Tim Comeau Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 We had 6 racers in the class again. Things in the 944 Spec SoCal Group are definately on the upswing again! TOYO TIRES BUCKS ALL AROUND! And what great racing....... I have great unobstructed roof top video from both Saturday and Sunday. We had Jim Foxx, Chris Allen, Robert Hohler, Mike Peters, Charlie Buzzetti (POC visitor) and myself. We had a brand new guy in the group named John Niedernhofer as well. He's one of my street 944 customers and he participated in the HPDE program with his new ultra clean, one owner, 63,000 orig. miles 83 944! We're going to flip that car and use the funds to buy a 944 Spec car. Peter Latteier went through the Driving Concepts racing school in his red 924S , too! Weather was perfect. The race on Sat was great fun. From my perspective: I started DFL because I elected to save a hotel room cost by driving up on Sat morning. I missed practice and qual'ing but the last thing I need is more track time at Willow! The worst I could start was 6th place in the class.....So from the back, I had to work hard to catch up to the front runners, which on this day were Charlie Buzzetti and Jim Foxx. After a few laps, I caught up and was pressuring Charlie for 3rd spot. Foxx was running fast down the hill to T5 and didn't read the slower Honda traffic quite right. This put him into a slide, then 2 wheels off, a spectacular lip slide down the outside edge of the track, 3 or 4 tank slappers, a nice save, and finally a move from 1st place to 3rd. I was working on Charlie for 1st when we got a full course yellow. Someone spun in T8, dirtied the track bad, our Mike Peters spun and stalled out facing the wrong direction in the middle of a classic SoCal track dust cloud. 2 Hondas came through that cloud and nailed him twice. Mike is fine but the 944 was mortally wounded. That ended the race on Sat. Finishing order: Buzzetti Comeau Foxx Hohler Allen Peters Robert Hohler, who was racing for the first time in SoCal 944 Spec. got the big hand shake from me with a hearty, "WELCOME TO THE SHOW!" Robert made the quick decision to drive off the track rather than drive blindly into the same dust cloud that did Peters' car in. Smart man. It probably saved his car from damage and himself from injury. If this is the kind of thinking that Robert does in his first race, he's going to make a solid driver. Nice work. Lesson- "You can't drive if you can't see!" Robert, a Porsche tech, also had a mechanical to overcome on Sat. He drove home to pick up a spare cam housing gasket and swapped it at the track with some help from Jim Foxx. I'm told Hohler and Chris Allen had some good racing farther back before the race was ended early. The SoCal Squadron of 944 Spec racers are already at work sourcing a replacement chassis for Peters and a pizza and beer party to swap over all the good running gear from the smashed chassis to the new one! What a great group of guys to be associated with....seriously. Good people in this class. Sunday was no less of a challenge. I found/created a hole in traffic and ripped off 2 quick qual'ing laps. Thought they would be good enough, but Buzzetti got pole by 3/10ths at 1:38 flat. Nice job! Race started with me on outside pole. I knew Foxx in 3rd (inside) would be an issue into T1 and I wasn't wrong. I was freight trained into 3rd immediately! DANG! I was hoping to run faster around the outside of T1 and be on the inside of T2, gaining the lead. So the dicing began! The 3 faster guys in front, then Allen and Hohler duking it out farther back. We made it to T3 or T4 when Buzzetti started wigglin' something fierce! He had suffered a ball joint failure in one of his aluminum arms early on Saturday, but got it fixed for the race. Now, as fate would have it, the ball joint on the other side jumped up and bit him in the rear end. Charlie pulled to the side and cruised it into the pits. This made the running order Foxx, Comeau, and HOHLER! Hohler fighting for a spot on the podium in his first race! Foxx and I ran hard and fast for several laps, attacking, defending, cutting WAY funky lines around traffic into T9. I finally made him go defensive early into T9, then had time to return to the optimum line myself. Got a slight run down the front straight and came along side. To his credit, Foxx squeezed me over as far as he could for the entrance into T1. I swear that our side mirrors were inside of each others windows! We were running that close.... It was very exciting! We both braked as late as we dared, he ran wide and I took the lead coming out of T1. I opened a slight gap over the next few laps, but then the traffic beast reared it's ugly head, slowed me down pretty bad, and Jim was immediately close enough to attack again. I'm thinking, "Crap, here we go again...." But Foxx's best efforts weren't good enough this time around. I came around to start/finish and noticed a very fast Honda coming up on me. The flagman had a white flag in his one hand, but was waving the checkered as the Honda and I passed under him. I wasn't sure if the checkered was for us both, or just him, and I was still on my last lap. ????? Foxx was still close. If I accept the checkered and slow up and I'm wrong, Foxx will surely pass me? If the checkered flag was for me too, and I drive an extra lap, will the Race Director be pissed at me. I quickly decided I'd rather deal with the pissed Race Director than take a chance of losing the race. HAMMER DOWN! Ran one more lap and got the real checkered flag. Wheeww! Made the right decision. So the finishing order was Comeau Foxx Hohler Allen Buzzetti We got our trophies, our HAWK BRAKE PADS rebate certificates, and took some pics. We missed reigning driver Everett Delano at this round of the SoCal 944 Spec Championship because he had recently undergone shoulder surgery. We're all really looking forward to our next event at Cal Speedway on March 28-29 as this will be a AZ-SoCal crossover! Hoping for a big crowd of 944's! Quote
Tim Comeau Posted March 18, 2009 Author Posted March 18, 2009 More trackside pics of the cars in action to follow courtesy of Robert Hohler's friend. Quote
Tim Comeau Posted March 19, 2009 Author Posted March 19, 2009 Got great video from the roof top. Many beers among 944 friends have been drunk so far while watching the videos! Quote
Chuck T. Posted March 20, 2009 Posted March 20, 2009 mostly GREAT NEWS SOCAL ! 6 CARS ! luv the toyo bucks ! Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted March 20, 2009 Posted March 20, 2009 Great news. Darn I need the race report up for az. We had 14 cars take green each day. Quote
cbuzz Posted March 23, 2009 Posted March 23, 2009 Great write up Tim. Had a great time racing with the So-Cal group. Tim and Jim are fierce competitors who deserve respect on and off the track. Thanks guys for all your help over the weekend. Thanks to Jim Foxx for the ball joint replacement. Wish I would have replaced both of them Sunday AM. Oh well new ones were installed and ready for action. See you at the track. 944Buzz Quote
Sterling Doc Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Looks great! I'm jealous, but not for too long anymore! Quote
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