Tuesday was race day... Man, what a spectacle this place is...200 acres of concrete, 1200 racers, two courses, all running like a well oiled machine. It is impressive what the SCCA does to put this event on and if anyone ever gets the chance to go, I highly recommend it. My class is working heat 1, running heat 3...which is perfect for me, feels just like home. I do my work stint on the East course then I have an hour or so to warm the car up and get it to grid before heat 3 starts. I'm feeling pretty good, have walked the course for the 4th or 5th time earlier that morning and when the starter tells me it's time to go, I'm ready. I take it pretty easy remembering how many times I've spun since being up there. First run was pretty clean, set a decent time and most importantly the car felt very settled. It was back to being my old car that I love to drive. So for the second run I decided I needed to get after it...and on the second element it got a bit loose sliding the rear out the exit of the turn. But it stayed in control and I kept after it. On the back slalom there is what I called a "gotcha" cone, it sneaks up on you if you aren't ready for it and on this run...I wasn't ready. I had to make an abrupt move to get past it and this abrupt move upset the rear of the car (probably lifting the inside rear tire once again) and I had to save it two or three times before settling the car down again while at the same time costing me a lot of time. The good news is, I could drive the car again, even with it upset like that I was still able to hang on to it and gather it back up again. On my third run, I scaled it back and trail braked a ton trying to keep the car settled yet maintain my speed. I think I picked up a half second over the second run but was still slower than my first run which ended up being my fastest on the East course. We were then done for the day even though I thought and really wanted a 4th run, apparently you only get 3 runs at Nationals...
On Wednesday the schedule was the same only we were running on the West Course which was more tight and technical whereas the East course was more open and flowing. I felt that tight and technical fit more into my wheelhouse and was ready to make up some time. I was sitting in 3rd place of 9 drivers in my Class and had been informed by Chris in 4th that he was coming for me.
That didn't bother me though as I was gunning for 2nd place. The car felt GREAT on my first run, I hadn't changed a thing on it since the practice course on Monday but it just did everything I wanted it to do. Maybe the driver was finally figuring the concrete out, maybe the surface was better over there...or maybe it was just my day...who knows but the run felt great. On my second run I really let it all hang out and I picked up almost 2 seconds...I was starting to feel it. We were all calculating between runs where everyone was and Mike in 2nd place had just eeked by Keith in first and I was still in 3rd with a decent lead on 4th. As I was rolling off the course after my 3rd run I heard on the radio that Keith had picked up 3 tenths and secured the class win, I had picked up a couple more tenths and felt pretty good that I'd finish 3rd which was the last trophy spot...which I did. I brought home a trophy on my first trip to Solo Nationals...how about that?!?!
Better than that though was my car was back and better than ever. Watching the videos and pictures back, it now corners much flatter with the new Ridetech MuscleBar up front and really sticks to the track letting me wheel the wee out of it while still maintaining control. My cousins drove down from Edmonton, Alberta to watch and my business partner came up from Florida as well and it was cool having them there during all of this. Jim even took my camera and got some great sideline videos of me running the car on course. This is my second run from both the East course and the West course.
And here are my in car videos of all 3 runs from both days.
This picture was taken during my Challenge run on Sunday, probably right before I spun
These were taken early Sunday morning our practice runs before the Challenge
This is me lined up against Robbie Unser in the Speedway Motors prepped Nova for my second run in the Challenge
To sum it...it was an awesome adventure that I'll remember forever. I can't wait to go back and do it again and next I'll be better prepared for what to expect and will be in a better position to finish even higher.