[James OLC]

When the Daytona security folks kicked us out at 11 the OLC actually looked like a car… from the passenger side. As Rodney posted at one point – the car looks fine… from the stands… We needed to get the tire replaced in the morning and tie up some of the final loose ends and we had a chance to finish the weekend.



At 7 am Sunday morning I took the most unique “morning after cab ride of shame” to the track and immediately set about stitching together the sheet metal while patiently waiting for Pep boys to open to try to get a new tire mounted and balanced… assuming that the Forgeline wheel had survived the impact unscathed. During the 8 am drivers meeting someone pulled the wheel and tire off and at 9 am we were at Pep boys where a half hour later we left with sticky new tire and wheel with nothing more than a scratch where some combination of concrete and fender whacked it.













To bring a long story to a shorter conclusion… with a patched up car held together by zip ties and vice grips and an alignment that looked “mostly OKish” and felt fine in the parking lot I headed out to the Speed Stop Challenge to see how things really felt. I made probably 10 runs on the SSC – “gradually” pushing harder and harder until the electric fan died – before heading back to the pits. The car seemed OK (with some odd noises here and there) and the fact that we ended up 4th in the SSC supported that low speed stuff was holding together. After a quick review and repair of a shorted out fan wire I headed over to the Autocross to try something a bit quicker. I got three runs in on the AX before (regrettably) running out of gas… at which point I decided to call it a day. There was room for improvement to be sure but as the day continued it was clear that I wasn’t physically or mentally in top form.



At the end of the day I don’t get to tell the story of conquering Daytona but I can tell a much better story about how, with the help of some great friends, I was able to conquer something much tougher.

My sincerest thanks to everyone who helped that night and to all those who reached out; I am blessed – we are blessed – to belong to such an awesome community.