Looking Back At The 2007 SPEED Season

SCCA SPEED World Challenge

What can you say about the 2007 SPEED season? Was it bad? Or quite good?

The Auto Channel has asked some SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge drivers to look back on their season and share what they felt was the defining moment of 2007 for them. Here’s what they say:

"Winning from the pole and leading every lap is as good as it gets," said 2007 SPEED Touring Car Champion Jeff Altenburg. "I had a great car at the end of the race in case my chasers got too close for comfort, but everything went right. I had a new car chief for 2007 in Ron Carrol and there was no better way to start our working relationship. He went on to prove his worth time and again, giving me a fantastic Mazda 6 race car throughout the season."

That's not to say the Altenburg's season didn't have its low points. "A race weekend I would like to forget was the Watkins Glen double. First, I had a bad experience in qualifying for race one, which resulted in a ninth-place start and a fifth-place finish. Not bad, but the car was better than that. Second race, qualified second and ran third for the first half of the race, but then got caught up in the incident with Pierre [Kleinubing], which cost me 10 points and very nearly resulted in losing the Championship. That would have been a tough pill to swallow, but it did cause me to regroup and focus on the important aspects, making the rest of the season much better."

"At the Toronto Grands Prix, on a treacherous wet-to-dry street course, we smoked 'em," Randy Pobst said.  "I love when that happens.  Will Moody put the magic in the setup that day, and I felt faster than anywhere else all season.  I kept looking in the mirror; 'Where is everybody?'"

"The weekend started out awesome," said BimmerWorld driver Seth Thomas. "My car was always one of the fastest in every session at my home track all weekend. I qualified the BimmerWorld BMW E90 in second, only a few hundredths of a second between me and the pole.   I wake up race day morning to see nothing but clouds with rain falling from the sky.  Not exactly what I had in mind for my home track race as the E90, up to that point, hadn't been proven as a great car to drive in the rain. Fortunately for me, our team engineer had a good idea of the direction to go on the setup, but it was a gamble.”

"If I look back at my season, one of the most memorable times was stepping foot under the RealTime tent at Sebring for the first time," said Kuno Wittmer, who finished third. "When it's a team you have been looking up to since the age of 15, it turns out to be a pretty great feeling. All season the RealTime gang and my teammates have been there for me and the support I received from them, along from my family, sponsors and fan club has been top notch.  It's nice to be working with such great teammates not only in the trailer, but on track as well since they are all fierce challengers....LOVE IT!"

Will the upcoming season be as exciting as 2007? Let’s ‘bout that. The radiator hose and other race parts are just around the corner…Waiting…

credit: The Auto Channel