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#1
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Daytona!!!!
The season is over and what a ride it has been.
My first shout out is to Jeremy Hoover of PD Autowerks in Winchester for his diligence and patience taking me on as a new customer. I am after all a serious racing driver. The 611 has been rock solid for a number of years but this year was the year of worn out parts. It seems the “engineers” never expected a Boxster to go that fast . PD Autowerks kept my car race ready with an abundance of communication, price conscious repairs and timeliness. Thank you Jeremy! And a special shout out to Sloan at SSI for helping Jeremy with a cam actuator thingy repair. Now lets talk DAYTONA!!!! On this adventure I had to leave my support and radio man Steve Wilson here and rely on the professional IMSA pit crew of the ATLSPEEDWERKS TCR team. Don’t worry Steve, you still have a job on the 611 car but we can talk about a few possible process improvements. We’ll circle back after the first of the year. Brian Zellner, Mike and Marco were just terrific. It’s super fun to have spotters around the track. Makes you feel like a real pro! Todd Lamb, in his typically unflappable manner, made sure I kept both feet on the ground. By that I mean the occasional ego deflating comment kept my over confidence in check. Not always in a mean way. Mostly All in good fun! This year the ATLSPEEDWERKS stable included two newcomers, John Houston and Russell Bong, SPB and E respectively, as well as Toper Everett (the presumptive SPB National Champion and Speedwerks cash cow). A fun group of excited racers and a good natured crew made for a terrific weekend of camaraderie. Todd regaled us at dinner with stories from the pro racing world of which he has many. I find Daytona to be exhilarating as a race track. Many do not and they are stupid. It was fun to see the huge smiles on Russell’s and John’s faces after their first foray on the high banks of DIS. An unfortunate incident in qualifying on Friday sidelined Topher for the weekend so Jason Woz from the EPS stable, who showed a disconcerting penchant for speed, became my chief competition. The weekend also saw the return of Bela Sztanko to SPB competition after better than a half a decade (and maybe a few pounds?) hiatus. Sprint 1 was a hell of a lot more work than I wanted it to be! I was unable to shake Woz. Lamb had not done enough ego reduction at that point so I was having a hard time understanding how Woz was glued to my bumper for 30 minutes! If you have met Jason you do not come away from that interaction with a docile and mild mannered man with an inkling of the levels of aggression he is capable of on a racetrack. His demeanor is clearly an affectation, a ruse de guerre to deceive his competition. He got me. After 20 minutes of riding my tailpipe (a significant feat on it’s own ) he got me after I made a bad decision lapping traffic. 10 minutes to go and I lost the lead! Well this was a staggering turn events. This wasn’t supposed to happen to me! I’m the track record holder at Watkins Glen for crying out loud and the self proclaimed King of Daytona! And I’m losing! Alas, Jason’s reign of supremacy ended when he flummoxed the turn up onto the banking allowing me to get a run and pass him back. My Super Ego began working with my Id to calm and repair my ego over the next few laps as I built a small gap over Woz. A special thank you to Scott Leder for recognizing what was happening behind him and letting Jason and I go to continue our fight. Class act Scott. And then potential disaster! “Faster” traffic came thru on the banking where it’s super duper easy to go fast but there are these things called turns that can really, really catch the horsepower jockeys out if they aren’t extra careful and slow way down . My comfortable gap evaporated in the brake zone to the chicane on the last lap of the race giving Woz one more shot to take it from me. I crossed start finish with Woz about 2 feet behind me. Great racing from every one. Sprint 2 was fairly uneventful, except for a brief sprinkle, as I got a great start and ran like a scalded cat because I definitely didn’t want Jason to get a shot at me again. Just to be clear I’ve never scalded a cat but I’m imagining one would move pretty quickly. I’m just trying to paint a picture here. And the Enduro was equally tranquil except for the start which saw Woz nearly get taken out in T2 thus opening the door for me to ascend to my rightful place as class leader. Sorry for using thus in the 21st century but my daughter is taking AP Lit and words like thus and vie and denizen and ne’er-do-well are flying around the house. An added wrinkle in the Enduro was the need to refuel. Your aging and portly hero has not had to exit and re-enter the car during a pit stop in nearly a decade. A daunting prospect but with the crack team of Mike and Marco I made it back out only leaving a few seconds on the table to maintain my lead. All in all not a bad way to spend the culmination of my 50th year on Earth. Did you get that? I was my birthday so any of you who have not wished me happy birthday should do so now in the comments. Congrats to Russell for getting the first wins of his club racing career and John for consistent improvement in every session on track! Now I know all my fans are eagerly awaiting the results of the championship points races so here’s the rundown: prior to this weekend Topher was in first, while I, the champion of your hearts, was in second and some scallywag from California who I imagine looks like Danny DeVito (not hot young Danny from Taxi but old worn out Danny from Always Sunny) was in 3rd. However, this Danny DeVito look-a-like who we will call Heath Spencer was poised to take the top spot away from Topher thusly pushing me to 3rd by the end of the day Sunday. Alas, in a cruel twist of fate Heath, after breaking a lower control arm in Saturday’s race, was robbed of the opportunity to race on Sunday as Sonoma had to devote their ambulances to the hospital evacuation effort what with all the power outages and wildfires. Unless they can regroup and put together a race weekend I should keep my 2nd place spot. I’ll take it. And of course a HUGE thank you to the region, PCA and all the volunteers who make these events happen. And I can never forget to thank Ken Hills for his fantastic photographs of our adventures. A kind and generous man we are all better for knowing. Highlight video! And here's one from Woz of all the Sprint 1 excitement:
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Hunt 611racing.com OG Racing Team Vimeo https://www.youtube.com/user/Streak986 1999 SPB #611 2004 Wrangler “That’s how people like you work. Your ego is so out of whack that it will do what ever it can to protect itself. And people with a messed up ego can do these mental gymnastics to convince themselves they’re awesome when really they are just douche bags” - Kyle, South Park "If you need to focus maybe you should buy the book and take it home" - MLIN |
#2
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Congratulations, Man! And Happy Birthday! (I didn't realize you were just a child, only child-like!)
Well done and thanks for being amusing.
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Martin 2011 Cayman S (Gone) - Hardtop Blechster 2006 Cayman S (DD) 2016 Mazda CX-5 (Her DD) 2002 Boxster S (Gone) - Ragtop Blechster - Pura Patina! Dorkiphus: I buy it for the articles |
#3
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Happy birthday, HUNT! I am right behind you by a few months. No wonder I look up to you as a trusted elder...
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Pat Kaunitz, Summit Point, WV www.rubysummitpoint.com Carmine - 1999 996 Carrera - White Pepe - 2011 Carrera S - Grey No Name - 2016 Ford F150 Lariat - White BikePump - 1964 Stock Husband - Summer Bronzed |
#4
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Well done Sir (and I use that term because you are old now. Happy Birthday)
I got a chuckle out of the writing. Thank you.
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Stephen www.salazar-racing.com 1970 914/6 - 3.0L GT 1983 911SC - 3.32L IROC 1984 930 2008 S2R1000, dirt bikes (some gas, some electric), Sherco trials bike Sold: 2001 Boxster (hers), 2003 996tt x50 , SpecE30, 1996 E36M3 GTS2 racecar, 2015 Mustang GT |
#5
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Dang, I'm older than Hunt?
Congrats and congrats!
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ed 2016 GT4 2005 Lotus Elise 1994 RX-7 R2 |
#6
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Nice to see the ego deflation wasn't permanent.
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2016 GT4 warp 7 1999 SPB warp 2, maybe 1973 914 2.0 1/2 impulse if it ever gets out of space dock Previous: 1973 914 1.7 1/4 impulse 2012 Cayman R warp 4 2006 Cayman S warp 3 1999 SPB warp 2, maybe 1966 911 warp 1.5 |
#7
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Thank you Ed, Stephen, Pat and Martin.
Bill, you didn't say happy birthday . . .
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Hunt 611racing.com OG Racing Team Vimeo https://www.youtube.com/user/Streak986 1999 SPB #611 2004 Wrangler “That’s how people like you work. Your ego is so out of whack that it will do what ever it can to protect itself. And people with a messed up ego can do these mental gymnastics to convince themselves they’re awesome when really they are just douche bags” - Kyle, South Park "If you need to focus maybe you should buy the book and take it home" - MLIN |
#8
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Happy Birthday, Hunt! And congrats. Congratulations to Russel, too!!
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Peter (not "Pete") K. 2016 Cayman S 1999 Miata ("SM") race car 2016 Toyota Highlander--tow vehicle/wife's DD 2017 VW GTI SE (DD) Gone and missed: 1992 Miata ("SSM") race car 2009 911 C2S Coupe 2004 Toyota Prius - sold to son's girlfriend 2006 Dodge Durango 2003 Acura MDX 86 Black 911 Coupe race car 86 Gold 911 Targa 82 WineRedMetallic 911 Targa |
#9
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You noticed that, didn't you. And who says you slow down in your old age -- you're still sharp as a tack! Well, tent stake, maybe....
Happy Birthday, you old codger.
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2016 GT4 warp 7 1999 SPB warp 2, maybe 1973 914 2.0 1/2 impulse if it ever gets out of space dock Previous: 1973 914 1.7 1/4 impulse 2012 Cayman R warp 4 2006 Cayman S warp 3 1999 SPB warp 2, maybe 1966 911 warp 1.5 |
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