Well, it has taken over six months, but I finally have something to blog about.
Friday night and Saturday night I raced midgets in the "Rumble in the Expo" at the Fort Wayne Coliseum. This is an annual event going back about fifty years and it is normally sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC); however, this year it was sanctioned by a different promoter but all the big names were there. Dave Darland, Tony Elliott, Lou Cicconi, Billy Wease and some guy named Tony Stewart.
Two months ago when I came up with this crazy idea to run this race, I figured I wouldn't have a problem hanging with these guys in this format. Indoor racing isn't so much about outright speed as much as it is about working traffic and keeping your car pointed forward with the rubber side down.
So after a 3day Skip Barber racing school back in 2006 and a weekend of racing in the SCCA Formula Vee Class on the road course at Indianapolis Race way Park back in May, I felt like I was ready to take on some professional racers on their own turf.
Fast forward to Thursday, Christmas Day. After two months of preparation (including push-ups, sit-ups, and jogging 30min per day to make sure my heart could chug the length of a long feature race and watching a in-car camera video from the 2006 race on youtube nearly every day), doubt was starting to creep in and I wasn't really sure if I was ready for this or not. Normally for Christmas we have a full spread of appetizers, a turkey dinner, and desserts, but this year the butterflies in my stomach didn't allow much room to take any of it in.
Friday finally rolled around and my Dad and I arrived at the Coliseum at about 8:15am. Once we were inside, the butterflies disappeared and I was looking forward to strapping the racecar on and seeing what I could do. We arrived early so we would have time to find my racecar. The drivers meeting took place at 9am and practice for all classes began at 10am. There were a million classes go-karts and kart derivatives and they were all scheduled to go out before the midgets, so my practice rolled off at about 11:30 and...it was over before I even knew what happened.
With lap times ranging from 8 to 10sec and we were given about 15 laps of practice, practice lasted probably less than 4min. Nothing really standouts and I will never see the video because Dad thought he was recording when he was actually on standby (I will have to give him credit though, he was more nervous than I was all weekend, but that is how it is when you watch a family member race.)
We had down time until the next practice at 3pm, so we took the opportunity eat some greasy track food and I got myself jacked up on caffeine. I am naturally a laid back person, so I need a little extra kick sometimes, especially to keep up with the pros who are ready to race anytime, anywhere. While we were standing around the car, someone told me to turn around, so I did and there was a boy there, about six years old with a Sharpie. He wanted me to sign his t-shirt so I took his Sharpie and signed my first autograph on his sleeve! I better not see that shirt on eBay!!
After two practices, it was 4pm and time to qualify. I was rushing things so much on my warm up lap that I thought I put it in 4th gear, but during my two timed laps the motor was really screaming because it was really in 3rd gear. I clocked a 10.3s which was good for about 31st out of 35 cars. Fast time was set at about 8.0s. I expected to be closer than that but I didn't get too down about for two reasons: First, like I said I was in the wrong gear, and second, the fast time was set by Tony F-ing Stewart.
So my slow time put me in the back of my heat race. There were 4 heat races with 8 to 9 cars starting and the top two finishers transferring to the feature and the rest going to the "last chance race". With little chance of transferring through my heat race, I planned on laying low in hopes of getting a better starting position in the last chance race. I had trouble keeping up on starts and restarts because from my experience watching races from the stands, it looks like they are idling around, but in reality we were actually driving at about 50% of race pace, which still requires a lot of driving input and attention.
I was about 4 car lengths from the pack when they dropped the green flag for the 8 lap heat race. My lousy start resulted in a last place finish putting me in last place for the start of the last chance race. So much for sandbagging and starting up front! It turns out they were only inverting positions for the feature so my sandbagging plans were flawed to begin with. Another lesson learned: Go fast or go home!
There are three last chance races, with 8 or 9 cars starting and the top two transferring to the feature. This was my first chance to be on track with the legendary Tony Stewart, so I was pretty excited about that. This race was 12 laps and it took him about 8 to take the lead and catch up to me at the rear of the field. He caught me going into the third turn and he went by me on the inside so fast I swear it didn't look physically possible. There are reasons he has won so many races and championships. Too put it in another sports analogy, it is kind of like being dunked on by Michael Jordan, there is really not too much shame in that.
His nickname is Smoke, and I definitely got smoked on this night. I came up with a nickname for myself after this close encounter with the legend : Second Hand Smoke.
Towards the end of this race, I really got into a rhythm and I was starting to get comfortable leaning off my right rear tire coming off the corner, so I was encouraged by the end and I was looking forward to coming back for more on Saturday.
So I finished last in my last chance race and I didn't make the feature, but out of 35 cars, only 14 made it anyway, so I wasn't alone. Overall it was a good day, the car came home in one piece, I signed my first autograph and I was on the track with Smoke.
I will post more pics and video tomorrow, so keep checking back.... it gets better!
Friday night and Saturday night I raced midgets in the "Rumble in the Expo" at the Fort Wayne Coliseum. This is an annual event going back about fifty years and it is normally sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC); however, this year it was sanctioned by a different promoter but all the big names were there. Dave Darland, Tony Elliott, Lou Cicconi, Billy Wease and some guy named Tony Stewart.
Two months ago when I came up with this crazy idea to run this race, I figured I wouldn't have a problem hanging with these guys in this format. Indoor racing isn't so much about outright speed as much as it is about working traffic and keeping your car pointed forward with the rubber side down.
So after a 3day Skip Barber racing school back in 2006 and a weekend of racing in the SCCA Formula Vee Class on the road course at Indianapolis Race way Park back in May, I felt like I was ready to take on some professional racers on their own turf.
Fast forward to Thursday, Christmas Day. After two months of preparation (including push-ups, sit-ups, and jogging 30min per day to make sure my heart could chug the length of a long feature race and watching a in-car camera video from the 2006 race on youtube nearly every day), doubt was starting to creep in and I wasn't really sure if I was ready for this or not. Normally for Christmas we have a full spread of appetizers, a turkey dinner, and desserts, but this year the butterflies in my stomach didn't allow much room to take any of it in.
Friday finally rolled around and my Dad and I arrived at the Coliseum at about 8:15am. Once we were inside, the butterflies disappeared and I was looking forward to strapping the racecar on and seeing what I could do. We arrived early so we would have time to find my racecar. The drivers meeting took place at 9am and practice for all classes began at 10am. There were a million classes go-karts and kart derivatives and they were all scheduled to go out before the midgets, so my practice rolled off at about 11:30 and...it was over before I even knew what happened.
With lap times ranging from 8 to 10sec and we were given about 15 laps of practice, practice lasted probably less than 4min. Nothing really standouts and I will never see the video because Dad thought he was recording when he was actually on standby (I will have to give him credit though, he was more nervous than I was all weekend, but that is how it is when you watch a family member race.)
We had down time until the next practice at 3pm, so we took the opportunity eat some greasy track food and I got myself jacked up on caffeine. I am naturally a laid back person, so I need a little extra kick sometimes, especially to keep up with the pros who are ready to race anytime, anywhere. While we were standing around the car, someone told me to turn around, so I did and there was a boy there, about six years old with a Sharpie. He wanted me to sign his t-shirt so I took his Sharpie and signed my first autograph on his sleeve! I better not see that shirt on eBay!!
After two practices, it was 4pm and time to qualify. I was rushing things so much on my warm up lap that I thought I put it in 4th gear, but during my two timed laps the motor was really screaming because it was really in 3rd gear. I clocked a 10.3s which was good for about 31st out of 35 cars. Fast time was set at about 8.0s. I expected to be closer than that but I didn't get too down about for two reasons: First, like I said I was in the wrong gear, and second, the fast time was set by Tony F-ing Stewart.
So my slow time put me in the back of my heat race. There were 4 heat races with 8 to 9 cars starting and the top two finishers transferring to the feature and the rest going to the "last chance race". With little chance of transferring through my heat race, I planned on laying low in hopes of getting a better starting position in the last chance race. I had trouble keeping up on starts and restarts because from my experience watching races from the stands, it looks like they are idling around, but in reality we were actually driving at about 50% of race pace, which still requires a lot of driving input and attention.
I was about 4 car lengths from the pack when they dropped the green flag for the 8 lap heat race. My lousy start resulted in a last place finish putting me in last place for the start of the last chance race. So much for sandbagging and starting up front! It turns out they were only inverting positions for the feature so my sandbagging plans were flawed to begin with. Another lesson learned: Go fast or go home!
There are three last chance races, with 8 or 9 cars starting and the top two transferring to the feature. This was my first chance to be on track with the legendary Tony Stewart, so I was pretty excited about that. This race was 12 laps and it took him about 8 to take the lead and catch up to me at the rear of the field. He caught me going into the third turn and he went by me on the inside so fast I swear it didn't look physically possible. There are reasons he has won so many races and championships. Too put it in another sports analogy, it is kind of like being dunked on by Michael Jordan, there is really not too much shame in that.
His nickname is Smoke, and I definitely got smoked on this night. I came up with a nickname for myself after this close encounter with the legend : Second Hand Smoke.
Towards the end of this race, I really got into a rhythm and I was starting to get comfortable leaning off my right rear tire coming off the corner, so I was encouraged by the end and I was looking forward to coming back for more on Saturday.
So I finished last in my last chance race and I didn't make the feature, but out of 35 cars, only 14 made it anyway, so I wasn't alone. Overall it was a good day, the car came home in one piece, I signed my first autograph and I was on the track with Smoke.
I will post more pics and video tomorrow, so keep checking back.... it gets better!
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