The gentleman stuck his hand out and said, “Hello, I am Jim France.”
The star factor is honestly a giggle. Dave Quinlan and I were doing a data debrief when Kevin Buckler was walking his next appointment into his office in the trailer. He stopped to introduce us to a very kind, tall, older person. The gentleman stuck his hand out and said, “Hello, I am Bill France.” We laughed about spec miata racing together. So casual, non-chalant…like it’s nothing big.
It’s over….and I’m so exhausted.Despite all the excitement…I’m realizing now there was HUGE stress associated with the effort.
My cue should have been when I awoke on Monday, 10.27 at 5 a.m. in a panic that the person transporting the car down to Daytona had gotten a hair cut and shaved his beard so I couldn’t find him OR the car. There was huge anxiety……about the track, the speed, the other ‘pro’ drivers, the infamous DP (Daytona Prototype) cars….and of course, the money.
Continue reading ‘“Hello, I am Jim France”’
Wow….this just keeps getting better.
The morning started out cool (49 degrees) and sunny. Lots of power on a day like today. Teammate Dan Watkins was first at bat and SHOT out of the box with a TWO second improvement in lap times. Dan is putting his foot down…literally. Continue reading ‘This Racing Stuff is Bi-Polar’
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, Continue reading ‘43 Laps complete - 957 to go….;)’
We Leave for Daytona Practice Session 1 Today
All I can think about is entering the bus stop chicane at 160 mph, feeling the harness pressure my chest and the seat bolster chaffe where my lats should be. As a driver, you feel so in the groove, so in control, there is little that compares. To borrow a phrase from Car & Driver, “…the car has more stick than a life insurance salesman…”
I’ve broken the cardinal driver’s rule, however, by falling in love with our car. Maybe it’s the livery, maybe it’s the look or feel, but it’s definitely the sound. The throttle is so responsive making the motor revv both up and down so quickly, you could almost talk with the it. Every time I get in, I think of Peter Frampton’s famous 1971 song, “Do you feel like we do.” That’s probably the $64,000 question isn’t it? Continue reading ‘I’ve been tossing in bed since 3:18 a.m.’
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