One Lap of America May 5 to May 12, 2007
Article provided by David Goodman

Introduction & Car Preparation
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8

Day 8, Saturday, May 12, 2007
One more event, the Dry Skid Pad Challenge and the 2007 One Lap would be over. We were in decent position both from a class perspective and overall perspective. Leading by five in class points, the Murray/Hubbard team would have to win this event by more than 18 overall positions to win. Overall we were sitting 13th. Not too shabby.

We had breakfast with George and Steve then drove to the tire rack. We had plenty of time before the run because they had to take a group photo and they start the competition with the last car in points and move up to first. I jacked the car up and adjusted the sway bars to my liking and then went to consult with Brian Smith in the Hennessy Viper about tire pressure. Brian is a Michelin test driver and knows a hell of allot about tires. I adjusted the tire pressure based on his input and then waited for my run. Because the Datsun was higher in the standings they would go first. If timed properly we would again get an instant knowledge of who won.

As the cars drove by to line up, I jumped out of the car and set the pressures again. All this waiting was really getting to me. The skid pad is simply not my best event. I think people around me could sense my apprehension, because no less than 6 people came up to discuss the best way to get around the track. This made me even more unsettled. What should be an unbelievably simply task, driving around a circle as fast as you can is made remarkably complex in this event. The reason is that there is such a small margin between doing well and doing crappy that everything comes into play - suspension adjustments, tire pressure, driver skill, etc.

As I sat in line waiting for my turn, I heard Bob Murray’s result - .907 G announced on the loudspeaker. A few minutes later I was lined up, ready to go for my run. The green flag waved and in less than a minute it was all over. Two laps in the counter-clockwise direction and two clockwise. As I drove off the course I looked to my left to see George and Steve running towards the car. Knowing they had the answer, I reached out my hand and gave the thumbs up/thumbs down sign. The return sign was four enthusiastic thumbs up. I knew right away that Neil and I had won the Vintage Foreign class for 2007. Words can’t describe my relief and pleasure as they reached the car with healthy congratulations. “You beat him Dave” George yelled, “you turned .96 Gs to his .90 Gs – the announcer even mentioned that was good for best in class”. A wave of satisfaction spilled over me as I drove the car back to the parking area and prepared to reset the suspension back to its road configuration. Bob and Matt, true sportsman that they are, came over to congratulate Neil and I. I could see the disappointment in Bob’s eyes; he had worked tremendously hard over the last year to get the victory, only to be denied the chance by an equipment failure.

The rest of the afternoon is mostly a blur except for seeing Brock Yates JR. in the lobby of the Tire Rack about an hour after the end of the skid pad event. He was holding a stack of papers that I correctly guessed were the final results. “Hey, how did we do Brock?” I asked. “How did you want to do?” He said. “Tenth”. I said. After taking a short look at the top sheet, he replied: “Twelfth is better.” So that was it, we had missed our overall goal by 2 spots, and a grand total of 23 positions over the course of the entire week. Wow, I thought, if only I had held it together at O’Reilly. In the grand scheme of things, twelfth was pretty good.

The awards banquet was held in a large tent at the far end of the Tire Rack parking lot. Whether it’s the fatigue or the withdrawal from a weeks worth of adrenaline, I’ve always found it to be fairly anticlimactic. This year was a little different though as I walked out of there swearing I would be back as opposed to resolutely declaring my intention never to return.

With the car packed we said our goodbyes and rolled out of town around four PM. We drove through the night arriving home around 7 AM. Another One Lap in the record books.

The End