Successful Chumpcar debut at Road Atlanta
“I need more practice strapping into a race car.”
That was one of a hundred nagging doubts going through my mind yeserday morning. Not only was I climbing behind the wheel of a car that I was completely unfamiliar with, but I was preparing drive it in my first ChumpCar race. I was about race side-by-side with more than 60 other cars, on one of the most intimidating road courses in America.
Luckily I found that I was able to get comfortable quickly and was soon turning competitive lap times. When the checkered flag waved after ten hours of racing on Saturday, we had placed a solid 26th of 63 cars — not bad considering that of the five drivers on the team, I was the only one who had previously driven this track and three of us had no prior seat time in the car.
Sunday’s race ended in a DNF when the RX-7’s motor siezed, but by then each of us had driven two stints. We were more than happy with our weekend. Unlike many of our competitors, there were no tire rings worn into our doors or crushed fenders from hitting other cars or running off track. We had raced hard and raced clean. Now it’s time for a beer.
Thanks to Rick Halston at MotorSportMedia for taking such great photos this weekend.
February 12, 2012, 8:39pm Permalink
