Slipstream - October 2010

Tell a Friend!
by LTC Jeff Herrmann
Photos by Charlie Davis
I
thought it appropriate that Time Trial Boyd in his STi and Dan Ashley in his Evo provided for the
Chair, Travis Howard, started the entertainment of all. As a former STi owner, you have to
Time Trial driver’s meeting with appreciate those cars as well.
a moment of silence in
remembrance of the nine
year anniversary of 9-11.
We have not forgotten! But
after that somber note, the
festivities began with a quick but informative
driver’s meeting. With only 24 entrants (13 of
those being P-car drivers) Mike Lockas, Chief
of Workers, had a difficult time filling jobs
with drivers. Once this task was overcome,
James and Mark Wilkinson announced that Jim Hedderick stopped by Mineral Wells on his way home from out of state.
the family brought trays full of BBQ brisket,
The day ended early for many of the participants only
hot dogs, chips, and tea for all in preparation for our
to start the task of setting out the cones for the autocross
lunch break. It was an excellent lunch as proved by the
course for some of the others. This course was originally
designed by Josh Dexter, a driver new to autocross only
this year. His experience has been limited to only the Time
Trial and Autocross schools and a couple events. Despite
his inexperience, he submitted a course that I believe
many participants would use adjectives such as innovative,
inspired, and “technical without the sea of cones syndrome”
to describe the design. Unfortunately, we could not use the
entire course due to the limitation of only a few available
corner workers per shift. But it still turned out to the one of
the longest in terms of time on the course. With 12 runs for
the day everyone was pretty “driven out.”
Josh Dexter gets really close to a cone.... wait!! Is that lifting I
see? Better check the car for cone evidence.
overflowing donation coffee can collecting for the club’s
charity, the Huffaker Hughes Hope House for battered
women and children. Thank you Wilkinson family!
Onto the driving; and there was a lot of driving with only
24 drivers. The action was free of drama
with few spins and fewer mechanical
problems. The results showed that Ray
Kelley has not lessened his game while
capturing the Porsche Top Time of the
Day. However, the second fastest Porsche
driver may or may not surprise you. I
only hope I can drive that well at 70+
years old. Well done, Richard Diller!
Michael Pelletier rounded out the top
three but more on him later. Of course,
great credit has to go to the duel that Paul
Looking at the results I think you will be pleasantly
surprised that with the performance factor of the car taken
into consideration, Avery Murphy was the #1 Driver of the
Day. Of course, Ray Kelley was close behind with Mike
Lockas in third. Just a note on Mike, notice how consistent
he is in his times as well as placing in the top 5; truly a great
driver and instructor. However, the superstar of the day was
Michael Pelletier with fastest Porsche Driver of the Day.
We won’t mention that David Whitener in his CRX earned
the Top Time of Day award.
Since I got to
write an article
for this event,
I guess I ought
to tell my wife
(Tannia Dobbins)
and my story
of car issues.
My 912 did not
want to start,
temperamental
Ray Kelley shows us how to expertly maneuver a gate.
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