Team Gutty at The Cure for Gingervitis Lemons race at Gingerman.

So, Adam had talked to me last year about doing Lemons and things just never worked out. This year the talks came up again and heck, might as well. But, let me rewind for a moment to set this whole deal up. My first HPDE ever was WMHM '09 which Chris and Adam along with a few other put on. I probably said hi, thanks, etc to them back then. But, my first time really getting to know any of them was with Adam since we "caravan'd" to Expo '11 together. That is what really sparked our friendship. So, I wouldn't imagine that I would be in this position now, but here I am and happy to be here.

Our team is basically a WMHM or Honda Meet team. It consisted of me, Adam, Chris, Jeremy, Tom, Allison(crew chief), Nick, and Bill being our hospitality guys. haha. Luckily, Nick brought a camper, so it made our weekend a lot easier. From Nick cooking "watery" cinnamon rolls for Jeremy to Chris and I watching the ALMS, the camper saved us!!

The start of my week didn't start quite right. I woke up on Monday and could tell that I was getting sick. So, I layed on the couch until Wednesday and worked a half day. By Friday morning, I felt a lot better than I did on Monday. I still had a sore throat, but my energy level seemed to be back up. Well, I don't know if it was the weather or what, but once I was driving, that level went back down to about zero. Luckily, I have Brandy, so she did about two hours of the driving while I rode shotgun.

We got to South Haven before Adam arrived with the car, so we went to check in at the hotel. Too early they said, so we headed to the track. We checked in and I got my equipment "tech'd". We then headed to grab some food and to check in to the hotel. We checked in and ate, then brought all of our stuff in. It was about 32 degrees with a windchill in the low 20s. So, to pass the time, we took Bai to the pool. I kept my clothes on and sat out in case we had the opportunity to test the car. Adam sent me a text around 4pm and said that they just got out of tech. No reason to pay to test for an hour. So, upstairs I went and I was one cannonball away from having a good time!!

Saturday morning, I headed to the track by myself since it was early and freezing, literally. I don't remember the temperature, but there was snow on the ground! I get to the track and say my hellos, then Tom and I walked around the paddock to check out all the interesting rides. After that, we cleaned the snow off the car and hopped in to check with inserts that we would use during our stints. Then, it was time for the Drivers' meeting. Holy cow, that place was PACKED!! 70ish teams with about 5 drivers per team, if that tells you anything.

We still didn't have a driving order, but Adam suited up first. I'm the type that likes to go in with a plan and they are all layed back. So, I'm kind of "freakin' out" because I don't know when I'm going. But, too late for that, time to start engines. Adam starts about mid-pack and just starts laying down laps. We were all hiding in the camper with Allison on the radio with Adam. I bought the Race Monitor app, so that I could follow the race with the rest of the team. Jeremy said that Chris or I could go second, then the other one third. So, with the girls back at the hotel, I said that I would go third. Adam had been in the car for about 2 hours and 45 minutes or 2 hours and 30 minutes of race time. It was time for him to come in. My duty for that stop was to hold the fire extinguisher. Tom filled and the first can went in fine. But, the second can had a crack in the quick fill head. Uh oh, switched the heads over and back to filling. Chris headed out to track and we filled the gas back up. Then, I headed to get the girls.

Once back to the track, we hid in the camper again due to the cold. Before I knew it, it was time for me to get ready to head out. Normally, I get a bit nervous, but for some reason, I wasn't. I didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. I had never driven the car, let alone on track. I hadn't ever even driven a CRX and it had been awhile since driving on "street" tires. Also, my first time wearing the HANS. Then add my first time racing wheel to wheel in a car, I've ran open passing groups, but not true wheel to wheel. So, probably a lot to be nervous about, but I was just ready to get out there.

Here is a video of me about to hop in.

Once I hopped in, Tom got me strapped in while Allison hooked the radio up. Adam came over and said something like "Just go out and learn the car, then have fun. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO FAST!" Ok, so turn laps and don't be silly, got it, I think. To make it fair, they make everyone drive the same distance around the paddock to get back on track. The paddock speed limit is 10mph which seems like it takes forever! I had my driver's band on the outside of my suit sleeve and my glove already rolled up. So, I held it out to the marshal and never lifted off the gas. The speed limit is serious, too. One guy was strapped to the hood of his car and had a megaphone yelling "I am sorry for speeding in the pits. I could have killed your kids..etc." Pretty funny because it wasn't anyone on our team. That is a lot of time wasted in the paddock for driving too fast. The penalty box is where you have to go for violations or black flags. You would think that the penalty box would be pretty bare. Wrong, that place is busy almost all the time.




Getting ready for my 2 hours and 45 minutes of fun!


I don't really remember the first part of my stint. I remember paying attention for the couple fast BMWs and the pink pig Mustang. Right when I started getting into my "groove", I went into T7 and got on the brakes. The next thing I know is that I have something resting on the heel of my foot. UH OH!! I thought it was our Gatorade bottle aka our drink system. So, I cruise through T8-T10 and get on the back straight, then coast. All the people I had passed are now passing me like I am sitting still. Now, let me paint a picture with words. I'm short, Adam Jabaay is tall. The seat is welded to the floor for someone tall. I am straight armed to hold the steering wheel and I have to shuffle the steering wheel which I hate. I can barely get the gas pedal flat to the floor. I didn't think to loosen the shoulder straps, but here I am trying to push this object back with my left heel while reaching down with my right hand. I finally inched it up seat and into my hand. It was roll bar padding, I never checked to see what part of the cage that it came off of. The only other "odd" thing to happen in the car was trying to get a drink. The set up was a 32 ounce Gatorade bottle with water in it and a long hose a bit thicker than a straw tapped into the cap. The hose was wrapped around the seat and tucked under your right shoulder harness. One time I went to get a drink and by the time I got the end of it up to my mouth, brake zone! Now this hose is resting on the radio wire and bugging me. I locate the hose and thought that I tucked it under my right arm. Wrong, it is gone. My throat is super dry which stinks considering I am getting over being sick. We finally get a full course caution and I reach to where we had the bottle, then locate the hose. I pull the hose back from around the seat and find the end. I get a few good drinks and stuff it back in the cage. I'm good to go now!




In front of the Pit Out Lake.


The Lemons title might make you think that it is just crap cars driving around in almost a Sunday drive. It is far from it, granted you have some out there that don't check their mirrors, but it is great racing otherwise. I had a "NFL Women's Attire" car about hit me on the straight away between T4(the kink) to T5. I went inside and was at almost the grass. Right about as I was going by, he/she came over on me. I would say that we had about six inches between us. I "braced" for some sort of impact, but luckily nothing happened. I threw my hand up to say "WHAT THE HECK"!! I think that it somewhat scared them because they didn't know that I was there because I was almost to T7 by the time that they got out of T6. Besides a few small contacts in front of me, it was pretty clean. There were tons of hot pulls happening on track which made for a lot of local yellows and white flags. We had some debris flags, but the best of all was when I was coming out of T6 and saw a huge set of "truck nuts". I got a decent run coming out of that section and popped to the left of the car ahead. "Holy CRAP!!" I swerve to miss the huge set of truck nuts in the road. That was probably the most "loose" that I had the car all stint.



Using traffic to get away from the red Porsche. Also, making a three wide pass through T2; white car, me, green Civic.

In the picture above, you can see the red Porsche and the yellow Volvo aka the "School Bus". One thing that is hard with Lemons is that you don't know what cars are in what group. So, once I could pass a car, I considered them in B class. Weird way of thinking about it, but I didn't know how else to go about it. The Porsche and I went back and forth for awhile. It was always clean, I wish that I remember more about the battle or had the GoPro working! I ended up using traffic and got away from him or her. The "School Bus" and I had a good go there for a little bit. The one thing that I do remember about that car was how well it did through the T8 and T9 section. I figured that it would be the section to where I could pull away some, negative. I remember, too, that it seemed like he/she backed down for a bit. Then, they came storming back up, but I used traffic again to my advantage. Like the red Porsche, that was a very clean battle. The funny thing was, I didn't realize what their postition was until the next morning when I got on Facebook. I saw the link to the Car and Driver blog and they were P2! Great showing for a school bus!!



The Save the Ta-Tas Camaro.

  The Save the Ta-Tas Camaro was the battle that I remember the most. Super close battle, several times we were less than a foot apart. I would pass in the corner, then have more doors blown off on the straight aways. But, I was determined to get passed this car and stay past it. The main reason was the smell of the exhaust. Like I mentioned before, due to the temperature, if you weren't racing, you were probably in the camper. I don't know how long this battle went on, but I was enjoying the show and figured that they would too. So, I came over the radio and yelled "I'M PLAYING WITH SOME TA-TAS OUT HERE!!!" Jeremy said something back, but I kept pushing the charge. It was clean racing and whoever was driving did very well. I remember one time going into T5 thinking the door was open, nope, closed shut. It was his corner, so that is what I expected, but it was CLOSE. Back and forth, back and forth, but I finally got some traffic that I could use to my advantage. Whoever that was in the Camaro, thanks for the good run!!




A shot from the Car and Drive blog.


I started using the watch on the dash bar to keep track of time, but I didn't know that it was set to Chicago(Central) time. I started looking at it around 4:10pm(Central), so really 5:10pm, about an hour and a half into my stint. But, after doing math according to the Central time, I don't think that I have been in there for long. Dry and scratchy throat, something in my right shoe poking my ankle when full throttle, and the harness pinching certain things. I got my mind over those things and said "You've got awhile." I came over the radio about a half hour after that and asked if I was if we were still in second. Jeremy replied "We are now first in class by six laps." Heck yeah!! I didn't do much talking on the radio, so it was pretty quiet for awhile. Jeremy came back on and said "You can pit whenever you want, good job out there." But, before he is done, you hear Adam in the background "STAY OUT, KEEP GOING!!" haha. That was the plan, so at this point, I think that I have only been out there for an hour and a half due to my math according to the clock. A little bit more time goes by, Jeremy comes back over the radio and says "Ok, pit this time." I was already into T10 and the pit in is right ahead. There is no one around me and I think that I have only done a bit more than an hour and a half. So, I come over the radio and say "Let me pass another car, I'm not done having fun yet!!" Well, as I go by our paddock spot, Jeremy yells "PIT, PIT, PIT!!" haha. I didn't reply, I was going to make the last lap count! I caught some traffic around T2 and had traffic the rest of the lap. And, luckily, in T10 it was busy. The Army green Civic was on the outside with the "Sick Gut" on the inside. I took the middle line and got up on the Gaguar's quarterpanel. Once I cleared him, I had to get a better exit than the Civic, so that I could make it in the pits. I had been around the Civic plenty of times and I knew in a straight line that we were very close. The diesel Izusu "rust coupe" was ahead, so I used him as a pick and through my arm out to show that I was pitting. The last 45 minutes to an hour, I never got passed and played all of my traffic cards right. I was pleased with my stint.

The Sick Gut car. I don't know what is in it, but it is quick in a straight line. I know it is converted to a MR setup.

As pleased as I was, it was super refreshing to turn down towards our pit area and see everyone's smiles. That's when I got super pumped because I knew that they were thrilled because it was their first time in 3 races to be P1 in class. I pull up, the wheel gets chocked, the engine off, steering wheel off, and harness undone. My driving duties were complete and time for Tom to bring it home for the day. High fives all around and then Nick tells me that I did a 2 hour and 45 minute stint. Sweet! That is when I was told the watch was still on Chicago time. haha.

Me crossing the finishing finish line.

Tom closed out the day. We finished day 1 being P1 in class and P5 overall. Brandy had wanted pizza, so our night ended by eating at this "World Champion" pizza place. Well, long story short, I've made better Tombstone pizzas before! Friday was super windy down by the pier, so we made our way down there again since it was more calm. South Haven's pier and lighthouse always make for a good photo.

A little bit after sunset on Saturday.

Sunday was pretty straight forward, Tom and Jeremy splitting up a bit less than 5 hours of race time. Tom's stint went smooth and the pit stop was just as smooth. Nick and Allison doing the in car stuff. Me filling the car with gas and Chris making sure that I don't catch everyone on fire. Bill set the pressures and I checked the lug nuts. Then, out Jeremy went. He was out for a bit, then I walk out of the camper to get some sun and here he comes up pit lane. He throws his hands up at me and I look up the paddock and here comes Allison running with the radio in one hand, camera in the other. I knew it, black flag. There was a car ahead of him, so I asked the lady if he did get a black flag, yes for passing under yellow. Nick tried tossing her money, but that didn't work. haha. He got out rather quick because he knew the rule and it was our first infraction. It seemed as if a corner station got excited because about 8 cars came in for the same reason.



Another pic, part of a sequence from a picture above.



After that, it was smooth sailing until the end. P1 in B class and P6 overall, by far the best finish for Team Gutty!! 500 hundred dollars worth of nickles going to the car and Bai got to go home with the trophy. What an awesome time! Thanks to all the Jabaays, Chris, Tom, Nick, and Bill for the hospitality. Great team, awesome atmosphere, and well sorted car besides the non-sticking roll bar padding. Also, a big thanks to the Landshark team, they helped us with some fuel supply stuff and anything else that we needed. I can't forget Brandy for taking care of Bai, plus being there for me over the course of a long weekend including doing some of the driving. Gingerman and 24 Hours of Lemons crew, corner workers, etc, Thank you, too!! I can't wait to do it again!!

Bai and I with "her" trophy!

Team shot after the race.

Alright, doing a bit of spring cleaning, so I found a few books that I can spare. I don't have actual pictures of the books, but in ,obviously, used, but good condition.

Winning Autocross Techniques- Ross Bentley $25 shipped.





Vehicle Dynamics and Damping- Jan Zuijdijk $25 shipped.

Competition Driving- Alain Prost $20 shipped.

High Performance Driving- Bob Bondurant $15 shipped.

Racing Weight- Matt Fitzgerald $15 shipped.

Go Ahead and Take the Wheel- Dave Gran $12 shipped.



Thanks for looking, I'll post more stuff as it comes along. Thanks!

Lemons race at Gingerman.

Well, it looks like I'll be driving with Adam Jabaay's Team Gutty in the Lemons race coming up on April 20th and 21st. We had talked about it going into last "season", but it never worked out. The talk continued into this year, so here we are.

Here I am running close with the Lemons car at Mid Ohio.

I have been told that running with the Lemons group is "something to be experienced", so I am pretty excited. Hopefully, we can make some Lemonade while having a grand ol' time. With the seat that is used in the CRX, I should be able to get some helmet cam footage. Other than that, if you're in the area, come out and cheer us on!! #BelieveInOrange

Couples' Karting Enduro.

I will skip the first enduro that we did because Brandy and I got second place, so it really isn't worth mentioning. haha.

But, here is a picture.

The first enduro just so happened the week that I got back in the gym. I used to go up to Fastimes pretty often with friends. It used to be where I "got my kicks", but now that I get seat time in the hatch, I hardly ever go. I used to be pretty quick up there, but since the weight gain, I would say it is quick for the common person, but just average to slow for the "quick people". The first time that we ran, I was 270 pounds and I ran a fast lap of 24.145. The second time that we were supposed to run got cancelled, but a local car forum, IndyRPM, was doing a toy drive that day. So, we headed up there and at 255 pounds, I ran a 23.865. So, improvements were made, but I was still a full second off my fastest lap, ever, up there.

Brandy had said, last Wednesday, that she thought that there was a karting enduro on that Sunday(this past Sunday). I told her that we hadn't heard anything, so that I doubted that be the case. Well, sure enough, on Thursday, she was told that there was one. Easy enough, we are in! I don't really put a lot of "weight" on her shoulders, so my only thing that I told her was that with it being cold the track will be slick. Sliding the kart just adds to "the work". She had been sliding a lot the last time and wound up pretty sore. So, I told her to slow it down a bit and not to slide.

Sunday came and for some reason during the morning, I thought that we would start dead last. Well, we it came time to draw kart numbers, we got the last kart in line. There were only six teams, this time, but still, dead last! Last time that we ran, I was second fastest with Justin running around .3/second on his fastest lap opposed to mine. Of course, he was starting P1! Oh well, you can't do anything about that now. So, I'm on the third row on the outside. I know that P5 had not been there before, so he will probably be sleeping on the start. But, I had Erin in front of me in P4 and she runs there often, so I figured that she would have a good start. Well, then, the P2 kart has a loose steering shaft, so they replace his kart. In doing so, they push Erin and I back. Then, they move us up to P2 and P4. Hmmm, that works, I guess. Time to change the strategy??! Nope, one says that he needs to go back up to P2. Ok, back to the same strategy. They put Erin at an angle facing the first apex, it was odd, but it was facing away from the track's direction. So, her start might not be as good, but a high chance of her getting to where I want to go before I do. I position myself at a slight angle to try to get to that point first.

The start worked pretty much according to plan, except in the drivers' meeting they said to be single file before going downstairs to avoid side by side contact. Ummm, I'm trying to get there first, regardless. So, I make a good get-a-way and pass Erin and P5. I come right up on P3 and he checks up to let P2 "into line". What the heck, well given my distance from the front bumper to his rear bumper, he knew that I wasn't expecting that. I got to third by the end of the first lap. So far, so good.

My first stint went pretty much better than plan. I got the lead pretty early, then it became to lap everyone, but I doubted that I would get anywhere near lapping Justin. I managed the traffic pretty well and finally got to him. Only real issue that I had was I went to pass a certain person and he basically tried to PIT maneuver me. I have you lapped by 3 laps, so why are you racing me hard was my thought. It was right in front of a corner worker. I put out my hand to the other driver to say "Really, like this." Also, to get awareness from that corner worker, but I don't think that he really noticed. But, from that point forward with that driver, the gloves were off. So, after my first stint, Justin's team was down a lap and all other teams were more than one down.

The second stint was more of the same thing, just turning laps and staying out of trouble. The one guy had never been there before and was WAYYY off the pace. It was always troubling coming up behind him because you didn't know what was going to happen. That came from my first stint where I had passed him, then we got a yellow and he passed me under yellow. Apparently, someone was paying attention in the drivers' meeting. Anyways, he basically drove in the middle of the track, then if you got under him into the corner, he would turn into you. Funny that him and the aforementioned "Dale Sr." got together in front of me. Somehow they came out clean and I got by both of them. lol. Towards the end of the stint, I started noticing a miss after braking when picking up the throttle. No big deal, I thought. Then, during the pit stop, as we are doing the driver change, the kart dies. Great! That extra time accounted for a 15 second longer pit stop than normal. Lap times vary from high 23s into the 27s and up. So, that is easily more than a half lap!

My third stint was pretty flawless, except when I got in, Brandy got the pedals adjusted one position back. Now, I am pretty cramped and was afraid that my left shoe was going to fall off due to my heel hitting this hump in the plastic. Oh well, get over it and move on, faster. Not really too much action. The guy who was the second fastest of the day was battling with Justin and I caught up to them. Once we got by Justin, I wanted to get by him. So, I did my traditional move into the hairpin, but he played it correct. He also weighs around 130-140ish, so I've got him by an easy 100lbs. So, he comes back under and out drag races me. Well played and at that moment I decided to play the smart route. So, I stayed behind him the whole time and played clean. If he were to have made a mistake, I would have went for it. But, I'm not going to blow our race on a silly bone headed move.
The fourth stint, I figured that I might as well push since it was my last stint. No reason to leave anything left on the track, plus I got the pedals adjusted back to where they were. The brake pedal is weird, sometimes it is firm like it has been, then other times, it was nothing. So, was Brandy riding the pedal? Who knows, but I'll just brake earlier and ride it out. The flow has been set for awhile, now. So, it was the same thing, just lap after lap. Then, boom, stuck throttle. I get it "freed up", ok, good. Nope, it happens again. So, I stop by the corner worker, he looks at me funny. I lift up my right foot and point at the motor. He hops over and starts kicking the brake pedal. What that did, I don't know, but it worked. Well, it didn't work for long. As soon as I lifted to brake to go downstairs, boom. It is back at it. My first thought, ok, you can deal with it, now figure it out. But, then I went into the hairpin and it was a handful. So, my next thought became, uh oh, what about Brandy. I could just see this happening to her and her hitting the wall. I can't have that, so I stopped by that same corner worker, again. This time, he throws the yellow. FINALLY. That basically blew a full lap and a half for us, not to mention that everyone else was running full speed. They stop everyone and get me into a new kart. It was nice to get into a kart that the bucket of the harnesses wasn't on my sternum. I got out of the pits and wiggled it around as much as I could and it liked to push. The other kart was well balanced, so I knew it would take a couple laps to get it "together".

Now, I am thinking great, I already lost at least a lap and now I have to start in the back. Well, as I come around, he moves me to P1. Awesome! Then, he drops the green flag and Justin is behind me. No need to learn the kart, I need to get going. I build a gap and just keep plugging. I actually felt like I was turning decent laps, but the fast lap on the scoreboard never changed. After the race, I looked at the time sheets and I was about a half second off my previous pace. But, Brandy happened to be faster in that kart. I'm pretty consistent no matter the kart, so I kind of bothered me.

Anyways, our last stop and there is only about 10 minutes left in the 2 hour enduro. Go figure, this kart dies during the stop, too. What the crap, are we not supposed to win today?!! They end up having to stop, too, for what reason, I don't know. So, that kind of sealed the deal for us. We ended up being P1 by 3 laps which is good, but I wanted to win by 4 laps. haha. Sometimes, just winning isn't enough!!

It is always fun doing these with her. Since we won she didn't seem to show her competitive side, unlike last time. She did awesome as normal and that is all that we needed! On my side, I pushed through most of the stints, so I felt really good about my "conditioning". I also ran fast lap of 23.629, so with the 25 pounds lost, I was a half of a second quicker! By next time, I will be full tilt for all my stints. Besides the weight loss, that will be a great goal to achieve because just 8 minute "regular" session used to "kill" me. They are running one at the end of this month, but we are skipping that one to save money. But, whenever the February one is, we will be there!

Brandy taking her victory lap.



Top step.

Torqued Racing at Putnam Park.

I am a bit late with this one.

A few of the Indy guys were going to run this event. So, I figured that I might as well get out and spend some quality seat time with them. It had rained there the night before, so when we got there, it was still pretty damp. Due to the time of year, it was pretty chilly, not to mention, the crazy winds.

The first session had a decent amount of moisture on the track, but not much standing water. It was still early, so the track was pretty cold and made for a very unpredictable track.

As the day progressed, the track dried out. I still dialed it back through T4 and T10 due to the grip conditions. The sessions progressively got faster and the wind got faster, too. I actually got a case of helmet buffeting which was pretty wild. Very odd feeling and not expected in a car with a roof. haha.

Anyways, it turned out to be a fun day with some good buddies. Even without pushing through those couple of spots, I still ran faster than I had there before. Just off of video, I had consistent low 1:24s and one showed to be a high 23, but due to video, ehhh. haha. Given the conditions, I was extremely happy with my driving for the day.

Video with some off-road action can be found here: https://vimeo.com/50027940

MID OHIO WAS FRICKIN' FANTASTIC!!!

Wow, I don't know whatelse to say. Mid Ohio was amazing, the weather had it's moments, but other than the rain it was almost perfect. The hotel was a great place for us to stay with the waterpark and food very close.

Running with the Porsche club was fun. We ran Pro Course with eliminates the chicane coming up into the Keyhole. I took the weekend "slow" since I knew that I had an extended stay. The first session out was a mess, tons of the race cars came out to test, nowhere near even a clean section, let alone a lap. The second session was less jam packed, so I got the flow of the track. The rest of the weekend was pretty straight forward. I got a bit loose going into Thunder Valley in the first session on Sunday, but kept on pluggin' away. I had a fun time, the paddock was huge, so I didn't get to set up anything on track with the Miata crew. Oh well, I got to learn the track and get seat time AT MID OHIO!! haha.

Said first session on Sunday.
https://vimeo.com/48088029

Picture from the paddock.

Monday and Tuesday was ITR Expo. So pumped, all the track buddies that you only see a few times a year, etc. Plus, it was a couple more days at Mid Ohio. With Expo we were running Club course with the chicane. At first, I thought, great, I have to learn this place, again! It took a few laps and I was ready to go. Club course is sooooo much fun opposed to Pro. Maybe, it is just me, but that chicane is a blast. Both days went pretty smooth, too. Besides on Tuesday when I went to get gas and messed up my exhaust. On the positive side, I did propose to Brandy at the Expo banquet. haha. That was something that I will always remember for obvious reasons, so fun, yet so nerve racking. It went well and everyone made sure to congratulate us. Thanks again, everyone.

A couple videos from Expo, as well as pictures.
https://vimeo.com/48148105

https://vimeo.com/48011145

And, can't forget this..

Almost time for Mid Ohio!!!

The place that started it all.

I first went to Mid Ohio, probably six years ago, for an IndyCar weekend. We went for the whole weekend, Friday through Sunday, and we were there from gate open until the last race. We also had media passes, which helped, so we had a pretty good range of places to go.

It turned out to be more than I had expected. So many different series there from IndyCar to ALMS to Speed World Challenge. With a few more feeder series thrown in, it made for an action packed weekend. I seemed to take a liking to World Challenge more than anything. I think Realtime Racing had a lot to do with it, but also I could relate to all of the cars on the grid. We parked across from the Realtime trailer everyday, so we had a lot of time around the cars and crew. The crew chief's name, I believe, was Paul, super nice guy, and he let me look around pretty in depth with most of the cars. I think that was the main draw for me.

After that weekend, I knew that I had to get on track, some how, some way. I didn't really know how to get started or who to contact, but I had to find out. Finally, I found the West Michigan Honda Meet in 2009. I signed up, not knowing anyone else going besides my friends, who were coming up with me. I originally planned on taking the hatch, but I didn't get it done in time. So, I bought some HP+ pads, RBF600, and RT615s and threw them on the daily driven sedan. We actually did the pads right before we left for Michigan. 

So, the journey had finally begun and it has not stopped, one bit. Finally, it is time for Mid Ohio, next weekend and I actually get 4 days of it!! I am so excited, it is all I can basically think about. ITR Expo is Monday, the 20th, and Tuesday, the 21st. I have been registered for this event for awhile, now. But, that is when the curve ball kicked in. I ran with the Mid Ohio Porsche Club at Putnam, last month, and they said I should come run with them at Mid Ohio in August. Knowing that I had Expo in August, I asked "What are the dates?" They told me that it was a three day event, the 17-19th. "Hmmm, that is the weekend before Expo. I don't think that will work." is what I thought. Brandy and I discussed the possibility, so I decided to go for it. Then, another curve ball, due to her work schedule, we couldn't go on Friday. So, I emailed the registar before I registered to see if it could work. Luckily, someone else wanted to do a Friday only, boom, I am in. So, not only do I get to go back to the place that got it started. I also get to run with two great groups while spending time with the family. This is a win/win in my book. We are staying at a hotel with an indoor waterpark, so Bai gets to have a blast and so do I. I can't wait, one week and counting....

Realtime at Mid Ohio.

Hotel's waterpark.

Mid Ohio.