So You Want to be a CART Racer?

Practice at Damp Laguna Seca The weekend and Monday before I arrived saw rain, rain, and more rain. Tuesday was a little damp, butwas drying rapidly. At the time, I was very happy for that. The forecast for the week was no rainuntil Sunday night. I was hoping that was an accurate forecast, but you know how weather predictionsgo. I wasn't sure what to expect my first day. The last lapping day I did here was before my first raceat Las Vegas, and I've improved considerably since then. The normal lap time for me then was low 1:48s,with an occasional 1:47. My first practice day saw 1:46s with a couple 1:45s. That was a big relief, Iwasn't sure how well I would do. I'm not sure where I made all the time up - probably a second in thecorkscrew, a half second in turn 9, and couple tenths in turns 3 and 4, and maybe a tenth or twoelsewhere. Thursday's lapping day brought a pretty big scare. Laguna is an interesting track in the winter.On the outside of many turns (T5 and T9 are two I know offhand) there are cement drainage gutters,and they aren't very formula car friendly. After getting down to consistent mid to low 1:45s, I tookT9 a little too hot. Pushing wide at the exit, I dipped my right side wheels off course and over therain gutters. The car bounced wildly as I brought both wheels back on the track, making some prettyugly banging noises. Back on the track, the rear end of the car was wiggling around a lot and makinga squealing noise. "Ah Crap!" I thought. I broke something pretty bad. My first thought was that Ibusted up the right rear suspension. I limped back to the pits in my car and got out. I briefed themechanics and the instructor on what happened, and I jumped into another car and finished off my lapsfor the session. After it was over, I was told that the damage was very minimal, just a couple shearplates that are meant to break first in this kind of event. The total cost turned out to be $24, thelowest they have ever seen. Whew, thank the Lord for that one. On Friday, I chose car #14 from the hat. In Friday's practice, car #14 had the clutch sticking, and washaving trouble going into first gear. I talked at length to the mechanics and test drivers about this,and fortunately, I wasn't the only one who complained about it. The mechanics took #14 out of commissionto fix the problem, so I chose a replacement car, car #80. Car #80 was a little weird and my times werea half a second slower, but I thought I would adapt to it and improve. My times were okay - I had thesecond quickest times in both sessions. First thing in the morning, I jumped into the computer car to look for some more improvement. Thefirst lap I did was a 1:45.6 with my best of the 6-lap session being a 1:45.2. I then went to mypractice session and could only manage a best time of 1:45.7 in car #80. This was the 5th fastesttime of the group, and I was not a happy camper. The car just didn't feel quite right. I had theoption to go back to car #14 if I wanted, but I would have no practice - just jump in the car, domy two warm-up laps and grid up. After quite a bit of thought and discussion, I decided to go incar #14 for the race. It's a chance I had to take. Sine I had the highest average points in my group, I was on pole. As we completed the pacelap, I brought the field to a crawl exiting turn 11. After I thought everyone was clear ofthe T11, I waited a second then floored it. Everyone followed suit, and we got a green flagfor the start. I had a couple car lengths going into T2, and was keeping tabs on Joe O'Brienin second place behind me. Every lap, I stretched my lead a little by little. After about 3or 4 laps, Michael Morris started to seriously challenge Joe for the second place spot. Thishelped me quite a bit, as I was able to check out even more. From then on, I kept my pace andearned another victory! On the last lap, Joe O, and Mike Morris came together in T2, forcinga 20-second penalty on each driver. This gave 2nd place to Doug Melvin, who was lurking rightbehind those two when they clashed. After the race, word around the campfire was that tomorrow's forecast called for rain all day."Uh-oh," I thought. I've never even done a lap in the rain. I sure hope the forecast is deadwrong!

The Field Coming out of Turn 2 I woke up at 3am Sunday morning to the loud pitter-patter of rain. This woke me up big time.I tried and tried, but could not get back to sleep. All I could do was think about racing onthat slippery wet track. When we arrived at the track, rain was still coming down. I had noidea what to expect. To compound the situation, we get no practice on Sunday. You get a couplewarm-up laps, then grid for the race. I had all sorts of ideas running through my head. The 4racers behind me have all had experience in the rain. The guy next to me starting 2nd has hadhundreds of laps in the rain. I was more nervous about this start then my very first race atVegas. Ultimately, I was just going to run my race, and if someone was on my tail andsignificantly faster than me, I would just let them by. I thought I might finish 5th orsomething - definitely no high expectations for this race. On the start, I brought the field to a crawl again. As we were coming out of T11, Doug Melvin(who was starting 2nd) wanted to go a little faster than I was keeping the field. He went outahead of me a bit, then realized I wasn't going to speed up. Since the polesitter controls thepace, Doug had to slow down, and as he was backing toward me, I was gaining momentum. When hegot near me, I floored it and pulled about a 5-car length lead on the field going into T2.Being my first rain race, I just wanted to finish and not spin or slide off the track, but Iwas happy to have a comfy lead. Taking the Flag on Saturday Doug Melvin passed Divina Galica for 2nd place, then tossed it away as he slid off going deepinto turn 2 (trying to go way deep and pass me, from what Doug told me after the race). Fromthen I stretched out a lead from Divina, but the rain-mister, Joe O, was creeping up slowlybut surely. After a few more laps, Joe was closing in behind me. He made a passing attempt inT2 on the next lap, but I didn't move and he couldn't get by. Joe was on my gearbox going intoT3. He must have wanted to pass me pretty bad because exiting T3, Joe got on the power too much,too soon and spun the car around. Congrats from the Fans This gave me a cushion of time for the lead, and I was still just going around the track, beingconservative thinking I may actually win this race! A couple laps later, who do I see in mymirrors but good ol' Joe O making his way back to second and chasing me down again. His rainexperience was really shining through as he caught and passed me on the next lap. This gaveme the opportunity to go to school a bit and learn some of the finer points about rain racingand finding grip on the pavement. It was a quick session though, as Joe was checking out and Iwas thinking of just ensuring I keep on the podium. When the checkers flew, I finished 2nd toJoe O'Brien, and I was pretty happy about that, especially for my first experience in the rain.I had great fun, even though I didn't explore my limits too much (since this was a race and Ijust wanted to finish). It was definitely different than racing in the dry. I look forward tohaving a practice day in the rain so I can play around and explore the limits of the car. See the official Skip Barber race write-up for this weekend:http://www.skipbarber.com/wresult3.htm See the Skip Barber race write-up for Phoenix:http://www.skipbarber.com/wresult2.htm See the Skip Barber race write-up for Las Vegas:http://www.skipbarber.com/wresult1.htm (Oh yeah - even though the result sheet says "Dry", believe me, those 2 minute laps mean wet :-)!

		That ends December's saga at Laguna Seca. It was a fantastic weekend, and I farexceeded my expectations on Sunday. January is coming up soon, and it's anotherLaguna race, but starting in 1998, Michelin will be the official tire of SkipBarber Racing. That should throw a little twist into the race equation. I'llhave the scoop next month! Take Care! Next on "You Want to be a CART Racer?": Reality check? how it feels to go too deep when it matters.
		Special To SpeedCenter © 1997 Darrel Cherry and SpeedCenter

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