Changing My Views

            Another week has gone by, and as usual, the racing was exciting to say the least.  The duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas picked up, what is hard to believe; their first win of the season in Grand-Am. Ryan Hunter-Reay captured his second straight win, and the “ESPY Nominee” Franchitti blew up before the green in Iowa.  The boys of NASCAR were up in wine country this past Sunday.  I had the opportunity to watch some of the 4 hour pre-race show that NASCAR puts on, and I heard Darrel Waltrip talking about road course racing.  He mentioned how hard it is, and how you can never really rest- that you’re up on the wheel from the start to the finish.  Jeff Hammond talked about how the teams have taken road racing much more seriously in the last couple of years.

            In the last couple of years, I have been very fortunate to sit in a couple different racecars.  I have been able to win in all of them, but I too have changed my view of road racing.  I thought that real racing was short track racing, the beating and banging of Saturday night.  Man handling your racecar to get through the pack and get the win.  It meant replacing fenders and door panels, and spending all week getting the car back in shape for the next race.  Racing meant wondering where your next dollar was going to come from, and what was going to need to be fixed next.

            After having a week to download my last race, I find myself wondering why I felt that way.  Is that what racing is? Or, was I just a product of my environment?  I thought that road racing was something that just wasn’t on the same level.  I enjoyed watching road racing, but never really saw myself competing there.

            No one likes to admit when they are wrong, none more than me.  I must tell you, I have never worked harder in a racecar than last Saturday and Sunday.  While the car handled well, and was probably one of the most balanced cars I have ever sat in- it was also one of the most tiring races also.

            In oval short track racing, you get 2 chances every lap to hit your marks and drive the corners properly during a 15 second lap.  In a 10 turn road course, you have to wait 83 seconds to get another chance at the same corner.  Not only that, but you have to remember what you learned from the previous lap to be able to apply it to the current lap.

            Couple that with the different style cars all running together, and you have yourself a busy little afternoon on your hands.  Some cars corner ultra fast, but don’t have tremendous straightaway speed, while others fly down the straights, but corner like a dump trucks in the mud.  This poses many challenges on top of what the driver is dealing with inside his own car.  The timing and setting up of passes is even more critical than ever.

            I have some video that I haven’t had a chance to get up on the site yet, but it is angled back at me during the race.  I am always amazed to watch a driver drive his racecar- especially on a road course.  You watch him hit the brakes and set the car during deceleration, then he hits the clutch with a tap of the gas for an up-rev during his first downshift, and then while still pressing hard on the brakes with on the ball of his foot and big toe, he downshifts again with an up-rev.  Still decelerating you watch him look for the corner entry- another downshift with an up-rev.  As he turns in he gets back on the gas and starts lessening the input on the wheel.  He fades out of the turn and onto the rumble strips exiting the corner while grabbing a gear and heading down the straight away.  And that’s just one turn of one lap.

            I believe that a driver is very responsible for how the car performs on the track, but in road racing you have to hit your marks each and every lap.  Not to mention dodging the rocks and stones on the track that are kicked up from guys dropping their wheels off the track.  Its tough, racing in general is tough, but road racing for me has been a welcome challenge.

            Do yourself a favor- search youtube for “racecar driver and his footwork” and watch the video, it’s only a minute and a half, but it will give you a good idea what drivers do while out on the track.

            As for me and my team, we are hard at work for Pocono mid-July.  We are also doing some R&D work for Nationals out at Mid-Ohio.  We can’t wait to get back out the speedway and go racing.  Thanks to all of sponsors and supporters out there.  You guys make it happen, and mean the world to us.  Friend us on Facebook and follow me @justinonderko- Live updates at the track and news and events during the week.  Till next week. . .

First Race- First Win. . .

So this is normally where I talk about all of the racing results from the past week.  While I will give kudos to Dale Jr. for his first win in 4 years, I’m not going to spend a lot of time any other team’s results.  I want to give proper thanks to MY crew for their efforts this weekend.

We got a very late start Friday night on our way to Summit Point Raceway.  I had some trouble with animals at the shop, and a groundhog climbed into the engine bay of our tow vehicle and had himself a snack on my wiring harness.  After we got the mess straightened out we set off down I-81S towards Summit Point.

We arrived around 2am got a spot in the pits, (one of the last that were available) and headed to the hotel for some much needed sleep.  The only problem, we had to be back at the track in less than 3 hours, it was going to be a long day.

I have to give a shout-out to Holiday Inn Express, every time my wife and I have traveled in the last couple of years, we have always been very happy with our stay.  This past weekend was no different, after a quick power nap we were having breakfast and leaving for the track.

This was our very first race with NASA, and it was also HyperFest, which is one of the biggest races that are held for NASA.  The pits were packed, the teams were hard at work, and the driver’s were signing autographs.  As for my crew, they rolled the car out of the trailer, and polished it up, all the work was done- that’s a rule in our organization- all work is done before the car is loaded up.  I went to and returned from the driver’s meeting with the schedule for the day.  Our morning practice wasn’t for another hour, so we watched turn 10 for a little while.

I do not often get nervous at the racetrack; it is more like a second job to me anymore than anything else.  For me it’s where things make sense, and I feel like I have some sort of control over things.  This weekend, however, was different.  Not only did I have a brand new racecar, it was a brand new track, and I hadn’t even been able to shake the car down.  “Go big or go home, right?”

Practice came and went and I spent the entire session learning and figuring out the car.  We ended up 7^th overall on the speed charts, which wasn’t bad considering PT-A (our class) wasn’t supposed to be able to compete with the cars in our group (SU GTS ST ST2).  I didn’t really want to make any changes to the car; I just needed more laps in it.

Qualifying saw us lose a little bit of speed from the morning session, but I think it was due more to the heat of the day than anything else.  We wound up starting 6^th in the first wave.  In this type of racing the start is made up of 3 waves, or evenly divided groups based on speed and class.  The waves are spaced out and take the green about 30 seconds apart.  It aids in track congestion, and also spaces out the action for the fans.

The green flag for our Main Event flew around 4:30pm and I raced hard with the cars in my group.  In road racing, there is so much more to worry about, you not only race the cars in the group for the overall win, but you race the cars in your class for a class win as well.  You can’t get wrapped up in racing with someone if it doesn’t benefit you at the end of the day.  I ran in the top 10 for most of the race, but got passed on the last lap when I moved over for the overall leader to go by.  We did win our class, though, and that is what we came to do.  We had a lot of people drop by our pit area after the race was over.  Turns out we made a splash with the new car.  A lot of people liked the way it looked and sounded, and it was really cool to have that many people drop by.

Sunday was a much nicer day for us, we were able to get a full night’s sleep, and come to the track well rested.  After a quick wipe down, the car was gone over for the day’s events.  We decided to make a gear change, to get a little more top end out of it.  We seemed to get beat coming off the corner and down the straights on Saturday.  We figured by dropping the final drive ratio, we would be able to get a little bit more out of each gear.

It worked like a charm and qualifying went great- except for lap 7, when yours truly had his first off track excursion.  I overdrove turn 5 and locked up the RF tire and slid off the track into the grass.  With no real damage, other than to my ego, I got back on the track and headed for the pits.  No sense in continuing if something was wrong.

Sunday’s Main Event was scheduled for 3:00pm.  We were again the first wave, and supposed to start 6^th again.  However, 5^th and 3^rd place had catastrophic failures and could not make the start.  I’ll take the spots anyway I can get them.  The start was fast and we piled into turn 1, the leaders got loose and checked up- in turn I checked the structural integrity of 3^rd place’s rear bumper with my front bumper.  In case you’re wondering, he needs another piece of tubing to stiffen it up.

With cars that were roughly the same speed as mine, I was able to run the corners faster and make my way to the front.  I passed for the overall group lead on lap 6 going into turn 1.  The problem with that was 2 GTS (a class much higher than mine) cars passed me 4 corners later.  That means, while I did pace the field for a short time, I wasn’t given credit for leading a lap.  I kept the leaders in sight for most of the race, just in case they did anything stupid.  I was on track to finish on the podium overall, and win my class again.

Sometimes the racing gods smile on you, and sometimes they don’t.  I’m not sure what happened, but with 2 laps to go, we ran out of fuel.  We don’t have a very big fuel cell, but our calculations had us making the distance, but not with a lot to spare.  The bad news is we lost the podium finish, I think the good news is that we had enough laps on the field that we won our class again.  We will make sure and let everyone know.

I want to thank everyone who is involved with our organization; you have all been a part in the big changes and moves forward.  I want to thank OC2 Interactive, it was nice to carry you on the side of the car this week, and I look forward to working with you guys this season.  Everyone needs to check these guys out; they specialize in web based design projects, and if you need to get noticed- talk to them-“on time and in budget”.

Mostly, it was good to get back to the track, the sights, the smells, the sounds- you just can’t go to long without being there.  I look forward to Pocono in July, we have an appearance up that way Saturday night as well, so that should be fun.  Check us out on youtube, we will have video from this past weekend, incar- roofcam- as well as driver cam.  Till Next Week. . .

Countdown to Summit Point. . .

             I have to start this week by congratulating my sister- Dana.  She has taken a big step in broadening her career by moving to Annapolis MD.  She is a hair and make-up stylist, who- by the way has studied and worked in New York City.  So if anybody lives in the MD area- it’ll be worth it to find her at Solace Salon- and if you can’t- I’ll get you in touch.  I know I’m bragging on her a little bit, but we’re pretty close and I’m pretty proud of her.

            Now from one person starting a new job to someone else doing all they can to lose their job.  Kurt Busch has once again stuck his foot in his mouth, and found himself on the receiving end of NASCAR’s disciplinary committee.  I find myself sitting here, writing this blog, and I can’t believe this guy still has a job.  Kurt has already watched his wife leave- if he’s not careful- James Finch is going to have to take his job too.  I’m doing all I can to get to the top of my sport, and here Kurt is threatening to beat up Bob Pockrass for asking a question about something that happened out on the race track.  I don’t get it, I know Kurt is a former champion- but when is enough, enough?  I would like to officially offer my services to James Finch- I’m available on short notice- and I won’t bring a junior high attitude either.

             As for me, I can’t wait for these next 2 days to go by.  The car is sitting in the shop- waiting to be loaded.  The guys have finished most everything up, and we just tying up some loose ends.  The track is located about 3 hours from our shop- so it wont be a terrible trip to make.  Like I said last week, stay tuned on twitter for updates, and we will have some video when we get back.

            We have also announced our partnership with OC2 Interactive.  They are an international company that is dedicated to providing businesses with on-time and in-budget innovative web solutions.  Check out this link for the full story http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9596173.htm  They will be the sole provider of Onderko Motorsports Web presence.

            The time has come to compete in our first race of the season.  I want to say thank you to all the people that have gotten our team to this point.  We have a few things to take care of before we leave on Friday afternoon, but most everything else is ready to go.  So- we’ll make this week a little bit shorter, we will have plenty to write about next week.

            Check out the press release via the link above, and then check out OC2 Interactive’s site at www.oc2interactive.com as well.  Check out the Summit Point course, and check me out on twitter @justinonderko.  See you all next week, with some good news.  Till next week. . .

Coming Full Circle. . .

            This past week has kind of been a blur for me.  I wasn’t able to stay on top of much in the racing world.  My sister-in-law is getting married in August, and I was helping my wife get her bridal shower together.  My wife puts up with a lot- like foregoing her honeymoon last September so I could go racing, so I figured I should give a little back and help her out this week.

            Last week I was telling you about how I was able to win my first driving championship.  The 2010 season seemed to drag by for me, I led the points from June on, so I really just wanted to wrap it up as soon as I could.  I made a lot of friends that year, some that are special, and some in passing, but I was glad for my guys that helped with that championship.

            I had never really been able to put all the pieces together on my own to really compete for a title.  My guys stuck with me through thick and thin, and they deserve some credit too.  For me, it was kind of awkward at first; all I had to do was drive.  That may not seem like a big problem to some, but I always had my hands in everything.  I worked on the cars all week, I loaded them into the trailer, I drove them to the race track- I was usually the crew chief too.  Looking back- that’s probably why I couldn’t pull it all together.

            That’s why this year is going to be great.  I have 3 returning crew members, and I have the support of my family.  We have a great car in our stable, (2009 PT-A National Champion- and we’ve taken some steps to make it even better).  All of the things we have learned over the last 15 years are going into this season.  Unlike the late models- we don’t have a lot of races to run, so we have to make each one count.

            We have completed all of our annual inspections, and we just got word from the national office of NASA on how our car will classified.  We are very excited about next weekend at Summit Point.  It will be good to get back out on the track.

            The further I get into my racing career, though, the more aware of everything else I have become.  The driving part of racing is what got me into this sport, but the business side of racing is what will keep me in the sport.  To any of you who are racers yourselves, you know what I’m talking about.  All the knowledge, experience and capable people don’t mean anything if you can’t keep the dollars rolling in.  Racing isn’t about racing at this level anymore.  That’s not a bad thing; it’s just the reality of it.

            When I started racing go-karts, it was fun.  Soon, though, it became clear that my $6/hour job wasn’t going to keep me on the track.  Sometime back in 1998 was the last race I ever ran for just me, and my crew.  I went and got myself some sponsors and it all changed.  How we ran, became instantly more critical, weekly reports to the sponsors started, our appearance changed- in fact it all changed.

            There is a part of me that wishes I could go back to my parents 2 car garage, a Ford Explorer and a little open trailer with a couple guys going racing- usually Friday night, Saturday night, and sometimes Sunday afternoon.  We did all that on a couple thousand dollars for the season.  That’s how I started back in 1997, and how very different it is now.  Big trucks and trailers, shops, pit boxes, uniforms, websites- and now just our tire budget is thousands of dollars.

            I guess I just came full circle for everyone.  In 8 days, I will be starting another chapter of my story, and it has been fun/sad/embarrassing/funny to look back at what got me to this point.  I appreciate those who have taken their time to read my thoughts, and I hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane.  Now its time to stop looking back and instead start focusing our attention towards what lies ahead- we have always said on our team, “The trophies we wins are just monuments to the past”.  I will be shifting from what has been, to what we are working on now, and where we are going.

            Stay tuned to the blog, and my website, we have some neat stuff we are going to be trying down at Summit Point, and I can’t wait to show everyone.  Follow me @justinonderko for updates throughout the weekend.  Till next week. . .