Postcards from the Paddock - Sonoma

The SRO America season officially started with the GT America powered by AWS races on the streets of St. Petersburg but this past weekend at Sonoma Raceway felt like the true start to the new year. With all four series in action and 135 cars on site, the paddock had a vibe of energy and optimism that is unique to the start of a new season.

I related St. Petersburg to the first day of school with the elation of seeing friends I hadn't seen since the previous season ended, and that sensation was back in abundance after the long layoff between the 2021 finale in October and everyone coming back together again in the middle of April. It was the friends we were all missing, though, that tempered the enthusiasm.

Two members of the SRO family and fixtures in the paddock, Joe Jordan and Paul Terry, passed away in the time between the Indianapolis 8 Hour and the start of the 2022 season. Fans of the series will remember Paul's hard-charging attitude on track and his wide smile and infectious enthusiasm off of it. A competitor first in the touring car ranks and later in GT4 competition, Paul was a racer through and through. My lasting memory will be one of the last interviews he gave during a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. Paired with a new co-driver, French Aston Martin junior Valentin Haase-Clot, Paul was asked about his teammates' remarkable pole lap. His reply: “Frenchy can drive!”

Joe Jordan's name might not be one that race fans are as familiar with but if you worked in the paddock or were involved with club racing, especially on the West Coast, chances are you crossed paths with him. Joe had a knack for storytelling and some of his adventures that he chronicled bordered on the unbelievable but inevitably there was an eyewitness to confirm every fantastic detail. Joe was a friend to all who shared his passion for this sport. When he found out I had raced Spec Miata, an interest that he shared, he immediately wanted to know everything about my time driving. My favorite memories of Joe, though, will be of sharing the booth with him at Sonoma one year ago when he was called in to help us out on the touring car broadcasts. As with any conversation with Joe, I learned as often as I laughed and there were plenty of laughs to be had.

I believe both Paul and Joe would have enjoyed the weekend we had at Sonoma. Rain the morning hours on Saturday made qualifying an adventure. Jordan Pepper's qualifying performance was downright masterful, setting the fastest time of both Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS sessions in Qualifying 1, despite the fact the track had dried out substantially by Qualifying 2! He and K-PAX Racing teammate once again proved to be the class of the field, sweeping both races and making it known they are the championship favorites.

It was also a weekend for first-time winners, with Jason Harward taking a long-awaited first win in GT America Race 2 for Zelus Motorsports, Charlie Luck and Eric Filgueiras getting a pair of class wins in their first weekends in GT World Challenge America and Pirelli GT4 America, respectively. Plus there was the pairing of Ben Anderson and Matt Rivard and Charlie Postins taking maiden wins in Pirelli GT4 America, Hutton McKenna in the GT4 class of GT America, and MX-5 Cup ace Gresham Wagner winning in TCA in TCA America. And while it wasn't a first win, a shoutout to Steve Dinan is in order for winning his class in the first pro race he had run in decades.

After a stop-and-start beginning to 2022, it now feels like racing season is truly here. Looking at my calendar just confirms this feeling! I'll be staying out in San Francisco for a few more days for my first in-person AWS DeepRacer event since the end of 2019 before flying home at the end of the week, but after this upcoming weekend at home I'll be out on the road covering something somewhere eight of the next nine weekends, starting with the IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park at the end of the month. It's going to be a fun ride!

--Ryan