Another Fest has gone by and still a week later my head is spinning trying to take in all that went on. This years 944fest 2008 was held at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course for starters, during the NASA shootouts, which also included the 944Cup race series. Sponsors filled our registration tent with door prizes and info, the biggest contributor being Rennbay.com who was the host of this year’s event. Travis has always been a big part of the Fest and this year was no exception with stickers, banners, goodie bags and even Fuch wheel printed frisbees for everyone. The NASA people made us more than welcome spending plenty of time explaining the different types of racing and DE events they provide, tech inspecting our cars and even providing NASA memberships and dinner Saturday night for all of us participating. The weekend’s activities included camping on the track site, participation in the NASA DE for anyone signed up, a mini car show, a Dyno shootout and lots and lots of bench racing.

I had signed up for the Saturday HPDE in group 4 (solo group) and had a blast out on the track with the faster guys, some of which I know from PCA. After burning up some tire on Mid Ohio's awesome track I drove over to the mobile Dyno provided by Back Street Performance and had a little Dyno shootout with a couple of my good friends from the Fest. My last Dyno had shown 219.9rwhp with a basically stock car sporting minimal mods just last year. My two friends and I had all performed some serious modifications over the winter and this was our first chance to see who had achieved the most hp improvement. I'm not ashamed to say I came in second in the shootout, since my "goal" was 350rwhp and I made 359rwhp at 21 pounds boost- over 135 hp since last year!

Sunday morning came much to quickly and we all found ourselves back at the registration booth to enjoy the car show and look through the piles of door prizes filling the tables- as well as the 8 coveted piston trophies given away for varied categories. This year awards went out for Best 8v non-turbo 944, Best 16v non-turbo 944, Best turbo, Host's Choice, Longest Distance award (Colorado!), Dyno Shootout, "That Guy" award, and Grand Champion overall trophy. Door prizes included everything from a set of new Lloyd's floor mats to a set of tire pressure monitors and gift certificates to a few awesome sponsors. After awards we packed up and headed home, a caravan of 944's headed in every direction is really something to see. Can't wait until next year, I already have next year’s trophies on the shelf awaiting powder-coating.