Many different emotions are conjured up when we reflect on our past week in Indiana at the Rotax Max US Grand Nationals. If I was to sum it up in a single word, Wow! is the most fitting G-rated thing I can say.
Unfortunately for us the lows far outweighed the highs for the better part of our stay but some very positive things that I can say about the whole experience is that Mark Dismore has one first class facility in his New Castle Motorsports Park. And the competitors and families- regardless of nationality, talent level, or depth of pocket, were some of the nicest people we've ever met. It didn't matter whether they were under the factory tent or a privateer in a modest (ahem) triple axle trailer, everyone was very kind and helpful to us. And being the greenest of the green in this series we needed all the help we could get.
In hindsight what we really could have used was a couple of extra weeks to prepare for the event. With the caliber of competition that showed up I believe we still would have finished well back in the pack, but being a bit more prepared could have saved us a lot of anguish and senseless running around that really didn't need to happen. And it would have eliminated a lot of the new track jitters that a driver can sometimes have. Understand that we came to this event without ever turning a wheel on this course and that forced us to play catch up in a big way.
Our week started out with a late arrival to the track and a near miss in even getting our equipment checked in for the event. It slipped my mind that tech inspection was only going to be open until 5pm on Tuesday and if you missed it you were out. Plain and simple and clearly stated in our literature so I had only myself to blame for this. But what I couldn't understand is why they closed tech at 4:15 and then it dawned on me, I didn't account for the time zone change and my wristwatch was still an hour behind. A few kind words in my defense from one of the Franklin Motorsports guys and I was given literally two minutes to present my equipment or pack it up and go home. This was not the start to the exciting week that I imagined. We had just driven five and a half hours, lost our original pit spot, and had a hundred bucks extorted from us for our electricity and we faced being turned around and sent home. A bit of a sour taste in my mouth would be an understatement but we smiled nicely, spoke kindly, obliged their every whim and were cleared for competition in ten minutes.
So here's where our once perceived bad luck became somewhat of a blessing. Our pit spot that we lost was the first space at the beginning of the paddock. A beautiful space with an easy in/out right on the corner next to restrooms, the grid, and just about everything else we may have needed. I was clearly the first person to reserve my spot over two months ago and it was just my luck that they conveniently lost my name and gave the spot away to someone else. So they had two options for me. One was to park on the opposing end and the other option was to snake my truck and trailer through a labrynth of passages to an inside spot that was more level and had electricity that would be closer to my trailer. I opted for choice number two and twenty nail biting minutes later we were settled in. Almost immediately there after we had a severe storm roll through and dump several inches of rain on us in a very short period of time. That pit spot from option number one was now three feet under water! Cars were nearly floating, and most of the buses and trailers were now flooded past their doors! A sign of better things to come?
Ehhhhh, wrong answer! What luck we had in dodging the floods didn't follow us out on to the track, I can tell you that. We fought chassis issues, driver issues, and basic newbie faults which relegated us to the back of the pack for most of our time out on the course. We were nearly four seconds off the pace and not even a track walk with a national champion nor advice from well respected tuners could put us on the fast track. Our lack of seat time at this track combined with the fact that we've never driven on a surface as "rubbered up" as this one was showing in our efforts. Very little progress was being made in any of our practice sessions so by the end of the day all we had was the hope that a new day and a new set of tires would redeem us.
Thursday came and how frustrating it was for us to find that somehow with a new set of rubber we found it in ourselves to go almost four tenths SLOWER than we did with our older tires from the day prior. At this point I'm just about out of ideas and Sam was losing motivation and enthusiasm quick. Conversations with tuners and people who had seen him out on the track proved that we were carrying far too little speed into the corners and spending a tad too much time between being off and back on the throttle. It was made clear that the chassis was set properly and now all we had to do was literally drive the wheels off the thing to get it to react. Easier said than done and something that eventually led to our demise in the Friday morning warm-up session.
Armed with another set of new tires, a chassis that was assured quick, and the mind set that every corner had to be driven deeper, we set out for our session early Friday morning. Lap times of the front runners weren't far off the quick times from yesterday so we had our work cut out for us. Sam was driving as deep as he could into the corners but something just wasn't right since it always resulted in a trip through the dirt. By about the fifth lap it all would end in a cloud of dust as the kart left the track at turn two and backed into the barriers hard, ending his session and eventually our week.
So here we are at the event we've been looking forward to competing in all year and we're faced with this dilemna. Could we have finished the event? Maybe so. We could have dusted ourselves off, straightened the kart, and returned to the track for another go but it was painfully and reluctantly decided that we were going to throw in the towel. Our lack of experience at this track (and at this level) posed several concerns in my mind. What happens if we go for broke and he or anyone else on the track gets hurt? And what happens if through our shortcomings we take away someone else's chance at making Team USA and going to the World Finals? Neither one of us could live with that so to step back was the only rational decision that could be made. I know I'll beat myself up over this one for years to come since quitting at anything has never been in my vernacular and more importantly, something that I don't want to instill in the minds of my children. This one is just going to have to be chalked up as one of those "live to fight another day" episodes.
But even in light of our situation a very big thank you is owed to Wes and Jason of the Franklin Motorsports team. Their guidance was a godsend to a couple of rookies like ourselves, and if it wasn't for Wes helping us get through tech I wouldn't even be telling this story to you. He also taught me plenty about chassis set up and he was always willing to loan any parts to me that I didn't have handy. And thank you Jim Sharkey for letting me borrow him from time to time.
While we're at it, George and Jamie Sieracki of Dreamworks/Franklin were pivotal in getting us set up in this series to begin with. Their generosity in getting us the guidance and the right equipment to make a go at this has saved us in many occasions. We both can't thank you enough.
And to Shawn Sharkey for his tutoring. Not many drivers in his position divulge a lot of information to people they just met, but he took Sam aside and explained a lot about the course and what the chassis and driver need to do to be fast. I know we didn't turn it into anything this weekend Shawn, but he will definitely remember everything you taught him. I'll make certain of it.
So with the Grand Nationals a memory, Rotax for the most part is over for us this year. But I may be a bit hasty in my words as we still don't know exactly what to do with our free time for now. We could throw some Bridgestone tires on the kart and race it in TaG, or we could continue on for the two remaining Midwest Sprint Series races in Rotax but I think that regardless of what we might feel like doing, we're going to first downshift a gear or two and take a short break from things. This series was physically, mentally, and financially exhausting for us and a little hiatus from the track might not be so bad right now. If I know us it's not going to last long so stay tuned and we'll let you know when and where we decide to have our comeback.
Cheers
