NHIS Racing Against Leukemia Weekend
The #34 Saturn had a mildly successfull weekend on August 25th and 26th. The biggest victory was that 10-year-old Jake Lawton, my son, made his first trip to the races with his dad. Jake was a great addition to the team, not only for his company on the long trip, and the entertainment he provided the guys with his eating habits, but for his willingness and hard work in the garage!
Qualifying Saturday morning went poorly for the team. We put newer tires on the front with 9-heat-cycle tires on the rear. The Saturn had been dialed-in fairly well at the previous race at Mid Ohio so the odd-cycle tire combination made the car very loose. The result was a very poor qualifying time and 7th on the grid for the afternoon race. So I opened the wallet and a new pair of tires went on the front, with the others relegated to the back.
At race time the temperature had risen to almost 100 degrees. Ziplock bags filled with ice helped with the driver cooling but certainly didn’t make the in-car temps comfortable. At the start, the Saturn was able to pick up one or two places, but also got passed by a 16v VDub that easily ran the inside line of T1 and T2. We held positions for a lap until I used a slowing Crazy Joe DiMinno (loose spark plug wire) as a pick to dispatch the VW. The next three quarters of the race was spent on the bumper of Tim K’s Integra, watching the water temps climb. Making the in-car temps worse, I turned on the heat to attempt to pull warm air out of the engine compartment. Finally, an out-braking move into T3 got the Saturn around Klvana for fourth place. It seemed that the third place Integra of Richie Hunter was beyond reach until the final lap when he appeared to be slowing. I got a good run out of the last turn and got a nose up to Hunter’s door at the finish line to make a VERY close finish. Spectators on the cool down lap seemed impressed when I gestured that Hunter was number one!
The grid for Sunday morning’s race was determined by the finishing position of the previous race. The start of the race wasn’t the usual moves from the regulars. DiMinno had to start from P12 due to the spark plug wire but still made a charge up to 7th at the green. Hunter, who usually loses several positions on the start, came into T3 in first place and although the Saturn got up along the car of Geoff Branscomb, Branscomb was able to make a great move by pinching me down to within a few feet of the pit out wall. The field went into T3: Hunter, Bettencourt, Klvana, Bransomb and me. I held the position through T12 where Hunter took his usual line through the drop off at the exit, this time damaging his suspension and knocking him out of the race. Later, I was almost able to take advantage when Branscomb was inside Klvana in T3. The Saturn and Klvana’s Integra ran side by side into T6 where I tried to down shift into 2nd to pull an inside out move on the ‘Teg. But, I missed a shift, ruining the opportunity, and I spent the next few laps attempting to get around the veteran. By that time, Branscomb had distanced himself, relegating me to third place.
But, the Lawton and Lawton celebration in impound topped off a great weekend.
I - and more importantly, my son - certainly had a blast. To top it all off, his old man got on the podium!! Jake was more excited about it than I was! As a father, it doesn't get any better than that.
I want to thank everyone for making him feel like "one of the guys!". Where else could he learn how to open a beer, what it means to be caught with a minor girl and use the "F" word as a noun, verb, adjective, and an adverb...all in the same sentence!! Thanks to Crazy Joe's swear jar my son can now attend Harvard!
Results
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=243553
Video
Jeff Lawton
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-892016879541728263
Joe Diminno
http://www.youtube.com/v/VfrEGsO59qg
http://www.youtube.com/v/wdG0eGAw0xA