2024 YEARBOOK

PORSCHE

OWNERS CLUB 2024 Year in Review

The Porsche Owners Club is dedicated to organizing racing and high performance driver education events. Safety is our utmost priority. We are committed to training, and ultimately producing, top-tier drivers who can compete at both Club and Professional levels.

Porsche Owners Club Club Racing at its Best

2024 POC Board of Directors

John Momeyer President President@porscheclub.com

Joe Wiederholt Motorsports Director motorsports@porscheclub.com

Dwain Dement Chief Driving Instructor cdi@porscheclub.com

Karen Robinson Corporate Secretary secretary@porscheclub.com

Eben Benade Time Trial Chairman tt@porscheclub.com

Jim Salzer Treasurer / PDS Chair Treasurer@porscheclub.com

Steve Town Sponsor Chairman sponsor@porscheclub.com

Table of Contents Design & Production

Editorial

Design

Don

Writers

Bob

Steve Eisle

David Fabir

Matthew Hately

Chet Kolley

Donb Kravig

Don Matz

Darin Moore

Ryan

Ana

Andrew

Paul Wren

Photographers

Luis

Steve Eisler

Matthew Hately

Don Matz

John Momeyer President

Don Matz Design / Production

This book is a tribute to the Porsche Owners Club and its many volunteers. It contains articles and photographs that first appeared in our monthly magazine...Velocity. Over the course of 2024 club members submitted articles covering each Racing, Time Trial, and Performance Driving Series event.

Andrew Weyman did a remarkable job of gathering and editing content, often providing his own articles which included personal interviews he held with many of our members throughout the year.

Luis Vivar, our club photographer, provided most of the images which, in no small way, contributed to the success of the magazine.

If you’re a POC driver, family member or friend, we hope you enjoy reliving our exciting 2024 season as you scroll through this book.

If you’re simply a race enthusiast we’re hoping you get rev’d to the point where you’ll want to come out and join us.

See you at the track!

John and Don

Worn by Orlando Bloom.

January

POC 68th ANNUAL BANQUET

Photo: Luis Vivar

POC 68th ANNUAL BANQUET

by Andrew Weyman

It was a bitchin’ blowout. Totally tubular. Nostalgically gnarly.

The 68th Annual Banquet at Porsche Irvine took us back to the 80’s thanks to the hella idea Chris MacDuff suggested. Many members hit ebay and amazon searching for Members Only jackets, wild wigs and massive medallions. Those who like to dress up did, and others attended in more conventional garb. I arrived in my driving suit joking that I misread the schedule and thought I was going to the drivers meeting at Spring Mountain.

The formalities of the Annual Meeting were entertainingly presented by President John Momeyer and the Board. Retiring Board members Nathan Johnson and Scott Craig received special trophies for their service and new Board Members were installed. Welcome Karen Robinson! Welcome back, Dwain Dement! Thanks for stepping up. John provided a fun recap of 2023 and MC Chris MacDuff moved things along efficiently awarding prizes from our sponsors throughout the evening. Bidding on silent auction items was fast and furious. Eben Benade enjoyed giving DJ Ryan Moore a hard time about his music choices. Gag me with a spoon! Thanks to the generosity of Porsche Cars North America, Porsche Experience Center, Stand 21, Westwood Racing Supplies, Tarett Engineering, The Racers Safety Source, and DK Driving School members took home some really rad stuff. Some of the prize winners were Steve Eisler, Martina Kwan, Pamela Susslin, Tom Mueller, Ashley Andreoli, Chris MacDuff, Alisha Wray, Ted Frech, John Momeyer, Larry Haase, Brett Gaviglio, Nathan Apelbaum, Chris Walsh, Razvan Sporea, Vivek Hazari, Mike Avitt, Joe Wiederholt, and… me!

Don Matz recognized our contributing Velocity writers and announced that after 7 years, he’s stepping down from his position as Editor and handing it off to me. Don gave special thanks to photographer Luis Vivar and John Momeyer presented the President’s Award to Steve Eisler for his contributions to the magazine. John also gave a big thanks to all the Competition Committee members for their service.

Volker Holzmeyer, Head of Porsche Motorsport North America, took the stage to talk about new developments in the Motorsport division and entertained questions from the crowd. Future plans for hybridization? Electricification? Stay tuned.

The club has been supporting Racing to End Alzheimer’s and Wear Blue. Lisa Hallett spoke on behalf of Wear Blue and shared her very moving story of turning devastating sorrow into positive, hopeful change. Chris Walsh also spoke about Wear Blue and all its wonderful accomplishments.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Bitchin’ blowout. Totally tubular. Nostalgically gnarly.

Along with trophies presented to Time Trial, Race Series and SIM Champions, special awards were presented to members whose names did not appear in the evening’s program. Competition Points Champion in the Red Group; Jim Salzer, Competition Points Champion in the Orange Group; Anders Hainer, The Chick Richardson John Deere Weed Harvesting Award went to two-time winner, Larry Haase. Larry was also gifted with a brick to symbolize the wall at WSIR’s T9. The newly created Exxon Valdez Award went to Joe Wiederholt and Mickey Giacomazzi who were presented with 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles that included the POC logo but were 90% black. Service Points Champion; Andrew Weyman, Rookie of the Year; Jake Stone, Most Improved Time Trial Driver; Kelly Tribolet, Most Improved Cup Racing Driver; Chet Kolley, Driver of the Year; Duane Selby, and Member of the Year; Andrew Weyman.

The Radd, a bitchin’ band, was mad awesome and played the night away with 80’s tuneage. It was a one-of-a-kind, mega bad to the bone banquet. Kudos to all that made it happen.

See ya at Spring Mountain!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Lisa Hallett

John Momeyer

Chris Walsh

Volker Holzmeyer

Steve Town

Joe Wiederholt

Chris MacDuff

Eben Benabe

Andrew Weyman Member of the Year & Service Points Champion

Special Awards

Most Improved Cup Racer

Kelly Tribolet Most Improved Time Trial Driver

Chick Richardson

John Deere Weed Harvesting Award

Chet Kolley

Jake Stone Rookie of the Year

Duane Selby Driver of the Year

LARRY HAASE

Championship Awards

Time Trial Series

BSR 1st James Hovark

GT3 1st Kelly Tribolet

GT3 2nd Bob Gartland

GT5 1st Steve Eisler

M2 1st Mike Avitt

M2 2nd Nathan Apelbaum

M2 3rd Angela Avitt

M3 1st Glenn Orton

M4 1st Vivek Hazari

M4 2nd Dave Bent

SIM Race Series 1

GT1 1st Michael Johnson

GT1 2nd Tom Layton

GT1 3rd Michael Bolten

IM Race Series 2

GT1 1st Sagar Dhawan

GT1 2nd Jad Duncan

GT1 3rd Arnold Roper

RED Cup Series

GT1 1st Mike Monsalve

GT1 2nd Loren Beggs

GT1 3rd Eric Olberz

GT2 1st Razvan Sporea

GT2 2nd Ana Predescu

GT3 1st Duane Selby

GT3 2nd Brett Gaviglio

GT3 3rd Eben Benade

GT4 1st Jim Salzer

ORANGE Cup Series

BSR 1st Anders Hainer

BSR 2nd Riley Giacomazzi

BSR 3rd Chris MacDuff

GT5 1st Don Kravig

GT5 1st Aspasia Zouras

GT7 1st Randy Bergum

Time Trial Series

Photos: Luis Vivar

James Hovark / BSR

Bob Gartland / GT3

Kelly Tribolet / GT3

Steve Eisler / GT5 Angela & Mike Avitt / M2

Nathan Apelbaum / M2 Glen Orton / M3

Vivek Hazari / M4 Dave Bent / M4

Red Cup Series

Orange Cup Series

Mike Monsalve / GT1

Razvan Sporea / GT2

Ana Predescu / GT2

Jim Salzer / GT4

Eben Benabe, Duane Selby & Brett Gaviglio / GT3

Loren Beggs / GT1

Eric Olberz / GT1

Aspasia Zouras & Don Kravig / GT5

Randy Bergum / GT7

Anders Hainer / BSR

Riley Giacomazzi / BSR

Chris MacDuff / BSR

Board of Directors

2024

Eben Benade, Karen Robinson, Joe Wiederholt, Steve Town, Jim Salzer, John Momeyer, missing: Dwain Dement

Exxon Valdez Award Recipients

Mickey Giacomazzi & Joe Wiederholt

Photos: Luis Vivar

WILLOW SPRINGS

Photo: Luis Vivar

Winter Racing at

Photos: Luis Vivar

Windy Willow

DARIN MOORE

The first weekend in January brought with it several firsts: The first January race in recent memory, the first Spec 991.2 race ever, and the first time I remember looking forward to the drive home, so I could turn on the heat and warm up!

While I’ve seen lower temperatures a few times at Willow Springs over the years, I don’t ever remember being so consistently cold all weekend at the track, as the wind started out strong on Saturday, and only got stronger as the day, night and then Sunday arrived. While I didn’t bring my trusty anemometer with me, my guess is that the wind Saturday night was in the 60-70 mph range and remained in the 30-40 mph range for the Sunday races. With a high of 45 degrees Sunday and winds of 35 mph, that translates into a wind chill of 34.5 degrees as the high for Sunday. I think you get my point!

RED GROUP RACING

Generally, the race group fields were fairly light for this event. Was it holiday fatigue? Folks looking forward to a change of scenery, after being at Big Willow four out of the five past events? In any case, the advent of the Spec 991.2 class meant many less cars in GT1 and GT2, and the event featured only one GT1 and one GT2 entry. Loren Beggs and Gene Sigel, respectively, ran solo in their classes both Saturday and Sunday. The inaugural Spec 991.2 race was won by Mike Monsalve, with Nathan Johnson 2nd and Bob Mueller 3rd. The GT3 race was won by Ana Predescu in a very close battle, with Brett Gaviglio taking the silver, and Eben Benade the bronze. In a two car GT4 field, Steve Town was back in a race car, and he bested Jim Salzer, in a battle of former and reigning GT4 champions. Steve left no doubt that he can still drive the wheels off a race car.

The Sunday races brought the extreme wind, but not many changes on the podium. The Sunday Spec 991.2 race brought an identical podium of Monsalve, Johnson and Mueller, in that order. Ana Predescu made it a weekend sweep in GT3, with Eben Benade taking 2nd, and Greg Gilson coming in 3rd. Jim Salzer was the lone entry in GT4.

ORANGE GROUP RACING

Saturday’s first race brought 22 cars to the BSR grid. Although recent fields have often been considerably larger, having 22 cars in a single class still makes for a very exciting and competitive contest. Multiple time Driver of the Year award winner Anders Hainer won the race, followed by Riley Giacomazzi in 2nd and Ryan Moore in 3rd. Jake Stone beat Don Kravig in the GT5 race, and in the GT7 race Ted Frech beat Randy Bergum by a mere 0.208! If there’s only two cars in a class, at least you hope to have a great battle, and GT7 didn’t disappoint!

Saturday’s second race featured the same BSR podium. This time, Ryan Moore followed winner Anders Hainer across the finish line, with Riley Giacomazzi coming in 3rd. Jake Stone again won the GT5 race, and Randy Bergum topped Ted Frech to take home the gold in GT7.

There was not much attrition overnight, as 21 cars reported to the BSR grid Sunday, on the windiest race day I can remember. In spite of the number of cars entered, the Sunday podium featured the same three BSR drivers as both of Saturday’s races. Anders Hainer took his 3rd win of the weekend, with Riley Giacomazzi taking 2nd, and Ryan Moore finishing 3rd. The battle between Riley and Ryan was an instant classic, as they battled back

Photos: Luis Vivar

and forth, and took turns passing each other several times during the race. They were met with a rousing ovation in impound after the race, as the onlookers showed their appreciation for a tough but clean battle between the two young racers. In GT5 Jake Stone ran solo, and in GT7 Randy Bergum made it 2-1 in his favor over Ted Frech, this time in convincing style. I should mention that Carrera Spec had one car all weekend, so Paul Barnes was credited with three wins. I’m sure Paul wished he had some competition, but it was not to be.

As we head towards February’s race at Spring Mountain, we see Big Willow getting smaller in our rear-view mirror, at least for a few months.

See you in Pahrump!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

PDS & Time Trials

POC got off to an early start for the 2024 racing season with a full slate of events at Willow Springs International Raceway. In addition to the Cup Races for the Red and Orange groups, we hosted a full slate of Performance Driving Series and Time Trial Series events. Eleven POC members paired up with POC certified in-car instructors to experience the excitement, speed, and safety of this PDS event. Six of them drove on Saturday, and three on Sunday. The other two participated both days and are halfway to earning their PDS License which allows them to drive solo at future PDS events. Students can graduate to the Time Trial Series and eventually to the Cup Racing Series with rolling starts and checkered-flag finishes.

Photo: Luis Vivar

STEVE EISLER

On Saturday there were 23 Time Trial drivers competing for points in nine classes. The highlight was the return of Danna Van Noy after her scooter accident in the pits at Buttonwillow last year. As expected, she recorded the TTOD on both Saturday and Sunday with a 1:25.344. Eight other drivers were under 1:30 led by Zhuoran Yin, Modified 1, 1:26.268 and Colin Benade, GT3, 1:26.804. Also, in GT3 were Gerrit Wesseling, 1:26.672, Kelly Tribolet, 1:28.641, and Nuno Cordeiro, 1:28.286. Bruce Blockus driving a Prototype was fifth fastest at 1:26.869 followed by Joseph Miller, GT2, 1:27.034, and Jack Aplebaum, Modified 3, 1:28.597.

The Time Trials were split into Open Passing and Point-By Passing groups. On Saturday there were four 20-minute Open Passing sessions with a maximum of 14 cars on the track. The four Point by Passing sessions had, at most, 9 cars driving in each of the sessions. If you wanted to learn more about driving your car without dealing with the questionable drivers on the freeway or risking a CHP stop, you could have spent 80 minutes sharing the track with just 8 PDS cars on Saturday. When you compare these car counts with groups like Speed Ventures, Hooked on Driving, and the many other companies that offer open track events, you are getting a fantastic bargain when you join fellow POC members at the track. Add in the possibility of getting instruction, the stricter safety procedures, and the professional tech inspections and you have the recipe for a fantastic ontrack experience. And, for the cost of a hotel room, you can buy a second day with four more sessions to dial in what you learned on Saturday and lower those lap times. Plus, the car count on Sunday was even lower than the Saturday numbers. Get a friend to join POC. Bring them to the track to really learn how to drive. Progress to Time Trials where you learn to safely

Willow Springs ‘24 Opener

go fast in traffic and, if you are really bitten by the racing bug, attend POC’s Racers Clinic to get your license to race in our Cup Series.

‘Any fool can drive at 120 mph on a straight freeway, but it takes a POC trained driver to go 120 mph and then safely negotiate a 90-degree turn!’

EPILOGUE – Kathy and I just returned from a trip to Costco. The other drivers were exceptionally poor today. I wished, aloud, that I was on the track where it was safe!

DRIVERS & INSTRUCTORS

Colin Lee 1999 Boxster Andrew Weyman

Mike Dillehay 911 Turbo Vivek Hazari

Jacob Johnson 2018 GT2 RS Jim Salzer Jim Salzer

Joseph Wirija 2018 911 Aaron Guttman

Leo Sampson 2007 Cayman Larry Haase

Teja Reddy 206 Cayman Darin Moore

Garrett Martucci 1981 911 Solo

Luis Sanchez 1999 Boxster Glenn Orton

Jinghou Sun Lambo Kunal Hinduja

Zhengna Zhou Lambo Kunal Hinduja

Adam Bennett 2016 Clubsport Solo Solo

DRIVER’S TIMES

Time Trials

2023 TIME TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

During last year over 150 drivers recorded times in one of the 17 Time Trial events. Many of them were racers using the time trials as test-and-tune or warm-up sessions. To qualify for the Time Trial Championships a driver needed to enter at least nine events and, to receive an award at the end of the year, needed to earn 200 service points.

The following Time Trial drivers ran the fastest times in their class, entered at least 9 events and earned the necessary points in order to receive their Championship trophys at the Awards Banquet in January:

Photo: Luis Vivar

A Tribute to Leonard Schenkel

ANDREW WEYMAN

Much beloved, longtime Porsche Owners Club member Leonard Schenkel passed away on January 12, 2024 at the age of 91, due to postsurgery complications. Leonard began his racing career in the mid 60’s with SCCA. He joined the POC in 1993, drove car #226, and held membership number 5866. He was elected to the POC Board of Directors in 1998 and served as Treasurer for several terms.

During Leonard’s racing career, he drove many Porsches including Speedsters, 911’s, 912’s and for a short time, a 914. In 1998, Leonard met his wife, Maia, while attending a Porsche Owners Club event. In true form, the wedding was not complete until they drove off into the sunset in their classic 1959 Porsche 356 Convertible D.

Leonard was an active, friendly and enthusiastic club member and had many great stories to share. He had a passion for music (he played trombone and violin) and loved to sing. He joined the Valleyaires, a barbershop chorus group, and sang lead as part of a quartet at his 90th birthday celebration.

Leonard is survived by his wife, Maia Schenkel (married almost 20 years) and three children: David Schenkel, Ray Schenkel (spouse Jennifer), and Lynette Schenkel (spouse Robert Yelle). He is also survived by two brothers, Tom Schenkel and John Schenkel (spouse Barbara), and sister, Betsy Smith; along with previous wife, Vicki Vincent, and her son Dean Vincent (spouse Angela); three grandchildren and one great grandchild.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Leonard on March 2, 2024, to be held at the LifePoint Church located at 3137 E. Everett St. Tucson, AZ 85739; Phone (520) 917-0530; www.lifepointtucson.com. The service will be held from 10:30 AM to noon Mountain Standard Time (MST), with a reception to follow at the same location from noon to 2:00 PM (MST).

For those who cannot attend in person, the Celebration of Life will be live streamed at http:// lifepointtucson.com/private. The live stream will start five minutes prior to the start of the Celebration of Life service, 10:25 AM (MST). A recording of the service will be made available at Leonard Schenkel - Celebration of Life.

If you have questions, please reach out to Maia Schenkel at maia.schenkel@gmail.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Leonard’s honor can be made to one of the following charities:

Hillsdale College

https://www.hillsdale.edu – Click on “Donate”

Fill in the info, select the donation amount

Comments: In Memory of – Leonard F. Schenkel of Oracle, AZ Or Call – (517) 607-2727

Young America’s Foundation (Reagan Ranch)

https://yaf.org – Click on “Donate”

Fill in the info, select the donation amount

In Memor y of – Leonard F. Schenkel of Oracle, AZ Or Call – 1-800-USA-1776 (800-872-1776)

LifePoint Community Church

https://www.lifepointtucson.com – Click on “Give”

Fill in the info, select the donation amount

Giving type: Select “Other” in the drop-down menu

Memo: In Memory of – Leonard F. Schenkel of Oracle, AZ Or Call – (520) 917-0530

February

Charleston Peak

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Record Run at the Peak

The POC’s second run at the Charleston Peak full course brought inclement weather, hard-fought racing, and oh, by the way, track records!

FRIDAY - After raining half the night and the early part of the morning, the first hot laps were full of spins, tows, and assorted adventures. The sun started to peek out at 11:00 am. The track began to dry and it was on.

Red Practice saw a large influx of drivers and cars into the new 991.2 class including at least 1 pro team. At various times during the two dry afternoon practices we saw practice times for all the GT classes at or below current lap records. Duane Selby, Brad Keegan, and Nathan Johnson have moved into the new class with new cars, or at least new to them. James Li ran a blistering 2:12.888 to set the pace.

DON KRAVIG

Orange Practice - There were close to forty Boxster Specs in competition. President John Momeyer was hoping for a shot at the all-time record for overall cars in a BSR start. It would all come down to Qualifying Saturday morning. Practice times had 6 or 7 BSRs with a shot at the track record. In the second dry practice, I followed VP of  Motorsports, Joe Wiederholt, out second on the grid with a hundred yards back to the next closest car. By the fifth corner, that car had caught us so I let him by and then followed him past Joe. For the next five laps, I kept saying to myself who is this guy as he kept up a marvelous display of car control which included both of us dodging a spinning car between turns 6 and 7. No surprise. That driver ran the practice’s fastest lap. It turned out to be none other than Kevin Roush driving a student’s car. I am not sure he had ever driven a BSR before but as I said in my last article, “Physics don’t apply to him.”  Judging by the way Kevin has been coaching Ana Predescu, among others, if you want to step up your game, I highly recommend him.

Time Trials and PDS -  The timed run groups saw the debut of Robert Chang’s new GT4 along with 18 other mostly street-legal cars. Terry Van Noy ran a 2:33.105 in modified 2 to set the pace.

Friday night - Todd Trimble of Trophy Performance grilled steaks, potatoes, and green beans. There was enough food for the entire paddock. Thanks, Todd!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

SATURDAY

Orange qualifying - The sun was out and the track was dry! It’s on. Anders Hainer ran a 2:33.577 to take the pole and set a new BSR track record, followed by Chris Bason’s 2:33.675, Nick Khilnani’s 2:34.790, and Ryan Moore’s 2:35.352. And oh, by the way, 36 BSRs qualified as well as 2 GT5s, a GT7, and an M4.

Red Qualifying - GT3 driver, Brett Gaviglio, started on pole with a 2:19.568, followed by Ana Predescu with a 2:19.903 and Eben Benade at 2:20.300.

The GT2 pole was taken by Darrell Troester with a 2:24.394. GT1 saw another blistering lap by James Li with a 2:11.909 for pole position followed by Loren Beggs with a 2:12.361.

Photos: Luis Vivar

In the new 991.2 Spec class, it was  Bob Mueller with a 2:15.671 followed by Mike Monsalve with a 2:15.671 and Alexandra Hainer with a 2:16.273. Nathan Johnson, Duane Selby, and Brad Keegan all made the jump from GT3 to the new spec. Expect big things from them.

Orange Cup Race #1 - THE RECORD 40 CAR BSR START!!! - After qualifying, John Momeyer enlisted 4 more Cup drivers to fill out the ranks of the spec class including Kevin Roush, Alexandra Hainer, and Don Kravig. The extra cars were supplied by Todd from Trophy, Dwain from Vision, and Anders Hainer with Vali Motorsports. These additions brought 40 BSRs to the green flag for the first time. A new record! Along with 2 GT5s, an M4, and a GT7, this made for a 44 car start. Wow! All competitors made it through turn 1 and then, it was on.

An incident at T2, 3-wide passing at T3, and a dive bomb at T4 created many offs from the first lap on. This finally brought out a black flag at lap 5.

Anders Hainer ran a fast lap of 2:35.097 to take the top spot on the podium, followed by Nick Khilnani, and Matt Hollander. Kevin Roush, coming from the back, passed something like 19 cars. Aspasia Zouras coming from the back passed 20 cars and won GT5. Randy Bergum won GT7 and newcomer Diane Johnstone with her mid-80s air-cooled 911, won M5. At Impound, John Momeyer presented BSR competitors with hats that showed their finishing position. Group pictures were taken. What a show!

Red Race # 1 - It’s still dry. Now it’s on! Start of the race mid pack goes three, then four wide. Contact! Spins! Ouch!!! Black flag. Three cars off. One continues around the hot pit. After cleanup and tows the Red group reenters under full course yellow. Green falls. James Li with a hot lap of 2:11.039 finishes first but a restart infraction penalizes him one lap. Loren Beggs wins GT1 40 seconds ahead of Bob Mueller in the first 992.1 Spec, Brian Van Noy and Alexandra Hainer were second and third respectively. Alexandra Hainer had a great battle with Mueller until a pass attempt at the entrance to the front straightaway cost her a spot. Brett Gaviglio won GT3 with Ana Predescu and Eben Benade hot on his heels. Jim Salzer took the GT 4 win.

Random Impound comments - Loren Beggs to James Li: “Congratulations. I’ve been doing this a long time and rarely if ever had my ass handed to me.” Brett Gaviglio: “I was so glad to finally put a car between me and Ana. She drove the wheels off that car.” Great Sportsmanship!

Orange Race # 2 - Pole sitter Anders Hainer led us to the green with the first few laps being relatively clean. By lap five, a two-car collision between T2 and T3, and some contact at T7, brought out an early checkered. Anders won BSR by 1.3 seconds over Nick Khilnani with Mark Smith finishing 3rd. Chris Bason, in a remarkable drive from the back, passed 22 cars to move up to 7th place. Randy Bergum won GT7. Don Kravig won GT 5. Diane Johnstone won M5.

Photos: Luis Vivar

PDS and Time Trials - GT3 Time Trialer Gerrit Wesseling set a fast lap of 2:29.446 followed By William Pfersching in Modified 2 with a 2:31.494, and Terry Van Noy with a 2:36.330. In Modified 3, Russell Murdock had a 2:54.298. In modified 4,  Mike Krog ran a 2:36.409 followed by Dave Needham. I wonder if he’s related to Hal…

The Napkin - Competition Director, John Momeyer, had so many incidents and collisions to deal with, that he finally decided to write them down so as not to forget the many people he needed to talk to and videos he needed to retrieve. This wound up being a three-drink job. I’m including a picture of the napkin here. Throughout the weekend, he spent hours reviewing video. By the time people left on Sunday, some incidents were still being reviewed. By the end of the weekend, his notes covered a napkin and two paper plates. Next time you see John, buy him a drink!

Saturday night at the clubhouse - Once again, Spring Mountain provided a marvelous feast, including chicken and filet mignon. The bar was well-stocked, and we didn’t manage to run it dry this time! However, one person did his best!

SUNDAY

Rain, rain, and more rain! We awoke to wind, rain, and a very wet track. Practice and qualifying consisted of spins and offs and lots of sliding around. The average qualifying times were off by 30 seconds or more, so I won’t even bother to record them here.

Orange Race - Sunday’s Orange Race was run on a wet track and was won by Anders Hainer in a marvelous display of the driving skills that won him a world championship in Grand Am. Second place was Riley Giacomazzi who treated the wet track as a chance to practice his drifting skills and his smile was ear-to-ear in impound. Third place was Alex Filsinger who was gaining three seconds a lap on fourth place even in the wet conditions. Hainer ran the fastest lap in the rain at 3:07.721. The race was filled with multiple spins, with some competitors spinning up to four times but fortunately was clean with no contacts or other issues reported, other than a very light incident in T3 under braking.

Red Race - Sunday’s Red Race was mostly clean, and run on a nearly dry track, with James Li winning the overall GT1 race, followed by Bob Mueller winning the 991.2 Spec class, Ana Predescu winning GT3, and Jim Salzer winning GT4.

PDS and Time Trials - In the Sunday Green Time Trial class, Gerrit Wesseling laid down a 2:30:305 in GT3, followed by Nathan Apelbaum with 2:38.791 in a modified 2, then in third place, Vivek Hazari with 2:40.084 in Modified 4. In the PointBy-Passing Class, first place went to Andrei Dan in a Modified 3 with 2:36.033, Daniel Mobley in second place in a prototype with a time of 2:36.321, and in third place, Gerrit Wesseling in a GT3 with a time of 2:39.571.

In conclusion - The Charleston Peak Full Course gives you all you want challenge-wise. Double apex off camber corners, blind late apex corners, lots of esses, hard braking zones, and straightaways with downshifts under braking. You name it. This track has it. Throw in the challenging weather and changing track conditions and The Peak was as good a test as we have had in a while! Yeah, baby!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: James Hovark

Charleston Peak

PDS & Time Trials

As I prepared for our trip to Pahrump on February 1st, I added two items to my Track Weekend Check list. First, I pulled the plastic storage box that had our ski clothes from under the bed. I had not opened this box much in the last 10 years since my friends decided they were too old, and I had no one to ski with. As I looked though the thermal underwear, turtle-necks, and wool sweaters I realized that living in California had made us weather wimps. We were worried about the forecasted overnight lows of 37 degrees in Pahrump when we had worn these clothes in Sun Valley, Idaho, and the temperature at the bottom of the lift was -17! I found a heavy wool sweater that I bought in Australia in 1964, and it was perfect for the weekend.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

My second addition was to spend several hours watching an in-depth track tutorial on how to achieve your fastest time on the Charleston Peak Full Course. You may have seen Full Throttle Driving Academy videos of Bryan and Danna Van Noy racing in POC events, but this video breaks down each corner in detail. It highlights camber, use of the curbing, the proper line and how each corner relates to the previous and following corners. I found it very beneficial, especially in getting more comfortable with the blind turn 6 and the transition to turn 7. Turns 13, 14 and 15 are also very tricky with the blind corners caused by elevation changes. The tutorial showed each turn in detail, then how they were linked together, and finally how to finish the section in the proper position to maximize your speed for the entry to turn 16. I had my greatest improvement on this section of the track. Bryan has another tutorial detailing the main track at Willow Springs that I will be studying before our next Big Willow event and is working on a Spec Boxster tutorial for Buttonwillow.

On Friday morning, Point-by-Passing was the first group on the cold, wet track. The rain was falling and, to make matters worse, I was on brand new tires. On the first, Yellow lap, I tried to heat the tires by braking hard in a straight line. As soon as I applied moderate brake pressure the ABS System activated making it difficult to warm up the tires. I spent the whole session in third gear, because downshifting in the slow corners caused wheel spin on corner exit.

Brian Swift led the 5 drivers in that first Point-by session with a 3:20, followed by another Stock 6 driver, Kenton Powell at 3:36. They switched places in the second session with Kenton doing a 3:13 and Brian a 3:18. The track was wet for the first two sessions and began drying in the afternoon sessions, so times improved throughout the day.

Only two cars took the green flag in the first Open-Passing session. Kirk Fertitta had the fastest time of 3:31. In the second session leading times dropped to 2:42 and 2:43, and in session 3 James Li did a 2:28. After 2:00 pm the track was drying substantially, and James did a 2:17.067. In the Blue group, Terry Van Noy and Brian Swift recorded 2:35’s in session four, and Terry did the Blue TTOD in the last session – 2:33.105 followed by Gerritt Wesseling – 2:33.565.

On Friday we pitted next to Todd Wallace and aptly named Randy Carr who were both in the PDS-Yellow group. Todd was driving a Speed Yellow 1966 911 in full race trim. Spring Mountain was his second POC PDS and his fifth driving event since acquiring the car in August. He also had an early version of the Futura trailer that was used to transport a scissors lift for his electrical contracting business and now doubles as his car trailer. Todd ran three sessions on Friday and two more on Saturday in the combined Yellow/Blue time trial group and dropped his times substantially. Randy brought a very nice 1965 Mustang GT-350 R Tribute car to the track, sporting the traditional white with blue stripes livery. It was his second PDS in this car, but he has had track experience in several other cars. Since the car had slick tires mounted, he was limited in the number of sessions he could run but handled the technical course well. Randy works in the hospitality industry. On Saturday the weather was beautiful, track conditions were great, and times dropped significantly. Moving into the parking space next to us was an old friend, John Peschio. I met John at a PCA event at Willow Springs when he noticed that I was an Air Force Academy graduate, as he was. He lives in Las Vegas and calls Spring Mountain the home track for his 2014 Porsche 911S, which he has been racing for 5 years in class Stock 3. John flew a variety of planes in his Air Force career, including time as an Instructor Pilot in T-37 and T-38 aircraft. He is currently a pilot for Southwest Airlines. On Saturday John did a best time of 2:50.557, leaving me far behind.

Photos: Luis Vivar

There were 31 drivers that recorded official times on Saturday. Fastest in the Open Passing group was Danna Van Noy in class 991.2 Spec with a time TTOD of 2:25.415. She was followed by two Mod 2 drivers, Nathan Aplebaum – 2:26.521 and John Hagy –2:26.671. Bruce Blockus recorded a 2:27.140 in his Prototype, and Bob Gartland rounded out the top five at 2:28.011 in class GT3. The top five in the Point by Passing group were Gerrit Wesseling – GT3 / 2:28.375, William Pfersching – Mod 2 / 2:29.180, Daniel Mobley – Prototype / 2:31.924, Terry Nan Noy – Mod 2 / 2:34.707, and Mike Krog – Mod 4 / 2:35.640. In the afternoon I caught up with railroad transportation consultant, Chuck Travis, a long time DE and PDS driver. He, his father, and his son campaigned a 1984 944 for many years. After blowing several engines he transitioned to a 2000 Boxster and gave it the number 944 in honor of his original race car. Chuck worked with instructor Aspasia Zouras on Saturday and Sunday to improve his times. The 944 has been returned to stock condition and is in the

TIMES

two other PDS drivers that I did not have a chance to meet: Dave Needham from Van Nuys drove a 2021 Audi R55 with Nathan Aplebaum instructing, and Brian Green brought his 2023 Porsche GT4 in the pink pig livery from Las Vegas.

On Sunday, the rain returned, and the track was wet for most of the day. Times varied based upon the track conditions, but I think all of us got better as we got more experience driving in the rain. Orange and Red Cup races were held in the morning, and at 12:40 pm the Point-by and Open Passing groups alternated 25-minute sessions for the rest of the day. As usual, car counts in each session were much lower than Saturday, giving the eleven diehards who remained ample space to practice their car control under varying conditions. In the three timed runs for the Blue Group, the fastest time at 12:40 pm was 3:01.017 by Dan Andrei. In the second run at 1:35 pm, Dan did a 2:36.033, and at 2:27 pm, Gerrit Wesseling had the fastest time, 2:29.366, in his GT-3 car. I skipped the last session. When we finished loading the paddock was empty. Five cars drove in the third Point by session, and just four in the last Open passing session.

We left early Monday morning and caught the pilot car on highway 127 just as it was leaving and did not have to stop at all. It rained most of the drive home but, even pulling the trailer, I felt very secure after practicing in the rain all weekend. I wish I could say the same about some of the morons speeding past us with no idea how to control driving in wet conditions. Hopefully, many of you will take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to drive safely and quickly at our event at Buttonwillow on March 9 and 10. Buttonwillow is a great track with long straights, elevation changes and very fast turns mixed with some slower turns. For you time trial drivers who are ready for the next level in the POC progression, there will be a Racers Clinic at Buttonwillow, where you can earn your license to compete in the race groups. I hope to see you there!

Photo: Luis Vivar

IED Group... understands that bringing a product to market in a timely and cost effective manner can mean everything in business. With that in mind, IED Groups’ turnkey manufacturing and guaranteed stocking programs will make sure we have your products ready, when you need them. With IED Group carrying the inventory, our customers are able to reduce inventory costs, increase turns, and capitalize on cash flow.

March

March ‘24

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Racing at Buttonwillow

ANA PREDESCU

Buttonwillow Raceway Park is a crowd favorite, a place where technical skill shines and tough battles are fought. Nestled amidst California’s Central Valley following a day’s worth of rain, a scenic green landscape and perfect weather made for the start of a great race weekend.

I love racing at Buttonwillow. I have many fond memories at this track from my time go karting, watching my dad drive his BMW e36 M3 in a NASA endurance race with Michael Essa, driving my Cayman in time attack, my first Racers Clinic, and doing a Lemons race with my dad, John Cahalin, Charlie Persico, and Joe Wiederholt. All very fond memories which always remind me how lucky I am, and how lucky we are as a club, to be able to experience such memorable moments time and time again.

The first Racers Clinic of the season was held this weekend, with four eager young students ready to start their Cup racing careers. What started as eleven students turned into a dozen as Gerrit Wesseling joined in. His street 991.1 GT3 ran into some issues early on in practice, so he was given a hand-me-down car; a 991.2 GT3 Cup… welcome to the dark side Gerrit. All of the students did exceptionally well working together on drills, even though the cars were wildly different ranging from Prototypes, Clubsports, Boxsters, and Cup cars.

In the first Orange Cup race, 48 cars (with a record number of 42 cars in the BSR class) took the start. Matthew Hollander qualified first, followed by Alex Filsinger in P2 and Riley Giacomazzi in P3. Turn 1 is always nerve-wracking as it is quite the squeeze. Alex and Riley got Hollander early on and set a very fast pace, gaining quite a gap in front of the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Alex had some car issues which prevented him from finishing and Riley took home the victory followed by Rob Walker in P2 and Chris Bason in P3. Although the front pack is always fun to watch, there were really close battles throughout

the entirety of the field. Alex Hainer jumped in her dad’s car, started in the back of the pack and passed 22 cars. Scott Craig also passed 15 cars in that race. In the second Orange race, Riley grabbed another win followed by Matt in P2 and Filsinger in P3…. but this time it was Paul not Alex (like son like father). Again, Scott passed 15 cars in this race. Aspasia Zouras won in the GT5 class in both races, picking off the Boxster field one by one.

In Saturday’s Red Cup race, Bob Mueller started P1 with a 1:54.38 lap followed by Duane Selby with a 1:54.81 and Eric Olberz with a 1:55.37. Mike Monsalve did not complete a qualifying lap so he started in the back of the 991.2 Spec class. In the GT2 class, Darrel Troester and Roland Schmidt were less than a second off each other’s times. In the GT3 class, Eben Benade started pole, followed by Darin Moore, David Fabi, Ana Predescu (I’ll spare you my excuses), Jim Salzar, and Andy Sloane. In the race, sources say it was quite the sight seeing Mike Monsalve start from the back, pass ten cars and take home P1. Mike was followed by Bob Mueller in P2 and Charlie Persico in P3! This was Charlie’s second race with the 991.2 Cup and his second race back after taking a year off. In GT2, Darrel and Roland remained as P1 and P2 respectively, with very close times. In GT3, I had a great start and managed to sneak passed David Fabi early on. I then chased Darin for a few laps as I saw Eben get further and further away from me. Darin is a great racer and friend. In the practice session before qualifying he was asking me for some advice since I drove behind him for a few turns. I gave him some pointers, he definitely used them in the race, and it was why it took me a few laps to get by. Eventually, I got by Darin and he and Fabi had a very close race. I went on to chase Eben. I had a lot of ground to catch up but eventually reeled him in. Once I caught up to him, we had a good battle, but he ended up taking the victory. I came in second followed by Darin and Fabi.

In Sunday’s Orange race, Riley swept another victory making it 3/3 wins for the entire weekend. Riley was followed by Alex Filsinger, Dallas Carroll, and Matt Hollander. Aspasia also took home another victory making it 3/3 wins for the GT5 class this weekend.

Photos: Luis Vivar

Buttonwillow

In Sunday’s Red race, Alex Hainer qualified 1st with a 1:53.45 followed by Mike Monsalve with a 1:53.48. and Bob Mueller in P3. In the race, Alex set a very fast pace and put quite a large gap from the rest of the field for the majority of the race. Mike Monsalve worked to close the gap by the end of the race, but it was too late, and Alex took home P1 followed by Mike in P2. Behind them, Duane Selby took home P3, passing Bob Mueller in P4. In GT3, my friend Brett joined the field for the big finale. He qualified 1st followed by me and Eben. At the start, Brett was too excited and forgot to downshift, I kept on the outside with a good exit and managed to remain next to him in T1. We went neck- and-neck into the esses but I had the advantage and he backed off (ladies first – right?). I held him off for a lap until I out-braked myself in T1 and he pulled a similar move on me, passing me in T1 and racing until the esses. This time he had the advantage and took back P1. It was a close race among Brett, me, and Eben. I always enjoy racing with those two. They are super tough competitors. We never go easy on each other, but I always feel safe going into a corner side by side with them. We are always encouraging towards each other and have fun regardless of the outcome.

Brett shared something with me a few days after the race that I was not aware of, he said, “Those first couple laps were thrilling. Buttonwillow had been the place I dreaded the most. Having basically ended my Club Racing for 3 years at that track in that configuration in that turn in the same month… To pull that pass in lap 2 was a vindication and emptying of the torrid history. I actually never thought I would race again after that 2018 wreck.”

In racing, everyone’s tough. You have to be tough to succeed in this sport. But, things happen, as we’ve seen this weekend and others. Not that any of you need to be given advice from a 25-yearold girl, but I do think it is important to highlight instances like these. We understand that things happen but it’s how we overcome them and react to them that shape us as drivers, as a club, and as people. Supporting each other and creating a safe environment both on and off the track is very important. I think this is what sets POC aside from most clubs.

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Reto Emil Eberle

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Chris Kipp

Photos: Luis Vivar

TIME TRIALS IN

March 7, 8, and 9 found us at Buttonwillow Raceway not really driving in reverse but going counterclockwise, the opposite of the more frequently used direction. The previous week Kathy and I had been at the Streets of Willow track, shivering due to temperatures in the 50’s and 25 mph winds with gusts up to 45 mph. Three days later, as I packed for Buttonwillow, I included the same long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and heavy coats since the projected Bakersfield temperatures were in the mid-60’s. What I failed to consider was that the wind speeds were only 2-3 mph, which produced ideal weather conditions for racing. By Saturday afternoon, many of the racers were searching for ice for their Cool Shirts, and everyone was enjoying the break from the cold and rainy weather we had been experiencing at home.

Photo: Luis Vivar

REVERSE STEVE EISLER

Driving counterclockwise was challenging for many of us. The Esses were the same but seemed easier to negotiate going this direction. Star Mazda is a completely different turn going CCW and entering the Bus Stop after Riverside was much faster than a CW lap. The biggest change was the use of the A-section instead of the traditional Off Ramp turn before the entry to Sunrise. I tried several different lines and never seemed to get it right. Other drivers were frustrated with this turn, and I suggested we rename the F-Section!

This was a Racers’ Clinic weekend so there was no PDS group. Drivers that would normally be in PDS were included in the Blue Point by Passing group giving us a total of 24 drivers on the track. The Green, Open Passing group had 18 drivers registered to compete for their best time of the day. It was nice to see three of my San Diego Time Trial friends, Kirk Fertitta, Sagar Dhawan, and John Owens, in the Racers Clinic. Two other San Diegans were making their first start in the Orange Cup Races - Murray Wunderly and Chad Carnevale.

The Blue group got off to a very slow start on Saturday with Thomas Kenna and Rumi Fraser leading the group. I was, surprisingly, in fourth place even though my time was 5 seconds slower than my best on Friday. Rumi was driving his second POC event with Steve Town in the instructor’s seat. Rumi purchased his 2020 911S as a 50th birthday gift to himself, and he drives it daily to his work as a vascular surgeon in the L.A. area. He has previous track experience in an Alfa Romeo Giulia at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota. He drove it four times at Brainerd, and his friends told him he needed an upgrade, so he bought the Porsche. He says that he spent $150,000 on the Porsche, drove it at Brainerd and improved his best

time by 15 seconds. “It only cost me $10K per second!” By the end of the weekend, he had dropped his time to 2:11.646 and is planning to be back on the track soon.

The Green group was led by professional racer Will Wattanawongkiri who was the only TT driver to go under two minutes with a best time of 1:59.714 in his 2015 Porsche GT3. Working hard to catch him was Mark Manda from Bakersfield driving a 2007 Cayman in class GT1. Mark took advantage of a clear track in the last run of the weekend to close within 2 seconds of the leader with a time of 2:01.167. Red Cup racer Brett Gaviglio did a 1:59.492 in the Sunday morning warm-up. On Saturday there were 6 other Open Passing drivers under 2:07, led by Danna Van Noy in her 2018 991.2 Cup car with a time of 2:04.420, and Mark Manda in a 2007 Cayman at 2:04.949. They were closely followed by Mike Avitt - 2:05.447, Paul Wren - 2:06.609, Joseph Miller - 2:06.741, and Bob Gartland - 2:06.794.

The Blue group got back on the track for their second Timed Run at 2:00 pm on Saturday and the Students nailed down four of the top five times in the session following leader Thomas Kenna in a 2015 GT3 who ran the eighth fastest time of the day-2:06.794. Rumi Frazier (S3) was second at 2:14.316, followed by Mike Dillehay (M2) - 2:14.872, Dennis Hubbard (S5) - 2:15.437, and Kristopher Marciniak (S4) - 2:19.591. Mike Dillehay was driving his 2017 911 Turbo in just his second track event. (The first one was at Big Willow in January.) Mike is new to racing, but not to the automotive business as he owns a truck parts fabrication business in Moorpark, CA called “No Limit.” He previously owned a 997.1 Turbo and bought the current car new in 2017. He just bought a GT2 RS which he plans to put on the track soon. He is enjoying his POC experience, and I think we will see him at many more racing events.

These students’ rapid improvement can be attributed to the excellent coaching of their instructors. Most of the instructors are Cup drivers who take time from the racing preparations to ride with their students and help them learn the track, Time Trial etiquette, and where to adjust their inputs to improve their times. Without these dedicated members we would not be able to continue to grow our TT and racing grids.

Cody Lissner was attending his first POC event, but not his first track experience. He is originally from Maryland where his uncle got him interested in cars by taking him to the

TIMES

Danna Van Noy 991.2 Spec 02:04.420 02:07.092

James Hovark Boxster Spec 02:19.884 02:20.167

David Vonderhaar Boxster Spec 02:22.245 02:20.304

Edward Tsui Boxster Spec 02:26.071 2:58.065

Mark Manda GT1 02:04.949 02:01.629

Joseph Miller GT3 02:06.741

Will Wattanawongkiri GT3 01:59.714 2:42.340

JDavid Fabi GT3 02:05.534

Paul Wren GT3 02:06.609 02:05.597

Bob Gartland GT3 02:06.780 02:05.644

Behr Salehi GT5 02:18.697 02:16.935

Carolyn Rouzier GT5 02:24.003 02:17.506

Steve Eisler GT5 02:27.260

Jared Northrop GT5 02:24.508

Calvin Park GT7 02:29.027

Mike Avitt MOD 2 02:05.447 02:04.273

Nathan Apelbaum MOD 2 02:09.012 02:09.672

Angela Avitt MOD 2 02:12.475 02:09.894

Thomas Kenna MOD 3 02:06.794 02:06.849

Glenn Orton MOD 3 02:30.217 02:26.536

Russell Murdock MOD 3 02:14.923

Major Mirza MOD 4 02:31.506

Dave Needham MOD 4 02:35.520

Dennis Hubbard MOD 5 02:15.437

Philip Barker MOD 5 03:14.224

Collin Lee MOD 6 02:58.461

Rumi Frazier Stock 3 02:14.316 02:11.646

Kristopher Marciniak Stock 4 02:19.591

Cody Lissner Stock 5 02:31.528

Arnulf Graf Stock 5 02:35.109 02:32.568

Photos: Luis Vivar

PDS & Time Trials

racing events that he attended. Cody lives in Oxnard and is a professional golfer and instructor. Orange Cup racer, Alan Watts, is one of Cody’s students. Cody only drove on Saturday, but dropped his time almost 5 seconds from the first timed run to the third timed run. He really enjoyed our event, and we hope to see him return for more improvement. On Sunday the number of TT drivers is always smaller than Saturday, which gives everyone more clear track time to improve their times. As noted, Mark Manda had TTOD on Sunday with his great run in the last session of the day. David Fabi in a 2019 718 Cayman Clubsport joined the under 2:07 group with a time of 2:05.534 for the third fastest time, just behind Mike Avitt in M2 who improved his time to 2:04.273. Following David were Paul Wren (GT3) - 2:05.597, and Bob Gartland (GT3) - 2:05.644.

In the Blue Group, Thomas Kenna again had the TTOD followed by Rumi Fraizer and Russell Murdock. Matt Clark was one of two Blue Group drivers getting their first taste of racetrack driving in his 2024 Cayman GT4RS. Although new to the track, Matt is a true Porsche aficionado with a nice collection of Porsches in his home garage in Bakersfield. He said that everyone at POC was very welcoming and helpful, particularly his instructor, Brett Gaviglio. He enjoyed the Zoom drivers meeting held the day before the event and offered a tip for other student drivers. Using a Chatterbox communicator was a game changer for improving communication between the instructor and student! After his last run, Matt had dropped his time by over 10 seconds to a best of 2:20.943.

Despite the large run groups on Saturday, the Buttonwillow Time Trials went very well. Most of the drivers stayed out of the silt, and the point by drivers were courteous. Bryan Van Noy’s tutorial certainly helped me, and I know it helped many other drivers who had not run in ‘reverse’ before. We really appreciate Danna and Bryan for making it available at no cost! Looking forward to seeing you at Willow Springs on May 25 and 26. Remember, you may have the slowest time in your group, but you only lose if you sit on the sofa and don’t try to improve!

Photos: Steve Eisler

Cody Lissner

Mike Dillehay

Rumi Frazier

Matt Clark

PODIUM

April ‘24 CLUB

Photo: Luis Vivar

DesertRacers PODIUM CLUB

Chet Kolley

Once again, we missed the end of the cool weather by just a week. This time it was because our partners in the Podium Club event at Casa Grande, AZ, the Arizona PCA, had to bump it one week later, which meant 5 to 10 degrees warmer each day of the week end. Thanks to Chandler Porsche for sponsoring the food truck for breakfast and lunch on Saturday. With it being an ‘away race’ with no PDS or Time Trial, the Red and Orange Cup Race grids were a little lighter than usual at about 20 drivers per group, but this also presented some high points opportunities to people who made the trip. Those who came also brought their speed as six of nine class track records were set. Granted, this was only our second event at the Podium Club, and more familiarity and a relatively cool morn ing helped to produce some excellent results. Overall, it was an outstanding event, and I look forward to another return trip to the 15 turn, 2.32 mile circuit.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Racers

PODIUM CLUB

Saturday Cup Races

After a good practice day on Friday, the Orange group kicked off the race activities with Saturday morning qualifying followed by Red group qualifying just after noon. The first race of the weekend began with the Orange group taking the green in the early afternoon. John Krylow won the BSR class from pole followed by Drew Waterhouse and Klaus Drehmann, both of whom managed to get by Larry Haase on the last lap of the race. Douglas Volder won the Carrera Spec race while also setting fast lap of the race at 1:46.900. Don Kravig took the GT5 checker followed by Bill Durant and Fred Veitch. Paul Young won GT7 ahead of Randy Bergum.

The Red group took the green flag at the peak of the desert heat in the 90s around mid-afternoon. John Dempsey took the overall win and fastest lap (1:31.799) from the GT1 pole followed by Greg Esakoff. In a tight race, Mike Monsalve won the competitive 991.2 class from pole over Bob Mueller by only 0.660s. Nathan Johnson made up a couple of places to take the third spot on the podium. Rennick Palley won GT2 from pole followed by John Heldman in second. Sean Kelishadi made up one spot to take third. In another close race, the GT3 podium finished as they started with Ana Predescu winning from pole followed by Brett Gaviglio, who was only 0.785s behind, and David Fabi. Chet Kolley won GT4 from pole followed by Jim Steedman and Jim Salzer in second and third respectively.

Saturday’s final race was the Orange group’s second race of the weekend. Unfortunately, a multi-car incident in Turn 4 on lap 11 resulted in an extended red flag condition as 3 cars were retrieved from the desert and/or various states of disrepair, which prevented a restart. The official results were taken as of the completion of lap 10. The incident was evidently caused by a car dropping anti-freeze on the track thru T4, which caused several following cars to spin and, in some cases, collide. (Editor’s Note: GCR 11.0.25 prohibits the use of antifreeze.) When the dust cleared and the track cleaned up, John Krylow took the BSR win followed by Larry Haase and Klaus Drehmann. Douglas Volder took Carrera Spec as well as fastest lap at 1:47.154. Don Kravig won GT5 and was the hard charger, gaining 10 spots overall, followed by Fred Veitch in second and Bill Durant in third. Paul Young took the GT7 checker followed by Randy Bergum.

Photos: Luis Vivar

PODIUM CLUB

Sunday Cup Races

Sunday morning began with Red and then Orange group qualifying sessions in the desert cool. Track records fell. First on track was Red group qualifying, and Mike Monsalve set the 991.2 track record as a new class at 1:30.253. Ana Predescu broke the GT3 record with 1:34.088. Ana also still has the GT2 record from last year. Chet Kolley set the GT4 record at 1:38.931. Next up was Orange group qualifying in which Douglas Volder set the Carrera Spec record at 1:45.132, Don Kravig set the GT5 mark at 1:46.296, and Paul Young took the GT7 record down to 1:53.389.

In the Red race, John Dempsey took his second overall win, the GT1 class win, and another fastest lap at 1:30.425 with Greg Esakoff taking second. Mike Monsalve took his second 991.2 win of the weekend from pole, followed to the podium by Duane Selby and Jeff Bader. In GT2, Rennick Palley won his second race from pole followed by Paul Barnes and Sean Kelishadi. Once again, Ana Predescu won GT3 from pole with Brett Gavilio in second and David Fabi in third. In the closest race of the weekend, Chet Kolley won GT4 from pole by only 0.544s over Jim Salzer with Jim Steedman in third.

The final race of the weekend was the Orange Cup Race #3. Drew Waterhouse made up a few spots to win the Boxster Spec race by only 0.896s over Larry Haase. Matt Juarez took the third spot on the BSR podium. Once again, Douglas Volder won Carrera Spec, and set fastest lap of the race at 1:47.365. Don Kravig won GT5 followed by Fred Veitch, and Paul Young won GT7 followed by Randy Bergum.

Congratulations to some new winners and some nice points hauls! On behalf of our Board of Directors, thank you to everyone who made the trip to Arizona this year.

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Chris Kipp

Photo: Brett Gaviglio

PODIUM CLUB

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

PODIUM CLUB

Photos: Luis Vivar

PODIUM CLUB

Photos: Luis Vivar

PODIUM CLUB

Photos: Luis Vivar

May

Illustration: Don Matz

30th TRIBUTE to Le Mans

Darin Moore

TRIBUTE to Le Mans

Before I cover our annual Tribute to Le Mans event, I thought it would be fun and informative to host a Q and A session about the event to which we’ve paid tribute every year since 1995… the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Q: Where is the 24 Hours of Le Mans held?

A: Le Mans, France.

Q: When was this race first run?

A: 1923.

Q: Ho w long is the 24 Hours of Le Mans race?

A: You’re kidding, right?

Q: Ho w many cars will enter the race this year?

A: A pproximately 60.

Q: When is the race held?

A: Typically, the second weekend in June.

Q: My friend told me Dan Gurney was the first televised racer to spray champa gne instead of drinking it, and he did it after winning 24 Hours of Le Mans. True or False?

A: True!

Q: Is this race part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport? Has an yone ever won the Triple Crown?

A: Tha t’s two questions, but I’ll indulge you. The Triple Crown of Motorsport is comprised of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, The Monaco Grand Prix, and the Indiana polis 500. Graham Hill is the only one to win all three races in his career.

Q: Which manufacturer has the most wins?

A: Porsche, of course! 19 wins and counting.

Q: I see those films where they start the race by running across the grid and jumping into their cars. Do they still start the race tha t way?

A: No. That was judged a safety risk, and was discontinued after the 1969 race.

Q: A Porsche salesmen told me Porsche put the ignition key s witch on the left side of the steering column so racers a t Le Mans could start the car with their left hand, while putting the car into gear with the right hand, to save time. Was he right, or was he just tr ying to sell me a car?

A: Both.

Q: If I decide to go to the race this year, is there an y chance I could run into a POC BSR or GT3 class racer while there?

A: You’re in luck. Karen Robinson and Brett Ga viglio will be there!

Photo: Luis Vivar

Now that we’re up to speed on the 24 Hour, let’s talk about our race, the 30th running of the Tribute to Le Mans...

This year’s Tribute to Le Mans was held on May 25th, at Willow Springs Raceway. Those familiar with Willow Springs are also familiar with its three most common weather elements as well… heat, cold and wind. Rarely does a visitor to Willow Springs encounter less than two of those elements, usually to some extreme degree.

Friday practice was extremely windy, while Tribute day was a little more calm, with an emphasis on the word little. It’s all relative at Big Willow, the Fastest Track in the West.

Tribute started at 2:30 pm, and this year was a two-and-a-half-hour endurance race. Endurance races showcase not only the speed and handling ability of the cars, but also the reliability required to finish the race. In this regard, Porsches are a great fit for this format, and very successful, as we saw in the Q and A earlier. True to form, most cars performed flawlessly in the event, except for one team, which we will learn more about in a minute.

Five teams entered this year’s race, with four teams using a three-driver format, and one team choosing a two-driver format. We’ll pick up the action as the cars headed out for the formation lap.

On the formation lap, the team of brothers, Steve and Phil Town, suffered a mechanical issue near T2. Steve’s car had lost power, and he had to restart his car several times before he could get it back up and running. He lost

power again on the same lap around the top of T4. Realizing he needed to pull into the pits, he never actually got the car across the start/finish line to start his race before pitting. Turned out it was a fuel delivery issue, which took about 20 minutes or so to resolve before Steve was able to re-enter (or enter, in his case) the race. By this time, he was about 12 laps behind the leaders, a deficit that would prove to be too much to overcome. To add insult to injury, Phil’s car suffered a suspension problem during his stint, to be followed by Steve suffering a major engine failure that resulted in Steve having to retire his car and come in under tow truck power. It was an uncharacteristic tough day for the Town/Town team.

The team of Pritt, Pritt and Knoop featured the father and son team of Brian and Tate Pritt, along with their coach, Rick Knoop. A very interesting fact about this team is that Rick Knoop won the ACTUAL 24 Hours of Le Mans, Group 5, in 1978. A great pedigree, to be sure. While the Pritt, Pritt and Knoop team didn’t suffer mechanical issues, a few extra pit stops kept them a bit too far off the pace to contend for the podium.

The all-Boxster team of Mick Yanoschak, Alisha Wray and Keith Hnatiuk ran well all race, and each driver did a very good job of keeping pace, pushing hard, and running problem free. As the winner is determined by number of laps completed during the allotted two and one half hours, the 88 laps completed by this all Boxster team resulted in them placing third overall. It was a great result, and one they can be proud of.

The team of John Momeyer, Don Kravig and Duane Selby ran a Boxster driven by John, Don’s GT5 car and a 991.2 Spec, piloted by Duane. As Duane and John were 2/3rds of the team that won Tribute last year, they were a powerhouse team with a winning pedigree, and top drivers throughout. John was leadoff, and he laid down lap after lap, displaying the consistency and form that keeps him in contention every time he heads out on track. Don followed by driving the second stint, and he also drove an error free session, kept all four wheels on track, and kept his team in second place throughout his time on track. Last up was Duane in his beautiful new (to him) 991.2 Spec car. When Duane took over for the last stint, his team was two laps down to the leaders. Making up two laps, while not mathematically impossible, is an almost unsurmountable

challenge absent a mechanical issue or driver error by the leader, possibly combined with a full course yellow flag. While there was a full course yellow during Duane’s stint, it was not enough to allow Duane and his team to make up the gap to the leaders. That said, Duane ran a great stint, clocking primarily 1:22’s and 1:23’s throughout. This team effort by all three drivers resulted in 92 laps completed, and the silver trophy for second place.

Before I get to the winners, let’s talk about the fire! Just as the race was getting underway, a significant brush fire broke out south of the racetrack. With the ever-present afternoon wind blowing, the hope was that the westerly winds would blow the large flames and heavy smoke to the east of the track, and away from the event. Fire engines and helicopters arrived,

and the aerial and ground attack by the fire fighters was enough to keep the fire at bay, and by the time the first stints were coming to an end, the fire was no longer an issue. I was on the radio with my son, Ryan, who had a bird’s eye view of the flames while he drove his stint. Early in the race he was commenting on the size of the flames, and the density of the smoke. Thank you to the professionals of the fire department for their speed and precision in extinguishing the fire.

Finally let’s talk about the team of Ryan Moore, Jim Salzer and Eben Benade, your 2024 Tribute to Le Mans winners! Ryan, driving his Gulf livery Boxster, took to the track first. He ran fast and consistent laps, and due to the GT cars, both having to pit during the first stint, he handed a 24 second race lead to Jim, in

his track record holding GT4 car. Jim put the hammer down from lap 1 to lap 30 and ran his fastest lap on the final lap of his stint! Jim kept up a blistering pace, and increased the team’s lead first to one lap, and then to two laps. As mentioned earlier, while two laps is a huge lead, anything can happen in racing, as we all know. The last driver to jump in his car was Eben Benade, in his 991.2 Spec car. Eben is fast in everything he drives, but with the large lead, he wisely employed a strategy designed to stay on track, be consistent, drive hard and drive smart. Eben managed his tires, his fuel, and his race perfectly, and he easily brought his car, and his team, into the Winner’s Circle. Congratulations to Ryan, Jim and Eben, all first-time winners of the Tribute to Le Mans!

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Windy Willow Springs Race Recap

Darin Moore

Photo: Luis Vivar

If you’ve had a chance to glance at my Tribute to Le Mans report, you know all about the Earth, Wind and Fire we experienced on the last weekend of May at Willow Springs. I’ll bet no veteran of Big Willow events was all that shocked when those elements decided to collide in near proximity to the track during our most recent event.

Due to the Saturday Tribute to Le Mans race, our regular slate of activities was shortened to accommodate the 2:30-5:00 pm time slot allocated for the Tribute race. As a result, the Orange group had only one race, as opposed to the regular two, and the Red group had one practice, instead of the normal two. As a Red group racer, I can say it certainly felt strange to be done with my driving for the day on Saturday before noon!

While Friday was exceptionally windy, Saturday brought calmer weather, and much cooler temperatures than we would normally expect on a late May day at Willow Springs. Being that this weekend happened to be Memorial Day weekend, the fields for both the Red and the Orange groups were a little smaller than usual. Luckily, the on-track battles were no less intense, as both days featured some serious wheel to wheel action, including at the very front of the several of the races. At the end of the day, the on-track battles are what we really look forward to, whether they occur at the front, in the middle or in the back of the pack. These on track battles are what sets the Red and Orange groups apart from PDS and Time Trials, and a large part of what motivates folks to “graduate” into the race groups.

On Saturday the Orange group took to the track first, as Ryan Moore took pole in BSR, with Branimir Kovac just 18/100th of a second behind. BSR is the largest race class in POC, so battles routinely occur everywhere in the field, with these very evenly matched cars. This race was no exception, as some notable battles that emerged included Keith Hnatiuk and Andrew Weyman, Matt Juarez and John Momeyer, and in the first half of the race, Branimir Kovac and Ryan Moore. In the second half of the race Ryan began gapping the field, and he brought home the win by a comfortable nine second margin. In GT5, which starts behind the Boxster field, Don Kravig worked all the way through the BSR field, failing only to catch the BSR race winner. Guenter Lennarz took 2nd in the GT5 race, as the only other car entered. GT7 was a two car field as well, with Randy Bergum besting Glenwood Gum somewhat comfortably.

Tribute to Le Mans Tribute to Le Mans

The Saturday Red group race had an epic battle in GT3, which we will get to in a minute. In the 991.2 Spec class, Eben Benade took pole, with Mike Monsalve joining Eben in the front row. Mike was able to take over the lead early in the race, a lead that he would never relinquish. This class was a bit more spread out, with most cars separated from the cars in front and behind by a few seconds. Reigning Driver of the Year Duane Selby had an off-track incident near turn 6 and ended up retiring very early in the race. Paul Barnes ran solo in GT2. The real action was in GT3, where Brett Gaviglio and Ana Predescu continued their monthly front row contest for GT3 supremacy. Saturday’s race was yet another chapter in what has become one the best and closest competitions I’ve seen in our club in a while. Two great drivers driving their hearts out, each pushing the other, and bringing out the best in one another. Brett took pole in style, setting a new GT3 track record in the process, an incredible 1:21.54. Once the green flag dropped, it was game on. Ana was “On his booty” (her words!) all race, and Brett had his hands full every lap, knowing that one small driving miscalculation and Ana would seize the moment, and the lead. Brett didn’t crack under pressure, and he held off hard charging Ana all race, to win by 0.4 seconds. A great show to be sure! Sunday’s Orange group race featured a battle much in the same vein as Saturday’s GT3 race, this time in BSR. Ryan Moore captured pole, with Steven Paterson joining him on the front row. Once the flag dropped, the battle began. In the early laps it was a 3-way battle in the front between Ryan, Steven and then Ryder Liu joining the fray. A great race developed between Steven and Ryder, which allowed just a touch of breathing room for Ryan. Several laps into the race, Steven went four wheels off in turn two, and lost track position in the process. Ryder then proceeded to hunt down Ryan, and the two engaged in a dogfight that I only wish I would see in Formula One occasionally! Ryder was able to wrestle the lead from Ryan, only to see Ryan regain the lead later in the lap. Not willing to settle for second place, Ryder continued to keep the pressure on Ryan, all the way to the checkered flag. Rarely were these cars more than a car length apart, and Ryan’s margin of victory was a razor thin 0.148 sec onds. The spectators got their money’s worth on that one! Don Kravig ran uncontested for the win in GT5, and Randy Bergum again took first place in GT7, with Glenwood Gum coming in second. It was a stellar weekend for Ryan Moore, winning the Saturday race, then along with his teammates winning the Tribute to Le Mans, then winning the Sunday race. I know I had a great weekend just being on his radio for all three races. In the Red group, Duane Selby took pole in the 991.2 spec race, with Mike Monsalve taking P2. Duane is one of the racers always found at or very near the top of every race

leaderboard. After an off-track excursion at turn 9, Duane retired, leaving the battle to Mike and Eben Benade. Eben began closing the gap to Mike, at which time Mike put his head down and began pushing with renewed effort. At the end it was Mike on the top step of the podium, with Eben second and Eric Olberz third. In the GT3 race, it was Brett and Ana who qualified 1st and 2nd (no surprise there). This race was different, as Ana beat Brett off the line, took over the lead, and was never in serious jeopardy. Ana ran a very strategic and controlled race and was able to take home the win by almost three seconds. Brett finished 2nd, with Jack Ehrman finishing 3rd. In the GT4 race, Jim Salzer and Phil Town were the entrants. Phil spent a little time off track during the race, and Jim took the checkered flag as the winner. As the weekend’s racing came to a close, we loaded up our rigs and headed home, already thinking about Sonoma, and the upcoming events. Best wishes for a fun and safe summer.

Luis Vivar/Don Matz

Three-peat

Ryan Moore took it upon himself to not only finish with his team mates in first place in the TRIBUTE, but also to finish first in both Orange Cup races that took place on Saturday and Sunday.

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Three-peat, Larry?

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: John Armstrong

DON KRAVIG

GeNTLEMAN RACER

ANDREW WEYMAN

AW: When did you first join the POC?

Don Kravig has been a Velocity contributor for many years and has provided us with fantastic event coverage and historical perspectives. I always enjoy being on the track with Don and talking with him in the paddock. You’re missing something if you don’t know him. If you do know Don, perhaps this interview will shed some light on a few little-known facts. Enjoy!

DK: I joined as an associate member with my dad in either 1972 or 1973. He started putting me in his car, I think, even before I had a real driver’s license. I started attending POC events at Willow Springs around 1968 or 1969. I was 10 years old. I helped my dad (Big Don) with his car, set up cones… He was a huge guy. Like 250lbs. Like my son. He was immensely strong and gifted. He could get in anybody’s car and go faster than they did.

AW: How long was your dad a member of POC?

DK: From ’72 or ’73 until he died, in 2001.

AW: What is your daily driver?

DK: A Jeep Gladiator pickup with a diesel in it.

AW: Your favorite track?

DK: It’s gone. Riverside Raceway.

AW: I knew you were going to say that.

DK: My favorite west coast track would be Laguna Seca. I love Road Atlanta and Watkins Glen. I love high-speed tracks that aren’t gimmicky. The track is right there in front of you and it says, “Beat me.”

AW: Tell me a little bit about your track car.

DK: It’s a car I bought originally just before the recession around 2008. We were going to build a Bonneville car out of it. Do a twin-turbo, 700-800hp motor. We wanted to set the all-time speed record for a Porsche there. Which, at that time, was 241mph. The recession hit and all those plans got put to one side. Years later, the pandemic hit, and we received a relief check based on our business’ payroll. My guys were just standing around, so we decided to build my current car with that money. It’s the first car I built for myself since about 1983. During the intervening years I was mostly driving other people’s cars.

AW: You’re a fantastic driver with a fantastic reputation. I always enjoy being on the track with you and calculating if, when and where you’re going to pass me. Do you have a ‘most memorable race that you can recall?

DK: In the POC or in general?

AW: In general.

DK: There was a 12-hour at Sebring. It was a team race. We had three or four wrecks in the 12 hours and just kept fixing the car. And we finished! Then there was Daytona when we blew three engines that we kept replacing and we finished 17th out of 84 cars. Professionally, those would be two. In the POC I’ve had so many good races it’s hard to pick one out. I love racing

Photos: Don Kravig

with Dwain (Dement). He’s totally predictable and he’s bloody fast. You can stick your car in beside him pretty much anywhere and have fun. He’s a class act and epitomizes how I like to race. There are a lot of guys in the POC like that. Anders (Hainer) is like that. I also remember a POC Tribute to Le Mans enduro when I drove a Red class turbo in the first stint and switched into John Momeyer’s GSR for a stint in the dark. I raced Mark Foley in his GSR for close to an hour. We were never more than ten feet apart. It was great racing against a great driver.

AW: Do you have an archrival?

DK: I’ve had various ones over the years like Mike Takaki and Leonard Schenkel. Both guys were absolutely good, clean racers. When I was racing in the Red Group, it was Anders. There are so many of them. At least 20% of the Cup Racers running have the skills to drive pro. Everyone trots out their favorite tricks, but they won’t wreck you with them. It’s just like the top levels of SCCA, IMSA and Grand Am. Really, really high quality, skilled driving. I can’t really pick one. I’ve had so many over the years. When I first got started as a teenager it was Mike Hammond. He was top driver in the field for 40-50 years. He’s still fast and he’s 90-something. Aspasia (Zouras) has moved up to GT5. Her skill level continues to grow dramatically. It could develop into an archrival situation. She’s very methodical in her thinking. Let’s see what happens…

AW: Tell me about Precision Motion and Kravig Race Engineering.

DK: Precision Motion is gone now. We had a building the size of Dwain’s (Vision Motorsports) and we took care of customers’ street cars and did customization. We lost our lease during the pandemic and had to shut down, so we focused on racing. My dad started as a mechanic on a Streamliner at Bonneville in 1953. He spent his whole life racing anything he could, from hydroplane boats to dragsters to sports cars. You name it. He picked up a ’67 911S and fixed it up. He started campaigning it and within a few years, he was fixing all his competitor’s cars. That’s where Kravig Race Engineering came from. One of my motivations to go to Bonneville was that my dad’s car went over 300mph in 1953. That car is in their Hall of Fame. My mentor, Dennis Aase, still holds a record at Bonneville. I wanted to build a car, go there, and take Dennis with me. Do a Porsche-thing at Bonneville. I wanted to build the world’s fastest Porsche.

AW: What’s the most fun part of your job?

DK: I love car set-up. I’ll spend hours and hours thinking, measuring, tinkering to get 2/10ths of a mile faster in a corner or another mile an hour on a straightaway. Little things that keep making a car better and better. I just love that part of it. The set-up, the preparation. Arriving at the track with a car that’s better than it was the last time is the most rewarding thing I do.

AW: You were working with your dad, setting up cones at the track when you were 10. Now you’re working with your son. That’s an admirable and enviable situation. What’s it like working with your son?

DK: I can feel my dad’s pain working with me. I’m not an instinctual driver like Roush. I’m a deliberate, almost like a spreadsheet driver. I get the lines figured out and work on them until I’ve extracted the last bit of RPM and cornering speed. I’m methodical. It’s almost like playing chess. My son is more like my dad. He just gets in the damn thing and drives it. I can feel my dad’s pain because he would try to coach me and realize we approached things very differently. Interestingly, when we went pro, I did more of the car set-up than anybody. I kept making the car go faster. The instinctual guys would just get in there and drive the crap out of it.

AW: We’ve chatted at Spring Mountain dinners and around the paddock. I love hearing about your experiences.

DK: Years ago, we had our banquet at a car museum in Orange County. I talked about our first trip to Daytona as pros. My dad got arrested at four in the morning. We had an early morning driver’s meeting. On the way, we ran out of diesel for our rig. My dad jumped out when we coasted to a stop and decided to siphon some diesel out of a semi that was parked nearby. There was a guy sleeping inside and he came out with a gun. That was fun.

AW: Big Don sounds like quite a character. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to know him.

DK: PCA National is huge right now. It came directly out of POC. My dad became a Zone 8 Rep. He attended all the national meetings. He essentially took our Porsche Owners Club rules to PCA National and got their racing program instituted. Not only have we had members like Dan Gurney and other pros. Our club is a lot like the SCCA. We’ve had some very famous drivers as members. I don’t think may people know that. We had car classes like the Boxster Spec class we have now. The top ten finishers would be within tenths or hundreds. My dad was Competition Chairman for a while. They would settle disputes by trading cars. Almost invariably the guy who was being protested was a better driver than the guy who was protesting. Now we have so much technology… There’s a lot a sharing of information.

AW: I agree.

DK: Anders is a perfect example. He’ll help anyone, anytime. I try to do that as much as I can. Kevin Roush is another good example. He’ll help you get your car going better. He’s a little like my dad in that he’s a talented, instinctive driver. He could drive anything and be faster than whoever was in it. Crazy good. Dennis Aase was amazing.

AW: If we were sitting around and having a couple of drinks too many, what would you tell me?

DK: That’s a good question. Let’s see. It would depend on my mood at the time. We were racing in Aspen Colorado in the PCA Parade one year and they put on a rodeo for us. I grew up on a ranch, so I rode saddle broncs and bulls. I got thrown by a bull that pushed me around the arena with his head. I’ve wandered around the desert in search of old mines and things like General Patton’s cabin. It’s out in the mountains by Chuckwalla. It’s where he’d take his friends up there to hunt. I’ve been searching for that. I’ve been shot at by prospectors. What else can I tell you? It depends on how much I had to drink.

AW: Ha! Let’s leave it there. Thanks for letting me interrogate you. Looking forward to seeing you at the track.

June

the STREETS

JUNE 2024

Image: Don Matz / Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Streets of Willow Counter Clock-wise

Steve

Eisler

Willow Springs International Raceway, built in 1952, is the oldest permanent road course in the United States. The 1.8-mile Streets of Willow road course was built years later and repaved in 2021. I have raced at Willow Springs more than 25 times, on five different tracks, and each time has been an adventure. From temperature extremes to high and gusty winds, fires in the area, and several track shutdowns due to off course excursions, every trip to Rosemond is unique.

STREETS

STREETS OF WILLOW RESULTS

1

1

2

1

1

1

2

1

1

Here are the Students and the Instructors who volunteered to teach them how to be safe and effective drivers:

Yasin Almadani 2004 Boxter Joe Weiderholt

Jmaes Bowe 2022 GT4 Bob Gartland

Priya Bowe ‘2018 BMW M3 Diane Cafferata

Cyrus Chen 2019 911 4S Tom Kenna

Leo Samson 2007 Cayman Bill Vogel

Gabriel Nguyen Toyota Supra Bob Chang

Dustin Durant 996 Solo

This was particularly true of the June 15th Time Trial at Streets of Willow. There was just one day of driving. No Cup racing, just open and point-by passing Time Trial groups and one PDS group. In addition to these groups, Cup racers and experienced Time Trial drivers participated in a Motorsports Safety Foundation Level Two Training course to earn their certification as an on-track MSF Instructor. 22 drivers spent the full day in a combination of classroom and track exercises to improve their student training skills. (Be sure to read Matthew Hately’s article on the MSF training in this issue of Velocity.) Finally, the course was driven counterclockwise, not the normal direction!

Going counterclockwise changes the very scary Waterfall into an uphill, constant acceleration straight to the Bowl (Turn 8) at the top of the hill. I still use the standard, clockwise, turn numbers because it is easier for me to identify which turns and remember where I am. I never did get a good line through the decreasing radius of T8, so I lost time going downhill through T7. Turns 6, 5, and 4 were like the clockwise line, but maintaining speed through T3 to get a good exit from T2 was critical because from the top of T2 you accelerated downhill, through T1 and all the way to the skid pad at the end of the straight. If you did get too aggressive you had the huge skid pad to complete your braking and get under control before squeezing through T12 and heading uphill again. I really like the high-speed, blind drop of the Waterfall, but accelerating downhill through T1 is almost as harrowing.

There were seven students in the PDS, Yellow run group. Most of them had limited experience and received excellent coaching from their instructors. The top time of 1:28.719 was recorded by James Bowe driving a 2022 GT4.

The Point-by Passing group had 5 drivers on the track with the top time coming from Thomas Kenna in Modified 3 clocking a 1:21.012. Allan Soto, M2, closely followed him at 1:21.769 and Rumi Fazier, Stock 3, at 1:23.727.

Drivers in the Open Passing Green group were led by Paul Wren who set a new GT2 class track record of 1:17.429, driving his new 2007 GT3. Paul and his wife Merilee are new to the racing scene. We met them at one of their first events at Spring Mountain in February. Since then, Paul has attended 2 racing schools, earned his red dot and soon will be dicing with the big boys in Red Cup races. The second fastest time in Open Passing was posted by Bob Gartland in GT3, 1:20.375, followed by Kelly Tribolet in GT3 with a 1:21.383. These 5 drivers were the only ones under 1:22 for the day.

Although POC sponsored only one day of track activity, several drivers were able to stretch their weekend to two or even three days. Paul Wren, Glen Orton, and Bob Chang got a full day of coaching from the excellent DK Precision Driving School on Friday. Also on Friday, Kelly Tribolet, Lauren Matthews, Diane Cafferata, Sean Taheri, Keith Hnatiuk, and Mick Yanoshak took advantage of the

Photo: Luis Vivar

STREETS

first DK Open Track Day. Open track drivers alternated 30-minute sessions with the DK Driving School drivers providing ample track time for all drivers. A few die-hards stayed until Sunday and joined the San Diego Region PCA drivers for their Time Trial on the Big Willow track. They were Keith Hnatiuk, Mick Yanoschak, Sean Taheri, Paul Wren, and Rumi Fazier.

What looked like a single day Time Trial and PDS morphed into multi-day, multi-track, multi-sponsor weekend with Precision driving instruction, open track opportunities, Instructor Certification and Time Trial competition on two tracks.

I used my three days with POC at the May Tribute to Le Mans weekend to lower my best time, which carried over to the PCA competition on June 15th and 16th. I improved again and moved closer to the top of my TT run group. You cannot change your amount of natural ability, but you can log more track time to improve. I believe that driving with two groups, along with some suspension adjustments and replacement of worn parts is lowering my times. Now I just need to work on the third component of driving faster, the confidence level. We all must overcome our fears of going off course and crashing to gradually increase our cornering speeds and reduce our lap times. Next month we will investigate these three components that determine our driving performance and a method for measuring improvement.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Steve Town

MAN OF MYSTERY REVEALED

ANDREW WEYMAN

Photos: Luis Vivar

AW: Who are you anyway?

Board Member Steve Town drives his GT5 car, number 822, in the Orange Group and ran it in the 30th Annual Tribute to Le Mans enduro.

Steve joined the POC around 20122013. So, I’ve known him for about 12 years. Then again, I realized that for as long as I’ve known him, I don’t really know him. That prompted me to get in touch with Steve and ask him a few questions. Here’s how it went.

ST: Ha! Hey, I hope you and I both find out after this!

AW: Let’s start with some simple questions. What was your track experience prior to joining the POC?

ST: I had done track days since the late ‘90s through 2010. Not that many. Probably about twice a year, in my street Porsches, a ‘96 911C2, then ’97 Targa, and then ‘06 C4. Mostly in Texas and Colorado. My business was in Houston, and I did track days at Texas Motor Speedway when it was in College Station as an old NASCAR track with an infield. There was also a road course piece of pavement in a field. Actually, it was more like a swamp. It was about an hour south of Houston that was used for track days. In Colorado I ran with Rocky Mountain PCA at High Plains Raceway. It’s a good track but has essentially temporary facilities unfortunately, and it’s really remote, about an hour east of Denver. I sold both of those 993 street cars. Boy, I wish I hadn’t.

AW: And your first dedicated track car?

ST: In 2012, I bought a ’99 996C2 that had been raced in NASA, which I ran in TT and then as a practice car after my other race car was built in 2014-2015. I ended up selling it to Bill Durant in, I think 2021, and he races it in our GT5 Orange race group.

AW: You moved around a lot. Was that for your ‘business’ or…?

ST: Ha! After living in Houston from 1990-1999, we were fortunate enough to pick some wonderful places to live. I was in the energy business in Houston. We completed the sale of the company back in 2008. It was located just outside of town. In 1999 we moved the family to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, then the Denver area in 2005. I commuted to Houston from Jackson and then Denver for those nine years. Kind of a long commute!

AW: So, it was for your job, not the Witness Protection Program. That’s been the rumor, you know.

ST: (Laughs) It’s funny you say that. My kids were quite young, nine and five, when we left Houston, so they were basically never in my office after that, and the business wasn’t easy to explain to the kids anyway. Around the time my son was 18 he told me he always thought I worked for the C.I.A., which is hilarious. My time in Houston and commuting across the country just didn’t add up when he was younger. He thought it was a cover. Actually, he was hoping it was a cover. (Steve laughed.) “That would be really cool Dad!” You know what boys are like. Reality was far less interesting.

AW: What exactly were you doing?

ST: We brokered transactions primarily in natural gas and electrical power. We also dealt in refined products, carbon credits, and retail power deals. We served the wholesale energy market in derivatives, futures, physical product, existing in-between the bi-lateral contracts of most every wholesale participant in those markets, production companies, banks, trading firms, utilities, merchants, retailers, etc. It was a very interesting business, and there are plenty of days I wish we never sold it.

Photos: Luis Vivar

AW: Where were you born and raised?

ST: I was born in Portland, Oregon. We moved to Bellevue, Washington when I was one. From 11 to 18 I lived in Walnut Creek, California. Then I went off to college.

AW: You and your brother, Phil, race together. (Phil races in GT4 as well.) It’s great to see you guys at the track. I’m envious.

ST: Thanks Andrew. It’s been really special racing with Phil. He’s based in Georgia. His first day on a racetrack was with me was in 2017 at Chuckwalla. I had just completed my first race. I qualified last. In that first race, I got into my car about five minutes before the race. I looked at the dash and I saw that I had about an eighth of a tank of gas. Panic. I drove over to the fuel pumps and there was a car in front of me. Panic. I got fuel and back to the grid just as the cars were exiting the grid. I was putting my gloves on, buckling my harness and panicking. I obliterated the rookie list of don’t do this or this or this. I did it all. After my ‘not- so-pro’ level start to racing, Phil rode in the right seat for a session or two. When he got behind the wheel, his first oh s#*t moment on a racetrack happened. He was coming into the last corner before the front straight and I told him to brake. My next “Brake!” was louder and my next one was even louder. He finally realized there was a massive turn, which somehow, he made. When we came off the track he said, “I hate this. I can’t do this.” Seven years later, he’s racing hard and running near the top of GT4. He’s really enjoying it and doing a lot of racing.

AW: Tell me a little about your current racecar. ST: I bought the car in 2014, a ‘04 996 street car. I had met Mark Hergesheimer and HRG at my first day with POC at Auto Club Speedway. He and Eric Oviatt (his stepson) took that ‘04 down to the bare bones and built a GT4 race car out of it. It had the stock engine from the factory build. We didn’t do anything to the motor, and I never did until it died in 2020. I started driving it in Time Trials, then racing it in 2017. I tracked it until November 2020, winning the GT4 Cup season points in 2018-2020. The last couple of corners of my last race in 2020 I thought I ran out of gas. The car sputtered but I won the race, barely. It went back to Vision and we planned to send an oil sample to Blackstone for testing. Well, it didn’t look good. When the oil came out yellow, it was clear the block had cracked sometime during that weekend, but the car made it through. I put a lot of laps on that engine, as hard as I could. It just kept going and going until… it died. Nick at Vision said, “I bet you had one more lap left in that engine.” It was a miracle stock engine. We put a GT3 engine in the car and ran it for 3 years, but it went kaput last October. The transmission, and the clutch was destroyed too…. It was pretty much a fiasco. I spoke with the guys at Vision and decided to put in a stock Cayman engine out of a street car, put on some Hoosiers and run in GT5. The first time I used it was last month’s Tribute weekend. It was great. I really enjoyed it. Until the Tribute race itself. That was such a s#*t show, it became funny. Our team of two, me and brother Phil, had three mechanicals and a comm system break down. From pole, I didn’t make it to T2 on the out lap. I restarted the car four times on the out lap to get into the pits. The pros at Vision diagnosed the problem, reset the car and 20 minutes later I went back out. Then Phil had a loose control arm and he lasted one lap, pitted, and went out 25 minutes later. We were about 40 laps behind or something. I don’t know but it had to be the farthest behind a relay team has ever been. We were determined to legally finish the race somehow, that is until the fire/rescue teams hit our comm frequency, and Phil couldn’t hear our instructions to pit, so he stayed out one lap too long. I went back out for the third stint and after five laps I heard a sound like a pop exiting T1. One of the cylinders had given up. That was the end of our race. As Ricky Bobby so eloquently said, “If ya ain’t first, yer last.” We were as last as last can be. So, we went to the dinner and laughed about it all.

AW: I know how much you love racing. Your smiles at the track are infectious. Do you have any other hobbies?

ST: Aside from our racetrack addiction, I try to stay in shape with a few hobbies. Cycling, the gym. But my real hobby is three grandsons. Jackson, August, and Bode. Ages four, three, and two. They’re so much fun. They keep me on my toes. Speaking of kids, I chose my car number, 822, because my daughter Emily’s birthday is on the 8th and my son Hayden’s is on the 22nd. Emily and her husband, Brian, live in Ventura. Their sons are Jackson and Bode. Hayden lives in North Carolina with August and works for the National Lab system within Homeland Security.

Hmm. Maybe that teenage C.I.A. theory of his kicked in. They’re all such a source of pride in my life. I’m also a very lucky guy to be with my fiancé, Rhanna Prado. We’re getting married in October, in her hometown of Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

AW: Anything you’d like to add?

ST: I guess what I’d like to say is the that the memory I have being at my first POC event, the feeling I had, really sticks with me… the special nature of it. Let’s just say it wasn’t like a PCA event (sorry PCA)! It was what I wanted, serious amateur track action and not travel all over the country to do it. The members of the POC are truly special to me… I’ve done quite a few races and track experiences outside of POC, with WRL endurance for instance, racing against NASCAR winning drivers and real professionals. Through those experiences I realized quickly that in Red and Orange Cup in POC, there are some of the best drivers you could possibly have. That’s just a fact. You want to be a competitor and do your best. You develop these special friendships. You compete hard, often 12 inches off the bumper in front of you, or door-to-door, with confidence. To be able to do that event after event, it’s pretty darn special. Wow. The friendships, the after five o’clock fun. It’s a fulfilling, special part of my life. We’re all just very lucky to be able to do it. It’s incredible.

AW: I couldn’t agree more. I am so grateful.

ST: Not many people are able to do this. To do it the POC way is truly special.

AW: Before I let you go, what have you learned about yourself because of your participation in motorsports?

ST: Interesting question. I think the primary thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’ve come to really enjoy combining a high level of competition, camaraderie, and fun all rolled into one sport, and the POC embodies this.

AW: Amen. Well, I hope everything we talked about is true and not just part of your cover.

ST: (Laughs.) For sure I can tell you my son wishes the C.I.A. fantasy was true! Thanks for the interview Andrew, and thanks for what you’re doing with Velocity and the club.

Photo: Luis Vivar

SIMRACING

SIM RACING continues to gain popularity in 2024!

An initial investment and that is it – no tire budget, no maintenance, no tow rig, no repairs, no hotels, no fire suit, etc., etc. In addition, it isn’t 8 weekends a year, it can be as little as 2 hours every couple of Monday nights or hours every day, whatever you want. The tracks are always open for practice. In addition, there are nightly races with the league, which is a huge advantage.

Every night can be like a race weekend. You hangout and chat with your POC race buddies just like a track weekend, but from the comfort of your own home. In addition, since the league uses Discord to chat, these conversations about cars, vacations or whatever can occur WHILE you are battling through the curves of Spa or Big Willow in a Porsche 992 GT3 R! Every two weeks the track changes to tour the best tracks in the world.

And just like real life POC track days, there is a wide variety of driver skill levels, from a true professional brushing up their skills for an upcoming race weekend, to people just starting out. This allows you to almost always have someone to race with and enjoy the competition while your lap times drop.

SIMRACING 2024 Results

SIM RACING is about more than just driving fast. It’s about the challenge, the satisfaction of improvement, and the joy of being part of the POC community. So buckle up, pour a drink, hit the gas, and experience the fun of the virtual race track for yourself!

Jan 8 Willow Springs

Jan 22 Daytona

Feb 5 Silverstone

Feb 19 Mt Panorama

Mar 4 Motegi

Mar 18 Sebring

April 1 Suzuka

April 15 Canadian Tire

April 29 Long Beach

May 13 Philip Island

June 3 Montreal

June 17 Watkins Glen

July 1 RedBull Ring

1st Andrew Chinnici 4th AJ Roper

2nd Sagar Dhawan 5th Michael Oest

3rd Tom Layton 6th Mark Rondeau

1st Chris Walsh 4th BJ Fulton

2nd Sagar Dhawan 5th Alex Filsinger 3rd Travis Brown 6th Michael Bolten

1st Sagar Dhawan 4th BJ Fulton

2nd AJ Roper 5th Travis S Brown

3rd Jad Duncan 6th Mark Rondeau

1st Sagar Dhawan 4th Michael Bolten

2nd Chris Walsh 5th AJ Roper 3rd Jad Duncan 6th Travis S Brown

1st AJ Roper 4th Mark Rondeau

2nd Dylan Scott 5th Ian Roche2 3rd Michael Bolten 6th Dustin Heindl

1st Chris Walsh 4th Ezra Kelderman

2nd AJ Roper 5th BJ Fulton

3rd Dylan Scott 6th Jacob Abrams

1st Ezra Kelderman 4th BJ Fulton

2nd AJ Roper 5th Ian Roche 3rd Michael Bolten 6th Jeff Shulem

1st Chris Walsh 4th BJ Fulton

2nd AJ Roper 5th Jad Duncan

3rd Ezra Kelderman 6th Dustin Heindl

1st Sagar Dhawan 4th Michael Bolten

2nd Ezra Kelderman 5th BJ Fulton

3rd AJ Roper 6th Jad Duncan

1st Jad Duncan 4th Ezra Kelderman

2nd Michael Bolten 5th Ian Roche

3rd AJ Roper 6th Dustin Heindl

1st AJ Roper 4th Will Castillo

2nd Chris Walsh 5th Michael Bolten 3rd Ian Roche 6th Mark Rondeau

1st Chris Walsh 4th Ezra Kelderman

2nd AJ Roper 5th Dylan Scott

3rd Jad Duncan 6th BJ Fulton

1st Ezra Kelderman 4th Chris Walsh

2nd Jad Duncan 5th Dustin Heindl 3rd Mark Rondeau 6th Jeffery Shulem

SIM Race Series 1

GT1

1st Chris Walsh

2nd Arnold Roper

3rd Jad Duncan

SIM Race Series 2

GT1

1st Matt Steele

2nd Mark Rondeau

3rd Doug Boccignone

PROTOTYPE

1st BJ Fulton 2nd Dylan Scott 3rd Jad Duncan

1st Chris Walsh 4th Michael Johnson

2nd Sagar Dhawan 5th Michael Bolten

3rd AJ Roper 6th BJ Fulton

1st Sagar Dhawan 4th Jad Duncan

2nd BJ Fulton 5th Dustin Heindl

3rd AJ Roper 6th Dylan Scott

1st Ezra Kelderman 4th Dylan Scott

2nd Dustin Heindl 5th Michael Bolten 3rd BJ Fulton 6th Michael Johnson

1st Michael Johnson 4th Ian Roche

2nd Ezra Kelderman 5th Michael Bolten 3rd BJ Fulton 6th Dylan Scott

1st Michael Johnson 1st Matt Steele

2nd Ezra Kelderman 2nd Federico del Toro

3rd BJ Fulton 3rd Doug Boccignone

1st BJ Fulton 1st Matt Steele

2nd AJ Roper 2nd Doug Boccignone

3rd Michael Johnson 3rd Mark Rondeau

1st Jad Duncan 1st Matt Steele

2nd Dylan Scott 2nd Mark Rondeau 3rd Michael Johnson 3rd Federico del Toro

1st BJ Fulton 1st Matt Steele

2nd Jad Duncan 2nd Federico del Toro

3rd AJ Roper 3rd Mark Rondeau

1st Michael Johnson 1st Matt Hollander

2nd Dylan Scott 2nd Mark Rondeau

3rd Michael Bolten 3rd Federico del Toro

1st BJ Fulton 1st Matt Steele

2nd Michael Johnson 2nd Mark Rondeau

3rd Dustin Heindl 3rd Federico del Toro

1st Jad Duncan 1st Matt Steele

2nd Dylan Scott 2nd Doug Boccignone 3rd Dustin Heindl 3rd Mark Rondeau

1st Dylan Scott 1st Mark Rondeau

2nd BJ Fulton 2nd Matte Steele

3rd Jad Duncan 3rd Jeffery Shulem

1st Michael Johnson 1st Mark Rondeau

2nd Dustin Heindl 2nd Doug Boccignone

3rd Will Castillo 3rd Matte Steele

July

Photo: Luis Vivar

SONOMA

Left to Right: Nathan Johnson, Mike Monsalve and Duane Selby

Photo: Don Matz

The POC at Sonoma

Rise of the SIM

Don Kravig

After a two-year absence the POC returned to one of the seminal tracks in road racing. Initially known as Sears Point, the track was host to some of the earliest road racing on the West Coast. Many drivers from the POC cut their teeth in national, regional, and professional racing events at this world-famous track.

Sonoma is an old school track that gives every driver all the challenges he or she can stand, and then some. From blind late apex uphill right-handers to constant radius lefthanders, off camber braking, downhill esses with sucker corners in the middle, this track gives you all the challenges you need!

The recent repaving offered the opportunities for track records and spectacular spins. Cornering speeds proved to be higher and less breaking distance was needed. NASCAR had eight cautions in their first 25 laps at Sonoma just a month previously and it just seems that this track will lead you toward misbehavior, both pro and amateur alike!

Friday’s practice sessions did not bring about any kind of record-breaking times as it was 100° and people were just trying to get a feel for the new pavement. Saturday’s dawn was slightly overcast and cooler. Lap times started to come down. In Red qualifying, Mike Monsalve laid down a 1:35.261 for pole position. Second was Duane Selby with a 1:37.268, and Nathan Johnson followed close behind with a 1:37.363. In GT2, Razvan Sporea laid down a 1:40.625 followed by the GT3 cars of Ana Predescu and Brett Gaviglio at 1:40.207 and 1:41.962 respectively. Jim Salzer set the pace in GT4 at a 1:45.606.

SONOMA

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting. Most of you have probably seen the new movie Gran Turismo. I must confess I have not. But over the years, I’ve had at least one employee claim that he could beat Michael Schumacher if he could just get in a car. He fancied himself F1 capable because of his extensive time SIM racing. So, the top four cars in Orange qualifying were all 20-something drivers. Two of them are recent graduates of Dwain Dement’s Cup Racing School and have extensive SIM racing experience. The other two have extensive car racing experience and experience with karting. All four of them were down near the track record. This had the makings of an awesome Orange race! We’d managed to get all the way through Friday, two practices and two qualifying sessions on Saturday with nobody touching a wall. There were numerous spins and other off-course adventures. Remember what I said about this track leading people into misbehavior?

Saturday Morning Orange Race

On to Orange race number one. Newcomer and ultra-fast SIM racer Sagar Dhawan qualified on the pole with a 1:51.778 followed by the track-experienced and SIM savant, Alistair Belton at 1:51.949. 3rd and 4th place were earned by veteran Matt Hollander with a 1:52.206 and veteran

Nick Khilnani with a 1:52.694. During the race start, both Hollander and Belton were able to exploit a momentary lapse by Dhawan to move into 1st and 2nd with Dhawan finishing 3rd but securing the fastest lap. Other big movers were Ryan Moore and Ryder Liu. The battles from front to back including one between Alan Watts and Adam Abrahms making the whole race exciting to watch. All the cars that started finished unscathed and even though there was lots of spectacular events and sideways moments, everybody was looking forward to the next race that afternoon.

Saturday Red Race

On to Saturday’s Red race. Mike Monsalve led the 16-car Red field to the green flag and proceeded to separate himself by two or three car lengths from Duane Selby and then just lay down lap after perfect lap. At various times Selby got up close enough to present himself in the corners, but a pass was impossible. Behind those two, Ana Predescu and Brett Gaviglio had a similar battle with Predescu taking an early lead and Gaviglio unable to close the gap. Behind them there were various incidents and spins and lots of good racing with just one car losing it bad enough to get all the way to the wall traveling backwards. There was very minor damage to the car so all in all, a good race. Scott Matz flew all the way from Pennsylvania to take on Sonoma and his new Cup car. Finding the track very intimidating and hard to learn he got some help from Kevin Roush and took off something like six seconds over the course of the weekend. Good on you Kevin for being such a great coach!

Saturday Afternoon Orange Race

Next was Saturday afternoon’s Orange race. Pole sitter Sagar Dhawan led a 23-car Boxster field to the green. Holding his lead to the first corner, a race-long battle ensued between Dhawan and Belton, Hollander and Moore. Good clean racing! Farther back in the pack similar racing was taking place with hard fought one or two spot gains by Larry Haase and others. Just behind them was a 6-way battle taking place. Then, just about mid-pack, misbehavior! With an attempted pass on the outside of the left hand second Ess. It caused a two-car collision that took both competitors out. Sonoma lures you into bad judgment. The race wound up with Dhawan winning, 2nd place went to Belton and Hollander took 3rd. Afterwards, Dhawan and Belton joked that their cars are like M&Ms. They were amazingly close together. It was brilliant driving by both.

Sunday Red Race

Sunday morning Red qualifying had Mike Monsalve on the pole with Predescu leading GT3 Jim Salzer fastest in GT4. Sunday’s Red race was similar in respect to the Saturday race as there were hard fought battles that might result in one place gained. Monsalve wound up winning the 991.2 Spec class both days and set a new track record in qualifying on Saturday. Way to go Mike! Predescu won both of her races with lots of attempts from the various people chasing her including Darin Moore. She has turned into one hell of a driver! A broken wheel on Brett Gaviglio’s car caused him to drop out. It was a pretty clean race!

SONOMA

Sunday Orange Race

Sunday’s Orange race had a 22-car start with Belton and Dhawan starting 1st and 2nd. The race finished up that way with Rob Walker coming in a hard-fought 3rd. Oh, by the way, Dhawan set a track record in Boxster Spec over the weekend with a 1:50.765 taking the track record away from James McLaughlin by a full second. With all his SIM racing experience, Dhawan commented how much different it was getting all kinds of feedback from the car, angles, different grips on different tires based on where you were in the corner, the effect of the gravity on the uphill and downhill portions, the noise and vibration, etc. All of this made the race very challenging for him but I’m here to tell you he drove precise lines and basically made almost no mistakes. Congratulations to Sagar Dhawan and Alistair Belton! They’re both winners and I hope to see you two at all our future events. We’ll call it M&M racing.

It was a great weekend at one of the West Coast’s preeminent tracks. Sonoma offers some of the greatest challenges in racing. What great fun it is to meet those demands. See you all at Spring Mountain!

Photo: Luis Vivar

SONOMA

Photos: Luis Vivar

SONOMA

Photos: Luis Vivar

SONOMA

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Chris Kipp

SONOMA

SONOMA

Photos: Luis Vivar

SONOMA

Photos: Luis Vivar

Matthew Hately

...is in Love with Racing!

Photo: Luis Vivar

ANDREW WEYMAN

Matthew Hately races BSR #401 in the Orange Group. His excitement about being part of the POC family is infectious. His love for the sport is overflowing. We chatted about lots of things. Here’s what he had to say...

AW: When did you join the POC?

MH: It’s been about five years, I think. Does it say on my membership card?

AW: No.

MH: That would be a nice upgrade.

AW: I can research your membership number.

MH: Before the POC I joined the BMW Club and did track days with them. Also Open Track Racing, FastLane Racing School, Speed District, NASA and a few others.

AW: Which BMW did you run?

MH: An e36. It was a regular 328i. Lesson learned. If you have a basic car and try to turn it into an M with cams, manifolds, exhaust and so on, it would have been cheaper to just buy the M. It started as a daily driver, then over time, stripping the interior, putting coil-overs on it, aggressive brake pads that squeal at every stoplight… The next thing you know you’ve got a trailer.

AW: How long were you enjoying these other track experiences before joining the POC?

MH: I started in ’08 maybe. I moved here from Ottawa in

My 328is e36 at Willow Springs - the car that got me hooked on track days. It started as my daily driver and slowly devolved into a full track car with coilovers, big brake kit, M3 cams, no interior, and roll bar. It was a dog on the straights but kept its own in the corners.

Photo: Matt Hately

’07. It was always a dream to eventually Club race. I started with track days. It took me about ten years, I guess. It’s something I wanted to do since I was 16 or 17 years old. In high school, I worked in a grocery store where the owner had a ’73 911. He was an instructor with PCA. The only track up there was Mosport. We finished a shift one night, went to grab some pizza and took it for a drive. That was it! Game over. I had a love affair with Porsche. It wasn’t anything I could afford. Over time, it became possible. I found an ad online for a car that Vali (Predescu) was selling. It wasn’t a Vali build. I don’t remember who built it. The roll cage wasn’t the best and there were a few other sub-par things. Vali said, “Well, you know, for not much more, I could build you one.” The rest is history.

AW: Speaking of cars, what was the first car you ever owned?

MH: An ’85 Honda Prelude. They rust by just looking at them. I worked hard trying to keep the rust away.

AW: That’s a good-looking car. Without the rust.

MH: It was fantastic. Classic late 1980’s coupe. I had BF Goodrich white-letter tires on it. It had tinted windows. Kind of a dark gray. It was a 4-speed. I loved that car. I had parked it outside one day at work. When I finished for the day, I thought I wasn’t remembering where I had parked, or I had decided to take the bus that day and didn’t remember. It was gone. They were very easy to steal apparently. It probably ended up as parts.

AW: What’s your current daily driver?

MH: A Volvo V60 Polestar.

AW: Getting back to racing, what do you find to be your biggest challenge on the track?

MH: (Long pause) I got into Time Trials with my Boxster Spec and I discovered I was eight seconds off the pace. I couldn’t understand why that was. When I started racing, I was five seconds off the pace and still had a hard time figuring it out. I started to chip away at it. Then I had a hard time finding those last two or three seconds. So, I have to say, it’s probably commitment. When I hear the top two or three guys say, ‘I don’t lift’ I can’t wrap my head around that. I’ve never been a ‘send-it-to-catchit driver.’ I’ve always been a sort of ‘work my way up’ guy. A tenth at a time. I think a lot of that is just like carrying a little more speed, using a little less brake. But I have to ease my way into it. I don’t have that confidence.

AW: I understand. I know it well.

MH: (Laughs) I’m not like Nigel (Maidment).

AW: (Laughs) What, if anything, have you learned about yourself through your experience racing?

MH: That’s a great question. Hmm…

AW: Don’t be shy.

MH: I think I sort of knew this about myself already but… I tend to learn new things very well up to about 70 percent. Like learning enough of a language just to get by or learning a musical instrument or something like that. Or, learning how to drive on the track. The first 60 or 70 percent comes rather easily, I guess. I don’t have to think about it too

much. That last 30 percent I find much more difficult. Having the focus and attention to detail, sitting down and looking at data and all that… I understand that I have to see things. I’ve always considered myself kind of a book learner, but I can learn something faster if I can see it with an instructor. An instructor can talk me through. Ease up here or come into the corner this way. Whatever it is. That’s one thing. I find that if an instructor takes me out for a lap, I can get a lot faster. So I’m a lot more of a visual learner than I thought I was. Or sensory learner. Visual and sensory I guess.

AW: How does racing complement or contrast with other activities in your life? Do you relate other experiences to what you do on the racetrack?

MH: In some ways. My day job is Executive Coach. A lot of that is about being calm and a good listener. Figuring out what’s holding people back in business. That’s why I wrote that article for Velocity a few months back. A lot of people

talk about football analogies or hockey analogies or baseball analogies. Aside from hockey, well, I’m not really into stick-and-ball sports. I found that what I was learning on the track clearly applies to business. Like Mario Andretti said that everything has to be a little out of control or you’re not going fast enough. I’ve found that’s kind of similar. Two of my clients are in the car business. There’s always been a thread there in some shape or form. One of the things I’m excited about is that in a couple of weeks I’m going to volunteer with an organization called Ukrainian Action which delivers trucks and supplies to the Ukraine through Poland. We bring them to the border and a volunteer from Ukraine comes and picks them up. I read about it in Car and Driver a couple of years ago and I put my name on the list to volunteer.

AW: That’s wonderful. Wow. What do you enjoy most about POC?

MH: The support. The people. I love that it’s competitive. There are always people ahead of

A monster burnout in my gen 5 Camaro - I used to run sales and marketing at Magnuson Superchargers, and most of our marketing involved burnouts :)

Photo: Matt Hately

me who are so much faster. I love that people are willing to share information, tips… If I ask Anders (Hainer) a question, he’s always happy to answer, to help. I think that applies to all the people in the top ten. If I ask for a little bit of advice, they’ll tell me. There’s not that overly competitive attitude that ‘I’m not going to share.’ It could also be that they don’t see me as a threat (Laughs).

AW: And you’re trusting that they’re telling you the truth (Laughs).

MH: I love that there are people who love racing, and they love cars and they’re open. They’re not ‘clique-y’ and I feel like I can talk with anyone in the paddock. I love that.

AW: I feel the same way. What do you feel could be done to improve the POC experience?

MH: I think the work we’re doing with the Motorsports Safety Foundation is great. I think we could formalize the way we do PDS. I thought the instruction in BMWCC and NASA was pretty good. It was structured. Not all the instructors were great. I probably had better instructors with POC. That’s coming from the passion at POC. But the other clubs’ programs were more structured, and more time was dedicated to technique. I always thought that that was something we should look at in POC. Kind of formalize the PDS. We’re doing that now, which is awesome.

AW: I think Jim Salzer is doing a great job.

MH: I would love to help out with that. Both with the BMW club and POC there were always one or two instructors in particular who were outstanding. One of the first few weekends I

did with BMW in a beginner group they put a chicane in on the front straight at Auto Club Speedway to ‘slow you down.’ My instructor said, “You know, if you position the car here and if you do a little flick here you can pretty much do this flat out.” I was, like, “Really?” So, I was coming around and we were about to go through it. I kept my foot down and gave it a little flick and I remember he went, “Woooohoooohoooo!” He was so excited. I was so excited. It’s moments like that you don’t forget. It’s why we do this. I want to do this forever.

AW: Okay, now be real honest. How often do you read Velocity?

MH: Actually, I read every one.

AW: That’s a good answer!

MH: I skim the race reports because well, I was there. But they’re still interesting. I really like learning about other people in the interviews.

AW: I’ve found it interesting to learn about how what people do for a living or whatever other hobbies they have corresponds to racing. And a whole lot of other stuff. Often unexpected. Well, thanks so much for agreeing to do this. It’s been fun.

MH: Sure. Anytime.

AW: I’ll see you in Sonoma in just a few days.

MH: See ya there.

My ‘75 Firebird from my post-mullet years. It had Kiss Destroyer in the 8 track and a built Pontiac 462 with a 4 speed. Some days I regret selling it, but like many American cars of the 70s, it looked better than it drove.

My ‘85 911 - This is the car I pined for since I was 15, and I finally had the opportunity to buy it in 2016. I found it near Seattle, and my son and I drove it back along the coast back to Ojai. I drive it up Hwy 33 as often as I can (we’re lucky to have the 33 at our doorstep here in Ojai).

Photos: Matt Hately

August

Image: Don Matz

“Every time I go out on the track, I pinch myself. It’s not something a kid from Dubuque, Iowa would think he was ever going to do. It’s other worldly. That feeling has never gone away.”

Joe Weiderholt

Joe Wiederholt Loves Pork Chops at Chuckwalla

ANDREW WEYMAN

AW: Thanks for agreeing to be interrogated, I mean interviewed.

JW: I’ve been looking forward to it.

AW: How’s your back? (Joe was suffering from back pain and had to miss our event at Sonoma).

JW: I guess I should make up a story about how a guy took a bad fall and I caught him just in time and wrenched my back. But I was in the backyard watering strawberries with a hose and for some reason I either bent down or twisted or something and all of a sudden, I felt like I couldn’t move.

AW: That’s a boring story.

JW: When you’re young, if you injure yourself, it’s because you did something stupid. I’ve been on a real run here lately, but I guess that’s how it goes.

AW: Between your kidney stones, Covid and your back you’ve had your share.

JW: I suppose I could complain but other people have it worse, so….

AW: I don’t want to hear your complaints, anyway.

JW: That’s one of the things I tell Heidi (Joe’s wife). I go to the racetrack and people are nice but when you’re being a whatever, they’ll let you know. I like it because it’s a little more direct. There’s not a lot of tiptoeing around. Especially with Vali (Predescu).

AW: Ha! No such thing.

JW: I like that. It’s more the way I grew up. You say what’s on your mind and everyone deals with it. I think it’s kind of refreshing. A lot of times at work, you have to be so cautious about everything. I get tired of it. I like to be around a bunch of people that when you do something

dumb, they tell you that you were dumb and explain in great detail how you were dumb and five years later if you have a good day, they’ll remind you about the time you were really stupid. “Do you remember the time…?” And you’ll say, “Yes I do.”

AW: Speaking of work, tell me a little about your day job.

JW: I’ll do the quick version of…well I hope it’s quick. I started out as an Aerospace Engineer for about 10 years. I was working for General Dynamics and they sold a lot of their businesses and moved them out of San Diego. I kind of had to make a decision and I decided to stay with what remained of them because I liked living here. It was a different division, and we did more software work. I’ve been basically managing software development and systems engineers. I had no intention of doing that when I graduated from school. I certainly didn’t expect that I’d be managing a bunch of people. We had problems with a piece of software that failed testing. They started to invite me to meetings about things like that. They were talking and talking about how they were going to possibly fix this and that. I didn’t say anything in a room of people more important than me. At the end, I finally spoke up and said, “There’s nothing wrong with the software. What’s wrong is that you’re not testing it right.” I told them it will probably be hard to test it properly. I went into details on that. They all looked at me like I’d come from Mars or something. The next day, the guy who was Deputy Chief Engineer came to me and said, “You’re in charge of doing that.” And I said, “What? I don’t have anyone working for me…. He said, “Let us know what you need.” I told

him I didn’t know anything about organizing and budgeting and all that. He repeated, “Let us know what you need.” That’s how it happened. I’ve moved up the ladder and ever since then, I’ve been managing people.

AW: How did you get from there to the POC?

JW: From about age 15 to about 50 I raced bicycles. It was my true love. As I got older, my knees were shot. I had to stop. My doctor said, “If you’d like to continue walking, I suggest you stop biking.” So, I did. I missed the camaraderie and the competition. I’m a better version of myself when I have a hobby. I’ve always been a big Porsche fan. I used to think about the sound of a 917 going down the Mulsanne Straight. My first car was a Volkswagen and that’s as close to a Porsche as I could get. When I could finally afford it, I bought myself a Cayman. I was driving and I remembered what Jay Leno said about driving and sex. “Just like sex, everyone thinks they’re a good driver.” I always liked driving in a spirited fashion and the car seemed so capable. I was afraid because I didn’t know what it would do when it wouldn’t do what I asked. I was looking for ways to learn and PCA had a local performance driving school in the parking lot of what used to be called Qualcomm Stadium. I did that. It was two days of threshold braking, lane changes, a lot of autocross kind of stuff, soapy water skid pad…and I was just like pigs in slop enjoying it. I came away so excited. They told me they have big track events. “You mean I can drive my car on a track?!” So, I did Chuckwalla with PCA. While I was there, I was talking with a guy who thought I’d like to drive with this other group, the POC. They race. So, I registered for a POC event. There were two things I got out

of it. I saw the racing and it was cool! I thought I wanted to do it, but I was a little scared. Will Marcy was my instructor. I know every instructor is different but when I went to the PCA event my instructor was a super neat and tidy guy. He was like the Alain Prost of instructors. Everything was like don’t over do it, don’t get the car out of shape, just learn the line, gradually pick up speed. Everything had to be ‘perfect.’ It was fun but…that was his style. At Chuckwalla, I was a few laps in, going through the Bowl, and I was little too enthusiastic, and the car got crossed up. I caught it and I kept going and I said to Will that I was sorry. “Sorry? Why are you sorry? How are you going to learn what the car can do if you don’t make it do what it’ll do?” I was like, ‘oh, this is different.’ It was very freeing. Will sent me out by myself a few laps later. Two people spun in front of me. I reported back to Will. “Two people spun in front of me. I almost collected one guy.” Will said, “But did you?” “No. I got around him.” “Then you did good!” Then it hit me. Oh, this is supposed to be fun! It was a really good day. It didn’t feel so butt-clenching. It wasn’t that you have to hold your pinky up when you do this or that. No. Have fun. You’ll learn. People screw up and get on with it.

car. I felt like sooner or later something was going to happen. He said you should probably get a track car and suggested a Spec Boxster. I researched it and it seemed to make sense. I had one built. It would have been better to just buy one from somebody, but I didn’t really know anything, and I didn’t know anyone.

AW: What year did you join the POC?

JW: 2014.

AW: And when did you earn your Cup license?

JW: 2016.

AW: That was pretty quick.

AW: Those are two very different experiences.

JW: From then on, I went to every POC event. When I talked to Will I told him I really didn’t want to push hard. I didn’t want to wreck the

JW: I would have liked to have done it a little sooner, but a couple of things happened. I missed one Racers Clinic. I had been karting at one of the San Diego tracks trying to get more seat time. Someone messed up and I stopped but the person behind me didn’t, and I got rear ended. I broke a couple of ribs and there was no way I could drive. At the time I looked at my lap times compared to the race group. I thought I needed to be driving laps that put me somewhere in the middle of the pack in order to be able to pay attention to others around me. For me, it was the right thing to do. Not rush it. The first race I did was at Laguna Seca. I had never driven the track before. I called Dwain (Dement). I told him I wasn’t sure I should race. He told me I could start in the back if I wanted. “Don’t sweat it. Get through the corners. If you lose some spots, you lose some spots. Don’t do anything

Photo: Luis Vivar

you don’t feel comfortable with.” I put together a pretty crappy simulator and I drove hundreds of laps. When I went to the track, I was pretty comfortable. I had a really good weekend. No incidents. In some ways, it was easier than driving the SIM. Especially the Corkscrew.

AW: I found the same thing. It’s easier to get the timing in real life.

JW: Your body picks up all the cues. The bumps. The timing. On the SIM you don’t have all of that. It was a good weekend. I was hooked. Every time I go out on the track, I pinch myself. It’s not something a kid from Dubuque, Iowa would think he was ever going to do. It’s other worldly. That feeling has never gone away.

AW: What have learned about yourself through racing with POC?

JW: (Pause) I guess one thing would be that everyone needs to approach it in a way that

gives you the most satisfaction, the most joy or fun. That can be anything from ‘I’m super serious about it’ to ‘I mainly like hanging out in the paddock and shooting the breeze.’ For the first couple of years, I was very serious about it. I tried to improve, and I did. Then I found it was a lot of pressure. I had to prep before the race. I studied my track map. I drove the SIM, practiced, and reviewed my video. I had to improve my Qualifying times. I did everything I had to do to improve. After a few years I found that that was more pressure than I wanted. I wanted to enjoy it more. I stopped worrying about it so much. Now I can put in 50% of the effort and get 80% or 90% of the results. I enjoy it more and I stopped worrying about if I finished 3rd or 4th. I’ve found a happy place where I’m maximizing my enjoyment and not stressing so much.

AW: I feel the same way. I have a great time every second I’m on the track.

JW: It took me a little while to come to that realization. One of the things I love is being part of the group and knowing people, all the camaraderie. That was also true during my years of cycling.

AW: What do you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses on the track?

JW: I think I do a good job of preparing for each track. I know I just said I do less of that, but it doesn’t mean I do none of it. I’ve always been a pretty good qualifier when I can focus on just one lap. I’m generally not at the same pace during the races so I usually have someone on my butt. I’m not always good at handling that well. You have to have this blend of focusing ahead but having an awareness of the guy

in your rearview mirror and managing them. That’s a difficult balance sometimes. It’s easy to get into a downward spiral if they get past you and somebody else gets by you then. I’d like to be mentally stronger when there’s pressure lap after lap. I always tell myself not to think that I have five laps to go and 14 turns. I try to focus on the next corner and then the one after that. I have very good races when someone is pressuring me and I’m able to handle it one corner at a time. Sometimes that’s very difficult to do. Other times it’s easier. For a couple of races, I did the whole Ross Bentley visualizing thing and how to get into the right mind space for it. They were a couple of the best races I ever had. I spent a lot of time doing that. After that, I felt like that was a lot of work. It goes back to what I said before. It was more than what I wanted to put into it. It became another

I always tell myself not to think that I have five laps to go and 14 turns. I try to focus on the next corner and then the one after that.

Photo: Luis Vivar

job. I won’t criticize any driver whose sole focus was doing that. Fine. That’s the right headspace for them.

AW: Here’s a little gear shift. You’ve been Motorsports Director for a long time. When did you join the Board of Directors?

JW: In 2018 or 2019, I’m not sure. Ron Palmer had asked me if I was interested in getting more involved with the club. He asked me to handle the stuff in MotorsportsReg and suggested that I run for the Board. I lost by one vote. It didn’t surprise me. I didn’t know that many people. John Gordon left the Board and Ron asked me to take over all his motorsports duties. I did, and then I ran again and got elected. I think it was due to the fact that many more people knew me.

AW: I know you missed the last few races, and you had a grand plan to coincide with your retirement. You were planning on making Sonoma your last race and wanted to continue your participation with the club on some level. Correct?

JW: Yeah. I wanted to end on a high note at Sonoma. I really like the track and my wife was going to attend. But sometimes things don’t work out as planned. I want to continue to work with the club, as long as I’m enjoying it. Two months? A year? Five years? I don’t know. I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s so great to have met people who all do all sorts of things. At work, everybody basically does the same thing. I know jobs aren’t everything about somebody, but I enjoy being with people who have different life stories other than just engineers. At the track, most of the time, you’re not racing. You have time to sit around and talk or put stickers on Branimir’s (Kovak) or Nigel’s (Maidment) car.

AW: Since you’ve given up cycling, do you have any other hobbies?

JW: I enjoy working in our garden. I like the feeling of doing something and seeing that it looks way better. You get immediate feedback. It’s very gratifying and very simple. I recently started gem cutting. Not a diamond but something that faceted like that. Anything but diamonds. That’s a whole different thing. I love things that take a lot of skill, like driving. You have to learn it, try to master it, and never really will.

AW: How did you find gem cutting as something to do? That’s so far out of what I would think of doing.

JW: As a kid, and even into my late teens, I collected rocks and minerals. I always thought it would be really cool to learn how to cut gems. I never really had the chance and I didn’t have the money to buy the equipment. There are faceted stones like sapphires and more rounded stones called cabochons. I want to cut them perfectly. It’s enjoyable. To get it just right…you get in the zone, start cutting and it’s very peaceful. There are other things I’d like to do, too. My wife and I are going to travel. We’re going to Alaska to see the Northern Lights and then to Daytona for the 24 Hours. Next year we’re going to Scotland.

AW: You’ve given me a lot to work with but is there anything you’d like to add?

JW: Just that my tradition at Chuckwalla is to eat pork chops with my hands. Every year, Ana (Predescu) takes a picture of me eating a pork chop with my hands. They ran out of plates and utensils one year and that started it. It’s silly stuff, especially if you’ve had a Scotch or two. I love it. It’s just one of the things that makes our events so special.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Road Trip!

Or...

How Delivering Medical Supplies for Ukraine Led to Meeting Some Very Cool Porsche People in a Post-Industrial City Located in Poland

MATTHEW HATELY

Rewind back to summer of 2022. A few months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Car & Driver published an article about a non-profit called Ukrainian Action that drives trucks and supplies to Ukraine from the UK. That article really resonated with me. I’m Ukrainian on my mom’s side and was raised with many Ukrainian traditions. News of the war hit me hard.

I continued to support the non-profit organization, Ukrainian Action as well as other causes, but I felt a growing need to do more, especially as the war continued and media coverage waned. Last year, I reached out to volunteer to drive on a mission, and after a vetting period and a waiting list, I got the call to join Convoy #58. That’s how I found myself driving an

extended high-roof manual-transmission right-hand drive Sprinter van with a suspect turbo full of medical supplies from London through the Channel Tunnel (on the commercial side – a very cool experience), being detained by French customs for 4 hours (long story), and on to an undisclosed location in Poland, to be picked up by Ukrainian volunteers and driven to hospitals in Kyiv and the front-lines. That’s also how I found myself meeting some very cool Porsche people and visiting a shop I’ve been following on Instagram for years.

After the mission, I decided to stay a few days and head to Warsaw. Being Gen X and raised in the duck and cover era of the Cold War, seeing Warsaw was a must. Plus, they have pierogies.

Photo: Matt Hately

The drive to Warsaw was going to have me passing through Łódź, which, like many Polish words to English speakers, sounds nothing like it looks. Pronounced something like “Woodge,” it’s a former industrial city in Poland and home to several textile factories in the 20th century. Łódź is roughly 85 miles outside of Warsaw, a distance you can cover quickly due to the 140km/h speed limits on the Autobahnsmooth motorways. It just so happens that Łódź is the home of CarBone. CarBone is what you get when a graphic designer and photographer are bored with their IT business and start a Porsche parts business in a town with a rich history in textiles and fabrics. It turns out that a love of Porsches transcends borders, because it wasn’t long into my visit that I was getting the full shop tour and sitting down with founder Paweł Kalinowski to talk about how they got started, and how the company has evolved over its 10 years in business.

Paweł and his business partner Przemek got their start in the Porsche aftermarket selling restoration stickers. Paweł bought a 911 SC to rebuild, and being a graphic designer, the first thing he encountered was a lack of accurate, high-quality engine bay foil stickers. Knowing he could create better ones, he sent some designs to a printer, who said “Paweł,

I can’t sell you just a few stickers. You’ll need to order at least 500 of each”. So, he did. After using what he needed in his restoration, he posted the other 499 of each on Pelican Parts. They sold out the same day. He immediately ordered another run, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today, they still sell stickers for restorations, including stickers for RUF Automobile, which orders their stickers from CarBone.

Given the history of textiles in Łódź, they soon branched into designing and selling interior parts. Paweł describes their design approach as retrofuturistic, which is an apt description. They try to think of how a designer in the 1970s or 1980s might design new aftermarket parts. The result is something that’s an improvement over already quality Porsche parts yet feels period correct. Their design aesthetic is winning fans in the US, and in SoCal in particular. Magnus Walker is a fan, and the first time they visited the Rennsport Reunion, they sold out of everything –not only the products they brought to sell, but the banner they brought for their display as well. Paweł was a skateboarder in his youth, and his business partner a BMX racer. That aesthetic, combined with his background as an artist, is infused in everything they make. In their project cars like Criollo, a 911 SC Targa, they incorporate patterns inspired by Unism,

Pawel Kalinowski

an artform that originated in Łódź in the 1920s, and that takes abstract art to its fullest – Unistic art has no discernable forms like people, buildings or landscape – they are completely abstract, organic patterns.

The passion for Porsche is obvious the minute I pulled into their lot. Located in a non-descript industrial park, the first thing you see are their development cars. Inside their office sits REDRUM, an olive green 964 on Rotiform VCE wheels with a custom interior. Throughout the office and shop are a whole host of Porsche posters and memorabilia, and Paweł is wearing a Luftgekhult shirt. He’s a regular now at California events, and he helped organize the first Luft in Poland this year. Like many of us, Paweł’s love of Porsches started with family. His older brother loved cars and instilled in younger Paweł that the Porsche 911 is the best car in the world. When you’re six, and your brother is 12, you hang on his every word. From six years old, the 911 G-model was Paweł’s poster car.

By now, I’m sure you’re wondering where the name came from. CarBone is a play on words, alluding to lightness (Carbon) of the parts they create, and a love of cars – in Poland they have a saying about things you’re passionate about being “in your bones.”

There’s a racier version of the meaning, but this is a family magazine. Founder Paweł Kalinowski loves playing with words and has a name for every one of their project cars. He also names many of the products, like their upcoming Drummer door cards.

“Everyone wanted us to copy Singer door cards, which we refuse to do. Instead, we came up with our own design and called it Drummer” says Pawel. He gave me a preview of their new door cards, and the quality is exceptional – the stitching, the leather, the soft and satisfying snap the door pocket lid makes when you close it exudes Porsche-ness.

Today, 10 years later, CarBone is a manufacturer of world-class interior and exterior parts for Porsches and a full-service restoration shop, drawing customers from around the world. They are clearly just getting started, as the flow of new parts covering the 356 through water-cooled Porsches doesn’t ever seem to slow. You can see their whole lineup on their website at www.carbone.pl, and on Instagram at @ carboneliveries. Be warned though – they ship to the USA, and you’ll soon be ordering parts, or even talking with their team about designing a bespoke interior.

And if you find yourself in Poland, or anywhere else in the world where there’s a Porsche shop, a local club, or an event, reach out. You might be surprised by the warm welcome and the people you’ll meet.

If you’d like to contribute to Ukrainian Action, a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) non-profit, head to ukrainianaction.com. To date, Ukrainian Action has delivered and donated 298 vehicles in 58 humanitarian convoys from the UK to Ukraine. They also support reconstruction projects in Ukraine, and help injured soldiers and veterans in rehabilitation in the Carpathian Mountains.

Photo: Matt Hately

Image: Don Matz

Parnelli Jones and the POC

Don Kravig

Rufus Parnell “Parnelli” Jones died on June 4, 2024, at the age of 90. He was one of the greatest race drivers of the 60s and 70s. He was nicknamed Parnelli by his boyhood friend Billy Calder, who hoped that the Jones family would not discover that their son was racing cars at 17-years-old. In 1962, Parnelli was the first driver ever to qualify at over 150mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What you may not know about is his connection to the POC.

Parnelli came out of the southern California hot rod scene and won a couple of Sprint championships in the early 60s. He was an ardent observer of the sport and a keen analyst of techniques and lines. He visited Indianapolis to watch a race, showed up the next year as a driver and damn near won it. His career at Indianapolis could’ve been seven straight wins with a little bit of luck.

He won three Baja 1000s and five Baja 500s. His famous 1968 Olympia Bronco recently sold at auction for ridiculous price. During the late 60s and into the 70s, he was known as a fierce competitor in the Trans Am series. Driving a Bud Moore prepared Ford Mustang, he won the 1970 Trans Am championship with teammate George Follmer (POC 1966 Driver of the Year) ahead of Mark Donahue.

During the final race at Riverside Raceway, Parnelli came from fourth place after a shunt that damaged the whole side of his car. He was anxiously watched by the Ford brass as he touched the left side of his car at the turn nine wall over and over, lap after lap, and finally caught up to George Follmer. The Ford execs watched those two beat on each other for several laps and were worried about a two car crash that

would knock them out of the championship. Finally, Follmer‘s shift linkage failed and Parnelli sailed onto the win. After a hard-fought race between the two teammates at Watkins Glen, Follmer famously said that Parnelli was almost impossible to pass. “How the hell does he do it?”

Most of you know that early POC members Dan Gurney, George Follmer, and Ross Bentley also competed at Indianapolis. Did you know that the POC has had literally hundreds of members compete in IMSA as well as Trans Am, Grand Am, Le Mans etc?

So, here’s a Baja 1000 Parnelli and the POC story. During the 1970s Porsche six-cylinder engines began to appear in unlimited buggies in the Baja 1000 as well as the 500. One of the early builders of these engines was John Nelson. Some of you may remember John’s place in Signal Hill. He was an early POC racer famous for working on four cam Carreras. While at a checkpoint halfway down the Baja Peninsula watching the buggies and Broncos, etc. John described Parnelli coming down a hillside in the dark where at the bottom of the hill he had to drop into a riverbed approximately 300 yards across and then come up the other side to pull into the checkpoint. “He came down the hillside in the dark at full throttle didn’t see the drop into the riverbed, flew the Bronco off the side and into the bottom, endo’d it at least four times finally landing on its wheels. He drove up the other side and into his pit with the engine, still running. The remarkable thing was while the car was flipping, he never let off the throttle.” That was Parnelli.

September

Photo: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Charleston Peak

Bringing the Heat at Spring Mountain

Ryan Moore

Anyone remember the blistering heat we endured at Auto Club Speedway a few years back? The 114-degree ambient temperature will always be seared in my mind, but our most recent outing to Spring Mountain in September gave this writer some serious flashbacks. We were spared from the 110+ temps this time but many of the same struggles applied - radiators that couldn’t keep up, motors that blew, and cockpit temps that would make a lizard reevaluate their life choices.

As my wife and I began the drive from San Diego to Pahrump, I received reports from others that temps were over 116 in Baker - so just a little toasty. Passing San Bernardino, the familiar scent of wildfire entered the car, and we could see the actual flames of fires licking up the hillsides. Yes, this was going to be a hot weekend.

Before the race weekend had even started, Friday saw several cars run into heatrelated issues. Driving a racecar in this environment pushes the machinery to its limit, and often past it. With high temp warnings, limp mode breakdowns, and busted radiators, it was clear this would not be the easiest of weekends to survive.

For the first Orange qualifying on Saturday, our hometown hero Anders Hainer returned to action in Boxster Spec Racing and secured pole, followed VERY closely by Nick Khilnani at only a tenth of a second behind. The scene was not setting up for another Anders sweep, however he did manage to pull it out when it mattered and took the win in the first Orange race. Anders’s P1 was followed by Nick in P2

Photo: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

and then a welcome appearance in BSR from his daughter, Alex Hainer in P3. Alex has been recently racing in our 991.2 Spec class as well as participating in the GR Cup series outside of POC. We were honored to be blessed by her presence again in BSR! She quickly showed her experience and handled the majority of the BSR field with ease. I do have to mention Matt Hollander made sure that was no easy task, as I had a front row seat to an epic battle between the two of them lasting almost the entire race! Despite the hard-earned result, Alex was ultimately DQ’d due to being underweight which pushed Matt up to P3.

Speaking of Alex, she pulled double duty by racing the 991.2 Spec class in the Red race as well. Given the inhospitable temps all day, it was quite the feat to drive in not two, but three separate races on Saturday. And to top it off, she secured pole in Red qualifying as the fastest car overall. Not too bad! The battle between Alex and Mike Monsalve for the win in 991.2 was epic, with never more than a handful

of feet separating the two. Alex ended up finishing just over two tenths of a second ahead of Mike, but was ultimately DQ’d for being underweight again! Gotta stay hydrated in that heat! With the DQ, Duane Selby secured second in Spec along with Eben Benade in third. Also worth mentioning for the Red race was Darrell Troester finishing first in GT2 with Roland Schmidt in second, and Ana Predescu taking the win in GT3 followed by Darin Moore and then David Fabi, aka Dr. Fabi.

As the track went cold Saturday evening, a dust storm rolled through Pahrump which was quite interesting to experience. It was like Imhotep’s dust storm from the Mummy, but a lot less dramatic. It did however put dirt all over the track which

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

impacted quali times Sunday morning, with average times in BSR trending two seconds slower than the day before. However, by race time the track had been wiped clean from running cars and was generating similar lap times as Saturday.

Orange quali for Sunday went similarly to Saturday with Anders again securing pole, this time followed by Chris Bason and then Nick Khilnani. The Orange race once again saw Anders lead the field in first place, followed again by Nick in second, and then Chris in third place. Honorable mention for Alex Hainer getting fourth place in this race. The last race of a hot weekend like this one is truly a race of attrition, of which I lost. An unfortunate brake failure ended my race two laps before the end, and I joined several other drivers who were unable to finish due to heat-related issues.

Mike Monsalve was able to secure pole with Alex Hainer close behind in Red quali on Sunday. Duane Selby secured third in quali with a very competitive lap time less than two tenths behind Alex. Despite her valiant attempts, Alex decided to sit out this last Red race after competing in the Orange race earlier that same day. There’s only so much heat a person can reasonably tolerate. In the 991.2 Spec class, Mike took first place, followed by Eben Benade in second, and rookie Gerritt Wesseling in third. Darrell Troester once again won GT2 with Paul Barnes coming in second and Roland Schmidt in third. GT3 race fans witnessed Ana cross the line in first again, this time with Dr. Fabi taking second and Darin Moore taking third. Congratulations to all who managed to finish their races over the hellacious weekend as that alone was a mighty accomplishment!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Photos: Luis Vivar

Charleston Peak

Photos: Luis Vivar

RECORD TEMPS AND TIME TRIAL RECORDS

STEVE EISLER

On the last weekend of October 2022, POC was the first club to race on the new Charleston Peak track at Spring Mountain. I was in the first group out on Friday, and we waited on the grid for 20 minutes before everything was ready for racing. The Tower, bathrooms and other facilities were under construction, the track was green, and the fastest driver in every class set a track record. The 34 Time Trial drivers competed on the North course which shortens the track to 2.76 miles by eliminating turn 12. After events on the Full course in 2023 and February of 2024, POC returned to a very warm North course on September 6th.

I have driven at Lagua Seca when the temperature was 106 degrees, at Auto Club Speedway at 109 degrees, and Chuckwalla when the thermometer read 113 in the shade. At Charleston Peak, Kathy and I spent a lot of time on Saturday in the Tahoe with the air conditioning running. We saw a high of 115 on the outside temperature gauge! I never saw a checkered flag all weekend. After 6 to 8 laps the temperature gauges in the Boxster had reached their maximum. I tried to run a cool down lap which lowered the temperature, but it spiked again as soon as I returned to racing speed. Despite the shortened sessions, I did drive almost 200 miles and managed to improve my best time on each of the three days. Even with a blow-out on a trailer tire just before the junction at Shoshone, it was a successful weekend.

There were 25 Time Trial drivers this weekend, but only Bob Gartland, Nathan Apelbaum, Terry Van Noy, Curt Richardson, Vivek Hazari, and me had returned to challenge the North Course for a second time. Gerrit Wesseling, GT1, had the TTOD both days with a 2:00.088 on Saturday and 1:58.550 on Sunday for an RBIS score of 34.06. Jack Apelbaum, Modified 3, was second on both days and improved from 2:04.988 to 2:04.041. He scored over 100 RBIS points on both days since his times were faster than the record set in 2022. Will Wattanawongkiri, GT3 – 2:05.947, and Ruben Raveendran, GT2 – 2:05.995, were the other drivers to go faster than a 2:06 on Saturday. On Sunday, Paul Wren, GT3, joined the under 2:06 group with a best time of 2:05.780.

In the Blue (point by passing) group, Terry Van Noy, driving a Modified 2 car, led the group with a 2:10.813 on Saturday and 2:10.205 on Sunday. Blaine Krasky, GT1, was second on Saturday with a time of 2:11.292, and Peter Su was the only other Blue Group driver under 2:15 with times of 2:13.228 and 2:10.431 in class Modified 2. Calvin Park was faster than the existing track record in Class GT7 and Yasin Almadani established a new Modified 5 track record with a time of 2:37.635. I had been working with Bryan Van Noy of Full Throttle Driving Academy before the event to find areas where I could improve my time. I made some big improvements during the Friday practice session, and then dropped several more seconds after reviewing my Garmin video with Bryan. The biggest changes were down-shifting to second at turns two, five and eighteen to gain more

acceleration out of these turns. I really enjoyed the transition from turn 10 to what was labeled 11C and then to turn14. I am still having problems getting through turns 14 to 18 smoothly and with enough speed to get a good run down the main straight away. I’ll have to wait for next year to figure out that section of track!

There were four drivers in the Performance Driving Series (PDS) who were learning to control their cars as they increased their speeds on a track built to insure the safest possible racing experience. With the help of our experienced POC instructors all of them had a great learning experience. Students were Bojan Blazevik, instructed by Curt Richardson; Steve Sidhu, instructed by Kunal Hinduja; and Dustin Durant with Steve Town in the right seat. With the help of Matt Hately, student Yasin Almadani set the track record for Modified 5 cars!

Due to the heat and lower car counts on Sunday, the Yellow (PDS) and Blue (Point by Passing) groups were combined to shorten the day. We decided to do the practice run on Sunday morning and the first timed run at 11:40. If I got a good time, we would load up and try to make it back to San Diego in the afternoon. Diane Cafferata and I had been matching times all weekend, and we both did our best times in the first Timed Run. Diane returned in the third timed run to improve again and end the weekend 0.065 seconds faster than me.

Following are the Record Based Improvement Scores (say R-bis) for the Time Trial drivers. The table shows best times, place in class, seconds improved (positive numbers), and seconds slower (negative numbers). The RBIS score is a ratio of the amount of improvement in seconds compared to the number of seconds the driver would have to improve to equal the track record for their class. The track records used were those set in 2022. The next time we use the North course, improvement scores will be based on the new track records. This system is explained fully, with an example, in the last issue of Velocity.

For a quick explanation, look at Vivek Hazari’s data. On 10/29/2022 his best time was 2:16.622 and placed second in class. Since it was his first time, there was no improvement. On Sunday he started the day 3.677 slower than the track record and improved by 2.0 seconds. His improvement was more than half of the 3.677 needed to equal the record so his score was 54.36. On 09/07/2024 his best time was slower, so the chart shows a 0.00 RBIS and -0.96 seconds slower than his previous best. On Sunday morning his best time was still 2:14.622, about 1.6 seconds slower than the record. Although his improvement was only 0.44 seconds, it was about 25% of the room to improve, which resulted in a score of 26.28.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the RBIS system, please contact me at seisler@ cox.net. I will bring a printout of the RBIS scores for Buttonwillow configuration 1 to the track in October. See me if you want to see your previous times and previous improvement scores.

Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)

Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)

Photos: Luis Vivar

Driving on the Surface of the Sun

Paul Wren

Having grown up with East coast winters I’ve always made it a policy to never complain about the heat or how bright the sunshine is. But rolling the dice on Spring Mountain in September really tested that resolve. I agree that everyone is in the same boat and we’re all dealing with the same conditions...but the fight-or-flight mechanism provided to us by evolution cannot always be ignored. If your mind really starts to think you might burst into flames at any moment it can be distracting!

Mother Nature takes particular pleasure in torturing racers. I know this from many years of bicycle racing...when you make plans months in advance and invest a ton of energy in training and logistics, you’re not going to quit just because of the weather. Like any good sadist, Mom knows that the only way to really effectively torture someone is when they can’t just walk away. Once you make the commitment to be there...she’s got you and she makes the most of it.

Driving up on Thursday we saw 118 crossing the desert and I’m really glad that all the automotive engineers (shoutout to Ford truck division!  Nice job guys!) do their hot-weather testing in the Mojave, because we’re all definitely skating on the edge of disaster crossing 75 miles of Death Valley with no cell coverage, and just an air conditioner and radiator standing between us and a near-death experience. All good all done, arrived at the track and enjoyed an air-conditioned dinner out...then setting up the Airstream in the paddock, it was still 97 degrees at 9:00 at night! Another shoutout to the engineers at Honda for creating a suitcase-size genset that can power a real air conditioner!

Of course in addition Murphy’s Law had provided that my new car would not make the event (gremlins...) so luckily the old car had not sold yet (Where is everyone? Doesn’t anyone need a great GT3 class PDK car really cheap?) so we put it on the truck with two old sets of Hoosiers from the last couple events and it fired right up. In another life-saving move (and another engineer shoutout!) we fitted the Cool Boxx system to the car...absolutely highly recommended. No worries about getting ice cubes, and within five minutes it circulates 40-degree water through your vest. Just about the best feeling in a very hot race car. They even make a helmet-air accessory, and you can bet I’ve already ordered one for next time.

Friday practice was exactly at forecast...mid 90s in the morning and brilliant sunshine. First session almost ended my weekend when I got way too ambitious after Danna had let me pass her Cup car... couldn’t slow down and annoy her, but instead over the zero-g lift of Turn 6 I lost the rear end and slid off-track in a giant dust cloud. Luckily there’s nothing to hit out there so no harm no foul...but it made for some chicken pace for a few sessions as I learned to trust the car again.

Charleston Peak

After reading Steve Eisler’s great article on lap time improvement metrics, I had looked up the previous track record for Charleston North in GT3 so the target was clear.  Way way off during Friday as I recovered my mojo and learned how to drive the old car again, and as the temperatures went up to 106 and 108 the pace dropped off anyway, and most of the time was spent managing engine temperature by short shifting. Not the way you want to run a race car...but steady improvement throughout the day and glad to skip the last session when I couldn’t even get out of the car without gloves the previous session, because all the metal on the car (roll cage, etc.) would burn bare skin.

Saturday dawned with some very welcome cloud cover! Temps just getting to the 90s for the warmup...and actual rainfall on the windshield! PTSD from February’s conditions reared its ugly head, particularly since I definitely had not brought rain tires...but at these temps the rain evaporated before it even hit the ground pretty much. Times came down and I started trusting the Hoosiers again...a welcome surprise was that the ultra-smooth asphalt and high temps were acting like a perfect tire reconditioner...I might almost think it was re-vulcanizing the surface. Two to three very hard laps would machine off all the old rubber and expose a fresh gooey new surface that gripped like Velcro! What a great feeling. That’s the best part of racecars, when things start to click and you can just hammer, and you feel like the tires have got your back. Lovely.

In the timed session I had the lap record as the target, and by the third or fourth lap after clearing traffic there it was! Done and done. Pulled in quite happy with myself...but then race hero stats started to roll in, and it turned out that yes, I had come in under the previous record, but so had two ringers that beat me (no shade, all’s fair, but grrrrrr). As the temperatures went up in the second session there was no way to repeat a competitive time, but I had a lot of fun knowing that this well-worn set of tires was done for so I could just keep pushing and grind off as much rubber as possible...the better to condition the track for tomorrow!

Afternoon was spent hiding in the trailer with full-blast AC...the paddock was a ghost-town. If you peered into transporters you’d see ghoul-like gatherings at the back taking advantage of whatever AC could be provided. It was almost a sci-fi dystopia, the last humans alive on a warming earth, struggling to get through the heat of the day. I could not even go near my car. Dark gray and black are not the right colors for the desert. The whole thing was approaching nuclear fusion temperatures. Temperatures eased just barely into the double digits for a fantastic dinner at the Clubhouse. Certainly, the best big-group meal I’ve ever had...the idea of serving family style was the perfect solution. Any

buffet gets gross and no good chef can respect themselves for very long making troughs of food. And single serving is just too slow and labor intensive...plus the timing means that the food is inevitably not hot when you get it, typically. But this time with family-style bowls or platters brought to each table was the perfect Goldilocks solutions. Kudos to the crew. Didn’t hurt that they also threw in a great Tomahawk steak...sometimes there’s no substitute for cubic dollars.

Sunday dawned clear and sunny, mid-90s by the warmup but that ominous feeling that the blowtorch was just starting. The warmup was kind to my car, tires scrubbed in nicely, times came down steadily and after just six laps was just on the edge of my target time. Bring it in and hold it, try to maintain the mojo while hiding in the AC and crossing all fingers and toes that nothing would break. First timed session, temps approaching 100 and the inevitable delay of following a race session so we sat on grid while they towed someone in. Engine temp steadily rising but the Cool Boxx was almost making ice cubes it was so chill and lovely. On-track before any problems, had my nemesis behind me based on grid times, and a 755hp Corvette in front of me that could just about stay away given the double horsepower advantage. Tires came in like butter, temps staying steady even at redline...bang bang bang and it was done, beat the pro’s time from yesterday. Took an easy lap then thought it was worth another go...Garmin said I was 0.3 seconds to the green with four corners to go...BLOCKED at the next to last turn by someone pitting. Gah! The hero-to-heartache arc is very short in racing. No worries... already had the lap in the bank.

Done for the day...no way I was going back out in higher temperatures. Seemed like everyone had the same idea, when I looked at race hero there was only one car in the next session! Kudos to the club and the track workers for providing the opportunity...despite the stress of driving on the surface of the sun it was a good time! See you all at the next one at Buttonwillow...and get yourself a Cool Boxx!

Image: Paul Wren / Don Matz

Gerrit Wesseling

Photos: Luis Vivar

Gerrit Wesseling is competitive, focused and determined. After attending only one Racers Clinic he’s becoming a Red Group racer to be reckoned with. He’s blazingly fast in his 991.2 Cup Car. I spoke with him prior to the Spring Mountain event where he would be Cup Racing for the first time. Here’s what he had to say:

AW: Thanks for agreeing to do this. I thought you’d be interesting to talk with.

GW: That’s pretty cool.

AW: You’re currently running in Green Open Passing Time Trials, right?

GW: I’m actually going to be running in Green Open Passing and Red Race Group at Spring Mountain.

AW: Oh, really!? Because you have your half-dot?

GW: Well, I did a 1:22 last time we were out at Willow. So, I was kinda flyin’ fast. I came up on a group of slower drivers on the front straight near the start/finish line. I had exited T9 and caught them before T1. I kind of spooked myself. The closing speed was just too disparate. I came off the track and was talking with Eben (Benade) and we were joshing around. He said I couldn’t run with that group anymore. I was too fast. I paused and laughed, “Yeah, you’re right.” I scared myself out there. Steve Town came over to us and asked, “So, when are you going to race?” I said if Eben would let me move up, I’ll join the race group at Spring Mountain. Then Eben and I

were talking for a little bit, and he said, “I’m going to talk with Dwain (Dement). Eben and Dwain met, and they decided it was appropriate to move me up. They made an exception. I don’t know if that’s appropriate to include.

AW: I think it absolutely is. Everyone is observing everyone else and looking out for one another. There’s a safety factor involved here. It’s great that Eben, Steve and Dwain recognized your abilities. From the moment I first met you, I felt like, wow, this guy’s got it. He’s got what it takes to be a serious racer. That’s why I kept kidding you about taking the Racers Clinic before you finally did. I was so happy to discover that you decided to follow through. Your overall approach to racing has been exemplary.

GW: Not to toot my own horn or anything…

AW: Toot away.

GW: Eben told me only two people have been allowed to move up so quickly, and I was the third one. He was the second. After he gave me the speech about how to approach all this, he warned me, “Don’t screw up. I’ve taken a risk on you. Don’t go out there and cause a problem.”

AW: You definitely have to prove yourself worthy of his endorsement.

GW: Exactly. He put his reputation on the line for me. You have to respect that. People in the club are willing to do that when it’s appropriate.

AW: What kind of track experience did you have before you joined the POC?

GW: I had a Porsche Boxster and a buddy of mine had recently purchased one. We would go out and run Thunderhill, at most, once or twice a year. It was over a ten-year period, so it was never really serious. Mike, my buddy, was a racer. He would be in the car with me. When he drove the Boxster, he would catch GT3s. It was with NCRC (Northern California Racing Club).

AW: I might be mistaken but I think that’s a group that was spun off from POC many years ago.

GW: It was a cool experience. There were a lot of Porsches. Quite a few guys were running the 991s. I didn’t even dare to look closely at them because there was no way I’d ever have a car like that.

AW: In film script terms, “Cut to…”

GW: (Laughs) Exactly! You make good decisions in life and at some point, and you’re thinking I’ve been working really hard and maybe it’s okay to spend some money on something for yourself. Parents pass away. Life is short. You don’t want to have regrets.

AW: Agreed.

GW: So, I went out with my buddy Keith Hnatiuk in my Boxster and he had just purchased his 991 GT3. I had outfitted my Boxster with a 3.6, a transmission cooler, a limited slip, JRZ Pros, rollover bar, new wheels and tires. I wasn’t very fast. I spent way too much money on the car.

AW: We all seem to do that at one point or another.

GW: We we’re running at Buttonwillow and in the fourth session, I came over Phil Hill and the engine just stopped. There was no apparent reason for it to have stopped. It hadn’t over-revved

or anything. I was able to coast around, and I got to the sweeper (Riverside). That was the end of that car. Soon after that, Keith started talking to me about the GT3. He’s smarter than me. He started with the 991 and moves all the way up to the .2RSs. When you come back down to the 991 you’re like, ‘that doesn’t sound so bad…I could probably do that.’ It’s like you talk yourself into it. I ended up buying one. The first time I went out in that car was with POC at Chuckwalla in 2021. That’s a really long way of saying that’s when I got serious. I was in the PDS group and after my second lap Steve Town pulled me off-track and told me I wasn’t doing everything I was supposed to be doing. We talked for a little bit. I had passed on the righthand side. I was pointed by but I still shouldn’t have done it. It was against the rules. After some more talking, I was moved up to the open passing group. From there, I kept getting just a little bit faster every weekend. Chuckwalla was the first time I got to run three days in a row. It’s just an amazing progression when you get that much concentrated track time. That’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past almost four years. I’ve been running both the Time Trial groups to maximize the time I can spend in the car. Get a feel for the car. Where the limit is. Where my limit is. It’s usually my limit, not the car’s limit. And just continue to push.

AW: That’s super. You’ve got the right attitude. How did you find out about the POC?

GW: Keith had been running with you guys at some events in his BMW. It was just happenstance. I got the car, and it was ready for the Chuckwalla weekend. Keith was going so I registered for the event. The camaraderie was really cool. When the track went cold, the beer and cocktails came out, everyone’s talking and teasing one another. You can feel the friendship. It’s not just about racing each other and holding grudges. There’s an appreciation for each member. You all want to race hard against each other and then go into the paddock and say, ‘hey, your move was great’ or ‘what the hell were you thinking?’ It all adds to the bond of the group.

AW: I so agree.

GW: I could see that the first day. I was welcomed in. It was really, really cool.

AW: I’ve had the same experience. It’s an incredible club. Total non-sequitur. What’s your daily driver?

GW: My ’07 Toyota Tundra with 328,000 miles on it.

AW: It’s going to be real hard to kill that thing.

GW: At 200,000 miles I was repairing the front seat for a second time and I got to the point where I wanted leather in it. So, I put it in. The guy at the shop thought I was pulling his leg. When I came to pick it up, he looked at me and said, “You weren’t kidding!” Now I’m 100,000

miles past that. My Tundra has a modified suspension so it rides a lot flatter than a standard one. As things wear out, I put better parts in.

AW: What, if anything, have you learned about yourself through your experience on the track?

GW: (Very long pause) You’re getting serious on that one. I’ve got to think about it…. What have I learned about myself? Hmm. (Pause) It might just be an affirmation. I’ve always been a selfmotivated person. No one is harder on me than I am. My father might have been harder on me but…. I got really good grades at school. I went to UC Santa Barbara, made it into law school and passed the bar. It took a lot of endurance. It’s all marathon work, pushing to a goal that’s all the way out there. Later in life I got into cycling and did five Death Rides. It took a lot of training. Always pushing. In some ways there’s a similarity. It’s a journey. You go out onto the track and do laps. You have to maintain a focus. You need to be thinking at the same time. T7 doesn’t feel good at Chuckwalla. When you come in off the track, you talk to someone. It might be you or whoever is around and doing it right. You can learn the pieces…. I’m not answering this question well at all.

AW: I’ve posed this question to a few others and there’s always this long pause before they answer. They’re not sure how to respond. After thinking about it for a little bit, it’s like, “Oh, wait a minute. Ya know….” You kind of answered it. It’s an affirmation. You skirted it a little. I think you’re afraid of the question.

GW: (Laughs) Ask the question again.

AW: What, if anything, have you learned about yourself through your experience on the track?

GW: What have I learned about myself? Hmm. (Pause) There’s a piece of fear in there. A sense of self-preservation. How can I slowly turn that off? How can I get comfortable with greater risk?

AW: Ross Bentley says you need to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

GW: That’s definitely part of it. Sometimes it’s even scarier than that. (Laughs) We make mistakes and end up well into the dirt. When you’re out of control and going backwards with cars speeding by…. Again, I’m kind of skirting your question.

AW: For me, it was about risk taking and risk/reward. It’s more important to me to have a good, fun time racing. I don’t need to finish first. It would be nice every now and then, but it’s not my primary reason for being on the track. I’m competitive with the drivers around me and have a great time out on the circuit. There are drivers who are willing to take more risks than I am and there are times when I go balls out and no one can catch me.

GW: I’m still working on that. In a way, I’ve been cheating. I’ve been driving a very fast car. In Time Trials, you line up and don’t typically pass another fast car. You pass slower cars, usually with less horsepower. Sometimes they catch you in the corners. It’s like cheating to have a GT3 in Time Trials. Moving up to racing is a serious step. I know I have no race craft. To go out wheel-to-wheel and make a pass on somebody…wow. It’s something you guys have been

doing for a while. It’s a whole new chapter in the book. Probably multiple chapters!

AW: Race craft is a whole new world. Knowing you can make it or break it at the start when that green flag waves…learning the skill levels and reputations of those around you, who you can trust and where you can trust them. It’s a process. It’s thrilling.

GW: I’m looking forward to it and a little bit scared of it. It’s going to be interesting at Spring Mountain.

AW: One last question. I remember that day you volunteered to stamp Boxster Spec tires at Willow Springs when we needed help. That told me a lot about you and that you want to be more involved. Are there any other ways you feel you’d like to volunteer?

GW: I like to help. Anytime I see someone struggling, I ask if there’s something I can do to help. It’s in my nature. I used to work for a big company. We built homes. When I started as an assistant, a mentor told me that we’re the lube that makes the machine work. It’s always stuck with me. I like to be the guy who facilitates things. I’m more than willing to help the club along. Being in Reno I’m pretty far away but if I can gain the respect of everybody, a leadership position is a definite possibility.

AW: I know you’re going to be successful. I’ve seen many people come and go in the years I’ve been with the club. You’re one of the guys who stand out. You’re going to be just fine.

GW: Thank you. I have six races to go and keep myself out of trouble. There’s so much to learn. I’ve got to work on my race craft.

AW: You have a very healthy attitude. The race craft will come.

GW: By the way, Keith (Hnatiuk) told me to ask you how you make yourself so difficult to pass.

AW: Elbows out, baby. Elbows out. No blocking. Just look ahead. Check your mirrors and look where you want to go.

GW: I’ll remember that.

AW: Anything you’d like to add?

GW: The club is super welcoming. Every single member has something to teach you and sharing what you’ve experienced helps you to affirm what you’ve learned. It’s just great.

AW: Thanks again for the chat. Have a great time at Spring Mountain!

Post script: Spring Mountain results show Gerrit finished 4th in 991.2 Spec on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday.

October

Buttonwillow / October 2024

Photo: Luis Vivar

Fast Fun at Buttonwillow

Ryan Moore

Greetings Velocity readers, and welcome back to another race report from yours truly! This month, we returned to Buttonwillow for the 2nd time in 2024 and experienced typical Buttonwillow weather: warm, humid, and dusty. Buttonwillow’s unique, silty dirt never fails to create a few moments of ‘excitement’ during our races there - the narrow, challenging track layout leads to many offs that put slippery sediment onto the track surface, and if the off is big enough, we get a completely opaque dust cloud that offers precisely 0 meters of visibility - no cap.For the Orange Group, Alistair Belton, a relatively newer face in POC, put his machine on pole for the Spec Boxster class. Following him was Matt Hollander in P2 and Anders Hainer in P3. With so much talent at the front this was bound to be an exciting race! And as expected, it delivered. After the green flag dropped to start the race, the field made their way quickly, yet carefully, through turns 1, 2, and 3. This section of the track gets very tight with cars 2-wide, and no one wants to lose their race at turn 1. Shortly into the race, a collision between Alistair and Hollander put radiator fluid on the track at the entry to Cotton Corners, with the following cars struggling to keep the pointy end forward. Ultimately, Hollander carried on

Photo: Luis Vivar

unphased and managed to clinch a victory in P1. Nigel Maidment made a ferocious charge through the field throughout the race, ultimately landing himself in P2 after starting in P6. Following him was Anders Hainer in P3. In GT5, Bill Durant won the race followed by Don Kravig in P2 and Behr Salehi in P3. Randy Bergum won GT7 over his rival Ted Frech.

For the Red Group, newcomer (to POC that is) Will Wattanawongkiri put his 991.2 Spec car on pole, followed by Mike Monsalve in P2 and then Bryan Van Noy in P3 in qualifying. GT2 saw Dan Aspesi clinch pole, followed by Paul Barnes and then Roland Schmidt. In GT3, Ana Predescu got pole followed by Darin Moore (hey Dad!) in P2 and then Kelly Tribolet in P3. Great to see Kelly out there in a race again! In the race, Mike Monsalve prevailed with the victory after Will had a lap 1 incident ending his race. Following Mike was Bob Mueller in P2 and then Eben Benade in P3 for the 991.2 Spec class. In GT2, Dan Aspesi prevailed and even finished ahead of P3 in the Spec class!

Following him was Darrell Troster in P2 and then Roland Schmidt in P3. Ana won in GT3, followed by Darin Moore in P2 and David Fabi in P3 - who finished within 2 tenths of each other! Their battle lasted from lap 1 until the end and was awesome to watch. Jim Salzer won GT4 as the lone competitor in his class but managed to pass several GT3 cars as well.

Race 2 for Orange Group on Saturday saw Matt Hollander prevail yet again with a solid 2.5 second lead over Anders in P2, followed by Nigel in P3. I personally had great battles with Alex Hainer and Mateo Siderman (another new face), with Mateo ultimately securing P4, myself P5, and Alex P6. Bill Durant won GT5 again, this time followed by Behr Salehi in P2 and Don Kravig in P3. Ted Frech beat his rival Randy Bergum this time to take the win in GT7.

Sunday’s Orange qualifications saw Anders Hainer take pole, followed by yours truly in P2, and then Murray Wunderly in P3. GT5 had Bill Durant took pole with Don in P2

Photos: Luis Vivar

and Behr starting P3. For GT7, Ted would be starting in P1 followed by Randy in P2. As the race started, Anders and I had a great drag race down the start/finish straight staying nose-to-nose the entire way. However, Anders managed to shake me by the exit of turn 1 and the rest was history. I’ll get you next time, Anders! Anders ended up winning BSR in 1st, followed by me in 2nd, and then Nigel Maidment, with another commendable run through the field, ending in P3 from a P7 starting position. Bill Durant once again won his class in GT5, followed by Don and then Behr. In GT7, Ted won as the single entry in his field.

Sunday’s Red Group qualifications resulted in Mike Monsalve starting in P1 for 991.2 Spec, followed by Duane Selby in P2 and then Eben in P3. Dan Aspesi once again got pole for GT2, followed by Darrell Troester in P2 and then Roland Schmidt in P3. In GT3 quali, Ana landed herself in P1 again, followed by David Fabi in P2 and Darin in P3. The final Red race of the weekend was far from boring and managed to produce some exciting results: Duane Selby passed Monsalve to take the lead in 991.2 Spec and held it to result in his first victory in 991.2 Spec! Congrats Duane! In GT2, Dan won once again, followed by Darrell and then Roland. I’m sensing a pattern there… In GT3, Ana took victory yet again and my pops, Darin, passed Fabi to take P2. Fabi ended up in P3, followed by Jim Salzer (as the lone entry in GT4). And that’s a wrap for Buttonwillow! See you at Chuckwalla!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Buttonwillow Time Trials and PDS

STEVE EISLER

As the Southwest suffered through record high temperatures in September, I watched the temperatures in Bakersfield in preparation for the return to Buttonwillow Raceway.

As the Southwest suffered through record high temperatures in September, I watched the temperatures in Bakersfield in preparation for the return to Buttonwillow Raceway. With its variety of turns, elevation changes, and high-speed sections, Buttonwillow is many racers favorite track. Add in the super fine silt that covers your car after an off-track incident and it becomes some driver’s least favorite track! There were 92 drivers registered to compete October 12 and 13, twenty-seven were time trial drivers, and nine were entered in the Performance Driving Series (PDS). These PDS drivers drove four 25-minute sessions with one of our certified instructors in the right seat helping them safely explore the capabilities and the limits of their Porsche. The temperatures were moderate, winds were low, and three new track records were set. I drove over 100 miles on Friday with Martina Kwan as my coach and made some big changes in technique and car placement, which led to some nice time drops on Saturday and Sunday. As I always say, “Any day on the track is better than a day sitting

at home.”, and this was true again this weekend. Kathy and I are very fortunate to be able to spend another weekend with the helpful and friendly members of POC. An example of this helpfulness is the Trophy Performance support team who offered to help me load my car onto the trailer so that Kathy didn’t have to.

I had the opportunity to talk with one of the students, Tyler Cheung, a neurologist from Pasadena who was driving an ’21 718 GTS. Tyler bought the car new and has been to a racetrack 5 times in the last year and a half. This is his first time at Buttonwillow, and he was very happy to have Nathan Apelbaum help him learn the track and how to correctly position his GTS for each corner. He wisely chose to not have a transponder, so that he could concentrate on learning the course and not think about the times. In addition to the driving instruction, Tyler, “learned how to prepare his car for on track

Philip Barker 1974 911 Andrew Weymen

Cyrus Chen 2019 911 4S Ryan Moore

Tyler Cheung 2021 718 GTS Nathan Aplebaum

Alex Ehmke 2018 718 GTS Behr Salehi

Laura Guttman 2018 GT3 Thomas Kenna

Samir Mehrotra 2016 GT4 Ryder Liu

Todd Wallace 1966 911 Jim Salzer

Joey Lopez 2018 GT3 Matt Steele

David Barrish 1999 BSR Don Kravig

Student Class Instructor

events”. He felt our event was “well organized” and was grateful for the hospitality shown by his instructor and all the club membership. Tyler will be returning to another POC event soon. Here are the Buttonwillow students and Instructors: Gerrit Wesseling, GT1, led the time trialer’s on Saturday with a TTOD of 1:57.080. He was followed by Jack Apelbaum in a Modified 3 Corvette who set a new track record of 1:58.198, Mark Manda who dropped his class GT1 time on Sunday to a 1:58.216, and Danna Van Noy, 2:00.300 driving a 991.2 Spec car. Mike Avitt was first in M2 with a best time of 2:00.328, and the Prototype of Bruce Blockus recorded a 2:01.691. Bob Gartland won class GT3 with a time of 2:02.129, and Thomas Kenna rounded out the sub-2:03 group with a 2:02.951 in class M3.

On Sunday morning Alexandra Hainer blew away the rest of the time trial drivers with a 1:51.685 in her 991.2 Spec car, but it was not a track record, because Will Wattanawongkiri ran 1:49.223 in

the Red Race Qualifying. The other track record set this weekend was in class Stock 4, 2:12.686 by Kristopher Marciniak. The RBIS points for the Buttonwillow Time Trials are based upon the existing track records. The new track records will be updated and used to calculate RBIS scores the next time we race Buttonwillow clockwise.

As you are reading this, we are on the way to Chuckwalla for the penultimate event of the year. The minimum number of events to qualify for a season championship award is nine, and there are five drivers that already have met this requirement. With four events remaining (two at Chuckwalla and two at Big Willow in December), there are 11 more drivers who can meet minimum event requirements and qualify for a trophy if they meet the Service points requirements. Whether you qualify for a trophy or not, consider attending the awards banquet in January. It is a great party with great food, door prizes, entertainment, and, of course, the great POC members!

Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)

Van Noy, Danna

Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)

Nollau, Steve

Nollau, Steve

Taheri, Sean

Truelsen, Anders

Steve Eisler

ANDREW WEYMAN

Photos: Luis Vivar

Steve Eisler has been a dedicated member of the POC and a contributing writer for Velocity. His coverage of PDS and TT has been thorough, insightful and engaging. We’ve gotten to know a little about Steve and his wife, Kathy, through his articles but I wanted to know more. I spoke with Steve after our Buttonwillow event. Here’s what he had to say:

AW: Thanks for agreeing to do this. I thought it would be interesting to interview you.

SE: (Laughs) I hope you’re right. We’ll see…

AW: When did you join the POC?

SE: It was around 2020.

AW: How did you hear about it?

SE: I’ve been active in PCA for a long time, and I knew some of the guys were doing POC. I was at the point where I wasn’t progressing very much, and I wasn’t very fast. I needed more seat time. One of my first POC experiences was an Auto Club Speedway event in August. It was 109 degrees. I went with a friend of mine. We did PDS. That was a good start. Then I started going more frequently. Since then, I’ve been doubling up on events with both clubs and trying to get as much seat time as I can.

AW: So, your previous experience with PCA was primarily autocross and time trialing?

SE: Yeah. I’ve never done any wheel-to-wheel racing except for the first weekend of the Racers Clinic with DK Racing.

AW: How long were doing events with PCA before you started coming to POC weekends?

SE: I did my very first PCA track day in 1968. I had a ’68 912 Targa. I was in the Golden Gate Region. We went up to a track that was an old WWII runway, and I did really well. I was 22 years old, and I thought I would become a race

car driver. (Laughs) My Air Force salary wasn’t going to let that happen. I was an inactive member of the San Diego Region for 36 years. I think I went to three events during that time. In 2012, we sold the 911 Targa and bought a 2011 Boxster Spyder. I took that to a PCA event and suddenly I became an active member. Everybody was gathering around and looking at the car. I started DE, Autocross and Time Trials. Eventually I decided not to Time Trial that rare car anymore. I bought my 2003 Boxster S to be used as a track car.

AW: What have you done to earn a living?

SE: I’ve basically had four careers. I was in the Air Force for eight years. While I was there, I had the opportunity to work with one of the best swimming coaches in the world. I became a swim coach. Then I became a swim coach, assistant football coach and high school teacher. I retired from teaching in 2002 to work for a small computer company. I’m still working with them part-time. I think my time coaching helped me realize what I needed to do to become a better driver. The whole RBIS thing came out of my coaching. I had swimmers I was coaching since they were eight years old. They were really fast and improving, coming in a half or full second faster. That was hard for them to do since they were almost at the school record already. Then there was the kid who came in and has never been on a team before. He drops his time 10 seconds. What’s the relationship between those two? That’s how the whole thing got started.

AW: Do you have any hobbies other than driving?

SE: It’s mostly driving. When we were younger, Kathy and I used to ski half-a-dozen times a year. We’ve had some great travel adventures.

AW: Has Kathy ever expressed any interest in getting behind the wheel on the track?

SE: We both did the Performance Driving School and Autocrosses with the Spyder. I tried to get her to do Driver Education, but she didn’t want to do that. She’s dealing with some physical limitations now, so I do all the driving.

AW: What has your track experience taught you about yourself?

SE: That I need to extend myself and get out of my shell. I’m not going as fast as I should. It’s my self-preservation gene that takes over too often. Also, if you really listen to what other drivers are saying, there’s a lot you can learn. Then, you have to put that knowledge into action. Figuring out what I’m supposed to do and then having the cojones to do it is what I’m working on.

AW: As many times as I’ve been on the track, I always learn something.

SE: A few years ago, I was listening to country/western song by Chris Johnson. The lyric is, “When you have a chance, take it. Take it while you have a chance. I’m 80 years old. If I have a chance, I’m going to take it. Get out there and go. Recently I found a quote, “Inaction breeds fear and doubt. Action breeds confidence and courage.” When I’m sitting home and not driving, it breeds fear and doubt. When I’m behind the wheel on the track, it’s all about confidence and courage.

AW: I want to express my appreciation to you for your dedication to Velocity for so many years. You’ve been a big part of its success.

SE: Thank you. I hope if I get boring or stupid someone will tell me, and I’ll stop.

AW: You’re far from that. It’s interesting about what people will comment about. There’s been some very positive and supportive feedback.

SE: I think you’re doing a great job, and I hope you’ll let me know if I go off the deep end.

AW: I won’t hesitate! Anything you’d like to add?

SE: Kathy and I are really happy that we can come out and meet people who aren’t boring old educators. Meet people from all these different walks of life. Share different opinions. Talk with interesting people. Drive my car. It’s a wonderful break. I appreciate all the people who’ve been helpful and welcoming. People who have been accepting of someone who’s not very fast on the track and respectful that he’s out on the track trying.

AW: That’s the spirit of the POC. Thanks, Steve. See ya at Chuckwalla!

November

Chuckwalla

Photo: Luis Vivar

Sending it at

Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.

A circuit where horsepower is less of a factor as it truly rewards entry speed, driver skill and momentum.

Speaking of momentum, the 2024 POC race schedule forged on full send during this ever-important, double points, penultimate race weekend as we head towards the end of this amazing season.

DAVID FABI

Image: Luis Vivar / Don Matz

DAVID FABI

Chuckwalla

Chuckwalla

On Saturday, weather conditions were nearly perfect with optimal track temperatures and grip. It was a nice respite from some of the intensely hot race weekends we have had this year. Competition remained fierce, overall clean, and safe.

The Orange race group had qualifying early, and James McLoughlin set the pace with a 1.59 in the Boxter Spec class, followed by Rob Walker and Sagar Dawhan. Carl Vanderschuit achieved pole in the GT5 class with John Momeyer and Will Durant in P2 and P3 respectively.

In the corresponding Orange race, Rob Walker moved up from P2 to claim P1 and the win as McLoughlin dropped back to P5. Anders Hainer moved from P4 to P2 and Matt Hollander moved up three places to P3. The results reflected the competitive nature of the group as they put on a real show for the spectators! Vanderschuit, Durant and Behr Salehi finished P1, P2, and P3 respectively in the GT5 class.

In Orange Race 2, the BSR speed demon that is Anders Hainer took home the win, followed by Walker and Hollander to fill the podium. All three podium winners were separated only by 1.3 seconds as the Boxster Spec class again continued to provide maximum racing entertainment. In the GT5 class, Vanderschuit won again followed very closely by John Momeyer who finished only 0.8 seconds behind. Durant repeated his podium finish with a result of P3 in the race. Jim Mcloughlin ran alone in the GT4 class and took home maximum points.

To set the grid for the Red race, in the 991.2 Spec class, Mike Monsalve was awarded pole by a blistering gap of 0.8 seconds! Bryan Van Noy and Duane Selby completed the top three, by setting the 2nd and 3rd fastest laps respectively. Paul Barnes, running unopposed in the GT2 class, set a lap time of 1:51.444. In the GT3 class, to no surprise, P1 went to Ana Predescu but was pushed by Bayan Salehi as he clocked a time that was within 0.15 seconds of Predescu. Jim Salzer, after moving up to GT3 class this weekend, set the third fastest time.

Photo: Andrew Weyman

Photos: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

As we know, points aren’t won in qualifying. However, Chuckwalla being a track where it’s hard to overtake, initial track position was paramount. This notion rang true as Monsalve and Van Noy, converted their qualifying positions to their race results, by finishing P1 and P2 respectively, with a gap of 2.8 seconds. Eric Olberz was a hard charger as he moved up from P7 to P3, benefiting from race pace, consistency and attrition.

In the GT3 group, Predescu bested Salehi by a razor thin 0.28 seconds! It was a twohorse race but was followed by a scintillating three-way train separated only by a total 2.6 seconds. Salzer finished 2.4 seconds ahead of Darin Moore, who then beat David Fabi (me) by a razor thin gap of 0.2 seconds. Moore and Fabi continued their season long rivalry with continued scintillating racing (I had to shamefully plug myself into this article, haha). Finally, Paul Barnes ran uncontested and won the GT2 race.

Sunday proved a bit more difficult conditions wise, with slightly lower temperatures and gusty winds blowing a significant amount of dust onto the track. Weather is only one of the many things that make racing so much fun. As we all know, there’s a plethora of variables that can factor into performance.

For the Sunday Orange group qualifying, BSR driver Rob Walker set the pace with P1, followed by Mateo Siderm and Anders Hainer. In the GT5 group, Vanderschuit once again put in a flyer for P1, with Phil Town in P2 and John Momeyer in P3.

Photos: Luis Vivar

The 3rd race of the weekend for the Orange group saw the ever-present Anders Hainer take the win once again for the second time of the weekend. James McLoughlin took second place and Hollander 3rd. In the GT5 race, Vanderschuit fell back to P5 as Phil Town took home the trophy, followed by the familiar name of Momeyer and then Will Durant in 3rd. Jim McLoughlin once again took home the official win as he was the only one in his GT4 group.

The second Red group race also continued to provide scintillating action. 991.2 Spec Qualifying was led by Van Noy as he beat Monsalve in 2nd and Alexandra Hainer in 3rd.

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree in the Hainer family! But during the race, Monsalve, once again, bested everyone as he finished ahead of Alexandra Hainer in 2nd and Bryan Van Noy in 3rd who lost out to Hainer by just 0.4 seconds.

In the Sunday GT3 class qualifying session, Predescu earned the first spot on the grid by 0.7 seconds ahead of Salehi. Salzer completed the top three. In the final Red group race, Predescu and Bayan Salehi, again, continued their race craft masterclass with Predescu inching out the win by a mere 0.25 seconds. Darin Moore claimed P3 as he took advantage of Salzer and me as we lost time battling it out behind. (Once again, another shameless plug as the ego racer gene in me is driven to garner attention, LOL).

All in all, another fantastic weekend with minimal delays, racing incidents and red mist. What a penultimate race we experienced and will continue the momentum into the final race of the season at historic Willow Springs. Let’s continue to send it!!!

2 Photos: Andrew Weyman

Chuckwalla

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

Photo: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

Photos: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

Photos: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

Photo: Luis Vivar

Chuckwalla

CVR CW PDS & TT @

STEVE EISLER (Article & Photos)

On Halloween we loaded the tow car, placed a bowl of bite-sized Snickers near the front door, and left for our second consecutive weekend at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. Just four days earlier we had returned from Chuckwalla after driving three days on the same track, in the same direction, but with very different track conditions. We made our normal “pit stop” at Agua Caliente Casino, ordered lunch in Water’s Café and took the leftovers to the track for Thursday’s dinner.

There were almost twice as many drivers registered for the Friday, open-track, test day, as there was the previous week, so we were split into two groups. Group 1 started on the hour for 30 minutes, and Group 2 started on half-hour. Next time it would be nice if they let us self-select to go into the fast group or the “less fast” group. The temperature was about 20 degrees cooler than the previous weekend. On my first session on Friday, I was more than a second faster than my best time of the previous weekend. I can’t blame my slow times completely on the weather. I just couldn’t seem to put a good lap together due to mistakes or slower traffic. The POC weekend was much more successful!

After driving 100 miles on Friday, we enjoyed a delightful pot-luck dinner organized by Martina Kwan, Alicia Wray, and others. There was plenty of food and great conversations. Kathy enjoyed sharing recipes with the other ladies. There was not much activity around the cabins after dinner as everyone seemed to be retiring early to be ready for the 7:15 am drivers meeting on Saturday.

After the drivers meeting, PDS Chairman Jim Salzer met with the 8 student drivers to go over track rules and procedures. After the first two sessions, I caught up with Jamie Ramirez from Huntington Beach who was driving a 2022 BMW M4 in his second POC event. Jaime owns a consulting firm and says his wife surprised him with the BMW two years ago, and his buddy, a POC member, said it was time to go racing. He is already feeling more confident driving at speed and is looking forward to attending more POC events. Also, part of the Huntington Beach group, was Steve Copeland, driving a brand new 2024 VW Golf R. Steve is a construction manager and was enjoying his first Performance Driving Series event.

Pitted near Jaime were Cyrus Chen and Osei Appiaagyei. Cyrus was driving a 2019 Carrera 4S, his first Porsche, in his third PDS and will

be moving to Time Trials next. He is a workers compensation attorney from Lader Oaks who’s only problem with big track racing is that he is, “having too much fun.” Osei was in a new 2024 992 Carrera S with Diane Cafferata as his instructor. After two autocross events, this is his first big track adventure and he “loves it.” An aerospace engineer from Los Angeles, he is planning to move up to Club Racing and enjoyed the ‘psychological escape’ provided by a weekend at the track.

Pitted next to us, under the WRTeknica canopy was professional model Zinta Polo. She has been driving a 2015 991 GT3 for about a year, but this was her first POC event. She said that driving at Chuckwalla was, “harder than I expected it to be,” but she recorded some very fast times.

Here is the full list of all Students and their volunteer instructors:

Student Car Instructor

Cyrus Chen 2019 911 Carrera 4S Ana Predescu

Jaime Ramirez 2022 BMW M4 Mateo Sinderman

Steve Copeland 2024 VW Golf R Ryder Liu

Osai Appiaagyei 2024 911 S Diane Cafferata

Roger Zheng 2016 MB AMG GTS Vivek Hazari

Zinta Polo 2015 991 GT3

Tristan Zafra

Vianh Nguyen 2016 Ford GT 350R Glen Orton

David Barrish 1999 BSR Don Kravig

The last time POC raced clockwise at Chuckwalla was in November of 2021.

31 drivers participated in Time Trials and five of them, Byron Allen, Vivek Hazari, Bob Gartland, Todd Trimble and Tristan Zafra returned for Time Trials in 2024. Five more of the 31 returned to the Cup Races, Adam Abrahms and David Allen in the Orange Cup, and Keith Hnatiuk, Bayan Salehi and Gerrit Wesseling in the Red Cup competition.

As I compare this list to the 38 Time Trial drivers on the 2024 list and the student list, there are some interesting trends to observe.

At each combined event we have a group of drivers with new cars or cars that are new to them, that are eager to see how their cars perform and learn how to control their cars at speed in a safe environment. Many of these Performance Driving Series drivers attend just one or two events and, although they are far from being race drivers, are much safer than the millions of drivers who have had no Driver Education experience. Some of them continue to hone their skills, participating in the Time Trial Series, but as we see from the attendance numbers, two-thirds of the 2021 Time Trailers did not drive in the 2024 event!

Chuckwalla

We open our grid to anyone interested in our PDS and hope that a few of them will continue to the TT Series. The most serious TT drivers move up thorough the Racers Clinic and join the grids of the Cup Racing Series. Some of the TT drivers stay in this class for years to enjoy racing on the track without the stresses of wheelto-wheel racing and, of course, many of them drop out of or sharply curtail their racing due to financial, career and personal commitments. I believe the POC Board and the POC membership at large is doing an excellent job of welcoming newcomers and providing safe and challenging activities for them and the intermediate drivers, which, in turn, produces, “Club Racing at its Best.”

Coincidentally, there were 31 drivers entered in Time Trials at Chuckwalla this year, almost as many entrants as the Orange Cup Race. Gerrit Wesseling (GT1), in the Open Passing group, had the top time of the weekend, 1:48.976, and the only time under 1:50. In the Point by Passing group, Thomas Kenna (M2), was the only one under 2:00 with a best time of 1:59.048. Eight new track records were set at this event: Bryan Van Noy, 991.2 Spec, 1:45.386; James McLoughlin, Boxster Spec, 1:59.066; Ana Predescu, GT3, 1:48.066; and Carl Vanderschuit, GT5, 1:55.792. In the Modified and Stock classes, Mark Barry set the M2 record at 1:55.596; Jack Aplebaum recorded a 1:53.997 for the M3 record; Cody Lissner (M6), set the record at 2:13.376; and Cyrus Chen improved the Stock 3 record by 5 seconds with a time of 2:08.973.

Steve Copeland

NOTE: When I calculate the RBIS results I always use the fastest track record, whether it was recorded in a race, qualifying, or time trial or PDS. If we want a true representation of improvement, we need to measure against the best time recorded at each track. Be sure to check out the Record Based Improvement Scores to see the order of finish, and who is improving the most compared to the Chuckwalla Clockwise track record for each class.

When you receive this, you will have just a few days to register for the LAST event of the year! December 7 and 8 at Willow Springs will feature the usual Red and Orange races, the Time Trials, and the Racers Clinic for you Time Trial drivers who want to graduate into wheel-to-wheel racing. Finally, don’t forget the POC Awards Banquet on January 18. Even if you are not receiving a trophy, you don’t want to miss one of the best parties of the year!

Jaime Ramirez

Osai Appiaagyei

Zinta Polo

Cyrus Chen

Vivek Hazari

ANDREW WEYMAN ...Loves to Chase Faster Cars

Photos: Luis Vivar

If you think you haven’t met Vivek Hazari, well, you have. He’s the guy often helping at the registration table, bugging you for your Speed Waiver and/or Tech Inspection. On the track, he’s hot on your bumper, sizing you up for a great pass. I talked with him after our event at Chuckwalla. Here’s what he had to say…

AW: Thanks for agreeing to do this. Often the reaction I get is a look of terror. You smiled broadly and said, “Sure!”

VH: I’m glad to do this.

AW: For how long have you been a POC member?

VH: Since 2019.

AW: And you’ve been driving a ’99 Boxster in Time Trials, right?

VH: Actually, starting a month ago, I’ve been driving a 718 Cayman S. I started out in Stock 4 and moved into Modified 4.

AW: I wasn’t aware of that. Before you joined the POC what track experience did you have?

VH: I raced motorcycles from about ’94 through 2001.

AW: I had no idea about that either. Had you been active with PCA or any other groups before becoming a POC member?

VH: I ordered my 718 in 2019 and before I even got the car, I signed up for a track day with OTR (Open Track Racing). After OTR, I was looking for a place to do more track days and found POC. The club’s simple registration and classification process told me that the POC was the place I wanted to go.

AW: How did you find POC?

VH: I was just looking for track days. I think it was on motorsportreg.

AW: What hobbies do you have that relate to your driving? Is there something in your professional life that’s a parallel?

VH: My primary hobbies are road cycling and mountain biking. I’m an engineer by trade. I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. From my perspective, with engineering and racing, there’s quite a bit of overlap. It’s problem solving. There’s the technical side of it. The car dynamics, motor, suspension and all that. For me, it’s probably the engineering part that attracts me most to racing.

AW: What have you learned about yourself through your track experience?

VH: I think what I discovered is how much I like helping people – to help them go faster or help them at the track. I enjoy that part of being at the track. I recently earned my Level Two Instructor Certification and can help people get better at what they do and have more fun.

AW: I’ve appreciated your help at the registration table from time-to-time. The camaraderie at events has been an important part of my experience. Do you have any particular people you enjoy driving with? Any archrivals?

VH: I’ve enjoyed driving against Mickey Giocomazzi. We had very similar lap times. We would go back and forth with each other on the track. I love going up against some of the faster cars like the Corvette Z06. Anybody who’s faster than me. I enjoy trying to catch them.

AW: Have you ever thought about attending the Racer’s Clinic?

VH: Next month at Willow Springs will be my first one.

AW: What are you looking forward to learning there?

VH: How to be safe on the track, race craft, flags, corner workers, safe passing…all the above.

AW: What’s your take on driving in the rain?

VH: I enjoy it. It’s more of a mental game. I find it a good way to work on reaching the limit of the car.

AW: Your key to being successful at driving in the rain if you had to give somebody a tip?

VH: Bring up the speed slowly and find the traction limits with a little aggressive driving to test the limits. Throttle and steering inputs. Stay off the wet paint.

AW: I remember when I weas a newbie, 20-something years ago, at the big track in Las Vegas my instructor told me to stay off the wet paint. The first turn, what did I do? Drove over the paint and spun.

VH: (Laughs)

AW: Do you have a favorite track?

VH: Streets of Willow.

AW: Really? That’s a surprise.

VH: Streets of Willow and Chuckwalla.

AW: What about them makes them extra special for you?

VH: They’re short and technical so I can use my under-powered car to catch the faster guys.

AW: That’s always fun. Before I let you go, I want to come back to something. Dig down. What else have you learned about yourself by doing track events? You like helping people. Okay. What else?

VH: Well, concentration has been one of my problems. I have some level of attention deficit disorder. Having to concentrate for 10, 12, 15 laps at a time has been a challenge for me. Also getting over the fear about possibly crashing the car.

AW: We all know that one! Anything you’d like to add?

VH: Let’s see. I think one of the attractions of the POC for me is the variety of tracks we drive. Also, the skill level of the drivers.

AW: It’s getting more and more difficult to book tracks these days. I know Joe Wiederholt is working diligently on building a great schedule for next year. As for the skill level of our drivers, they’re the best. Thanks, Vivek. See ya at Willow Springs!

Photo: Luis Vivar

December

2024 SEASON

SEASON FINALE

Photo: Luis Vivar

RED & ORANGE GROUP

The end of the season has arrived, and it’s only fitting that we wrap it up at historic Willow Springs. We were blessed with ideal weather for an exhilarating weekend of wheel-to-wheel racing. The action was plentiful, and the competition was as fierce as ever. What a remarkable year it has been, with participation and camaraderie a plenty!

Image: Luis Vivar / Don Matz

DAVID FABI

SEASON FINALES

Saturday was packed with non-stop action and intriguing drama. In the 991.2 Spec qualifying, the usual contenders dominated the time sheets, with Mike Monsalve clocking an impressive 1.5 seconds ahead of Bryan Van Noy. Eric Olberz secured third place, just 0.12 seconds behind Van Noy. In the GT2 class, Paul Barnes claimed pole position, followed by John Heldman in P2 and Roland Schmidt in P3. Ana Predescu once again took the top spot in the GT3 class, with Jim Salzer completing the front row and Jack Ehrman qualifying in P3. Meanwhile, Travis McElvany and Jim Steedman raced unopposed in GT1 and GT4, respectively.

In the 991.2 Spec race, Monsalve continued his winning ways, finishing just 0.7 seconds ahead of Van Noy in an exhilarating battle. What a thrilling start to the red group weekend! Mueller moved up to secure the final podium spot. In the GT2 class, Heldman took the victory as Paul Barnes faced an early retirement, with Schmidt and Frank Powell rounding out the podium in P2 and P3, respectively. In GT3, Predescu managed the race well and took the win with Ehrman in second and Salzer in third.

During the Orange group Boxster class qualifying, Anders Hainer set the fastest time, followed by Nick Maloy in second and Matthew Hollander in P3. In the GT5 class, Steve Town comfortably claimed pole, with Aspasia Zouras and Will Durant taking second and third, respectively. The GT7 class featured just two racers, with Paul Young qualifying ahead of Ted Frech.

The qualifying results translated into the race results in the Boxster class, with Hainer besting Maloy and Hollander in P2 and P3. The top three cars were separated by a mere 0.7 seconds—this Boxster class is always one to watch! The battle for the season championship between Ryan Moore and Hollander continued during the race, and it took the upcoming races to determine who takes home the trophy.

The drama escalated in the second Orange race, when two cars suffered mechanicals and went off track, leading to a race cancellation that postponed the event to Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, in the 991.2 Spec race, Monsalve and Van Noy continued their intense rivalry, swapping positions several times in the early laps. Monsalve ultimately emerged victorious, finishing just 0.9 seconds ahead of Van Noy. Ya gotta always have your popcorn ready when these two are battling on track. Selby completed the podium in third.

Photos: Luis Vivar

In the GT3 class, Ehrman and Predescu kept fans on the edge of their seats. Predescu, starting in P3, overtook Ehrman in the final laps, while Ehrman unfortunately went off in the always sphincter-puckering Turn 9. Salzer inherited P2, but David Fabi, who finished P3, was disqualified due to contact with Tate Pritt mid-race. Newcomer Paul Wren claimed P3 because of the attrition, achieving a notable accomplishment with consistent racing. Predescu concluded the season as the GT3 champion, a title that had been all but secured for some time, reminiscent of Max Verstappen’s dominant season in 2023!

In the GT2 class, Schmidt outperformed Heldman and Barnes in what turned out to be a one-horse race, though Heldman and Barnes provided entertainment as they finished within 0.8 seconds of each other.

During the resumption of the second Orange Boxster race, Hainer secured a commanding victory, finishing nine seconds ahead of Maloy and Hollander, who were separated by just 0.9 seconds. This race ultimately determined the season championship, with Hollander taking home the trophy over Moore.

The GT5 class concluded with Zouras claiming race victory, followed by Durant and Don Kravig in second and third. Paul Young triumphed in the GT7 class over Frech.

In the final Orange Boxster race of the year, Hainer took the win once again, with Moore and Larry Haase joining him on the podium in P2 and P3, respectively. The GT5 class concluded with Durant finishing ahead of Kravig and Zouras by a significant margin, with Kravig crowned the GT5 champion. Congratulations to him! Frech raced uncontested in GT7.

What a thrilling finale to an unforgettable season! Congratulations to all the race winners and champions. No better early Christmas gifts for a racer than that. Now it’s time for a short offseason until racing is resumed in early February. The 2025 season is gearing up to be another great one with Laguna Seca on the calendar and the new Buttonwillow Circuit in the mix. February can’t get here soon enough! In the meantime, happy holidays everyone. Stay safe, stay grateful, stay fast!!!

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Racers Clinic Recap

BOB CHANG

Max Verstappen was born a racer, but most of us are made into one. There is no better person for this task than our club’s Chief Driving Instructor, Dwain Dement. In this Racers Clinic, eight graduates advanced to the next stages of their racing careers.

Each driver arrived at the Clinic with varying levels of track experience, yet Dwain expertly ensured that by the end of the day, we were all significantly better drivers. We were incredibly fortunate to also have Mike Monsalve join us during the classroom sessions, giving us the opportunity to learn from his invaluable expertise. Listening to their aweinspiring racing stories was an absolute treat! It was an action-packed day filled with classroom learning and on-track drills, including intense side-by-side driving around the track. A highlight was going three wide around Big Willow with Dwain surprising us by popping in and out of our formations. Being near another car in close proximity can be nerve-wracking, but when you trust the other driver, it transforms the experience, making it feel much more manageable and much calmer. The practice race starts were exhilarating and by far the most fun. Everyone had a chance to be on pole position and lead the pack around for the start and watching for the green flag. As the green flag dropped, there was such a rush of adrenaline! We all got very comfortable with starting races. Afterwards, Dwain, in his most gentle terms, reminded us that none of us will be starting from the front anytime soon.

Upon completing the Clinic, we gained a deeper understanding of racing, with the most valuable lesson being how to race safely while ensuring the safety of our fellow competitors. My favorite takeaway from the Clinic was a powerful quote by Dwain. “In any situation, what would you rather have, contact with another car, or go home with your car intact and race another day?”

The Graduates

George Bryan (1970 Porsche 914), Diane Cafferata (Spec Boxster), Chris Krull (Spec Boxster), and Bob Chang (Spec Boxster) have received their Race Licenses and look forward to joining Cup racing in 2025.

Vivek Hazari, Todd Wallace, Justin Miller and Markus Rogan are well on their way to earning their Race Licenses.

I asked the Clinic participants a few fun questions to get to know them outside their race cars. Here are their responses: What other interests or hobbies do you have other than driving race cars?

George: Motocross and skiing in my younger days.

Diane: Shooting, hiking, all kinds of crafts, and writing.

Bob: Playing bass guitar.

Chris: Kart racing, surfing, skateboarding, dog training, family, extreme sports.

Vivek: Mountain bikes and road bikes.

Justin: Being with my kids and painting.

Markus: Ice diving and swimming.

Todd: Four years ago, I took up car art. Painting Porsche hoods and deck lids.

What’s something quirky about you most people don’t know?

George: I was, until 2021, an adjunct professor at Chapman University for Italian Art History in Florence, Italy.

Diane: I struggle to not become nocturnal.

Bob: I grew up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and consider it my birthplace.

Chris: OCD, ADD

Vivek: Caffeine relaxes me.

Justin: I paint my toenails.

Markus: I’m in a breakdancing class with my 6-year-old son.

Todd: I cannot keep a swing swinging under my own power.

What’s your favorite movie or TV show?

George: Doctor Zhivago

Diane: Terminator 2

Bob: Arrested Development

Chris: The Mexican – Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt

Vivek: Foundation

Justin: Scarface

Markus: Ted Lasso

Todd: Caddyshack

Photos: Luis Vivar

If you could have dinner with any famous person, alive or dead, who would it be?

George: J. Robert Oppenheimer

Diane: Winston Churchill

Bob: Theordore Roosevelt

Chris: Sade, the singer.

Vivek: J. Robert Oppenheimer

Justin: John Gotti

Markus: Justin Miller

Todd: Norm McDonald

Racers Clinic

What’s a bucket list item you’re most excited to cross off?

George: Going to tracks in the US where I have and haven’t been to run my car of 25+ years.

Diane: Go to Japan. Take the Transsiberian Railroad to Lake Baikal

Bob: Owning a Porsche.

Chris: Starting to race with POC and Win! Get to know this club better.

Vivek: Diving with sharks.

Justin: To get married.

Markus: Visiting an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon.

Todd: Racing a 911.

The Racers Clinic was informative and fun. It was also a great opportunity to bond with other drivers. I can’t wait for my first race!

Time Trial Season Finale

PAUL WREN

The weekend dawned cold and clear, perfect sunshine and calm winds. By midday both days, it was cool summertime around the high 60s. Some hazy cloud cover provided perfect conditions on Sunday with less glare and a little less sunbaked track temperature to keep the tire temps under control. For those who could make it, Friday practice was an excellent day as well, with open track and complete freedom to run clean laps at will all day. Friday practice is highly recommended although it does require a race-prepared car.

The weekend did feature more “gremlins” than I remember at any other event this year, with a couple fluid-delays after breakdowns, and at least three flatbed-rescues for stranded vehicles that could not roll back on their own. Yes, one was me when my front suspension snapped under braking for T3...that was not a fun moment. The statistics wax and wane but thankfully, there were no serious incidents or injuries.

Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s “Warmup” sessions were very much needed, as the cold temps overnight made for very chilly pavement. The race engineer at Vision recorded track temps of 32°F which provoked dire warnings about carcass stability for those running slicks. Those on street tires just had to deal with a lack of grip, without the additional fear of structural issues. All’s well though, there were no incidents that I saw related to tire problems, although there was a lot of slipping and sliding (and no record times) as everyone felt for grip and waited for the temperatures to come into a better window.

The results definitely show the difference of the Green and Blue groups, in broad strokes anyway. Many cars in the Green group are fully prepared race cars, or at least very seriously prepared street cars that are running specialty tires (Hoosiers or Slicks). In most cases that means that unless

you’re still learning the track, it’s really all about the tire heat cycles and your first serious timed run will be the fastest, with little opportunity to improve later since we’re all just club racing and putting on new tires more than once a weekend is ridiculous money (not to mention, disallowed by the rules). There is also much more “fall off” in participation throughout the day in the Green groups, since the best time is set already and there’s no reason to put in more laps. I envy the Blue group to some extent. With street tires they can continue to just have fun and not worry so much about equipment, and you can see it both in the times as well as participation late in the day.

Some exceptions to those rules jump out of the results. In the Blue group, fastest time of the weekend was set by the familiar bright yellow GT3 of Thomas Kenna in his second timed session on Sunday, on street tires. Getting painfully close but not quite breaking through into sub-1:30 with a 1:30.203. Given he’s driving that car home that’s a good effort. He’s on track for the season championship for Modified 3, impressive for a street daily driver.

The serious dedication awards have to go to Osei Appiagyei, James Bowe, Jeffrey Siegel, Dustin Durant, and Harley Padilla for running EVERY

session of the Blue group both days. Appiagyei was in a beautiful new gray Carrera, steadily improving with an instructor most sessions from the looks of it. Siegel was new to the track and learning to get a handle on an awesome 992 Spec Cup car that appeared to be a handful. By the end of Sunday Siegel’s 1:30.908 almost bested Kenna. (I’m not counting the session where he put a ringer in the car to go 1:29. I saw that Jeff. Not counting it. :-)

Harley Padilla gets a double-dedication award. Using Martina’s GT4-prepared racecar, Harley ran not only every Blue session but also FIVE of the Green open-passing sessions to get some serious track time. By Sunday, he was continuously improving and got down to a 1:31.718, also very close to the magic sub-1:30 mark that will no doubt tantalize him to keep practicing and come back to Willow in the new year.

The Dust Bowl award goes to Calvin Park. He ran all but one Blue session in his 944 Spec car and in the last session Sunday hooked the inside of T9 for a dramatic spin into the infield. The dust cloud could probably be seen from space and without any wind to dissipate it, it hung around for at least 10-15 minutes of eerie Hollywood-special-effects light. Thankfully he drove the car back to the pits along with only a thick layer of dust as evidence.

In the Green group, Bruce Blockus in his Prototype showed that a purpose-built racecar really does matter, setting the fast time of the weekend at 1:20.958 (and I’m sure he’s happy that wasn’t 42 hundredths slower...). Gerrit Wesseling was a familiar sight in the beautiful green Cup car (for some reason on results as GT1 rather than 991.2 Spec?) going second fastest of the weekend in 1:21.225. Also fast were the GT1 of Robert Dalrymple at 1:21.8 and Serge Cigdemoglu’s 991.2 Spec at 1:23.2)

Your author had a rough Saturday (note to file: these cars REALLY don’t work when the ABS fails...) just eeking out the win over Bob Gartland by two tenths of a second in GT3. With some great work by the Vision crew Saturday night I had a much improved Sunday, setting a new GT3 TT track record at 1:25.1 for the win. Nathan Apelbaum confirmed his championship winning run in Modified 2 with sub-1:30 times both days, down to a 1:28.5 on Saturday. Jack Apelbaum continued to show that sometimes a non-Porsche can be fast, putting his Modified-3 white Corvette into the 1:25s during warmup on Sunday, but the tires only held up for a 1:26.2 in the timed runs.

Contrary to the degrading-tire trend I mentioned above, the second timed run showed a chunk of improvement for Danna Van Noy in her 991.2 Spec Cup car (-1.4s) and Mick Yanoschak in his GT3 (-2.1s). Sometimes it’s not all about the tires.

It was a great weekend and we’re all looking forward to the Streets event in January, immediately followed by the Annual Banquet. See ya there!

Photo: Luis Vivar

Keith Hnatiuk

Is Driven

ANDREW WEYMAN

Photos: Luis Vivar

When I approached Keith Hnatiuk in the paddock about an interview, he hesitated for a millisecond, smiled and agreed.

Here’s what he had to say:

AW: Thanks for agreeing to do this. I’ll embarrass you as much as I can.

KH: (Laughs) I know you’re good at it, Andrew.

AW: What the heck is up with your last name?

KH: It’s Ukrainian. The Americanized version is “Hanatik.” Apparently, it was shortened at Ellis Island back in the early 1900s. Originally it was I’Hnatiuk or something like that.

AW: I know you’re currently driving the wheels off Boxster Spec #682. How long have you been a member of the POC?

KH: I joined in late 2019. I started in PDS. It was kind of an extension of what I was doing with the Bimmer Challenge. Here I was driving a BMW and POC was so welcoming of “Brand X” that it was a shock and surprise for me. I was welcomed as a guy who was into the same stuff the Porsche drivers were. The attitude was let’s help him along. The result is I ended up in a Porsche.

AW: Tell me more about your experience with the BMW.

KH: I did Time Trial stuff and competed in the Bimmer Challenge. My history with driving goes back to a 1974 BMW 2002tii in the 90s. A bunch of my buddies set it up for track use. It was like a little go-kart. 125hp, very light. It was a great car to learn in. Then, when I started getting serious, I got an e30 M3. It was one of the old body styles and it was great fun. Well balanced. Relatively

easy to drive to the limit. At that time, I was living in West Michigan. I was about 20 minutes away from a track called Grattan. We could drive for a really nominal fee, and we got a fair amount of seat time. I was in my early 30s at the time. We had a blast learning how to drive. There was a gap when life got in the way, and I moved around the country. I moved to California for a second time when I was in the investment business. It was a pretty busy lifestyle. I didn’t get back into driving until I was living in San Jose, halfway between Laguna and Sonoma. A lot of guys I worked with were going to the track with their Miatas. It looked like fun. Just take a street car. So, I started going to events with Speed SF and the Golden Gate Lotus Club. It wasn’t very serious. Maybe two or three times a year. It wasn’t until around 2019, just before the POC, that I stared to get serious about track driving. I was in a BMW f82. It’s the car I first showed up with at the POC. I think it was my second or third event with POC when we were at Buttonwillow. I didn’t know many people. Suddenly, this guy named Eben Benade jumps in my passenger seat, he doesn’t know me from Adam, and he says, “Let’s go!” So, I thought I’ve got somebody to help me learn to drive faster. I’m thinking he’s going to tell me, “Be careful here. Be careful there.” No! Eben says, “Get off the brakes quicker! Get on the throttle!” It was eye-opening. What I learned later was that Eben’s not crazy. He was watching drivers. Sizing them up. Figuring out how to help them. Here I am in a BMW and a Porsche guy jumps in my car to help me drive faster. I was really impressed by that.

AW: Eben is a great guy and a great driver. Your story is what our club is all about. How did you find the POC?

KH: There was a friend at, I think it was, at a Speed District event. He mentioned the POC. He said it was a great group. A lot of camaraderie. A lot of wheel-towheel. It sounded like a lot of fun but at the time I really didn’t understand what the difference was between TT and wheel-to-wheel. Through the POC I learned what that was. They make it very clear. I got serious about Time Trialing. I’m the kind of guy that looks for continuous improvement and challenge. It’s great with the Boxsters. All the cars are the same. I can see, okay, here’s the fastest I’ve gone before at Buttonwillow clockwise and now with help and tools like coaching and data, that improvement…I really enjoy that. It’s one of the things keeps me coming back. Everybody says the same thing and it’s true, Andrew. You know this. The camaraderie, the team spirit, the family-like environment…. When I brought Gerrit (Wesseling) out to his first POC event he sensed all that right away. Yes,

there’s competition on track but we all try to help each other. Whether it’s going faster, making the car better, safer, driving techniques…it’s really great. I know I’m repeating what a lot of people have said but it’s so true.

AW: I know I feel it very strongly every time I’m at the track and with the friends I’ve made. What made you choose to build a Boxster and drive in BSR?

KH: The desire to go wheel-to-wheel and knowing that converting a GT3 into a race car is a terrible idea. Having someone like Vali (Predescu) build a Spec Boxster, the safety gear, knowing that it’s built right…. It’s a class that’s super fun, super competitive. You know, it’s a little tough walking away from higher-powered cars but the Boxsters are really fun. They make up for it with the competition, the balance of the chassis. There are so many things. The cost of a weekend is obviously more affordable than a Cup car.

AW: For sure. What’s the first car you ever owned?

KH: A 1972 Camaro. The new body style. It was used. My older brother helped me select it and buy it. It was a lot of fun.

AW: Do you have a favorite track-related word or phrase associated with racing?

KH: We like to joke a lot, looking at each other’s data and stuff, all the technical words that come up…we like to distill it down to ‘more gas, less brake.’

AW: Simple and to the point. What’s your favorite track or particular turn?

KH: I love the Corkscrew at Laguna, but Chuckwalla’s become a favorite. I hated Big Willow. It was my lack of experience and my lack of ability in high-speed corners. I’ve been working a lot on those things and now I love it.

AW: Is there another driver you consider to be your archrival?

KH: John Krylow, Ryder Liu and I all started around the same time. John took a big step forward at Podium Club finishing in 1st place. Ryder is massively fast at Big Willow. Matt Juarez is a good all-around driver. I don’t see them as archrivals. I see them as strong competitors.

AW: What is it that you might have learned about yourself through your racing?

KH: My need for speed. Going faster. Well, not just going faster. Getting better. Getting more competitive. It’s not just about your lap time. It’s about race craft. This weekend marked my one-year anniversary of my first race. Man, there’s a lot of race craft to learn. I proved my inexperience again last weekend thinking I’m going to go on the inside of Larry (Haase) in T1 and I found myself on the outside of T2 and I gave up Larry and John Momeyer, too. I lost two positions due to my lack of race craft. Those are the things that keep me coming back. There’s always a new challenge. There’s always someone to challenge you. I love that. There’s one guy who shows up at Big Willow once in a while and lights the world on fire. Who would that be?

AW: I don’t know.

KH: That’s you!

AW: Me?

KH: You lit the world on fire in May at Big Willow.

AW: I had a good race.

KH: That Andrew Weyman was flying.

AW: It was fun. Tell me about the relationship, if there is any, between your work and your racing. Are there any parallels or lessons to be learned?

KH: There are a couple. One is the teamwork. Going to the track, having the car prepared properly…things like tire pressure and set-up, coaching. There’s a lot of teamwork that goes into becoming a better driver. Without a good team it’s really

hard to make progress. It’s the same thing in business. Also, the more you apply yourself, the better the results.

AW: Has there been a race, or one particular moment in a race, that stands out for you?

KH: Chuckwalla. I think it was Race #2, going three-wide into the first two corners and being two-wide through T4 and T5…making the right decisions with a little bit of luck, staying out of trouble and following Ryan (Moore) through that section… it felt like it all started to come together as far as my race craft. I’ve got a history of being a little too cautious and losing positions.

AW: Anything you’d like to add?

KH: Andrew, we’re not young kids but I hope we’ll be doing this for a long time.

AW: (Laugh) My business manager doesn’t. He keeps asking when I’m going to give it up. I told him I just bought a new helmet so I’m good for another couple of years.

KH: I was a ski racer. I raced motocross as a kid. I can’t do that anymore.

AW: There are a lot of old farts who still hold track records.

KH: Amen.

AW: Thanks, Keith. I’ll be looking for you in my mirrors on the track!

Looking forward to another

great year of racing in 2025

Januar y 11 Streets of Willow Springs

Februar y 8-9 Willow Springs International Raceway

March 8-9 Buttonwillow Raceway Park

April 5-6 The Circuit at Buttonwillow

May 17-18 Willow Springs “Tribute to LeMans”

August 22-24 Laguna Seca

October 11-12 Buttonwillow Raceway Park

November 8-9 Chuckwalla Valley Raceway

December 13-14 Willow Springs International Raceway

Porsche Owners Club Club Racing at its Best

Porsche Owners Club Club Racing at its Best