NASA SE director Jim Pantas does his best to explain the fast line while the author wishes he had a gas can to lean on as well. (Photo: Jason Tripp)

I was still fumbling with my video camera when we got the green flag, and the other three cars in my group (we were doing a staggered start of four cars per wave) exploded out of pre-grid and down pit lane. I was 10 car lengths back before we got to turn one. Since we had started in the last group, the first groups were already coming around at full tilt. My hope was that I could get up to speed and fall in with some of the slower cars who had started up front. Unfortunately, there were no slow cars...at least not in my league.

I traced them into turn one and two, and carefully observed their line through the fast left hander that is turn three. They were apexing turn four as my eyes were still looking at their tailights when I realized I had missed my braking point for the turn! With my heart pounding, I got sideways and managed to drift through the turn just as a swarming group of cars came up fast on my right. “Settle in and drive your own race!" I scolded myself.

More angry bees pushed by though six and seven. I got a respite from the swarm as the long front straight opened up before me. I gathered my wits and tried to focus on the line and carrying momentum through the turns. “Use ALL of the track!” My instructors'
words echoed as I worked into a steady pace. I actually managed to pull in behind some cars and more or less hang with them, for a short time anyway. By the third lap, I was settled in, letting faster cars go by and making sure I gave them plenty of berth. No point rubbing paint in my first provisional event, despite the fact that it was a "for fun" race. As I came around for the fourth lap, it dawned on me that I had another shot at the pole! The plan all along was to stop the race mid-way and re-invert the field. I was relatively sure I had secured last place without even trying I had a winning “strategy”. Had I passed anyone? Didn’t I see a green car spin? Had he passed me back already? It was all a blur to me, and since I hadn’t memorized all the cars and their drivers yet, I really had no idea where I was, but it was a fair guess that “last” place, and hence the pole, was mine for the taking!

Unfortunately I had to pit. The e30 BMW’s are infamous for having fuel starvation issues when driven hard, and mine was no different (though some would argue that my pace was a stretch of the term “driven hard”). I struggled for a few laps, but when my straightaway speed started falling some 20 mph off the pace, I knew I was just a hazard and likely going to cause engine damage, so I pulled in to refuel. I’m positive the steward thought I was sandbagging for the restart, but another race official, who’d seen me drive earlier in the day, clued him in that I was indeed the slowest out there anyway.