Most Competitive in the U.S.

Just got back from the MidOhio KONI race weekend. Those of you who know the race track know its tagline is, “most competitive in the US.” To some it may be a just tagline, but last weekend I learned there is a bit of truth to it…

For the KONI Challenge, I was paired with John Bosch, who commonly races Next Generation’s #127. We’d been talking about driving together for a while now, and I’m glad Next Gen’s crew chief Jeffrey [Bock] made it happen.

Our first practice session on Friday was rained out. When I finally took to the 2.5-mile, 13-turn MidOhio track for the first time, the track felt great, but I underestimated the power of corner 11. The car got loose on me and I made contact with the tire wall. This caused cosmetic damage to the car. Most competitive indeed! During the next practice session, John also made contact with the wall due to wet track conditions. We were both bitten by MidOhio--but we came back ready to race!

John qualified the car P26 on Saturday. On Sunday, John made up 14 positions, entering the pits in P12. I rejoined the race P 22, advancing to P19. The race went well. I had a few heated battles during my stint. Next Gen set the car up perfectly, though corner 11 kept challenging me.

One big challenge last weekend was the temperature. The day was sunny, warm and humid, and the car was extremely hot inside. Wearing NOMEX full coverage plus a race suit and gloves meant that I was uncomfortable, and this caused me to loose focus (and probably a few lbs!). Gratefully, my team and I are looking at solutions for future races.

Although I felt I could have done better, I was very happy to finish a clean race and earn our 20^th place.

I’ll next join Next Generation Motorsports for the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday July 18^th, 2009. Come out and see it! For more information, please visit danielorrracing.com.

 

MidOhio

Hey race fans,

Well MidOhio is here and I'm looking forward to a great finish. I think we have all the bugs worked out of my 128 BMW. I bought the crew a few cans of Raid and I think that will do the trick.(smile) S

Stay tuned in to get updates during the race weekend.

Murphy’s Law for Race Car Drivers?

As many of you know, I drive Next Gen’s #128 BMW 330i in the KONI Sports Car Challenge.

Last weekend, there seemed to be a bit of Murphy’s Law going on. First, I found out my scheduled co-driver would not be joining us after all.  Then, after Next Gen handed me a car that felt fantastic during Thursday’s 2-hour practice, the #128 experienced severe engine troubles and it soon became apparent that an engine swap would be needed. For a while it seemed that although I was at the historic Glen and there was a race going on, I may not be racing after all.

Well, teamwork and persistence turned what could have been a disappointing weekend into a solid race experience. First, Next Gen team owner Jeffrey Bock secured Shane Lewis as my co-driver, and I could not have been more pleased. Shane’s pedigree at the race track speaks for itself, and I was elated to have him be my co-driver.

Then, the Next Gen team proceeded to swap out an engine in a matter of hours, so that I did indeed have a car ready to race by the time the checkered flag fell on Friday at 4 PM. I have to hand it to the Next Gen guys--they worked incredibly hard. We didn’t make it to the pre-race autograph session (too bad for me!), but we were there for race start, ready to go. 

Shane started the #128 and got to work, driving very well considering the rain and on-track incidents. There were three cautions in the first 40 minutes! I hopped in during that third caution and drove the rest of the race. I returned to pit row shortly before the end of the race for a bit more fuel, and then it was all the way to the checkered flag, where we landed in 26^th place.

This race was tough for me, but I am very aware that it could not have happened at all had it not been for Next Gen and Shane. I know they gave 110%, and I’m proud to have worked with them at Watkins Glen. I’m not to dwell on past races, so I’m already thinking about MidOhio on June 20^th, 2009. Come by and say hi!

(For more information, please visit danielorrracing.com)