October 11, 2011
944 Spec racing was exciting again this past weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway. While entry numbers were down somewhat from recent events, the group that did show up kept it lively and continued a tight battle for season points. Coming into the weekend, we all were looking forward to giving our own 17-year-old sensation Tyler Palmer, and his hard-working crew chief/dad Greg, a big CONGRATULATIONS for winning the 944 Spec National Championship in September (in the rain on a course he had never run!). And although he had never run Buttonwillow in the clockwise direction, it was quickly evident that Tyler was going to be driving the (bright green) car to beat. Jim Richmond, Tom Atteberry, Chris Allen and I did our best to get the track down pat. Unfortunately, Tom's car developed an electrical gremlin; luckily, Chris had a second 944 and was kind enough to let Tom run it. At the drop of the green flag on Saturday, Tyler took off like a rabbit, leaving the rest of us as the dogs chasing him. I spent the whole race on Jim's bumper, almost passing him on a couple occasions but Jim did an excellent job making sure my attempts didn't stick. Meanwhile, Tom reported some hesitation as he passed Chris, worrying that an incident there could take out both of Chris's cars. Sunday I was able to pick up my times somewhat, but because of an incident on-track during qualifying, we were only able to get one good lap. Somehow I bested Jim's qualifying time by only 2/10 of a second, putting me beside Tyler on the front row for the start of the race. And the start was certainly exciting, with me on the outside into the first turn and Tom barreling up between Tyler and me. Somehow I held onto second place and then stayed with Tyler for the first few laps, eventually recording a fast lap in the race only 3/10 of a second slower than the fastest lap of the National Champion. All in all, it was a fun weekend, and a good event leading into the final weekend of the year in November, where four drivers have the potential to finish with top season points.
- Submitted by Everett Delano
944 Spec racing was exciting again this past weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway. While entry numbers were down somewhat from recent events, the group that did show up kept it lively and continued a tight battle for season points. Coming into the weekend, we all were looking forward to giving our own 17-year-old sensation Tyler Palmer, and his hard-working crew chief/dad Greg, a big CONGRATULATIONS for winning the 944 Spec National Championship in September (in the rain on a course he had never run!). And although he had never run Buttonwillow in the clockwise direction, it was quickly evident that Tyler was going to be driving the (bright green) car to beat. Jim Richmond, Tom Atteberry, Chris Allen and I did our best to get the track down pat. Unfortunately, Tom's car developed an electrical gremlin; luckily, Chris had a second 944 and was kind enough to let Tom run it. At the drop of the green flag on Saturday, Tyler took off like a rabbit, leaving the rest of us as the dogs chasing him. I spent the whole race on Jim's bumper, almost passing him on a couple occasions but Jim did an excellent job making sure my attempts didn't stick. Meanwhile, Tom reported some hesitation as he passed Chris, worrying that an incident there could take out both of Chris's cars. Sunday I was able to pick up my times somewhat, but because of an incident on-track during qualifying, we were only able to get one good lap. Somehow I bested Jim's qualifying time by only 2/10 of a second, putting me beside Tyler on the front row for the start of the race. And the start was certainly exciting, with me on the outside into the first turn and Tom barreling up between Tyler and me. Somehow I held onto second place and then stayed with Tyler for the first few laps, eventually recording a fast lap in the race only 3/10 of a second slower than the fastest lap of the National Champion. All in all, it was a fun weekend, and a good event leading into the final weekend of the year in November, where four drivers have the potential to finish with top season points.
- Submitted by Everett Delano
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