Sunday afternoon.

I survived. Nearly intact. With 46 cars in the race, the start was a bit like a demolition derby. In the end, I started 37th and finished 27th. Not bad for my first Runoff. Now, for the play-by-play:

I had a very bad start to the race. Did you ever get in the wrong line at the grocery store? You watch all the other lines move much quicker and there's nothing you can do. That's how the start felt. I ended up behind Max, the other Boxster driver, in the "slow line." The start is at the back staight at Mid-Ohio. The back straight leads to the part of the track called "Madness." For good reason. Need I say more? The track twists and turns and undulates, with many blind corners and apexes. At one of those blind turns, we found a BMW sideways in the middle of the track. We had to go off-roading in order to get by, over the concrete curb and onto the grass. This can easily cause more accidents. The other 30 cars in the area did the same. When the dust settled, I was second to last. I think.

Over the next lap, I managed to pass many cars, working my way back up to beyond my starting position. In the keyhole, the tight turn leading to the back straight, I was spun and "punted" off the track by a black Neon that I was passing. (You can see it in the picture below as the dark car in the upper right. He later took himself out at the same corner, most deservedly.) I kept the car going and got out of the gravel. Again, I was chasing to catch back up to the pack, not knowing how badly my car was damaged. It felt ok but coming down the front staight, into turn 1, when I braked, the car went sideways. So, I thought something was wrong. It felt fine the rest of the track but did it again the next time around. That's when Mike Garriga, my crew chief, told me on the radio that someone had dropped their radiator contents on the track at the point, making it slick. The next time around, the two cars in front of me hit that spot and spun into each other, finishing together on the tire wall. At that point, the race was slowed under a full-course yellow so they could try to clean up the track.

The whole field was brought back together under yellow for the next 6 laps (I think- it's hard to remember what happened). That cools the tires down. I flubbed the restart, as it went green before I knew the course was green and several cars got past me again. It took almost three laps for the heat to come back to my tires so that I had some stick. (In the meantime, Crew Chief Mike is telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I am not driving fast enough, that the car can handle more, that if I was driving faster, the tires would heat up faster, etc., etc., ect. And, you know, he was right. But he's also used to a much more experienced driver when he crewed for 5-time National Champion Freddy Baker. I'm no Fred Baker. Give me a few more years. Or the 35 or so that Fred has.) Once my tires got up to temp, I started turning better laps and catching the cars in front of me. Given a few more laps, I would have improved my position several cars. But, the checker was waived. Finished and intact.

Once we got to the pits, the Race Stewart stopped the entire field in the pit area and made all of the drivers get out. (a little unusual) We were split into two groups: the hitters and the hitties. I was a hitties. We were told that there were 27 documented incidents of contact. He also noted that there were many, many more that they didn't have time to document. In my review of the cars there, I didn't see a single one without some damage. Some were severly damaged. Mark Boden's beautiful BMW M3 did not have a single body panel that wasn't damaged. The front end of Bill Moore's Camero was completely pushed in. I got off easy, as you can see from the before and after pictures here. Many cars did not make it to the end of the race. (I don't want any calls or e-mails from you people asking me why the hell I do this. As Marcie keeps saying "And when is this supposed to be fun?")

So, in summary, I had a great week. We had beautiful weather and good competition. I learned a lot from the coaching staff at Mid-Ohio, my competitors and, mostly, from Mike Garriga (Thanks, Mike!) I went faster than I've ever gone and know that there is much more there, in the car, and in me. The drivers that Max and I normally compete against all wondered how the cars got that much faster. It was a bit of both: having Mike prep the cars and getting in lots of practice and coaching. Had I not gotten punted, I think I would have done much better. I am a rhythm driver and, with all of the "track activities," I never found my race rhythm. There's always next year.

Thanks to all that came down to watch, especially those on my staff (shown here, in the cheering section), who, for the last couple weeks, had to put up with me being stressed and agitated, and not being in the office much. And thanks to all of the people that helped make this Runoff participation possible: Eric and staff at Steinel's; Fred, Lenny and Mark at Fred Baker Porsche Audi; Morris Wheeler at Cohesant; Micki and Michelle at School One, Sean and Jason at Carrol Graphics; and that awesome principal at Process, without whom this wouldn't happen at all. Thanks, also, to my CMT, Kate Gill, who keeps my body straight enought to do this. And thanks, again, to Mike Garriga, for his experience, skill, and patience.

Lastly, I may not have been the faster driver there, in the fastest car, but I think it's fair to say, based on all the comments I got, that I had the best looking car in the race! I was told that there was a large group of burly guys behind my cheering section at the race. They kept saying that I had the "cutest" car out there. When I got hit, they said that they were going to pummel the guy that hit me. But, even damaged, they said I still had the "cutest" car. I'm manly enough to be comfortable with having the cutest racing car on the track.

Thanks!