NASA at Charlotte Motor Speedway

For this course, we would race using almost the entire oval along with a tricky in-field course. The course would reenter turn 1 where we would accelerate into turn 2 and blast down the straightaway. The steep bankings just pushed you into the car and you couldn't help but keep the throttle down since you knew a lift could push you into the wall.

I got a terrific jump at the start. The green flag came down and I punched it to try to take the outside as other guys stayed single file. A little break and I managed to run around some cars and then dive into the turn and pick off a few more cars. There were only one or two cars between me and Gary as we made it halfway on the first lap.

As we completed the first lap and came back into the first turn, I got slippery and had to fight to keep the car on the track. From there I settled down to chasing Gary and caught him on the next lap. Some late, inside braking gave me the lead. Gary and I swapped the lead back and forth for the next several laps until I got in front and ran defensively to keep him from passing for a while. With just a few laps to go, I lost the brakes, missed the turn, and watched Gary drive off. I made a quick u-turn and got back on the track where I just went around at a leisurely pace trying to hold on to second. I didn't know it at the time, but Gary was nursing an overheating engine. John McIver continued his strong rookie season and had good run to finish out the top three in our race.

It was easily the most entertaining race of the season so far. While sitting on pit row, you could just imagine yourself as a NASCAR driver running a big race with the stands full of screaming people. Pretty fun. As for running on the high banks, I just kept telling myself "Physics works. Physics works."

We also had various people from the local Cobra community come out to the race. It was great to see everyone! Thanks to everyone who came out - especially those we shared the pictures for here.