The doctor let me off the crutches just in time to drive 14 hours, with Alice, to Miami and the Homestead "roval" course. That's when you run the length of the oval, then dive into the infield for some twisties. My left foot was still pretty swollen, and I had to modify one of my old racing shoes and add a metal plate so I could stand to push the clutch. It juuuust worked well enough. I started missing some downshifts which would throw the car into a spin in the braking area for turn 1. But, thanks to the iRacing simulator, I knew exactly what the track looked like. I scored a second place Saturday. I was behind the leader, but we didn't get the white flag, so by the time I knew we were on the last lap, it was too late. Sunday brought some carb problems which caused the car to bog down in left turns, but I executed a nice pass at the finish and got second by about 2 feet.

Next was Lowe's, in Charlotte. We ran the roval course again, using almost all the oval, plus a newly-paved infield. The only Vee I had to race was running a different series, so all I had to do was finish to get first place. The strategy was to save the equipment, but since the other Vee was a friend who I trust on the track, we diced around a bit. Saturday I passed him at the line for a photo-finish win. Sunday we both decided to do a "1 and done" qualifying lap. Even so, we managed to run over a possum (another car hit it first) which tore the splitter off my nose. Wonder if that ever happened to Jimmie Johnson there? I decided to pull in early after completing enough gentle laps to win.

Now the scenario for the championship is this: If I put a wheel on the track this weekend at Barber in Birmingham, I qualify for the national championship Runoffs (details at scca.com). If I finish at least 3rd in both races, I also win the South Eastern (sic) Championship Series (or "SECS", and yes, we started pronouncing it like you'd think) points championship outright, also. Some race for the money, I'm racing for the SECS!

The Runoffs are at Daytona this year! Wish me luck!

I've got some Hero Cam videos from both tracks. I'll upload them when I can and post links here.

I do have a GoPro, but may not use it at Daytona-too much drag. It is such an aero track that I'll be taping over seams in the body!

Sunday was a rain race, and in Group "Formula Everything", or "F-All", we made a bit of a mess, I'm afraid. We were about 50/50 between rain tires and slicks. I was the only Vee on rains. One competitor came by the paddock and said "You're running rains?" I replied, "You're not?" I think I made a good choice. It was wet enough for rooster tails. I made a good start and was leading into turn 1, where a winged car spun in the valley between 1 and 2, but continued. Lap 3 a Continental spun and stalled at turn 4, which caused 4 laps of double yellow, then a black flag when they had a hard time hooking it out. I lost the gap I'd built up on second place, and he got a run on me into 5, but we both ran up on another Continental (on slicks, I presume) and the Vee spun, while I passed the Conti on the outside. After the 3rd lap of green, we'd run out of time and the checkers came out. Win, SECS points champion, and qualified for the Runoffs! A wet, but good weekend!