Today is the first day of March, and the weather has sure felt like spring lately. I do apologize to everyone who reads my blog on a regular basis, we just got back from Atlanta , GA.
That brings you up to date on us, but how about this year’s Daytona 500? This 500 has to go down as one of the more surreal races I have watched. The first time is the history of the race that it was postponed, and then big time wrecks 2 laps into the race, stuff blowing up and catching fire, tweeting from the backstretch, it was a wild one. Congratulations to Matt Kenseth, who raced a smart race and brought the trophy home for the second time.
Last week we talked about how this sport of racing can send you through the range of emotions. I earned my first pole, never made it to the green flag, spun through the field, and then ended up winning the race. The whole team shared in this win. I was glad, and partially relieved to have given them a win - it really makes you feel better about the time and money you spend on the cars.
I had just taken the checkered flag and I was going nuts, my crew was running out onto the track to head to victory lane. We were just a bunch of kids, the oldest person on the team was only 21, and we had just won our first race. I can only speak for myself, but I remember the events of the night, but I don’t remember victory lane that well.
All my guys were there already when I pulled in, and they were all pounding on the car and yelling. I remember unbelting and trying to climb out of the car, but everybody was mobbing me at the window. To that point in my life, it was the best feeling I had ever felt. It is hard to put into words the rush that comes over you at that moment. I finally got out of the car, and shook everybody’s hands, gave the girls hugs and tried to let it soak in.
One of the best track announcers I have had the pleasure to listen to, and to be interviewed by is Dino Oberto. He is currently working for Mahoning Valley Speedway in Pennsylvania 101” should be the name of that interview. I was yelling at the top of my lungs, I forgot to thank everybody, it was a mess. You can tell on the tape, though, that Dino was getting a kick out of me and just let me go.
Like I have said before, racing is 80% hard times, 10% tragedy, and 10% wonderful. This was one of the 10% wonderful moments. I finally calmed down enough to talk like a normal human being, and Dino made sure that I told my crew thank you. The track photographer got us all together and took a couple pictures and then it was over. The track had to run the next race and our time was up. It was kind of bittersweet, and it is over way too quick, but that’s just life.
I climbed back in the car and drove it to the scales to be weighed, and for post - race inspection. We got weighed in and then the head tech inspector came over and congratulated me on a good race. He also informed me he would be looking at the top end of the motor tonight, so we should go get some tools and take the carburetor, intake, headers, and heads off for him. My heart sank and I felt like I was going to puke right there. I was scared out of my mind, I had never really thought about tech before. I didn’t think I had anything illegal on the car or in the motor, but to be honest- I didn’t really know. I think it was at that moment the look on my face was too much for him. He burst out laughing and told me to get out of his inspection area. A college hazing of sorts I guess, I didn’t think it was very funny, but he thought it was hilarious. I will admit, looking back on it- he got me good.
Loading up at the end of the night to go home, is usually a big hassle and really not that much fun. That night, we didn’t care how long we took to get packed up, we were flying high. I had a couple of guys come over and talk about the race and say we did a good job. It was all very nice to be the winner that night, but for me, one gentleman in particular made my night. Joe Hoffman, who was the points leader at that time - and arguably the best car in our division, came over to my pit area to find me. He shook my hand and told me he was happy for me and my team and that I ran a great race. That moment I remember well, and will forever. I haven’t seen Joe for a couple years now, and haven’t raced with him since our championship year in 2010, but him coming over to me to acknowledge me was a big moment for me.
The trip home seemed to take 5 minutes and we stayed up all night long at the shop, cooking on the grill, playing loud music and dancing around our winning racecar and $400 check. That’s right, $400 was all we were racing for, and it didn’t even cover the cost of a new set of tires. It didn’t matter though, we didn’t do it for the money, we race because we love it.
Next week, we will look at the end of my first season and start looking ahead to my second full season in the sport. Our current racing season is starting again soon. We have some announcements happening soon and will share them on this blog as well as my twitter @justinonderko, my website, and press releases throughout the web. Thanks for stopping by, and as always check out my sponsors here on this page, and hit me up on twitter if you have a questions, comments or suggestions - I would love to hear from you.
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