Getting Ready for the National Championships. . .

            This week in racing saw Indycar at Sonoma and the NASCAR Series at Bristol.  I was able to listen to the NASCAR race on the radio for most of the evening; I actually was able to get home from the shop to watch the final 50 laps.  Carl Edwards really needed a win but came up really short after a badly different pit strategy left him out on the track with 150 lap old tires.  Denny Hamlin was able to snag the win, while a few tempers got hot during the evening.  I made it a point to at least listen to the race, since that’s where I came from (short track racing) and Bristol never disappoints.  Wednesday night the Modifieds raced at Bristol, and we had some friends go down to compete.  Ryan Newman indirectly took out half the field when he couldn’t hang onto his machine off of turn 4.  The ensuing wreck that resulted from people trying to miss him had the front stretch clogged shut while cars got airborne.  I’m glad Newman has the time and money to cost other teams the remainder of their season.  A few of the teams were pretty low budget, just to make a show like that was a big deal, and some of them left with junk racecars.  Indycar was out in wine country, Sonoma California.  The race was dominated by Will Power, with Ryan Briscoe ending up with the win.  The race was actually pretty boring for the first two thirds, but all of the sudden things started changing and happening to jumble everything up.  The ever quick-witted Marco Andretti had another DNF- and while being interviewed afterwards admitted he was trying to blow the engine up so the team didn’t get a penalty for changing engines heading into Baltimore- The pit reporter then informed him of the rules and let him know that an engine with a known problem could be changed without penalty- though I’m sure he already knew that.  Alex Tagliani and Ryan Hunter-Reay had a bit of a run-in in the closing laps as well, Hunter-Reay has seen himself free fall from the championship lead in the last couple of races.  

            As for me, these past couples of days have been very productive.  I spent most of the weekend putting the engine and driveline back into the car.  One of my very good friends came by the shop to give me a hand.  Adam was one of the first guys that helped me each week back when I ran the short tracks.  It was kind of like old times, except for the fact that he has a son now.  I have to give a special thank you to Adam’s boy- Noah- he was very good all day, and I hope he is a future crew member; he certainly has potential.  Anyway, the engine and driveline is back in, ready to go.  I found a couple of things that needed attention, so I was glad to able to address them.  A few things need touched up, but nothing really major.

            I look forward to being able to spend a little bit of down time over the holiday before we head out to Mid-Ohio.  In one week, I will be writing this blog from a hotel room in Lexington, Ohio.  I look forward to getting out there and getting the pits setup and then getting out on the track.  It’s only an 8 hour haul for us, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

            We have a big unveiling of sorts happening next Wednesday as well, we will be launching a new version of my website.  OC2 Interactive, one of new sponsors for the 2012 season, is currently putting the finishing touches on it as we speak.  Take a look at it next Wednesday and then give them a call for any web or mobile based work you might need done.  They specialize in high quality work with a time and cost efficient mindset- in fact that’s their motto- “When you absolutely, positively need to have it done right, on-time, and in-budget.”  Check them out- www.oc2interactive.com
            It’s going to be a busy week, and arguable the biggest race of my career- to date.  It is just another race, though.  Its going to start with the green flag and end with the checkers- it’s what’s in between is what counts.  In addition to the new website, we will be blowing up Twitter while we are out there, follow me @justinonderko.  The site will have links to Twitter and Facebook, so check us out.  Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope it is a safe and enjoyable day for all, and I will see you out at Mid-Ohio for the NASA National Championships!  Till next week. . .

Summit Point Reloaded. . .

            This past weekend had Onderko Motorsports at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia.  I was excited to be returning to that speedway since we ran so well in June.  We arrived in town Friday night and checked in to the hotel, it had taken a little longer to travel on account of the rain, but we made it safe and uneventful.

            Saturday Morning bright and early we unloaded for the day and I headed over to the drivers meeting.  We went over the way the day was going to go, and the order of events and how they would be run.  It was a pretty normal start to the raceday.

            We got ready for practice, and headed over to the grid to get lined up.  We ran decent in practice; I made a significant gear change during the week and it really changed my shift points.  Once I got comfortable with the car again, I pulled back into the garage area.  There was no use in putting more time on the car with Nationals right around the corner.

            Qualifying came and we ran really well.  The times came way down, and I really started to get comfortable with the car.  Our fastest lap came on the last lap of qualifying, which tells me that the car is working really well and should be fast in the race.  When we checked the grid order we found ourselves on the outside of the front row.  That was our best qualifying effort this year.  So far the day was going very well.

            The call came from race control to start getting the cars to the grid.  Once again my team got the car ready to do battle.  I got ready too, and climbed aboard and belted in.  I really felt like we had a great opportunity to get an overall win on Saturday.  I knew that if I kept the car on the track and didn’t make any mistakes an overall podium was almost expected.  We took our pace laps and took the green flag.  The polesitter didn’t exactly jump the start but he did get an awfully great jump on me before the green came out.

            I dropped back to third as we headed down to turn 1.  It took 2 laps but I got back to 2^nd spot.  I lost some time to the leader, but I settled in and really started to push the car to catch him.  The car was really working well, and we were .5 seconds off the track record with our times.  I felt good, the car felt good, the crew was feeling good- and then it happened.  BANG.

            When I say BANG, it was a bang- followed by the transmission going from 4^th gear to 2^nd gear.  The telemetry started flashing at me telling me the motor was over revving, my brain was screaming at me to get the car out of gear.  By the time I pushed the clutch in, the motor had revved to 11,478 rpm’s- well above the 9500rpm redline.

            I got out of the racing line and headed for pit lane.  I made it back to the garage area and climbed out of the car.  I knew it wasn’t the clutch, and my fear was that I broke the main shaft in the transmission.  All I could picture was chunks of gears and metal gravy in the bottom of the trans.  I didn’t want to mess with it at the track so we loaded it up and went home.

            Sunday was supposed to be spent with my wife, but instead I went to the shop and tried to figure out what had happened.  Around lunchtime my wife, Marisa, came over to the shop and helped me pull the driveline.  She was a big help and actually was the one who first realized what had happened.  We run a sequential style gear box, and as we were working she noticed that the shift cam didn’t feel right.

            The bolt that held the shift cam had actually sheared and allowed the cam to come loose and would no longer engage a gear.  A 2 dollar bolt ended what would have been a great day.  The good news is that it should be a quick fix.  We are going to put in a fresh engine and the gearbox is currently being checked out.  This is not something I wanted to be dealing with right before Nationals.

            Next week I should have good news and we should be just about wrapped up and ready for Nationals.  A big thanks to Marisa for giving up some weekend time with me to help me figure out what was wrong with the racecar.  It looks like I might owe her a special date night.  Check us out on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter @justinonderko.  Till next week. . .

Countdown to Summit Point. . .

          It seems rain has made quite a few appearances at the race track this season.  The last 3 weekends in a row have had rain to some degree.  Grand-Am and NASCAR were up in New York this past weekend.  Watkins Glen is a beautiful racetrack, and is situated in an even more beautiful area of New York.  On Friday is poured at Watkins Glen, effectively washing out Nationwide practice.  The rules state, however, that you must complete at least one lap in practice to be eligible to take a qualifying lap.  Since the Nationwide Series allows for wet weather racing- Goodyear has developed a great wet weather tire for the series- the drivers had to strap in a take a lap.  Many of the drivers voiced their displeasure for needing to go out on the racetrack.  It’s a shame that the Nationwide Series has drivers with so little experience to begin with, and almost none of the drivers have rain experience.  You could tell just by watching the cars, the drivers were very tense inside of their cars.  All three races this weekend, Grand-Am, Cup, and Nationwide- were excellent races to watch.

            The countdown to Summit Point is in its final days.  At the time of writing this, 48 hours from now, we will hopefully be checked into the hotel, and getting ready for bed.  Again- I’ve said it before- but when we travel, we always stay at Holiday Inn Express- never had a bad experience.

            The car is sitting in the shop, ready to go.  The guys were able to work ahead on some things and we were able to give ourselves a cushion on time.  It’s nice not to be rushed, but I’m sure something will pop up as we load everything up.  In fact the last time we went to Summit Point, we got a very- VERY late start.  Our truck and trailer sits just outside the shop, we have a dedicated parking spot for it, so it very rarely gets moved in between races.  As we were getting ready to pull out of the shop parking lot, the truck lost all of its power.  Long story short- like 4 hours long- a groundhog had a Thanksgiving Day feast on the engine’s wiring harness, and it shorted out a few things.  Luckily, we have some people who not only are great with racecars, but are great truck mechanics as well.  Some wire, a few connectors, and a little luck- and they got us back on the road.  We made it to the hotel at 3:30 am, and had to be at the track by 6:30am- everybody did a great job and didn’t complain too much about the lack of sleep.  I’m hoping for better than that this week.

            The last time we were at Summit Point, we missed the track record by .062 seconds.  We’ve made a few changes and think we have a real good shot at nabbing on Saturday.  The weather forecast is fair, with only a 30% chance of showers and a high of 77 degrees.  Give me a little cloud cover during the race, and it should help us get a little more grip on the track.

            If all goes well this weekend, we will be qualified for Nationals at Mid-Ohio in September.  When we get back from Summit Point, we will have 2 weeks to go over everything and get back to race ready condition.  We’ve had some mechanical issues that have required some thought, and it will be nice to have a chance and see if the changes we made will work.

            Check back next week, we will have results from Summit Point and we’ll see if the changes we made worked.  Also- we’ll know if our name is in the record books or not.  We will try for updates throughout the day, so check me out on twitter @justinonderko.  Also friend me on Facebook, and we should have updates there as well.  Wish us luck- and- till next week. . .

           

Getting Back to Normal. . .

This past weekend, my wife and I were in Virginia.  Her sister was getting married and we traveled down to help out and attend.  While it was hot- really hot, it was a very nice time.  They got married on top of a bluff over looking the Potomac River.  We had a good time, but are glad to be back home now.

Since we were in Virginia, I wasn’t in the shop.  However, we are just about ready for Summit Point on the 18^th.  All of our parts and pieces have arrived, and are waiting to be installed.  This week should wrap everything up. 

            I am excited to head back down to Summit Point, we’ve made some changes and I think they will work well.  It is probably going to be hotter than in June, but I believe we are headed in the right direction.  A couple spring changes, and some changes to the rear-end, should squeeze a little more speed out of the car, couple that with a gear change- and  think we have a real shot at the track record- which we missed by .062 seconds in June.

            I don’t have a lot for this week, and I apologize to my regular readers for that.  I will tell you this though; we are now officially on the entry list for NASA’S Nationals at Mid-Ohio.  It is going to be a pretty big deal for us; this will be the biggest race that our team will compete at.  We are excited about the race and the place where its being held- Mid-Ohio is a really cool place to race.

            Well. . . I think this is where I end this week and head off to the shop.  Just remember- follow me @justinonderko on twitter, check out www.justinonderko.com, check us out on youtube as well- we have our Pocono races up so you can see what its like to drive through turn 1 flat out at a 140mph.  Good luck to those who are racing this week, it’s the middle of the season- and everyone is trying to grind it out till the end of the year- so everybody stay safe and stay out of trouble.  Till Next Week. . .

A Little Bit Of Rain. . .

So the engines were alive at Indy again this past weekend.  It was the inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix.  NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray was able to put his Daytona Prototype on the pole, but it was the Starworks Motorsports duo of Sebastian Bourdias and Alex Popow who brought home the trophy.  Andy Lally and John Potter took GT honors.  The only things wrong with this event was, it was run on Friday afternoon.  I can’t imagine the ratings were very high, and that is a shame, because it was an excellent race.  It rained very hard for the moments leading up to the start, and then cleared off as the cars got on the track, but Mother Nature kept it interesting by raining about 45 minutes later.  It was a very entertaining race to watch, and I loved watching the drivers in the rain.

           I love racing in the rain, for 2 reasons I guess.  First- and this is plainly economical- the race goes on, no matter what.  Second- Rain is the great equalizer.  If you watched the Brickyard GP, you saw that in the rain; the GT cars were faster than the DP cars- Speed isn't always fast in the rain.  The rain separates the true racers from the pretenders.  When I attended Bertil Roos- it rained quite a bit.  So for me, the first time on a road course was in the rain.

            Its funny, most guys hate the rain.  I mean- it is scary as anything you’ll do.  135 mph and you can’t see 30 feet in front of you.  The brakes lock up right away, and the car pushes and twitches all the time and you can’t get on the power hard.  Its frustrating, mentally draining, physically exhausting- and that’s why I love it.

            Throw the set-ups out the window (for the most part), and all your onboard telemetry doesn’t do you any good, its just you and your racecar.  Don’t get me wrong- its you and your racecar all the time- but there is something different when it rains.  I will never forget what Dennis Machio (owner/instructor of Bertil Roos School) said to me- “Constant evaluation of the track and the conditions- the track is never the same lap to lap; even corner to corner.  Its either getting worse or its getting better- almost never does it stay the same.  A driver that can accurately assess the conditions and make the necessary changes is going to be fast.”  You know what?  He’s right.  I hope it pours at Nationals.

            As for me, I am fulfilling family obligations this week/weekend.  My sister-in-law is getting married out of town, so my wife and I are helping her get ready for that.  While I haven’t been in the shop- that doesn’t mean progress isn’t being made.  The guys have been hard at work and we think we have a good handle on what happened at Pocono- and by "we" I mean "they" because they're doing the work.  They've gone back to the drawing board and are confident that when we roll into Summit Point we will have it fixed.

            So, when I get back in town- I’m going to head over to the shop and check in with everybody; but until then I’m helping my family out.  Remember, follow me @justinonderko, and check out the website (www.justinonderko.com)- we have some new video up from Pocono.  Until next week. . .