The weekend began with half of the formula field sitting out the rainy first qualifying session hoping for better weather. In the Vees, Shannon Jones and I stayed in while Sandy Thallmeier went out to refresh himself on the layout of the track. Soon after, Brian Dempsey made it down and we took a tour of the track. In the dry second qualifying session, the order ended up with Sandy on the pole, me 1.1 seconds back and Shannon another 3 seconds back. The race began with a messy incident in turn three involving several of the fifteen F-SCCA cars and creating a messy debris situation through the esses, yet apparently not bad enough to bring out a full-course caution. Many cars, including me, ran over debris in the racing line, but my car was okay. I had made it by Sandy by turn one and swapped the lead with Sandy the next several laps. I could draft by and out-brake him into turn 10 and he would draft by me into 1. I was leading at the finish line on laps 1,2,4, and 6. On lap six, Sandy went inside of me into turn one, but I got through pretty well on the high side and was still beside him on the exit. He exited wide as if he had completed his pass and forced me off at which point the car got sideways and straddled the rumble strips. I felt two bumps on the underside of the car and a third, harder impact. One witness said he thought the car would roll, but I managed to get control back, madder than ever, and follow Sandy into three. I turned in for three, and the car went straight off the track. At this point I realized my left front wheel had been bent and the tire was flat. Afterwards, all I could do was limp around and try to stay out of the way until the finish. I was given credit for third and turned the fastest Vee lap, a 1:51.181. Talking to Sandy after the race, he said he didn't know I was still there. I then had an "informal" discussion with the steward, who said the incident was never reported by the corner and there wouldn't be much that could be done. Looks like it may be time to get an in-car camera, as this is the third incident of me being run off since this time last year. That's racing(?) Next up: fix the car and get ready for the Nashville Superspeedway event on Labor Day weekend. The practice and qualifying will be on Saturday, with the races on Sunday. I'm looking forward to a better weekend!
