If you have any interest, (or, I guess, even if you don't), the NASA National Championship races are at Mid-Ohio this weekend. I, and all the friends I regularly race with, will be trying to put one over the top and win the 2008 Championship.

I mention this because if you're in the area and so inclined, you may want to come by. Here's the scoop:

Starting this Friday, September 12, there will be three days of great amateur racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (an hour North of Columbus), culminating in Sunday's Championship races.

Friday and Saturday will each have Qualifying races. These are 20-minute races, the results of which are then combined to determine Sunday's Championship race starting order. So, in other words, if you win both the Qualifying races, you'll start first in your class on Sunday but other than deciding where you start, the qualifying races have nothing to do with the final results: You have to win on Sunday to be crowned National Champion, no matter where you started.

We run in the German Touring Series's GTS2 class, which will pit us against other Porsches, BMWs and probably an Audi or two from all across the country. We've been running in GTS2 all year with terrific success. I have won 6 out of the 8 races I've run this year (the seventh I won but was then disqualified after the race for passing under yellow). My good friend Brad has won one and finished 2nd or third in pretty much all the others but has gotten much faster in the last few races.

What that means is he and I should be strong contenders for the National Championship this year.

While this is not as big a deal as the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) annual Run-Offs, it's a reasonably big deal for those of us out here doing amateur racing. While smaller than SCCA, NASA is the country's fastest-growing amateur racing sanctioning body (10,000+ members) and is a great organization to race with.

If this is interesting to you, you can find schedule information for the entire weekend here: http://www.nasaproracing.com/schedules/2008/national.pdf (we race in Group H).

Of all the days, Sunday's races are the longest (40 minutes) and, of course, have the most on the line. If I were coming, that's the day I'd shoot for. Also, unlike NASCAR, we race in the rain (it's often more fun to watch wet-track racing than dry weather racing) so, if you don't mind sitting under an umbrella, don't let dark skies dissuade you.

If you make it up and want to stop by, Brad and I will be in garage #26 (probably panicking about one thing or another). Bring a folding chair or blanket to sit on and an umbrella if rain is a possibility. Bring a cooler if you like, although there will probably be concession stands open. Expect a small admission fee ($10-15 or so) but smaller kids probably get in free.

I hope to see you there.

1. Vitor Pereira09/08/2008 04:00:39 PM
Homepage: http://www.vitor-pereira.com

No chance of stopping by but will be pulling for you. Best of luck!