Thread: Race Series Results: Road America July
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Old 07-10-2009
HorsepowerWhisperer HorsepowerWhisperer is offline
Rookie / Regular Member (<10 Posts)
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 5
Western Re: Road America July

Hey gang,

That was a great first-race weekend for me. Actually, there was a lot of new stuff for me to digest...first time in a skippy car in almost 20 mos, first auto race ever, first time to drive at RA . Thanks for everyone's patience, especially during the Thursday lapping sessions. My first thought was, "Whoa, I'm way out of my league here..."

I think I finally found my sea legs by the end of the weekend. My starts and re-starts were horrible, so I basically ended up battling for last place among those who hadn't spun or crashed in both races. But they were great battles. As each race went on, I knew I was faster than the guy ahead of me; I just couldn't get past. It was an intense exercise in trial and error race craft and strategy...how long to draft, how close to draft, when to pop, when to hang back, how far to hang back, etc. I guess that should have been frustrating, but it was all new to me. I felt my nervousness melting away with every lap. I finished about a tenth of a second behind my closest competitor in each race...and I desperately wanted a few more laps. Too much fun.

Special thanks to Neal Agran, Ted Jewell, and all the Skip Barber instructors for guiding me through the weekend.

Congrats to Harsha on the first open class win. I didn't realize it was such a big deal at the time; Hell, I figured you won all the time! The story about your three-day school was particularly motivating to me.

My only complaint all weekend was that the air conditioning was broken in the #93 car. I can't wait to do it all again! If I were a professional bank robber, I'd be at every race.

Cheers from Austin, Texas.

Chris
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