Racing has a very strange way of creating the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. This post is about the later.

One of the best things about racing is the people you meet, their humor and willingness to help. They are the people that put the actions in place that enable the highs to occur.

When Wayne Davis first announced that the Gator Nationals would be in Georgia this year.. My first thought was.. Boy that weekend would be a lot of fun, but it's also in February and everyone that knows my racing program knows there is no way I'm ever ready that early in the season.
This off season was different. I bought my current car on Jan 1st 2016 after yet another memory making weekend with my good friend Jerry (Jezza) Strausbaugh and I spending new years eve driving northward to Canada. After getting used to the upright chassis in 2016 (coming from a micro chassis) and spending 90% of my 2016 schedule wingless, I knew I wanted to make a few changes to the suspension geometry.
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Those changes would require welding and fabrication from Stan Fleming (South Mountain Fabrication). Stan is always open to my craziness and actually put a W Link in my old Hyper micro years before it became “trendy”.

When I finally decided to pull the trigger on the changes, Stan turned the car around in less than 1 week. It was still 2 weeks until the Gator Nationals, I needed to put things back together. Good friend Mark Showers and Bob Ellis came to the rescue with a few days in the shop.. No task was too much and we soon had things ready.

It was time to fire the Spar built engine. Scott freshened this stock R1 for the 2015 season. It won a track championship and a series championship with only needing oil changes. Nothing exotic there either.. Just good ol Rotella 15-40 from Wally World. Cost effective racing doesn't get better than that. A quick lap of the neighborhood, engine and the changes were fine. This was starting to get real.. The plan was to leave after work Wednesday. The team assembled, truck was loaded and off we set. We didn't even hit the PA line before “are we there yet “ was heard. You know you are in for a great weekend when the blokes that volunteer their time are that anxious to get there. The team led by my ultimate go to wrench, Jezza was supplemented with Tom Grumbine and his many years of experience and dry wit (yes.. Georgia looks like Delaware ) and Jeff Gromis who loves the sport more than many will ever know and now finds capturing the moments of racing in electronic visuality (yes a word I made up) to be his outlet. Across the action all weekend, Jeff shot almost 500 pics.

Luck and the need for some on Saturday would be the discussion. A lot of cars for a lot of $$ on a small track would create fireworks. The wind and semi truck highway action and the damm roadworks made the trip into a marathon. Ironically it would seem it was just preparation for the main event. We finally motored past Charlotte and found our hotel for the night around 2am.

The next morning.. The crew were seeking coffee.. And the first stop for fuel saw an inbuilt Dunkin Donuts fit their need. The trip into Georgia and the left over cotton fields was the first time we heard, “it looks like Delaware ”. This became the catch cry everyday.

Upon arriving at the track, we were amazed to see the finishing touches still being performed… well.. maybe a little more than finishing touches at they were still driving in catch fence posts. The track itself looked small.. But intriguing.. The high banking was enticing.. The clay/dirt surface was very, very different for us Pennsylvanians.

Practice went so so.. It was supposed to be a gearing and new rear end test session.. Gears were changed.. Rear end seemed to be working well.. Grabbing a hold on old used tires that are grooved to the cords became our weakest link.

Off to the hotel via Applebee's… and while the crew slept.. The driver was deep in gearing spreadsheets trying to get his head around such a small track needing the “Lanco” gear. The decision was made to get some new American Racer tires for the weekend.

The next day, the gear change was made and Jerry Steward made his arrival from his Winter residence in Florida. Jerry asked about our setups.. I explained that he had won more races than we have lost so anything he suggested would be fair game. We don't ever proclaim to know what we are doing, and really do this for fun so having Jerry in the pits with us was a bonus. His first words were… it looks like you set this up like a winged car. What Jerry didn't know.. That's exactly how it was.. Without the wings.. Same bars.. Same shocks.. What you don't know can't hurt you..

Practice came and with the new setup another gear change was requested. I think Jezza swapped gears 5 times in 3 days as I couldn't figure out where to go..

Heat race action saw us take the win.. We could have finished right there and been happy.. Our goal was a top ten for the weekend.. We overachieved with a heat win.

The preliminary feature saw the driver get freight trained from 2nd back to 6th on the opening lap. Now it was time to put this puppy to the test.. Once the tires got some heat, Jerry's setups came together and the forward drive gained us positions back up to 3rd. Slight contact with a lapped car ripped the rr shock off (just a mount and fixed for Saturday) and we settled for 4th. This would mean a 7th starting spot in the feature Saturday.

Off to the big track with a couple of beers to watch the WOO late models. Another late night would see us at the hotel at 1.30am

Saturday morning and rain was forecast and on the radar.. Things were about to get interesting.. Unloading the car and it became obvious the LR shock also took damage as oil was everywhere. With no spares.. It'll have to be fine.. Another gear change for hot laps only to change back straight after. Jezza donated part of his thumb to the cause during this change.

Race of Champions was next.. Another chance to fine tune.. With rain on the radar the feature was next. The team thrashed, fuelled tank was filled to the brim (4.5 gallons) and we were the last car to the track.. A quick 3 wide parade lap and the field formed. All 25 cars for 40 laps.. Lap traffic was a constant. To my surprise the first 15 laps went non stop. An amazing effort with that much traffic..All drivers giving an inch. With 40 laps to the checkers, now wasn't the time to force an issue. In racing, cautions bring cautions. Rain drops were on the visor.

The leaders would start to get anxious. $5K is a huge winners share and this was the largest ever D2 midget payout. The Lucas Oil Southern States Midgets had found a gem of a track to showcase close quarters open wheel racing. The closeness would lead to contact. Contact led to cautions and the race started to become a survival challenge. Unfortunately, some teams elected to not listen to the directions of the officials over the radio and too many caution laps would mar the spectacle.

With fuel or lack thereof becoming a factor, the laps winding down, it became go time at the front of the pack. With less than 10 laps remaining, the “big one” occurred heading into turn 3. With multiple cars upside down and blocking the track, the challenge became finding a way not to be involved.

The next restart would find us in 2nd coming to the cone . The lead car would stumble as it ran out of fuel, contact happened, another caution would fly and we would find ourselves heading the field back to green. It's a surreal moment in time.. A top ten was our target and now we had the chance to capture the win and the illustrious Gator trophy.

Don't become that bloke that loops while leading.. I kept telling myself.. I knew these drivers behind me would run over their own mother for the win. I knew the target was firmly on my rear bumper.

The restart would be critical. Get the jump, try to grab a couple of car lengths, keep the car straight in case of contact to minimize the chance of being looped and let them try the outside.. Green, white, checkers was the call over the radio.

Coming off turn 4, heading to the white, the caution would fly.. Great I thought (sarcasm), we get to do it again. I imagined the target in my bumper just got bigger.

Green would fly.. The 2 laps seemed to take an eternity.. Everything slowed down. I kept waiting to hear my engine splutter from a lack of fuel.. I kept waiting for the contact. Coming off turn 4 and seeing the checkers fly was beyond surreal.. A Cinderella story… an old bloke with only 180 hp in a car weighing 1050 with an experimental rear end just won the biggest race in the D2 midget world.

Donuts… no not the Dunkin kind this time was on my mind.. One slow lap.. Into Turn one.. Here was the chance..opps a tactical error.. Cars were still coming around so I locked it down. (if ever there is another opportunity.. I'll remember to do 2 slow laps to clear the field).

Lucas Oil Victory lane was the destination.
Wow.. The trophy… the giant check.. Having the crew enjoy the moment and bask in their efforts. I'm not sure how many times I pinched myself. Either this was the most realistic dream ever or dreams do come true when you least expect it.

The ride back to PA went by quickly.. I'm pretty sure the surreal feeling will last a lot longer, maybe until the next Gator Nationals.. What a weekend.. And one that is already on the schedule for next year.

Many thanks to the entire crew, they all played a role in creating a moment that became a lifetime memory.

Huge thanks to the Lucas Oil Southern States Midget team and Wayne Davis for putting this show together with Atlantic Powder Coating and Red Griffen from Screven Speedway for creating a great venue and a gem of a short track.

Thanks to all for the help along the way.. 2017 just got off to a flying start.