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Lisa Devlin Arken's Racing DiaryLabor Day Race
Hey there everyone! I'm once again doing the race report from the last race right before the next one. Oh well... The last race was over Labor Day weekend at Thunderhill. This was only my second race at Thunderhill and, if you remember, the last race was on very old tires, so I was looking forward to making big strides in speed. The last time I was at Thunderhill, my best time was a 2:05. This time, I was determined to not only get under 2:00, but I was also determined to win. This race was sponsored by the Racing Driver's Club (RDC), and since I'm a board member, I had the chance to get my car on the event t-shirt. When we got to the track and went to register, there was the event shirt with my car on it - cross-eyed cow and all! Pretty cool. I bought a bunch of 'em. Andy even bought one, but his was modified - it had orange racer's tape over my car. He swears he bought it like that, but I have my suspicions... Practice went great. I was running the fastest in the class and was turning in consistent 1:56's and 1:57's. I was especially happy since it was very hot and the track was very slow. It came to qualifying and everything just came together. It took a few laps to get by a slower Formula Mazda, but when I got some clear track, I turned a couple of hot laps that I knew were as fast as I was going to go. Sure enough, when the qualifying results came out, I had qualified fourth overall out of 20 and on the pole for DSR! My first pole and I was pretty excited! My qualifying time was a 1:55.2 and Jim was right behind me with a 1:55.9. Bob was a little further back and Andy had clutch problems and had to do another motor swap, so he'd missed qualifying. I haven't been doing too well on starts, so I spent the rest of the day and evening visualizing a perfect start. I was going to be in the second row, but I was going to be behind a Formula Atlantic that was going to be gone when the green flag flew, so it was almost the same as being in the front. I did have a great start and moved into third overall with Jim hot on my tail. I maintained my position until turn 14/15 when Jim passed me in a bunch of oil that some car had put down in the previous race. The race was on and from that point, we diced the whole time. I was faster in the turns and he was faster in the straights (I still have that stock motor). His tires were starting to go away and with a few more laps and me pushing him, I only had to wait for him to make a mistake. Then the last lap signal came out, and I figured I was going to have to do something drastic if I wanted to win, and basically I had nothing to lose. I tried a pass on the outside of Turn 3, and missed. I finally got him with a pass on the outside of Turn 5 in the downhill, off-camber sweeper and took the line in Turn 6. I had him at that point, except for the horsepower thing. He caught me in Turn 8, which is a full throttle kink. When I went to turn in, he was right there next to me. I wasn't about to let up, but I was at least a car width off the apex, so inevitably I went two wheels off on the outside. I still wasn't about to lift. Jim saw that I was serious and backed off (he later referred to this as a "check your shorts" moment) so I got Turn 9. Then I had him through Turns 10, 11 and the esses, and he missed a shift in the straight before Turn 14. He was back far enough that I allowed myself the luxury of a fast line through the Turn 14-15 complex, and came out full throttle onto the front straight. Coming onto the front straight, I checked my mirrors and he was two car lengths back. I put my foot down as far as it would go and focused on the hill at the end of the straight. As we went under the checkered flag I became aware that he was right there, but there was really nothing I could do. I was in top gear and I was flat out and just holding on until the last possible second that I had to brake to miss the hill. Neither one of us knew who had actually won until we came in. They waved me up to take the checkered flag and the victory lap... Then when I went to help out in T&S, I was greeted with "you didn't win, you know". No, I didn't know. Turns out that on the official finish line, Jim had me by inches... This finish clinched second place in the championship for me. At this point, I have a very slim chance of winning the championship, which will be decided this weekend, Sept. 25 & 26, at Sears Point. I'll let you know.
To send a letter to Lisa, email to Lisa Devlin Arken Check out the Distant Thunder archives for previous entries from Lisa Devlin Arken's racing diary
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--Lisa Devlin Arken
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