NASA-AZ Chuckwalla February 2015

NASA-AZ and Chuckwalla Valley Raceway was the venue for our second event of the Arizona racing season on February 7 and 8 of 2015.  An easy 3 hour drive from Phoenix this sprawling track is one of our finest destination tracks for all classes of racing.  Hosted by NASA-AZ, this event also draws heavily from the NASA Socal community and was packed with drivers of all levels.

Nasa Cali

Planning and preparation are the keys to a great event and these destination races increase that effort significantly.  From food preparation to water and tire services the employees and volunteers made a massive effort this weekend and didn’t miss a beat.  From all the drivers and spectators:  a Big thanks!

The Chuckwalla track (goracecvr.com) is 2.68 miles in length, 40 feet wide with 17 turns, multiple elevation changes, black and yellow roll curb and safe operations both clockwise and counterclockwise with plenty of free space to exit track if needed.  There is a giant paddock area and a well appointed shower and restroom facility.  Thanks to Micky Grana and his team for keeping the facility in such great shape and being tremendous hosts.

After the obligatory early morning All Drivers meeting each of the driving groups splits off to plan for the day.  In addition to our regular cadre of new and repeat HPDE drivers this event also hosted a Lotus group and a Competition School for those interested in moving up to more advanced timed events, Race Group, Time Trial and Time Attack sessions.

Competition School

Thanks to the added car counts from NASA Socal a Competition School was held at this event for those drivers that chose to spend the weekend advancing their skills.  The Competition school is a mix of classroom and driving sessions with a heavy emphasis on safety, CCR knowledge and general car handling and racing logistics.

Congratulations to the following participants, look forward to seeing you on the track soon:

Tim Bucklin, Jean-Luc De Fanti, Victor DeLaFuente, Gerald DeLira, David DePillo, Joseph DePillo, Andrea Hauck, Bob Michaels, Max Panchuk, Jet Patel, Steven Patrick, Daryl Staehle, Eli Villa, Phillip Wilkowski, Dustin Zahursky and Bob Zurcher.

 Race Group

Race Group had a large field in both run groups and ran separate small-bore and big-bore races both Saturday and Sunday.    The Chuckwalla track provides plenty of opportunity for passing and tactics due to several decent elevation changes and that big wide bowl.  Evenings were cool but the days warmed up and those with personal cooling equipment were looking for bags of ice as the afternoon races drew closer.

Clay Koevary won pole position for the Saturday Big Bore race while Bob Blizzard took the honor on Sunday and both subsequently won the respective race of that day.  Team Backwards Logic took the Saturday pole in the Small Bore race with Steven Powers the first across the checkered flag.  In Sunday’s Small Bore qualifying Hal Dunn took the pole and won the race later that afternoon.  Nice work Hal!

Results for each group can be found here:  http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/1107901

HPDE

Another  great turnout for the HPDE program with a fresh batch of DE1 qualified drivers and numerous drivers moving up into DE2, DE3 and DE4.  We are especially thankful to have new first time participants getting started and wish to acknowledge and thank the following for making the trek for this great event:   Michael Barkley, Roberta Braden, Dennis Foster, Lisa Gomolka, Chris Guthrie, Michael Hillard, Allen Lai, Chi Lam Leung, Jason Moore, Julie Shugarman, Spencer Wright

Ulrich Szirka, preparing for his upcoming Comp School,  along with several others moved into HPDE2. Congrats to all the drivers that moved up a class.

Time Attack

UMS Tuning Time Attack sessions were held Sunday afternoon as many participants were already starting to pack up for the drive home, these die hards just kept lapping the track.  Steven Powers set his fastest lap in the first session followed by Robert Smithson, Jeff Abrams, Nick Rosenberry and Eric Kennel.    Session #2 featured Michael Kasdorf at 2:05.875 in lap #2 followd by Justin Markiewicz, Greg Gomolka, Jaryd Ronquillo (but really that’s just Jroc), Team Beer:30, Russ Whalan, Roger Browning and Sean Moro.

Full results are posted for discussion:  http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3374094

Time Trial

Time Trial ran split run groups both Saturday and Sunday except for the final afternoon combined session later in the afternoon.    After an extended absence, Tucson’s Clay Koevary returned to spit out some of the fastest racing times of the weekend in his Porsche taking the top spot in Time Trial on both days  with a best time of 1:50.614.  I bet that elusive 1:49 was frustrating for him.  The top spots in TT results are basically a “Whose Who” from NASA Big Bore racing but with nearly 40 competitors there are a huge variety of lap times and results to review.  Thanks as always to Nikki and the T&S team for getting results posted:

Saturday Time Trial results:  http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3374090

Sunday Time Trial results:  http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3374090

 Photos

We are lucky to have Cali Photography at this event and thank them for the use of the header image in this article.  Take a look at all their great pictures from this and many other events on their website:  http://www.caliphotography.com/photos/chuckwalla

Safety is a #1 priority with NASA and we tend to focus on Track safety but we all need to remember that an accident in the paddock can be far worse and requires constant vigilance.  Wrenches slip, cars fall off jacks, fire is always a concern.  Sometimes we end up working on our cars alone and if something bad happens it could take time for help to arrive.  Keep an eye on each other.  If you see a car supported without jackstands or any situation that looks perilous, just walk over and offer to lend a hand, you’ll probably make a friend in the process.  And  as my older brother always used to say:  “Don’t hit yourself”…

Facebuster

 Whats next??:  March 7 & 8 we are back to Wild Horse Pass East track,  Registration is OPEN!

https://www.drivenasa.com/events/2061

 

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