nostatic at all...

In 2005 Laguna Seca was my first “big track” event, fresh from finishing my STS training. The title of my blog post for that first day was “Paradise Found”, and it certainly was. Of course the weekend was not without drama, the closest to home being when my instructor Don Matz put his car into the tire wall coming out of turn 4. But as hardship often does, the best (and I should say typical) behavior of POC member came out, as a group of us pitched in to put the car back together. It was a bit unnerving as a newbie to be tearing fiberglass off your instructor’s car, but that is part of the education (thanks Don!). The show must go on though, so we got up the next day to do it again, and the weekend was a wondrous cacophony of speed, sound, and spirit (or as with the BBQ on Saturday night, spirits plural).

Fast forward to August of 2006. I had another year under my belt, had completed one race clinic, and was fully immersed in this POC thing. I was signed up for LS, and anticipating another event in paradise. Of course sometimes life gets in the way of life. On August 18th, my then girlfriend and I went to see Earth, Wind and Fire concert at Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine. Our mode of transportation was my Ducati Multistrada, being the preferred way to get from west LA to the OC on a Friday night (lanesplitting is your friend). After the concert we geared up and headed out of the parking lot, jumping on the 405 northbound around 11:30pm. Just as we got up to speed in the #2 lane I saw a brown blur out of the corner of my eye. A coyote decided that it was going to try to make it from the right shoulder across all lanes and to the rolling hills. He made it as far as my front wheel.

I’ll save you the details, but the short story is that we went down and eventually slid to a stop in the middle of the freeway. Somehow we didn’t get hit by any other cars, and managed to get up and make it to the center divide. While I was on the phone calling 911, a pickup truck decided to play hockey with my disabled Duc, and it burst into flames and slid across to the right shoulder while I sat on hold. It was like a Bruckheimer film. Eventually the CHP shut down the freeway to remove the dead coyote, and we hobbled over to the EMS that was now on the right shoulder. They looked surprised and said, “we were about to go looking for pieces.” Short story is one of incredible luck. I ground off a chunk of my knee and foot and my passenger had a small fracture of the ulna. That was it. Well, my knee will never be the same but I’m upright.

Needless to say, I missed Laguna Seca in 2006. I was on a couch barely able to walk, wondering if I was going to need skin grafts (I didn’t) and if I would be able to drive a clutch again (evidently I can). Thankfully the human body is an amazing thing, and I was back on the track in November for an STS event. In December I completed my second race clinic and got my red dot. Evidently the desire to race with the POC trumped pain and coyotes.

So fast-forward to August 2007. Laguna Seca on the calendar again. And me bound and determined not to miss it. So with that backstory, here’s a perspective from the green group, running hot laps in paradise again.

People often ask me why I race. I often ask myself. Especially when the bills come due. I often second guess myself and say, "I shoulda..." but there isn't much point in that beyond perhaps learning for the next time. The trick is walking that fine line between self-knowledge and self-flagellation.

Friday was practice at Laguna Seca. Some nerves in the first run session. I was lucky enough to find a place to pit with some of my friends (they moved stuff around to make a slot for me), and we actually had 5 cars in the same class next to each other. In other words, we're all direct competitors. And boys will be boys...but these are *great* guys, so it was only some very good-natured ribbing that went on. At Laguna we end up running 3 race groups instead of 2, which makes for a very fun time as there isn't much of a speed differential. And our little sub group is very evenly matched.

I was taking things slow and easy, just wanting to relearn the track and have some fun. And fun I did have. After the first run session I needed to make some adjustments to the new seat (too low...could barely see over the front of the car) and I was slow but getting back into the groove. The second session after lunch was much quicker and a lot more fun as we began to dice a bit. Well, except for when someone shut the door on me in turn one (if I hadn't gotten out of it he would have pushed me right into the wall), but that’s why you have to know who you’re running with…so you know the next time and adjust accordingly. I had a brief bit of red mist after that, but settled down and was back to laughing and having fun trying to get around people.

The third session was especially festive as the four of us were gridded nose to tail, and proceeded to try and pass each other for the entire session. Of course boys being boys, no one likes to get passed. But boys also make mistakes, and that's when you can take advantage. Unless you make one right afterwards. Yes, I had a few. There was two wheels off in the corkscrew when I followed the guy in front of me instead of the right line (doh!). Then two wheels off in turn 11 onto the grass. Then two wheels off in turn 11 again when I tried to give Mike enough room on the inside. But never put four off, and that's a good thing.

But back to why I do it. It really isn't about speed. No, really. It is more about two very different things. The first is being able to put everything out of my mind (a challenge for me) and just feel the car and the track and the movement. The second is the camaraderie. There are some really nice people who race with POC, and I'm lucky to have fallen in with a few in particular who love to compete, but more importantly, care more about friendship than winning. I swear we have almost as much fun in the paddock talking about the last session as we do out on the track. But there also is no substitute for getting out there and doing it. Not thinking about it. Not talking about it. But doing it.

I could go on about the verbal jousting and little bits of mental fun and games (like me getting Don to go out in the 4th run session with a few lighthearted comments even though he had his car jacked up and was going to let it sit...) but those stories abound. Even when we were talking with two fellow racers who had their "book reports" in hand (they had contact in turn 11 and had to write up their versions of what happened but luckily both cars weren't damaged very much), there was a great sense of family. We're all in it together. You're trusting your fellow competitor and trusting yourself and your car. Trust has always been a challenge for me, but I'm getting better at it. For a lot of reasons.

Saturday was race day. The green group had a nice mix with Spec Boxsters up front battling, and then the usual suspects in the rest of the group. Essentially green was orange without the R5 cars, meaning the battle for the actual race win was up for grabs, and the speed differential between first and last wasn’t as great. Made for some excellent lapping. The short story is that the car was working well today, and I managed to stay ahead of all my R7 competitors during prequalifying (to set the grid for the qualifying session), then put together a solid qualifying session, and made a strategic decision to cut the session short as soon as I caught the backmarkers (knowing I wouldn't get a clean lap and the more laps I run...the less tires I have). I qualified 11th, and was fastest of the R7 group. A first for me, as Leonard “Sugar” Schenkel normally takes me to school when it’s on the line.

Then came the race, last one of the day. I was actually pretty nervous but managed to hold it together. My closest rivals Don, Mike Mills, and of course Leonard, who historically dominates R7 class along with Günter who was absent this weekend were right on my tail though, and I knew the start would be critical. As we set out on the formation lap I knew the first corner is often 3-wide and the savvy guys make up lots of places there.

As we swung onto the front straight I kept my eyes open and focused on getting to the corner fast. When the green flag dropped I got a decent run but saw Don and Leonard right behind me. I managed to hold them off and find a line through turn 2. And again through turn 3. Then I settled in as we formed a bit of a conga line. I slowly gapped the guys behind me, and tried to stay with the guys in front of me, although they were in a different class so I didn’t worry too much. One car caught me but I let him by, as he wasn’t in my class. One thing I remember from the clinics…don’t screw up a class battle. After a few laps, the guys in front pulled slowly away from me, but I stayed in front of the R7 guys and after about 7 or 8 laps I had a comfortable lead...I couldn't really see them in my mirrors.

At that point it becomes all about taming your mind and finding the balance between being careful and managing your tires, and also not going too slow so that people catch you. My mind drifted from time to time, but I caught myself. No major mistakes, and I kept wondering when the white flag would show (and prayed for no full-course yellows). I swear the 17 lap race felt like 30 laps. Eventually I got my wish and the white flag came out. Then I just needed to focus and make it through the last lap. And I did...finished clean and took the checkered with no one in sight. Won my class. I have to admit that I let out a yell from inside my helmet. Then a slow cool down lap and into impound. Then as a class winner I had to get weighed. Within class weight, I was free to go. Back to the paddock and plenty of bench racing with my friends/competitors. Then time for some wine and rest. Not necessarily in that order. Sunday would be another day...but I'll enjoy today today.

Sunday came and I'll admit that the fire wasn't really in the belly. Besides being pretty tired, the success of the previous day took away a little of the urgency and desire. There was a schedule change and the first set of run sessions was deleted, moving everything in the day up an hour and that worked for me. So it would be practice, qualifying, and then race. The morning practice was pretty slow for me, and most of my class competitors were quicker than I was. Then we went out for qualifying.

Just like F1, qualifying is actually pretty important unless you're got mad driving skillz like Mike Monsalve (more on that in a minute). Passing is difficult with comparable cars and I’m a rookie when it comes to racecraft, so the further up you start, the less you have to pass and if you qualify ahead of your class competitors (like I did on Saturday), all you have to do is keep them behind you...which is a bit of an art as well but certainly easier than the alternative.

At any rate I had a pretty slow qualifying session, and ended up 18th on the grid (as opposed to 11th on Saturday). Both Don and Leonard were ahead of me as well as some guys who usually are slower than me. I knew it was going to be an uphill climb, but no biggie...like I said the fire wasn't really in the belly.

That is until I watched the orange group race. Mike Monsalve started DFL due to some technical issue. He then proceeded to pick off cars one by one until he was in 2nd place (I think there were 30 or so cars in the race). He never could quite catch Steve Alarcon (who won on Saturday as well), but yet another impressive show of driving on Mike's part, hearkening back to Las Vegas of '06 when I watched him do the same thing.

At that point I was a little more inspired, and after an unexpected schedule change (note to self: don't climb the hill to watch the red group coming down the corkscrew even if there is supposed to be another run group before your race because they might change their mind), I ran back to my car, strapped myself in and took my 18th spot on the grid. Ahead of me were the people I needed to catch, and as we started on the formation lap I knew that the first corner was going to be critical. There were some slower cars in front of me, so I had to make a good start and work hard. Then it would just be a matter of how fast I was driving, who made the least mistakes, and if there were any traffic issues.

We came down the corkscrew on the formation lap and Mike Mills had some problem and pulled into the paddock. Well, there was one slot I wouldn’t have to make up. I closed in position on the rolling start and we made the turn at turn 11 and started up the straight waiting for the green flag. I had a bit of a gap in front of me, and punched it a bit to start to close it right when the green flag went down. Good luck! I got a slingshot, shifted at redline, and caught one or two cars going into turn 2 (2 wide of course). I held them off and saw my main competition, Leonard and Don, about 3 cars ahead of me. I got a bit of space and started working, taking it one turn at a time, and just aiming for the car in front of me. After a few laps I passed Matt Bickell (he pointed me by as I was driving pretty quick and he's not in my race class) and got another one so I was now behind Leonard, although by a couple of seconds. Dave Bouzaglou came up behind me and got around me, and then he managed to get past Leonard. So again it was me chasing. Each lap I reeled him in a bit until on about lap 10 I was right on his tail.

Some turns he would pull away, but on others I was all over him. I almost had him in turn 11 a couple of times, and also in turn 2 but I couldn't make it stick. On about lap 13 (of 17) I pulled to about his door with my nose on the front straight, but couldn't get past him. Leonard’s racecraft is honed sharp. He's been doing this for a lot of years and knows how to hold his position. I felt like I was faster than him, but I couldn't quite get the angle/run to get around him. I tried to slingshot in 4 a couple times but couldn't get him going up the hill. I have a lot to learn.

Finally the white flag came out and I knew I was out of time. One last shot in 4, but it didn't go, then I tried to get him coming out of the corkscrew but couldn't quite hold the line, then pushed really hard in turn 11. On the front straight I got up to his rear bumper but he took the checkered flag, beating my by 0.2 seconds. Afterwards in impound I got out and we shook hands and laughed. A lot. It was real racing. I was seriously challenging him for at least 10 laps but his experience carried the day. And it turns out I was right about being faster...his best lap was a 1:47.5 and my best lap was a 1:46.5. That stomped all over my previous best lap of 1:48.0 during the weekend. So I was cooking, and obviously drive "better" when I'm chasing or being chased. There is a lesson in there as well.

Then it was time to pack up the car (no tow rig for me) and head back down to LA. Some traffic outside Ventura (shocking), but otherwise safe and sane. What a difference a year makes. This time in 2006 I was on a couch putting Xeroform on my wounds. In 2007 I’m having the time of my life racing with the incredibly good folk that comprise the POC. Kudos to everyone who made the event happen. This club never ceases to amaze me. Next on the docket is instructing at the STS clinic. Time to try and give back to the organization that has given so much to me. Here’s to keeping the shiny side up.