RideLust

Right now I’m sitting trackside at Nelson Ledges Raceway in Ohio surrounded by some of the fastest street legal cars in the United States. For us it’s day 9 and well over 3000 miles and so far we’ve survived. We’ve got one more track session left for today and then it’s another 300 mile run back to the Tire Rack Facility in South Bend, Indiana – we’ll make that in two fuel stops. Once in South Bend we have only one more event to complete, the dry skid pad. We ran the wet skid pad on day one and came in dead last out of the entire field running. Sure it sucked, but in the end it worked for us because when you’re last the only place you can go is up.

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Remember yesterday when we we’re at Mid-Ohio Motor Sports Complex and I said that the Charger was being stone reliable? Well, I should have known better than to open my big friggin’ mouth. After finishing the track session UK Chris came back to the pits and pointed out that the transmission and oil temperatures were reading a bit on the high side. The transmission temperature was around 210 degrees and the oil was tipping the scale at 240. Now if my car possesses any one trait that sets it apart from all others it is consistency in the way of temperature settings, so when they started to read high, warning bells went off. We first checked the transmission fluid and found that we had thoroughly cooked it. 3000 miles at 85 + mph and 7 tracks days in a row will do that. The oil temperature though was bit of mystery.

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The wake-up call came at 6:30 am which was about 4 hours too soon for us. I stumbled out of bed and into the shower and immediately knew I was f*cked when I put shampoo on my toothbrush – this is how tired I am. Between the racing, driving, eating shit food and trying to find time to write I can honestly say that this is one tough gig. In reflecting I also wanted to bring back to the forefront the charity for which we’re running this crazy week for. We’ve set-up a website at http://www.roadbackhome.com that benefits our United States Veterans and their families. Every donation that we take in, every dollar that we raise goes directly to them in the hopes that maybe we can improve their lives .

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We awoke this morning at 7:00 am, got showered, had coffee, a crappy hotel donut and hit the road for Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois. With a 1.5-mile infield road course that incorporates part of the NASCAR oval, the infield course is not only fast, but wicked fun as well. The paddock area was quite nice with garages available for One Lap participants. This not only kept us out of the sun but also provided us with some downtime so we could regroup.

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You know you’re tired when the days begin to blur into each other. We’ve been running non-stop and it’s finally starting to take its toll on both man and machine. Today for example is Tuesday, but this morning, on 3 hours of sleep, I had no idea of that. From an automotive point of view the Charger has only eaten one fuel-pump, which isn’t bad considering it’s 42 years old. Cars, both new and old, are truly tested to their limits on this run, so seeing so many still in the hunt for the One Lap crown is pretty impressive.

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Every now and then the planets align in the correct formation and all goes right with the world, such was the case this afternoon. We arrived at Mid America Motor Sports complex at about 9 am with the Charger running beautifully. The new fuel pump was installed and tested and It was also a bright and sunny day in the mid-70′s… perfect track weather. From a spectator point of view, Mid America is a great track because it’s completely flat and you can see everything. Since the track is not overly technical it’s a great place to test out the basic handling manners of your car.
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So it’s now day 3 of the 2010 One Lap of America. We awoke in the cheese capital of the world, Plymouth, WI, with one goal in mind… find a fuel pump for a Chrysler 440. You may remember that when we arrived last evening our pump was pissing fuel all over the place. Had it not been for the torrential rains we drove through, it’s a distinct possibility that we may have gone up in a ball of fire. Fortunately, though, we made it to drive another day. As luck would have it our hotel was right across the street from a Car Quest auto parts store. This was great until they told us that, not only did they not have a fuel pump in stock, but that all the surrounding auto parts stores were dry as well. Now maybe it’s me, but I would’ve thought that since Chrysler put the 440 in EVERYTHING, from cars to motor homes, a fuel pump would’ve been an easy thing to sort out. I was however, very wrong.

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I’d like to preface this blog by saying if my spelling and grammar suck it’s because I am writing this from the passenger seat of my Charger whilst traveling at 85 mph down some interstate in Indiana. We just left the first event of the 2010 One Lap of America at Tire Rack’s headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, and are now heading 260 miles to our next destination which lies someplace in Wisconsin. Upon arriving to the facility we got our first real chance to size up the other competitors and let me just say that these guys are SERIOUS – there is nothing hokey or Hollywood about this. The cars came in all shapes and sizes from full on street legal race cars like the Ultima GTR to vintage battle sleds like the Charger. We all have one thing in common though, and that is the will to compete on some of the best racetracks in America.

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It’s now 11:03pm and I’m sitting on my bed at the Quality Inn in South Bend, Indiana and to be perfectly honest, I’m bushed. We left Queens, NY this morning at about 6:15 am which was a bit later than we wanted to leave but hey… shit happens right? In our caravan we had my buddy Todd’s Ferrari F430 as well as a Corvette Z06 driven by another close friend, Carmine. Now obviously the Ferrari has NO storage space and although the Corvette is a bit better it’s no storage closet. What this meant was that the Charger was going to be the pack mule for the trip. Now, aside from tools, spare parts and racing gear, we also packed in 10 days worth of clothes in 4 duffel bags and then jammed everything into the trunk and back seat. Combine this with my 240 lbs. and my co-driver Chris’s 260 lbs. and you could say that we were at our limit.

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We’ve got less than a week to go before the start of the One Lap of America and to say I’m scrambling to get ready would be an understatement. The Charger is ready (for the most part) to take on another 4000 mile run and do battle with some of the meanest and fastest cars in the country. We’ll not only be hitting 9 different race tracks, but we’ll be driving some 15-18 hrs. per day. This is one hell of a haul ladies and gentleman and because of this we’re not going to waste the opportunity. We’ve teamed up with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System to help our wounded Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. My co-driver for this event will be international automotive importer Chris Smith. Also accompanying us and the team that spearheaded our Road Back Home Project, is Todd Ford, a West Coast Venture Capitalist and Dr. Peter Cassini, a Neurologist in Stanford, CA. They will be piloting a Ferrari F430. Both cars have been completely vinyl wrapped to reflect the spirit of what we are trying to accomplish and to help us raise awareness for our Veterans.

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