der Bayerische July/August 2020 - 23

The Habits of Highly Effective Autocrossers
Interview - Pat Gaffney
By Jack Raymond

| Photos by AJ Aviles, Alan Claffie, Jaclyn Heck, and ZMAX

(Above) In championship form at Ripken Stadium. Photo by Jaclyn Heck. (Left) Two thumbs
up at the Solo Nationals. Photo by Alan Claffie.

Over the last year, der Bayerische (dB) has featured a series of articles
entitled "The Habits of Highly Effective Autocrossers". The series featured
tips and techniques for competitive motorsports driving gleaned from years
of experience. dB now continues that series by interviewing successful
autocrossers from the National Capital Chapter (NCC) of BMW CCA.
We're pleased to have the opportunity to interview Pat Gaffney, 2019 season
champion in NCC's Pax autocross class. Pat was prominently featured in the
article about Habit Seven, "Practice, Practice, Practice."
dB: In what years and car classes have you won a season championship?
Pat:
2015
2016
2016
2017
2017
2018
2018
2019
2019

SCCA
SCCA
CDC
SCCA
BMW
SCCA
CDC
SCCA
SCCA

2019 BMW

Acceleration Award for most Improved Autocrosser
Trophied at ProSolo @ Fed Ex
Finished 5th Overall and Trophied
Season Champion F Street Class
Season Champion S1 Class
Season Co Champion F Street Class
Finished 6th Overall and Trophied
Trophied at Bristol National Tour in F Street
Trophied at Solo Nationals Championship in Lincoln, NE
in F Street
Season Champion PAX Class

dB: Tell our readership how and when you got started in motorsports?

July I August

Pat: For over 15 years I had coached various levels of baseball, from youth
to college prep, when I decided to hang up the cleats. Figured I throw myself
into golf, with my free time, as I'm a competitive person by nature. Then my
kids told me about this show called "Top Gear." So I watched a couple of
episodes and was intrigued as I was really into cars in my youth. Then I
stumbled across an episode where they wanted to figure out which hobby
was more fun; golf or motorsports. Perfect, just what I wanted to know. After
seeing the sheer joy and excitement in the hosts' faces (Clarkson, May and
Hammond), I knew motorsports was for me. So I did some quick research
on motorsports and discovered autocross, which looked ideal. Low cost of
entry (any old street car will do), very safe (compared to other types of
motorsports), competitive (timed to the thousandth of a second), and packed
with adrenalin.
dB: What's your all-time-favorite personal car for motorsports?
Pat: I must say I really enjoy the BMW M cars, but to be honest I haven't tried
many other cars so as to make a fair comparison.
dB: What were your criteria for selecting your current car?

23



https://www.nccbmwcca.org/driving-events/autocross/

der Bayerische July/August 2020

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