BIG WILLOW
From the Editor:
This issue was made possible through the efforts of contributors
Darin Moore, Steve Eisler, Tom Kenna, Paul Wren, Dr. Dyno, Don Matz and Luis Vivar. I’ve enjoyed learning more about our members through my interviews and our contributing writers’ articles relating their off-track hobbies to racing. If you have an idea for an article, please contact me. Velocity is a great opportunity to give back to your club.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? POCVelocityEditor@gmail.com
Andrew Weyman
Art
Contributing Writers
Andrew
Dr.
Steve
Darin
Paul Wren Tom Kenna
Contributing Photographers
Luis Vivar
Don Matz
Tom Kenna
Steve Eisler
Paul Wren
POC Board of Directors
John Momeyer President
Karen
Dwain
Eben
/ PDS
Cover Image: Luis Vivar / Don Matz
Porsche Owners Club 2025 Event Schedule
BIG WILLOW
Photo: Luis Vivar
WILLOW
BIG WILLOW
Our beloved Porsche Owners Club is celebrating our 70th anniversary this year, and we kicked if off in super (bowl weekend) style. When I first saw the conflict of this race weekend with the big game, I thought race
Image: Luis Vivar / Don Matz
WILLOW
Super Season Opener
DARIN MOORE
attendance would be considerably lighter than usual. What I instead learned is that we racers would prefer to race than to watch others play games on TV. It was nice to see, as life is not a spectator sport!
Our season opening weekend was met with balmy (for February at Willow Springs) weather. Instead of the low 20’s temperatures we usually wake up to at Willow in February, we were blessed with lows in the mid 30’s, and race time temperatures hovering around 60 degrees. Perfect racing weather! The cool dense air around qualifying time each day led to fast laps times under near ideal conditions for all.
Saturday’s BSR qualifying was led by Murray Wunderly, Rob Walker and Sagar Dhawan. GT5 saw Bill Durant run as the only class entrant, John Momeyer outqualified Vivek Hazari as the two entrants in the newly formed Spec 2.7 class, and Randy Bergum bested Ted Frech in GT7. As the Orange Group races twice on Saturday, it was time to get down to business, and the drop of the first green flag of the year!
In Race #1, BSR saw Rob Walker track down pole sitter Wunderly early, then walk away (see what I did?) from the field, and he continued to stretch out his lead each lap, until he took the checkered flag as our first race winner of the year. Murray Wunderly held on for 2nd place, and Ryan Moore scored a few move up places to take the 3rd step on the podium. Bill Durant ran solo in GT5, John Momeyer got the win in 2.7 Spec, and Randy Bergum won the GT7 tilt. Race #2 in the large and highly competitive BSR class again saw Rob Walker take the win, Nick Malloy finished 2nd, and Murray Wunderly completed the podium with a 3rd place finish. John Momeyer ran unopposed in 2.7 spec, Bill Durant ran solo in GT5, and Randy Bergum nipped Ted Frech by a mere .76 seconds in GT7.
Saturday afternoon brought out the higher horsepower Red Group cars, the fastest group of cars in the club. Saturday qualifying in 991.2 Spec saw Mike Monsalve take pole (a fairly routine result for Mike), followed by Bryan Van Noy and Bob Mueller. GT2 pole went to John Heldman, followed in order by Paul Barnes, then Tate Pritt. In GT3, Jim Salzer took pole, followed by Ryder Liu and Darin Moore (me). Thomas Stone ran solo in GT4.
Saturday’s Red Group race featured an absolute war between Mike Monsalve and Bryan Van Noy. As they came by me during the race, I don’t think I could have squeezed a thin piece of paper between those two, such was the closeness of their battle. Ultimately Mike Monsalve prevailed, albeit by an infinitesimal 16/100’s of a second! In the GT2 race, John Heldman won rather easily over 2nd place finisher Paul Barnes, and 3rd place went to Tate Pritt. In the larger GT3 class, Jim Salzer took the checkered flag as winner, 2nd place went to Darin Moore, and Paul Wren rounded out the GT3 podium.
Our Sunday race schedule was moved up time wise, to allow those heading off to a Super Bowl party the opportunity to catch at least some of the game. In the Orange Group, BSR pole went to Murray Wunderly, Rob Walker took P2, and P3 went to Sagar Dhawan. In Spec 2.7, John Momeyer outqualified Vivek Hazari, Bill Durant ran unopposed on GT5, and Ted Frech took pole over Randy Bergum in GT7.
Photos: Luis Vivar
The final Orange Group race of the weekend saw Rob Walker make it a clean sweep, with his 3rd win of the weekend. Murray Wunderly finished 5 seconds behind in 2nd place, and the bronze went to Nick Maloy. Spec 2.7 saw John Momeyer take his 3rd win of the weekend in the inaugural Spec 2.7 event, Bill Durant ran solo in GT5, and Randy Bergum took his 3rd win of the weekend over Ted Frech.
In the Red Group, Mike Monsalve again took pole in Spec 991.2, followed by Bryan Van Noy and Bob Mueller. Tate Pritt was the sole qualifier in GT2, as was Thomas Stone in GT4. GT3 class pole was won by Jim Salzer, with Darin Moore joining Jim on the front row, and David Fabi lined up in P3 for the race.
With qualifying in the books, it was time to race! In Spec 991.2, it was starting to look like a repeat of the Monsalve/Van Noy battle of the day before, when suddenly Mike Monsalve ended up four wheels off just past the top of turn 4. This off-track excursion brought out double yellow flags, and signaled the end of Monsalve’s day. Once his car was towed in, racing resumed. Bryan Van Noy then took up the battle with Duane Selby, and those two went toe to toe in yet another epic battle. Van Noy was able to hold on for the win, this time by 17/100ths of a second over Selby. Bob Mueller completed the podium by taking 3rd place. In GT2, Tate Pritt was the only finisher, as was Thomas Stone in GT4. That left the final battle of the race weekend to the GT3 class. The GT3 race was won by Darin Moore, Mick Yanoschak finished 2nd, and David Fabi placed 3rd. I must note at this point that Ryder Liu took the checkered flag both Saturday and Sunday in first place but was subsequently disqualified from both races due to a Rules infraction.
All in all, it was a great start to our 70th year as a club. In my view, the POC is the best Porsche racing club anywhere! See you all at Buttonwillow!
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photo: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photo: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photo: Luis Vivar
Photo: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
Photos: Luis Vivar
EISLER
As we exited highway 14 onto the Rosamond exit, a message appeared on my dashboard. “WARNING Possible icy roads ahead.” I had never seen this message before, but then I noticed that the outside temperature was 32 degrees. By the time we passed Rosamond High School it was 30 degrees and when we reached the paddock the display showed 28 degrees. I have been at Willow Springs when the overnight low was below 20, but this was the first time it had been below freezing in the morning. My car, Stan, was covered with a thin layer of ice as were most of the other cars. It was going to be a good weekend for fast times!
A COLD START
Willow
During the practice runs, tires came up to normal temperatures. The track warmed up, and times began to improve. Almost half of the Time Trial drivers did their best time in the first timed run session. They were led by Gerrit Wesseling, who recorded a 1:21.041 in his Spec 991.2 car. Gerrit did just one TT session each day as he prepared for his Red Cup races, where he finished 7th and 6th in his class. On Sunday he improved to 1:20.588, just .004 seconds behind Bruce Blockus who had the fastest time of the weekend, 1:20.584, on Sunday in his Sebco Prototype. Robert Dalrymple had the top time in GT1 and the third fastest time of the weekend, 1:22.012. Serge Cigdemoglu, 1:22.913, and Danna Van Noy,1:24.474, rounded out the top six times of the weekend and placed second and third in Spec 991.2.
There were 6 drivers competing in class GT3, led by Will Wattanawongkiri, who won the class both days. His 1:22.592 was the 4th fastest time of the weekend. Will was followed by Bob Gartland, David Fabi, Scott Matz, and Alex Maslov in class GT2 who were all under 1:26. Mike Avitt won in Modified 2 both days, and his wife, Angela, was second in the same class on Sunday. Angela’s 1:30.012 was the second fastest time in Point By Passing on Sunday.
The fastest Point by Passing driver was Thomas Kenna, 1:27.394, who finished first in class Modified 3 both days. New Time Trialers included Osei Appiagyei, who ran a 1:30.184 and was
STEVE
Springs Time Trials
first in Stock 3 on Saturday, and Cyrus Chen recording a 1:30.914 in Modified 2. Point by drivers under 1:35 were Sean Taheri, 131.132 in Modified 3, and Terry Van Noy, 132.272 in the very competitive Modified 2 class.
I made changes to the RBIS print-out this month. To keep the list shorter, only drivers who competed in this event were included in the results. I also sorted the results based upon the date of the event and then by the place in class (PIC) so you can easily see the order of finish. To the right of the PIC column is the time in seconds of the driver’s best run on that date, their previous best time in seconds and their RBIS score. An example of significant improvement is Justin Miller in GT3. On Saturday he recorded a 1:30.271, more than 7 seconds faster than his previous best of 1:37.9. His 1:37.9 was about 16 seconds slower than the best time for this track. Improving almost 8 of the 16 seconds needed to equal the record produced an RBIS score of 46.63. On Sunday he dropped his time another 4 seconds with a room for improvement of 8.73 seconds to yield an RBIS score of 45.45.
In Modified 3 Thomas Kenna had a time of 92.471 seconds on 5/25/24 and previous best of 91.799 seconds. Since he was slower than his previous best there is no improvement score, and the improved sec is a negative number. The difference between his best time and the record is 3.64 seconds. On 5/26/24 he improved 0.59
seconds out of the 3.64 second difference to score 16.18 points and on 12/08/24 he improved 1.01 seconds of the 3.05 difference for a 33.01 RBIS score. On February 8 he improved another 2.58 seconds with a time of 1:27.628, but at the start of the year the records for all classes were updated and he was now 3.98 seconds slower than the record for a 64.71 score. Finally, on February 9 he improved another 0.23 seconds of the 1.40 difference to score another 16.67 points. I have highlighted these scores in red so you can follow them on the list.
Attention Cup Racers! I have been collaborating with John Momeyer to develop a system for measuring improvement in the Orange and Red Cup races. The basic premise is to award points based upon the number of cars each driver finishes ahead of at the end of the race. I am in my third iteration of a Place Based Improvement Score and hope to have samples available after the March 8-9 Buttonwillow races.
Photos: Luis Vivar
Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)
WSIR 2 25
Time Trial Record Based Improvement Scores (RBIS)
The Porsche Owners Club R ecognizes Pro Motorsports as a Valued Sponsor
STEVE TOWN Sponsorship Director
Our sponsor group encompasses a diverse array of industries. This month’s sponsor article features a company and its owner with a strong emphasis on motorsports, particularly specializing in Porsche. PRO Motorsports owner, Brad Keegan, is also a long time POC member, successful GT racer, and track tech support supplier to POC. I enjoyed learning more about Brad’s history in the sport, on track, street, stunt car work, and about his business.
Brad joined the POC in 2009, having experience from other racing endeavors, and he started PRO Motorsports in Burbank in 2014. I asked Brad what prompted him to start the business. He said, “I was interested in and owned Porsches long before joining POC, and in 2014 I decided to put the Porsche knowledge I had into a business.” He went on saying, “I grew up racing and working on Porsches. Growing up in the L.A. area I liked the street car race scene, especially up on Mulholland Drive, and my passion grew from there.”
Wanting to know more about the business, I asked Brad to describe his services. He said, “We offer everything from complete restorations, painting, interior, engine, transmission, suspension rebuilding, to race and track set ups too. My partner, Tyson Schmidt, is a very talented Porsche engineer
and technician, but also in modified street, and track specific set up. Our customers are Porsche enthusiast that love their cars, and that’s really our target market. We’ve shipped cars all over the U.S., but mostly our customer is L.A. area based.” I asked Brad about Porsche, and when he got interested in them. He surprised me by saying, “I bought my first one at 14 years old.” Now that’s someone who knew that Porsche was his car.
Where would you like to see the business to be in five years? He told me, “To continue to give all our customers the best service and care on their cars, like they were our own. Porsche is our passion, and we love what we do. We love the look of satisfaction on our customers’ faces when they drive off in their cars after we work on them.”
driving at 14, and did my first race for money was when I was 15.” He continued, “There were so many injuries to friends of mine, but luckily all survived. I was fortunate enough to never get hurt doing those crazy nights. I would make my way into television or movie productions, end up working lights and effects, and I’d say I’m stunt driver, while working the other departments. That would turn into me showing them how do to donuts among other things. This was in the 1980’s and I was still young.” Clearly, all those Friday and Saturday night street racing and adventures led to some very good speed and most importantly, car control! I said, “Brad, two things. First, it’s amazing you survived those years. Second, now I understand your race craft, racing control, and style on track.”
Let’s move on to Brad’s track history, experiences, successes, and what created such a passion for racing. I didn’t grow up in the L.A. area, and I was not aware of the street race scene on Mulholland Drive, but this is where Brad started racing as a teenager. He said, “My teen years had a lot of Friday and Saturday nights on Mulholland Drive, at Dead Man’s Curve. I would sneak out, meet my buddies, and we’d race cars on Friday and Saturday night. I started
Brad described how all this car interest and unique street and stunt “fun” led eventually to the racetrack. Brad goes on, “My first ontrack drive led to racing in NASCAR events out west in 2007, then finally joined POC in 2009. I met Marty Mehterian (long time POC member and racer) and joined POC. Marty and I became good friends, and we still are. He’s really the reason I started. My first 4 years in POC, I didn’t miss a single day, or event. It’s been wonderful being a part of the awesome POC family.”
“I keep coming back year-afteryear even after a couple of recent surgeries because I love racing and I love the POC family.”
I asked Brad to describe some of his best track memories and what keeps him coming back after 15 years in POC. He said, “It’s my kids. When they’re on my pit crew, which they were as soon as they could walk, changing tires and rolling tires to get swapped, sitting inside the tires and rolling down the hill. Those are special memories for me.”
He continued, “The fun and sportsmanship of clean racing and the conversations after the races, winning or losing on the last turn are things I remember after all these years.” I reminded Brad, he and I had several of those last lap last turn
racing, keeping the cars under control and just enough room for each of us.
“I keep coming back year-after-year even after a couple of recent surgeries because I love racing and I love the POC family.”, he said. And that’s a sentiment I hear all the time! I asked Brad to tell us a little bit about his family. He said, “I’ve been a single dad for quite a few years, and I love being a dad. My kids are 13, 15, and 18 now. Brealyn, my daughter, is 18. She did a few years on track too with me and did great. I remember her doing 150mph down the straight before going into Turn 1 at Willow, in my Turbo S, braking and making the turn just fine. My youngest was in his kart running through cones in the paddock all the time, he could really control it. Controlled spins, too! We also love to travel together, ride horses, and go to car shows.”
Brad, on behalf of all POC members,
As always, it’s a pleasure to get to know more about each of our sponsors and hear about their lives and businesses off track. Brad’s passion about the sport has clearly been a big part of his life, since he was very young, and any of us who get to race with Brad can attest to his skill from all those experiences. It’s certainly how he’s won many races in more than one GT class. These days you can see Brad in both 991.2 GT3 Cup Car Spec races, as well as running his air-cooled Porsche in GT3 races.
Thanks, Brad, for letting us get to know you better and good luck with both the business and the racing! If you need any Porsche related work, for street or track, reach out to Brad and Tyson anytime.
Thanks for reading and see you at Buttonwillow!
PRO MOTORSPORTS
508 South Victory Blvd. Burbank, California 91502
Happy Anniversary to Me
Tom Kenna
After one year with the POC, I can say I am in shock and awe of the people I have met and the racing I have been a part of. The military precision of weekend race sessions, the blood, sweat and tears of preparation, time, commitment, family, and brass to be your best during the formidable POC track schedule are all unique and impressive.
I’ll start with the shock portion first. My definition of this is the commitment and brass to tackle these tracks, especially Big Willow! In my Time Trial sessions, Jack Apelbaum is the standout and inevitably who I am trying to catch up to. He and his C6 Corvette just are fast out of the box and definitely carry more risk options than I can handle. His racing prowess from his Nevada series is evident and his openness to pushing the limit is truly cool to see. I, on the other hand, try to balance risk/reward as I drive from home to track in my Racing Yellow GT3. Another racer I always use as a barometer is Allan Soto in his pristine GT4 RS. My key question when I see him is, “What tires are on it this weekend?” Always a true gauge of TT success but it can become expensive. As I have shared in the past, my wife is supportive, but only to a certain degree!
Awe comes from watching and learning from Gerrit Wesseling in his GT1 car, always saying again, “no brakes there!” My latest instructor has been a mutual friend of Brian Cooner’s and a past POC TT winner, Mickey Yanoschak. Great to assist me and push me to pick up
three seconds at Big Willow with less braking, better position and more corner speed. It can get hairy at times for sure through T8 on 200 treadwear tires but optimal with the right line and input! Faith in instruction I will say is hard, but his pushing me and supporting me has me down to the 1:27’s on my timed laps. I enjoy seeing the race classes consistently put in impressive times on the edge with great car control. It’s inspiring and super to see Vivek Hazari, Calvin Park and Bob Chang move on up to the door-to-door classes.
I feel very fortunate to be with such a great bunch of racers with a common passion. The Blue Group that I am in has added great So Cal guys with Osei Appiagyei, Cyrus Chen, Russell Murdock, Sean Taheri and of course the ever-stout Angela Avitt in her new GT3! A constant target is Nathan Apelbaum in the just ridiculous new Porsche Turbo S in M2 and Alex Maslov in his GT3, just like mine, but for the aero, slicks, gutted, shocks! It’s super to share thoughts on corners, tire pressures, etc., to help one another personally improve and recognize our fellow competitor’s achievements.
Thank you to so many people of note. Paul Wren, I appreciate feedback on T5 and keeping me steady through T2. I appreciate the Van Noys’ great YouTube videos and I’m definitely a fan of the new weekend medals. My first year with the POC has been a blast and I’m looking forward to celebrating many more to come.
Firestone Tire Update
Gordon Sheldon
If you happen to be one of those Porsche “peasants” who hate to spend $35 for a new tire just to drive around town, I suggest you contact your Firestone Tire dealer. They can furnish you with brand new 5.00 x 16.00 tire for $17.80 plus excise and sales taxes.
On checking a rumor that those are “80” level tires or second quality, I have found the following to be true. First, the term “80” level tire refers to the quality tire that is installed on new automobiles by the factories. This tire is to be the “100” level tire and hence an ‘’80” level tire sells for about 20% less than this tire which is installed as original equipment. On checking why this Super Champion tire was reduced to an “80” level tire, I found that when Firestone came out with their new premium “500” nylon carcass tire, they changed the tread pattern. They also adapted this same tread pattern to their first line tire using the conventional cotton and/or rayon carcass.
This Deluxe Champion then superseded the Super Champion which had been their first line tire for years. It is obvious that they could not merchandise the older tread design as a first line or “100” level tire.
The casing of the Super Champion and the Deluxe Champion are reported to be of the same quality and both have the same tread depth of 11/32.
The 5.00 X 16.00 Super Champion on is a passenger car tire and seems to be a much better buy than the motorcycle tires offered by Sears Roebuck and others.
If you have more expensive tastes or are a competition driver, I suggest you check into the Firestone Racing quality 5.00 x 16.00 for about $21 or their new “170 Sports Racing” tire which goes for about $35 plus taxes. It has a nylon casing and is good up to 170 mph. There may be some possible interference from the latter tire as it is listed as a 5.00-5.50 x 16.00 size. The local Crenshaw Firestone store carries a stock of racing tires and can give you additional information.
Marginal Gains and Being Part of the Conversation
PAUL WREN
“Marginal Gains”
...is a term that first came to prominence relating to the Team Sky juggernaut, originally a creation of the British Cycling organization and winners of six Tour de France victories from 2012 to 2018 with Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas. Team Sky was arguably the first “modern super team” that explicitly used all the latest science and technology to advance the underlying principles of racing a bicycle. (We’ll leave aside as with all cycling competition that despite being explicitly zero-tolerance of doping, the question of whether the largest gain was the abuse of doctors’ orders to provide a physiological boost...that’s not relevant here.) In the positive point of view what Dave Brailsford & Team Sky did was to take a very close look at every tiny aspect of the sport, from aerodynamics to nutrition, training technique to physiology, team building and psychology, to tease out the most minor differences that could be used to their advantage. Each one might be so tiny that a classical team would ignore it because it seemed irrelevant compared to the massive delta of a big-name rider, but the idea of Marginal Gains says that each small difference is additive, one enabling another, so that the sum is greater than the parts.
There are clear direct applications to our racing. Trivially, even slight changes to the car can provide a tenth or two of lap time, but as the changes add up it gets complicated and it’s important to understand how they relate to each other and can possibly conflict. Importantly, the mechanical changes (alignment, spring rates, sway bar settings, tire compound and pressure) have to be considered in concert with driving technique to enable the best result. Understanding the slip rate curve and how it changes with temperature is key to extracting performance, but you won’t even get there unless you are able to generate heat in the tires. Go too far, overheat them, and see diminishing returns. Changing spring rates or sway bar settings can only make the car faster if your driving properly uses weight transfer, steering input, and brake/throttle to put the car in the right position that they work. It is useful to listen closely to professional drivers, particularly on multi-driver teams, to see how driving style and car setup can conflict. Some drivers can “drive around” a problem with the car but it is more important to
A big part of racing cars for me is tying the lessons learned into the broader tapestry of how we live our lives and why. TWO TOPICS came to mind during this past weekend’s racing, and I thought it would be worth exploring them.
Images: Don Matz
communicate with your setup engineer (which might be yourself) and not end up down a deadend by doing too much compensation instead of fixing the underlying issue. Are we still talking about cars, or marriage?
“Being Part of The Conversation”
...is a term I picked up from a good friend of mine (also from cycling) who has a business doing sales consulting. Picture Alec Baldwin’s character from Glengarry Glen Ross (highly recommended movie, possibly the greatest movie soliloquy of all time, if you didn’t see it stop now and go watch it), but as a skinny sarcastic Armenian. The fundamental principle of sales (again, taking the positive view and ignoring all the bad salespeople that just take advantage of the customer) is that you succeed when you can identify and create value-add for the customer. The cost of your product becomes a non-issue if you can show that you have a solution that creates a multiple of that cost in upside for the customer. Part of getting to that value-add position requires that you have a position of credence, a reputation or background that makes you a serious player in the field. This is similar to the plot line of the John Wick movies (also great if you can look past the comic-book ultra-violence) which makes a big deal of having “a seat at the High Table.” Same idea, expressed differently: the precursor to any achievement in the greater sphere is that you must have a voice that is listened to, and you have to earn that position and also defend it with legitimate skill and/or knowledge. The “Cinderella Fantasy” that you can just magically become a winner is purely fiction.
Anyway, even leaving aside the sales part of it (or assassination...) the goal of sport oftentimes isn’t necessarily winning, although that is nice too, but it is to be a legitimate participant, to be accepted as Part Of The Conversation. It is very clear in racing as well as in social life that there are many situations where you cannot expect
to just immediately be in the mix, but you have to take the time and pay the dues to get there. POC does a pretty good job with the progression, for many reasons most importantly the safety of everyone involved. You start with the basic car control and track etiquette with an instructor in PDS, then you learn to go fast and deal with traffic in Time Trial, and only then after a couple race-school sessions can you take part in doorto-door actual racing. Even then there is a big difference between trailing the field at the back, moving up to the midfield battle, and ultimately hopefully having a legitimate shot at dicing for the win. There’s no question that there is some societal pressure not to skip these steps...no one looks kindly at the new guy that shows up in a GT1 car and parks it in the corners, as we’ve all experienced. Always remember that there is someone faster, and even if you are the big fish in your pond, there is a much bigger ocean out there if you want to go.
So maybe I’ve made it pretty obvious how this all relates to last weekend: this is my rookie year in Red Cup racing, and I’m still on a provisional license. I know I’m driving conservatively, and I know that my car is not at the pointy end of the hp/weight balance. Nerves and some level of fear and respect for the task are a big part of the activity. With the help of the Vision crew we’ve made steady progress on refining the car, and each track day and practice session I discover something new and sometimes it’s quite a surprise. But there is value in every step of the journey and it was a great feeling to move to the midfield battle this past weekend, versus trailing around at the back in December’s races. I have a raft of excuses of course, like we all do, come see me to compare lists. Making progress is a big part of the satisfaction of racing, and you also see the downside to it when racers that reach the top can experience burn-out if winning was the only goal. There can be more to it, and to stay engaged there must be. Knowing some of my
competitors pretty well, and getting to know the ones I don’t yet, are a huge part of the enjoyment as well as the safety of the sport.
Going forward I like to think all of this has value beyond racing. The focus on the track is an unparalleled meditative advantage. There is almost no situation in the regular world that does not benefit from cognizance of the ideas that every aspect of your approach and behavior can provide a gain or give away a loss if you do not pay attention to it. Cooperation and empathy are always valuable, even if it is sometimes knowing the limits and knowing when it is time to just fight. It is not enough to “get lucky,” the real wins accrue when you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it, and equally the people around you have a mutual understanding and respect so that you can all compete together safely and communicate using a common language, at a similar level.
See you all at Buttonwillow in March...Onward!
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Calvin Joon Park
ANDREW WEYMAN Too Competitive?
Photos: Luis Vivar
Calvin Joon Park was pitted a few cars away from me in the Vali Motorsports camp at Willow Springs in February. We talked a bit about what gears to use in what corners, the rev limiter, and the fun we were having. When I asked him if I could interview him for Velocity he smiled, didn’t skip a beat and agreed. Here’s how it went…
AW: Tell me about how you got involved with the POC.
CP: Originally, I bought a Spec 944 with the intention of racing with NASA. My mechanic, Rafi Gous of R2 Motorsports in Castaic recommended it. I owned the car for about six months before I went out with NASA and during that time, my daughter who is at Berkeley told me her roommate’s father races as well. She said, “You should become friends.” So, I got his name and number. It was Bob Chang. I called him and he filled me in about POC. I went out to the 2022 Season Finale at Willow, and I camped out, in the cold, with Bob and Luis Vivar in the parking lot. I fell in love with the group then and there.
AW: When did you join the POC?
CP: I went out for the first time in December 2022.
AW: What track experience did you have prior to joining?
CP: I completed the Fastlane Racing School. It took place at The Streets and Big Willow. I also went out with NASA and did their PDS. Then it was the POC Season Finale. That was it.
AW: So, you’re really a newbie.
CP: I was and I still am. I did racing school with NASA. Initially they were reluctant to let me in. My mentor, other than Bob Chang, is Chuck Sharp. I think he’s the head of the 944 Spec series with NASA. He got me into the racing school because he really wanted me to come out and race with the group. The 944 Spec series is kind of a dying breed. He just wanted to have more people race with them. I went to Chuckwalla and did their two-day racing school. There were two instructors. One passed me. The other one did not. I’m kind of glad they didn’t pass me. I just wasn’t ready. Since that time, I’ve been doing Time Trials, and I learn new things every day. I’m going to take this year to get used to my new Boxster and then maybe go racing with you guys in the Orange Group.
AW: Tell me a little bit about your car.
CP: The 944 or the new one?
AW: The new one.
CP: Okay. I went to Vali (Motorsports) in October to look at the cars they had. There were a couple of shells and Vali offered to give me a good price on one of them. I picked a different one because it had a better cage. I picked the color and the design. I added a couple of options like a Numeric shifter and push-to-start. I saw my car for the first time in person last weekend. I fell in love with it right away. It came out the way I wanted it to come out. I’m really happy with the result. I drove it. My mechanic did a little tweaking based on my input and I was able to shave off five seconds from my best 944 Spec drive ever. I’m excited about the season going forward.
AW: The car looks beautiful. What do you consider to be your greatest challenge on the track?
CP: I’m a little ashamed about this. I should know better. Last time at the Season Finale, I spun out exiting Turn 9. I was off the track, and I wanted to get back on right away. I got back on and took a pause. I was stopped on the track. When I came back in, Eben told me, very nicely, “You can never stop on the track.” I should have learned that lesson then and there. Last weekend, I spun out on Turn 3. It didn’t take me as long, but I realized I needed to get the car started and get out of the way. I did. It didn’t take me as long as last time. I need to react faster. Making quick decisions. That’s my biggest challenge.
AW: Have you analyzed the reason you spun?
CP: Yes. In Turn 9 I missed the apex. I was too ambitious. In Turn 3, well here’s my excuse. I didn’t get the adjustable pedal I ordered and the distance between the brake pedal and the throttle is far. I wasn’t used to it. As I downshifted, I thought I blipped. But that didn’t happen, so I locked up and I spun.
AW: In other words, it really wasn’t about the car. You ran out of talent.
CP: (Laughs) I’ll accept that.
AW: Is there anything about your career that parallels your experiences on the track?
CP: I’m a lawyer. I do a lot of litigation. I need to be sharp. I need to be vigilant. You need to do the same things on the track.
AW: When I ask this question, it’s usually met with a long pause. What have you learned about yourself because of your track activities?
CP: I’ll give you a long pause. (He does and we share a laugh) The track brings out my true nature and I have to deal with it. I try to be mellow but at the same time I am very competitive. I want to be safe. I have to watch myself to be sure I don’t get too competitive. I don’t want to burn relationships or lose good people around me. When I got out on the track, I had to tell myself, “Okay. Let’s not try to get to 1:33 and lose the car.” It’s a reminder of who I am. It’s a way to deal with my shortcomings.
AW: You consider your competitive nature as a shortcoming rather than a strength?
CP: It can be both obviously. I’ve seen people in my field overdo it. Fabricating evidence and all that stuff. I don’t want to do that just because I want to win. I don’t want to treat this as ‘all bets are off.’ It’s a Club sport. When I go out, I want to have fun with people, not just because I want to win. I don’t want to take someone out.
AW: There’s no benefit to playing outside the rules. What are you winning? A trophy for being the best cheater?
CP: I always check in with myself when I’m at the track. There’s no reason to endanger myself or anyone else.
AW: What was the first car you ever owned?
Photo: Luis Vivar
CP: A 1984 Chrysler Laser Turbo 5-speed. I really wanted to get a car. I had just gotten my license. I went to Midway Ford in Koreatown. There was the car. I think it was $4,500. It had 35,000 miles on it. I didn’t know how to drive stick shift. Neither did my dad. The salesman really wanted to sell the car, so he offered to teach me. For about 30 minutes he taught me how to drive a stick shift on the street. He said, “Okay. You’re ready to go.” I bought the car and drove it from Downtown L.A. to Rowland Heights. It was around 4pm and my mom was sitting next to, very nervous. Traffic was heavy. I stalled the car, maybe 50 times. For the first few months I owned the car I thought I was never going to be able to drive a stick shift well enough. I kept stalling it. Finally, I figured it out. Since then, I love driving a manual.
AW: It feels so good when you’re one with the machine. What’s your current daily driver?
CP: I drive a Tesla Model 3.
AW: I have a Model 3 Performance. I consider it to be a good appliance. It does what it does very well, and you can count on it.
CP: I agree. I’ve had it for about a year-and-a-half. It’s a lifesaver for me. I commute about 80 miles from Valencia to Downtown L.A. The driving assist saves so much energy for me. For what it is, it does the job.
AW: What’s your impression of the POC? Is there anything that stands out for you? That you especially enjoy? Or see room for improvement?
CP: The people are great. The atmosphere is great. I started talking to you at Willow and you were happy to talk to me. There are a couple of new people I talked with. Regardless of what kind of car they bring out, everyone is a friend. I like that. It’s hard to find new friends as an adult. POC has given me an opportunity to make new friends with the same interests and passion.
AW: Anything you’d like to add?
CP: I’m happy I won the GT7 Class Championship for Time Trial last year. I couldn’t make the Annual Banquet, so Eben is going to bring my trophy to Buttonwillow. He left it on his desk before the Willow Springs event.
AW: Congratulations! It’ll be nice to receive it at the track. Thanks so much for allowing me to cross examine you. I look forward to seeing you at the next event!
You may have noticed that Karen Robinson’s Boxster “Bob” is sporting new duds these days.
Karen is raising money for Alzheimer’s research and family care.
Now all Bob needs is your loved one’s name.
If you have someone in your life with dementia whom you’d like to honor, add their name and hometown.
It’ll decorate Karen’s car, but it will also appear on our race car in major national races for the rest of the season.
Every $250 contribution is matched dollar for dollar, and every penny goes to the cause.
Click this ad to donate.
Bob thanks you. And so do all the families you’re helping.
Maybe even your own.
I want to help. Help
Funding the care. Finding the cure. Add the name of someone you love.
Ask
Dear Dr. Dyno,
Advice to Keep You on Track
During my race at WSIR I checked my mirrors and could see a car gaining on me. I recognized the car, and I knew who the driver was. His car is a new build and has a larger engine, more horsepower, an LSD and better suspension bits than mine. So, his car is in another class. I knew he’d eventually catch me. And he did. He rode my bumper through several turns and finally decided to make his move. Since he wasn’t in my class, I decided to let him pass. As we entered T3, I left racing room, he made his pass and immediately ran out of talent. He spun his car and ended up perpendicular to the track. I quickly steered around him and avoided contact. At Impound, with good-natured sarcasm, I thanked him for the unnecessary wake-up call. He laughed and said, “I’m glad it was you!” Strangely, I took it as a compliment and felt good about it. Should I have been pissed off?
Curious in Castaic
Dear Curious,
Being pissed off doesn’t serve anyone. I happen to know the driver you’re talking about. He’s a good guy but sometimes, as you mentioned, he runs out of talent. We all push a little too hard from time to time, some much more than others. Clearly, this guy was testing his limits in his new build. It’s good that you connected at Impound and talked. But make no mistake about it. The fact that he said, “I’m glad it was you” was manipulative. He tried to flatter you and minimize his shortcomings. It was totally self-serving. At the very least he owes you an ice-cold beer. If he doesn’t deliver, you should never let him pass you again.
Dear Dr. Dyno,
I need your opinion on something. Are there ghost drivers on the track? I was exiting Turn Nine at Big Willow during my race, and I checked my rearview mirror. What I saw appeared to be a white ghostlike car gaining on me. I double-checked my mirror and realized nothing was there. I’m not a woo-woo type of guy but I know what I saw. Is Big Willow haunted?
Spooked in San Clemente
Dear Spooked, See a shrink.
Send your questions for Dr. Dyno to POCVelocityEditor@gmail.com
FOR SALE 1999 Spec Boxster
Motor, cage and build by Vision Motorsports
Maintained by Vali Motorsports
$33,000
Contact: Andrew Weyman andyweyman@gmail.com
John Armstrong wins Prestigious Award
For those of you who don’t know, John Armstrong is an award winning documentary cinematographer, producer, director, and writer. He has received many awards for excellence during his career including three Primetime Emmys. This month, John added another very special award to his trophy case. At the 2025 Society of Camera Operators (SOC) Banquet, John was a lone recipient for the: Unscripted Lifetime Achievement Award. John races his Grateful Dead GT3 car in the Red Run Group. Be sure to congratulate him the next time you see him at the track
Bridging the Gap Between Club and Professional Racing
718 Cayman GT4
Bridging the gap between pure club racing and professional customer racing, the latest model version competed in over 550 races last year, achieving 19 overall victories, 80 class wins, and securing 11 championship titles. This mid-engine race car remains a key player across all five continents.
RS Clubsport
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport had an impressive start to the 2025 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener in Daytona, finishing in second place. In an intense battle, Belgian driver Jan Heylen and American Luca Mars narrowly missed victory for Team RS1 by just 0.364 seconds after the four-hour race. The 368 kW (500 PS) midengine race car has firmly established itself in the North American motorsports scene and beyond. In 2024, Porsche customer teams claimed titles in the Pro-Am, Silver, and Am classes of the Pirelli GT4 America series, while also winning the GT4 championship in the GT America Powered by AWS series for the German sports car manufacturer. Kevin Giek, Vice President Model Line. “Even the first generation of the Taycan GTS was was already the sporty standard-bearer of the model line, positioned between the Taycan 4S and Taycan Turbo. And the new edition is no exception. And at the other end of the range, the Taycan 4 sports sedan combines the high efficiency of the entry-level model with the superior handling of all-wheel drive.”
SIMRACING SIMRACING
2025 Season Results
Jan 13 Daytona
Jan 27 Watkins Glen
Feb 10 Road Atlanta
Feb 24 IMOLA
Mar 10 Sonoma
Mar 24 Sebring
April 7 MOSPORT
April 21 Road America
May 5 Suzuka
May 19 Big Willow
June 2 Catalunya
June 16 Montreal
June 30 Redbull Ring
1st Michael Johnson 1st Sam Mayorga 2nd Mark Rondeau 2nd Frederico del toro 3rd Michael Bolton 3rd Larr y Haasa
1st Andrew Chinnici 4th Sam Mayorga 2nd BJ Fulton 5th Michael Bolten
3rd Mark Rondeau 6th BJ Fulton
Daytona
Watkins Glen
SIMRACING
Now you can order your favorite POC garments and other specialty items “Online” simply by clicking on any one of the above photos!
UPCOMING TRACK EVENTS
Buttonwillow March 8, 2025
Let’s head north to one of our favorite tracks. Performance Driving, Time Trial, and Cup Racing ...Everyone welcome!
Be sure not to miss this one! Register Today!
Circuit at Buttonwillow April 5-6, 2025
There’s a brand new track at Buttonwillow and we’re heading there in April. Lots of records will be set. Maybe you’ll wind up in the Record Book...see ya there! Registration Opens Soon!
