As part of the Driveway Austin "Reacing Out Program", staff and students made a trip to MSR Houston on November 10, 11 and 12 for the last race of the 2009 SCCA race season.  Bill Dollahite, President of Driveway Austin,  attended the event as a driving and strategy coach for all drivers that made the trip.  James Rogerson, General Manager of MSR Houston and Regional Executive for the SCCA region, provided a warm welcome for the Driveway Austin team.  Bill and James were able to visit throughout the weekend about track operations, strategies and industry directions.

The Friday test day turned out to be raining but the team took to the track to figure out as much as possible in wet conditions.  Scott Dollahite set the fastest time of the day in the #8 Spec Miata.  Michael Scottie also got his #55 Spec Miata within 1.5 seconds of his instructors time to put him second quickest of the day with Steve Turpin close behind in his new BMW.

Saturday was race day and looked to be wet in the morning and dry in the afternoon.  The first qualifying was in the wet for the ITS class, where Scott Dollahite put the Driveway Austin SM on the pole by almost 2 seconds.  Steve Turpin qualified 2nd in his BMW and Michael Scottie qualified 3rd in class and 7th overall.  By the time the Spec Miata group was up to qualify, the rain had stopped and the team was looking at a dry track for the first time in qualifying.  Scott Dollahite attacked the dry line and put the #8 Driveway Austin SM 3rd on the grid in the 26 car field.  

Steve Turpin won the Saturday ITS race and Michael Scottie brought home second with Dollahite finishing 3rd a lap down after missing the grid due to tech inspection from the SM qualifying.  This made Driveway Austin sweep the podium with a 1, 2, 3 finish.  The super competitive SM class was the last race of the day and provided a great show for everyone watching.  Dollahite finished 3rd just behind the two home track veteran favorites.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful and a perfect race day.  Bright sunshine and cool temperatures were going to make for a fast track.  Again, Dollahite put his #8 on the pole for the ITS and 5th on the SM grid.  Michael Scottie was 2nd in ITS and 17 in SM.  Bill Agha was on the pole for the ITA class and 7th in SM.  Dollahite won the ITS with a 28 second margin over Michael Scottie who finish a strong 2nd ahead of the remaining ITS class.  Bill Agha led the ITA race for the first half but stun at the bus stop putting him back to 6th before getting underway.  Agha fought his way back to the front making a hair raising, three wide pass in the last corner to finish 2nd.

The Sunday SM race was the race to watch for the weekend.  20 car field with everyone tuned to perfection and game face on.  Dollahite, Agha and Scottie got great starts with nose to tail battles going on throughout the field.  The fight at the front was spectacular going back and forth with lead and position changes throughout the entire race.  At the end Dollahite finished 3rd, Agha 7th and Scottie 15th with a clean race and a lot of new friends from MSR Houston.

Watch for the upcoming in-car video from the Sunday SM race.