Summit National

[Scott Gesford]

Racing was condensed into a 1 day deal due to bad weather forecasts. Chuck Moran won FC followed by Chas Shaffer and Chris Fahan who started in the back after a wreck in qual. Rain started falling right after the start and continued thru the whole race. Entire field was on slicks. Steve Forrer won Atlantic and Jean Luc ?? won DSR and the overall.

[Mark H]

Jean-Luc Liverato, maybe in a Stohr WF1 DSR, probably one of the best (fastest & nicest) SCCA drivers that you will ever see! He attacks the track, wringing everything out of any car he drives.
So a Crossle won a Nat. FC race!!! I quit too early?

[Scott Gesford]

Yep. That's the Jean Luc I was talking about. I was too lazy to look it up. He was under the csr track record in qualifying as was Shaffer under the FC record. Too bad that the weather kept it from being broken. Also, kudos to the K-hill guys and Gib Gibson for repairing Forrer's FA after a wreck on Friday. It had bodywork on from 3 different cars but qualified on pole and won the FA race.

[Mark H]

Thats too bad about Chas, he seems like a good guy and big supporter of the SCCA, But has had some bad luck along the way, just when it looks like he gets on a roll too?

[John Nesbitt]

I see on the news that we are having a nor-easter of historic proportions. Maybe we should rename the event as the 'Historic DC National'.

As Scott mentioned, the event was compressed into a one-day event. Qualifying was halved, and the eight groups shuffled into seven. The checker fell on the last race at 18:40, and the skies opened two minutes later - literally.

Kudos to the drivers for accepting a shorter qualifying in order to make the event fit into one day. Kudos to the volunteers for putting in a very long day, in difficult conditions. Everybody pulled together to make this thing work.

[Larry]

When I saw Chuck had won, I figured there had been rain. When I saw the times, I knew it! Rain is the "great equalizer," and Chuck's finesse outperformed the far more expensive machines of the others. Chas is a great driver, but Chuck has about 30 more years of experience, and it paid off in the rain!

Congrats to both (but I've got to admit that I like seeing the old farts win one!)
Larry Oliver

[Scott Gesford]

I'm sure Chas will weigh in but I know he had the car set up for dry conditions so it was lethal in the rain on slicks. I saw early on that Chuck was probably going to win but didn't forsee him going up and passing the FA winner who is a good driver.

[Chas Shaffer]

I have been a critic of the Summit National in the past and I have to say that it was run phenomenally well this year. Registration was a snap, timing and scoring had results out very quickly, grid was well run as usual, the towing was done very quickly and paddock space wasn't a problem. My hat goes off to the stewards for presenting the Saturday qualify and race option to the drivers and taking a vote. There were a few drivers who wanted to race Sunday but the clear majority agreed the best thing to do was to qual and race on Saturday. Thanks to the workers for staying late Saturday to get the racing in.

As for the race, you'll get no excuses from me as everyone was setup for dry conditions and Chuck kicked our butts. After two years of struggling with my car I finally have it back to where it use to be so I was not about to wreck it therefore I took it easy but even if I had pushed I couldn't have stayed with Chuck. As soon as the rain started I was looking in my mirrors for him, I knew he'd be coming. My hat is off to him!! I'm so happy he won and my car is in one piece!

I can promise that I will lobby the competition committee strenuously to move the national later in the year next year.

[Larry]

...spoken like the true gentleman that you are, Chas! It's a pleasure to hear your comments instead of the typical excuses.


Larry

[Peter Horvath]

Chris Kaiser and the K-Hill gang were ridiculously busy with that FA, which was badly damaged. Despite the distraction, Chris was kind and generous enough to scrape up a set of mounted rain tires for us to use, if necessary. He stacked them up, adjusted the pressure, and all I had to do was grab them if required. Thanks Chris.
By the way, Chris, I need a new left front wing.

[Scott Gesford]

Chas being called a gentleman and Kris Kaiser being called nice in the same day. Unbelievable.

[Jeff Owens]

LOL. Did not see you with R-sport at VIR??

[Scott Gesford]

LOL. Did not see you with R-sport at VIR??

Zetec conversion not done yet. Went to watch at Summit. Saved a LOT of money.

[Peter Horvath]

Kris got even nicer when I bought a new set of Hoosiers.