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First Congrats to Preston, Selin and Chris for an awesome performance and well deserved podium!
Wow what a week!
We had Preston, Myself, Rich Astacio, Erik Stearns and Spencer Rutherford under our tent. Those five are covered by vastly different ages, personalities and all of us live in all different parts of the country. But while all of us worked our asses off all week, we all had a blast and all enjoyed each others company. At the end of the day, the racing is great but if you plan on being somewhere for 7-10 days, you better enjoy the people around you and we all had a blast. That coupled with the fact that we were paddocked across from the traveling circus that is Auto tecknik home of Bolanos,Charboneau, Labounty,Collum, The peoples champion and many others. It was a riot to see the difference in our camps.. We start at 7 am and try and leave by 5pm. They start at 5pm and try and leave by 7 am 
To say that the peoples Champion and Mullet man busted my chops relentlessly on what was definitely my most frustrating Runoffs or even normal weekend in the last 10-12 years is an understatement. Not any breaks from those guys, absolutely relentless! I really thought I was going to kill them several times. While I tried to put on a happy face and roll with the punches. First and foremost I am a competitor.. getting my ass handed to me worse every day, then only to be reminded daily about how bad I sucked and how it was likely time to retire as all the other cars were going good was tough! I'm sure lucky those SOB's "like" me All in good fun, but DAM!
Quick summary of my runoffs. I was fastest or top three in all my testing sessions, lost handling on the car badly and while working on the handling ( and driving) we started losing power as well and that went unnoticed as I attributed it to poor handling. I didn't realize this as I was convinced we just needed the handling as the car has been a beast for two years and dynoed off the charts before we left. At one point I was convinced I forgot how to drive .In the race we actually finally got the handling down and it was very apparent that we were down a few ponies as I could not draft past anyone. So as shocking as it may sound, I was actually pleased with 13th.
Thank god we teamed up with Preston as he was our only shot at a win or a podium. This kid is the real deal, his only fault is literally just being too nice. Of course I could help him in that department We had a very good car, no better than any of our others though and Preston took to the car, the track and our way of doing things like he had been with us for years. The guy just flat out got it done. I have become very friendly with Preston, his father Dan and the family over that last two or three years and this deal just fell into place. Dan didn't have the time to get Prestons car ready or get it to Indy and we had a car and space under the tent and they trusted us. It just worked in every way it possibly could. I am beyond proud of this kid, I literally teared up giving Preston and his dad a hug as I knew how special this was. If you could bottle that moment, that is what racing is all about for me, not all the other bullshit! So my most sincere congratulations and thanks to you guys!
The other guys in the camp ( unlike me) made improvements all week. Spencer Rutherford had great shot at a top five but contact at the start led to an early retirement. Watch out for this guy, he is coming! He is driving really well and his car is now completely up to the task. Rich Astacio made improvements all week but fell back like me on moving day. Erik Stearns in a new car moved forward after sorting the gremlins and got to a good starting position as well.
I also want to congratulate Matt Reynolds. The guy has not had a decent SM in a long time. We failed in getting his car up to speed with last minute power issues.. so I let him use my new VVT build that really was a week away from completion. He was able to showcase why he is an EP National champion. He was insode the top 5 all week in qualifying as well
I thought I had given away the National points championship with such a poor qualifying and Chris domination of qualifying. I was able to move up enough positions to retain my lead in the championship and win it! The first points title that I truly chased. Not the Runoffs title we all seek, but I'll certainly take it as it is representative of the year that I had and a worthy Championship by any measure.
It was a blast seeing so many of you screwballs! I really do enjoy my time at the track. If you can say that after the week I had, it is safe to admit that I have a real problem
BY THE WAY, even with all the shit talking... I salvaged my week by making sure I beat the peoples champ! Thank god for that! It would have been a VERY long off season!
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