CART Autox Bristol June 27 by Liam Dwyer

Patience is not a virtue among autocrossers. Autocrossing is about who can finish their run the quickest without hitting cones. So when a course is designed that requires patience, a drivers patience is tried as he works his way through the course. Todd Doiron took Event Chair honors for Carts Autocross on June 27th. Todd’s course required patience for all drivers no matter what car they were driving. The course started with a 3 cone slalom on the right side of the lot and then swept across the top part to the far left side of the lot. You kicked the car left just a bit before making a 240 degree turn around. You were able to step on the gas as the course took a right hand sweeper down along the slalom before making a hard right hander that brought you up to the center of the lot for an extremely tight 270 degree round-about. You exited the round-about and made a jog right before finishing up with a left right switchback and into the finish.

The weathermen predicted storms and rain throughout the day, but the storms held off and sunny skies prevailed. This was also the first even where we didn’t have an overlap with another local club. Just over eighty drivers took their turns behind the wheel. Quick Nick wasn’t present to earn another FTD so that meant a new FTD winner would be crowned. To see who took home FTD, read on.

In B stock, John Williamson once again proved age doesn’t slow you down as he took his STi to the class win over a pair of S2000s. C Stock had Tom Mak on top again in his 370z. Joe Barbato made a rare appearance and borrowed Mak’s car and took it to second place. Brett Zelazek won D Stock on his last run besting Dan Gorrie’s GTi. John England once again edged out last years E Stock winner Jim Duphiney. England eeked out the class win by .094 seconds. Rob Johnson whooped up on Dad in H stock. Maybe Dad needs to go and take some advanced driving because getting beat by your 16yr old son can’t be good for your ego back home.

Tom Cavuoto can’t seem to find anyone to play with in Super Stock and was once again bumped to ASP and as usual, took the class win. In BSP the village bicycle was piloted by Brian Elzin, John Jankura and Joe Solury. Jim Matons was also present in his Cayman but this time sans son Claude. Matons did the best he could to edge the Vette but two other drivers keeping the tires warm was too much as Elzin earned the class win and his first FTD. Matons was about two tenths back and second in FTD. Paul Omichinski found his lost keys and took his 924 for a Sunday drive and a CSP class win. Kevin FitzMaurice seems to play a good Wilie Coyote for Paul, maybe Kevin should make another call to ACME? Greg Cullen owned FSP once again and Matt Skibisky earned a hard fought second place besting FSP regular Joe Rathbun.

After a brief scare two weeks ago and barely earning CP class win, Ray Covino had his XR4Ti in top condition and left his competition in the dust. Marc Boerma was second as he seems to be finding the stride in his Mustang. Dewey Tsang was the only one in DP and by process of elimination finished first and last all at once.

Nogiec Agricultural Racing was back in action showing off their rebuilt tractor. Unfortunately CART rules do not allow for tractors to run an autocross….something about being top heavy and farmer tans. So the Nogiecs and settle to for the Porsche. Adam Nogiec, fresh off his return from the Far East showed he hasn’t missed a step and won the FP class edging Josh Winans VW Jetta by a tenth. The Fiero’s that used to dominate FP were reclassed to EM based on research in the SCCA rulebook. The red Fiero earned another class win, but this time with the younger Doiron and course designer Todd Doiron behind the wheel. In STA, Scott Murray and Austin Golankiewicz battled out for the top spot. Murray’s Sti was quicker with AWD and edged the Miata for another class win. Eric Schneider was your winner in SMA as he put up a fight for FTD, finishing just two tenths off the pace. Phil Macaroni made his first Cart appearance of the season and finished second in class.

Nick Santore and Nahum Kryzman shared the 98 M3 and finished 1-2 in Y-novice. In Z-novice another co-driven car finished 1-2 with Paul Goldenburg beating Matt Goldenburg for the class win.

Cart’s next autocross is July 11th back at Rowley, and we'll be at the track at Monticello on July 19th.