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The year 2003 was supposed to be the year I had a dedicated track car instead of forcing my street car to do double duty; maybe I would run my first race late in the summer, but I wasn't in any hurry. Instead, 2003 saw me bust a gut getting my car ready ASAP for a race school and first race in early June.
Once it became clear that I was going to be in a position to run more than a few races on Conference's race schedule for 2003, my goals changed from simply getting a Novice license and running a race or two to aiming for my Area license by season's end. I wanted to learn as much as possible; get more knowledge of the car, my abilities, and the tracks in Conference; and, above all, not screw up.
My only real setback was the crash I had in my first race, which cost me a bit of money and my first chance to race at Mission in Canada. The good news is that the crash taught me a lot (both about racing a front-wheel drive car and about <ahem> repairing a front-wheel drive car), nobody got hurt, I wasn't stranded in Portland after the accident, and I got a semi-amusing story out of it.
Overall, I'd say I was about 75% successful, in that it was really only the crash in June and the lack of truck/trailer that prevented me from learning more tracks; i.e., the Mission race I missed because of the crash and an unwillingness to drive the Integra 10+ hours to Thunderhill in California. I didn't embarass myself, I improved over the course of the season, and I got lots of compliments and positive feedback from race officials and other drivers. I also got my Area license.
As I write this in January, the 2004 season promises to be interesting, probably more competetive, and hopefully more comfortable.
The first item to note is that I bit the bullet and bought a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up (pic 1 and pic 2) and 20' Interstate car trailer (pic). Gone are the very dedicated, "old school" days of driving the race car to the track and, instead, I hope to arrive at the tracks a little more rested, with a few more tools and a bit more equipment, and by putting a little less stress on the car. And since it no longer has to be street-legal, I can be a bit more aggressive in the racing modifications I perform on it.
Second, I have some aggressive but very achievable goals for this season: First and foremost, I want to beat 2003's C Production champion Mike Blaszczak at least once or twice this year. Given some of his comments on his Web site, as well as a comparison of numbers from practice, qualifying, and racing, I think I've got a very legitimate shot. Secondly, I'd like to outperform the other consistent CP runner, Guy Selle, enough to be a solid second place in the championship.
Finally, and despite the fact this a hobby, I'm trying to be more serious and professional about it this year. To that end, I've enlisted the help of a driving coach, I've found someone to help out as crew, and I'm making a serious effort to enlist sponsors. I've also had the car painted in a "more race car-like" fashion.
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