NASCAR at COTA Review
Friday Practice:
I got sent out late due to issues then on my first lap the track went FCY (Full Course Yellow) then Red Flagged due to a stalled truck (my buddy Roger Reuse in the #3 “I
Mac n Cheese” truck)...I pulled into pit lane, once released I went out that lap and started to get up to speed…I had to make up for lost time and QUICK!! I noticed the brakes were a little off in the hard braking zones in Turns 11 and 12 and I swung wide in both corners…, OK, back up the brake zones a bit…then on the front straight I had a pretty good run coming up the 133 feet of elevation into T1, I was up to 4th gear…I hit the brakes HARD…and they went to the FLOOR!!! At 130 MPH or so…hey that wall is coming pretty quick!! I pitched it in HARD to both scrub speed (turning is braking) and avoid a head-on with the wall….I ended up spinning and stopped well short of the wall, thankfully!! My Angels were surrounding me - pro tip: don’t ever outrun them!! So, the truck stalled, it would not refire. Got pushed back to paddock by one of the rescue wreckers. The brake issue was a pinhole leak in one of the brake lines, the crew replaced the line, we bled the brakes and that issue was solved. Tried refiring to go back out and it would not retire. Then time ran out. We've got some changes to make, debrief should yield some good results for qualifying…hopefully…!Ilmor replaced the ECU and throttle body and that solved the refire issue and we were good for qualifying…but that turned into another mess
Saturday Qualifying:
Some days are great, some are not as great! Saturday was one of those days, it was still a fantastic day and we had a blast at NASCAR at COTA!
Qualifying in the rain was pretty exciting! I couldn’t see, my glasses fogged up, no blower on my helmet, but I moved on…I lost control in T7 and backed it into the wall, minor damage and kept on going! I failed to qualify. That’s racing!! Thank you everyone for your support, this has been an AMAZING experience, the whole thing!!
In the end I learned a LOT, I had an experience that very few get to have and I got some TV time and the sponsors are very happy!! Thank you for enjoying the ride with me!! A HUGE thank you to my partners for helping to make this happen: Quasar Cloud Data, Fort Worth Screen Printing and Manufacturing News!!!
From FS1 coverage of Friday's practice here's a nice video of me being “brave” - there’s a fine line between being BRAVE and losing your brakes!!
