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. . .
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