One Lap of America May 6 to May 13, 2006
Article provided by David Goodman.

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

Monday May 8, 2006, Day 3
No Problem Raceway is a nice flat, fast track just west of New Orleans. I came down and practiced with some friends about a month prior to the start of this one lap so I was hoping for a good performance.

My first run I made several mental mistakes the most prevalent of which is that I continue to turn the car in way too early in my turns. I didn't feel good, the car didn't feel good, pretty much nothing felt good.

My friend Ron Adee in the Viper came over and asked me if there was something wrong with the car because it looked like I was driving a parade lap. Ron tells it like it is and I don't mind because he is the best driver I know and he is always happy to help you improve your skills. I told him I thought it was all in my head, I'm just having a really hard time getting used to the car. The second session wasn't much better and after a long cell phone conversation with Rick from Audubon Performance, we decided that we needed to loosen the rear sway bars even further.

The 717 mile ride to Roebling Road outside of Savannah, GA started off well, we got a an early start coming out of No Problem and it looked like we were going to get some good sleep once we got to Georgia. Around 2:00 AM somewhere in Florida we experience the low point of our trip so far. On top of my unsettled driving, and problems with the handling of the car, coming off an exit to refuel the gearbox stuck in fourth gear. After some work we were able to get it out, but when we got back on the highway fourth gear would not engage properly and simply popped out of gear once you selected it. Hoping it was a simple linkage adjustment, we stopped at the next exit and I made several attempts to correct the problem, nothing worked.

Since it was late and we needed to press on we got back on the highway and were able to use fourth gear by holding the stick to prevent it from popping out. This was bad; I knew I needed fourth to continue to be able to beat Bob Murray and his Datsun, not to mention what a wicked pain in the ass it was going to be driving this thing all the way home in third gear. VIR, Roebling Road, Road America are all tracks where I need fourth gear on the long straights. Sam and I began strategizing as to how many points we needed to maintain our overall lead in Vintage Foreign, while coming in second class for the remaining events.

We rolled into Pooler, Georgia around 3:30 AM and checked into the hotel. We had to change hotel rooms twice because they stunk so bad we could barely breathe. As I closed my eyes on this day I was happy to be done with it. continue>