From the Seat!

Although slightly delayed Team Rapid Racing finally opened the season at Mid Ohio with the WKA National Road Racing Series event. Despite my fears the World Nitpicking Association did a pretty good job on this event, with none of the silly nitpicking that has so often spoiled their events in the past. Question. What ever happened to Race Director Robby Harpers fun drivers meetings? No pie fights, no silly string wars, no Elvis impersonators. Geez, it's just not the same.

Yet another surprise the weather was good this year, no rain and temps in the middle to upper sixties. The mysterious Gooseman (?) and I arrived ready to do battle and battle we did. During Friday practice we hit every session and produced a personal best lap time each time out. The shifter practices were plagued with red flag incidents including one of the most bizarre in this driveršs experience. During a mid afternoon session there was a group of five or six of us rat racing (despite being told not to during the drivers meeting.) We were passing and re-passing each other and having just a heck of a good time when coming out of turn eight two of the drivers in front of me hit the binders with one scattering right and another scattering left. I scanned the track intently looking for the trouble when suddenly a black 125 shifter with nobody in it fell from the sky and landed on the track seemingly inches in front of me. Brandon Fry asked me in the pit lane how did I manage to miss the errant kart. I had to admit I didn't have a clue, probably because I had my eyes closed. Wow! What a rush!

Saturday morning dawned cool but clear and once again the practice sessions went well with another quick time in the books. Come race time a huge field of 125s lined up for the WKA mandated LeMans style start. While admittedly this type start has been traditional for WKA and much of roadracing in general but I feel it is one of the poorest methods of starting a field (Particularly a large field) of shifters. Nonetheless the start went smoothly and we made a good but not great start from our 25th grid slot. The first lap was pretty intense and this driver is still chastising himself for not being more aggressive on the start. To make a long story short "Lucille" and I made it up to tenth in short order but the leaders were long gone. We had the pace to run much farther to the front but track position made that out of the question. The Gooseman (?) and I were happy with our performance but certainly not with our finish. Blast and drat!

Sunday again dawned brightly and practice actually started on time. "Lucille" had lost none of her pace and seemed to be responding to some minor tweaks that the focused Gooseman (?) had tried. Then we had all day to ponder our fate as we were next to last in the schedule. Finally race time arrived and to our horror "Lucille" was balky to start. After much sweating and fuming the mighty Honda roared to life and things seemed to be OK.

Again gridding 25th we made a somewhat better start and moved into the top ten in three laps. Staying in touch with the lead draft and seeming to have the legs to move up we marched our way to 6th and looked to keep going when the gremlins struck. A ten-cent wire clip on the coil began to vibrate loose causing the engine to cut out. The problem continued to worsen until I pulled into the pits in frustration. The fix took seconds but the race had slipped away.

Well the first race of the season is in the books and hopefully we have gotten our wobbles out of the road for the rest of the season. Time will tell I guess. "The race is never over" was once again the battle cry as the Gooseman (?) and I loaded up the trailer and hauled for Indy.

Until next time, Race Hard, Race Safe and God Bless America!

"When in doubt, gas it. It won't help but it ends the suspense."