Written by Kathy Barnes
Photos by James Ray
Thompson Speedway, site of the first timed competition held by SCCA in 1945, and the New England Region hosted the region’s first Tire Rack Time Trials National Tour presented by Hagerty on July 5-6. There were 75 drivers from as far away as Georgia and Nebraska, as well as from around our home states here in New England.
The event was a joint effort supported by the New England Region, Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team and the Mohawk Hudson Region. This was the 7th stop on the Tour and the second largest due to the great recruiting efforts of each of these groups.
With hot weather, sunny skies, and very little precipitation, the event had two practice sessions on Friday, two Time Attack sessions each day and 3 runs at Track Sprints. Scoring was based on the best time from the Friday TA, Saturday TS and Saturday TA combined.
Comments from the day formed a consensus that most people had a lot of fun, appreciated the well planned and executed event, and specifically noted that while Time Trials are much safer (less contact that wheel-to-wheel racing), it still felt very much like an “on track” competition.
Highlights from the Day
Overall, the event was a rousing success thanks to all the workers. But there were a few highlights that stuck with all of us at the end of the weekend. To start, Allen Briere offered his car to Kevin Separy when Kevin’s car had a mechanical failure. Aaron Herrion stayed to flag when his car was unable to compete. Jeff Andrews worked tech and grid when he could have been home getting his road racing car ready for the next coming weekend.
Mike Smith and Paul Gosselin made it possible for Randall Prince to get out of the tower and on track. Becca Nell worked with Laurie Sheppard and kept an eye on the weather so we could rearrange the lunch break to get everyone dry runs and on their way before bad weather hit.
But probably one of the best moments was when we realized we were out of zip ties. We made an announcement to request any extras, and almost immediately 100 showed up on the transponder table.
According to James Ray, some of the vehicle highlights that showed up included a Spec Ariel Atom, Maserati BiTurbo, Mazda2, Porsche 944, plus lots of Miata, T86 BRZ/FRS, Corvette, Mustang, VW Golf, and Honda S2K. Be sure to check out all the photos James took at his gallery.
Lastly, for those uncertain about Bogey’s – now they can fully understand my thing about the ice cream!
Special Thanks
We want to thank all the staff of TSMP, particularly Scott Mayo, for going above and beyond what was expected to make this event a success. He even went to the post office to chase down a missing package that was needed for Saturday.
Dave Faita manned the entry gate so people could get in early to set up. Coaches for the event were Justin Barbry, John Hunter and Greg Amy. Dick Patullo headed up the tech staff. DJ McArdle and Greg Rickes from MoHud region took care of the announcing and the audio feed. The CART team volunteered everywhere – calling in flaggers, timing, tech, control, and party help. Everywhere. John Burchardt organized both the welcome party and the Hagerty All Participants party.
In general, people took assignments that they had not planned on just to help the event happen. Drivers helped other drivers get their cars classified correctly – no small feat with a set of rules that have only been developed in the last year. Heyward Wagner spoke of how at this event we are all Same Team, and that showed all through the event.
Awards
Full event results can be viewed here. There were, however, a couple stand-out awards and these drivers and organization should be called out for their performances:
Top Time – John Hunter
Top Novice – Michael Park
Spirit of Time Trials – Connecticut Autocross and Rally Team
As a region, we should be proud of the event we helped run and excited to bring another Time Trials tour event back to our region in the coming years.
