WEEKEND REFLECTIONS: RACING

Opening Night at Evergreen Speedway...Here are a few highlights of my day...

Steering Wheel Came Off at Speed.
In the first practice session I am driving off turn 2 nearly full throttle when what comes off in my hands? My steering wheel! Yes! This is very bad in a race car as they are not like a passenger street car. When there is no steering input my race car turns left. Right away I knew it was bad, but somehow it went back on without incident only to come off again out of turn 4. I hit the brakes hard and slid into a giant tire. Thankfully nothing was hurt on the car, but I had to check my brain back in. Standard procedure is to make sure your belts and steering wheel are securely fastened. Obviously, I missed the pre-drive checklist...could have been catastrophic for my race car.

Qualified 8th.
Ok, so in practice I never got passed and I only passed a few cars. That can be a good or bad sign because you don't know if you're faster or slower than anyone, you don't know where you stand. Qualifying starst and I go out. On lap 2, usually the faster for me, my car develops a miss in the engine that sounds like the old tune, ba-ba-ba ba-ba-baran... I come in and the crew starts diagnosing the problem and I think there is no way I qualified in the top ten. To my surprise I was 8th and only 2 tenths of a second slower than fast time. It boosted my confidence greatly.

Heat Race.
Brand new this year is heat races for the supers. Really, these races are designed for the fans instead of racing, it gets the fastest division of racing on the track twice in one night. The old format didn't include heat races, so we only raced the main event. I started 2nd row outside and battled James Mugge on the outside for a few laps before settling in to save tires for the main event, finishing 4th.

Main Event.
I started 6th, 3rd row outside. I worked my way to 3rd place at one point before giving up one position to 4th. I settled into fourth for the majority of the run and was starting to be challenged by Mike Holden for position with 7 laps left. His car was better in and through the middle of the corner, not that I was bad, but I was better off. He would close up through the center of the turn, but I would get away coming off. There are two, sometimes three lines around a racetrack, low, middle and high. My car was good enough to hold the low line and still be fast. Obviously, Mikes' was also or he would have driven around me in the other two lanes, middle or high. Instead, he ran over me in the corner sending me into a spin and out of the race with huge damage. Such goes racing; sometimes you get dumped. I finished 15th.

The Stands.
Ok, so the Rock Church crowd was in the stands in force. When the announcers announced the car, sponsors and my name the place was loud. Thanks for all the support. It's great to have people in your corner.

The Fruit.
I was walking into church through the back doors, and Mark who's been at the track and in the pits for years was coming into church ready to receive the word. He gave his life to Jesus two weeks ago and Pastor George is water baptizing him today! Isn't that cool!