With roughly 40 drivers, we had a surprisingly good turnout for a long holiday weekend. The day started out with a surprise – instead of the Mike Wirt-designed "Imaginary String" course, we had a Joe Wozney special named "Rorschach's Revenge." At first glance, the course looked complicated but it turned out to be a fast course – at least for those who figured out the tricky gates. The relatively quick times during morning practice led to a decision to allow four timed runs during the afternoon.

A rain shower popped up during the practice session for run group four. That cooled things off a bit but didn't seem to affect practice times. By the time we were ready to start the timed runs, the course was dry and the temperature and humidity were climbing. Fortunately the forecast thunderstorms didn't show up and the afternoon sessions were uninterrupted. The only problem was the heat and humidity that made for a sweaty, sticky afternoon.

In the Mercedes-Benz group, Denise Dersin drove the 1986 190E 2.3-16 she shares with Ted Joseph to a time of 48.077. That was enough to take the overall Ladies Fastest Time of Day and edge Bill Stewart out of first place in the 16 valve class. Paul T. Vandenberg, whose Pearl Black 1986 16V is still not quite ready, drove his father's car to third place in the 16V class, just ahead of Ted. In the sharply diminished six-cylinder class, Ben Weber ran a very quick 47.906 to edge out last year's champ, Jim Smith. In the V8 class, John Heflin, who had to have his car towed home before the practice sessions started, was back in time for the afternoon sessions and ran a 49.063 to eke out a close win over Henry Harrell. Could it be the recent suspension work slowed Henry down a bit? Bill Repass, back after a long absence, ran a respectable third in the V8 class. Henry's (much) better half, Laurie, finished fourth, and newcomer (and complete novice) JD Harriman finished fifth. Occasional GWS autocrosser Chris Mazzola was back and beat out regular Steve Spector for first place in the SLK class. Richie Crim, who sold his cone-killing Pontiac GTO, was back with a 2006 C55 AMG and ran a 46.473 to take Mercedes-Benz Fastest Time of Day and first place in the AMG class. Jim Glenn, last year's AMG champ finished second; Rachelle Carter-Crim improved with each run and finished third.

In the "Other Marques" group, Marty Gallagher captured Fastest Time of Day and first place with stunning 44.716 second run. Pete Gochman, driving his 2005 Honda S2000 on street tires made a strong run at Marty's time, but just couldn't find the six-tenths of a second he needed. GWS regular Harry Newman drove his 1993 Subaru SVX to a second place finish; GWS newcomer Andrew Thomas finished third in his highy modified 2000 Hyundai Accent, while relative newcomer Vincent Sorrento finished a solid fourth – Vincent has shown remarkable improvement since he first started with us last year. Rounding out the top nine were Pete Gochman, Barrie Gochman (who asked to be scored with the men, and drove her 2006 Subaru WRX STi to a sixth place overall), Steve Gray, Michael Kallam, and Tom Burke. Michael Kallam Jr. came very close and led the group that finished with one point. In a perfect illustration of how the SCCA PAX index can level the field, first time GWS autocrosser Ron Hougham ran the sixth fastest time of day, but ended up well down in the standings because of a non-airbag aftermarket steering wheel that put him in BSP. Were it not for the steering wheel, Ron would have edged out Barrie for sixth place. Sarah Lewis was back with a different car – a 2006 Mini Cooper S – with which she took Other Marque Ladies Fastest Time of Day.