Posted (08/18/2004) -
At Watkins Glen we were guests of the NASCAR series for the second and final time of the 2004 season. While you are made aware that you are guests of the NASCAR series, I must admit they treat the Grand American Rolex Series teams quite well throughout the weekend.
We arrived at the track on Wednesday night in the family motorhome. On our way into park the motorhome at the track we passed hundreds of motorhomes already parked out for the Sunday NASCAR race... and this was only Wednesday! Despite the damp conditions they were our having a bonfire and enjoying the week. It is amazing the enthusiasm these fans have for the sport.
Thursday came and with it the rains arrived as well. We had several hours of on track practice during the day. Driving in the rain in practice always bothers me. To go fast in the rain you have to take chances. When you take chances, wrecks can happen very quickly. There is nothing to be gained by going fast in practice, and there is a whole lot to lose, so I am never that quick in rain practice sessions.
I learned the rain lines as best as I could and I also got more comfortable driving such a high horsepower car in the rain. After that I parked the car and waited for dry weather to come but it never did. Qualifying was rained out on Thursday afternoon and we were to be gridded by our Team Points.
Our team, Orison Planet Earth Motorsports, ran three cars at the Glen race. Our lead #41 Porsche GT3 Cup was driven by Craig Stanton. I was in the #42 Porsche and my dad, Joe, took the reins of the #43 Porsche. With the race only being 200 miles long we were all planning on running the entire race on our own without a driver change.
There was little rain all day long. We were set to start our race at 6:30 right after the NASCAR qualifying was over. However NASCAR cancelled their qualifying early in the day. It seems there was some seepage of water onto the track. We started right on time and it appeared we would have a dry race.
When we started, Craig was placed second on the grid because our #41 Porsche is second in the team points. I started #42 in sixth and dad started the #43 in last because it has run a limited schedule so far this year.
Craig jumped out to an early lead in the race. I tried to work my way up through the pack. I had worked my way up to third at one point in time. However as the race wore on the sky got darker and it was littered with ominous clouds.
In an instant the skies opened up and rain began to pound the pavement. When this happened I was about halfway around the track. I have driven these Porsches with dry-slick tires before in the rain and knew how hard they were to control on puddles. They tend to hydroplane very easily. The Watkins Glen circuit is also very unforgiving to any mistake. Around 90% of the track the wall looms less than five feet off the track's edge and when driving around in the rain I am always aware of the light blue Armco.
I ducked into the pits immediately for rain tires. I could have waited for a yellow in the hoped of losing less track position. However, I also knew that if I waited for a yellow, I might end up wrecking and becoming one of the yellows; which would not be desirable.
When I arrived at the pits, Joe, my dad, was already in the pits getting rain tires. As he began to pull away from his four tire change, Stanton radioed in that he had hit the wall in the #41 car. Not more than thirty seconds later he radioed in that he had been hit while sitting stationary.
It seems that as he was coming around to the final turn, the slick tires on the #41 hyrdoplaned and there was no slowing the car. He hit the foam barrier at a good rate of speed. There were nine that ended up in the wall at that same turn. Our car was one of the worst damaged cars but thankfully Stanton was okay; a testament to his physical fitness level. From what we have heard there were no other serious injuries from the wrecks.
It wasn't more
|
