SCCA T1 Diary: 3/19/2005

[David Pintaric]

We ran the Regional qualifier and race today.

I normally do well in the rain, so I was looking forward to Saturday morning's qualifying session held on a wet track.

I went out and seemed to be fastest, so I can in early (after 4 laps).

Well the track dried off and a number of peoplewent faster than I, so I was gridded 10th in a field of 20 cars. That is why my race was so gawd-awful:

At the start I took off down the inside of the long straight (I eventually started 9th as someone did not make the grid), but came into Turn One too hot and spun right in front of everyone. Here is where I think my luck is changing for the better: no one hit me. I was sitting dead still in the middle of the track and every car behind me cleared my car without a scratch!

So, I now rejoin the fray and start chasing slower cars. Ultimately I catch everyone but the top 4, so I finish 5th overall and 4th in class. My laps times were about 7 tenths off Brad's(who won the race, BTW!), but my fastest lap was on Lap 13 of a 17 Lap race. The first laps I was busy making my way through traffic.

Car is fine, driver needs work. But I am ready for a new day. Tomorrow in the morning is National qualifying and the race will be before noon as we are Group One.

[Subdriver]

Well, today was one of the most enjoyable race days I've had for numerous reasons.

We woke to rain, which was expected, but still disconcerting, especially knowing how nasty Memphis Motorsport Park is in the rain. Exiting onto the dragstrip in the wet is the hairest driving I've ever done.

Limited by wheels and having a Saturday Regional and Sunday National, I didn't have my rains mounted. The rain stopped, but the track was very wet. I decided to go with my street tires. David chose full rains. Many other wiser drivers went out on slicks. The track progessively got faster as it dried and the guys on slicks qualified well. I ended up 4th of 5 in T1 and 6th of 24 overall.

The race started about 11:00am under beautiful skies and a dry track. I got a good start and tucked in behind Mike McGinley and entered turn one 4th overall in a four car Vette train. As I settled into the corner, I checked the mirrors and saw David's car a few spots back... but I was looking at his driver's door...
Praying for his survival, I focused on the cars in front of me. After following Mike McGinley and newcomer Ed Mclain for two laps, I made a move on Mike at the end of the front straight... at the same time he made a move on Ed. We were both successful which put me in 2nd, about six seconds back behind Stan Wilson, a very talented young man who competed in SCCA World Challenge last year.
Over the course of the next six laps or so I slowly closed on Stan and passed him going into turn 1 under braking, then held on for the win.

As this track is about 10 minutes from my house, I have numerous family members in town who shared the good day. Having David come down here to have one more race with me before I start a six month training pipeline later this month made it even more special for me. Last night all the T1 driver's came to my house for dinner after Friday's practice. What'd we do? Watched race videos...

Hoping tomorrow's National is another good day.

Some shots from today:

The paddock:


Pre-grid:


Pace lap:


David at speed:




The end result:

[16Again]

A win and a top 5, sounds like a great day at the track. Congratulations on the win Brad........
Bob