Countdown To Pocono. . .

            NASCAR was at Daytona, Indycar was in Toronto, and the racing was great at both places.  While the racing was great, the sanctioning bodies were also handing out penalties, fines, and suspensions this weekend too.  Eventual NASCAR race winner Tony Stewart was found to have an open cooling hose during qualifying, and had to start in the back of the pack Saturday night, though he did win the race, NASCAR still took 6 driver’s points away from him.  AJ Almendinger was temporarily suspended from competition, for violating the substance abuse policy.  Until his “B” sample is tested he will be sitting out of the car.  For his sake, I hope this test comes back negative.  Ryan Hunter-Reay won his 3^rd straight race on Sunday.  The points took a major toss this weekend as well.  Mike Conway had a podium as well, but during post race inspection, was found to have to big of a fuel cell.  10 points and $15,000 later, the team still ran very well and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

            As for me, our cars have been loaded up and are ready for their trip to the Pocono Raceway.  This will kind of be like a homecoming of sorts for me; the first road course I competed on was Pocono’s North Course.  NASA will be using the North Course plus NASCAR turns 1 and 2 plus the frontstrech as our course this weekend, 2.5 miles around.

            This weekend is a little bit different for us, while we will be racing during the day; we will be attending “Our Lady Queen of Peace” (Brodheadsville, PA) Church Festival Saturday evening.  I hope we avoid any contact on the track and keep the racecar in one piece during the day, because it will be on display Saturday night.  We let the kids sit in the car and sign some autographs, take some pictures and get some time to hang with our fans.  We also are going to use the time to talk about RAD and why it’s important to live a drug free and healthy lifestyle.

            We should have some good video and pictures from this weekend.  Since the race is so close to home, we will get to have a lot of people at the speedway supporting us.  Friends, family, old crew members, are going to be there to see us race.  My Mother, who is kind of our team photographer, is able to come this weekend as well.  I always enjoy when she comes, because there are always great shots that she is able to get.  She is going to get a test, she is used to oval short track racing, but this is a whole new dynamic.  Look for her photos on the site after the races.

            Speaking of the http://www.justinonderko.com/ site, one of our sponsors- OC2 Interactive- is currently working on designing our new site.  I actually had a conference call this afternoon and I can’t wait to see the site go live.  Special thanks to Michelle for taking time out of her day to discuss the progress of the site.  OC2 is the real deal- if you need web based design- they will create what you need.  Check them out www.oc2interactive.com- look at some of the work they’ve done, it speaks for itself.

            Next week we will review the race weekend and how it went.  We are prepared for a good weekend, hopefully the weather stays nice, but we are bringing our rain tires just in case.  I kind of hope it does rain- I really enjoy racing in the rain- you have to be very technical and precise with your inputs- you’re on the razors edge the whole race.  Till next week. . .

Keeping Composure. . .

I found myself out of town this past weekend and was not able to watch any of the series competing..  That did not keep me from finding out about this weekend’s action.  First of all, I want to wish Eric McClure a speedy recovery.  It is rare to find a head-on hit as hard as his on Saturday, he will not be allowed to compete at Darlington, but it could have been far worse for him.  Congratulations to Joey Lagano and Brad Keselowski for their wins down at Talladega.  The finishes of both races were awesome for the fans.

            I also found a little tidbit about Sam Hornish Jr. and Danica Patrick.  Now, I usually refrain from talking about her, but I do follow her and what she does.  For those of you who live under a rock, Patrick came to NASCAR a sub-par INDYCAR driver with a stellar marketing strategy.  She used her good looks and marketing genius to secure her the funding needed to make herself a career.  While INDYCAR used her gender and positive role model status to promote their series, many feel that NASCAR was doing just fine before she came along.  The hype that led up to Daytona was almost unbearable for myself, I thought she was the only driver down at Daytona at times.  While that race ended in utter disappointment, the media blitz continued.  With each race, and more disappointment, stories of Patrick’s racing ventures started to dwindle.  A quarter of the way through the season, and I believe her car owners would have to be disappointed as well.

            Now Hornish and Patrick have raced together before, in fact Sam recalls Patrick wrecking him in a go-kart race back in 1995 on the final lap.  After trying to find every TV angle I could on the initial contact that pinched Patrick into the outside wall, I thought it looked like Sam had trouble controlling his car due to a flat tire.  Either that, or Hornish was trying to damage a perfectly good racecar and jeopardize his top 5 points standing by trying to slam his car into the wall himself.  After the contact, Patrick chased down a slowing Hornish in turn 1 and turned him headlong into the wall.

            Now, I want to make one point clear, I mean- crystal clear.  I don’t care what happens to you on the track, who bumps into you, slams into you, or looks at you funny.  YOU DON’T EVER TURN SOMEONE HEADLONG INTO A WALL- EVER.  I don’t care if some one wrecks you for no reason, or calls your Mother a bad name, you don’t ever put a driver in the fence head on.  I thought NASCAR dealt with this at Texas last year with Kyle Busch.  Last I checked Patrick was not reprimanded.  The last bits of respect I had for her, as a driver or a person, was lost when I watched the video of her putting Hornish in the fence, after the race was over.

            It will be interesting to watch the damage control she does this week.  Supposedly she apologized to Sam (who is one of the classiest acts in the garage are), and Roger Penske, and also called the Nationwide Series Director and told him it wasn’t her style to do things like that.  While she may be sorry, this is not the first time Patrick has lost her composure and had a knee jerk reaction.

            While some fans may still love her spunky, yet seemingly childish, antics; it seems that Patrick is not going anywhere anytime soon.  The brand that she has established as herself, can and will capitalize on the attention.  Look for her at Darlington, though she may want to renegotiate her Nationwide Insurance quote- this season has probably wreaked havoc on her “vanishing deductible”.

            As for me, I have been spending much more time in the shop lately, getting our new racecar ready to go for Summit Point.  We needed to update some things and special thanks to Areo Tec Labs (ATL) for supplying our fuel cells this year, and also to Butlerbuilt Seats for our brand new seat for this year.  We hope to have the car wrapped up by the end of May, so we can shake it down before we go racing.  Check out the website for updates on our season (http://www.justinonderko.com/).

            I kind of got off on another tangent again this week, but I can’t stand to see stupidity like we saw in the Nationwide race on Saturday.  If Dale Earnhardt Jr wants to park her for a weekend, I would like to let him know I can substitute for the team this week.  Until that happens, though, I will be hard at work getting ready for our season, and watching owners waste money on wrecked racecars.  Till next week. . .