2012 IZOD Indycar Championship. . .

           Congratulations to Ryan Hunter-Reay- the 2012 IZOD Indycar Champion.  Boy that has a nice ring to it.  Personally, I’m glad that we have an American driver as champion again, after all- it is an American series.  Although I have never been a huge fan of Will Power, I can’t imagine the range of emotions he must be dealing with.

            While I understand that the difference between myself and IZOD drivers is about 5-6 million dollars a year, I would like to think we are the same on the inside.  I remember the joy of 2010 and our Late Model Championship, and the sting of 2012 at Mid-Ohio is still acutely felt.  For me, winning the championship made day to day life much happier and easier to deal with- and conversely; breaking the transmission at Mid-Ohio made even the smallest things seem like a big deal.

            I’m sure the Monday morning meetings were very different as well.  The guys at Andretti Autosport were probably still celebrating, while it might have been a little uncomfortable over Penske Racing.  I believe that you run every lap of every race to the fullest- or at least as full as you can make it.  I believe each lap counts, and as a driver it’s your job to make sure you run all the laps.  Which is why I don’t believe Ryan “lucked into it” or “got lucky”.  Sure, when Will Power spun and crashed, it made Ryan’s job easier, but he could have just as easily crashed as well, or broke, or any number of things.  That’s why you never give up- ever.

            On the other hand, I don’t think it’s completely fair to blame Will Power for “losing” the Championship.  Yes, he did spin, and effectively ended his chances.  However, was there a time this season, when maybe his crew made a mistake or two?  Maybe.  Was there ever a time when Will had 10^th place car, and was able to bring it home 5^th?  Again, maybe.  In the end, it really doesn’t matter, because the driver is like the quarterback- they are the ones who shoulder that responsibility of winning or losing.

            All that being said, Ryan edged Will by 3 points.  3 points.  3 points.  3 points can make you go crazy.  3 points can make you say “what if” all winter long.  3 points can get you fired, or it can get you another deal for next year.  A lot can be said by 3 points.

            As for me, the off season is here.  Time to regroup, and move forward for next year.  Getting back on the winter training schedule, and keeping in shape for next year.  It’s not a time to lay back, it’s a time to get ahead.  Getting budgets together, renegotiating contracts, signing new sponsors- its time to get to work.

            I’m going to switch to a bi-weekly format for the blog for the offseason.  It will give me chance to focus on all of the aforementioned items, and make it more interesting when I do get to update you.  I would like to wish my wife Marisa a Happy Anniversary, we will have been married 1 year on September 24^th.  Now, I know its not 10 years, but you have to give her most of the credit, living with a racer is measured like dog years- it always feels longer than it really is.  She’s pretty amazing- and I’m glad to be with her.  Anyway- enough with the mushy stuff, this is a racing blog- enough with the mushy stuff, this is a racing bloglways feels longer than it really ispretty cool in the next few weeks, so stso follow me on twitter- @justinonderko, and we will be unveiling something new and pretty cool in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.  Till next time. . .

2012 National Championships- Mid-Ohio Memories

           The 2012 NASA National Championships at Mid-Ohio are in the history books.  Even in another year of recession, the pits were full of drivers and teams chasing victory at the famed road course.  We saw Daytona Prototypes, Mustangs, Corvettes, Hondas, and everything in between.  Drivers raced hard and fast for 4 days, and in the end the drivers that were able to out race and in some cases outlast the competition- took home the trophy.

            Since we’ve got home, I’ve tried to figure out a way to put this past week into words.  It’s hard to describe the whole experience.  There are really two sides to last week for me.  There is the obvious racing side of things, and then there is the human element side of things.  For me, I always try to down play events such as this.  Even though this is the National Championships, in reality- it’s just another race.  I believe you can get caught up in the sheer spectacle of things and lose focus on the task at hand if you allow yourself to get wrapped up in the moment.

            No matter how long I’m at this game, the last few miles on the road until I pull into the racetrack are always the worst.  My insides are turning upside down and my mind is racing a mile a minute.  This past week was no different, in fact, it was worse- I mean, come on, it’s only the biggest race of my career.  I have to admit, it was pretty cool to have a set of credentials with the Mid-Ohio logo on it.  The whole scene was such a spectacle- just the sheer size of the event was awesome.

            I try not to get wrapped up in the moment to often, I feel like I should be past all of the shock and awe of racing, I’ve been around this sport for so long now- I feel like I’ve had my share of ups and downs.  It was really hard, especially Wednesday when I wasn’t out on the track.  It was both exciting and scary at the same time- to realize the tens of millions of dollars that surrounded me, in racecars-equipment-motorcoaches- and vendors.

            Much like I try to be at the racetrack- enough with all that crap- lets get down to business.  I was ready to get out on the track- that’s where the world still makes sense to me.  Time to see if the last 2 weeks of preparation have paid off.  The time out on the track was spent learning and trying to figure ways to make us faster.

            To make a very long story short- during qualifying on Friday, we lost 3^rd gear.  We tried all that we knew how, but in the end- the damage was to severe and with the resources we had at that time, we couldn’t fix it.  We were not able to compete in the final race of the Championship weekend- resulting in a DNF.

            Now that tells you the end result of the week, but it doesn’t quite tell you the whole story.  It has been a long time since I have seen people work with the speed, accuracy, and efficiency as my guys did during our time at Mid-Ohio.  I am very proud of the team and the car that they gave me.  Due to the rules package that we race under, we must declare our horsepower and weight before competition begins, as measured by a dynamometer.  We declare 148 horsepower- our competition declares over 390.  Without getting into the specifics of the rules- I’m giving up 240+ horsepower.  This is not to make excuses- its to drive home the point of the caliber of car my team put underneath me.  I was turning lap times within 2% of the pole winner after only 40 minutes on the track.  Now- practice/qualifying is not the race, but I’d say we would have had a pretty good shot at a podium.  But. . . we broke- so we’ll never know.

            To that point, we broke- we didn’t make a mistake and end up crashed.  We didn’t end our day by making a careless error in the pits- we broke.  Something that I’ve come to accept in this sport- parts break, bearings fail, tires go flat, and none of those things happen sitting in the trailer, they happen in competition.  Case in point, a few months ago, Dario Franchitti- this year’s Indy 500 winner, blew his engine on the pace lap at Iowa.  Now- I’m sure someone at Gnassi Motorsports got fired, but it’s a prime example of parts failing.  It happens- everything has a life span- and when its up, its up.  It’s the reason teams that compete in the most premier series don’t run parts more than once.

            All of this is of little condolence to the fact that our week ended early.  It is, however, part of the game we play.  It is why we continue to prepare our cars the way we do, and try to eliminate this from happening again.  Each time we have encountered a problem this year; we’ve redesigned it and fixed it.  I’m proud of that, and I’m proud of my team- Thank you.

            I want to thank our partners- OC2 Interactive (oc2interactive.com), RAD Racing (ncprs.org), and our latest partner- MRF (Motorsports Rehabilitation Foundation - mrf.org).  Without their support this year, we would not have been able to compete at the level we did.  We look forward to the rest of this year and looking ahead to next year as well.

            There are a lot of things to take away from Mid-Ohio, and we are currently tearing into the transmission to find the cause of the failure.  We will be posting some videos and pictures from Mid-Ohio soon, so check back often.  Till Next Week. . .

2012 NASA National Championships. . .

         The last couple of days have been spent going over our checklists for Nationals.  The car has been put back together, and given the green light for competition.  All of the pit boxes have been gone through, restocked, and set aside.  I try to stress to everyone- "Its just another race", but I think we all know, its not just another race.  The hauler was loaded up on Monday, it was washed, and fueled up for the trip Tuesday.  From our shop, Mid-Ohio is roughly 400 miles.  Mostly highway, it should be an uneventful trip.
         Most of Tuesday was spent traveling, we made it into Ashland, Ohio around 8pm and parked the truck at the hotel.  Early Wednesday morning we got up and traveled the 25  miles to the racetrack.  No matter how many times I travel to a racetrack- no matter if I've been there 100 times or going there for the first time- I get that nervous pit in the middle of my stomach.  We made our way to registration and got all of our credentials.
        After registration, we went to the paddock area to find our pit area.  We were fortunate to secure a space really close to the grid area, so we can keep track of what's on the racetrack.  I will tell you- parking at any race is a really pain- but here at Nationals- it is even worse.  We are packed in tighter than a can of sardines.  We got the truck and trailer parked, and the racecar unloaded, and set up our pit area.
       We got set up and took a walk around the entire paddock area to get familiar with where everything is.  We found the tech area and walked back to our pit area to get the racecar and take it over to have it gone over.  After we got our tech sticker, we took the car back to the pit area, and put the car up on the lift.
       We had a Welcome/Drivers meeting at 5pm Wednesday, so we headed over to that area to get a seat for that.  No matter how many races you've been to, or how many driver's meeting you've been to, they are all the same.  "Be safe, don't wreck each other, be on time for your sessions"- was the message that we got.
       We will begin our track time tomorrow, and really look forward to getting our first laps under our belt.  Next week I will give you the rundown of our on track time, and how we made out.  I'm proud of our team and what it took to get here.  I feel we have done all that we can to get ready for this race, and now its time to go out and see what happens.  "Be smart and make good decisions, the big race isn't until Sunday- so keep the wheels on it"- is the mantra right now- so now its time to get at it.  We haven't had the best of luck this year, so hopefully the racing gods look our way and we can avoid any on track scuffles.  I'd like to say "Thank You" to my guys, and I will do my best for them and our sponsors.  Till next week. . .