NARRC Run Offs

[NATW]

First of all I want to thanks Dave Zaslow for letting me use his car, as said earlier a very classy gesture. I blew the motor in my Volvo on the 2nd lap of qualifying in the morning session. Dave got to the track in the early afternoon found out about my situation (I was in 2nd place in the NARRC championship ,50 points behind Ken Hubbard and was going to be watching the race) and offered me his car. I can't thank him enough. I manged to qualify 3rd behind Rick Benazic and Richard Gleason. I didn't get the greatest start but I was lucky that I was gridded in an even position which left me on the inside of the lefthander on the 1st lap (if you study the results 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all in even grid spots and benefitted from it, my condolences to Rick who was otherwise in a great position to win the race, and the other guys who had the same bad luck) , at that point an ITR BMW spun and stopped broadside in front of everyone on the outside of that turn. I checked up a little and Ken Hubbard got by me on the inside, I was close behind going up the hill and into west bend, but he made a slight mistake and went wide at the down hill and I was able to drive by. The rest of the race was pretty routine until I got caught up behind some cars I was lapping, suddenly Ken was on my bumper and we went though the left hander 3 wide with me coming out ahead. I was able to put some good distance on him at that point because he got caught up in traffic too.

Raymond, to answer your question Dave's car was AWESOME!!, it was very easy to drive, it was on rails the whole race and I didn't have the slightest slip or wiggle until the last couple of laps when it got pretty wet, and then only minor crabbing of the front wheels in big bend, I don't think I would have won in my own car. Its going to be hard to get back in my tank after this ride,

Dave, thanks again and again, I'm going to owe you forever.

Nat Wentworth
2008 NARRC ITB Champion

[lateapex911]

You know, Nat, that says buckets about your skills as a driver, in that you:
- Had the confidence to race another guys car in the "NARCC Crash-offs" as they have been called occasionally, and-
- WON the darn thing in a car that has to be way different than your normal car. Heck, they are what, 20 years apart, and RWD vs FWD!?

And as you pointed out, wow, Dave sacrificed his own race to loan you the car. That's huge. Nice job Dave.

Congrats!

[lateapex911]

I think I want to also give the NY Region some props for the quality of the goodies. I was thrilled to be able to FINALLY take a checkered flag lap at Lime Rock -my first ever there- and when i came back to the pits and stopped to give it back for the exchange to the dinky "keeper" flag, they waved my by. Wow, nice flag! Then I went to get the trophy...nice surprise there as well. Not any old plaque deal, this was a nice curved glass piece, similar to the one got at the IT -Fest. Then they handed me a huge bottle of champagne! I would have been happy with a beer!

Nice job, NY Region!

[dazzlesa]

first off congrats to Nat. he raced hard all year. Ken and i gave all we had to catch him. i also agree that daves moves was class all the way.
for my weekenend , i think it was a race for me to loose. on tuesday the car was flying. then the provisional ITB pole in the rain and the pole in the dry. 7th out of 30 with the closet B car in 12th. the race started with a good mist. we get to the left hander and a car in front of me taps the ITR bmw spinning him right in front of me. i slid into him and get hit from behind. it takes a moment to get going again but the field is gone. from that point on it felt like a circus show. cars all over the place. i had no idea what positon i was in as i passed car after car. i drove my ass of trying to catch up. near then end of the race i had a great battle with charles for 3rd. charles had titanium balls going through the down hill. i am bumbed out that my chance ended so quickly but i am glad to leave with my car having only a bloody nose. nothing a big hammer and some tugging wont fix.
glad to hear that Richie is ok. Marc did some amazing drifting while qualifying exiting bigbend. congrats to joe on the ITA naarc win. shane kicked some but. thanks also to Matt kessler for getting the car to rock.

[moto62]

..... I was thrilled to be able to FINALLY take a checkered flag lap at Lime Rock -my first ever

Wow! Nice job man. Congrats on the win.Who else was there doing the IT-7 thing? Need results man!

Went up to see Hunter at his home this evening and he is doing fine. Still has a headache and will probably go see a Doc tomorrow just to make sure all is well. He showed us his car and man, that must have been a helluva hit. The X bars on the pass side opened up in the center like a gate on hinges and the passenger door ended up being the center console. Sheesh! He was wearing a HANS device, thank goodness for that. Now what aboot the dude that hit Richie eh? How is he doing? Any videos yet?

[Dave Zaslow]

First and foremost I want to say that Nat, Ken, Charley, and Rick (individually and collectively) drove an absolutely friggen fantastic race. I was lucky enough to have Scott Carllson and Michael Reece standing next to me in the tower to keep picking me off the floor while watching the action. I was ready to ask them to carry me to medical when they went three wide in the lefthander. Ken, if you want the rubber from your sidewall, it is available on the side of the Golf in front of the rear wheel.

While the ebb and flow of traffic certainly played its part Nat just put his head down and drove at a smooth yet aggressive pace. The passes I saw were clean.

Let me point out that the first 4 ITB cars crossed the finish line in order,one behind the other. One miscue would have cost many positions.

Look at the fastest laps:

Nat 1.05.264
Ken 1.04.763
Charley 1.05.877
Rick 1.05.264

Note that Ken is the only RWD car.

The next three ITB cars (Volvo) ran 1.07's.

Nat, I don't want your firstborn, but how about a 10 year 'no-pass' rule?

It was fun for me, nerve wracking, but fun nonetheless, to see my car win and have Nat earn that championship.

DZ

[gran racing]

Damn, that was beyond nice of you Dave and as Jake said, a bit gutsy. Yeah, I think you deserve at least a 5 year rule on that one. If I had only known you were offering rides on your car. I'm still pissed I coudn't get the car repaired in time although it makes me feel better it wasn't raining during your qual. and race. Next year's gotta get easier, right?

Nice job Jake & Joe. So Jake, we gonna see you in ITB next year?

If any of us are given no choice but to "t-bone" a car, where do we aim???

The axel / wheel.

[Beran]

Nat - Great job!
Dave - your the man.

Nat - hope to see you in NJ.

BTW- I do have a VW for sale ;-)

Beran

[kjh6576]

Congratulations Nat !!
Nice way to end a great season of racing. Dave Z without question, deserves the White Knight of the Year award.
I must say that was the hardest/craziest race I had ever run. While Nat was Cruzin in his luxury VW, I was 11/10ths, makin a whole bunch lappers mad trying to catch back up to Nat. After passing lapped cars 3 wide in the grass on NoName , the left hander should have been no problem. LOL At least both our cars are white. oopps<Sorry Dave>
Glad to hear Ritch is OK.
If you had asked me in the begining of the season, if I thought ,I'd have a chance competing for a championship. I would have said you were a crazy person. I feel priviledged and honored to have participated in all these events with all of you guys and girls. This was a great season with a whole bunch of first class racers and first class people !!
Nat, are you going to re-fit the tank for NJ ?
Ken