"...finished a lowly 13th" he says. Psh on that.

David, that's a hell of an accomplishment!! The Runoffs are about running with the "best of the best". So, the reality of it is that 13th at the Runoffs is far more than most racers will ever accomplish. I'll use me as an example. In something like 20 races (short track career in three different cars when not serving other racers out of the Datsun supply truck, haha), I never got wood (not that kind , I mean a plaque or trophy, laff); nor ever stood on a podium. But does that matter to me 35 years later? Nope. Still one of the best things I've ever done and experienced. It was all about the competition going W2W, the camaraderie with fellow racers, the testing of one's own resolve & mettle, and, THE FUN!!



So NO, not lowly. Your 13th at Nationals - seeming to me, and in a field of 20-some cars/drivers - says a whole lot about the driver's character and drive (no pun).

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 13TH PLACE FINISH AMONG THE BEST OF THE BEST!!

And to FINISH with a broken wheel and rear hub that, had the flaggers known it, probably would have earned you a meatball. Heck, we heard the tire scraping on the cool-down at The Carousel (below), from all the way over at T8 (some 300 meters away!) and you still nursed it home at 70mph!

T6 - The Carousel (before the "racing incident".)

So hey, you finished and did so without a post-race rescue from a track hooker, er, tow truck hook. (No, I guess they don't call them that any more but old habits die hard.) But ya, "lowly", indeed. Hmmmph, BS, I think not.

=============================================

A few more shots from the race. I apologize for the quality (or lack thereof) of the shots. The fog kept messing with my light metering. And yes, as David pointed out, the start of the T3 race (and pretty much the entire race) was typical first race of the day, early morning foggy, to say the least.




Crowd not yet thinned out in the first few laps.

L-to-R:
Polesitter and 1st Place finisher Marshall Mast #31, Susquehanna Region
2nd Place finisher Mark Drennan #10, San Francisco Region
4th place finisher and last year's T3 Champion Derek Kulach #1, Colorado Region.



David Muramoto #7 Colorado Region at Turn 8.


Lansing Stout, Jr (next door paddock mate) #54, Oregon Region


Brad Dressen, Honda S2000, San Francisco Region


Derek Kulach #1 Colorado Region followed by Eddie Nakato, #28 Oregon Region

Nakato ultimately passed Kulach, taking home 3rd place podium finish.



2018 Touring 3 National Champion Marshall Mast




And again, 13th Place FINISHER David Muramoto acknowledging the crowd. Heh heh.... I think he saw the four of us waving. But y'know, I said to my wife Kari, David's wife Kathy, and our good friend Sherry, "That wave about sums it up... he's livin' the life and obviously enjoying the h*ll out of it! And that's the most important thing about racing."


See you next year at the '19 Nationals held at Virginia International Raceway (VIR)!!

Wrapping up the Runoffs Weekend, a few more shots from around Sonoma Raceway.

First, a study in contrasts...

Here's a typical low, er, wait, "cozy" budget team paddock setup:

Sheesh, I didn't have an enclosed trailer. Hmmmph.

Next door to David's paddock slot was this car:
My wife liked this one.... she says it looks like the car was levitating. Kinda Jetsons style. But underneath the cover is a pretty awesome tubular GT-3 Nissan 240SX campaigned by Jeff Scoville out of Oregon.

Now, here is the tow rig for the 240SX. Take note of the name on the side.
OK, I'll make a self-immolating-admission in the "shame on me" category...

David asks me if I remember this trailer and the logo for Scoville Ltd. It sorta rings a bell but for the life of me, can't remember details. And at the time didn't think too hard on it so as to give myself an OCD headache. But today, as I'm going through the pictures, it hits me like a bag of bricks and I chastise myself heavily for being absent minded and/or senile (haha) and forgetting that Jack Scoville (Jeff's dad) was one of the pioneering Datsun racers back in the '60s and early '70s!

But what's truly shameful of me is forgetting that Jack ran Datsun roadsters in D-Production, the same class I raced in about ten years after he won the ARRC National title in it. Along the way to the title, he was battling it out with the likes of John Morton and the well known BRE team!! FYI, the American Road Racing Championship (ARRC) was the SCCA National Championship Race before it became the Runoffs. But ya, there's history on that trailer.

Here's David in the early Saturday morning sun. Looks like he's blessing his car. "Dear racing gawds, please let me be fast today."


Now here's an interesting factoid. David carries 9 spares. Why 9? Well, you'll have to ask him. But let's just say that the odd tire/wheel out was used by end of day.



The business office where stuff gets done.








And here's David telling me to "Get your butt over here, there's someone I want you to meet!" It's Rick Kulach, just retired Head of Nissan Motorsports, North America. Great guy. Was enjoyable talking about "the old days", which is interesting because I pre-date Rick at Nissan/Datsun by some many years. Hahaha! Makes me wonder where I'd be if I'd stuck with Nissan from 1976 as an 18 year old kid. Long retired I'd hope.




Some of the sights around the paddock.

Cool looking Mazda RX-7 FD

Another Mazda of the rotary persuasion. This one an FB 2nd Gen.


And, a T3 350Z




Astounding to me was/is where and how cars are classed these days. Back in my day, the production classes were very thick and the classes were numerous, A-Prod, B-Prod, C-Prod and so forth, you get the idea. There were 7 Production classes in all. Now there are only three Production classes with E-Production the fastest and incorporates such an incredible diversity of cars that I get confused. But it makes sense with overlap with the Touring classes, Super Touring, Spec classes, etc., there's still a place for most anything you can safely put on the track.


Long time road racing and British car stalwart, Joe Huffaker, Sr. and his company Huffaker Engineering is locally based and is a major presence in the world of SCCA road racing. Their cars are always cool and competitive.




And here's something I didn't know about... Huffaker builds other things besides LBCs! Very sleek Honda S2K.


Oh, and here's a treat for all you wheel freaks hung up on having a big wheel "LIP". Laff...


Look carefully at the following two photographs. Tell me what you see. (Well, just imagine you're telling me and see if you're right, below the pics.)



"For real occifer, I didn't know!"

I walked into this area not realizing I was walking into the impound area (there were no signs on the side of the building where I entered!) As I stood there firing away with my camera, I was approached by an SCCA official. "No pictures please."

Boy, did I feel stupid. But honestly, unlike the SCCA events I go to at Laguna Seca where impound is a big tent and is clearly "marked" as the impound area by car owners/drivers wearing scowls on their faces. Hahaha. But ya, this area looked like any of the other adjacent garages in which cars were stored and worked on (shown above). Hell, these buildings weren't even there the last time I was at this track.

Speaking of the last time I was there, I have to tell you, the track facilities and the track itself have changed DRAMATICALLY in 30 years! Along with all the pit lane garages and the "mall" of shop buildings - many/most racing related businesses - this grandstand didn't exist.

I surmise that it was built along the front straight to accommodate the large crowds of spectators for the big pro rodeos of NASCAR, Indycar, and NHRA drag racing that all take place at this multi-faceted facility.

This pic, below, shows multiple uses for a single corner. It's actually a pretty interesting blending of disciplines served at one facility.

On top of that, where there were rolling hills of dirt strewn "parking and observation" areas, these have been replaced with concrete tiered seating cut into the hillsides, many of the locations offering stellar views of huge portions of the track. Here, David and I take in the amazing views of more than half of the course's turns from a single location.

To put my amazement into perspective, a while back, my wife asked me why I never want to go to races at Sonoma and favored Laguna Seca. "Ehhh, uncomfortable... no seating... viewing sucks." Boy, was I wrong. This is now an INCREDIBLE track to spectate at! Going forward, I won't have any hesitation in the future going to Sonoma.

Finally, a few shots of cars doing what they came to Sonoma to do... RACE! (These are Saturday morning shots only).

Spec Miata (SM) - 48 cars on track!




Prototype 2 (P2)





Oooops.




And that should do it for this year! Next time you're invited to come on out to share in the Nissan Z madness, maybe you'll join the gang and enjoy a couple of SF's most famous Salt n' Pepper Crabs with us. Don't say you weren't invited.



But lawdy, that guy with the obnoxious Nissan Z shirt!! Who wants to be seen in public with THAT!!