IN THE COCKPIT: Andy Lally, Road America

GRAND-AM

IN THE COCKPIT: Andy Lally, Road America

In one moment, a little past halfway in to the race, the engine just blows up. No one did anything wrong, no missteps by the crew, no mistakes by the drivers, it just ‘dun blowed up...

Andy Lally | Posted June 26, 2012

Magnus Racing suffered engine failure midway through last weekend's two-hour race at Road America. (Image: SPEED)

Before anything else, I’d like to express my sincere best wishes for my Kinetic teammate, Mark Pombo. Mark had a major crash going in to Canada Corner on Friday morning, one of the highest speed parts of the track. He broke his collar bone, his jaw, and took a big hit to the head. Unfortunately, Mark has a long recovery ahead of him, and all of us wish the very best for him and his family. Whatever else transpired over the weekend, my thoughts were never far from Mark and the Pombo family.

It’s tough to transition to the race week, but I’ll do my best.

When you turn on SPEED to watch our races on a weekend, there’s a ton of time time that goes in to the weekend.

Let me break it down for you in reverse.

You turn your TV on Saturday to watch the race, which usually is just under three hours.

The night before (Friday), I try and get to bed early, having left early from some sort of team or sponsor dinner. I’m also pretty tired, because not only did I have to practice and get the car setup for qualifying, but in my case, I also had to run the race in my Kinetic Motorsports Kia (and then run straight to the team dinner). Usually that means I’m at the track before 8AM that morning… the crew usually gets there an hour before me. That’s a combined 12 hours at the track, and I usually drive four hours or so.

The night before that (Thursday), is the first “official” day of practice. It means I have to go to bed early for a long Friday, around six hours of practice between both series, and again I drive about half of it. Again I’m usually at the track before 8AM, and the crews are there an hour before that.

It’s a long few days of driving, sitting in trailers pouring over data and on-board video, giving interviews, waking up and doing it over again. I’m not complaining, I’m incredibly lucky, but these are long days.

What people don’t know is that there’s even more time before that. Usually the day before “official” practice, GRAND-AM also allows for a “promoter test day.” A promoter test is essentially an extra day of testing if teams want to pay the extra costs. To keep it fair, they only let sportsman drivers take part, and pro drivers (including me) can only drive a few laps to make sure the car is working properly.

For me, this means I also have to be on track this day as well (now Wednesday), and I only drive a few laps. Since I’m not driving, I’m now hauling all over the track to coach over the radio at different turns, and spend just as much time in the trailer pouring over data and video. Once again, I’m at the track early in the morning. The crew is there even earlier.

So if that happens on Wednesday, this now means I’m traveling to the track on Tuesday morning. I have to leave early in the morning, not only because some tracks require a day of flying, but you also have to make sure you can still get there on Tuesday if your flight is delayed, or there’s bad weather, etc. I live about an hour from the airport, and you have to get there about two hours in advance to take the park & ride tram, etc. So if I have an 8AM flight (remember, it’s Tuesday), this means I’m up by 4AM.

So this means I have to be in bed early by Monday. Bags are packed, I’ve gotten whatever workout I can get in, and no late dinners, no meet-ups with friends, and so on.

So really, if you watch the race on Saturday, my travel begins Monday afternoon. In cases like June, where we’ve had four races in five weeks, it means that I have one day between coming home and leaving again.

Which brings us back to Saturday. You’ve been there five days, you’re in the thick of a championship fight, and you have a team who’s been there even longer than you, and they’re putting their heart and soul in to this deal. Literally bleeding to make it happen.

…and in one moment, a little past halfway in to the race, the engine just blows up. No one did anything wrong, no missteps by the crew, no mistakes by the drivers, it just ‘dun blowed up.

When you win a race, or you finish on the podium, and you keep your fight for the championship, the time spent is well worth it. But when the race suddenly ends, and no one did anything wrong, you’re simply left with nothing to talk about. That’s sort of where I am now. This is a great crew, we’ve been so strong all year, but if you look at how much goes in to it, it’s just defeating.

Let’s hope for a more positive blog after next Sunday’s race at ‘the Glen.

Andy Lally is one of the most successful drivers in GRAND-AM history, and one of the highest regarded American sports car drivers on the circuit. As GRAND-AM’s all-time mileage leader, Andy has won four different times at The Rolex 24 at Daytona, three GRAND-AM championships, and has had over 100 starts in the Rolex Series. Beyond road racing, he is also the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year, and even a Classic Luge World Champion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Lally

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