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

Saturday May 13, 2006, Day 8
The final day of competition was raw and damp from the rains the night before. The last event was the dry skid pad challenge at the Tire Rack. I thought it would be fun to have Sam run an event so I asked him if he was interested in finishing things up. To my surprise he declined saying he was more interested in seeing if we could improve our overall position in the standings. As opposed to years past they held the top 20 cars until the end and ran them in descending order. It was kind of fun to be part of the main event. Unfortunately instead of improving our final position with the skid pad I put in a mediocre showing and we dropped to a final overall rank of 20th.

As Sam and I packed the car and waited for the awards banquet to begin, some of the competitors were participating in the annual burnout show. This can be a lot of fun to watch, they basically take their cars out to the skid pad and try and roast the remaining rubber off their tires. Lots of tire squealing and smoke, it's always a crowd pleaser. There is always at least one competitor that actually burns right through the belts and blows the tire.

This year's banquet was held inside the Tire Rack warehouse because of the weather. It's typically a pretty informal event but this year it seemed even more so, surrounded by the sight and smell of thousands of brand new tires. Maybe it was the venue, the canceled drag races, or having been dumped on for the past two days, but this year's banquet seemed somewhat subdued.

After the banquet we took a few quick trophy shots and hit the road for the long drive home. Sam was anxious to spend Mother's Day with the family and I desperately wanted to get out of that car. We drove all night and I dropped Sam off at his house at around 5 a.m., and in another hour I was home. And so ends another successful One Lap of America. This one was a lot of work, non stop wrenching for over a year. Having successfully defended our Vintage Foreign championship, it looks like the goals for next year are a top 10 finish and another Vintage Foreign crown. How are we going to get that done? Maybe some engine work, a bump steer kit, and practice, practice, practice.

The End