CART Pocono South Track Day: Survivor Edition

Pocono Raceway held the Connecticut Autocross and Rally Teams most recent track day, this time on the South Course. For those of you that don’t know, South Course is Nascar turn 1 then using the infield portion with the hairpin. The turn into the infield is a double apex left hander with a short chute before a second gear left hander that brings you out to the hairpin. The hairpin is a 180 deg right hander that has you come in hard, brake after the bump and turn in late. Early throttle application here is a no-no. Back on the gas for a bend left, up the 3rd gear, a slight bend right then on the binders for a left hander that leads you to the infield/main track transition. The course is exactly 1mi long but a very tight mile it is. The weather was absolutely pristine all day long. Sunny, dry, 79 degrees and being that the track hadn’t seen rain in a few days, the track was fast. Paul O again lead the drivers meeting as Jim D led tech and Kevin and Adam went and put out the turn in, apex and turn out cones. Once the drivers meeting was over, it was open track. While most where on track, Kevin was taking pictures, yours truly was being shown the line by Jimmy, and Paul was doing the novice meeting. The track closed a short while later as Paul lead the novices around.

Once the novice driving was done it was back to open track. By 11 o’clock most people had find their rhythm and in some cases someone to play around with. The common pairings to see on track were Bob D and Joerg in their Fieros, Kevin and Jimmy in their Miatas, and Liam and Nick in their 350z’s. From a viewers stand point it’s a pretty cool sight to see two similar cars going around the track nose to tail

After lunch was over, we opened the track back up for some more practice before timed runs began. The perfect day and perfect track lead to a few new class records being set. The first record to fall was the SS record, not once buy twice. Rick Huntoon set the new record with a blistering lap of 52.886 seconds just after Bill Evans had dropped it to a 53.049. Todd Jannotti brought his Benz SL600 out and ran a very respectable 57.269 second lap. Not bad for street tires and 4000+lbs.

Jerry Jones was about 2 seconds off his A stock record but he was still able to post a class win, running a time of 54.219 seconds. Gary Frankel missed the ES record by three tenths of a second but was still able to walk out with the class win. Alex Kern was second in class in his 944 just two tenths ahead of Jim Duphiney. Joe Rathbun set a new record in GS running a time of 57.210 seconds and also took the class win.

In the Street Prepared classes, ASP was a one car entry with Dfavid Wilinsky’s C5 Vette being the only entry. He obviously took the class win. In BSP James Matons thought he had it locked up and the new class record as Liam sat in the garage fixing his car. But Liam was able to get is car fixed and on his first lap set another lap record running a 50.08 second lap. Liam’s lap was also good enough for FTD. In CSP an upset of sorts occurred….or a battle of attrition occurred. The Japs might not know how to make a powerful engine, but they know how to make an engine that will hold together, unlike those guys with Porsche 924/944’s. With that said, Kevin FitzMaurice earned the class win running a very smooth 58.406 second lap. DSP was once again a hotly contested class and the one with the closest margin of victory. Mike Raver edged out Mike Huntoon by .026 seconds for the win and a new class record. Justin Weinstein lead ESP with his Mustang. His 56.414 was also good enough for a new class record.

Nick Fandacone put his name on another lap record and also lead BP. Nicks 50.938 was enough to beat Gabe’s Evo but not quite enough for FTD. In CP, Marc Boerma went through almost everything to get his beautiful 65 Mustang down to run. Marc woke up Sunday morning to find a nail in one of his R compounds, a trip to the tire shop, resulted in new Toyo street tires being installed. Not the best, but atleast he gets on track now. Then once on track, his passenger side headlight decides it doesn’t want to be a part of the car anymore. Fortunately for him another racer was nice enough to direct him in and remove the headlight. For all this, Marc earned the CP win with a 60.573 second run. In FP, Joerg’s Bode was again the Road Runner and Bob Doiron Wiley E. Coyote. Joerg’s 55.5 was two tenths off his record, but still enough to keep Bob behind him.

In the Team Relay we had the closest field we’ve ever had. The total time difference between the fastest team and the slowest team was just over a minute. This lead to close racing and the closest finish ever in Team Relay history. Joerg Bode made a late (legal) pass on Paul O heading into the infield on the last lap with Liam right behind them but not close enough to make a pass of his own. All is done right???? Wrong!!! Joerg took the Team Relay Loser hat because instead of turning into the finish, he turned for a 6th lap. Giving the win to Mixed Nuts and Liam finishing behind them. But Liam’s team was DQ’d for an illegal pass earlier in the event. So Mixed Nuts returns to the top and Joerg now wears the hat until he can redeem himself and pass it on to someone else. That means he’ll be holding onto to it until at least August 28th.

Think you can lay down a fast lap and count to five? Can the Corvette team come back and defend their previous win? Come find out, Pocono North Friday August 28th, that’s our next event.

2009 Relay Points updated as of 7/20 event

PLACE TEAM 8-May 20-Jul 28-Aug 28-Sep TOTAL

1 TEAM MIXED NUTS 21 24 45

2 TEAM FIERO 18 18 36

3 TEAM Y 24 24

4 TEAM SUBARU 21 21

5 TEAM X 15 15

5 TEAM FORD 15 15

6 TEAM Z 0

6 TEAM BURNING MAN 0

team members

Mixed Nuts

15 Paul Omichinski Porsche 924

105 Jim Duphiney Mazda Miata

9 Kevin FitzMaurice Mazda Miata

69 Nick Fandacone 350z

37 Bill Evans vette

Fiero Team

41 Bob Doiron Fiero

75 Jay Bode Fiero

4 Gary Frankel Fiero

55 Mike Raver Mazda Miata

40 Mark Huntoon Mazda 3

Ford

142 Justin Weinstein Mustang

47 Mark Boerma Mustang

22 James Matons Porsche

7 Rick Huntoon Porsche

Subaru

44 Clyde Siason Subaru

16 Dave Hurwitz Subaru

28 Justin Ruffins Subaru

78 Jerry Jones Subaru

45 Gabe Pettner EVO

Burning Man  (I think they only burnt one)

32 Lian Dwyer 350z

35 Todd jannotti md600

58 Dave Wilinsky vette

9 John Kern Audi