The trophy shot.

One Lap of America April 30 to May 7, 2005
Article provided by David Goodman.

Introduction | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

Saturday May 7, 2005 Day 8
The 2005 One Lap of America is over and I’m happy to report that Sam and I have won first place in the Vintage Foreign class and also held onto the 13th position overall for the whole event. The final event on Saturday was the dry skidpad challenge in which I placed a mediocre 37th. This is definitely an area of improvement for next year. After the final car was run, anyone that wanted to could take their cars onto the skidpad and do burnouts for the crowd. This is always allot of fun to watch because most of the guys get completely carried away. It’s not everyday you see a Superformance Daytona Coupe with massive clouds of white smoke billowing out from under the fenders.

Sam and I grabbed a couple of beers, finished packing the car and reflected with those around us about the week’s events. Lou and Glen, our main competition in the Vintage Foreign class congratulated us on our victory and mentioned how surprised they were with the improvements in the car and driver over last year. I know those guys were happy to see us do well after secretly conceding defeat earlier in the week because of handling and tire problems. That said, I knew they weren’t out of the parking lot before they were planning how they were going to take me out next year.

The Superformance Daytona doing burnouts on the skidpad.		The Pirelli representatives convincing us that we would do much better on their tires.

The awards banquet was understandably sweeter this year. It’s really hard to describe the successful culmination of so much hard work. Even as the week progressed and the number of events were reduced to the point where a class win was all but guaranteed, there was the constant thought that the fickle hand of fate would throw a connecting rod through the engine block at the last track event. It was great to stand up in front of the entire One Lap community to receive our award, but I think what was more satisfying was the personal recognition we got from some of the folks I had admired for years. Guys like Roy Hopkins, Mike Hickman, the Alghrim brothers and the Corcoran family. Icons of One Lap all of them. Even Mark Davia and his codriver/mechanic Drew Wikstrom congratulated us on the car and some better than average driving.

The trophy shot.		Accepting the trophy.

So as Sam and I took the long drive home after the awards banquet, I couldn’t help but evaluate this year’s performance and think about next year’s goals. Would a top ten finish be too lofty a goal? What if I’d done better on the skidpad events and not boned the 3rd session at VIR? What if it had not rained at Roebling Road? The event certainly was what it was and anything can happen. The one conclusion that I made was that there is a great deal of improvement that can be made, and looking back over the week there were places where we left allot of points on the table. One thing was certain though; Sam and I had achieved something truly great, a stellar performance in an international event on a national stage.

Sam and I rolled into his driveway unceremoniously at about 7 AM after driving all night. We unpacked his stuff and I was on my home. As I prepare for the wave of normal life to wash over the events of the last week, all I could think of was crawling into bed.

The End