Victory at Laguna Seca
The July 28 - 30 weekend marked my second visit to Laguna Seca. During Friday practice and qualifying, I struggled to make any improvement from my previous visit to the track. I was struggling to really push the car towards the limit....maybe a mental block from the big crash earlier in the season. While I had qualified in a respectable 3rd position for the Saturday race, my 1:39 second lap time was well off the times I had hoped to achieve. For Saturday, Doug Learned Jr and Sr turned some wrenches to make the car a bit more comfortable for me. Doug Sr also gave the driver a bit of a pep talk....basically I needed to get my head out of my ass, and go show the pace we had started to show prior to my accident at Thunderhill. Early in the Saturday race I dropped back to 4th position, but after a few laps I was starting to get more comfortable. By the middle of the race, I had worked my way down in to the 1:37 second lap times. Still running in 4th position, but at least running more competitive lap times. Then things took a positive turn....a full course caution would allow me to close the gap with the leaders. The front of the FF group was now all running nose to tail. With several faster class cars in front of us, and the time limit for the race closing in, the restart would be critical. As the pace car lights turned out, and we were coming through turn 10, I started to anticipate the restart. Then as we approached turn 11, I hear Doug Sr come over the radio and call GREEN GREEN GREEN! So i get a great jump heading to Turn 11 and on to the front straightaway. By the time we get to turn 2, I'M IN THE LEAD, and had put a lapped car between myself and previous leader Steve Meyer. I put my head down and carried the lead through turn 5 before peaking in the mirrors. At that point I could see that the super-fast Scott Huffaker had moved in to 2nd, and had me in his sights. By the time I made it to the corkscrew, Doug was back on the radio telling me this was going to be our final lap. At that point, I knew a good run through turn 10 and 11 would be needed to keep Scott at bay. We exit turn 11, and Scott had closed the gap, but was not close enough to challenge for the lead. I look down the straight and see that checkered flag waving...I had won for the first time this season! Yeah it took a little luck, and yeah it was just a regional race, and yeah some of the fast guys were not here, but I'll still take it. It felt pretty good to get a win, no matter what the circumstances were. Thanks to the Doug's for the awesome car, and to Doug Sr for calling the green on that restart, and to the rest of the Learned family for cheering me on, and to my wonderful wife Nan for all of her support, and to my son Logan, my new good luck charm. The only bad thing about that day....my normally trusty video camera decided not to record any of the race.
The Sunday race did not have the same storybook ending. I had some trouble with different class cars, people spinning in front of me, people passing me under yellow, and an inability to overcome the defensive driving of one of my close competitors. I finished 4th on Sunday. I did improve my lap times further though, getting down in to the low 1:37s. Running the second fastest lap of the race behind winner Scott Huffaker.