NASA-AZ 2016 Kickoff WHP East

Clockwise! NASA Wild Horse Pass November 2015

Who’s Who in NASA: Hal Dunn

January 19, 2016 tjyak50

NASA Arizona kicked off the 2016 driving season with a well attended opener at the Wild Horse Pass East track January 9th and 10th, 2016. To start we want to say a big thanks to all the workers and volunteers that show up and support our habit on track. It was nice to see all the regular NASA-family faces in the paddock and on track as well.

HPDE 1 had nearly 20 new registrants for this event and we want to thank and congratulate each of you for coming out to drive with us and we sincerely hope to see you back soon for HPDE 2. Keep in mind that doing HPDE2 at an “Away event” like our upcoming Chuckwalla weekend will be about 10 times more fun than you have ever had.

DE1 in the classroom

Welcome to: Josh Arndt, Bryan Bridgewater, Ray Dimuzio, Colby Earven, Ian Francis, Roland Harke, Aleksandr Heit, John Holbert, Brandon Ideen, Franklin Joya, Joseph Nicovic, Paul Perkins, Peter Rowton, Justin Shriver, Alexander Uziel, Daniel Walker, Mike Weistling and thanks again for joining us.

The other HPDE Classes were also fairly full with around 20 signed up in each class. DE 3&4 were combined on Sunday and all reported a safe and fun weekend.

Time Trial had a big crowd with nearly 40 cars signed up and a whopping 12 registrations in TT3! With the recent rule changes the “3” seems like the place to be! Thanks to Jeff Abrams for getting the results posted and to Eric Jacobson for getting the season results updated.

UMS Tuning Time Attack featured a nearly all JDM field (plus a Mustang). Thanks to Jon Via for getting our results and season points updated.

NASA Race group had over 30 entrants and ran combined Small Bore and Big Bore with several new cars on the track and good spirited competition both days. At the time of posting this recap I don’t have access to the official results but a certain red Coyote Powered Mustang ran in the lead for much of the weekend. Here is a great video from Hal Dunn to showcase the Sunday race and get your blood pumping for Chuckwalla in just a few weeks.

For ALL drivers, just a reminder we have some updated CCR Rules: I highly suggest all drivers from HPDE to race group take a few minutes and refresh yourselves on the various flags from section 7 & 19. It’s a good time to get a refresher on the different ways we communicate on track as we head into the next event.

Chuckwalla! February! Its coming up fast!: https://www.drivenasa.com/events/2258 Please sign up early so we get a good head count. Chuckwalla is just a short and easy 3 hour drive from Phoenix. It is a great big track with elevation changes and a fun camber changes. Remember this is one of those “holiday weekends” so do what you need to do in advance to get cleared on to track and we look forward to seeing you there.

NASA-AZ Info

Join the NASA-AZ forums to check out the latest info on upcoming events, questions and answers, Etc.

www.nasaaz.com

Also check out our Facebook page.

Edits and comments: tomjohnson@cox.net PS… Always glad to get input from other classes and drivers that want to help expand the information in the recap. Pictures, notes, assistance, editing are always appreciated!

November 11, 2015 tjyak50

Clockwise at Wild Horse Pass West? Can’t be done. Won’t be fun. Unsafe!!

Well, the results are in and indeed NASA worked with the management of Wild Horse Pass track to reconfigure the West track for clockwise operations. This is a NASA first and every person said they liked it even BETTER! We had a pretty darn good turnout for this nice cool weather with well over 100 participants including 10 first time HPDE1 attendees!

Welcome to our future racers: Michael Fain, Thomas Griepentrog (must be related…), Nate Jonovich, Steve Maxey, Scott Peterson, Michael Shaw, Justin Smith, Philip Thomas and Matthew Thompson. Hope you will join us again for the next event and continue the experience.

This was a points event for all our regular classes. HPDE 2 was well attended with about 23 entrants, with DE3 and DE4 both with around 15. As always the local Time Trial group was large and varied with over 30 entrants and a solid 20+ Race entrants for combined races. 11 signed up for the UMS Tuning Time Attack series.

Thanks to Adina Evanson for all the great pics: More on the NASA AZ Facebook page.

As of writing this Recap not all the results are official and posted, but keep an eye on the NASA-AZ website for official release and update of Season Points as we head into the final event at Arizona Motorsports Park on December 5th 2015.

NASA-AZ Info

Join the NASA-AZ forums to check out the latest info on upcoming events, questions and answers, Etc.

www.nasaaz.com

Also check out our Facebook page.

« June 2023 »

October 12, 2015 Tage

Full Name: Hal Dunn
Where is your Hometown? Baltimore, MD
How long have you lived in AZ? Yuma since 2001
Marital Status: Married 41 years to Karen
Children/Grandchildren: Sons – Robert & Matthew
Grandkids – Ryan, Genna & Jacob
Pets: Two Males Dachshunds Freddy (who enjoys the track) & Wolfie, Female Terrier Molly and Chihuahua Mia
Favorite Music: Rock & Roll from all decades
Favorite TV Show: TopShot, Last Man Standing, Survivor, Food Network
Occupation: Chief Warrant Office US Army (Retired), Corporate Pilot (current)
NASA Run Group: Currently TTC, PTC
Current Daily Driver: Ford Explorer

Current Race Car 2013 Scion FRS White #51
Specs: “Lightly Modified”
Hypercoil Springs
Tarmac Racing Coilovers
Hawk Pads (stock calipers/rotors)
Hoosier 245/40/17
AirAid Intake
JDL Equal Length Header
Custom Exhaust
Cage by Precision Chassis Works
Tuned for E85 Fuel
Stock HP: 165
Current HP: 195
Previous Race Car(s): 944 Spec, 2006 Mustang

2013 Scion FRS

This Who’s Who started a few months ago when Tage asked Hal Dunn if he’d like to be the Series Director for our PT Race Classes. For months, we went back and forth but never quite found time to sit down together. I’m glad we finally had our “interview” because I realized I knew very little about Hal even though he’s been racing with us for years!

Hal spent 23 years in the US Army that began when he enlisted in 1971. By 1974, he had graduated flight school and was flying Cobra Helicopters on his own. Over the years, he has flown over 45 different types of aircraft and has lived all over the world including Germany and the Marshall Islands. Ironically, while living in the Marshall Islands he was part of a Sail Boat Racing group where he had to figure out “handicaps” for the different types of vessels that were competing. Eventually work led him to Yuma, Arizona where he has made a home for the last 15 years. He currently owns a company that maintains and pilots 5 corporate jets out of Yuma.

Hal first learned about NASA from an advertisement for the American Iron group. Shortly after reading about the the AI group he drove up to Phoenix International Raceway to see a NASA AZ event. Much to his disappointment, Hal found that this region had ZERO Mustangs driving in AI. Thankfully, he ran into Norm Hamden and was signed up for DE1 by the next event with Norm as his instructor. Hal progressed quickly to race group and was soon driving competitively in the 944 Spec group (Norm has a way of getting people to run that group!). Between 2006-2009 Hal drove regularly in 944 Spec but after ongoing car issues and incidents he decided to take a break. His break was short lived and less than a year later he was back driving his 2006 Mustang in TTB. Sadly, in May 2012, his beautiful Mustang and the wall near start/finish at INDE had a little “incident”. After mentioning a new car he had read about, his son arranged for a salesman to bring the new car by his house for a “test” drive. Hal laughed as he told about the test drive of a lifetime with a very enthusiastic salesman. And just like that he was the proud owner of a new 2013 Scion FRS (just not THAT one LOL). The FRS has proved itself a great car. With what Hal considers “light” modifications, he has been having a blast driving in both TTC/D and PTC the last few years.

2006 Mustang

944 Racing in the Rain

Some highlights of Hals time with NASA have been Nationals at Miller Motorsports Park in 2013. Hal described the feeling being overwhelmed as he took in the facility and excitement of the event. He proudly finished 4th in TTD that year. He also remembers checking off an item from his bucket list 30 some years later. In the 1970’s he flew a Helicopter over Road Atlanta and it instantly became a bucket item for him to drive. In 2014, he finally realized that dream as he drove in the East Coast NASA Nationals on Road Atlanta. And with much emotion, Hal describes one of his favorite moments within NASA AZ. After hitting the wall at INDE Motorsports Ranch, Hal describes how Jason Griepentrog (who he had just met that event) took the time to sit with Hal and make sure he was ok, then stay late at the end of the weekend to help load the car back into his trailer.

This year Jeff Abrams and Hal have been battling it out in both TTC and PTC. It is tight racing between the Scion FRS and Mazda Miata. Every race is a real competition with each of them going back and forth between 1st and 2nd place podium finishes all season long. Hal happily describes this year as the most fun he has ever had on track.

Jeff and Hal on the Podium in April 2015

As the new PT Series Leader for NASA AZ, Hal hopes to grow the class and encourage more drivers to try it. He notes that lack of updated information and accessibly online have hindered the group and hopes to make some changes so that more people can see that PT can accommodate a wide variety of cars and budgets. Other future plans might one day include dusting off another Mustang that is nearly complete sitting in his garage, possibly starting up an AI group in AZ and maybe driving the Nurburgring that he also saw from air many years ago.

Nap Time at the Dunn House

Know someone you’d like to see in a future Who’s Who? Email adina@nasaaz.com

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