Well, now that I am back home and my computer is finally fixed I can tell everyone how my Daytona weekend went. As some of you may already know, I checked into my hotel and when I opened my laptop, I found that my operating system had crashed. It’s taken me a week to get back to you about my weekend so I apologize for not posting sooner.
As for my weekend, it was close to perfect but not quite. It started off on Friday with a practice session where I tested everything and everything was working well. Then came the qualifying session where I set a new track record (for my kind of car) and qualified 1st in class. After qualifying, JohnA showed up and we chatted a while and got caught up. Then he did something very nice and took a trip over to Publix and bought me a turkey sub sandwich for lunch. Thank you, John! I showed him around the track and told him how my upcoming 2-hour endurance race would be planned from both inside and outside the car.
My 2-hour endurance race was anything but perfect but we did manage to pull out the class win for our Roadfood.com team. I decided to stretch our fuel mileage by only filling up once with gas during the race whereas all of my competitors had to fill up twice. If I had to race one more lap, I would have run out of gas on the track. After the race, I found that my back was so sore that I could barely move. This was due to the fact that I was buckled down inside me car incorrectly (one shoulder belt was tighter than the other causing my back to be crooked). I had planned a trip to Gene’s Steakhouse after the race but unfortunately could not make it. Instead I opting for takeout at Krystal. Those 10 Krystal burgers and fries were great in my room. Early to bed…
Saturday started with a qualifying session where I learned that my car was not making the necessary horsepower to stay with my competitors. I learned this from none other than fellow Roadfooder SK_Bob. He noticed while watching me from one of the turns that my engine did not sound like it was pulling at high rpms. Turns out that he was exactly right! I was over 4 seconds a lap slower than the previous day. I was completely stumped as to why this was happening but I did what I could in my two races and ended up getting a 2nd Place and a 3rd Place respectively in each race. The best part of the day was being honored by fellow Roadfooders “MiamiDon”, “Baah Ben”, “SK_Bob” and “WhereGreggEats.com” who all came to the track to help support my efforts. Thanks guys. It REALLY meant a lot to me!
After a long day of racing came the best part of the weekend for me…..The Brickyard with my fellow Roadfooders! In all, there were 10 of us including Gregg, Ellen, Chuck, Don, John, Lou, Bob and Peg. The waitress, Lori was waiting for us and gave us the best seats in the house. As you can see from the pictures on other posts, we ordered a ton of grilled wings which was Gregg’s suggestion. For me personally, I loved them more than any wings I have had. I like fried wings and I did not know what to expect with the grilled wings but they were outstanding. Much better than fried IMHO. Thanks to Gregg (once again) I will never go to The Brickyard again and just order a burger. Now I have to get grilled wings as a starter and a burger for my entrée.
Everyone’s burger looked so good. I especially loved seeing how everyone liked their burgers prepared. Furthermore, I REALLY enjoyed talking with everyone about their posting experiences on Roadfood.com. I guess I am not the only one who has had some “interesting” experiences on here. Anyways, some of the guests had to leave after dinner but a few of us stayed around and shot the breeze around the bar for a while. I spend most of the evening talking with SK_Bob and his awesome wife, Peg (affectionately known at 3rd Turn Peg). Turns out that they are old racers themselves and even brought pictures to prove it. What a great couple! Gregg (wheregreggeats.com) is another person I have always wanted to meet. Turns out that this guy puts me to shame with his racing knowledge and experience. On top of that, he is very very well traveled and knows what and where to look for good eats. I loved getting to (finally) know him and talk about all the fun things he does in his life. Unfortunately, I was not able to talk to everyone in great detail because I was either very busy at the track or not seated next to them at dinner. I guess this means we are going to have to do this again, right?
The evening at The Brickyard was really special for me. The reason I did this was to get to know my fellow Roadfooders in the area. But I also came away with new friendships that will last a very long time. One of the best things about this “meat-up” was the fact that I now know I can turn to my friends with complete confidence when I need help with either food or their area of expertise. Getting to know these people on a personal basis was very rewarding in the sense that they all do different things in their lives and I can definitely learn a lot from them. In the end, it was ME that was treated to dinner. Here’s why;
JohnA – thank you for getting me such a great deal on my hotel and thank you again for buying me lunch on Friday. It definitely helped us win that race.
WhereGreggEats.com – thanks for introducing me to The Brickyard and most of all, thank you for coming all the way from central MA!
Ellen – Thanks for making the trip from NJ and also for posting those great pictures and reporting for the group.
MiamiDon – Thanks for driving up from south Miami and taking those fantastic pictures of me at the track. Means a lot!
SK_Bob – thank you very much for helping me at the track and going to another part of the track to hear my engine (or lack thereof). Thanks for bringing Peg too. She is awesome!
Baah Ben – thank you for showing so much interest in my kind of racing. Your questions were welcomed and intelligent.
Great to finally put a face to all the names. I can’t say when I will be back in town but I will certainly let everyone know. More to come when I have time…