[SSLance]

My first objective when running in Optima or with the SCCA is just to have a place to drive my car like I built it to be driven in the first place.

Optima's format with the 5 events crammed into one weekend is a fantastic formula for this. The seat time one gets at these events is worth SO much more than screwing something up just to try to figure out a way to get your car closer to the top of the standings at the end of the day.

I didn't care or dream about being anywhere near the top of the running order on the big sheet. Did I look to see how I was doing against those guys...sure. I also watched them closely when I could to see if I as a driver could pick anything up from them. Heck, I lined up on the warm up laps behind Danny Popp and learned the line around the track at 60 mph.

Mainly though I looked around at the cars similarly built to mine and looked to see where I stacked up against them at each event. Everyone knows who everyone is, and what their cars are built like. Pick those that you think you can beat and go do it.

Being able to see myself running my car on TV...well that was just gravy on top of an already excellent weekend.