Getting Ready for the National Championships. . .

            This week in racing saw Indycar at Sonoma and the NASCAR Series at Bristol.  I was able to listen to the NASCAR race on the radio for most of the evening; I actually was able to get home from the shop to watch the final 50 laps.  Carl Edwards really needed a win but came up really short after a badly different pit strategy left him out on the track with 150 lap old tires.  Denny Hamlin was able to snag the win, while a few tempers got hot during the evening.  I made it a point to at least listen to the race, since that’s where I came from (short track racing) and Bristol never disappoints.  Wednesday night the Modifieds raced at Bristol, and we had some friends go down to compete.  Ryan Newman indirectly took out half the field when he couldn’t hang onto his machine off of turn 4.  The ensuing wreck that resulted from people trying to miss him had the front stretch clogged shut while cars got airborne.  I’m glad Newman has the time and money to cost other teams the remainder of their season.  A few of the teams were pretty low budget, just to make a show like that was a big deal, and some of them left with junk racecars.  Indycar was out in wine country, Sonoma California.  The race was dominated by Will Power, with Ryan Briscoe ending up with the win.  The race was actually pretty boring for the first two thirds, but all of the sudden things started changing and happening to jumble everything up.  The ever quick-witted Marco Andretti had another DNF- and while being interviewed afterwards admitted he was trying to blow the engine up so the team didn’t get a penalty for changing engines heading into Baltimore- The pit reporter then informed him of the rules and let him know that an engine with a known problem could be changed without penalty- though I’m sure he already knew that.  Alex Tagliani and Ryan Hunter-Reay had a bit of a run-in in the closing laps as well, Hunter-Reay has seen himself free fall from the championship lead in the last couple of races.  

            As for me, these past couples of days have been very productive.  I spent most of the weekend putting the engine and driveline back into the car.  One of my very good friends came by the shop to give me a hand.  Adam was one of the first guys that helped me each week back when I ran the short tracks.  It was kind of like old times, except for the fact that he has a son now.  I have to give a special thank you to Adam’s boy- Noah- he was very good all day, and I hope he is a future crew member; he certainly has potential.  Anyway, the engine and driveline is back in, ready to go.  I found a couple of things that needed attention, so I was glad to able to address them.  A few things need touched up, but nothing really major.

            I look forward to being able to spend a little bit of down time over the holiday before we head out to Mid-Ohio.  In one week, I will be writing this blog from a hotel room in Lexington, Ohio.  I look forward to getting out there and getting the pits setup and then getting out on the track.  It’s only an 8 hour haul for us, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

            We have a big unveiling of sorts happening next Wednesday as well, we will be launching a new version of my website.  OC2 Interactive, one of new sponsors for the 2012 season, is currently putting the finishing touches on it as we speak.  Take a look at it next Wednesday and then give them a call for any web or mobile based work you might need done.  They specialize in high quality work with a time and cost efficient mindset- in fact that’s their motto- “When you absolutely, positively need to have it done right, on-time, and in-budget.”  Check them out- www.oc2interactive.com
            It’s going to be a busy week, and arguable the biggest race of my career- to date.  It is just another race, though.  Its going to start with the green flag and end with the checkers- it’s what’s in between is what counts.  In addition to the new website, we will be blowing up Twitter while we are out there, follow me @justinonderko.  The site will have links to Twitter and Facebook, so check us out.  Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope it is a safe and enjoyable day for all, and I will see you out at Mid-Ohio for the NASA National Championships!  Till next week. . .

Pocono's Grand Slam. . .

            This past weekend we traveled to the Pocono International Speedway for NASA’s Grand Slam at Pocono.  If I had it to do over again, I would probably never have loaded up the car and left the shop.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but it was a very frustrating and mentally draining weekend.

            We arrived early Saturday morning and unloaded for the day.  I headed off to the drivers meeting and met up with a few drivers I knew.  NASA was going to run Saturday clockwise on the “Long Course” and Sunday would be run counterclockwise.  That’s pretty neat, because even though we are at the same track, it is very different to run the track opposite ways.  After the drivers meeting, I headed back to the pits and met up with everybody.

            The call came for us to head to pit road for practice and I climbed into the racecar and belted in.  The crew unplugged the oil tank, and I fired up the engine.  I looked over the gauges and everything was good to go.  My guys pushed me out of our pit spot, and I shifted into 1^st gear.  About that time my weekend fell apart.

            The car started to move, and then BANG.  Catastrophic clutch failure.  So. . . back to the pits and up on the lift.  I changed out of my driver’s suit, and into my street clothes- I was part of the crew on this one.  To make a very long and frustrating story short, I blew up the clutch.  We were able to make repairs and get the clutch back together- but not before missing qualifying as well.  We checked with race control, and they said that we would have to start at the back of a 40+ car field.

            This wouldn’t have been so bad, if I would have had even a couple of laps on the speedway.  I, however, had absolutely no track time in this car.  We felt confident that we had the problems fixed, and again we were called out to pit lane to pre-grid for the race.  This time, when I went to pull away, the car moved forward and got up to speed.

            As we came off the last corner, which was NASCAR turn 1 backwards, the green flag was waving and the hammer went to the floor.  I started passing cars and trying to get through the field.  The tracks’ timing and scoring loop was down, so my crew was trying to count the positions I was making up.  That doesn’t work very well on a 2.5 mile road course because you just can’t see the whole track.  We thought we finished 14^th, overall.  In fact, I finished 7^th, which meant in roughly 35 minutes, we passed over 30 cars and ran down the leaders.  Not bad for not having a single lap on the speedway.

            The bad news, the car started to shake and vibrate the last lap.  That meant we were going to be tearing back into the transmission after the race.  We let the racecar cool down, and once again started pulling parts back out and getting frustrated.  We realized, about 2 hours into it, we didn’t have what we needed to fix the car.  The bad news- we had to go back to the shop to get a whole new set-up, the good news- we only had a 2 hour trip.

            Sunday morning had us once again fixed up and ready to go racing.  This time, we made practice and we were happy with the car.  Again, long story short, 3^rd lap of qualifying. . . coming down the front straight- I shifted into 5^th gear- BANG- but this time followed by a serious over-rev of the motor.

            If you would have been at the track, at roughly 1:45pm you would have heard this whooshing sound.  It was all of the air being let out of our sails.  It was too much; I don’t think we could have handled anymore.  But. . . once again, there we were.  There we were, back in the pits, but this time in the rain and really- REALLY- upset.

            The Race Director also announced at that time, that due to the weather, they would be moving the race up about an hour because of a thunderstorm headed towards the track.  Back to square one.  Only this time, we had half the time to fix it, and we had to fix it, because if we didn’t run at least half the race, we would be given a DNF for Sunday.  Not something we could afford with Nationals in September.

            My crew is the best.  Hands down, they kept at it and never gave up.  Even after the race started, they kept thrashing.  In fact, as they were wrapping up, I climbed in and started getting strapped in, and somebody headed down to race control to notify them we were indeed heading out.  My guys tightened the last bolt, let me down off the lift and race control gave us the green light at the end of pit road.  We did, in fact, run over half the race.  We salvaged a terrible day.

            We salvaged an entire weekend.  With everything that happened, we still managed to win our class on Saturday.  We persevered and made the best of what we had to deal with.  On the positive side, our engineers have already started working on finding a fix to the problem.  I think, in the next couple of days, we will have found the cause of the problem, and the solution.  All in plenty of time to test it out when we head back to Summit Point Raceway in August.

            I want to thank our sponsors for the support this week.  It makes it a lot easier to get through weekends like we had, when you know your sponsors are behind you.  I will have updates next week about our progress with the car.  Till next week. . .

Changing My Views

            Another week has gone by, and as usual, the racing was exciting to say the least.  The duo of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas picked up, what is hard to believe; their first win of the season in Grand-Am. Ryan Hunter-Reay captured his second straight win, and the “ESPY Nominee” Franchitti blew up before the green in Iowa.  The boys of NASCAR were up in wine country this past Sunday.  I had the opportunity to watch some of the 4 hour pre-race show that NASCAR puts on, and I heard Darrel Waltrip talking about road course racing.  He mentioned how hard it is, and how you can never really rest- that you’re up on the wheel from the start to the finish.  Jeff Hammond talked about how the teams have taken road racing much more seriously in the last couple of years.

            In the last couple of years, I have been very fortunate to sit in a couple different racecars.  I have been able to win in all of them, but I too have changed my view of road racing.  I thought that real racing was short track racing, the beating and banging of Saturday night.  Man handling your racecar to get through the pack and get the win.  It meant replacing fenders and door panels, and spending all week getting the car back in shape for the next race.  Racing meant wondering where your next dollar was going to come from, and what was going to need to be fixed next.

            After having a week to download my last race, I find myself wondering why I felt that way.  Is that what racing is? Or, was I just a product of my environment?  I thought that road racing was something that just wasn’t on the same level.  I enjoyed watching road racing, but never really saw myself competing there.

            No one likes to admit when they are wrong, none more than me.  I must tell you, I have never worked harder in a racecar than last Saturday and Sunday.  While the car handled well, and was probably one of the most balanced cars I have ever sat in- it was also one of the most tiring races also.

            In oval short track racing, you get 2 chances every lap to hit your marks and drive the corners properly during a 15 second lap.  In a 10 turn road course, you have to wait 83 seconds to get another chance at the same corner.  Not only that, but you have to remember what you learned from the previous lap to be able to apply it to the current lap.

            Couple that with the different style cars all running together, and you have yourself a busy little afternoon on your hands.  Some cars corner ultra fast, but don’t have tremendous straightaway speed, while others fly down the straights, but corner like a dump trucks in the mud.  This poses many challenges on top of what the driver is dealing with inside his own car.  The timing and setting up of passes is even more critical than ever.

            I have some video that I haven’t had a chance to get up on the site yet, but it is angled back at me during the race.  I am always amazed to watch a driver drive his racecar- especially on a road course.  You watch him hit the brakes and set the car during deceleration, then he hits the clutch with a tap of the gas for an up-rev during his first downshift, and then while still pressing hard on the brakes with on the ball of his foot and big toe, he downshifts again with an up-rev.  Still decelerating you watch him look for the corner entry- another downshift with an up-rev.  As he turns in he gets back on the gas and starts lessening the input on the wheel.  He fades out of the turn and onto the rumble strips exiting the corner while grabbing a gear and heading down the straight away.  And that’s just one turn of one lap.

            I believe that a driver is very responsible for how the car performs on the track, but in road racing you have to hit your marks each and every lap.  Not to mention dodging the rocks and stones on the track that are kicked up from guys dropping their wheels off the track.  Its tough, racing in general is tough, but road racing for me has been a welcome challenge.

            Do yourself a favor- search youtube for “racecar driver and his footwork” and watch the video, it’s only a minute and a half, but it will give you a good idea what drivers do while out on the track.

            As for me and my team, we are hard at work for Pocono mid-July.  We are also doing some R&D work for Nationals out at Mid-Ohio.  We can’t wait to get back out the speedway and go racing.  Thanks to all of sponsors and supporters out there.  You guys make it happen, and mean the world to us.  Friend us on Facebook and follow me @justinonderko- Live updates at the track and news and events during the week.  Till next week. . .

Countdown to Summit Point. . .

             I have to start this week by congratulating my sister- Dana.  She has taken a big step in broadening her career by moving to Annapolis MD.  She is a hair and make-up stylist, who- by the way has studied and worked in New York City.  So if anybody lives in the MD area- it’ll be worth it to find her at Solace Salon- and if you can’t- I’ll get you in touch.  I know I’m bragging on her a little bit, but we’re pretty close and I’m pretty proud of her.

            Now from one person starting a new job to someone else doing all they can to lose their job.  Kurt Busch has once again stuck his foot in his mouth, and found himself on the receiving end of NASCAR’s disciplinary committee.  I find myself sitting here, writing this blog, and I can’t believe this guy still has a job.  Kurt has already watched his wife leave- if he’s not careful- James Finch is going to have to take his job too.  I’m doing all I can to get to the top of my sport, and here Kurt is threatening to beat up Bob Pockrass for asking a question about something that happened out on the race track.  I don’t get it, I know Kurt is a former champion- but when is enough, enough?  I would like to officially offer my services to James Finch- I’m available on short notice- and I won’t bring a junior high attitude either.

             As for me, I can’t wait for these next 2 days to go by.  The car is sitting in the shop- waiting to be loaded.  The guys have finished most everything up, and we just tying up some loose ends.  The track is located about 3 hours from our shop- so it wont be a terrible trip to make.  Like I said last week, stay tuned on twitter for updates, and we will have some video when we get back.

            We have also announced our partnership with OC2 Interactive.  They are an international company that is dedicated to providing businesses with on-time and in-budget innovative web solutions.  Check out this link for the full story http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9596173.htm  They will be the sole provider of Onderko Motorsports Web presence.

            The time has come to compete in our first race of the season.  I want to say thank you to all the people that have gotten our team to this point.  We have a few things to take care of before we leave on Friday afternoon, but most everything else is ready to go.  So- we’ll make this week a little bit shorter, we will have plenty to write about next week.

            Check out the press release via the link above, and then check out OC2 Interactive’s site at www.oc2interactive.com as well.  Check out the Summit Point course, and check me out on twitter @justinonderko.  See you all next week, with some good news.  Till next week. . .