I’m back home now. So how did the national go? Well, it rained (hard) about an hour before our race.
Things were pretty dry for the race, though, except for a couple of places with standing water. I qualified second (that’s getting to be a habit!), and led going into turn 2. Kim and I went side by side for a couple of turns, and he ended up ahead. We stayed nose-to-tail for 4 or 5 laps, pulling about a 5 second lead over the cars behind us. Then, for the next few laps, we started battling, passing each other a couple of times every lap, going side-by-side through much of the infield, with a net result of going about a second a lap slower (you can’t go quite as fast with a car next to you!). This, of course, allowed the cars behind us to catch back up.

Turn 1 on the road course configuration at PPIR is a full-throttle 4th gear turn, if you get it right. If you don’t, you have to lift a little. Along about lap 10, I was on an unfortunate line through the turn, and had to lift oh ever so slightly (about half an inch of accelerater pedal travel); unfortunately, Dean was about a foot off my bumper and got by as a result. I followed him for a while, trying to be smart – if we kept drafting with each other, and didn’t try to battle it out, we’d catch up to Kim…and I was thinking if Dean and Kim started dicing a little, I could drive by both of them. Great plan, right?

Well, unfortunately Dean didn’t get close enough to Kim to try to pass. And I didn’t get an obvious opportunity to get back by Dean. So there’s about 5 or so laps left, and I’m noticing that I’m gaining on these two by going a little deeper and braking later into turn 2. So I do this for a couple of laps, all is going well, I’m picking up a little ground. Then I try going even faster in there, and lock up
all four wheels…needless to say, you lose a LOT of time when you do something like that. Well, what do you know, Brian gets up next to me. I consider a defensive line through the next couple of turns, but decided against it. Back out on the front straightaway, checked flag! Oh no…I totally missed the one lap to go marker. Screwed!

So I finished 4th. Looking back, I can point to mistakes I made that cost positions, and I can also see opportunities that I should have pressed. Somehow it’s much more clear, as I sit here typing this, than when you’re going 100 mph six inches from another car. Heh.

Note to self: never, ever, EVER go out again for a national race without the radio in the car. I’ve said this before…this time I mean it.