I've been busy...

I'm still alive, but been so busy I haven't had a chance to make any updates. Had a late night last night on pit crew duty for my buddy John. It was me, Bernie, Mark, Brian and his son, Frank and of course, John in the pits. Bill, Diane, Daniel and Lisa were in the stands. John managed to finish the race without any major damage, but he really didn't put up much of a challenge. I was timing his laps and while in testing he was lapping at 13.8-13.9, his qualifying time was about 14.1. His race pace was between 14.3-14.5 but the leaders and most of the field were lapping un 14 seconds. The leaders were lapping at 13.6-13.7. As you can imagine, being over half a second slower each lap makes a big difference in a 100 lap race.

I was Mr. Tires, checking pressures on both sets - the sticker ones mounted on the car and the spare set. Once the tires were mounted up, I torqued up the whole set. That was my overall contribution for the evening. There was no need for any major work like the last time I was there when John hit the wall so in comparision, it was a quiet night. The driver one stall over from us was from Sevierville, TN, my old stomping ground. His name was Gary Helton. WOW! He had an awesome car. He had one other races in the series and it was nice to take a peek to see the differences in his car and John's. First was the frame, Gary's engine sat MUCH lower to the ground lowering his center of gravity. His crew was also very good, getting some major carbureator work done between sessions. With only 3 laps to go, Gary suffered a flat tire on the front right side!!! He was in 2nd place too! His crew managed to change out his tire in about 10 seconds. 3 laps wasn't enough to get back to the front though. He's racing in B'ham tonight so hopefully he'll fare better there.

Let's see... had band practice Thursday night. It was the only night that Steven could practice with us. He and Derek will be joining us in the band this Sunday. I'll be providing conga and bongo sounds. I'm not a big fan of playing hand percussion since I don't do it regularly and it hurts my hands. Waaaaaaaah! Seriously though, it is rough. Everyone except Derek (who had to go to work) went to eat at Logan's afterwards. Late night though! Got home at 10:30. Sheesh.

Just got through watching the qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. The first Ferrari is in 5th place! Congrats to Jarno Trulli of Renault for taking pole position. Should be an exciting race tomorrow.