9-15-07 – Another roller coaster day ends on a high note. This morning the weather was very brisk with a slight breeze, about 40 degrees, and it remained cold all day. I actually wore my driving suit with a heavy sweatshirt most of the day, when I wasn’t driving. We heard the high was 61.
The morning practice was very cold, and the sun rising in my eyes in turn 9 and 10 made it impossible to see anything—the track, the turn in point, the flag stand even! So my goal was to warm up the car and keep every panel straight. Mission accomplished, and my time was 1:44.8.
Our plan was to get the new tires at this point, so we loaded the trunk and backseat of the rental with the wheels mounted with the old tires and headed off to the tire shop. We unloaded, and I told the guy what I wanted and handed over my credit card, and he said, “I don’t think I have any more of that size shaved, let me check.” Uh oh. He decides to call one customer who had pre-ordered a bunch of tires but hadn’t yet picked them up—that person being Pat Lindsey of broken engine(s) fame. Pat told him no. I said, “I’ll go talk to him and I’ll be back in a few minutes.” So we took off in the rental down to Pat’s garages, where he was setting up music for the guys to work to. He seemed relaxed, so I asked him for his tires. His eyes lit up as he made the connection and said, “Oh, the guy just called—those are for you? Of course! If they were for a guy from one of the other regions, forget it.” And off we went back to the tire shop. On one hand, probably not the most sportsmanlike behavior, but on the other hand a great “sacrifice” to make on my behalf. A few minutes and less than $800 later the new tires were in the rental and on the way to the Camaro. The only issue was that Pat had ordered them completely shaved, which I’d never run before. We decided to run the old tires one more time in today’s qualifying and in tomorrow morning’s warm up, and save the new tires for the race today and the main event tomorrow.
We got another round of the breakfast we had yesterday from the RoadHouse trailer. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy. Yes, it’s delicious! And on such a cold morning it was just about heaven.
Ed and Mary arrived later and got to see the limited prep we needed to do before qualifying. Jason held me in the garage like yesterday and again I had mostly open track. I thought my old tires were so far gone that I’d be lucky to get a 1:43, but I was surprised to see the results. A mistake must have been made in timing and scoring, but should I go up to complain? I decided to go back to the garage to consult Jason before doing anything hasty. He looked at the sheet, looked at me, and said, “Nice!” I got a 1:40.8! The only problem was the other “slow guys” got faster too so it wasn’t like I put a huge jump on anyone. Who cares?!?!?
Jason, while changing the old tires out for the new, discovered that I’d run through yet another set of rear brake pads, that’s 2 in a few days. Usually I never go through rear pads—will have to look into that more when we’re home. It may just be that the pads are such crap they “melt like butter” under racing conditions. We got some lunch, this time from a new trailer, and it was very enjoyable. They know how to do track food in Ohio. I had a beer brat and Jason had an Italian sausage. We walked over to the edge of the track at the turn 1 exit to scope out a spot for Jason to watch the flagger to call green for me over the radio. If he’s in pit lane he can’t see the flag station from there. The CMC and FFR group was about to start their race so we climbed up the stands to watch. Unfortunately, the FFR group went first with a rolling start that we got to see—the CMC group did a standing start in front of the hot pits and we missed it. That group went by us at turn one, and we saw them again as they went into turn 5—and noticed something that looked yellow with red stripes… Nick Steel’s hood! We could hear the announcer, and he reported that Nick had his hood flip open, and when that happened it flipped back so hard it broke the glass in the back hatch! All of the group of spectators wondered how much glass was on the track, and then watched as Nick raced by in second place—sans hood and rear glass. The announcer went on to say that the track workers were reporting little to no glass on the track surface, and so assumed it had gone into the back of Nick’s car! We had to leave to get ready for my race, but Nick finished second.
I had less butterflies for this race than yesterday. That’s not to say we didn’t have any drama! The radio wasn’t transmitting me to Jason, and when he talked to me, I could only hear in one ear, which was just annoying more than anything. He tweaked and wiggled and spun various wires and connections, and he got me fine but I still had just one ear. Then it was time to go, so the video didn’t get activated. Sorry, fans! Our grid was nice and tight as we came up to the start, and as soon as the radio crackled in my ear I hit the gas, and so did everyone else. My goal was to gain 5 spots. I gained a couple, but I was still running so close with people at the end of the first lap, it was amazing. The most race traffic I’ve ever run in. I was less hesitant than yesterday, and while cautious purely for car preservation for the main race tomorrow, I really pushed myself more than yesterday. I think it was a pretty good result for me. I finished in 25th overall and 17th in class I believe, with a best lap of 1:41.5. So I’m only getting faster, which makes me very happy.
We watched the start of the Honda Challenge race, which was a standing start. I thought I had a lot of guys in my group, but I think there’s twice as many Hondas! Andrie Hartanto is in the garage next to us, which is only separated b a chain link fence, so we get to check in often with each other. He was in either 5th or 6th to start, and I don’t think he was in gear when the time came to “hit it.” The guy behind him had to give him a non-intentional shove to get him going! But Andrie’s been fighting tranny problems.
We went to see Nick after a bit but he wasn’t in his paddock area so we went back to the hotel. Jason’s Aunt Amelia and Uncle Dewey had arrived from their hometown of Knightstown so we showered and met up with them and Ed and Mary at the McDonald’s down the street for a little bit of visiting. Then we went to the local Applebee’s for dinner and more catching up and sharing stories, and finally back to the hotel and Amelia and Dewey’s room for more time together. I started to fade pretty fast so here we are, back in our room.
Tomorrow is warm up at 8:30 and the main event race at 11:55! I can’t believe it’s almost over. We’ve been so focused, and so “off” by being in a new town, new hotel, new racetrack, different time zone, that it seems like our life for the last few days has consisted of food, sleep and car. Really good stuff. I really like how I’ve learned this track enough to not be a complete failure, and run in such a huge group of practically strangers. I had a hew hiccups and doubts but I’m realizing that the experience I have is enough to get me through this. I really did “arrive and drive” and that is huge for my self-confidence. I need to take this experience and bring it home with me to get me faster in AI West, and anywhere else I go to race in the future. I’m not entirely pleased with my performance, or the fact that I didn’t get to spend time with more AI guys, but for something that was a huge unknown I think I’ve done pretty well. If I was alone it would have been a completely different outcome, I’m sure, so this is the part of having an awesome spouse who is my best friend really comes in handy. I hope I pull my end of the bargain when he needs me.
Hopefully Jason (The Wonder Husband) will post some more pics tonight.