Second hand Smoke

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!

Going the Distance...

After qualifying on Friday, I started having thoughts about if I should go through with this again on Saturday. I was having a lot of fun and it was everything I expected, but it took from 8am to 10pm to get about an hour of seat time, if that. But after I started to find my rhythm in the last chance race, I was encouraged to build on that.

Since I didn't know what to expect on Friday, I didn't really set any goals. Saturday I had some goals. Maybe they weren't goals, but they were a couple of easy things to do to improve my performance. First, get in the right gear for qualifying. Second, I wanted to be right up on the car in front of me on starts and re-starts. Third, get on the gas earlier and harder coming out of the turns and go in harder and brake harder going into the turns. If I could do this, it would improve my chances of reaching my actual goal of not getting lapped in my heat or last chance race (also known as a "consie") and possibly luck into the feature.

Dad and I were in a lighter mood on our way to the Coliseum on Saturday. We stopped by Dunkin Donuts on the way there to get my favorite coffee and some donuts for the crew, so Saturday was already starting off good.

There is not much to say about the first and second practice for Saturday. I was "smoked" again in the first one, but each time in the car was a little more comfortable and a little bit faster. The track had more grip in it since there was more rubber put down from the day before. The thing I did notice was that I was starting to hang with whoever started in front of me, so that was encouraging.

Qualifying rolled around again and Dad had an interesting story from the stands. Since one of my goals was to get into fourth gear for qualifying, I took my time making sure I went through every gear on my warm up lap. Most guys blast out of the pits, zip through there warm up lap, zip through the timed laps and get it over with. So when the crowd saw me putting through the gears, Dad said a murmur started to build....that is until I came on to the backstretch prior to starting my timed laps. I went from put-put-put-put to a full blast charge into turn three and through four to start my timed laps.

My fastest lap on Saturday was 9.1s. Compared to my 10.3s from Friday I was happy, but I really thought I could break into the 8s range. Most cars qualified Saturday in the 8.3-8.5s range and the fast time was 7.8s. Even though I was over a second faster, it was still only good for 31 out of 35 cars that took times.

So after qaulifying, I called Lisa to see if she was going to make it out to see the races. She arrived in time to see me strapped in and waiting for my heat race. She turned out to be a good luck charm because I really started doing better with her in the stands. She also captured my first on track pass which you can see below. I am in the green #32. Watch the left front come off the ground coming out of the turns. It is might not be the ideal set-up, but it sure looks cool!





With Lisa in the stands I pull off my first pass and I didn't get lapped in my heat...coincidence?

So she catches up with me after the first race where I am starting to show flashes of competitiveness and what does she want? "I want to see Tony Stewart!"

We go over to his pit area and he is just hanging out with his crew and I am charged up so I am ready to go talk to him, but Lisa has celebrity-phobia, so she wouldn't let me. We saw him later waiting beside his car before one of the races and I went up to him with Lisa and her camera ready.


We had a quick conversation and Lisa snapped a picture, so I could have gone home happy at that point, but I had a last chance race to run.

I lined up 8th out of 9 in my last chance race. I was psyched for this one and I even bumped the car ahead of me on the pace laps to let him know I was coming. I came through the second turn of the first lap in 3rd place after a big wreck took out a bunch of cars in front of me. That is one thing you can't understand what it will be like until it happens and this time it wasn't that bad. My car owner kept telling me all weekend that strange things happen in indoor racing and one of the keys is to just keep moving. Everything happened so fast I don't even know what started it, but it felt like I broke through a wall when I came out the other side.

The race was stopped while they cleared the wreckage and I restarted 5th out of 6 remaining. I made a nice pass on a guy in front of me on one of the restarts, but I was stuck behind the same guy for the rest of the race when I was coming around to lap him. The results show me in fifth, but I consider it a fourth place finish since they counted the car I had already passed and was going to lap. Fourth place was two spots away from transferring from the feature. I managed not to get lapped in my final race, so I was able to meet all of my goals for the day.

Overall it was a great experience and I hope to build on this in the future. I have to thank the car owner Dave Fuhrman and his crew for providing me with a solid car. Originally he was going to bring a car for me and a car for himself but one of his cars had problems the week before in Toledo so he only brought one. He was good on his word that I would have a car to race in the Coliseum even if it meant that he would be watching. (I also learned how hard it is to watch someone else drive your car, but that might be for another post!)

And what kind of aspiring racecar driver would I be if I didn't thank my sponsor. Hometown Television (Channel 19 in Hamilton county) chipped in to make this thing happen and I think we represented them well. A couple people even came up to me who were familiar with the channel.

I also have to thank my whole family, especially my wife, for putting up with me being away for two whole days. Two days doesn't sound like much to most people, but most people haven't had to babysit my 1 year old and 4 year old while being crammed in an unfamiliar house.

I also have to thank my Dad for providing me with advice and keeping me entertained throughout the over 24hours of downtime we had over the two days. From the "Bizzaro Carper and Ringer" to my non-stop attempts to mingle with the "my fans", we had a lot of fun. I was glad to give him something new to brag to his friends about because you can only hear so much about jezza-buell! (Just kidding!!)


Keep an eye on this space! This isn't over yet...