Grand Prix Road Trip

I was a bit on the fence about going to Summit Point for the SCCA Majors this weekend, not so much because I didn’t want to go, but more so because of my limited transportation options at the moment (too many broken cars in the driveway). But I bit the bullet and said screw it, jumped in the Jeep and went… thanks to a little encouragement from my buddy Tim and a timely reminder from another friend Richard.

The drive down was quite excellent actually, since I was babying the Jeep I stuck to the speed limit, well… actually 60mph which was well below the speed limit south of the Mason Dixon line. Got great gas mileage and arrived at the track just in time for registration. Another beautiful part about using the Jeep, with the rear seats folded down, it was my camping spot for the weekend, and with a bunch of blankets and pillows – a comfortable one at that. But enough about the car and the road trip. The racing was COOL!

This being a National event, some of the best regional drivers came out to put the pedal to the metal. They didn’t disappoint. The racing was remarkably clean, but you’d expect it to be considering pretty much all the competitors own their own vehicles and causing a spectacular crash is a big hit on the wallet. Though we did have several good crashes at my station. Everyone walked away but tempers flared. Had to whistle and yell at one driver at the top of my lungs because he kept on coming close to the track’s edge after he was crashed out signalling profanities at the driver that caused the incident.

My station for the weekend was a bird cage between turns 3 and 5. A fantastic blue flagging spot that was advertised as a great black flag station, though we only used the meatball once. I’m glad I got to switch my station assignments with my buddy Tim, because the original station I was assigned to was quite crowded and relied on a busy rotation focusing a lot on working safety rather than flagging. Instead I had a great conversation with an experienced corner worker from the Nelson’s Ledges track region, that had a lot of funny stories to share.

Camping at the track also meant hanging out with all the corner workers after the racing, and having CouchSurfed before every time I visited Summit Point, its an experienced I got for the first time. Tim was sporting his cool new Sponsor A Flagger t-shirt from Jessie, and we got to walk around the paddock chatting up various competitors which was all very down to earth. All in all, a great weekend!