I spent the past weekend at Putnam Park, a fun little race track in Western Indiana with all the guys I normally race. It was, in total, a great time.

Jim Child (2007 NASA Nat'l Champ) is back in form and he and I had two days of close hard racing. Saturday he beat me to the checkered flag by half a second but not without having to work his butt off to do it (if I may say so myself).

Sunday I beat him by about the same margin, but not without being in the grass four (count 'em, FOUR) times.

At the start, I got bum-rushed. I started 3rd overall, first in class, but before we got to the first turn I had already been passed by my friend and (fellow Skid Marks Racing Team member) Brad, by Jim and by a GTS3 BMW (next faster class) who'd started behind me but had a ton of acceleration.

So much for getting a good start.

Brad was again in the car he'd had to rent for the National Championships but this time it was with a better chassis setup, the motor running right and his trick gearbox, and he was flat flying. The four of us ran nose-to-tail for several laps (the BMW in the lead, then Brad, then Jim, then me) until the three of us freight-trained the BMW coming out of Dead Bear, a tightly-banked 180-degree climbing left-hander.

The BMW was much faster down the straights but couldn't keep up with us in the turns. By the time we got to the front straight, two turns later, he was too far back for acceleration alone to make up the ground we'd pulled out in the two turns previous.

Brad, Jim and I were running particularly close together because (I think) Jim was a little faster than Brad, and I was a teench faster than Jim, but nobody had enough of an advantage to actually get a pass done.

About 15 minutes into the race, Brad's motor (or the turbo or something) let go and Jim and I found ourselves in an absolutely impenetrable white cloud. I now understand why the military uses oil smoke as a smoke-screen. You can't see ANYTHING including, in this case, the front of my own car. In trying to slow down (and guess where to go), I hit Jim in the rear (result: a fixable dent on his bumper, some fiberglass work/replacement for me). I have never seen anything as dense as this smoke. I literally couldn't see Jim's car until it was bouncing on front edge of my hood.

Jim and I both bailed into the grass on the left of the track (that's one on the count of in-grass outings, if you're keeping track) until we got to where we could kinda see and then eased back onto the track just as the damned BMW came back past us both.

Brad was out at this point, of course, but Jim and I took up again pretty much right where we'd left off before Brad started spraying for mosquitoes.

Within a lap or so I had pulled myself back up onto Jim's bumper (well, ok, considering what had just happened, near his bumper) and was able to take a bunch of looks but just couldn't get enough of a run to get all the way by him (and he, I have to say, wasn't doing a whole lot to make it easy).

Within about three laps we'd caught the BMW on the way into Dead Bear (again). Jim followed him toward the outside of the turn but I late-braked to the bottom of the track and passed both Jim and (most of) the BMW on the way out. Jim tucked in behind me and I stayed well to the right to keep the BMW pinned to the edge of the track so he'd have to brake early for the next turn (a right-hander) and not have a chance to power back past us. As a result, Jim and I again were ahead of the BMW and I had a small but useful lead on Jim going into turns 9 and 10, which lead onto the front straight.

Naturally, as soon as I got into 9 I found myself quickly catching a pair of Miatas who were fighting it out among themselves (a bit too slowly, considering how hotly Jim was breathing down my neck). I tried to lay back enough to get a good run on them without letting Jim get too close but I had to pull the trigger pretty early. As we came onto the front straight, I moved right to pass the rear one while he, not seeing me, also moved right--farther than he probably needed--to pass the guy in front of him.

With Jim coming hard behind, I couldn't really wait around for the Miatas to sort it out, so I ended up making that pass with two wheels in the grass (that's two) while trying to stay on the gas as hard as I dared. I thought I was going mighty fast in the green stuff but still managed to lose enough momentum that Jim was able to power back past before turn 1 at the end of the straight.

Ugh. So, we were back at it and I was pushing him as hard as I could. Again.

A few laps later, Jim overcooked it and spun while exiting turn 7, the slowest corner on the track. I wasn't more than MAYBE a car-length back as he started to go and I sat there wanting to stay close but also waiting to see which way he was going to go so I could get past before he gained control again. It turns out he didn't go any way. He spun around 180 degrees in the middle of the track, RIGHT in front of me. I had to swerve into the grass on the right side to miss him (that's three) but got right back on and was able to pull out a good lead while he got going again.

From there it should have been an easy drive to the win (it took him enough time to get going again he was out of my mirrors) but, like a dumb-ass, I overcooked my entry to 8 (Dead Bear, again) about five laps from the end and actually went slightly off the track over the back of the turn and into the grass (that makes four). I got back going again before Jim caught all the way up but that was enough to let him get close and, believe me, you don't want Jim Child behind you thinking he has a chance. By the end of the race he was getting a little TOO close. Good thing there weren't another couple of laps or he might very well have won.

So, it was very eventful but, man, that was a lot of fun. Funny but I don't think I've been in the grass four times the entire season. I may need to start thinking about Mud & Snow tires if this is going to continue. Sheesh.

Although Brad now has a motor to fix, his finish Saturday clinched the Regional Points Championship for him. My win Sunday moved me into second place for the Regional points (this being the last race of the year for the region).

So, it was a great racing year for me and for SMRT Motorsports (Skid Marks Racing Team). I won the National GTS2 Championship and Brad and I came in 1-2 in the region. Not too shabby. But I can tell you that if this weekend was any indication of things to come, Jim Child is not going to be so easy to beat next year. And, I'm good with that. Can't wait to start the next battle with him and Brad (and anyone else who wants to play).

Time to start the winter bodywork and, well, maybe just a teench of tweaking here and there....