pole and into the home stretch slalom.

The key, as with most of Shaw’s courses, was to stay online and hit the apexes right on. A rail runner won’t go wrong and will generally be faster than the overland driver, but the truly fast drivers were taking full advantage of the wide course. Getting behind in the slalom, for even an instant, naturally kept the course workers busy. Ted Lewis claimed Fast Time of the Day with a 48.707 run in his A Street Prepared Lotus, not bad for a 40 year old car. Top PAX time of 41.279 went to Dave McCombs in the A Stock S2000.

Event Chair Kevin Gleaton arranged for a unique Car Swap competition. The contest involved pairs of drivers swapping cars for their Time Only runs. The pair with the highest combined PAX score would win. The catch was that neither driver could have made any runs in the other's car at any time during this series. The competition encouraged drivers to try a new mount, and escalated into some major discussion on the Forum and even some off-track betting. The pairing of Jon Wing with Tage Evanson received particular attention.

In the Open classes, Dan Sniezek, turning in a great 944 PAX performance, represented Super Stock. Unfortunately, since he was the only Super Stock driver to show up, he was thrown into the Combined Stock class for series points. There he faced off against Kevin Venisnik, Mike Esker and Greg Schupfer. Relying on his early season points, Venisnik prevailed with a series total of 2810 points, followed by Esker with 2788. C Stock stood alone as a class in series points and it came right down to the wire. Tom Dukerich scored high in the early events to lead the series; while Tom Tkacik had been putting in fast raw times but hitting cones. Tkacik cleaned it up for the May event, scoring a 971 PAX, enough to claim first with 2884 points. Dukerich managed a 956 PAX and second place with 2879 points, only 5 points behind. G Stock had seen some intense competition throughout the series. Only three drivers showed up in May, but four qualified for the series. Mark Shaw carried the day with a PAX score of 984 and he needed it to secure second place series points with 2937 points. Jeff Schultz put in a fine performance in May with 958 PAX, but it was not enough to distance him from Kevin Gleaton in the series. Dane Campbell won the series with 2977 points. While Schultz or Gleaton did not claim any hardware for the series, they certainly rank high season points. Schultz managed 2886 points and Gleaton scored 2913. Anything over 2900 points is a major accomplishment and both these drivers deserve recognition.

Continuing with Open classes, Street Prepared had several single class drivers in May. Porsche pilot Erik Davis is no stranger to autocross and drove his RS America to 945 points in B Street Prepared. Unfortunately, he didn’t qualify for the series; but Ben Clement and Ross Meyer did. Clement competes in D Street Prepared and drove to an amazing 981 PAX in his Acura Integra. Meyer runs in F Street Prepared and put a strong 957 PAX effort. Both of these drivers put in their best scores for the series in May. They were competing in the Combined Street Prepared class, with Clement taking the series win with 2871 points. E Street Prepared had enough drivers throughout the series to run as a stand-alone class and they were mixing it up. Going into May, Richard Rippy was leading, but a hard charging Larry Petrucci was getting noticeably faster. Brian Wiekert remained a threat and it was anyone’s race. Petrucci pulled it out in May with a 982 PAX score, while Wiekert and Rippy tied at 964. In fact, Rippy beat Wiekert by 0.013 seconds in May, but their series PAX scores were identical and high enough for Rippy to maintain his series lead. Rippy brings it home with a 2883 series total, followed by Petrucci at 2859 points.

The Prepared and Modified classes have not seen a lot of action lately so it was nice to see some drivers competing in D Prepared for May. Ted and Sharon Kuyper brought out a 1967 Midget. Ted prevailed with a nice 960 points. The pretty blue E Prepared Datsun 510 was back for more action with Brent Rederick and Dick Lowell competing for the series win. Rederick had managed to win each event, but only by a few points so they were neck and neck into the home stretch. Rederick put down a smoking time with an 892 PAX and Lowell could not respond. Rederick claims the May event and the series win with a 2633-point total.

There was a lot class jumping in the Modified category. Joe Curry and Alan Wagstaffe ended up competing against each other for series points in the Combined Modified class. Curry runs in D Modified with his Spitfire and Wagstaffe runs in C Modified in his Van Dieman. Curry won the series with a 934-point total. Meanwhile, David Lahey and Don Sattler qualified for series points in E Modified. Lahey has been on fire throughout the series and prevailed over Sattler with 2661 points. But for May, the Lahey Miata competed against the Curry Spitfire in D Modified; while Wagstaffe drove against mean Gene Sanders in C Modified and Mark Short brought out a Ford Lightning to run alone in E Modified. The champions earned their respective classes, Lahey winning D Mod with 947 PAX, one point in front of Sattler and only 6 points in front of Curry. Wagstaffe beat Sanders by 0.349 seconds in C Mod.

The Street Modified category saw three drivers qualify for the series although five participated in May. Going into the May event, Steve Steele and his 1965 Mustang hot rod were leading the series. Geren Smith had won the March event and was in striking distance. Frank “Neon” Miller was pulling up third. For May, Steele’s winning ways continued, claiming a 932 PAX over Smith in the WRX at 906 PAX. In what could get to be an entertaining match up, Frank “Neon” Miller bested Frank “Camaro SS” Miller, 897 to 875. While Jon Wing only managed an 858 PAX, his story comes into play with the Time Only car swap competition later on.

In the Street Touring category, Ron Huber was clearly the driver to beat in Street Touring S. Every time he came out in his Impreza, he put down a winning time. May was no exception; he scored a 958 PAX on street tires and posted 2857 for the series. Kris Castner managed second in May with a nice 937 PAX, but it was not enough to place in the series. Richard Vela’s consistent driving throughout the series earned him 2788 points for second place. Street Touring Extreme was a contentious group this series. Despite allegations of hopped cars, the series race came down to driving – pure and simple. Brady Dohrmann put in some impressive drives on his way to a 2825 points total and first place in the series. Craig Meyer was only 17 points behind for the series with 2808 points. In May, Dohrmann and his 240SX prevailed with a 953 PAX, followed by Dan Martin in an SE-R with 940 PAX. Meyer and his Mustang placed in the money at 939.

Moving to the Arizona Region local classes, PAX Ladies has picked up momentum this season. Sharon Roberts won the May event with 950 PAX score in her S2000, just edging ahead of Mindi Cross and the Elan at 946. Jodie Warren backed up her high PAX score from April with an 899 in May. For the season, Dawn Maxwell picked up first place, scoring a notable 2945 series points; followed by Cross at 2833 and Deb Eymann in third with 2714 points. The Arizona Region is making a mark for developing fast drivers who happen to be women.

The McCombs are just flat out fast. Dave McCombs takes the top PAX in May, leading all the Pro drivers. Marc McCombs takes the Pro series title with 2973 points – missing only 27 points somewhere along the way. Ted Lewis takes home second for the May event with a 999 PAX, just one point in front of Marc. It was enough for Lewis to claim second for the series. David Webb has been quietly putting in some excellent PAX scores, including a 957 in May. So how tough is the Pro class? Consider this – every driver to qualify for the series scored 2900+ points. Only 12 drivers scored over 2900 points and six of them were in Pro! Dave Rock had 2953 points, Dave McCombs have 2949 points and Dan Maloney scored 2906 points. These scores represent some remarkable driving talent.

The Pros from Dover aren’t the only ones going fast; the Sportsman group just chooses when they want to go fast. Steve Eymann must make good decisions, because he bested the Sportsman class in May, capping off a season run to take the series win with 2963 points. Another member of the 2900 club, second in both May and series points, is Brian Peters. His series total was 2952 points, putting him only 10 points ahead of Tage Evanson, the third place driver in May and the series. Chad Mizner picked up the final trophy spot for the series with a 2890 total. Don Roberts claimed fourth in May with a 967 PAX score.

The Street Tire category historically has included some big classes. In May, Street Tire 1 had 26 drivers, all striving for the top spot. Unfortunately for them, Dave Young has not been able to by any sticky tires for his BMW in a particular brand and size he likes, so he has been whipping up on Street Tire 1 this season. With his 963 PAX finish in May, he extended his series lead to 2842 points. Street Tire had 15 drivers qualify for the series, meaning the trophies go six deep. James Frink has been making big strides this season. Frink’s 956 PAX in May insured a solid second place in the series, totaling 2828 points. Also stepping up the pace is Lincoln LS driver Chris Noyes, having been a top finisher all season long. His series total of 2753 points puts in third place in the tough Street Tire1 class. Derek Slife in his S2000 claimed fourth place in the series, only 6 points in front of Kim Kemper. Jim Rohn, driving his M3, collected the final trophy with a solid 923 PAX in the May event. Hard charging Steve Mott and his 350Z actually placed fourth in the May event with a nice 928 PAX, but it was not enough to earn a series trophy. Roger Brendecke and Ryan Sotak regularly scored over 900 points on street tires, a significant achievement. Todd Houser helped rally the dynamic MINI collective to participate in the May event, bringing many new faces out for some autocrossing fun. They are welcome back anytime!

In Street Tire 2, Jay Balducci made a clean sweep by winning the first three events, amassing 2825 points in his WRX. Chasing hard was Will Esker, his 936 PAX in May closing the gap somewhat. With four trophy spots on the line, it came down to MINI driver Frank Bertola’s consistent driving all season for third with 2733 points and Scott Jones in the Contour SVT at 2711. Brad Owen broke through the 900 barrier in May with excellent 921 PAX score in May. Also over 900 in May were Mike Driscoll, Jason Miller and Klayton Albers. Street Tire 3 saw a new champion crowned this season. Clint Child, with his slightly modified Integra Type R claimed the win in May to cap off a season run of 2760 points. Street Tire Ladies turned into a street fight in May. Only two PAX points separated class champ Kat Kemper from Kendra Albers, 840 to 838.

The results for Novice 1 list Pete Creek as the victor and technically, he may be a novice since he hasn’t participated in any Arizona Region Solo 2 events in over a year; but he is a ringer. Creek used to win top PAX back in earlier days, and autocrossing is kind of like riding a bicycle – you never really forget how to do it once you learn. Undeterred by Creek’s performance, series champion Mike Selland put in an awesome 914 PAX drive on his way to a series total of 2719 points in his S2000. A novice averaging over 900 points across a season is quite an accomplishment - look for him to start winning in new class soon. Greg Rubenstein’s WRX was on Selland’s tail during the May event, only 3 points behind with a 911 PAX score. Rubenstein showed steady improvement through the season with PAX scores jumping 20 points per event. His performance earned him second place in the Novice 1 series points. Ryan Johnson, in another S2000, laid down a 903 PAX score in May. In season competition with only four drivers qualifying for the series and only two trophy spots, Angel Vela and his SM Prelude just missed.

When discussing fast novice drivers, the conversation has to include George Capito. Capito lead the Novice 2 class in his Sentra SE-R Spec V with an extraordinary 2851 season points total. That included the 942 PAX finish in May, and yes – that is 2 points better than Pete Creek did in NV1! Capito scored a 951 and a 958 in previous events this series. Craig Corbin, in a CRX, may not have had the Novice 2 limelight on him but it did not stop him from breaking the 900 barrier on a regular basis. His series total of 2718 points put him in second spot in class trophies, just ahead of Lee Nicely. In May, Ken Rudy brought out a hot rod Volkswagen R32 and drove it to third place in class.

Novice 3 saw 17 drivers in May, making it one of the bigger classes at that event. Unfortunately, only three drivers qualified for season points, meaning two trophies. At the head of the pack was Rabbit driver Davis Koffron with 2662 points. He switched Rabbits mid-stream, picking up a wild hare for the last couple of events before taking it out on the racetrack to earn his regional SCCA racing license. David Green took second place in his 240SX with 2561 points, leaving Bejoe Mathew and his STS Integra just out of trophies. It can be hard to make high PAX scores in a modified car unless it is prepared and driven to the limit, but these guys seemed to be having fun. In the May event, Richard Diefenderfer took his WRX to a nice 908 PAX for first place, followed closely by Jason Gallagher in his Integra at 904 PAX. Koffron and Green took third and fourth respectively. Kevin Cote in a G35 coupe and Russell Nealis of Mini fame finished out the top six spots in May.

Teresa Clement and Tina Nguyen went toe to toe in Novice Ladies. Series leader Clement took home the win with an 862 PAX score, adding to her 2613 point total for the season. Nguyen just missed out on qualifying for the series by one event and we hope to see more of her next season.

The Time Only Car Swap competition proved to be a fun bit. Nine teams were officially registered, many adopting descriptive team names. For instance, the Gleaton Neon and Galo Prelude combined to form the Neolude team and the Gallagher Integra joined forces with the Morabe Celica to create Intelica. Jumping into an unfamiliar car and being able to go fast is an enviable skill. Top dogs of the Time Only Car Swap were Mark Shaw and Dave McCombs. Shaw performed well in the S2000 and McCombs adjusted to the turbo characteristics of the Beetle S quickly, for a combined PAX score of 1943. Marc McCombs switched cars with Mindi Cross and found himself in a twitchy Lotus with the clutch travel of an old dimmer switch. He cranked out a 999 PAX score. Cross handled the S2000 with élan and the Cross/McCombs team grabbed second spot with a 1929 score. The big story was the side bets happening with the Wing/Evanson pair, Team Black Teg. Jeremy Galo offered up a wager that Evanson, driving Wing’s less prepared car, could top Wing’s time in Evanson’s well-prepared car. Wing accepted and even managed to raise the stakes to the point that he will be wearing pink attire throughout an upcoming series. All in good fun.

The May event capped a wild chapter in the history of the Arizona Region Solo 2 program. Events were scheduled for Saturdays because those were the only weekend days on which the organizers could secure local venues. But none of this scrambling was evident at the May event; the crew hit a trifecta in May, closing the series with a safe, fun and well-organized event.

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