Introduction
On July 14, 2012, I took 1st place in the Run What You Brung Dirt Track Racing Event at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, CA. It was a great night of racing and the track was perfect. It should be worth noting that this is the first trophy (not just with racing…) I have ever received.
It probably should also be noted (or ignored) that I, once again, drove this car home after putting the plates back on.
Let The Mud Fly
It was not as slick out there as last time around, but I managed to pull off a first place finish out of eight starting cars. #33 (Ron Pence) put up a great fight and if it was not for that yellow flag to bunch everyone up, he probably would have taken it. Many very near misses (and a hit) occurred during the race. I tried to stay away from the wall this time around and managed to not have the fans see the underside of the car.
YouTube Video of the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbFvbUFrzhg
I started front row outside as a result of drawing chips to get the starting order. From a full stop at 01:00, the race began at 01:11 (and notice my wheels already spinning faster then the ground is going under them). At 01:36, the blue Camaro #2 gets way sideways into turn three and I thought I was going to get knocked around. #2 recovers great and with three wide along the front straight on lap one, all was good. #2 gets sideways again in turn one (01:52) and slid into the driver side of my car, right behind the door (01:54). A solid pass at 02:15 and the announcer actually mentions my name while taking second place. 🙂 At 04:00, a wreck happened in turn one but my wife didn’t get a shot of it (even though she tried). Going back around into turn one, #33 (Ron Pence) took the outside (04:15) while I headed down low. At 04:44, a yellow flag was thrown and taking the lead almost happened, but since I passed on the yellow, I returned to second place for the green flag to drop (07:24). Another spin at 07:36 happened on the track, but it was behind me. Around 0:7:57 is when I really started gaining ground and tried to pass at 08:00, but could not make it. At 08:45, Ron gets a bit squirrely and slows down just enough for me to read the serial numbers on his tail pipe. We came up into traffic at 08:55 and I made the pass on the outside to take first place. At this point, my passengers were saying “You are way ahead, just keep it”, but I try to keep the hammer down (my wife says I am way in the lead at 09:20 as well). Only thing I could think of was “just don’t hit the wall now!” At 09:41, since I just can’t keep my foot out of it, I get a bit sideways, but hold on. #2 spins again off camera, at 09:50 and I go to the outside. #2 spins again at 10:26 and I thought I was going to hit him, but the car headed back to the inside lane. A tangle up at 10:59 made things interesting as well. At 11:09, I take the checkered flag.
Now… observant people would say that… the way the flag man threw the flags… I was in last… but they corrected the error and I got the trophy. 🙂
360 Degree View
Once again, riding along with me was Trevor T., Colt B. and Ryder B. They were my eyes ‘n’ ears in all directions out on the track as I focused forward and had the front wheels spinning over 70 MPH at times. I like keeping my foot on the floor, so we were actually not moving at that speed on the track, but it sure does feel like those turns come up fast. Even though all three of my passengers are actually Mini Stock Car drivers (in other words, real race car drivers), they have a good time riding along with me as it gives them a chance to panic with the inability to take corrective driving action in the face of certain fender-bending inevitability with rookies behind the wheel.
Check Out The Video
Check out the full race video on YouTube. With that said, I will see you at the track on July 21, 2012 for another Run What You Brung race (assuming my flights go as scheduled).