Noctural Adrenaline -- Disaster at Michigan

For once in my short, on-line racing career, I never felt so confident in coming into this race. Michigan International Speedway is one of those great tracks that produces fast, 4-wide racing without any big wrecks.

After testing and putting in hundreds of laps, I had my line DOWN PAT. I was running solid 35.6 second laps around the 2-mile track -- then things seem to come crashing down once the race started.

Again, I chose the #66 Best Buy Dodge Charger to run, and again, I decided not to qualify. A part of it is a confidence issue. I'm racing with a bunch of on-line racing veterans, guys who have been racing for nearly 5-6 years. Right now, I really do not have the car control for a stock car with cold tires right off the bat (believe me, a car with cold tires just doesn't handle all too well).

Here are some pictures from the race:


This is what I saw on Lap 5, coming off Turn 2. All I saw was a lot of smoke, then the #03 car coming off the wall. Luckily for the both of us, the #03 was continuing to move down off the track while I stayed high. I scraped the wall pretty good, though, trying to avoid him. I went to the pits and got it all patched up.









This is what happens on a restart with new tires. Lap 9 (of 70), going through Turns 1 and 2. I simply overdrove it, got loose, and spun. This was just the beginning of my bad night. This spin put me about 15 seconds behind the leaders, until I hit the Turn 2 wall a few laps later. I almost caused another wreck going down to the pits, when I spun right in front of the leaders, who were about to put me a lap down.

Luckily for me, I didn't hit anybody!





Lap 38 -- the #020 car gets into the wall entering Turn 1. I had seen this all play out in the back, since I was a lapped car. All the while he was in the wall, I was just saying to myself: "please, please -- stay up there!" Unfortunately, he came down the track, totally forgetting about little ol' me. This photo shows me just before the impact with the #020. As for him, he was done for the night, but I was lucky enought to continue on.






After the Lap 38 wreck, the car basically wasn't the same -- well, it just wasn't great to begin with. My best lap was a 36.7, well off the leader's pace. Towards the end, I was running in the upper-37's, a few in the 38's due to worn tires. But in the end, I finished in 7th place, 3 laps down.

Next week: Daytona International Speedway. 'Bout damn time, if you ask me. If there was a track I could run well at, it's a restrictor plate track. I probably will not win, but as long as I stay out of trouble, I shouldn't have any problems.