Herb Cunitz Man of Action

Okay, I’ll say it. Herb Cunitz is a bit of an adrenaline junkie. He’s a racer, skier, motorcyclist, snowmobiler, biker, pilot, and a tech industry start-up wizard. A true man of action.

Herb is generally soft-spoken, friendly, and has a great laugh. He drives BSR #630 and has been a POC member since 2021. He was introduced to the club by his brother-in-law, Jim McLoughlin, also a BSR driver. Herb’s first race with POC was at Chuckwalla in 2020. As a graduate of Jim Russell’s racing school, Herb earned his race license with the Porsche Racing Club (PRC) in Northern California in the early 2000’s. A friend who raced with the PRC vouched for Herb and they welcomed him even though his buddy embellished Herb’s prior track experience by quite a lot. Herb placed third in his first race and went on to race with PRC for five years. He started driving in 911 Spec and then raced his Cup car for three years, finishing 1st or 2nd in most races before it met its unfortunate demise in the T10 wall at Sonoma. Ten years passed and now Herb is all in on Boxster Spec, usually finishing mid-pack.

Herb earned his pilot’s license in 2017 and flies his Cirrus Turbo four passenger airplane to our events from his home in Colorado. Since turning fifty, Herb has taken on dirt bikes, mountain bikes and snowmobiles. He’s an avid skier and bought his first set of skis when he was ten years old. He enjoys backcountry skiing - climb up, ski down. Herb sometimes pushes people beyond their comfort zone. When you see Jim McLoughlin, ask him what he was screaming as he cartwheeled downhill one of the first times he skied with Herb. To put it mildly, Jim was less than comfortable.

There’s no doubt about it. Herb is competitive. He was a chubby kid and did not fully realize it until he entered a running race around 10 years old and finished dead last. The race officials were rolling up the finish ribbon and the red carpet as Herb completed the race. There he met the only two spectators left, his parents. He decided that things had to change. He started jogging and playing soccer. He slimmed down as his competitiveness grew. Herb continued to play soccer competitively through high school and college. His drive to compete continued into adulthood. A true asset in his business, this deceptively unassuming guy has delivered presentations to 30,000 people and helped launch seven Silicon Valley startups with public offerings or successful acquisitions. He competes against himself on the track and enjoys always having someone to race with. With all his competitiveness, he’s perfectly fine with not finishing 1st because there is always someone to race.

Herb’s Porsche stable has included a ’96 air-cooled Turbo, a Cup car, a GT3RS and his BSR. He is a great addition to our POC family and if you haven’t met him, you should. Catch him if you can.