Sunday morning.

Greetings.

Things are moving along quite well with preparations for the Runoffs. I went down to Mid-Ohio raceway late Thursday afternoon to attend a classroom coaching session specifically for Runoffs competitors. Even though I have driven at Mid-Ohio many times over the past nine years, I was hoping to pick up some pointers from Mid-Ohio's stellar coaching staff. Much to my delight, I was the only driver to show up for this session. My coach for the evening was Scott Herrington, an Indy Racing League Rookie of the Year and 1992 Can Am champion. Scott and I spent two hours walking the track, reviewing race lines and techniques. I learned new approaches to several corners that I was able to put to good use on Friday's practice day.

On Friday, I was at the track at 7 a.m. to register, meet my "crew," Mike Garriga, who, until recently, was Fred Baker's race technician. We needed to get the car preped and put on the rain tires for the very wet first session at 8 a.m. This first session was pretty slow, as I focused primarily on remembering the track and reviewing the lines that Scott had taught me the night before. My coaching staff for the day was Scott, Anthony Lazzaro, an IRL racer and multiple class winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Tommy Byrne, a former Formula 1 racer, and one other young, but helpful, coach whose name I can't remember. Sorry. They all seemed fairly underwhelmed by my performance in the rain and appeared somewhat sceptical that I should even be there. That thought had crossed my mind too, after arriving the night before and seeing the rows and rows of huge team transporters with color coordinated crews. And, here I was, with a little BMW tow vehicle and open trailer. I was feeling a bit out of my league. But, still excited to be here.

Shortly after I got off the track from the first session, the sky actually cleared of all clouds. My next three sessions were in the dry and I can enthusiastically say that I have never felt better on the track. I think this was the best track day I've ever had. The car was balanced, controllable and predictable. And I felt great driving it. My laps times reflected this, coming down significantly from the last race at Mid-Ohio. I received great, constructive feedback from the coaching staff and spent the rest of the day working on refining my line and increasing speed. Between sessions, I put the new sponsor stickers on the car and planned my qualifying sessions with Mike.

This next week will involve one practice day on Monday, when we will simply "bed-in" my tires for the race day. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are all 25 minute qualifying sessions. I'll be updating daily, as possible. Feel free to e-mail any questions.

John