Tim Comeau Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Our very own Dennis Puddester moved the Porsche 911 he was driving up to as high as 4th in SGS class before contact with one of those frickin' prototypes put him in the pits for 8 minutes. Still the team he was with scored a top 10 finish in SGS class. Dennis' ability to keep the car out of harm's way for the balance of his driving stint was credited to his experience gained in....................................you guessed it, 944-spec racing in NASA's crowded racing events. You learn to watch your mirrors and what's going on in front of you at the same time. Congrats Dennis. Glad to have you among us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeanutinCA Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Nice! That will make beating Dennis all the more sweeter! Kidding. Congrats Mate. P.Dilly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Good Job Dennis! I have to say that I was really disapointed by the driving of alot of Prototype guys. They just seemed to barrell around in everycorner assuming the seas were going to part infront of them, if not hit them at it work just the same. The three things that really stick out in my mind were.. #1) Duno in #2 crawford tagging the tires at the inside of turn 4? - What a bonehead move and then to blame the Porsche for not yeilding? Not safe place to make move like cause you are likely to bang the tires. #2) The Lewis/Negri hit in Turn 1 (DP to DP). Shane Lewis turn in on the other DP making pass. Guys were nearly even and Lewis on the outside turns down and bang hits Negri just before the transion. Of course he blames Negri for it. Negri makes clean pass attempt in good safe spot (I have run two wide through 1 many times safely and at speed) and then gets blammed for it. #3) Sun Trust DP Winning DP car going 3 wide at the exit of 7. I believe he and the 59 car got in to 7 with a 911 on the inside. The 59 DP goes around the outside and the Sun Trust car tries the inside of 911. Of course the 911 holes his line and Sun Trust car instead of waiting and realizing he picked the wrong lane in traffic just jumps in the inside curb at the end of 7 and takes to the dirt to get by. More bonehead antics. Dennis Good job staying clean while you could. I have race with 40-50 cars at PIR. It is busy to be sure, but with a clear heads you can avoid contact and still have good race I was very disappointed by these "Professionals" and their inability to be smart around traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Oh yeah.... 944-spec is good traning for races like this. While an SGS GT3 Cup is fast it is not as fast at the GT or DP cars. So similar some ways to 944-spec in dealing with being a "slow" car on the track. BTW... Paul B, Glenn G and I learned ALOT last May At Willow with some 62 cars in field. Heck the Jan AMP race at the short east loop was also good practice for this kind of stuff. Lots of cars on a short track with fast car at the back... Makes life interesting! Who says 944-spec ain't good for anything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#11 Posted April 13, 2004 Share Posted April 13, 2004 Thanks Guys. Paul, I made that same statement to Tim….. the 944-Spec car is great training for a race like this, the pace is just so MUCH quicker. Driving my 944-Spec in a NASA race with 70 cars is very similar to driving a GT3 Cup 911 (SGS Class) in the Rolex GrandAm series. I learned how to carry momentum & race my class competition while ALWAYS checking my mirrors……at a much safer speed. Running my 993 Turbo gave me high speed traffic awareness....always a critical piece of the puzzle. Beleieve me, it is much, much easier being the over taking car!!! I did have an incident with a DP late in my stint. Three DP’s were racing hard & passing me low on the exit of NASCAR turn 4. My spotter told me to stay high on exit (as we were told in the driver’s meeting) so I stayed on the throttle (momentum again) to drift cleanly to the wall. Well, the first two cars passed low and the third DP tried to pass me on the right instead of following the train…..stupid move. I slammed him into the wall (at ~120mph) he bounced back and hit me and we wiggled down the front straight. We both saved it and carried on. My right rear fender was caved into the tire and was rubbing, I pitted 3 laps later.....I was running low on fuel anyway. I also witnessed the Duno incident in front of me……I just missed the exploding tire wall. All in all, it was a blast!! To quote Billy Auberlen, “you had to be like a chameleon out there, eyes looking every where”. Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Dennis... Your incident seemed quite common. A GT or SGS car driving its own race trying to stay clean and having one or more DP :ahem: "forcing" their way around. That is pretty fast spot on the track with no run off. Passing on the outside is asking for it there. Where did the DP expect you to go? I call that place boxster corner as I have seen two boxster much it there. One in street car group. Guy was stupid and wanted to enter the pit lane after being on the oval part at speed. When the back end went around and he pin balled between inside and outside wall collecting two more cars. I saw anther boxster go there in Grand Am Cup race from a few years back. Not sure what happend, but the boxster ate it. Good job keeping the car under you. It could have been much worse. As they say to finish first you must first finish! You guys plan on doing any more Grand Am Races? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bloomberg Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 It is nice to see some familiar faces in the "Pro" series. Congrat's...to Dennis!!! I thought the 24hrs of Daytona was pretty cool too!!! We also had a couple of local Az NASA BMW racers make the show this year...unfortunately Mike and myself didn't get the job done as far as finding the fuel rig this year., but after looking at qualifying/race times we would have been competitve considering our lap times on Toyo's at the last NASA PIR race so not making the race was very disappointing.......I have a year to plan so hopefullya local low budget team can make "the show" next year. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberklasse Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 way to go Dennis! I am sure the guys that asked you to run with them are happy with your performance....hope to see you at willow next weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Comeau Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 Paul, You guys would stand a good chance with your famailiarity with the track. That's a good advantage. Make it happen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Comeau Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 Now all you guys know why I call PIR "The Bullring." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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