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Autocross
Driver History (Ron)
I started autocrossing in 1994 in a '92 VW GTI in the Seattle,
Washington area. At the time a friend of mine had met a cute girl and she had
invited him to come check out this thing called autocross. He of course wanted
to see her and asked if I'd go with him. I had nothing better to do that day, so
we went and checked it out. It looked like an awful lot of fun, so I gave it a
try. I've been hooked ever since! That first year I attended Nationals and ran
my GTI in DSP.
Since then, I've driven just about everything. My second year I
drove a '75 VW Rabbit in DSP. I did a little better that year, finishing 26th at
Nationals.
My third year I was supposed to drive a 968 in AS, but
unfortunately that didn't work out. At this point I turned into a "car slut." I
pretty much drove everything with a Porsche nameplate on it that year,
culminating in driving Curt Ormiston's 911 at Nationals to a 14th place finish
that year.
In 1997, I started running with the big dogs, co-driving with
Joe Goeke in his '94 Miata. It's amazing what co-driving with a nationally
competitive driver will do for your own driving. Suddenly I was driving at a
higher level, normally ending up top qualifier in the Club Class for Pro Solo. I
finished 12th at Nationals that year, while running the 4th fastest time on the
south course.
By '98, Joe had become tired of driving the Miata, so we
convinced his new girlfriend, Anna Hedly to buy a new Audi A4 Quattro for all
three of us to drive in GS. This year would have Joe and I trading wins in the
car. I also won my first Open Challenge in Pro Solo. At the end of the year, the
Acura Integra Type R was introduced into the class. Soon the writing on the wall
became clear that although the A4 could compete on some courses, the Type R was
the superior car. Nevertheless, I took 12th at Nationals, while being 2nd
quickest on the south course. Meanwhile, all through Nationals I was scheming on
how to convince local Seattle girl Annie Gill to let me co-drive with her for
the '99 season in her Type R.
It turned out to be less difficult than I imagined. Somehow,
with a little help from others, I convinced her that it would be mutually
beneficial, in that I would have a competitive car to drive, and she would have
a full time instructor at her beck and call. I won just about every event I attended
that year, both locally and nationally.....until...... Nationals! I took 2nd
overall for the Pro Solo series, and 3rd at Nationals, just 0.126 seconds out of
1st. This was after driving over a deer carcus on the way to Kansas from
Washington.
The 2000 season found me in a new Honda S2000. I had a fair
amount of success in this car, taking the local Pax class. I also trophied at
every national level event I attended, except for the Pro Solo Finale. Nationals
found me in the 10th trophy spot.
2001 was again in an S2000, though this time a yellow one. I
again won the local Pax class, and was in the top 3 at all but two of the
National events I went to. I took the 7th place trophy at Nationals out of a
field of 40.
2002 was going to be the first year in a long time where I
actually drove my own car! Unfortunately, the results weren't quite what we
expected in the Miata. So, since we just happened to have a Type R sitting at
home, we decided to campaign this. The results were again very good, with me
taking 1st and 2nd at most events during the season. I again won our local Pax
class, and culminated the season with a 4th place finish at Nationals, just
4/10ths out of the top spot.
For 2003, I co-drove with Jerry Lamb in DS in his 2003 BMW
330ci. I was also able to earn my first National Championship this year. Due
to roadracing commitments, and Evolution Driving School instructing, I didn't
run a full season in the local series, so I didn't place there. All in
all, it was a very fulfilling year, and now I have "the jacket!"
2004 had me driving a number of
different cars. I started the season in my 2000 Boxster S, but soon
determined that it wasn't going to be competitive against the C4 Corvette's in
AS. I turned my attention to our old Integra Type R, now owned by Michael
Gatza, and started off with a win at the Atwater Pro. As I was able to run
most of the Pros around the country, I also drove an SM2 BMW M Roadster, a BMW
330ci, a DP Miata, and capped the season off driving Brian Fitzpatrick's Type R
to 2nd overall for the Pro Solo season in DS, and Jason Saini and Juliann
Pokorney's Honda S2000 to 4th place in BS.
For 2005 I campaigned Stephen Hui's
1995 Porsche 968. Overall it was a great year with me winning all four
National Tours I attended, along with three of the seven Pro Solos. I
borrowed rides in RX-8s for three of the events, with a big thanks going out to
Joe Goeke and Keith Casey for those opportunities. The year had much
competition, with great drives by Joe Goeke, GH Sharp, Keith Casey, Randy Noll,
Jason Isley, Mark Sipe, Sam Strano, and others. Ultimately I was able to
win the class overall for the year in BS for the Pro Solo series, while
finishing 3rd at the Nationals Championships.
For 2006 I am campaigning Jim and Tami Daniels' 1994
Mazda Miata in CSP.
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