California's wet winter has kept most of us Nor cal 944 racers away from the track for the  first two races of the season, but with great weather in the forecast, five drivers left  their raincoats at home and brought out their racecars to Thunderhill this past weekend for  some action and to shake off the rust from the long offseason.

Steve Lewis arrived at the  track Friday morning and unloaded his car only to find it had broken a torsion bar in  transit which threatened to end his weekend, but after a few calls he was able to track down  a set of 25mm bars from me which came out of my donor car.

Steve, with some help from Jerry  was able to get the bars switched out and the ride height set on the first try by saturday  qualifying where he set a quick time for fourth on the grid even with a very understeering  car. Rick Lofgren came out and set a blistering time under the lap record for pole followed  by me on the front row with Jerry next, Steve fourth and Ken fifth.

The race was uneventful, finishing in the starting order. I was able to get a small gap on  Jerry and Steve which let me concentrate on staying with Rick. I drove very hard and was  able to learn alot following him but in his usual mistake free style he pulled small gaps at  every opportunity finishing 4 seconds ahead of me.

I was able to run my best laptimes ever  but it still wasn't enough. Right behind me Steve and Jerry were both battling understeer  but still ran good laptimes followed closely by Ken.

Saturday dinner was at a local Mexican restaurant with an improptu birthday celebration for  both Jerry and Steve's wife Ruth complete with sombrero's and margarita's. Sharing time with  my friends and competitors makes what we do so much more fun and meaningful, I wouldn't  trade it for the world!

Sunday

Sunday qualifying was a mirror of saturday with Rick setting a untouchable time, the  difference this time however was it cost him a motor. During a fast lap a small ticking  turned into a loud knock which quickly turned fatal for the engine. Rick's self imposed rev  limit didn't help but it did make the race very interesting. I now moved up to pole for the  first time with Jerry next to me and Steve behind. Ken in his usual incredibly gracious  manner offered his car to Rick for the race. A mad rush was on to try and squeeze Rick's  tall frame into Ken's car and room was finally made just in time for the green!

Having never  started from pole(in our own start not grouped with others) I tried to get tricky by lifting  just before the flag to get everyone else to do the same however "the best laid plans of  mice and men, and racers" didn't work out in my favor. Steve didn't fall for any of it and proceeded to drive right around me to take the lead.

If you've ever raced with Jerry, you  know how aggressive and skilled he is so I had to concentrate on holding him off for second  and fell in line behind Steve and his wounded car. For the first couple of laps we three  kings were nose to tail while Rick was having trouble with Ken's car had fallen off the pace  and soon had to retire.

Soon I felt I had a relatively comfortable gap on Jerry and set my sights on Steve. Quickly  we were touching bumpers and I made a few moves to try for my lead back. On grid before the  race my wife Kim had cleaned a spot on the car for my "winner" sticker and I was very  determined to not let her efforts go in vain. For the second day, I set a personal best  laptime but was still behind Steve who was able to get out of the corners a little better  than me. I continuously drove deep into turns only to be beaten out of them. I changed  tactics, going a little slower in but Steve was wise to that as well making very sure of  getting out fast.

Something had to give and I was trying my best not to be the something. Backing off, I  planned to get a run into turn ten and carry the momentum all the way into the braking zone  of 14 but under braking with less than a car length separating us I got dive bombed by a car  that had been sitting backwards on the entrance to pit lane and was now at least a lap  down. He didn't clear Steve for the next four corners and one straight away which gathered up a  few more cars between us. That was it, I tried all I could and cut into the gap but  didn't have the time to make it a great finish.

Good times and great racing in beautiful California helps me realize how lucky we are to be  doing this and I hope to see all of my friends again soon. I'd like to thank my wife Kim who  found a cozy little motel in the middle of nowhere and spent a great weekend with me. I'd  also like to thank Steve and Ruth for lunch on sunday, and especially to Ken for the hard  work to get us all there and his selflessness to give up his car to another driver. I should  also thank our new HPDE friends who's names escape me but shared our shade and kept us entertained!

Ron Dale