Ah yes, racing. One of the finest ways for any man to burn his hard [cough] earned money. My dad and I race our 20 year old Porsche 944s in an amateur racing series (formerly) known as the 944 Cup. My dad, with website support from me, has built the series from the ground. In the 5 years we've run it's become a successful way for the drivers of the underpowered 944 to come and enjoy racing their cars and have a great time while doing it. We average about seven weekends a year and usually run from April to November. It all comes out of our pockets and it's definitely not the cheapest hobby out there. I still haven't won a race yet but have taken numerous podiums and take solice in the fact that the guys beating me have 2-3 times the experience I do. With experience comes confidence and with confidence comes faster lap times. The car I race is a 1985.5 Porsche 944 that is a mere shadow of its original self. Probably the only thing that's still original on the thing is... uhh... I'll have to get back to you on that one. Basically it's been rebuilt from the ground up for the purpose of racing even though it's still considered to be in the "stock" class. Don't let the word "stock" misguide you, it's not street legal and I've no intentions of making it so. The ole girl and I have been through a lot in the five or so years I've had her. Perhaps most notable was the removal of the roof by way of the Jaws of Life. I wasn't hurt and it turns out everything was just precautionary. All in all she's been good to me... far better than I've been to her. To give you a small taste of what it's like on track I've included two videos. The first is the final lap of a race at VIR and the second is an incident between the person I'm trying to take 3rd place from and a non-Cup car. The most recent version of Windows Media should play both files. Right-click and select "Save As" to save them. Be sure to check out the Videos page for links to my recent online videos.
3posVIR.wmv - 3.69 MB	Incident2.mpg - 2.65 MB
There seems to a definitive set of questions that I receive on a regular basis regarding my racing carrer, hobby or whatever else you want to call it. Below, I've done my best to answer these questions in hopes that you'll get a general understanding of what I do with my spare time and how I blow my so-called "disposable" income. Question: How fast do you go? Answer: Well, the fastest I've ever gone and had the guts to look down and the speedometer is 140 mph. I'm sure the car will go faster but we run out of room before we max out our speed. Road circuit racing is about going fast around turns, not in a straight line. Imagine screaming down your neighborhood street at 140 mph, not braking until about 300 to 400 feet before your driveway and then pulling in as fast as possible so the guy right on your ass doesn't get in there first. That's Turn 1. Question: You ever crash? Answer: I've been known to get in a scrape here and there. We try our best not to make contact because not only is it extremely dangerous at triple digit speeds, any damage is coming straight from our pocket. If you can find someone to insure you it'll probably cost about $250/day. Most people do whatever they can to avoid contact and luckily I've been unhurt in any of the incidents I've been in. Question: How did you get into racing? Answer: I am lucky enough to come from a racing backround. We're not the Andrettis but my paternal grandfather loved cars and racing. He spent years participating in amateur racing and did a fair share with my dad 30 years ago. Once I reached college age, my dad started to introduce me to the idea of amateur racing. When recently asked how he knew I would do well he replied, "I knew he had talent from the time he was beatin' me on anything with wheels," referring to our many go-kart outings. As much as we argue, it's really been a way for him to share with me what his dad shared with him. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away when I was 13 so he never got to see me race but there isn't a weekend I'm on track that I don't think about him looking down on me. I have high expectations of myself in hopes of making both him and my dad proud. Question: Do you win prizes? Answer: The short answer is yes. The long is well, a little longer than that. The series that we run does offer prizes for different things but what I win in the course of year probably defrays the cost of 1 race weekend. We're in it for the pride, the companionship and of course the adrenalin. Question: Do you watch NASCAR? Answer: For some reason, everyone thinks that people who like cars or racing watch NASCAR. I have watched about 0.72 total hours of NASCAR in my life and I don't plan on ever increasing that number. As bad as it sounds, I consider myself a racing snob. I tend to pay more attention to series like F1 and CART and make fun of people who watch NASCAR. Any self-respecting, non-Budweiser drinking American should do the same. Question: Does your wife like racing? Answer: I don't think she does. She does a decent job of faking it one or two weekends a year but more often than not she's bored when she's at the track. I really can't blame her because I have to fight the urge to commit ritual suicide whenever I have to do anything that is clearly marketed for female participation. Neither of us really minds that much, I don't think. Everyone needs time apart and this is one of the ways we get ours.