Courtesy of Mazda Motorsports
Are you a karter wondering whether you are ready to make the leap to sports car racing? 15-year old Max Nufer just made the transition and has some interesting takeaways to consider in his impressive debut. Keep your eye out for Max!
The transition from karts to cars is not always an easy one. While karting can teach a racer many things, there are still valuable lessons to be learned when stepping into a car, especially going to a production-based class such as Spec Miata. That’s what 15-year-old Max Nufer recently discovered in his first SCCA Majors race at the Hallett Motor Racing circuit in Oklahoma.
Nufer, of Wildwood, Mo., started competing in karts at age 5 and spent 10 years progressing through the kart ranks up to the fast Shifter karts and TAG 125 classes. Last summer, he attended several Skip Barber schools and competed in the Skip Barber Karts to Cars Scholarship Shootout before earning his SCCA Competition License earlier this year.
Nufer and his team, Nufer Race Engineering (NRE) competed in their first Majors event in April, having only been on track once before with the Spec Miata supported by Mazda, Suburban Autobody and Florissant Auto Paint. It was also Nufer’s first time on Hoosiers, so figuring out correct pressures for the shorter, timed races on Saturday and the longer races on Sunday proved to be a challenge.
Fourteen drivers from Michigan, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee and Missouri, including several National Champions, were entered for the event.
In Saturday’s qualifying session, Max demonstrated that his Hoosier tires provided much improved levels of grip as compared to the first regional race he had done two weeks earlier when he raced on used tires that came with his recently purchased 1999 Miata. Max qualified the NRE Miata in a solid fifth place of the 14 cars. His time of 1m 29.486 was nearly two seconds a lap faster than his previous best time running on old tires.
With all race teams watching the weather radar for potential rain for the timed sprint on Saturday, all cars were on dry tires; no one was willing to gamble on running rain tires. With only a 25 minute race, there would be no time to pit to change tires.
A grid worker asked Nufer and his crew chief if they were nervous. He replied, “No, this is just like kart racing only with slightly larger cars and seat belts attached with a roll cage.” He said he felt much lower stress from a safety perspective.
At the start, Nufer missed a shift to third gear which cost him several positions. As the field spread out, Max started working to catch back up.
The first communication on the radio from Nufer was about the rain that started falling on the second lap — it was getting really slick in some corners. Soon it was pouring rain and cars started to go off track; there were many spins and off-track excursions by other cars. Nufer started retaking the positions he lost at the start. His experience driving shifter karts in the rain (without rain tires) helped him cope with the track conditions. The leader of the race, Jim Drago, two-time SCCA National Champion, went off track at Turn 2. Max was closing in on the leaders and was now up to fourth place. The rain came down even harder and on the last lap Max began his attack on Luke Bickham in third. Max got along side of Bickham but was unable to complete the pass.
On Sunday, rain was not a threat. Nufer again started from fifth spot on the grid and lost one position at the start. With cars three-wide going into Turn 1, he got squeezed. The race on Sunday was much longer — 25 laps or 40 minutes, whichever came first. Max worked hard to catch Bickham but could not keep up in the early stages. Over the radio he communicated his challenge with low grip, which caused the car to slide excessively.
Before the race, the team debated tire pressures, knowing that this race would be much longer than the day before. It decided to go slightly lower on starting tire pressures with its strategy to be fast at the end of the race. It apparently was a sound plan, because Nufer set his fastest lap of the race on lap 20 before turning his quickest time of the weekend on lap 24.
Nufer dove inside of Bickham for fifth in the penultimate turn and was side by side all of the way through. Bickham kicked up dirt at the exit but did not back off as the two of them headed into the final turn still side by side. Once again, though, Nufer was unable to complete the pass.
Nufer competes again this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park and then the 60th Annual June Sprints at Road America. Find him on Facebook or at http://www.nreusa.com.
Hallett Majors
Round 10 of the SCCA Western Conference U.S. Majors Tour concluded at Pacific Raceways as part of a doubleheader race weekend that capped off the Memorial Day holiday. The event brought together some of the most talented amateur racecar drivers on the West Coast on a weekend where winners in many different disciplines of motorsport were honored.
At Pacific Raceways, drivers from 24 Runoffs-eligible classes completed six 20-lap races at the 10-turn, 2.25-mile circuit. The starting grid for each race was ordered by the fastest single lap turned by each driver throughout the weekend, up until Monday. That included laps from the two 15-minute qualifying sessions run on Saturday and Sunday, as well as laps from Sunday’s sprint race.
Here is a summary of Monday’s competition:
Race One: Both Super Touring Lite and Touring 4 saw repeat winners. Paul Whiting, of Pahrump, Nevada, took home the win in STL, and the overall win, in his No. 57 Honda CRX. Like Sunday Whiting was able to cover the field and best his closest rival, Thomas Lepper.
Lance Stewart, of Coconut Grove, Florida, also snagged the win by, once again, finishing ahead of Kristina Etherington.
Race Two: In a race group that combined the Spec Racers with three classes of closed-fender cars, Patrick Byrne, of Spokane, Washington, took home the feature race win in his No. 02 Spec Racer Ford Gen3. However, there was also some great racing that went on deeper in the pack.
Todd Harris, of Portland, Oregon, tallied a second win on the weekend, but this time in the previous generation of SRF car. In his No. 24x Pro Drive Racing/Flat Out SRF, Harris beat Leonardo Del Castillo to the line by 0.869-second. In addition, Harris also claimed a new track record.
Further back, the battle for B-Spec supremacy was renewed between Eric Boucher and Derrick Ambrose. Boucher, of Auburn, California completed the sweep while also setting a new track record in his No. 35 The Wife Mazda2.
Also taking home wins on Monday were Michelle Abbate, of Henderson, Nevada, in Super Touring Under and Marco Gallaher, of Santa Rosa, California, in Spec Miata.
Race Three: The production group was fairly spaced out by the time the overall leader — Jess Heitman, of Portland, Oregon — saw the checkered flag. Heitman also added another feather in his cap as he got the best of Runoffs winning driver Joe Huffaker twice. However, Huffaker still showed his driving talent behind the wheel as he set the fastest lap of the race.
Also finishing the extended holiday weekend with two-race sweeps were Kale Swifts, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, in E Production; Lansing Stout Jr., of Corvallis, Oregon, in Touring 3; Lans Stout, of Cornelius, Oregon, in GT-Lite and Parker Johnstone, of Wilsonville, Oregon, in H Production.
Race Four: In the small-bore formula group, winners in both Formula Vee and Formula F were decided by less than 0.3-second. Rick Payne, of Mission, British Columbia, Canada, recorded his second overall, and Formula F class, win on the weekend in his No. 75 Payton Pools Van Diemen. Payne pulled off the two-race feat after beating Mark Keller to the line by just 0.275-second.
Formula Vee also saw a repeat winner in Brian McCarthy, of Sacramento, California. Like Sunday’s race, McCarthy finished at the front of a tightly-packed FV field. He took home victory with only a 0.296-second margin to second place.
Race Five: In Formula 1000, Gary Hickman (No. 76 Edge Engineering Inc. Phoenix F1000), of Santee, California, was the class and overall group winner. By doing that, Hickman kept Larry Vollum one win short of a weekend sweep to go with his new track record set on Monday.
Drivers in the group who did complete double wins on the weekend were Jeffery Lederman, of Vacaville, California, in Prototype 1 and Edward Lever, of Bakersfield, California, in Formula Atlantic.
Race Six: The big-bore cars put a period on the weekend’s on-track activities. Erich Joiner, of Torrance, California, took home the day-two win in GT-2. His class win was not in question by the end of the 20-lap race as he rolled across the finish line, in his No. 3 Tool of North America Porsche 997, with four laps in-hand over his class competitor.
Marc Hoover, of Shingle Springs, California, took home a second win in Touring 1 as did Collin Jackson, of Langley, British Columbia, Canada, in GT-3; Roger Start, of Redmond, Washington, in GT-1 and Russ Peterson, of Menlo Park, California, in Touring 2.
Additional information regarding the Majors at Pacific Raceways, including full results, can be found at SCCA.com/PacificMajors.
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KENT, Wash. – Provisional race winners for Monday’s Western Conference Majors Tour Round 10 race at Pacific Raceways. Drivers are listed by Class: name, hometown, and car. (*) — Denotes Sunday winner.
B-Spec: Eric Boucher, Auburn, Calif., Mazda2* Formula 1000: Gary Hickman, Santee, Calif., Phoenix F1000 Formula Atlantic: Edward Lever, Bakersfield, Calif., Pro Star Formula Mazda* Formula F: Rick Payne, Mission, B.C., Can., Van Diemen* Formula Mazda: Michael Ottis, Portland, Ore., Formula Mazda Formula Vee: Brian McCarthy, Sacramento, Calif., Formula Vee Anduril* E Production: Kale Swifts, Surrey, B.C., Can., Mazda RX-7* F Production: Jess Heitman, Portland, Ore, Mazda Miata* H Production: Parker Johnstone, Wilsonville, Ore., MG Midget* GT-1: Roger Stark, Redmond, Wash., Chevrolet Corvette* GT-2: Erich Joiner, Torrance, Calif., Porsche 997* GT-3: Collin Jackson, Langley, B.C., Can., Nissan 240SX* GT-Lite: Lans Stout, Cornelius, Ore., Nissan Sentra* Prototype 1: Jeff Lederman, Vacaville, Calif., Stohr WF1* Spec Miata: Marco Gallaher, Santa Rosa, Calif., Mazda Miata* Spec Racer Ford: Todd Harris, Portland, Oregon, SCCA SRF Spec Racer Ford Gen3: Patrick Byrne, Spokane, Wash., SCCA SRF Gen3 Super Touring Lite: Paul Whiting, Pahrump, Nev., Honda CRX* Super Touring Under: Michelle Abbate, Henderson, Nevada, Scion FR-S Touring 1: Marc Hoover, Shingle Springs, Calif., Mazda MX-5* Touring 2: Russ Peterson, Menlo Park, Calif., Ford Shelby* Touring 3: Lansing Stout Jr., Corvallis, Ore., Nissan 350Z* Touring 4: Lance Stewart, Coconut Grove, Fla., Ford Mustang*
Pacific Majors
With Lincoln, Nebraska going through the wettest May on record, 292 competitors arrived at the Lincoln Airpark for the second half of Spring Nationals, the Lincoln Championship Tour. Acres of concrete and a great town mean this event is always a big draw. Adding to the attraction this year was the chance to test the new crop of street tires on the upcoming National Championship concrete.
Weather was a concern throughout the entire event but the biggest impact was day one with rain for the first heat and drying conditions for heats two and three. Day two had some sprinkles in the first heat but for the most part was dry and even sunny as the day wore on, limiting weather impact to a natural spring seeping up through the middle of the opening slalom. The rain on Sunday prevented the course from “rubbering-in” much. But Monday’s dry and clear conditions saw the familiar buildup of OPR (Other People’s Rubber) / clag on the course and on tires. You’ll have to dig into the results to see if you can glean any tire secrets, but rest assured that good driving still plays a major role in the final outcome!
Sunday saw drivers run last year’s Solo Nationals West course backwards. A Lee Piccione design, it was just as much fun to drive backwards as it was last September. Drivers switched Monday to run John Hunter’s excellent east course. It was an entertaining mix of transitions, sweepers and slaloms, a real crowd pleaser.
Street Touring R had 19 cars battling for the top spot. At the end of the first day David Whitener led the class with a seemingly insurmountable 1.3 second lead over Ricky Crow. Crow left the line for run one on Monday and never looked back. His blazing first run was enough for him to not only overcome the deficit from day one but also take the win with a 0.321 margin over Whitener’s Miata.
F Street was one of the classes impacted by first heat rain on Sunday. David Feighner showed his adaptability by making the most of the available traction to post a 1.3 second lead. Shock absorber issues on his 2015 Mustang left him vulnerable in Monday competition, but he was again able to adapt and ran fast enough to win the class over JoJo Kanales by nearly a second.
Mark Madarash grabbed a big lead on day one of C Prepared competition when Todd Farris coned away his last run. A fueling issue on the Madarash Firebird for day two meant his lead was in danger. Farris pushed his plus-sized Camaro to the fastest time of the day. It wasn’t enough though as Madarash was able to pedal his sputtering Firebird fast enough to take the win.
Jason Hobbs took the win in a seven car F Modified field. He pushed his 1999 Novokar J9, setting his fastest times on his third run each day to take the win with a 0.465 second margin.
The tightest margin of victory was in H Street. Greg Reno and his 2010 Mini Cooper led Sunday by a scant 0.009s over the Fiesta ST of Trevor Jones. Monday was just as tight with Reno taking the win by a total of 0.096 seconds.
