Ouroboros
The End of an Era
This season has been an interesting experience. The first year into professional racing has been marked with triumph, uncertainty, attrition, sadness, and growth. Getting into inaugural year of the USTCC series in the East I knew the guys running it would have their work cut out for them. What I didn't totally expect is how close I would get with my fellow drivers, and how much I would want to become invested in growing the culture and series here.
This has been a great thing, and will continue to be. The freedom the series offers with cars, the low cost, the prize money and physical prizes given away are unheard of at the club racing level right now. Its only a matter of time before more drivers start to see the light and make the jump...and we welcome them.
This season will end prematurely for me due to Roger having blown up an engine at Pitt Race putting him down for the season. This gives us the clinching points although it wont be official until after October.
A bittersweet way to win, but it leaves me hopeful for the future. We all need time to rebuild and come back next year with a much higher level of preparation.
This also marks the end of the Integra platform for me. We will still have our yellow former World Challenge car for the time being but that's mostly for Joe to drive. My focus is squarely on getting the Porsche in pro level prep shape.
I'm nostalgic looking back at this car, I built it from a street car bought here in Pittsburgh. It had gone from nothing to a multiple championship winning car. It's seen magazine features, tire walls, the blue paint at Watkins Glen. This car has been with us every step of the way and I am sad to see it go. However, it serves as a conduit in getting me into this Cayman which I find fitting. A cycle of destruction and rebirth. Ouroboros.
One Last Ride at Home
This has been a great thing, and will continue to be. The freedom the series offers with cars, the low cost, the prize money and physical prizes given away are unheard of at the club racing level right now. Its only a matter of time before more drivers start to see the light and make the jump...and we welcome them.
This season will end prematurely for me due to Roger having blown up an engine at Pitt Race putting him down for the season. This gives us the clinching points although it wont be official until after October.
A bittersweet way to win, but it leaves me hopeful for the future. We all need time to rebuild and come back next year with a much higher level of preparation.
This also marks the end of the Integra platform for me. We will still have our yellow former World Challenge car for the time being but that's mostly for Joe to drive. My focus is squarely on getting the Porsche in pro level prep shape.
I'm nostalgic looking back at this car, I built it from a street car bought here in Pittsburgh. It had gone from nothing to a multiple championship winning car. It's seen magazine features, tire walls, the blue paint at Watkins Glen. This car has been with us every step of the way and I am sad to see it go. However, it serves as a conduit in getting me into this Cayman which I find fitting. A cycle of destruction and rebirth. Ouroboros.
One Last Ride at Home
In an unbiased statement I can honestly say that Pittsburgh International Race Complex is one of the best race tracks in the East, and maybe the country. Out of all the tracks I've been to only Watkins Glen is a higher favorite.
I instruct there, I race there, It's right in my backyard...and I'm fast there.
I instruct there, I race there, It's right in my backyard...and I'm fast there.
Typical time for me in the Integra at around 175hp was 2:00 flat. Which by all accounts is cruising pretty goddamn good.
I wanted to have a good showing for the first USTCC home race and have a solid scrap with Roger. Fate always intervenes however and a piston issue killed Roger's motor in testing. I also had intermittent issues all weekend...one of which turned out to be the car needing more fuel.
In the feature race coming into Turn 1 on lap 3 I lifted off throttle to start braking and the throttle stayed wide open. Not a great feeling. I stood on the brakes and hit the kill switch wheeling the car over into pit out (sorry workers).
As it turns out, my entire throttle body came off, jamming the cable (and TPS sensor) to wide open. A scary situation that ended the race but thankfully not my car, or someone else's. Such an odd failure, I've never seen this one happen before.
I wanted to have a good showing for the first USTCC home race and have a solid scrap with Roger. Fate always intervenes however and a piston issue killed Roger's motor in testing. I also had intermittent issues all weekend...one of which turned out to be the car needing more fuel.
In the feature race coming into Turn 1 on lap 3 I lifted off throttle to start braking and the throttle stayed wide open. Not a great feeling. I stood on the brakes and hit the kill switch wheeling the car over into pit out (sorry workers).
As it turns out, my entire throttle body came off, jamming the cable (and TPS sensor) to wide open. A scary situation that ended the race but thankfully not my car, or someone else's. Such an odd failure, I've never seen this one happen before.
You cant even make this shit up.
The event also included a drivers school which is a big point of pride for me. We got to welcome in a new group of drivers and one of which I personally signed off on raced in my run group the following Sunday. Its a good feeling to be able to give back in the same way that brought me into this sport. Lots of new friends joining the fray.
With this season now behind me its time to really start working towards my new goals and the future.
Pikes Peak
"America's Most Dangerous Race - 12.42 miles (19.99 km) and has over 156 turns, climbing 4,720 ft"
I'm surprised that people are surprised I'm going to do this.
I think if you're going to do great things in life, you need to get up and just do them. I don't need anyone's permission to go for broke on this (outside of the race itself accepting my entry).
The goal is to race the Cayman in USTCC in 2023 to get it developed and completely sound, then in 2024 in addition to racing the car in the pro series...get to Pikes Peak and have a good showing.
This is a very, very serious thing to me. I have already begun training for it and getting my mind and body built up. 5 days a week at the gym for two years should whip me into actual professional athlete shape, that's easy enough. Building the mind is the real trick. Putting my ego aside and looking at my driving objectively is a primary concern. I want to sharpen up, get more seat time and really push to be the best I can.
I think if you're going to do great things in life, you need to get up and just do them. I don't need anyone's permission to go for broke on this (outside of the race itself accepting my entry).
The goal is to race the Cayman in USTCC in 2023 to get it developed and completely sound, then in 2024 in addition to racing the car in the pro series...get to Pikes Peak and have a good showing.
This is a very, very serious thing to me. I have already begun training for it and getting my mind and body built up. 5 days a week at the gym for two years should whip me into actual professional athlete shape, that's easy enough. Building the mind is the real trick. Putting my ego aside and looking at my driving objectively is a primary concern. I want to sharpen up, get more seat time and really push to be the best I can.
I am not content in a stationary place at any given time, and if I had always listened to the advice of everyone around me who "knew better" I would have probably never raced in the first place, or still been just fucking around regionally or time trialing (no offence to my homies that still do that, It just wasn't my end goal. I love you.).
So why the fuck not, why not our team, why not this car, why not me?
I still feel like I have a massive amount to prove to not only myself but the community at large. My career has been marked with mechanical failures and I feel like I have never once been in a capable car and gotten to show what kind of actual driver I am. Everything has always been masked by trying to just get the car to the race in the first place, and dealing with a half powered car the entire time.
I don't want that to be my legacy in life. I want more. I am glad to be able to be the guy who's known for getting up when knocked down, but I'm ready to start winning fights instead. I want to make my friends, family, peers and city proud. I want to take all of us to the promised land at Pikes and actually get it done the right way.
I need things like this to keep me fulfilled in life, I don't think at this point anyone can tell me otherwise either.
So lets ride into this one together, guns blazing, and make it really count friends.
I don't want that to be my legacy in life. I want more. I am glad to be able to be the guy who's known for getting up when knocked down, but I'm ready to start winning fights instead. I want to make my friends, family, peers and city proud. I want to take all of us to the promised land at Pikes and actually get it done the right way.
I need things like this to keep me fulfilled in life, I don't think at this point anyone can tell me otherwise either.
So lets ride into this one together, guns blazing, and make it really count friends.
I'll need you all with me on this one.
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