Solo Nationals recap.
My bad luck for nationals continues.
Monday night at the TNT the throw out bearing started making noise. I said we shouldn't take anymore TNT runs to save the car. I suggested we swap it but no one wanted to start the 10 hour job at 6:00 except me and there was no way I could do the job by myself as you have to drop the whole rear end.
Tuesday morning I made it to the end of the lane on the way to grid first heat and the throw out bearing explodes in the Corvette. I called Jay Bullington right away to ask how quickly we could get street tires mounted on the wheels for the Audi. Jason Frank ran the wheels and tires over to Ron Ver Mulm and he swapped them in record time. We made it to grid with 60 seconds to spare.
First run in the Audi since Oscoda. I have no seat time in the car this year and the seat is now fixed since the sliders broke in the pro. Which meant I couldn't reach the pedals very well. My launches and shifts weren't smooth which was a big bummer. First run was kind of a mess as I readjusted to the car. Managing the weight of the Audi is and has always been a chore but I think I did kind of okay. Seeing JG Pasterjak s face after his first run was priceless. Second run I blew a pretty important braking zone leaving me with a 52.8. Which put me in 13th. Not where I wanted to be. Third run my launch was awful and I got sideways right at the start then I drove sloppy the rest of the run. Hind sight I wish I had just focused on being precise because I probably still could have dropped time. Instead I finished with a half second slow down.
Second heat Michael Tews helped me tow the Corvette back to our paddock spot and Zach Moore and I started tearing into the car, we got it to the point right before we'd drop the transmission and waited for Michael Hoyt to show up with the transmission jack. Thank you so much to Lauren Keach for working sweep for me so we could get the trans down. I know I owe a lot of people thank yous so if I miss you and you helped I apologize there was a lot of scrambling. Thanks for helping Marshall Moore, Zach Moore, Mike Tews, Andriy Sytyashenko Mason Mcgavock Justin Peachey Eric Peachey never would have gotten it back on the ground before midnight if it wasn't all hands on deck.
Day two we pulled the Corvette in grid and I was feeling confident I could do well on the long course and make up time. It's ironic we drove the Audi on the Corvette course and the Corvette on the Audi course but oh well! Haha.
Run one was a pretty solid time, but unfortunately tapped the first cone on course. Drats. But it still put me in a trophy spot with a cone which was pr tty awesome. Run two I went in with confidence I could drop time. There were a lot of places I could get on the gas sooner and I did. I dropped two seconds but tagged the last cone in the wallom. Third run had to be a safety run unfortunately, so I gave the cones a little room and came in with a 77.6 I'm a little bummed I knew I could do better if I hadn't had to put a safety run together.
Finished one spot out of the trophies my first trip to nationals running in open. A couple people asked me why I didn't run ladies and just finally get a win but it wouldn't have felt right this year.
All in all I'm happy with how I drove. I didn't burry myself day one in the Audi and I put together good runs day two to move up several spots.
Thanks so much Justin for the incredible ride this year. I love the Corvette so much. It just does absolutely everything well. Thanks so much for keeping the car together, getting it to events and putting in so much work, and most importantly for becoming a great friend to me this year.
Eric, you helped me so much this year with so many things. You helped me make my driving and mental state better behind the wheel and in grid. Every time I drive with you or talk to you about my driving I just get better.
Ave Motorsports Tony Ave Racing and David Jans thank you sooo much for making this season absolutely possible and all the incredible support. I had the opportunity to do more events this year and improve my driving by so much to have my best finish at nationals to date. I feel like I can't thank you enough for the support you give. It's second to none.
Chuck Anderson and Terri Anderson (aka Mom and Dad) you two have given me more a lot of support this year and its absolutely appreciated!!
Hawk Performance thank you so much for your support this year. It was absolutely appreciated!
JXB Performance for helping me get to events, keeping me fed and hydrated and providing me with the best job I've ever had. Annnnd for bailing me out on day one at nationals as well as bailing out my codrivers. Oh and throwing an awesome ice cream party!
Thanks to COOLSHIRT SYSTEMS for keeping me cool.
Cheers to next year!
https://youtu.be/yLreOnvgwMg
Grassroots Motorsports Article on our adventures
