A Spin, A Fire, An 8th Place Finish


We’ve been to Watkins Glen before, and things have been going so well, we can’t help but expect to shine. 28 cars entered for qualifying and all 28 made the grid. SRP-7, SRPII-3, GTS-2, AGT-6, and GT-10. Matt qualified #81 in the 3rd place and we were pretty happy about that!

We go through the formalities—introducing cars and drivers, parade lap, 10 minutes of “checking out the track” and then the grid. Drivers must wait until, the now familiar, “Gentlemen start your engines.” This race will last two hours.

We were doing really great until the 9th lap. Mario Baldi clipped Matt in his Lita Ferrari. Matt has no issue with Mario so considers it pure accident. It did, however, put #81 into a spin. He was able to keep enough control of the car so as not to hit the wall.

But, then Matt notices fire coming from the rear of the car. He activates the fire extinguisher system, the one in the car soaks him AND me, and the other one targets the engine in the back of the car. Matt radios crew chief, ‘Fire in the car.” Fire dies down and crew chief tells him to try again.

But, every time Matt tries to start the car, flames come out of the tail pipe. It seems that because of the accident, the tire are spinning backward and generally out of control -- this forces the gas mixture that should be in the pistons, out through the exhaust system and causes fire to spit from the tail pipes. When the extinguisher seems to do no good, Matt exits the car in a hurry. His helmet’s radio system has been broken and he will no longer race this day, as he has no way to communicate with the crew chief.

A few minutes later a Grand Am tow truck picks us up and hauls #81 back to our pit. All the tires but the right rear are changed and the crew does a quick check to make sure the car is now running like it should. About 5 minutes later Darren is in the car and back on the track. Crew chief says’ “Pay attention to strange smells and sounds”.

About 8:25 Darren pits. He says something is wrong with the right front tire. The crew changes all the tires and sends him back to finish the race. At about 8:30, Darren crosses the finish line in 8th place in GT. None of us are very happy with the results, especially Matt, who is upset about the clip and spin.

We need to focus all our attention on the last race in Daytona. While taking 1st place in GT is almost “a given”, we can’t be so confident that we don’t finish -- remember, you have to finish to win. We are already focused on the Finale, and YES, we will take 1st place, 2 years in a row!!!!!! See you at Daytona, and bring all the energy and luck you can!!!!! Because this PODIUM will be like no other we’ve had-------