February 7th, 2010
Event 2 of 4 for the 2010 Spring Series
by Dave Lahey
Wet, but Drying ...
The alarm clock went off at 6am like it was supposed to, and the "snooze" button was immediately mashed! At 6:04, the phone call came: "It's raining like {heck} out here in Mesa!" "Hmmm, it HAS rained here (North Phoenix), but looks dry now." "Well, I tell ya, I am NOT going out in this {stuff}, even to get to the car! I have no rain gear, and my umbrella is out there in this deluge!" That daring trek was made, however, and the car and drivers arrived safe and sound, as did most on this dreary, wet, and threatening morning. It was evident that a serious storm had just passed by and headed east, which explains the frantic phone call, but it had cleared out, leaving high clouds and even some patches of blue sky, but ...
Upon arriving at Firebird Skidpad 4, the surface was absolutely soaked, but the setup crew was out there laying out the course, and everyone was showing up as planned, ready to face whatever might come along. The rain had ended, and it was a bright sunny day, but the surface was mostly puddles and small streams on the skidpad. Pity the poor A run group, as they would face this slick and sloppy patch of asphalt first! And just to prove it, here is that very first car and driver; Kim Kemper in his SS Corvette, looking more like a boat than a car:
Things dried up eventually, though, and it turned into a rather nice day! Considering folks in northern states are buried in snow, we are happy, and lucky to be autocrossing this time of year. So you think we are going to complain? Not on your life!
This was a Doug Rowse design that we have seen before, almost a year to the day, and in similar conditions, although the rain continued on and off all day last year. Today though, not a drop fell after the overnight and early morning downpour, so just the first couple of groups got the worst of the wet stuff. It was more of a steering exercise than driving for those early folks, as cars and drivers struggled for grip, and splashed their way around the course. Later in the day, though, the surface eventually dried off very nicely, and actually before the driving line did, as cars would pick up water getting to and from the course, and then sling it all over the line as they ran and it all dripped off! But by the afternoon session, things were pretty dry, and the sun came out for a while, then cloud cover, then sun again, and then ... Well, you get the idea, but no more rain!
Up the right side of the skidpad and up to the start line, and ready to go; take off and go right, then arc to the left across the top of the "Swirly" course and into a decreasing radius turn and across a slalom (of sorts) to the only right turn to speak of. If you didn't spin the car in that first left, then this was a darn good place to do it, or even do it again, if you applied too much "exuberance" through the right foot and pedal. But a nice arc through there and up the center section offsets, and you had yet another chance to spin it (assuming you hadn't already)! Up to the left and across the top section, then facing a true slalom that kept a lot of course workers scurrying to keep set up. And if you made it through THAT part, then you faced another challenge toward the end, making that deceiving left into a wall of waiting cones that would catch the overzealous offguard yet again! One more task to face; a hard left into the finish lights and slow that sucker down enough to miss all those extreme cones after, which caught many a good driver out. Yeah, some Swirly stuff going on alright, and some nice pirouettes and cone carnage, but a fantastic day, all considered.
Are you all getting tired of seeing photos of Fred Zust and his way-too-fast FrankenLotus? It seems like every issue of the Press lately has him taking the top spot for Fast Time and Overall PAX! Okay, so yeah, he did it once again, with the only 32 second run of the day; 32.503, to be exact. Next best was bouncin' Dan Hawrilkiw in that torturous FMod Zink, at 33.302, followed by Steve Eymann in his GT3 Porsche, and Dave Schotz, making a rare visit, and thrashing Dad Joel's '08 Z06 to a 33.927. Dave has been off roadracing and doing quite well! There is a rumor of a NASCAR ride up in Sonoma this year, and who knows what else! Fifth fastest was Clint Child in the Clement EVO at 34.442, followed by Brad Owen in Kevin Gleaton's SSM supercharged Miata, followed closely by Kevin himself, then Ben Clement, Dave Young, and Elliot Speidell.
For Overall PAX, it was once again Fast Fred, with Clint jumping into second, then Dave Schotz, Steve Eymann, Elliot, Ben, then Dave Rock in his ST Celica, Dave Webb in the DS Min(d)i Cooper S, Jay Balducci in his STR MX-5, and Brian Weikert in his '95 STU M3. Dandy Dan H was next, followed by a slew of STR cars; Rob Rockefeller in his S2000, Larry Burrow in his 10AE Miata, then Dave Young breaking the string, and Don Sattler in his '99 STR Miata.
In the Open Classes, Kim Kemper eventually sloshed his way around in the wet morning to beat Mike Terrey (pictured) for the SS win. Dave Webb took the DS win, with Joe Sandoval taking ES in his '90 Miata. Evan Brom also ran in the wet, cursing all the way, but took the FS win. Jeff Abrams took the SM win in his RX-8, and Paul Hammersly took the SSM Open win in his '99 Corvette.
In a similar sloshfest, Dave Lahey steered Steve Ashcraft's CSP Miata around quick enough to take that class, with Steve in second, Kevin Venisnik third, and co-driver Tom Tkacik in fourth. All of these guys brought a new set of tires, unbeknownst to the others, and honestly, it was more of an exercise in practicing caution than really driving those cars. Last runs were the driest and the fastest, and quite a few went on Swirly Spins and in directions unintended!
As you can plainly see, things dried up later, as this photo of Chris Largent shows, taking the ST class win in his Subaru Impreza over Josh Johnston and Brock Palmer, co-driving Josh's 240SX. Dave Branson took the STS Open win in his '93 Miata, but may have some competition soon. In the STX Battle of the Bimmers, Matthew Reams came out on top in his '95 325I over Richard Damp in a '96 328Is and Chris Kohler in his 535Is. Tim Bergstrom took the STU Open win.
In the new and growing STR class, Rob Rockefeller has jumped in, Honda S2000, and took the top spot in a VERY tight field! Rob's 35.920 just BARELY outran Larry Burrow's 35.958, in the 10th Anniversary Miata. If there was such a thing, Larry would have to be considered one of the prime candidates for Most Improved Driver, as he edged out perennial favorites Don Sattler (36.083) and Matt Soeffner (36.207), both in '99 Miatas. Clayton Saffell and Eric Malsack both drove their newer MX-5 Mazdas into fifth and sixth respectively.
Teresa Clement brought the big hammer out and beat down the other PAX Ladies class runners. I swear, sometimes you can't tell who is driving the car among the three, as Teresa's aggression comes blazing through! In second was the better half of Team FN Audi, Colleen O'Neill, in the TT, followed by Kat Kemper, overcoming SS PAX to take third, Mandy Bennett in an STR Miata, and Mitzi Burrow in the family STR 10AE. Mindi Cross took the PRO class win over Ted Lewis, newer Mini Cooper S vs. older Lotus Elan in that class.
In the PAX Indexed Sportsman class, Fred put the whoopin' on the rest of the gang, but Clint Child was not too far behind, with a 995 to Fred's 1000 points. Not too far off that was Dave Schotz (pictured) with 991, Steve Eymann with 984, Elliot Speidell with 982, and Ben Clement at 980. Dave Rock was next best, then Jay Balducci, Brian Weikert, and Dan Hawrylkiw rounding out the top ten out of twenty three entrants
If you want to take the ST1 class win, you have to outdrive Chad Mizner in his 330i BMW, as he was "da man" on this day. Scott Meyers is definitely in the battle, though, as he took second in his V6 Mustang, followed closely by Jim Rohn in a 330i, Jeff Goggin in his Audi A4, and Klayton Albers in his new Mazda 3. In ST2, a similar story, with Jeff Israel once again in the top spot in his R32 VW. Next come Todd Houser in his '07 Cooper S, tied with Brad McCann, making the trip down from Flagstaff in his Saturn Sky, then Elliott Goltsman also tied on points, but just .003 behind those two in his SRT-4, and then Dustin Schertz, '05 Subie STI. Kim Chenoweth took the ST Ladies win in her Mazda 3 over Gwenn Hanigan-Baily in an '04 R32.
Stu Lasswell took the Novice 1 class win in his '04 Mini Cooper, followed closely by Dave Camarillo in an R32. Next best was Dustin Frank in a '99 Integra Gs, followed by Erich Weber in a VW Jetta. In NV2, Juan Espinoza put his Mitsu EVO in the top spot, followed by Marcus Meyer in an '07 Vette, John Hogan, WRX, and Boyan Vassilev in his '95 Eclipse AWD Turbo. In NV3, Steve Carter was showing new rubber on spiffy new wheels, and took the win over Justin Floyd, '95 Miata over '08 Charger R/T. In the NV Ladies class, visiting avid roadracer Belinda Endress borrowed Brian Weikert's STU BMW and took the win over Maggie Dishman in her very first event. Belinda had a few "issues" with cones and a spin or two, as did Maggie, but both settled into a groove eventually, and pulled off nice clean runs.
Despite this being Super Bowl Sunday, lots of folks took advantage of better conditions in the afternoon to take Time Only runs, and many improved immensely! Of course Fred took some more time off, running a 31.840, but wasn't the fastest, as Dan Hawrilkiw put the raw time smackdown with a smokin' fast 31.694 second run. Ben CLement shaved off some more time as well, and so did Elliot Speidell (pictured), Dave Rock, and Jay Balducci. Kevin Venisnik also found the magic with those nice new tires and dry conditions, and Dave Webb, Brian Weikert, and many others had quicker times than their comp runs.
In the end, we all pretty much forgot about the overnight rain and the wet morning, and wrapped up the runs at 3pm, then tear down the course, pack everything up, and home in time for kickoff, or pretty near to it. A pretty good game, as it seemed to be going one way, then changed all around near the end. Sort of like the run groups went, with one person leading a class, then someone else putting down a better time to win it all in their last or penultimate run. Yeah, another great day to be autocrossing, and to all you snowbound folks up north, ... put another log on the fire, shovel that snow, and wait for spring! We already have it here. ;^)
Thanks to Rob Rockefeller and Dave Lahey for the photos featured here and on the Arizona Autocross Photos website.