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WILSON: Iowa To Richmond To Watkins
Written by: Justin Wilson   
07/02/2009
Denver, CO
 
At the end of my last column I said I was looking forward to Iowa. Hmmm. Well, I enjoyed racing last year in Iowa!...

Then it was a fun race because we were the most competitive we had been on the short oval. I finished twelfth after battling in the top ten all race. I learnt a lot in the race and I was looking forward to going back to use the knowledge I had acquired.
Justin's fortunes at Richmond were much better then at Iowa. The ex-F1 driver is now looking forward to the challenging Watkins Glen event this weekend. (LAT) ยป More Photos

So this year I was confident that I knew what I wanted from the car, but on the first run of the day I realized that we had a lot of work to do. I was a long way from being able to go flat out at either end of the track. Jaques Lazier was having similar problems and the two of us were nearly a second off the next slowest car. I was finding it very hard to drive and even though we tried many things throughout the first practice but we weren’t getting anywhere. I was loose mid to exit at both ends of the track, which was a real problem in turn 2 as there were some huge bumps that you have to deal with.

It was the very last change in practice that we made which seemed to make it more drivable. Finally I was able to run flat out and not just for one lap either - I could do 15 laps in a row on any line. At last I could see a way forwards with the setup, the only problem being that we had run out of time to tune the set-up any further – now it was time to qualify. Jaques was not so fortunate! He was still struggling really bad with his setup.

We didn’t even get chance to try another change in qualifying as it was canceled due to the weepers that were coming up through the track. The good part about that was that they would line the cars up by Entrant Points and we where lying 10th.

I was unsure on what we had for the race, but I was hopeful. You’re always hopeful, because if you get in the car with the wrong frame of mind, you will never be good.

In the race I felt good for the first few laps when everyone was bunched together, but as soon as the field spread out I was struggling to keep up. The front roll bar got stuck in the stiffest position, which normally would give more push, but instead it seemed to make the front tires load up faster after the bumps.

Shortly after that it was all over. My first mistake was to feel comfortable with the front being sharp. My second mistake was to try too hard to keep up with the cars ahead. All this led to me being caught out over the bumps in turn 2 when the front gripped up as I landed. I caught the first slide but not the second. It snapped so fast, I knew I was in trouble.

I was disappointed to crash. It was a classic case of trying to make up for the car. We had a problem, but I was trying to drive around it and I should have known better. It’s tough to tell yourself to drive within the car’s limits when everyone is starting to pull away for you. In hindsight I should have just driven the car that I had rather than trying to carry it.

There are days in this business where you’re given a car that’s pure magic – it does all most of the work for you and racing at the front is easy. Then there are days like this one where it’s anything but easy. We all want to race up front so badly that sometimes keeping that desire ‘in check’ can be a challenge. I know my Z-Line Designs team want to be up front just as badly as the rest of the field, and accepting that this can’t always be the case is hard to do on weekends like Iowa.

In between Iowa and Richmond, Dale Coyne Racing was invited to go down to the FBI Academy in Quantico. I have to thank Chris Combs for organizing the trip for us and for doing my sign board at Indy this year. It was a privilege to see a little of what goes on and some of the training that the new FBI recruits go through. We were able to see the equipment that some of the agents carry, drive around their driver training course and have a go at breaching some doors! I know that everyone on the team had a really good time. I know that half the guys now want a door breaching ram to play with - definitely not a good idea!

Richmond was a place that I was not looking forward too. Last year I had struggled all weekend and never was able to make my car work but yet I still managed to finish the race. That turned out to be a good strategy as everyone else was racing and crashing into one another.

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