Great Lakes News
By John Graber
Published: July 10, 2006
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Mid Ohio, July 7-9, 2006
Ok, so the weather once again was unbelievable!
We had a great Nasa and TT event overall and I certainly hope everyone had a good time. The group is really coming together, understanding the program and fine tuning their skills. Everything went very smoothly since we had all these Forest Rangers walking around in their tan Nasa shirts helping out. Thank you all for your commitment to Nasa, Time Trials, and for making my job easy.
We had a few new faces, some old cars, and some old faces with new cars. We even had TT awards and went FIRST at the award ceremony. I have awards for Sunday and will catch up with those first place winners soon. Here are a few of the notables.
• Jumpin’ Joe Hays continues his domination in the TTG class in. I’m thinking about bringing a rental to Autobahn to give him a run.
• Bill Marquardt continues to be a major factor in TTF, although there are some people in the wings contemplating a run.
• Mark (Photo Guy) Freemal came up big late in the weekend to take the TTE win over Gene (Pace Car Guy) Hoesman.
• Alan (how did the S2000 get in TTD) Skillicorn dominated the field all weekend running in the 1:44’s. I think the transponder in my car must have been broken.
• Brad Smith smoked through all the competition in the TTC class and also won the Honda Challenge HU race on Saturday. Well, actually his son Kelsey won in his car, but they listed Brad and we need the publicity in TT.
• Probably the best battle of the weekend was in TTB where David Spencer and Jason Lakomiak were .2 seconds apart on Saturday. The honors went to David and shortly thereafter Jason’s clutch went south, so Sunday was a walk-off for David. Also, if you weren’t present, David Spencer walked away with the set of Kuhmo tires Saturday night.
• Steve (Oops I have a TTA car) Walters jumped up a class and still ran to the top in the class. This is another very competitive class if we can ever get everyone together.
• Nothing really happened in TTU to speak of.
• Ed Hessel debut the Shannon CSR for the first time at Mid Ohio and lived up to his expectations. However, Rick Kaplan wasn’t going to make it easy and gave him a run, clocking a 1:37 in his red Viper. Sunday Rick then debut his new C6 ZO6 and jumped to the TTU ranks. Also, look for a new TTR car to make an appearance in August at Mid Ohio.
Next up is another crossover event at Autobahn Country Club July 21-23. It’s a Midwest hosted event so my man Bill Marquardt will be running the TT show. I’m hoping to make the trek myself as I’ve heard the facilities and track are first class. After that we’re back to MO for our final event before the National Championships. As I’ve said numerous times, I highly encourage everyone to participate in the Championships. I think it’s going to be an unbelievable event and just being a part of it will be amazing. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call.
John
Oh, I just realized something actually did happen in the TTU class. First off, Shane Benson showed up Saturday clean shaven and looking like a new man! Don Michaels ran the familiar TTU silver ZO6 and then informed me he’s done driving on the track. Please let Don know we all want him to continue to be a part of Nasa and the Time Trials program. Don’s experience and personality make him a huge asset and I hate to see him go. Finally, some guy from Cincinnati, Danny Popp, showed up and ran a blue ZO6. It had all the usual racer wanna be stickers and everything, and it even looked fast standing still. Well, to say the car lived up to its looks would be an understatement. Danny, having never driven at Mid Ohio, went on to dominate the TTU field, set a new Mid Ohio TT track record, as well as run the fastest overall time of the weekend, a 1:33.696. I was only able to see Danny in a few corners since he was gone from sight rather quickly, but it sure was interesting to watch the side of his car. Hats off to Danny for stepping in to the TT group and performing the way he did. For the record, there was only one other car that beat his time out of all the race cars there. Now we just need him to pick up the additional 3 events needed to qualify for the Championships.
