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Grand Am
DEMPSEY: VIR Friday Blog
Multifaceted actor/driver files his first exclusive blog entry for SPEEDtv.com from Virginia International Raceway this weekend.
Patrick Dempsey  | http://www.mazdamotorsports.com/  |  Posted April 24, 2010   Danville, VA
Getting up to speed quickly after a three-year absence, Patrick Dempsey found the limits around all of VIR's 17 ballsy turns. (Marshall Pruett)
(GRAND-AM Rolex Series driver and actor Patrick Dempsey files his first exclusive blog from VIR, recapping a busy Friday at the twisting, ultra-fast 3.27-mile road course)

After a busy few weeks, it’s great to come here to VIR and get back in the race mentality. Before I got in our Mazda RX-8 GT Friday morning, I had to really take a step back and figure out what I really wanted to achieve this weekend. The goal was to get comfortable at speed because this is a much faster track. Since I haven’t been here in three years, it was key to get to know the track again and not push too quickly. The speed slowly came to me as I worked my way up and I made to sure to keep my ego in check, because this place can catch you out, too.

We learned a lot in the first session. I had never been here in a GT car before, so it was a bit of a wake-up call realizing how fast this place is. Through the Esses especially, you can make up a lot of time. After the session, we went back and looked at a lot of the in-car camera from my co-driver Joe Foster to see where I could pick up some time. From there, I slowly improved and kept working on the areas I needed to work on.
Teamed with Joe Foster, left, Dempsey, right, continues to develop his racecraft in the Rolex GT class driving a Mazda RX-8. (LAT)

The best time I put in the car today was my qualifying run, and there’s still work to be done from there. It’s so competitive that any little bit that you’re slow adds up over the course of a lap and you find yourself qualifying in 13th, which is frustrating in some ways.

Every time you go out, you certainly build more confidence. If you stick to your game plan, you build more confidence each time. When you start to overextend, it becomes debilitating and you end up losing all of your momentum. It’s important to lay out a good plan of attack for each session and know what the goals are, like having one or two corners you want to work on, and go from there. I’ve certainly come a long way since I was last here in the Mustang. Even compared to two weeks ago at Barber, I feel like I’m constantly improving race after race.

This weekend with such limited track time, it’s great to fall back on such an awesome team like Dempsey Racing. The Mazda is good right out of the box, so that makes a big difference. It’s then just a question of refining things we discover as we go through it. I don’t mind it, to be honest, as it’s just like flipping a switch on. I’ve been working a lot with Jacques Dallaire, which has helped mentally, and have also been working with Performance Physics in LA to prepare me physically for this level.

I’m getting better and better with ‘switching on’ when I need to and ‘switching off’ when I need to. After having a full day of work on Wednesday and a plane ride here on Thursday, when you’re traveling, you’re transitioning to the racer mentality and mindset. But it’s not really until you get to your first session and break a sweat until you realize you’re here and start to focus on what I need to do.
Even the straights are crooked at VIR. If you like turns, elevation changes and a huge risk vs. reward ratio, the Bosch Engineering 250 has all the ingredients for an amazing race. (Marshall Pruett)

It’s getting hard to be wide-eyed and bushy-tailed about the entire racing experience because you want to be more competitive and run up front. You sometimes have to remind yourself to pick those moments up and have a good time. Joe runs with Scotty Maxwell and Scotty is always a great guy to have around. We try to have a sense of humor about it because it then makes everyone focus even more. Because if you’re too serious about it all the time, you forget how fortunate enough you are to be racing, especially at this level. It’s a fine balance and hard to define those moments because you’re here to win.

I’m having a blast here this weekend at VIR. This track is so fast. You think about the history here, with Carol Shelby winning the first race here in a Maserati Birdcage, so you can’t even imagine what it was back then! It’s also such a beautiful location. It’s a real nightmare to get here, but once you’re here, it’s all worthwhile.

I take the same mentality if I’m here or on the television set. You always have those goals that you set out. I think the more racing I do, it helps me at work in my day job as well. It was interesting because Scott had the chance to come down to the set and hang out and talk about the physicality of the sport. Even when I’m not here, I’m at the gym on the bike riding, constantly mentally preparing myself for here. That’s a lot of it.

Well I hope to put on a good show later today in Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8. Wish Joe and I well, and I’ll report back after the race!

~Patrick

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Follow Patrick and his sponsor Mazda at MazdaUsa.com and MazdaMotorsports.com.

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Patrick Dempsey

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