August Velocity Magazine - Issue 23-08

August 2023 / Issue 23-08

Note from the Editor:

August, another eventless month. Come on September... Willow Springs with new paving awaits!

In this issue, Andrew Weyman, Steve Eisler and Steve Town, step up with some great articles.

Andrew interviews our PDS Director, Jim Salzer; Steve Eisler talks about using Peripheral Vision on the race track; and, Steve Town interviews one of our esteemed sponsors, Vision Motorsports along with introducing us to our new friends at the Wear Blue Organization. Finally, we’ve also added some more Midyear Highlights!

See you at the track in September!

Don

VELOCITY Staff

Editor / Art Director

Don Matz

Contributing Writers

Andrew Weyman

Steve Eisler

Steve Town

Contributing Photographers

Luis Vivar

Andrew Weyman

Steve Eisler

Jim Salzer

Don Matz

POC Board of Directors

John Momeyer President

Scott Craig Treasurer

Nathan Johnson Secretary

Joe Wiederholt VP Motorsports

Dwain Dement Chief Driving Instructor

Eben Benabe Time Trial Director

Steve Town Sponsorship

Jim Salzer PDS Director

Cover image: Luis Vivar & Don Matz www.PorscheClub.com

A PUBLICATION OF THE PORSCHE OWNERS CLUB

Prelude to the POC Tribute to Le Mans

https://www.gmgracing.com

714.432.1582

Instagram: @gmgracing / Twitter: @gmgracing / Facebook: TeamGMG

Along with a few long-time members and businesses that make the POC paddock tick, this next sponsor in our series of articles is as much a key to our events as anyone through the history of the club. Many of you are familiar with Dwain Dement and Vision Motorsports, but his story and that of Vision may be new to you. Recently, I talked with Dwain and enjoyed hearing more about one of the most experienced and knowledgeable Porsche professionals you’ll find anywhere.

The beginning of Dwain’s motorsports life began in earnest at the age of 15, when he walked into Walters VW Porsche shop, in Orange County, and asked for a job, any job. As Dwain described it, “I knew I wanted to be part of a business that repaired, built, and engineered cars. I’d start at any job they’d give me. I wanted to learn and I liked VWs and Porsches.” That job began with a broom in hand and Dwain’s 46 years (and counting) in Porsche motorsports started too. As with so many stories of impactful, successful people in any industry, it begins with a strong desire to intuitively follow a passion. With many years of focus, hard work, and a plan, Dwain has built a special business that impacts many people in the world of Porsche. Working as often as possible, learning from Walter’s and subsequently a couple of other locations, Dwain’s last year of high school approached. It was then that Dwain told his parents he knew what he wanted to do with his life and he wanted to move on toward it right then and there, before the end of high school. As Dwain put it, “My parents were not happy.” So, moving from one form of school to another, he soon landed at ANDIAL, also in Orange County. The ANDIAL story is another article in itself. In short, Dwain set down roots in what effectively was Porsche Motorsports North America. It didn’t have the Porsche name in the title, but as the motorsports world came to find out, ANDIAL was

The Porsche Owners Club Recognizes Vision Motorsports as a Valued Sponsor Steve Town

Porsche’s racing shop operation in the US. Founded by Arnold Wagner, Dieter Inzenhofer, and Alwin Springer (ANDIAL being letters from their names).

ANDIAL was, from the 1970’s through the 1980’s, the center of Porsche racing in the US with their engines and precision engineering. That’s quite the Porsche motorsports school in which to get educated. From the late 80’s, Dwain worked hard and moved up the engineering ladder at ANDIAL. As he says, “Those hoist positions were what I wanted, and as quickly as possible I wanted the number one position. The other reason is that the guy that earned that hoist was furthest from Dieter’s office. The new guy got the hoist nearest Dieter’s glass office, and you tried to move on from there. Nobody wanted to be near Dieter. I eventually got that number one hoist.”

It was mid to late in 1995 when Dwain made the decision to start his own shop, and move on from ANDIAL. He told me, “Once I had worked my way to the position I had, there wasn’t a lot more upside and I had a lot of interest in creating and engineering, so I made the decision to start out on my own.” The ANDIAL founders remain close to Dwain all these years later (unfortunately, Arnold Wagner has passed away), with Alwin and Dieter periodically spending time with Dwain and Vision. When I asked Dwain about his business startup, he said, “I managed to convince a building owner to rent me 1700 square feet in Orange County and I put in one hoist. The first business check I wrote was to Staples, for a land line phone, and I was in business.” Having made a name for himself with ANDIAL on the mechanical expertise side of the motorsports business, Dwain was making a

name as a driver as well. Most weekends he was at as many events as possible (POC, PCA, NASA, etc.), to both build a name as quick racer, but also as a race shop owner.

Fast forward through the late 90’s, 2000’s, and early 2010’s and the Vision story reads like motorsports business and racing 101. Dwain built a business that attracted key engine builders and car engineers that were both former ANDIAL mechanics and others that Dwain built into what we see today in Laguna Hills. Vision became a motorsports operation with as much or more knowledge and experience in the group as any in the US (and outside the US possibly too, that’s not located in or near Stuttgart). Dwain and Vision customers raced Porsches in most every series in the US through those years, from west coast series to Grand Am, to Rolex 24 hour. As Dwain told me once a long while back, “I was living my dream, and really still am.”

However, running a race team all over the country takes time and requires significant travel. So, 10-12 years ago, Dwain did something that not many business owners do...change the business plan that was working, in a part of the business that they were passionate about. He said, “When my then wife Tess became ill, it was about the same time that Mike Olson’s (one of Vision’s long time and key mechanics) wife became ill as well, and Nick (another major part of the Vision mechanic and support team) began his family, I sat down with everyone and asked them if we should continue this part of the business or shut it down, slow down, travel a lot less, be home way more. They wanted to shut it down, and so we stopped that part of the business to focus on local customers, local races,

and really just one race series, the POC. Everyone recovered and everyone is healthy. I wouldn’t change a thing.” From the 1995 1-person, 1-hoist start-up in 1700 square feet, Vision has become 12,000 square feet in Laguna Hills and 2750 square feet of shop space at Willow Springs, plus the 1600 square feet of lounge and locker room area, on 2 acres.

Since slowing the nationwide racing, Dwain put more and more time into filling many needs for POC. For many years he has served as the Chief Driving Instructor (CDI), a Board Member, a Board Advisor, Director of the bi-annual POC Race Clinics, among other volunteer roles. All this while owning and expanding Vision Motorsports. I’ve asked Dwain about all the POC related work he does, he said “It’s really simple, I want to give back to the sport that has given me so much.” Our club reaps the reward of his experience and his commitment to give back.

Outside of motorsports Dwain described two other passions that he’s enjoyed for many years. He said, “I’ve had horses for many years, training them, and breeding too.” Before building the Willow Springs location, he lived in the hills above Temecula where he trained and bred horses on his 5 acres ranch. That hobby has moved on to Willow Springs as well.

Living about half the time or more at his Willow Springs location, if you walk around the back of the building you’ll see a stables area, 2 horses, and his track dog Beck watching over the WSIR Vision motorsports ranch.

Dwain’s other lifelong interest is hunting. As he stated, “For many years I hunted with guns, but I began bow hunting and really enjoyed it, it’s far more challenging.”

Dwain, now 61-years-young, is into his 46th year inside the Porsche motorsports world. He said, “I have no intention of retiring. We’ve structured Vision so that it will continue no matter what, so I’ll keep going till the guys tell me to stop.” Clearly, the passion that drove a 15-year-old to talk his way into a shop job, the 17-year-old informing his family he’s found what his life is going to be, leaving high school, and in short order finding his way to what literally was Porsche Motorsports in the US, then at a young age opening Vision Motorsports, was on the right track. I’d say that’s finding your passion and working hard to follow it through life. Thanks, Dwain, for spending some time talking about your life in motorsports and for your impact on the POC, past and future.

I hope you found some new and interesting information about Dwain, and next time you’re around the paddock stop by Vision and say hi to him.

Thanks for reading and see you at Willow!

Steve Town Sponsorship Director

Photos: Luis Vivar

ANDREW WEYMAN

One of my favorite ways to give back to the club is instructing. I’ve ridden shotgun with many less experienced drivers and taken great satisfaction in knowing that they safely improved their driving skills and had lots of fun. I’ve also held on for dear life and questioned whether I might have an unconscious death wish. In early 2022 when I commented to our PDS Chair, Jim Salzer, that our PDS Drivers Manual was thirty years outof-date, he said, “Wanna rewrite it?” I paused, accepted the challenge, learned how to edit a PDF and add graphics, asked Don Matz for some updated illustrations and a few weeks later, it was ready for publication.

Since then, I’ve gotten to know Jim better and we’ve had some great conversations. He’s overhauled our PDS program and is a very interesting guy, to say the least. Jim grew up with a keen interest about cars and motorsport. His grandfather, along with George Hurst and Joe Campbell, were the founders of Hurst Performance Products and later became Chairman of the Board. Their shifters were installed in muscle cars around the world and the company was involved in developing the Jaws of Life. Jim attended many track events, met pro-drivers, but wasn’t allowed to get behind the wheel. Once old enough to earn his drivers license, he got his first car, a metallic blue 1967 Pontiac GTO with, of course, a Hurst shifter.

Jim Salzer A Man of Vision

Photos: Luis Vivar

Jim and a partner started an office technology company in 1981 and sold it seven years later. He went to work for Kyocera managing a twelve-state western region. In 1998 he founded a consulting company which obtained contracts with companies like Xerox, HP, and Canon.

Life pitched Jim a curveball with health issues. Between the ages of 40 and 58, he suffered eight heart attacks. Suffering from heart failure and his heart not pumping blood sufficiently to his kidneys, they, too, started to fail. Jim’s life was saved by a donor on January 8, 2012, when he received a heart and kidney transplant. Jim is a volunteer for Donate Life and speaks to groups about how one person being an organ and tissue donor can help save and/or improve as many as 150 lives.

Jim always had a passion for high speed sports and started skydiving while he was in college in San Diego. He competed with various teams on a local and national level. Over the next fourteen years, Jim made 3,443 jumps and logged 51 hours and 18 minutes of freefall time.

In 2009 Jim bought a BMW M3 and started participating in high performance driving events. He drove his BMW with the BMW Club and Speed Ventures. When he bought his Porsche GT3, he began auto crossing with PCA Orange County and joined the POC in 2016. He started in Time Trials and earned his Race license in 2018. He now competes in GT4 with his 2011 Cayman S PDK that was converted from a streetcar into a track-worthy beast.

Jim became a Vision Motorsports customer in 2016, and by the end of 2017 he started to help Dwain Dement by doing some consulting. The first project was starting a race support business and Vision Support was born in 2018 to provide excellent track support services for POC drivers. Today Vision is storing, transporting and supporting sixteen cars at POC events. When Dwain Dement started spending more and more time at his Willow Springs facility, Jim took on more responsibilities and started operating as the General Manager at their Laguna Hills headquarters.

In one of our conversations, Jim mentioned the Motorsport Safety Foundation and their HighPerformance Driver Education Instructor Certification program. He was in the process of earning his certification and I became interested in doing the same. We both completed our on-line Level One training, along with John Momeyer. There are currently two levels with plans to grow the program to six levels in all. Level Two includes on-track role-playing, with instructors playing the roles of various types of students, while other instructors ride shotgun and provide feedback. The plan is to develop the skill level of our POC instructors so that we can offer the very best instruction to our newer members. The POC is offering 50 POC Bucks to members who complete Level One training on-line. Jim is planning to offer Level Two training at the Streets of Willow in February, 2024. MSF Founders and Board Members include Henrique Cisneros, Scot Elkins and Ross Bentley. They know what they’re doing. It’s a great program.

Jim Salzer is dedicated to the POC and brings great new possibilities for our club to grow the quality of the training we provide as well as our membership numbers. We’re lucky to have him. He’s a man of vision.

Photos: Jim Salzar

At Vali Motorsports in Corona California we offer everything needed to get to the track, be competitive and win races. We cater to anyone from entry level drivers starting out in PDS all the way to experienced club racers. Our focus is to provide the best possible outcome for our customers with safety, affordability, and reliance being of high priority. We make certain our drivers are able to compete to the best of their ability by providing full track support, storage, race prep and maintenance programs. We are in the business of making sure our customers can focus on what the pros do, be at every race and win championships!!

Through my lens LUIS

VIVAR

In this month’s issue of Velocity there will be no articles covering events, in that there were no events scheduled for July and August. So, per request, we’re including a few of Luis Vivar’s photos capturing the essence of the POC through the middle of the year.

Photo: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photos: Luis Vivar

Photo: Luis Vivar

A

911 Design is a full-service repair and restoration facility located east of Los Angeles in the city of Montclair.

In addition to offering standard service, repair and restoration for all Porsche® models, we are known for and specialize in custom fabrication, design and performance upgrades.

All of our services are vertically integrated which means we keep all repair, fabrication and auto-body in-house.

www.stand21.com

genuine adventure committed to the betterment of the Race Car Drivers safety. Since 1970 Stand 21 has continuously delivered advanced technical innovations and safety improvements in products that are exceptionally efficient and comfortable.

WearBlue: Run to Remember

Over the years, the POC has held many fundraising efforts for numerous remarkable, and impactful organizations. Most recently, the POC has supported Toys For Tots, MakeA-Wish Foundation, and Shine A Light Foundation. Earlier this year we were introduced to a special organization that impacts military families in a unique and important way.

Wear Blue: Run to Remember was co-founded in 2009 by Lisa Hallett. Its mission is to support family members of fallen military members, known as Gold Star families. The POC has initiated an effort, along with Wear Blue, to bring Gold Star family members to some of our events beginning in 2023 and/or 2024. We will have Wear Blue representatives at our October Willow Springs Tribute event and introduce the organization at the dinner that weekend. In addition, in January at our POC Annual Banquet, we’ll have a fundraising effort for Wear Blue, with the organization founder and representatives attending.

STEVE TOWN

Please take a few minutes and let me introduce to you the Wear Blue: Run to Remember organization.

In 2022, I met Chris Walsh when he became a member of our World Racing League endurance race effort, for a WRL race at Road Atlanta. I’ll keep the racing side of Chris’s introduction for another time (next month in Velocity and Chis will also be racing with us next month at Willow), but Chris is quick, as the WRL, SRO, and GT America has seen, along with a couple of recent POC SIM race wins. Most importantly, at the WRL COTA race in Dec 2022, Chris introduced me to Wear Blue and Melynda Weaver, its Director of Development. In Chris’s day job he is a Major in the Air Force, commanding the Special Tactics training squadron, also called Combat Controllers. The short story is, an AF Combat Controller is attached to units like Navy SEALS and Army Special Forces, functioning as those units do, as well as controlling the airborne elements of an engagement. In other words they’re doing 2 very serious and dangerous jobs at once. Special indeed!

In 2017 Chris came to be involved with Wear Blue via the organizations youth mentorship program, and this led him to get to know Lisa Hallett (co-founder) and Melynda. Chris has become more involved with Wear Blue, and the organization has begun to receive funding via sponsorships that Chris has spearheaded in 2023. But lets take a step back and learn more about Wear Blue.

Lisa Hallett, wife of Army Ranger Captain John Hallett, and mother to their three children (the youngest born 3 weeks after John’s passing) cofounded Wear Blue: Run to Remember in 2009. John was killed in 2009 in Afghanistan along with three soldiers under his command from an IED, as his unit returned from delivering medicine to a village with a cholera outbreak. Lisa explains, “John’s loss was only one of many, as forty-one Soldiers would not return home from that deployment. The local military families also needed the healing and connective power of running. We began to gather for weekly miles, speaking the names of our fallen friends and family and taking purposeful steps in their honor.” She continued, “As the Soldiers returned from their deployment, they too joined our weekly run, finding a healthy place to remember their friends and leaders, reconnect with families, and heal with purpose.” This is when the non-for-profit Wear Blue: Run to Remember was born.

Lisa, while pregnant with her daughter, Heidi, and her husband, John, and sons Jackson (left) and Bryce on the day John left for Afghanistan

Since 2009, Wear Blue has grown to six Gold Star family support programs in more than 60 communities across the country, and while the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are over, as far as US service members being deployed, the strain from it on the military and our veterans and their families remains a daily issue. This is especially close to Lisa’s experience as she says, “Wear Blue: Run to Remember is a powerful protective force providing community connection, purpose, health, and wellness. While we unpack two decades of war, we remain a stable support network for our military families, as they continue to frequently move, train, and deploy. Additionally, we continue to grapple with the concerning suicide rate, having lost over 120,000 service members and veterans of all ages by suicide since 2001.”

Wear Blue continues to evolve, with Melynda and Lisa being open to ever expanding connections. Motorsports is one. Lisa explains when Chris became involved with Wear Blue, “That was in 2017, when Wear Blue launched the Gold Star Youth Mentorship Program, pairing children of fallen heroes with military mentors. Chris generously stepped up and mentored my son Bryce for years in the program. Even as he juggled a demanding military career and life as an athlete (Chris also tried out for the US winter Olympics bobsled team), he made the time to meet Bryce for weekly runs, sharing life of service and building healthy coping habits.”

It was a few years later, as Chris immersed himself into racing (in all that spare time he has), that he presented the world of motorsports to Wear Blue. About Chris, Lisa said “We were humbled when Chris presented the idea of bringing Wear Blue with him in racing. We feel that the ever expanding motorsports world is a dynamic platform to raise awareness and connect with new advocates that will help deepen Wear Blue’s impact.”

I think it will be an honor for the POC to host Wear Blue’s Gold Star families at some of our events in the future, and give something unique and exciting to this community. As Melynda has told me, “There are so many families in Southern California that have been impacted by losing husbands, brothers, son’s, and daughters, but our challenge is to connect with them and convince them to participate in activities like Wear Blue runs, or now hopefully motorsports experiences with the POC.” Frankly, that is the point of our efforts from your Board of Directors, to help Wear Blue provide an avenue of experience that is unique, fun, exciting and gives back to Gold Star families, as they’ve given everything for our country.

Bryce Hallett and Chris Walsh

Thank you Lisa, Melynda, and Chris for spending some time with the POC and introducing yourselves and Wear Blue to us. It’s exciting. I think many POC members will look forward to meeting Wear Blue representatives at our October event, and introduce you to experience the motorsports world with the POC. Thanks for reading and see you at the track soon.

Steve Town Sponsorship Director

“Master Tech Tyson Schmidt with Over 25 Years of Porsche Experience”

Peripheral

STEVE EISLER

Simply stated, peripheral vision is what you see outside of the central area that your eyes are focused on. It is commonly called, “seeing out of the corners of our eyes” without having to turn our heads. Scientifically, when our eyes focus on an object the light is sent to the center of the retina (macula) which is made up of photoreceptors called cones. Cones handle color vision and can focus on smaller details. The outside area for the retina is populated with rods, photoreceptors that handle vision in dim light. This means that our peripheral vision is better in low light but cannot interpret much color or detail. Disease or injury can cause a loss of peripheral vision which results in ‘tunnel’ vision shown in the first picture. The following pictures approximate peripheral vision, but cannot accurately replicate it because, unlike our eyes which have different numbers and types of receptors in the macula and the periphery, a camera has the same pixel density throughout the field of view. Everyone with

Image: Don Matz

Photos: Steve Eisler

Vision

What is it ?

How can it be used on the track ?

How can it be improved ?

normal vision has peripheral vision but, as you will see, understanding it and applying it effectively is not an easy task.

First year cadets or midshipmen at military academies are subject to rigorous physical and mental “training”. What is acceptable training one year may be redefined as hazing the next year. The first thing you learn is how to stand, march, sit, and eat a “square meal” all at a position of attention. The position of attention is ramrod straight, stomach in, chest out, shoulders back and down, and, most difficult, eyes focused straight ahead. We marched to my first meal at the Academy dining hall, were led to our table and told to stand at attention and look at our plate on the table. As we waited for the room to fill, an Air Force officer approached me and said, “Mister, you need to stop gazing around this table. Look at your plate and that will develop your peripheral vision. If you can’t keep your eyes focused in one place, you are going to have some big problems here. Potential pilots need good peripheral vision.” It was a harbinger of a big training obstacle for me.

All of my classmates were caught gazing many times, but I seemed to be the worst. I paid off thousands of push-ups and handed in my plate with the meal less than half eaten hundreds of times for failing to, “cage your beady little eyeballs, Mister”. To combat my problem, I decided to stare at the center of my plate and focus only on it. I knew what peripheral vision was, but didn’t understand how it worked or how to use it to my benefit, and the problem worsened the more I stared. Fortunately, we were 4th classmen for only one year. In March we were ‘recognized’ as upperclassmen and, other than correcting new trainees, I did not have to deal with or think about peripheral vision anymore.

Fifty years later I began auto crossing and then time trialing. Like everyone else, I was taught to stop focusing on the front of your car and look further up the track or one or two AX turns ahead of where you are. In my second year of time trials an amazing thing happened. I had been splitting my time between trying to look ahead and constantly checking my mirror for faster cars that needed to be pointed-by, when suddenly, I caught up with some of the new drivers that were slower than me. I knew that I had to get within one or two car lengths of the slower cars and present myself in their left mirror, but how could I continue to look up the track and not run into the slower cars?

Peripheral vision!

50+ years too late, I finally understood the concept. I could focus on the upcoming braking point or apex and still see the cars in front of me in my peripheral vision. Peripheral vision can see the flag stations, especially if they are waving a flag, can see dust clouds from a car off track far ahead of your position, all without having to take your focus from the track.

The second picture is a good representation of good use of peripheral vision. The buildings and upcoming turns are clear since the driver is focusing on them. But the track in front of the car, with the cracks and tire marks can also be seen using peripheral vision. These cracks would not be as clear and detailed as the photo, but the driver can use them to check the car position and to locate the braking point and other reference points.

Many drivers are constantly scanning the track focusing on braking points, apex location and other cars in the race. As they move their vision up the track to exit points and prepare for the next turn, they can use their peripheral vision to check how close they were to the apex and other points as

they pass them. If you train your peripheral vision, you will also see rocks and hazards on the track in front of you, without you having to change your focus from the next turn. At Racers Clinics we are taught to keep our heads on a swivel, constantly checking your position and the position of the cars around you. If you turn your head to check the right-side mirror or check for cars next to you, your peripheral vision can still provide information on cars right in front of you. I am sure that many of the experienced POC drivers have more examples of how they have used peripheral vision in racing situations that they would be willing to share with us.

This brings us to the big question, is it possible to improve our peripheral vision? You cannot change the number of rods in the periphery of your retina, and you cannot change the acuity or sensitivity of the rods. But significant changes in what you see can be made by training your mind to search for objects on the periphery and training your brain to recognize these objects and include them in the picture that it sees.

The first rule is to continue to look far ahead of your car’s current position. In picture three, the camera is focused on the car just in front of it and the other 3 cars and the turn exit cone, at the far left, are not clear. This is the opposite of what we want to do. We should always be practicing looking ahead while we drive. On a busy freeway when we can only see the car in front of us, we can look up the freeway for brake lights in the other lanes, check the shoulders for stalled cars or other obstructions that could affect us as we approach that area, and spot cars that are swapping lanes or driving erratically. And we can practice using our peripheral vision to see the cars closest to us.

Practicing looking ahead on residential streets lets us see cars backing out of driveways or entering from cross streets, cars moving much slower, and changing stop lights long before we arrive at that spot. As we keep our eyes up the road, we can consciously try to see potholes without looking down, try to see mailboxes and other details at the sides of the road without shifting your focus and, when you do check your mirrors, practice maintaining a wide field of view even though you are focusing on a small mirror. When I am looking ahead in my street car, I can just make out the rearview and left side mirrors in my peripheral vision. I can’t see what is in the mirror, but if I continue to stretch my peripheral field of view to include the mirror frames, I will see motion or a change of color in the mirror which alerts me to shift focus to that mirror and identify what is happening behind and beside me.

I also try to improve my vision on my morning or evening walk. When I start walking, I raise my head and focus on the horizon or as far up the road as I can see. Then I try to open my eyes as wide as possible and notice all the things on the sides of the road that I can see with my peripheral vision. I try to see the cracks and dirt on the road in front of me without moving my head or changing my focus. Then I will shift my focus to the right or the left, or to an object closer to me and repeat the process. If I am walking in an isolated area where people will not think I’m strange, I will extend my arms out the sides, at shoulder level, and wiggle my fingers as I bring my arms closer to the center until I can see the fingers. Then move your arms higher and lower and continue to work on extending the range of your peripheral vision.

My last tip involves balance as well as vision. One area of my walk has curbs that are quite flat on top. I practice walking on the curb to improve my sense of balance. Then I raise my eyes and look at the basketball hoop at the end of the road and continue walking on the curb without looking down or looking at the curb in front of me. Once I am feeling comfortable, I will begin shifting my focus to objects different distances away and objects to the left and right of my curb. If I continue to look for and recognize objects in my peripheral field, I can step over plants, step off and back onto the curb to avoid obstacles without looking at my feet or even the curb in front of me.

Using peripheral vision requires a conscious effort. Sometimes, when I am towing to the track or just driving for several hours, I will notice that I am just following and focusing on the car in front of me instead of raising my head and looking up the freeway. On the road, on the track, or on the streets, we can always be improving our vision, our awareness of what is happening around us, and our preparedness to respond to emergency situations by tapping into our peripheral vision.

It has been a long journey from the days when gazing was the bane of my existence to the present when I step outside every morning, open my eyes, and try to take in as much visual information as possible! Has it made me a better driver? I am still slower than the best drivers in my class, but I am making progress. I am more comfortable in traffic, still working on getting closer to the apexes, and enjoying seeing more of the track. I hope my story will help others see the track from a different perspective and maybe they will realize big improvements.

I want to acknowledge Ross Bentley for his excellent Speed Secrets series and his training webinars that have provided background information that helped me understand peripheral vision and its value in driving and racing. Ross also recommended 3 apps that I use to work on visual acuity and peripheral vision. They are Vision Trainer, IQ2, and Kinetic VA. I also want to thank Vollig mechanic, Gary Mathews, whose knowledge, and insight helped me write this article. Gary showed me an interesting peripheral vision test that I can share, individually, with anyone who is interested. Finally, I want to thank our editor, Don Matz, for doing such a great job of putting this magazine together each month and my wife Kathy who is my proof-reader, editor, and pit crew at all the races.

Start getting your teams together!

Image: Don Matz

Prelude to the POC

Steve McQueen

In 1971, the King of Cool, Steve McQueen married his dual loves for cinema and racing by making Le Mans. The film, a passion project for McQueen, is a tribute to 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most prestigious endurance racing event. It blends footage from the real Le Mans race from the previous year with fictional action featuring McQueen driving a legendary race car, the Porsche 917KH

“Racing is life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting.”

Steve McQueen

Le Mans

Tribute to Le Mans

Reportedly, McQueen wanted to race in the real Le Mans race to produce content for the film but had to settle with a fictional appearance due to insurance reasons.

The movie, Le Mans, stands as a unique piece of work, loved my many for the raw realism with which it presents motor racing. Its action footage captures the sport’s thrills, danger and cutting-edge racing car technology unlike anything before that time.

For those of you who haven’t seen this iconic scene from the beginning of the race (and for those of you who have), here’s a link. Let’s call this a prelude to POC’s upcoming Tribute to Le Mans in October at Willow Springs.

https://youtu.be/XpcTAL6Ogqk

Image: Don Matz

Now you can order your favorite POC garments and other specialty items “Online” simply by clicking on any one of the above photos!

SIMRACING 2023 Season 2 Results

June 19 Montreal

July 10 Redbull Ring

July 24 Oschersleben

August 7 Zandvoort

August 21 Sonoma

Sept 11 Willow Springs

Sept 25 Laguna Seca

Oct 9 Mount Panorama

(90 Minutes)

Oct 23 COTA

Nov 6 Interlagos

Nov 20 VIR

Dec 4 Daytona

Dec 18 Road Atlanta

Minutes) (90 Minutes / 2X Points)

CLICK HERE for YouTube SIM RACES

All club members with track experience or online sim racing experience are invited to participate – however, you will need an iRacing Membership and a simulator.

Zandvoort

Sonoma

SIMRACING

UPCOMING EVENTS

Willow Springs

September 2-3, 2023

For some of us, our favorite track...for all of us, the track we call “home”...let’s all go home in September and race WSIR!

Registrer Today!

Willow Springs

October 7-8, 2023

The TRIBUTE Start getting your team together... More to come!

Registration Opens Soon!

Chuckwalla

November 4-5, 2023

We missed going there last year... the track was being resurfaced. Now it’s ready!! Get in on the fun early...sure to be a lot of cars!

Registration Opens Soon!

And, don’t miss the Official POC Facebook Page with photos, videos and comments from our members.

Be sure to check out the POC website for our 2020 schedule of events and to stay current on PDS, Time Trial and Cup Racing standings.

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