Always Learning. . .

All the major racing series’ seasons are now underway.  The INDYCAR series finally ran their first race down in Florida, and although it was somewhat less than astounding, it was the first race of the year with a completely new car and engine package.  The turbochargers are back, but we dropped down to a V-6 instead of a V-8.  For me, it will take a little while to get used to the new look, but I am glad the series made the changes.

            We made our announcements last week; we will compete under the NASA Sanction this year in the Pro Touring class.  We are making further strides towards open wheel racing by competing in this series.  Seat time on road courses is needed right now, and this is an excellent way to make it happen.  Also, this marks the first time since 2009 that Onderko Motorsports will field a car, something else to be excited about in 2012.

            The last time we talked about the stock car days, I was getting ready for my second full season of competition.  I had found a new way to stretch dollars, by making some of the tools that we needed- like a sheet metal break.  It allowed me to hang a new body on the car and not spend a lot of money.  I was able to scrape enough money together to get the motor gone over.  I was engaged now, so I really had to justify all money that was being spent.

           

I would like to take a moment in this week’s blog, to thank all of the girlfriends/wives/sisters/mothers that are out there.  Another season is upon us and most of you know all to well how the season is going to unfold.  The lack of time and money, will invariably lead to shorter fuses and hotter tempers.  Still, most of you stand behind us, and support the decisions we make to race.  It makes life a lot harder than it would have to be, and it takes a big toll on many relationships.  I want to thank my family and my wife for all of their/her support, though it takes away from the very reason they love me in the first place.  To all you racers out there, don’t take advantage of that support, let your families know that you appreciate their understanding.

           

That being said, our racecar was just about race ready.  A new coat of paint, some fresh decals and little wax- and it looked good.  I remember standing in the shop and looking at the car, feeling such a sense of pride, I wasn’t a rookie anymore, and this year we were going to compete for the championship.  It is important to note- having the motor gone through was the only real thing that we did to find speed in the off-season.  Hanging a new body and making the car look pretty does not make it go any faster.  I did not do any work with our moment and roll centers during the winter- which were way out to lunch.  We didn’t have the car scaled properly, and nobody knew anything about our front end geometry and dynamics.  All we had- was the same car as last year, with a fresh coat of paint.

            8 years ago this weekend, would have been our first open test day.  Surprisingly, we were turning the same times as last year.  I say that with a little bit of sarcasm, because I was expecting to somehow have picked up a couple tenths.  That was the day that I learned a good looking racecar isn’t always a fast racecar.  Good thing that day was just a test day, because we were able to go back to the shop and try to figure things out.  I guess not being a rookie anymore didn’t mean that I knew everything I had to know about this game.

            I want to say thank you to all who stop by and read this blog.  I want to let everyone know, if you live near Allentown, Pa- you can catch us at the “Steel Stacks” over in Bethlehem on Sunday evening.  “Pretending to be on TV with Glenn Tickle” will have us on as a guest.  Looking forward to a nice evening with Glenn and his bunch.  Check him out- he has a bunch of his material on YouTube- he’s got some funny stuff.  Check in on Twitter “@justinonderko” we’ll have all the info you will need to attend.  We are also close to nailing down all of our race dates for this season, so stay tuned for that as well.  As always, please check out my sponsors here on this page, they are really stepping up for us this year so please do the same for them.  Till next week.