Day two: Gateway Motorsports Park, Madison, IL (road course + drag strip)

Today was the second road course event, but the first with two sessions (morning and afternoon), so both Doug and I got to drive the same course. There was some concern about the 2nd track session getting canceled if things got way behind schedule, so I drove first with the idea that I might be faster of the two of us. More about that later.

This track was the first that we were able to walk and check out up close, and I'm really glad we got up early enough to do the course walk... it really helped to see it directly, as opposed to just via watching other people's driving videos on YouTube. Side benefit: I had the opportunity to introduce myself to Travis Pastrana during the course walking... I didn't want to bug him while he was trying to familiarize himself with the track layout, so I just very quickly said I was a big fan, glad he was here racing with us, and if he had time some other time, I'd love to get a picture with him. He was super cool and friendly. More about that later.

We started early at 8:30. Because of my overall finish of 7th yesterday at Autobahn CC, I got moved up to the 2nd group (4 cars going out on track together; being released about 5–6 seconds apart). I drove a little better today, probably mainly because Gateway is a simpler, easier to remember layout than Autobahn, and because the tires were now fully scrubbed in and the grip a little better. My result was 10th overall. I am not great on banking and certainly left some time out there, but overall I was okay with my drive. On one of my laps (either 2 or 3), I tried to carry more speed into Turn 1, coming into the infield after the banking info the front straight, got into the ABS, and went wide... I almost ended up off the asphalt and into the grass. More about this later.

Doug drove REALLY WELL in the afternoon sessions and nearly matched my lap times. His total time for his 3 laps was only 1.5 seconds back of my time. This is outstanding for someone who has maybe an hour and half of seat time in my car, whereas I've had the experience of driving this car for the last two years. So I'm very happy about that. I knew Doug was as competent a driver as I am (or better than me, really) but it was still good to see the proof. 

After my session, I was asking Doug to get a picture of me in front of my car. At a lot of racing events, I take tons of pictures of everything but typically end up with none with me in the shots, so now I try to remember to ask someone to take one of me. Well, while I was micromanaging Doug and telling him how I wanted the picture of me taken, no; I look stupid in that one, we need to redo it, Travis Pastrana happens to be rolling by our spot in pits on a scooter. He sees me, immediately stops, and enthusiastically inserts himself in the picture with my car. I really can't put into words how stoked this made me. I don't get gaga over many pop stars, famous athletes, or celebrities, but I really respect this guy's accomplishments as a racer, X Games athlete, and his impact on sports and pop culture with Nitro Circus. And also for just being a positive, genuinely decent dude who's rarely seen without a big smile.

And speaking of famous people, we also got to meet and chat with Andy Pilgrim, a bona-fide pro racecar driver with a long resume of success on track. Here he is with Doug and the virtually-as-fast-as-a-pro-driver Chris Mayfield:

Today's track time trials did unfortunately result in some fairly minor vehicle damage ... Andy Hollis in his McLaren 570S (still with temp tags on it) apparently did something similar to what I did entering Turn 1, and contacted some fairly unyielding object with the front end of his car... he got it stitched back up with zip ties and other hardware with some time and careful effort though:

A couple other cars (that I know of) were a little bungled up... fortunately, neither of these cars are damaged enough to prevent them from continuing:

After the two road course sessions at Gateway, we moved over to the drag strip for a single-pass elapsed time (ET) run and bracket racing. I probably should have gone to Bandimere Raceway in Morrison, CO, before One Lap to practice launching... I tried to use the car's launch control and discovered all it does is spin the tires mercilessly, and the car goes nowhere. It was also fairly hot, for early May, low to mid 80s, which I'm going to throw out there as a weak excuse for my horrible 12.57 1/4-mile time:

I was also eliminated very quickly from the bracket racing rounds, only winning one match-up (gaining 5 points toward the standings) before getting destroyed by a fast and well-driven 2011 BMW 1M. Oh well; at least I didn't miss my 2nd-to-3rd gear up-shift (a definite concern), blow up the clutch master, or somehow get out of shape accelerating in a straight line and tag a concrete wall.

After all the events at Gateway, Team Panda Express is currently standing in 14th position overall. We are also not that many points back from the positions immediately above us (13th up to 10th). Unfortunately we are starting to see the effect of a few cars drop out of the event with car issues... we are pleased with our position, but honestly it is lame to move up because other competitors had to drop out of the event.

We're now en route to another hotel, this one in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then we'll be up super early in the morning to continue our drive to Hallett in Jennings, OK, for some more road course racing action.