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. . .

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.

Big Announcements. . .

            For weeks now I have been talking about the racing season starting.  About how all of the teams, from all walks of life, and all types of racing are gearing up for this season.  I’ve also been telling you to stay tuned to this blog, because I had some plans to announce.

            On Monday, we announced that we were entering the NASA Pro Touring Division.  This will mark the first time Onderko Motorsports will field a car since 2009.  2010 saw us win the Sundance Vacations Speedway Late Model championship in a RPM Fabrications backed ride, and 2011 was spent competing in some various open wheel races.

            I am very excited for this new opportunity, and am also very pleased that we will field this car out of our stable.  While it is every driver’s goal to have a funded ride with a race winning team, I have some very talented people that are behind me 100% and they are anxious to get back to the track again.  Most of the work on our cars will be completed in house once again.

            This blog has mostly been about the early years of my career so far.  I have been telling you about these years, because they were very important.  Not only because its how my career got started, but also because it helped shaped me as the driver and person I am today.  Instead of telling you about the past, this week is more current events.  We have been making some big strides in our efforts towards racing full time on the “

Mazda Road

to Indy”.  While this announcement on Monday was a big shot in the arm to our effort, we have been hard at work behind the scenes to make this and other announcements happen.

            Any time you find yourself immersed in a situation that you have had success in; it is always difficult to leave that situation.  However, after looking at where stock car racing has been, and where I believe it to be headed, I felt a need to make a change.  For me, that change meant heading towards road racing, and more specifically- open wheel. That meant leaving behind all that we knew, and built up with the late models.

Open wheel racing, in the United States, is growing into its own again.  While the rift between CART and IRL hurt the sport some years ago, INDYCAR has gotten its act together and is moving forward.  Bringing in the right people and giving them the resources to make the right decisions is starting to pay off.  The teams are soon headed to St. Petersburg, Florida to kick off the INDYCAR season, and with new cars and some new faces, the series will continue to grow this season.

For Onderko Motorsports, this season will be packed with lots of track time, research and development of our cars, driver appearances, and promotion of our sponsors.  Competing in NASA, gives us a chance to gain valuable track time, and it gets us back in front of the Motorsports community once again.  This is not only beneficial for our sponsors, but also for our charity RAD Racing.  RAD Racing, will once again be onboard our cars and promoted through our actions of living drug free and healthy lifestyles as we return to the track to compete. 

            This announcement was a big step in attaining the goals that our organization has set forth.  I thought this week I would bring everyone up to speed on our current competition status.  While we are ironing out the last remaining details of our schedule, we don’t plan on competing for the Pro Touring championship this year; instead we plan on attending the bigger races on the schedule.  Follow along on twitter (@justinonderko) as we get ready to compete in our first Pro Touring race this year.  Check in at http://www.justinonderko.com/, to see updates and results after race weekends.  Now, more than ever, check out our sponsors here on this blog, they will be along with us this year, and are making racing possible for us.  Also, check out http://www.ncprs.org/ to stay current with all the happenings at RAD Racing.