2024 Jerry Wolf Spring Classic

By Friday afternoon every HPDE weekend develops a life of its own.  If I were to give our event a title it would be “Wild Rides”.  A combination of very fast drivers and a newly initiated track surface gave everyone very quick lap times.  It also caused several drivers to go past the limit, allowing them to visit our black flag station. As I said, Wild Rides!

Click on Link to view Friday Album

For load-in on Thursday night we experienced a delay that is almost becoming standard for Thursday.  Mid-Ohio was having an open track evening that included several IMSA teams who were testing for a race the following weekend.  Becky Woodard and Rose Nichols cranked up registration at 5 p.m. to get everyone’s weekend started.  Once past the gate, we were able to quickly get the gear off-loaded and ready to go for Friday morning. We had some 60 drivers, friends, and volunteers come through the gate Thursday evening.  

Running registration at the gate on Thursday evening was not the first stop in Lexington Ohio for these two wonderful ladies.  They were joined a couple of hours earlier by Susan Okin to get everything loaded into the Friday night party room.  Setting up for the party is a chore that the ladies look forward to, making sure that everything is in place for our drivers to enjoy. 

Click on Link to view “White” group album

Friday morning, we were pleased to see a forecast that was going to give us a clear day.  Since Friday is an open lapping day, our drivers' meeting included some 90 people who were looking forward to experiencing the fresh pavement at Mid-Ohio.  The meeting was led by Gary Nichols who is helping our program develop the framework for a new volunteer position.  Gary was responsible for the day-to-day operations throughout the weekend, running the drivers' meeting, and handling all aspects from the time the gates opened until they closed each day. Our goal is to develop a track operations manager to oversee each event, allowing us to begin expanding our program to include additional tracks for the year

By 5 p.m. Friday evening we had our tech line rolling in front of our host hotel, Quality Inn & Suites.  With Ethan Hasson stepping in for Matt Griffin, our drivers made it through tech, headed into registration, and found their way to the pizza and wings in the party room.  Ethan did a great job getting everyone through tech and has promised to run tech again in the fall. With Rose Nichols and Becky Woodard knocking out registration in the lobby, Susan Okin stepped in to make sure that everyone had enough food in our party room inside the hotel.  This is our biggest social event of the weekend, and everyone feels comfortable filling not only the tables in our room but also the lobby tables and couches as well as setting up chairs outside to enjoy each other’s company. 

A big thank you to several people who stepped in to help set up the party, run the party, or pack everything away.  Thank you to Gil Badeer, Steve Smith, Mike Nordloh, Chuck Bodley, and Ted Hunter.  Without you guys jumping in it would have been a long night.

Click on image to view “Red” Group

It did get quiet just after sunset as Saturday was an early start with driver’s meetings kicking off at 7:15.   Just after the gates opened at 6:30 Saturday morning, registration got underway with Anli McCoy volunteering to help Becky with morning registration and Ethan Hasson handling tech just outside the registration. Gary Nichols was first up, hosting a meeting with our novice and intermediate drivers.  As that meeting was getting started the instructors were preparing for their meeting and the advanced drivers were gathering for theirs.  Our chief instructors John O’Brian and Bill Altvater took the reins and managed each of the additional driver’s meetings. 

The tension is palatable as 180 drivers prepare to take to the track.  Not long after the track went hot at 8 a.m. we had some 20 drivers pulling onto the track for their first-ever laps at Mid-Ohio. Saturday mornings are a blur with cars heading down to the track and at the same time, others coming in hot and heading back to the paddock.  The smell of unspent fuel and hot brakes permeates the air.  At any HPDE weekend, every sense is assaulted throughout the day.  These are where our memories lie and what brings us back time and time again.  Ask any driver to recount their first weekend and they can recall every detail.  We are so pleased to be able to provide an event that allows anyone who would wish to experience time on track that opportunity.  

Click on image to view “Yellow” group

The constant flow of traffic joining and exiting the track is managed by several of our volunteers who come up to just help.  A huge thanks to David Parks who spends most of each day in the hot pits making sure that the right drivers are going on track and that the ones coming off have a clear exit to get their stressed machines back into the paddock. This hard work relieves the chief instructors and track operations manager of a consuming duty, allowing them to keep up with all the activities that are part of their responsibilities.  Checking wristbands, directing traffic, and filling in at the black flag station were also Rich Rosenburg and Lori Bryant.

In between sessions, our novice drivers attend classroom sessions led by Jeff Bauer. For some, it was the first time they had ever experienced pushing themselves beyond what they had ever experienced.  For those drivers, every word from Jeff was absorbed and applied to their next session. For our novice drivers who have been with us for an event or two, we have begun seeing them visit our intermediate classroom to begin pushing their knowledge even further.

Click on image to view “Green” group

Previously our intermediate classroom has been led by Len VanDerjagt with Mike Kezlosky working alongside him.  Unfortunately, Len was unable to attend our June event so Mike stepped up to the task and did a great job stretching their knowledge base beyond what they’ve experienced to date.  I was able to step in as Mike’s assistant and can tell you that I had a blast working with Mike and our drivers.

Saturday is not only a busy day but a long one as well.  We purchase additional track time for our drivers and spread it out among each of the run groups.  I regularly seem to think that everyone knows what HPDE is and how it works.  With that, I often leave out information that helps the reader better understand what we do.  This might be a good time to fill in the blanks with a little information that will help not only our first-time readers but those with experience in HPDE.  

The largest PCA club users of Mid-Ohio are the Northern Ohio Region, the Mid-Ohio Region, and us, the Ohio Valley Region.  We have been working on unifying the run-group designations and colors for those run-groups between the three clubs.  Beginning this fall all three groups will be unified with our advanced run groups using the White and Red colors, the upper intermediate group using Blue, the lower intermediate group using Yellow, and the novice group using Green.  If you are interested in HPDE and would like further information on how to participate and what it means to move from one group to the next please contact me, our registrar, or one of the chief instructors.

Click on image to view “Blue” group

Okay, back to where I started, Saturday is a very long day.  When the track goes cold at the end of the day everyone spreads out and takes advantage of the many restaurants available in the area. About anything you can imagine is available within a 20-minute drive of the track. With many options available it is still rare to not run into a crew that left the track and joined up for dinner.

Sunday was not the stellar weather forecast that we’re used to.  It wasn’t heavy rain, but just enough to constantly keep the track damp.  As soon as it got dry for one session it would begin to get damp for the next one.  As most drivers with experience at Mid-Ohio were to discover, the grip on the new surface is an incredible improvement over the old skating rink surface that happened each time it rained.  The disappointment came when we noticed that there had been no improvement in the drainage of the track.  The spots where water would stand and not drain had not changed. 

Given the conditions, we had a large contingent of drivers that ran all the way until the track went cold at 4:30. As is common with the best-laid plans, at 4:45 the sun came out and the weather thumbed its nose at everyone, quickly warming and drying everything out.  

We had 3 photographers join us for the weekend and want to thank each of them for their work.  John McKean was moving around the track and his photos can be found on https://www.whywelovebirds.com/f655498921.  The money raised through the purchase of photos on this site goes back to OVR PCA where the funds are distributed to the various charities we support.  Ted Hunter was also taking photos around the paddock and on the track.  By the time this article is published, his photos will be loaded to our OVR website for you to view. We were also surprised to have an independent photographer join us for the weekend and his photos are available for purchase on the following site: https://www.chadwphoto.com/202406-ovr-pca-mid-ohio 

Thank you to everyone who registered and attended our event.  Thank you to everyone who did not drive but jumped in to help out with so many things that I’m sure I’m missing someone.  Thank you to our instructors who bravely sat in that right seat so we can help everyone improve.  Thank you to Dennis Okin who handles registration, probably the longest job as registration is open for several months.  Thank you to Gary Nichols who volunteered to give the event manager spot a try, working to find the problems so it will work in the future.  Thank you to Bill Altvater and John Obrien for the job they do with all our instructors.

Most importantly of all, a big thank you to Jerry Wolf who started all of this. Jerry was instrumental in not only starting the Ohio Valley Region of the Porsche Club of America, but he worked diligently to get our HPDE program up and running.  For many years he served as our chief driving instructor before finally retiring from the sport.  Even after retiring, Jerry continued to keep tabs on each event, inquiring about attendance, changes in rules, and the direction that we thought the club was going nationally.  The foundation Jerry created for our driver education program will keep the program strong for many years.  Thank you, Jerry!

Registration is open for our Mid-Ohio weekend on October 4-6 and we do hope to see as large a turnout this fall as we experienced in the spring.  It’s only the beginning of July and we already have 25 drivers registered.  Don’t get shut out by waiting to register, do it now and save your spot for what is always a memorable weekend.  If you’re new to this and want more information or need me to help you with registration please email me at hpde.chair@ovrpca.org .  Until the next track day keep your eyes up!

Jeff Woodard

Event Chairman

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