Daytona Race Report

Daytona Race Report

14-hour Enduro -- the longest one yet!

Nick and Dan have had a great racing season -- monthly races at incredible tracks around the country.

Dan has had some great races and others where he's been frustrated at his driving, 

practiced a ton in the simulator and then drove really well the next time.

Nick's lap times are right at Pete's (their retired pro driver) and 

Dan has loved that they're racing together this season. Bonus that Nick's such a consistently fast driver!

Corey has been an incredible partner -- he's one of Dan's best friends, especially when they discovered they both love to race. He's fast. He's a great mentor for Nick,

and he totally embraced making Nick a part of the team even though it meant less stints for the other three (Corey, Dan and Pete).

Another crucial part of the team is Chris Stone, their coach, a young retired pro

who comes over a few times a week to coach them in the Sim.

And all the crew -- one who drives the truck cross-country with the two cars,

and the others who support during the race with mechanical, fuel and repairs.

Corey's wife, Dayna and I went to Daytona to watch, along with Courtney and Michael

(none of us have been to the other races this season).

Making the party even bigger, Dan's uncle and aunt live near Daytona and both were really excited for the chance to not only see the raceway, but watch a race as well.

And then they called their son-in-law in Utah who also loves racing, 

and he and his daughter came out too! 

The team arrived on Thursday to practice.

Friday was additional practice, but also to determine pole position by the fastest track times.

They started in 10th.

Pre-race we went to the pits and saw the car in position.

Also the garage and other car that can be used for parts, if needed.

Then up to the infield bleachers to watch the race start.

(Pete generally starts.)

Pete was planning on driving two 55 minute stints (gassing up in between the two.)

It's about 130* in the cars so the team wears cooling suits. But even so, it stays very hot.

Nick went to the trailer to get dressed and mentally prepped for his stint after Pete's.

The rest of us snuck up to the grandstands and boxes to get a different view of the track.

Dan with Al and Suzy:

Dan and Corey:

Nick's pre-race prep:

After one stint, Pete said it was way too hot in the cars to go for two,

so Nick jumped in and was off.

After an hour and his fuel stop, he was still feeling good and took another stint.

At the end, he felt his car start to yaw and seconds later really fight him.

He told the crew (they wear headsets and are in constant communication) he was coming into pit because something was wrong with the tire.

What was wrong was a tire blew...

Which is a lot like a bomb going off.

(This pic is after the race, after the sawed off a piece of the car and duct taped another.)

When Dan and Corey went to prep, the rest of us went to breakfast. 

We were planning on coming back to see a driver change,

then spend most of the day at the hotel and beach.

At night we'd return and watch the end of the race.

(It was 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m., so we had lots of time to watch.)

From the bleachers, we saw the car pass us, and then within minutes got a text from Dan that Corey had crashed. The cars are super well designed with safety devices, so even though he hit the wall going 150 mph, he was mainly sore from the seat belt locking up around his crotch.

Sadly, the car sustained a lot more damage and just like that, they were out of the race.

Dan was disappointed he didn't get a stint on race day. Of course he was.

But, seeing Nick race so well made up for a lot of that. It's almost just as good as being there yourself.

And he had two days of driving on the famous track leading up to race day.

Corey felt so bad that the race was over prematurely. 

But everyone took it in stride.

Everyone's pushing it as hard as they can and accidents can happen to anyone.

We hung out in the trailer all together, digesting what had happened, 

got to hear Chris' post-accident pep-talk to Corey 

("Be disappointed, but don't beat yourself up about it -- nothing constructive comes from that.")

And then we went back to the hotel, all of us changed our flights,

and by the time the race would have been ending, were on a flight back to New York.

Dan said, "Not the ending we wanted, but the experience of driving Daytona was incredible."