We dedicated all morning and afternoon Friday to loading the trailer. Making sure we had everything we would ever need was the goal of the day. The track was calling, and at 4:00 PM, we heeded. I’m always filled with anticipation while driving to the track, and it’s amplified opening night. Every driver feels it. For me it was all about making sure I didn’t make the same mistakes as last year. Friday I wanted to finish with the same performance I had all last year. Saying I finished in the top five sounds better than saying I ran in the top five. And we did it. As soon as the drivers meeting started it was evident that we must move through the show quickly. The promoter told us that rain was on the way, the show must be over before 10:00PM. That gave us three hours to run eight heats and four features. The second the drivers meeting was over, everybody headed toward their cars. The show was on.

First up was warm ups. We never use warm ups to tell us anything about the night, because usually the track changes a whole bunch before the heats. After warm ups, all I knew was that the car felt balanced. I hardly had enough time to get out and ready before it was time to run the heat race. I started 5th in the first heat. By the end of it I was third. We always want to try to win every race we enter, but we were fine with third place. We would start 5th in the Feature.

The Feature

I was in the car and ready by the time the class before us rolled out. There were sprinkles of rain in the air. After I gave my dad a fist bump and acknowledged my mom and crew, I pulled out of the our pit. As I was facing the track entry ramp, I noticed that the rain was getting harder and harder. I turned around, pulled up to my pit again and beckoned my dad. I yelled out the window, saying the rain was too much and I want to be ready to pull the car into the trailer in case it started pouring. “It’s just a sprinkle, get back down there!” he yelled through the window at me. I knew it was a partial lie, because by looking at the lights of the track I could tell it was definitely raining.

Before I knew it the micro sprint feature was over and I was pulling on to the track. The first thing I noticed, was how smooth and dry the track was. I knew that tonight was going to be a good night. I lined up fifth, and we were going green in what felt like under a lap. When the green flag dropped, I eased on the throttle and focused on making my next moves very smoothly. Every caution it seemed like I moved up a position. I was fifth, then third, then second. It was incredible, but I knew that I would be  happy if I finished without an incident. That’s what I focused on, making sure I was smooth and without incident. The last green flag run seemed to last forever. I was in second the whole time, driving smooth, keeping the car straight.

The Finish

The half-way signal came, and I was riding in second. The leader, Jim Yoder, was gone from my sight. I don’t know what they did to that car, but it was fast. I couldn’t keep up, but apparently neither could anybody else. As the laps winded down, I kept my cool. There was no reason to push. Since there isn’t a mirror, as far as I knew the next car back could be a straightaway away. When the flagman gave the signal for two to go, I made one small mistake. Something I’ve done a few times. I put the car into turn one a little too hard. The car over rotated a little, and I had to do a hand over hand motion to catch the slide. If I hadn’t, I would have spun out. I constantly reminded myself, “The last two laps should be the slowest.” Then it was one to go, then I was coming out of four, and the checkered flag was in the air.

I did a fist pump. If someone was watching me, they might assume I thought I won. What they don’t know is this was a win for me. This is my best finish by a long shot. I’ve run faster, but I have never finished better than 6th before hand. My entire family was jumping for joy on the other side of the pit wall. As I pulled into my stall I could hear cheers from all of the crew. This was a win. This was better than a win. As I got out of my car the rain started coming down harder. I was just out of my car in time to hear the announcer say that the four cylinder event would be postponed until next week. Our feature finished just in time.

What Next?

The car is in the trailer. The night is over. Now that we don’t have a million things to do before next week, we have time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. We will clean the car and get it back on the scales. We will organize our documentation, and get everything figured out before we head back next week. I am so proud of my team for getting our car together, and making it fast. From the lowest low last week, to the highest high of this week, I know that we have something to look forward to.