It was a short jaunt from South Bend, IN to Elkhart Lake, WI and Road America - a mere 235 miles. Extremely short by One Lap standards. We pulled in to our motel accommodations at 9:05 CST. The Baymont in Plymouth, WI (6 miles from the track) is a first class motel. By One Lap standards, a full on Ritz with the only thing missing being the soft cotton robes. The trip up and around Chicago was very easy and we were lucky to avoid any traffic issues and rush hour back-ups. We also missed the brunt of the storms and tornado warnings that passed through Milwaukee. We literally chased the storm up the Lake Michigan western coast never quite catching it.
Dinner was not great as we stuffed a frozen pizza down along with a soft drink. This was all done at the world famous track bar in Elkhart Lake - Siebkins. Walking in to the bar is like stepping back in time. Every surface is covered with race team stickers, photos of famous drivers, and driver signatures. Last night we were the only famous drivers in the joint though. It was fun to sit, relax, and laugh with good friends. Brock Yates (One Lap organizer and lord of all) was also there swapping stories about having to write letters to county sheriff's in Kansas two years ago. Appears a couple One Lappers joined the chase with Brock from Pacific Junction, IA to Texas and in the process upset the local gentry. Although Brock was not the perpetrator, he was pulled over and spent the next 30 minutes explaining himself and the others of the group. I do remember Brock giving a stern lecture in Texas the next morning to the entire One Lap clan. Obviously he was not happy. Makes for interesting stories though. We depart and arrive back at our motel by 11:00 with a wake up call set for 6:00.
So, how did we do in the first event - Wet Skid Pad? Brian throws down a .836g which is good enough for 13th over all and first in class. The Simon/Hair team grabs third in class with a .793 and 27th over all. If you are following the One Lap of America results we are car #28 and Woody and Neil are car #27 (as I write this, Woody points out that the time he did in my car last year on the wet skid pad would have placed 4th over all - I think he misses me).
Moving forward, we are now sitting in the Road America paddock under our fine pop-up tent and enjoying the cool dry breeze. Sun block will be going on again and a bit earlier than yesterday as we have some serious farmer tans started. The car is empty and Brian is driving Road America. There will two runs here with the long course at 4+ miles and the 2.3 mile short course in the afternoon. After that, we'll pack up and head west to Pacific Junction, IA and Mid-America Motorplex (MAM). It will be a long night as the trip is over 600 miles. Our expected arrival time will be 1-2 am.
Next report will be after the morning session. And as of now, we are beating the #27 team in class by 10 points - there is a long way to go!
Cheers......
1 comment:
Robin and Brian, great job! Raquel thinks she heard some of the One Lap cars as they passed Marquette last night. She really wanted to see you today at Road America, but she has finals and couldn't get a ride to the track. We will be following your progress and wish we were there with you.
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