The Western Zone Rendezvous came to Southern California for 2011.
It was held out at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. There was a lot of
planning, coordination and work that went into this event. Thankfully
a whole bunch of people stepped up and helped out to make this event
a huge success. We had a total of 45 Vipers at the event and over 80 people.
Class of 2011 - Western Zone Rendezvous and Car Control Clinic
Sign in area and base camp
Charlene, Jake and Halie
Lori and Eddie were busy getting everyone signed in and car numbers distributed
Lisa and Nino
Scott and Laura came ready for fun
Paul, as we all know, is a man of many hats
Ben, Scott and Laura
Mike, Akemi and Yoko
Our youngest helper, dog sitter and future Viper driver.
Anthony was already grinning ear to ear.
Cathy worked tirelessly to make sure that every little detail was checked and ready.
Thank you so much for taking control while I was out and making sure that we were set to go.
Pam in her cool drivers jacket
Dave and Norman
Camera ready!
Stephanie with her Voodoo
Dan had his ACR prepped and ready
Richard and Charlene
Welcome to the Club Jennifer and Jay. They bought their Viper just a few months ago.
Garry's 1:33 car being delivered
Congratulations to Bruce and Susanna who are expecting their 1st baby
Halie and Laura
Carlos Jr., Carlos Sr. and Eddie
Melanie and Melissa
Dan started off the morning with our Driver's meeting and description of the day's events
After the Driver's meeting, we split up into 3 groups
The first group went to the Auto - X and did a quick parade lap.
Every time we do an Auto-X, we are so very lucky to have Dax and Sarah there to be our official
timers. Sarah does a great job tabulating all the times and keeping everyone straight. She won't
let anyone cheat.....I know as I have tried the last 3 times. THANK YOU again for coming out and
working all day long.
Dax made sure that every car started at the exact same spot and even helped to pick up
cones when they mysteriously fell over.
A view from the start line.
Ruth and Thersea
Auto-x staging area
Mike and Anhtuan were ready to hit the course.
Stephanie was anxious to set a fast time for the boys to try and beat.
Roger making his way through the maze of cones
It was a family affair for the Fujita family
Scott set to make his pass
No cones killed and a pretty good time
Anhtuan
working the suspension
Bruce "Mr A-X" set the early fast time with a 51.08 in the unlimited class
Mike was looking good entering the turn, but then he decided to show daughter Akemi
what NOT to do in the middle of a turn.......
But he didn't kill any cones !
Eddie times 2.........Eddie 1 was making good time on the course
While Eddie 2 was having a good time riding shotgun
Too much fun for all !
Norman found the apex nicely
New Viper owner and Club member Jay sure looked comfortable in the driver's seat.
Of course Randy was no stranger to sliding his car around the cones
parade laps
Justin was ready to lay down a fast time
Gary Took me for a ride down Memory Lane
Mike
Tiptoeing thru the cones
Jerry
The gallery
Shelli mad good time in her Hemi Charger
Bruce, Ben and Gary
My wife Lori even took a spin thru the cones. Her car was loaded up with all kinds of stuff in the
trunk, Halie in the back seat and me in the passenger seat and she ran a 1:04 on her one and only
pass ! Pretty darn impressive.
Eddie was all business
Steve was all grins
Not sure who was driving my ACR.....but.......
he managed to get all out of whack on the back straight
and did a GREAT smokin' donut
And finally finished the course.
2 guys with detached retinas in the same car add up to 1 set of eyes.
We sure had fun but our best time was a 55.2
Halie, Cathy and Ace making the rounds
Greg, Melanie and Jake
Station 2 was sponsored by DC Performance. Lyle and Dan were there teaching our members how
to properly launch their car off the line. We changed things up a bit this year by doing a side by side
track......with a twist....literally.
Hopefully the driver's had their eyes on the lights and not just the pretty girl !
Get a good launch at the green and race to the cones, where the driver's had to weave
their way through the slalom cones and finally come to a complete stop in the stop box.
This tested the driver's skills for a good start but also agility thru the cones.
Lisa was having a blast for sures.
Paul, Ron and Luke
Richard, Paul and Anthony
Ben, Aaron and Steve
Lucky Lyle
Ray and his son Dustin
Nino and Dave
Jerry
Mike
Dave
Lyle gave each driver some tips before they took off.
Randy chose the more ostentatious approach to leaving the line
Norman, Mike, Stephanie, Anhtuan and Eddie
Chris and Mike
The Stig
Samy
Ben
Shelli, Tim and Justin
The fast boys...Chris, Mike and Frenchie
Deb took her spot at Station 3. This station was run by Chief Driving
Instructor Bob Blizzard. Bob and his instructors, Mark and Chris, ran the members thru
different situations that might occur in everyday driving. This simulation gave the drivers
a firsthand experience of what it felt like when the car was in an understeer or oversteer
situation. It was neat to see the famous "snake bite" induced and how violent the car reacted.
Beth getting ready to tear up the front tires.
Bob Blizzard in his office
Paige
Lisa waiting her turn to go thru the drills
Steve found this to be a great opportunity to find the limits of traction
You can never wipe Paul's smile off
Dustin and Ray
Luke also was testing the limits of his car.
Ron was also having fun
Eddie
Roger and Jewelle
Goatee's are in !
Anhtuan, Lyle and Bob
Lunch was generously Sponsored by Viper Parts of America. We all owe them a huge Thank you
for stepping up and funding us with some much needed cash to cover the expenses.
Eddie and Ben made quick work of their lunch
Scott and Laura
Jen and Jay
Ryan and Dave
Akemi and Justin
Jake, Halie and Melanie
Western Zone Directors ....Greg and Paul
Aaron collecting pictures
Scott had the big dog out
Bruce and Dan
Dave watching his son Ryan out on Station 3
Ryan and Dave are very accomplished drivers with a passion for rebuilding old Sprint cars
and race them for fun. Really cool to see their collection of cars.
Bruce was all grins before heading out to the loop pad
Bruce had a nice smoking spin out
Even Yoko took a spin out on the pad
Jay
Randy
Stephanie
Mike and Norman
Eddie
Tiffany and Drew
Jewelle and Roger
It was a long day at the track and everyone got more than their monies worth in seat time.
Thank you to everyone who stayed and picked up cones, threw away trash and helped
pack everything up.
We left the track and headed over to Penwal Industries. Chris Pennington graciously offered
the use of his facility as our dinner location.
The awards table
Scott got 3rd place in the stock class with a time of 52.811
Samy Segura was not present at the dinner but got 2nd place with his 52.126
Our first place went to Justin Davenport with a very impressive 49.967.
Justin earned the right to represent the Western Region in the SRT Challenge in Detroit
later this year. Best of luck to him and all the other regional winners in their head to head battle
against the Dodge SRT engineers.
The fastest time in the unlimited class was Terry Rossi with a time of 49.702.
Another record for the side of his car.
Chris Pennington was presented with this Appreciation gift for hosting our dinner location.
Dan Cragin accepting his Appreciation gift for DC Performance's continued support of the Club
This will be sent back to Viper Parts of America for their support.
A special gift for Cathy for stepping up and putting every detail in place for this event.
A special gift for Sarah and Dax for all their work throughout the day.
Deb receiving a special gift
Halie with Nemo. Penwal Industries "Builds really cool stuff" Check them out at www.penwal.com
Chris had a few staff members there to give guided tours of his enormous facility.
It was a great way to cap off a very fun filled day. Again Thank you to
all who came out and attended this event. An even bigger Thank you to our sponsors:
Viper Parts of America, Penwal Industries and DC Performance for their contributions.
So many people stepped up and helped put this event together and without them
there would not have been a Western Zone Rendezvous.
You guys are the best !
That's all folks !