Lemons Race: 4 Weeks to Go!

Who needs a steering wheel?

In four weeks the Bunch of Idiots will be racing at Carolina Motorsports Park once again! Over a Saturday and Sunday, the team will be on track for a total of 14 hours, with four drivers taking turns behind the wheel. With Kyle, Brian, and Luke, we have a lot of experience and a previous class winning group. Unfortunately for them, I'm driving this time too, so as the oldest, slowest, shortest, and least experienced driver this time, heck, I'll have more fun than all of them put together, here's why: 

I've got a lot to learn, and that's kind of the first fun part of all this automotive driving we've been doing. Learning a new skill, or having a hobby, or just plain Ricky Bobby "I wanna drive fast" is kind of the main point. For instance, I've got to make sure I know how to operate all the controls in the car. Right now, I've got some pointers from Brian, along with some photos to get familiar with the car controls: 

What in the Sam Hill is goin' on here?
What do all those buttons do?

OK, that doesn't sound too hard, since I'll have some time to check out the car, and more importantly drive on track Friday before racing Saturday and Sunday. However, a couple of key things to practice are safety related, so I need to practice strapping into the race seat AND unstrapping and getting out in case of any incidents on track. I also need to be familiar with the safety off switch, radio, and the fire suppression system. This reminds me of one of those good-to-know guidelines of track driving: 

    PART ONE OF THE RULE: if you stop on track, do NOT get out of the car. 

    PART TWO OF THE SAME RULE: "UNLESS YOU ARE ON FIRE", then GET OUT!

Little things like that are nice to know! Kind of like my Army mine-field awareness training, which consists of "if you are trapped in a mine-field, how long do you have to get out? The answer is "THE REST OF YOUR LIFE." 

So, with 4 weeks to go I think the team is set to have a good weekend, and I'm focusing on what I need to do. I've driven on this track before, so I should be able to not get lost between the start and finish lines!