Last weekend I raced with NASA at Putnam Park, a 1.8-mile 10-turn track in the rolling hills of Indiana, about 30 miles West of Indianapolis. Conditions were dodgy Saturday morning following several overnight inches of rain. Although showers came and went several times during the morning, somehow the track managed to be dry every time we went out.

Saturday I qualified on the GTS2 pole (8 cars in class) and won pretty easily with a 17 second margin over second place. That, after losing several positions on the start when the car in front of me was a little slow to the throttle at the green flag (video coming soon). Sunday I ended up second but that fact is not as interesting as how it came to be.

I had tweaked my wing before qualifying Sunday to take out a bit of downforce to see if that improved my turn-in in the faster corners. It turned out I went a bit too far and now the car was a little too loose so I couldn't really lean on it for a fast lap. Ironically, it was also tending to push in the slower turns as it had on Saturday so pretty much everything was going the wrong way. I ended up qualifying second in class behind Jim Child (black 968), the 2007 GTS2 National Champ.

Starting in a mixed class with my wing re-adjusted and two more clicks of rebound in the front shocks, I was ready for action. Jim started 4th overall while I was 5th, a row behind and on the inside. I got a great start and pulled even with Jim on the run down to turn one. Neither of us was willing to give way in the braking zone so we went through turn one door-to-door, then through turns 2, then 3 the same way--neither of us giving the other a chance to move ahead.

Finally, going into the left-hander turn 4, I was able to come around the outside and force my way to the front. Jim and Mike Ward (in a red 968) and I ran nose-to-tail-to-nose-to-tail behind the 2nd place GTS3 qualifier, a next-class-up BMW M3 that was going just a teench slower than us but too fast to actually get around. The four of us stayed like that for several laps until the M3 made the wrong choice while trying to pass a back-marker and Jim, Mike and I freight-trained him, sending him from 3rd to 6th in the space of about 50 yards.

Clear of the Beemer we picked up the pace a bit and I was able to put a modest gap between Jim and myself while he, in turn, gapped Mike (who was eventually passed again by the BMW). Just as I was starting to feel comfortable with my lead I got caught in lapped traffic and Jim closed right back up on my bumper to the point I had to make a couple of really deep runs into turn 1, the fastest turn at the end of the main straight, to keep him behind.

Eventually, after several hard laps, I was able to open up another 5-or-so second gap and things were going pretty much according to plan.

Until I hit the oil.

Turn 7 is the slowest turn on the track and the place where the hardest braking is done. Unbeknownst to me, it had been oiled down in the braking zone by another driver just before I arrived. Yellow flags were flying for the other car (who was still in the grass) but not the debris/slippery flag, which would have been appropriate, too, because of the oil. I hit the brakes in the normal spot and promptly spun sideways, then off the track, and found myself sliding backward through the grass more or less parallel to the track.

The first thought that ran through my head is not really appropriate for a younger audience but the second was "I've got to get going before Jim gets here!" The car was still running (surprisingly) and I was rolling backward with enough speed I was able to use the momentum of the car to spin it back around the right way while shifting into first gear as the nose came around (just like in the movies!). The ground and grass were wet, though, so getting out was slow and Jim came blasting past just as I puttered back onto the track.

On my way past the previous lap I'd seen the guy at the flag stand getting the white flag ready so I was pretty sure this was the next-to-the-last lap of the race. That meant now there was only a lap and a half left and that Jim, with a several-second lead, would be mighty hard to catch--but it was worth a shot. As soon as I was sure my tires were OK, I went into full attack mode trying to catch him back up.

As we crossed the start/finish line, the white flag was flying and I was fully 3-seconds--a little over 100 yards--behind. Figuring it was now or never, I went deeper and harder into turn 1 than I'd done all weekend then did the same in 2, 3 and 4, closing the gap all the way. Jim, who thought he had enough of a lead he was uncatchable, was driving conservatively on tires that had gone off and that was helping my gap-closing effort.

Coming through 5 and 6, on the way down to turn 7, the scene of my original problem, I had closed the gap to about 50 yards. Jim had seen me spin off the track the previous lap and as he said later, "the way you went off, I knew it wasn't because of a mistake." So, he knew there was oil on the track but wasn't sure quite where. I, on the other hand, knew exactly where it was.

Trying to err on the side of caution, Jim was a bit tentative on the way into 7, which made him a little slow. Having spun while trying to brake down the left side of the track the last lap, I figured there wouldn't be any oil on the right and went in at full speed, pretty much closing the rest of the gap between us.

Exiting turn 7, the game was on. I was right on Jim's tail and tried to dive under him into the banked 180-degree left-hand turn 8. He moved down to protect the line so I let my car run wide right to get in position to make a late turn-in and give me a line that would let me run beneath (and hopefully around) him at the exit. That worked, mostly, and I was able to pull partially alongside as we ran up the short chute between 8 and 9, side-by-side at 100mph.

Turn 9 is an 80mph cresting off-camber right-hander which blends into 10, a decreasing-radius 90mph right-hander which in turn leads onto the front straight. Through 9, Jim was covering the inside of the turn so I tried to pass him on the outside only to be crowded as he moved across the track for a better line out. I eased the throttle just enough to position myself for a better run onto the straight then got back on the gas early and hard.

As we slid onto the final straight I definitely had a run and was closing the gap, coming up the left side. We were catching a back-marker which Jim was trying to use as a pick to keep me from going too far up the left side but I could see we weren't going to catch him before the Finish line. I continued hard up the gap but utimately my final lunge petered out with my nose about even with the front of his door, which is how we remained as we crossed the line for the checkered flag. Jim's margin of victory: 0.096 seconds.

So, I lost but, boy oh boy, was it ever a lot of fun! Also, even with the dicing for the last several turns, that last do-or-die lap turned out to be about half a second under the previous GTS2 lap record, so there is some consolation in that.

For the season, that puts me at 4 wins and one 2nd for 5 starts, along with two track records. Not a bad start to a year. My only regret? My in-car camera refused to work on Sunday so, unfortunately, I can't go back and share it with you (or me later). Bummer.

My next race will be at Mid-Ohio in July (and then again in August). As always, you're welcome to join us there.

1. Rick VanGameren05/20/2009 09:19:42 AM
Homepage: http://rvgspeaks.blogspot.com

Thanks for the play by play. In some ways, it was even better than video.

2. Jerry Carter05/28/2009 02:42:55 PM

Well told! I too liked reading it - less time out of the *cough* work day. But watching you finally be able to get on it in the video you did post was very satisfying as well. Thanks for sharing!