1st qualifier

1 Schader 350Z
2 Subi
3 Dobson 350Z
4 Hines 350Z
11 Henderson 350Z

 

Bob Schader runs a very competitive National program with the 350Z. Last year he had some tough luck, but this season he believed in the Z enough to put together a fresh T2 car starting with an '05 track model with the rev up motor. Six wins and multiple lap records in both Rocky Mountain Division races and elsewhere gave notice Bob would be a serious contender, but then again, it looks like several 350Zs will be contenders in this race!

It's also looking good for Nissan in GT2, with Jim Goughary's red/white/yellow tubeframe 350Z heading the time charts after the first day. Nissan Sport mag will be on scene at Heartland Park later this week to report on the action.

David Muramoto
Senior Editor
Nissan Sport Magazine

 

Quick correction...Hines is 3rd and Dobson is 4th. Also, I plan to join my Nissan Teammates up in the front....11th is just not going to cut it

You can check out the live timing on the SCCA website

 

David, I am already here. Come by the Nissan tent I'll be around Ira's 240z or Jason/Rob's T2 350Z's. Greg is 7th in the first session. If he runs his test time he'll be 4th. Jason is doing great for his 2nd Runoffs. He should move up into the top 8.

 

Update 10/11/06.

Dobson took 2nd place and Jason moved up to 8th. All 350Z front row. Rob Hines 4th and Jason H. 8th. Greg Ira ran quick enough to take 4th place on the grid in EP.

 

Quick update after all qualifying is complete. It looks like Bob Schader's 350Z is on the pole after final qualifying, based on a link from SCCA's front page. Congrats to all 350's, and good luck in the race! (Sorry I don't have starting positions for all 350 drivers).

Touring 2 – Robert Schader, Boulder, Colo., Nissan 350Z – 1:55.098

 

Grid as follows for race today
1-Schader on Pole 350Z
2-Dave Shotz Camaro
3-Will Turner M3
4-Chuck Hemingson Subaru STI
5-?
6-Ken Dobson 350Z
7-Rob Hines 350Z

 

I'll have a more comprehensive Runoffs piece for Nissan Sport magazine in the Inside Line section. But the bottom line is no 350Z T2 victory for 2006. STi's finished 1-2 and Will Turner brought a M3 home third. After getting shoved back from pole position, Bob Schader fought back and finished a very close fourth, while Ken Dobson brought another Z home in fifth.

 

Dave Schotz had the pole last year but got shuffled back at the start. Hopefully he's learned from his rookie year. FYI... Dave is one of my customers and I have to root for the folks that pay me money to work on their cars.

 

I still to this day don't truely understand how a Professional driver can compete at the run-offs.

 

The line between pros and amateurs gets blurred at the National racing level, not just the Runoffs. The top five T2 finishers have all competed at, or won, pro races and/or championships. How can the SCCA allow this? IMHO it's hard enough to make sure the cars are quasi-legal, I don't know what they'd do to discriminate on driver credentials (outside of being a legitimate National license holder).

 

I understand but for instance Will Turner just won the championship in the street tuner class in Grand-Am Cup. There has to be something said for him not being an amateur. I mean they should implement a rule stating that a driver has to be so many years removed from a championship title in any pro series before he/she can compete at an amateur national level.

 

From my point-of-view, it's that much sweeter when you BEAT a current pro in National or Runoffs competition!

 

Don't forget Turner drove a Toyo sponsored car with Hoosiers on it! Gained him 2 seconds a lap! I should have some pics soon.

 

4th place car of Schader.

 

Nice photos of Bob's Z! He really drove well after getting the short end of the stick at the start. From watching him go from several seconds down to challenging for third place by the end of the race, it still had to be a frustrating experience.

 

Members Jason H & Rob Hines 350Z's.

 

Last year Dave's car had transmission problems. Dont know what happened this year. Would have liked to have seen him finish well because a lot of us wonder how legal the car is and would have like to seen it torn down....

 

There is nothing preventing a "Pro" driver from racing in SCCA at a Regional or National level. Nothing wrong with that. Just because you have raced in Professional series does not mean you are a Pro driver. 90+% of the guys racing in Pro series are paying for their seats, either out of their own pocket or through sponsorship. Only a small number are actually getting paid to drive the cars.

For the number of us racing in SCCA, the only thing keeping us from driving in a Pro series is we dont have the deep pockets. Personally I love it when the so-called Pro guys race in SCCA club racing, gives us a chance to beat them and compare our driving to theirs...

 

I've competed with and against Dave in autocross, regionally with Cal Club, and I've done some of the work on his previous yellow Camaro (exhaust fab). He has some pretty amazing driving skills and I'm not surprised that he would qualify well because he was always good at putting down one Hail Mary lap. I'm also not surprised that he wouldn't do well in a race because he does make mistakes having to lay down numerous quick laps in a row. That ability will come with time.

At no time did I get the impression that he is a cheater.