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Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region

By Dennis Cataldo, Autox968@aol.com
NOR'EASTER Online - November 2001

Some things in life have a funny way of presenting themselves for mental consumption. Such was the case with my recent experience in planning the September monthly meeting with David Murry. In lieu of the fact I had spoken to David on multiple occasions over the past ten months, my knowledge of David was fairly limited to the general information contained on his web site and a few brief articles I had read. After all, I am just the “meeting planner”, not necessarily the racecar driver historian.

Fortunately, I like to meet new people and subsequently arranged to take to a Red Sox game the night before our meeting as David was already up in our area during the week for an event at Lime Rock Park. I was certainly not sure what exactly to expect when we met, but judging by our past conversations, he was going to be a nice guy. After just about 15 minutes together, I had guessed right. David was as down to earth and friendly as just about anyone you could meet. To that end, you almost felt as though you were speaking with any other track junkie and we just talked without any idle time. We made a trip into the Boston Beer Works across from Fenway Park for a bite to eat. I shouldn’t have been surprised but David “doesn’t drink” but with a little (wink) prodding he opted for a glass of red wine. I think he was most taken back by the Blueberry Beer I had ordered, if you’ve never seen it, its fairly comical. There are actual blueberries in the glass and they rise and fall the whole time you are drinking.

I don’t think baseball is very high on David’s list of past time hobbies but it was a good take just the same. I got the impression there isn’t too much time outside driving for this sort of thing. David is a proud father of a one-year-old baby boy. His willingness to speak about racing cars was almost fascinating. I think he wanted to talk about them more than I did. Of course, I was afraid to bore him thinking that everyone must always talk cars to him. He had lots of “set up” information regarding the entire Porsche line of cars from 944’s to 996’s, the later I was paying close attention to. David credited much of his success in “getting rides” to his ability to be a “set up” driver. That he stated, is the ability to tell a mechanic what the car was doing on the track and the ability to suggest the corrective actions to make it faster. An asset to teams without tons of money and practice time.

David also had some interesting information regarding the Porsche Driving Experience and the relative worth of that school compared to those offered by other institutions throughout the country. He was very enthusiastic about the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) and the benefit it has in helping all but the most skilled drivers be faster at the track and more importantly, safer. Perhaps the most surprising revolution of the night was his confession that he does not own a Porsche and never has! I think we made quick friends and formed a relationship that I believe will last for many years to come.

This brings me to the mental impact. The night we met, David was “a driver” of modest importance to me, and then primarily only in Porsche circles. Not like going to the ball game with Jeff Gordon so to speak. You know, no crowds bickering for autographs everywhere we went. Two days later, he was a friend. In the month or so that has past since, I feel as though I had the opportunity of a lifetime.

Fresh on the heels of a barrage of articles covering the recent Rennsport Reunion, I continue to read of the importance of that event and the magnitude of the drivers that were present. Where in, many reference David Murry and his ride with racing icon Roger Penske. One even stated: David was giving him driving tips. Another picture appears in Road and Track with a reference to David and others as the “Legendary Drivers”.

And to think, I picked him up in my truck, took him to a crowded bar, enticed him to drink alcohol and only got bleacher seats for the Sox game. What the hell was I thinking?

Porsche Club of America The Northeast Region

Porsche Club of America
The Northeast Region