Wow, what a weekend! Some great racing but a couple of scary hard hits, too.
John G - so sorry to see that beautiful 99 into the wall. Glad to see you were OK and expect to see you out again at the first event.
Geri - Damn, girl! When people say "you should really fly through the esses" they don't mean that you should actually FLY through the esses! So relieved to see you walk away from what was one of the scariest wall strikes I've ever seen. We'll get your car back together over the off season, don't you worry!
Now, on to the congrats.
Kyle - you're the real deal and was happy to see you put together a pair of races where you were there at the end! Get used to the long walk up to the top step of the podium, as I think you'll get to do it a lot more next year!
Dan and Charlie - you guys had some AWESOME battles mixing it up in the top 3. I thoroughly enjoyed watching some really aggressive but CLEAN and FAIR competitive driving and passing from you guys.
Jaime - Gotta get that car figured out. You've got the speed, but you're not going to get to the front without a car you have confidence in. Sorry about that second race. Heartbreaking to go out early in a 50 minute race like that. Can I use that video for the Art of Road Racing school?
And last but certainly not least, our 2011 champ, Craig Evans! Even with significant car problems, he found his way into another car to BE THERE at the end and clinch the championship. This probably wasn't the weekend you envisioned to wrap up the year and the championship, but after the CLINIC you put on two weekends ago, I wouldn't worry about it. It was pretty entertaining watching you drift through T8a every single lap. You developed a nice rubbered-in groove...
Great season, drivers! We're already planning 2012 and will be doing a lot more of the longer races and mini-enduros. I'm advocating announcing those events before the season starts to try and attract more cross-over drivers from SCCA. Would be great to have a 30-40 car SM field for a 50 minute race! Start campaigning with your SCCA buddies now.
Hope to see many of you at the 25 in a few weeks.
Cheers,
Dean