This weekend we raced at Arizona Motorsports Park, normally one of my favorite tracks. Its big, wide, safe, and fast. There was no reason for me to not have a good time. Except one. No Hannibal. I know it's been a month, and I know I am supposed to be an adult, but everything is different about my life now. Everyday and every routine has changed. Specifically on race day we had a routine. Out the garage door while I would put the last of my stuff in the truck and the Hannibal would try and piss on as many tires on the truck as possible before he would growl at me while I picked him up and put him on the back seat. I always put him on the back seat because I knew it pissed him off and before I even got out of the drive way he would be whining at me to jump up to the center console. When I finally let him up there, which usually only took a few minutes. He would lay down and snuggle against me as I rubbed him on the back of his head. He would go with me to the drivers meeting and to go and get lunch. He had his own set of buddies where ever we went. Some people like the Hannibal considerably better than me. I spent the whole day in a funk and frankly the only reason that I did not just go back home is because I said I would instruct.
Truthfully for me it was my worst day at the track.
Thankfully Sunday started bright and sunny from the moment the alarm went off because Brian was excited to go and get on track. The plan was for him to practice and qualify and I would do the qualifying race and the main Cup race. I have wanted him to move up to race group, and we have been talking about it for some time so I decided if he was getting along with the car after his two sessions I would ask him if he wanted to do the qualifying race as well. I am a stickler for using my tires up before we put new ones on so I raced on Saturday using a completely WORTHLESS set of Toyo R888R's they still had some tread on them, but they were like driving a dump truck on ice.
My best lap time was a 1.58 and some change. I put on an old set of Nitto's for Brian to practice. He hated them and wanted to put a different set on but he was still faster than I was the day before. For Qualifying and the Qualifying race we put on a set of Continental slicks. They were new when we bought them, they were not very sticky but they stayed consistent until they were completely corded. They were probably not the most optimum tire for the car but they got the job done for three weekends.
Brian qualified 2nd in class and 6th overall. Which was good for the tires and he was again faster than before. He ran within a half second of his fastest time at AMP. When qualifying was over is sprung my idea on him that he should drive the car in the qualifying race. I told the guys racing around him that it would be his first time and he and I discussed how things might go. He did awesome. He got a little too big a gap between himself and the car in front of him, but Tom Hutchins stayed even with him and he got a good side by side start when they waved the green flag. The Silver supercharged brick passed them both by going two off when they waved the green flag but after that t was just a matter of running fast consistent laps. He gained a spot when one car went off track and he lost it back when he went wide and went off track. I knew it was coming because he was starting to catch the car in front of him and I knew the tires were at their limit. He finished with a huge smile on his face and proclaimed the tires were done. Yes in fact all of them were corded in some spot. We changed tires for the third time to a slightly used set of Nitto Nt01's for me to run the cup race on.
I had the best race that I'd had in a while. The car was fast, and solid as it can get. I had great fun Chasing the supercharged silver brick and made a bad choice working through lapped traffic and got passed by a BMW. Everything is different now that Brian is racing the car as well. It was the best day for me. I also ran my fastest time ever at AMP. I dont know when I have been this happy and it gives me the added incentive I needed to get fast again. When you are part of a team you have to hold up your end of the bargain. As I said before I never imagined that I would have a partner that I would be able to share my passions with.
It was an awesome day. There is nothing like close racing and having your peers come over and shake hands and talk about how close and how much fun the racing was. Learning race craft and growing into somebody that is competent is a really great feeling.
I cannot wait for him to get some more seat time and we cant wait until next month when we get to race at WHP main track.
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