1996 Pictures

It Almost Looks Like a Real Race Car. Not.
(photo by: EMan 6/96)

Did you think that I would forget to include a picture of the 944? Fat chance. So can you figure out why I picked #89?

Any event like this has a thousand stories associated with it. I tried to include some of these stories with pictures for this page.

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(Das Boot -- photo by: EMan 6/96)

I have this thing for 928s, the original “Das Boot” (see Risky Business. By the way, “Boot” in German is pronounced like “boat” in English). I don’t really know Susan, the owner of this car (standing by the driver’s side mirror), but she and her partner always seem to do well. For this race, they averaged 140.034 mph in the 140 mph target speed. That’s 0.514 seconds off, which was good for only second place! Bummer. That’s why there’s next year...

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Das Yellow Checker
(photo by: EMan 6/96)

This taxi, er..., Impala SS was driven by a retired gentlemen with his wife navigating. In 1997, he drove a Camaro Z28 SS instead. Don’t ask me where he got this Chevy SS fetish.

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Four Dour NSX
(photo by: EMan 6/96)

This is one-half of a Sunnyvale, California team. The wife (Cheryl, right) and a friend (Gina, left) drove her Acura Legend (license plate: FRDRNSX) at 115 mph. Cheryl’s husband (with Gina’s boy friend navigating) drove their NSX at 155 mph. Cheryl got the bug to drive after navigating in previous events, which is why she took the “family” car. The two pairs came in second at their respective speeds.

After seeing my 944, which Cheryl called “cute” (cute!? A 944 is not cute -- it’s studly! Or at least, its owner likes to think so.) and practical (because of the hatchback), she bought a 928 S4 for the September 1996 event. Another Porsche driver joins the ranks!

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Michele
(photo by: EMan 6/96)

Here is eventual winner Michele Doria (in the middle) waiting for the start. Michele has an interesting physical attribute -- long, blonde hair that goes down to her ankles. I saw her at the parking lot during the car show for the competitors, and the hair immediately caught my attention. She certainly didn’t look like a driver at the time, and fortunately for me, I didn’t don my Danny Sullivan voice and give her the, “Hey, babe, I’m a race car driver.” Had I done that, my humiliation would have reached Perotian proportions.

Did I mention she averaged 174 mph, and hit 231 mph at one point (speed captured on radar) in the Unlimited Class? Talk about fast women.

Michele Doria Epilogue:

Normally I wouldn’t do this, but here’s a slightly fuzzy picture someone sent me that displays Michele’s, fine... uh... attributes.

[Note: Your browser must have Javascript turned on, and accept pop-up windows to see this photo.]

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