Race #3 at Orlando Speedworld
02-12-06

I should probably save the best for last but you probably already know that I won this race!

For everybody else it was a 20 lap feature race that had been rained out and they were just trying to get the race in so we could go home. But, for me, it was about a 3000 lap journey from the dirt go-kart tracks I used to race at just a year or so ago back to running up front and winning races again.

We tried and tried to get the race in on Saturday night. It would rain just enough to ruin the track and then we would all go out and dry it off so we could race. Then, we would come in to get fuel and line back up only to have it start to drizzle again. You couldn't say that it actually rained. It just would drizzle a little and then stop. Finally, the race director called the races but he told us that we could stay another day if we wanted to and get the race in first thing on Sunday morning. So, that's what we all decided to do.

After I wrecked out of the race last night, one other car hit the wall pretty good and he wasn't able to get his car fixed so he went home. We had one other racer who was a little unhappy about the way the races were being run so he packed up and left too. That left us with only 8 cars in the feature.

The track was rented to some go-kart racers and we were sort of intruding on them so the track wouldn't let us run the heat races to get a starting line up. So, we started the race with the heat race line up and, since I was the first car out of the race last night, I had the pole for this race. The fastest cars always start at the back so this race gave me the best chance I have ever had to win. Still, the slow cars only keep the fast car back for a couple laps so if I wasn't fast enough they would still catch me before the end of the race.

The race started and I got a little jump while the fastest cars struggled to pass the slow cars just as I thought they would but, instead of 3 or 4 laps, it only took them 2 or 3 to get up front. I was driving nice and easy like my crew chief was telling me to do but I looked in the mirror and it looked to me like they we gaining on me so I said, "I got to go!", and I started to drive the car for everything it was worth.

With each lap I was pulling away a little bit more and with 5 laps to go I told my spotter that this race was over! He said not so soon, a lot can happen with 5 to go. The race stayed green though and I only had to deal with 2 lap cars. The first was pretty easy to get around but the second slowed me up enough for the 2nd place car to recover half of the lead I had built up on him. When he got to the lap car he had as tough a time getting around that car as I did so when the checkers flew I was back where I was before, about a half a straight away ahead of him, and all he could do was worry about the 3rd place car catching him. I had finally won a race!

I have a friend named Randy Dye that used to race and who has helped me financially as well as in giving me racing advise. He told me to think of the race like a practice session and don't get riled up when you have to deal with the lap cars, and that's just what I did, so I'm going to dedicate this win to him. Then, there are all the people who gave us advise and helped us and encouraged us when we were struggling so much last year. They said we would win but sometimes we really weren't sure. I want to thank them for having confidence in me when I sometimes didn't.

Well, we're off to a pretty good start. Who knows, if not for a valve stem and a little dirty driving , I might have won all 3! The good thing is I've got 15 or so more races to try so the best part of the season is probably still to come.