Setting the scene for 2020 Packwood Championship Tour
12 - Dieter Beldi is last year's Tour winner. His codriver from last year is running a FiST in HS this year. His name is not recognized outside of the Pacific Northwest because he doesn't travel and has never attended Nationals. Dieter's Civic Si is the one Des Toups used to dominate the West Coast in 2018. No matter what Dieter drives, he is usually at the top of PAX results.
62 - Thomas Bennett remains my codriver for the Tour. He normally drives a vintage Honda Accord in local HS events and has had no seat time in Pepper since last year's Tour. He is at least as fast as I am, provided he gets enough seat time in the Test & Tune to be confident. Last year it only took him 5 runs at a practice event prior to the Tour to beat my time.
66 - Des Toups won practically everything on the west coast in a Civic Si in 2018, but fumbled badly at Nationals in 2018. Ran DS at the start of 2019 in a Civic Type R, but halfway through 2019 he switched from the Type R to a CS Miata to prepare as tire warmer for Mark Scroggs (Des often codrives Mark). Still owning the Miata, he purchased the current Civic Si around about February 2020. Annie Gill is his codriver this year.
81 - Clay Larson is significantly faster than his codriver Tom.
97 - Jeffrey McVey has proven to not be fast.
162 - Myself. I have beat Des the three times this year we've met and beat Annie the one time this year we've met (she coned the one run that was 0.5 sec faster than mine). I haven't run against Dieter since last year. It is likely no one has as many runs so far this year as myself, though Annie Gill might have.
166 - Annie Gill won GSL at Nationals by many seconds last year in a borrowed car and her times were good enough to be 2nd in GS had she chosen to run the Open class instead of Ladies. After Nationals, she did buy a Civic Si (the second time she has done so), but got rid of it after 34 days. As I recall, the first Civic Si only lasted 8 days. Like Des, Annie buys and doesn't keep a lot of cars!
181 - Tom Larson is not fast.
I think Dieter Beldi or Annie Gill will be the winner, but the battle should be 5-ways between Dieter, Thomas, Des, myself, & Annie. There will not be room to recover from day 1 mistakes in this crowd. Clay Larson will be keeping us honest, with the capability to pass anyone slacking. Tom Larson and Jeffrey McVey will bring up the rear.
No Chris Thorpe/Jessica Podhola (they're running a 2019 Ford Shelby 350GTR in CAMC), no Crystal Stegman.
30 - Dick Willy has proven not to be fast.
33 - Perry Keller is almost up to my GS times.
33 - Andrea Keller is almost matching Perry's times. A few decades ago, she could beat his and it appears, as she gets back in the seat more often, that she is back in form.
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Other notes
Charlie & Dorothy Spirka will be marking their FoRS national-level debut in SM. They're gonna get squashed by Dallas Cutler & Tasha Mikko in the Evo, but it will be interesting to see how they fare overall in the class.
In DS, the Dantons (FoRS), Chris Beets (FoRS), and Michael Meyers (WRX) all return, with Garret Cogburn debuting his Civic Type R purchased last August (?). Not returning to DS are Ryan & Lacey Otis, Des Toups, Lorin & Jenn Mueller, and Annie Gill, so that leaves the path to trophies a bit easier.
[Edit: Having made a last minute decision to switch to the Tour instead of the ProSolo, Patrick Woodmency is entering his first national-level event with a FoRS in DS. He's good enough to dice it out with this crowd.]