We hit the track for a short practice session around 9:30 in the morning. This was my first opportunity to realize just how big a 46 car grid is on a track that is less than 2.3 miles in length. The session came and went without any issue and I began to focus on qualifying. Since the race that afternoon was going to be my rookie debut, I was going to be forced to start at the back of the pack. Therefore, my qualifying position didn't really matter. I still wanted to use the session as a learning opportunity and hoped to put down a decent time.
I went out about 10th in line. My plan was to fire out of the pits and go hard to the turn 13-14 area. From there my hopes were to allow the cars in front of me to take off and develop as big of a gap in front of me as possible. This played out exactly as I had planned and I was able to get two free laps before catching traffic.
Here are those two laps (sorry video quality is poor - had to use backup camera):
My first lap was a 1:50.2. The second lap was a 1:49.9. I was using the RaceChrono from MH Motorsports during qualifying, which was extremely helpful because I knew exactly what my times where and whether I was doing better or worse on each lap. Without onboard data, I would have just been firing around senselessly. While I was pushing pretty hard, I didn't feel like I was going 100%, so I was very pleased with those times. The 1:49.9 would have been good enough for 3rd in my class by 0.2 seconds behind 2nd place. This meant I was at least in the ballpark with those guys in terms of speed - something I was unsure about until that moment.
The racer's meeting took place during the lunch break. This meeting is where you find out your starting position and how the race start is going to be split up. Since I was a rookie I was going to be starting the race in 25th place, 15 places behind my nearest in-class competitor. I didn't really have any hopes on catching up to any of them, but with a pile of slower cars in front of me, I knew it would be an interesting first race. My wife had to capture the moment with the obligatory "before the first race" photo:
By about turn 3 of my formation lap for the race I finally got the "umm...Sean...what exactly are you about to do?" feeling for the first time. We all hustled around, scrubbing tires, until the area around turn 11 where we began to bunch up in double file formation. Next thing I know, we are on the front straight and the green flag is coming out. Here are the race vids:
Part 1:
Part 1:
Part 2:
I took it extremely cautiously through the first 3 turns and basically let everyone settle into single file. I found out quickly how much of a difference there is between driving quickly and driving quickly when trying to pass and be passed by others. Two totally different worlds. I was given quite an education by those guys in the Spec Miata's. They are relentless. They will race you as hard as they can for every position, regardless if you are in their class or not. I was more than willing to let them have what they wanted if they pushed it. I was able to pass a few cars and settle into a bit of a rhythm before the full course caution came out and bunched the field back up. When we all get back together, I realize I'm somehow in 10th and my in-class competitors are just a couple cars away! On the restart the car in front of me dives into the pits as soon as we are taking the green flag. Then the 2nd place car in my class goes off track and spins in turn 2. Just like that I'm in 8th overall and 3rd in class! Unfortunately, another (and this time race-ending) double yellow comes out by the time we turn turn 8 and all the fun is over. There wasn't a whole lot of racing to do, but I picked up 17 spots overall and ended up on the podium. For my first race ever, it was a great result and more than I could have hoped for.
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