Sat 4.16

Saturday was miserable. The weather was terrible with heavy wind gusts sometimes hitting 30 miles per hour. This wind made it feel much colder than it actually was as well. On occasion, light rain struck the ground during the morning track sessions.

Qualifying for both the Thunder and Lightning race groups took place just before noontime. The Hi Speed Motorsports team opted not to run at all as they felt it was too much of a risk to run DOT-R without any real tread in wet conditions. Unfortunately, no real downpour happened so the team was slightly kicking themselves. When it was racetime for the Thunder group at around 2pm, there was still no real rain.  Just a light mist of rain.

The team watched on as many of the GTS cars and Porsches ran with their wipers on at full speed.  After a close call on the first lap, the race was uneventful. The cars seemed to create a dry patch around the track so even though it was misting, there was still grip to be had on the track.  By the end, John Cloutier in his #205 blue E36 M3 took the victory in GTS3 with Steve Katz not too far behind. The big rainstorm had STILL not hit yet.

The storm did not hit until it was time for the Lightning Group to have their race. The sky was raining buckets basically as almost 2" of standing water coated the track. Many of the teams and drivers fitted their cars with treaded tires such as Toyo RA-1's or Toyo Proxes R888's.

Mike Miller, driver of the Hi Speed Motorsports #81 Mazda RX-7 said, "I was disappointed at first when I told the NASA Administration that I wasn't going to run today. But when the storm really hit, I was glad I didn't run."

A fellow driver and friend to the Hi Speed Motorsports team, Spencer Anderson, ran an unbelievable race in his #516 Honda Civic. Even fitted with new sticky RA-1's, Spence was not going to let the rain spoil his race.  Starting 5th overall, he moved quickly to the front as he passed Michael Fries in his yellow S2000 and Frank Celenza in his Porsche 944.  It was truly amazing as every lap Spencer seemed to be getting faster and faster. And remember, THIS WAS IN TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS!

Spencer Anderson's #516 Civic during Qualifying.

He was leading overall until Frank Celenza caught him in the straightaway for 1st place. It didn't matter as Celenza's car was in a completely different (and faster) class. But it was a true achievement for Spencer as he had missed much of last year due to constant braking system problems with his car and he actually had brakes that were malfunctioning just the day before! When he passed the start/finish line, Spencer returned to the paddock to get weighed. The energy was simply magnificent as Spence shook his fist in the air with great happiness.

Spencer's 1st place trophy.

Griff walked over to him and said, "What are you Senna now? Being even better in the rain than in the dry?" Spencer laughed. Spencer also noticed that the windshield banner had torn off during the race. "I didn't know I was going THAT fast, but wow it's good to be back," he said.

It was unfortunate for the HSM team that it didn't really rain during the Thunder race, but they were glad they didn't run in the Lightning race. But man was it one hell of a race for Spencer Anderson!

-GG