Saini didn't lock up the driver's title at Road Atlanta, but he's ready to do so at the SPEED TC finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca this weekend. (Saini)
Well, it's been a while since I've made an installment... and it's been due to a crazy back-to-back-to-back-to-back race weekend kind of month! In the last five weeks, I've gone from Elkhart Lake, WI to home, to Lincoln, NE, to Chicago, to Utah, to Atlanta and to Virginia! Racking up the frequent flier miles for sure, but this is definitely what I've always wanted to do – and being a race team owner means that when I'm not racing myself, I still get to go to the track! It's the best of both worlds.
When I left you last, we had just complete round seven of the SPEED Touring Car Championship, at one of my favorite tracks, Road America. While fourth wasn't really what we'd hoped for, the championship was kept well alive and we were optimistic for the last two races. After that race, I got to spend a rare bit of time at home, and more importantly at our shop getting some work done. Our team had two more races in the season, then two big enduros and then plans to expand to a Grand Am Koni Challenge program for 2010... so there's plenty to get done!
Many of you know I got started in this sport doing something called autocross... it's basically lower speed time trial events using only pylons. Very cheap, safe and effective at driver training. Well as every discipline has it's pinnacle, for autocross it's the Solo National Championships, which for the longest time was held in Topeka, KS. I was fortunate enough to win two titles there, in 2003 and 2004. The more road-racing I did, the less time there was for autocross. Over the years I made lots of friends from all over the country while running these events, and found it frustrating that I couldn't make it back to the odd autocross here and there.
Somehow, every year, the Solo Nationals were scheduled across from our MX-5 race in Salt Lake City, making attendance impossible. But for 2009, with the new venue in Lincoln, NE came a new date as well. It was official, we'd be running in the Solo Nationals again! But what to drive? I have a beautiful new 2009 Mazda RX-8 R3, and the initial plan was to run that in a relatively stock class... called B-Stock. However, time caught up with us again, and we ran short of time to test and develop the car. So we chose to go with something a little bit more proven... our friend Chris Robbins' heavily modified 2006 Mazda MX-5.
All it takes to realize that this car is fun to drive is to look at it... giant, sticky tires on a tiny Miata are sure indicators of a good time. With Moton shocks, giant Hoosiers, and a full MX-5 Cup exhaust, the car was great to drive! I ended up 7th out of 33 cars, most of which were the lighter, older generations of Miata. My girlfriend, Juliann, who also has two previous Solo Championships managed to do a bit better and won the CSPL National Championship! Most of all, it was great to just see all of our old friends, and we vow to be back whenever the date permits!
With that fun out of the way, it was back down to business. On to Chicago for a few days for some coaching, and then Miller Motorsports Park for Round 8 of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup. Our drivers were hungry for results, after being handed six-straight second place finishes at the hands of the same driver. I wish I could say it went better, but again – we could only manage 2nd place. Regardless, as usual, our whole crew of drivers and well... crew had a great time and we left with our heads held high.
From there, it was on to Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans weekend and Round 9 of the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship. It was a rainy week in Atlanta, and it got off to a soggy start with delayed flights and closed highways. After a late night waiting for the roads to open, we took to the track for practice.
Keen readers of my blog will remember that I had been fighting a handling problem at Road America... the rear of the car was very loose on corner entry, and initially it felt like it was fixed at Atlanta. Our pace was pretty good, but again you never know until qualifying where everyone stands! In some of the later practice sessions on Wednesday, I really began to feel the handling problem pop up again. It especially seemed that the longer I'd drive the car, the worse it would get.
Now, the Atlanta race has a pretty big bearing on the championship... I only had a narrow 46-point lead in the drivers points, and Mazda was clinging to a measly 2-point lead in the manufacturer's fight. Every point would count at Atlanta, and luckily my teammate Eric Foss was flying! Unfortunately right into the wall in practice! He dropped a wheel in the wet grass, lost control and hit the wall unabated in turn-12... ouch, not the place you want to hit. Wait, there's really no place you WANT to hit, but this is definitely one of the worst places.
Pretty much everyone thought the car was done for the weekend, except for the team... they just diligently went about the business of putting it back together, and by the morning you couldn't even tell the car had been in an accident at all, let alone one that severe. I've said it before, but believe me it bears repeating... Tri Point Motorsports are an incredible group. To turn the car around the way they did was nothing short of Heroic – and Eric repaid their hard work by coming home 2nd in the morning practice – only 16 hours after hitting the wall!
I kept working with the handling, and by qualifying we really didn't have any answers. We decided to do what we did at Autobahn, which was take what we knew and make an educated guess for qualifying. The car felt great, but a few mistakes while my tires were at their prime cost me and I would start 8th. That was the bad news.... the good news? My two main rivals for the championship were 7th and 9th, so we were all in a row!
The first few laps of the race were great, the car felt awesome and we were settling into a pace. I was starting to think about getting racy with the RealTime cars, when the handling started to go away again. Then I must have hit a curb or something, and the splitter under the front bumper fell down and was dragging the ground. Not only did this affect the handling, but It started burning up and sending acrid carbon-fiber smoke into the cockpit. It was already a hot humid day, so there wasn't much oxygen to be had anyway... then I basically was breathing in only smoke. By the end of the race, I was pretty exhausted and winded.... not the finish I was looking for, holding on to the 8th spot.
INDYCAR: Miller's Mailbag, 5.23
PHOTOS: 2012 Indy 500 Technical Gallery
INDYCAR: Series Calls For Chassis Modifications To Reduce Lift
INDYCAR: Susie Wheldon Planning Indy 500 Return
INDYCAR: Jeff Andretti Thriving 20 Years After Indy 500 Crash
VIDEO: James Hinchcliffe's Indy 500 Diaries
SPEED All Over 'Racing's Greatest Weekend'
