Sixth Gear

It’s been such an emotional experience today….wow…I’m not even sure what to say. We are at Daytona, we were running with the DPs and we’re pretty fast!

As I walked around and realized that it was all really happening, I kept thinking of the words from John Mayer’s song,

“Me and all my friends, are so misunderstood.
They say we stand for nothing, but there’s no way we ever could

Now we see everything going wrong, with the world and those that lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means, to rise above and beat it…”

I caught myself whelling up on several occassions as I was explaining my mission of raising money as I’ve been inspired to for my son Colin.

(colin on left with brother ryan)

Colin has been challenged since birth with things like unbalanced transposition of chromosomes, EIGHT major food allergies (some toxic), global development delays and yet he has a heart thats bigger than you could possibly imagine. Despite all of the issues he faces in terms of extra schooling thru the summer, frustration in his inability to communicate well, a diet that up until recent consisted of just 4 food items, Colin has this crazy ability to find a warmth and interpersonal tenderness that has earned him the nickname “Romeo” in his school. There isn’t a soul he won’t walk right over to hug, grab your hand and shake you down for your car keys (they’re his thing). He’s such a fan of keys that he literally sleeps with a set of old race car keys every night.

For me, the Daytona 24hr is a passionate pursuit both on a hobby level, but more importantly, I’m putting myself in danger for, and driving 170mph for, and spending boat loads of money for - for the biggest cause in life. A child and all those he represents. All those that need us to act and make a change for their benefit……All those that need a Guardian Angel.

Toby (as our car is affectionately named) was a champ today, running hard for a THIRD year in a row, showing his younger contemporaries that he’s still got something under the hood. We did find his legs weren’t long enough so we had to RE-GEAR in the paddock as we were sitting on the revv limiter with over 1200 feet of straight away remaining.

The rebuild left us with a new found velocity. Our team manager, Kevin Buckler of The Racers Group, advised us to be mindful and allow extra braking room. Teammate Dan Watkins was at the wheel when he literally DROVE THE BUMPER off. He was crossing the start finish when the bumper simply let go. We thought it was pretty funny that he missed the cliche as the goal is to drive the WHEELS off the car…not the bumper.

The Grand Am drivers are fast. There is a huge dichotomy between the amatuers & veterans. As best I can tell, most of it is technique. That said, there is always the innate skill, but it’s my opinion that the “X” factor accounts for a second or so…NOT 5 seconds. Overall the group is easy to drive with.

I’m taken with both the meticulous nature in which everything is kept. There is one guy pitted next to us that appears to have custom fuel barrels that look like machine turned aluminum kegs. VERY COOL. The rules are SUPER relaxed with NO driver’s meetings, registration process. They handed out a sheet to the crew chief’s with some notes for them to take back to the drivers. A far cry from the PCA Club racing we embarked on this year.

The icing on the cake…was the last run of the day…evening, cool…..huge thrill running fast in the darkness. Note the speed in MPH in the upper right hand corner of the picture of this daytime video.

Repairs on day one? Well that was easy:

1. Complete transmission regear.
2. Grinding & trimming wheel wells to fit wide wheels with bigger track (borrowed).
3. Reconfigure electronic shift cut in ECU for sequential clutchless upshifts.
4. Replace right rear BRAND NEW axle as boot ripped spraying grease EVERYWHERE

o.m.f.g.

More Pix Here

More tomorrow - Loose Bruce
www.guardianangelmotorsports.com