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IN THE COCKPIT: Ricky Taylor, Road America
"That’s racing” doesn’t sum up the feelings going on inside or soften the frustration I have had with myself...
Ricky Taylor  |  Posted June 27, 2012  
Ricky Taylor was in control of the Rolex Sports Car Series 250 at Road America until a freak incident heading into the final restart. (Photo: John Dagys)
This was another tough blog to write as we have had yet another disastrous weekend, this time at Road America. In racing, there are numerous clichés that apply to our situation at the moment, but “that’s racing” or “it’s part of the ups and downs of racing” doesn’t sum up the feelings going on inside or soften the frustration I have had with myself.

I will not dwell on the past weekend. Instead, I will talk about our upcoming race at Watkins Glen this weekend. First, I’ll just explain what happened at Road America.

We were leading and, under yellow, we needed to save fuel to make it to the finish. With one to go in the yellow, the team allowed me to stop saving fuel and work on cleaning/warming tires for the restart. I felt as if I had picked up a lot of marbles under yellow and, to clean off the rears, I normally induce a wheelspin in the car on the exit of a slow corner.

I did that this time, but I was too aggressive and lost concentration for a split second, allowing the car to get away from me and impact the wall.

At that exact moment, I wanted to disappear and not go back to the trailer because I felt I could not face the team after costing them another near certain podium finish to start our fight back in the championship. I could not believe what I had done, such a terrible mistake to cost the team a result for the second time.

In my mind, when I make a mistake, that is my allotment for the year and I cannot make another one. Now, I have made two very costly mistakes so, for the rest of the year, I need to be perfect.

Looking forward, we will be going to my favorite track and my favorite race of the year where we had the best win of my career last year.

This year, it is Max’s turn to start and finish, so I will be doing the middle stint.

After the Fords and BMW’s received the rules change and the extra RPMs, we will really have our work cut out for us. But I believe we have a strong baseline for that track and should be strong. I’m looking forward to putting these past few weeks behind me and proving my worth again on the track.

Getting back on track is always my best medicine.

Ricky Taylor, 22-year-old son of three-time sports car champion and team owner Wayne Taylor, embarks on his third full season co-driving with veteran Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette Dallara of Wayne Taylor Racing. Follow him on Twitter: @RickyTaylor10 or at http://www.suntrustracing.com
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