Now you go through your car one more time and check the tire pressures, clean the windshield, re-torque the wheel lug nuts and check the engine oil level. “Where’s my crew?” you exclaim. Oh, there they are having coffee, eating breakfast, and enjoying themselves while you prepare the car! Anyway, now you are ready to go. Today you are in race group six, so you will have some time before your qualifying session. You take a few moments to relax, but before you know it, it is time to go to the false grid. After several minutes of waiting on the grid it is your group’s turn to go out on the track. You take a few more deep breaths just to help calm the nerves. Time to begin!
You have completed the qualifying session and obtained the results. Not bad at all. You qualified 12th out of 20 cars. Now for one of your favorite parts of the race day – taking some time to walk around, talk to fellow drivers and watch some of the other races. Before you even realize it, group five is starting to go out on the track. Ut-oh, you better get going! You say goodbye to everyone, and as you begin to walk to your car to change into your driver’s suit, your nerves start up again. You drive over to the false grid and take your position. You look at the other cars on grid and begin your strategy for the start. Then you think, “Strategy? Shouldn’t I have one?” At this point in your racing career there really is not much of a strategy other than remembering that you can’t win a race on the first lap, but you can lose it. People have different approaches on how to handle the down time while on the false grid. Do you want to stay in the car and concentrate or do you want to get out of the car and talk to other drivers in your group? Shriek! Shriek!
“Five minutes! Five minutes!” the grid worker shouts. You get back into the car, put the window net up and tighten your belts. You close your eyes and visualize yourself driving a perfect lap around the track. “One minute! One minute!” the grid worker now shouts. At this point you can almost hear your heart beat. You raise your fist out the window indicating to the workers that your car is now running and ready to go. The grid worker points to the car that qualified on pole motioning for them to begin moving and the line begins to make its way out onto the track. Once you are in the proper grid position and have passed all of the workers that are out on the track itself, you start to warm-up the tires and brakes. You’re careful not to get overzealous, as all too many people spin on the warm-up lap. How embarrassing! The field now begins to approach the starting line, and you can see the starter stare the field down. “Not yet, not yet,” you think to yourself. It seems like this is taking forever! The field gets closer and closer. There it is, the green flag – go, go, go!
All of the emotions and activities during the day combined are what make club racing so much fun. There is much more to a racing event than just driving fast around a track that a prospective driver could easily overlook. Take a close look around the next time you attend a club racing event. You will see people helping their fellow competitors, laughing and, in general, having a great time. I always thought it was strange to see people assisting another competitor fix or prepare their racecar, but it happens all the time. The thing that really surprised me is that people who help you the most are often your fiercest competitors. I guess the easiest way to picture what it is like is to imagine a fraternity. And no, you won’t be forced into running laps around the track in your underwear as an initiation, although that would be pretty funny! In racing, there will be times that on the spot car repairs will be necessary. It is just a fact when racing. When something does happen, you might be surprised at the amount of help you receive. At times it can even be a bit overwhelming, especially when you consider that the people helping may not even know you. To get a full appreciation you just have to experience it for yourself.
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