944 Spec Nationals Race Report:

Sportsmanship, close competition, and adverse weather were the themes that ran through the 2011 944 National Championships. Through rather diabolical conditions, at a track known for being treacherous in the wet, 944 Spec competitors proved that clean & close racing can be done, even at the highest levels of club racing. After some last minute pre-event attrition, 15 cars started the event, and through 4+ days of fierce on track competition, there was no damage from car to car contact, no passes under yellow, or DQ’s for any reason. Thanks to heads up driving and excellent trackside support from the Bennington Motorsports team, every last one of the cars was on track for the big event – a remarkable achievement. Kudos all around!

 

 

 

The goal of the host regions was that every driver that made the trip out to Mid Ohio be able perform to his skill set and level of talent, rather than be held back by unfamiliarity to the track. To this end, Neal Agran, & Eric Kuhns put on a track orientation talk, and shared tips & data throughout the weekend. Pro racer and pro coach Michael Skeen added his input in the data review sessions, and offered valuable tips on Mid-Ohio’s “wet line.”  One of the unique aspects of Mid-Ohio that came out during these sessions is there is not a flat section anywhere on the track. Mid-Ohio is a challenging, and exciting roller coaster of a track the constantly loads and unloads the car, changes camber mid-corner, and in the wet, turns to black ice on the normal racing line where a high wear sealer is laid down.

 

 

 

Thursday’s qualifying start was in just such wet conditions.  Local Rainmeister Neal Agran qualified on pole, follow by Midwest driver Ray Freundt, California State Carting Champion Tyler Palmer, ex-Ford sponsored pro racer Dan Pina, returning National Champion David Dirks, and previous Mid-Ohio National Champion Eric Kuhns rounding out the top half of the grid.

 

 

Conditions were drying by racetime, catching some drivers out on a decision to use a rain setup. At the start, this quickly shuffled the field. Dirks quickly moved to the front, hounded all race long by Kuhns. Pina, along with local Midwest racers Angel Blazquez & Joel Karns, and Texan Phillip Fromme all moved up from their starting positions, while Palmer fell back to 7^th, struggling with a full rain set up. In this short qualifying race, the positions settled out in that order, with Dirks again proving he drives the “widest” 944 in the nation – great stuff! Pole sitter Agran broke a CV joint at the start, finishing last, and setting up one of the great Cinderella stories in club racing. More on that later.

Friday stayed dry, and racers from all regions saw times drop dramatically as experience was gained, tips & data shared.  Tyler Palmer bounced back from his disappointing finish in Thursday’s race to qualify on pole, less than 1/10^th second ahead of Kuhns.  Pina & Agran were also in the 1:44’s, for a tightly packed front two rows. Karns stepped up next, followed by another impressive showing from the visiting Texan, Fromme.  Caught out by some traffic, Dirks slotted in 7^th to round out the top half of the grid.

At the race start, Fromme got a good jump to move up into third, and wily veteran Dirks crafted his way up into 4^th.  Fromme and Dirks enjoyed a good scrap, with the latter driver making it count on the last lap, executing a clean pass in Thunder Valley. After losing one position to Dirks, Pina held fast to 5^th position, followed by Karns and Brad Raum who broke into the top half of the field. Agran would again not complete a single lap under race conditions due to another CV joint failure – his 3^rd of the weekend. Brand new OEM axles seemed like such a safe idea for Nationals…

 

Saturday saw some blistering times in in the warm up session, with Dirks making good on some tips from Kuhns & Agran, and channeling his karting days to put left foot braking to good use, posting a 1:43.4 – the fastest recorded time of the weekend. The forecast for the race was a straight coin flip – 50% chance of rain.  It was looking dry up until about 25 minutes to start time.  What looked like a passing shower turned into monsoon. The 944 Spec paddock looked like a very wet and slightly crazy version of the pits in Daytona under full course yellow. Jacks, impact guns, and torque wrenches went flying as the Bennington Motorsports crew helped get the majority of racers switched over to wets at the last possible minute, while being thoroughly soaked.

The Championship race gridded up with Dirks on pole, Kuhns off pole, Palmer third, and Pina fourth.  It didn’t stay that way for long.  Dirks got the best jump on the start, and slotted in front of Kuhns. He then nearly drove straight off the first corner, slipping, sliding, and wiggling in the braking zone.  Pina, starting Directly behind Kuhns, also got into turn one a bit too hot, and tapped Kuhns’ rear bumper, sending Kuhns into a spin, and exiting track left himself.  Using teenage reflexes and nearly ten years of carting experience to good use, Palmer shot the gap between the two spinning cars, and stayed on the wet line to drive off in pursuit of Dirks, who had gathered up his car, and came away from the melee in a solid first place. Fortunately, the drivers behind the first two rows wisely checked up in the blinding spray, which allowed Kuhns to get back under way just as the field was upon him, without being collected.  Fromme was able to get by Kuhns during this, then Karns & Blazquez nearly did, but were unable to find traction to make it stick, being forced off the wet line.

Up front, the beginning of this year’s Championship Race was shaping up much like the end of the last National Championship, with the young sensation Palmer, chasing the veteran Dirks. This went on for several laps, while Kuhns and Fromme were having a similar battle for third place.

Passing in the wet at Mid Ohio almost always means venturing off the narrow wet line and slithering across the slippery sealing compound that cover the dry line. You hope you’ve got the car aimed right, and the chassis settled, make your move, and hope you find grip again before you find yourself off track, or intersecting paths with the other car.  Commit, pucker, and pray.

Back to the racing. After several attempts, Kuhns got by Fromme, exiting the outside of the fastest corner of the track, trusting the Fromme would gather up his wheelspinning, drifting, 944. Shortly thereafter, Dirks found even 944s can develop too much torque for certain conditions, like when the track turns and drops out from under you entering Thunder Valley, in the wet. This area caused several spins, and Dirks was another victim, neatly looping his 944 completely on track, and between two walls. Palmer again steered clear of his pirouetting competition, and claimed first place for his own. Kuhns came across this a moment later, but not before Dirks was able to release the fabric clenched in his gluteal area, and get under way again.

Meanwhile, the previously hapless Agran was on a tear from his last place starting position, having replaced his troublesome “new” axles, with his trusty old ones. Always a master at finding grip on the wet, Agran found he could out-brake columns of cars using an unconventional line on the inside at the end of the back straight. This meant drifting across the “black ice” sealer mid corner, but was clearly faster than the safer route the rest of the field was taking around the rim of the corner.  Amazingly, Agran was able to pull this feat off lap after lap, moving from dead last, all the way up to second place late in the race, and setting up an exciting finish. Apparently large amounts of frustration can build large cajones, and Agran used them to good effect.

Rewind the clock a bit, back to the Dirks/Kuhns battle for 2^nd. Kuhns caught sight of Agran in his mirror before the race was half done. Knowing that it meant Agran had disposed of the rest of the field in very short order, Kuhns felt the pressure to get by Dirks, before the rainmeister had them both.  Possibly still wary of his loop in Thunder Valley, Dirks lost ground to Kuhns coming into the Carousel. Kuhns was positioned just behind, and outside Dirks, who then slid wide across Kuhns’s bow mid corner, allowing Kuhns to perform an ersatz over/under pass, all on the same line down the middle of the track.  Bizarre, but fun stuff!

After a few uneventful laps up front, a full course yellow came out, to extract multiple car from sand traps around the course (mostly BMW’s of course!). Fortunately, the efficient Mid Ohio safety crew was able to get the course clear in time for a two and half lap sprint to the finish. This yellow brought Agran up close to Kuhns, and the two of them within sight of Palmer, though with 7 out of class or lapped cars between them. Palmer, had been drivin a flawless race up front this whole time, despite the relentless rain, and traffic. Kuhns got a great run on the restart, and threaded an inside line past 5 of the 7 cars through walls of spray. This feat was only topped by Agran, who passed yet one more car  (Kuhns!) using his now patented inside line late braking maneuver at the end of the straight. This left two backmarker E30’s between the two, and Palmer. Also, it marked Agran’s ascension from dead last to second place, in a national championship race, with no shortage of talent to overcome. Wow!

Alas, for Agran, the two back marker Spec E30’s in front seemed to make it a matter of pride to race out of class to the bitter end. Having to attempt a tough pass on the inside coming over the hill into Thunder Valley, Agran suffered some wheelspin, and gave second place back to Kuhns only 4 corners after he’d earned it. Now on a mission, Kuhns aggressively maneuvered by the same two Spec E30’s to get Palmer directly in his sights, but just out of reach.  Palmer had opened up a bit of breathing room with the dogfight behind him in the last 2.5 laps. He wisely gave some of it back so as to not throw it away on the last lap, ultimately finishing 1.4 seconds ahead of Kuhns, for his first NASA 944 Spec National Championship. Palmer did not put a tire wrong the entire race, and made some very heads up moves to clear spinning cars for position. He earned every of the roughly $4,000 in contingency cash & prizes in some very tough conditions, at a track he’d never seen outside of a computer screen, until a week before the race. This young man has a future behind the wheel of racecars! Well done!