Race Report 2000

WGGT Series, Race 2 - Charlotte

portrait of Terri Hundertmark

Wow, I didn’t have much time to prepare for this race. It seems like I just got back from Sebring and I was on the track again. My local sponsor for the weekend was Heafner-Itco a large Michelin Distributor. This made the weekend a lot of fun having local people there to encourage me. I knew that the week would be packed with activities and adventure but I didn’t think it would be so crazy.

My week started on Wednesday with the promoters test day. Testing started fairly well with the same old weird feeling first time out. I didn’t know the track other than studying friend’s maps and listening to advise. I knew that we were using Charlotte Motor Speedways NASCAR oval and the infield road coarse. When we got there on Wednesday, we discovered that we were also to negotiate a temporary tire chicane that was setup between NASCAR turn 2 and turn 3 to reduce our speed on the high bank oval. Little did we know what we were up against. This little chicane caused havoc to every group and class of cars competing this weekend.

a strong session, until...

My second session out on Wednesday was very delayed because of the accidents and mayhem that the chicane caused. I had a strong session right up to the point of locking my tires up and smashing into the chicane myself. I had to come in early because the cowling was dragging and rubbing a tire.

Wednesday got much better. I had a very successful Racing For Kids hospital visit at Presbyterian Hembry Children’s Hospital. I visited with about ten kids and their parents, handed out autographs and gave away Michelin Bibendum Key Chains. We took Polaroid photos and laughed. It was really a wonderful visit.

Thursday mornings practice session was shortened because of an accident in the chicane again. We only ran a few laps. During the second session I started figuring out my car. The car that I drew for the week was working fair. I had gotten the brakes adjusted better than the car that I drove at Sebring and I was working on trying different tire pressures to get the car

signature series chicane...

to handle better in the bowl (turn 5 which was a downhill left hand turn that led on to the oval at turn 2). This turn was my Achilles’ heal of the track and one of the most important. I ran through turn 5 perfectly and flew up on the oval. I wanted to get a good shot out of the chicane so I braked hard and as I saw the gap in the chicane I gassed it. The car pushed to the right a foot and punted four tires out of the way. Ouch! This time I fixed it right. It opened up the chicane and there wasn’t a single accident the rest of the day. A reporter joked that it was the "Terri Hundertmark -Signature Series Chicane" and they left it that way for the rest of the weekend.

Friday mornings qualifying was ok. I was in 9th position, which I felt happy with. I had qualified 12th at Sebring. I kept struggling with traffic and the bowl and in the second session my time was better but I dropped to 10th.

Race morning was delayed like all of our testing sessions. Our race was cut short because of the TV schedule for the Trans-Am race and the ALMS race after that. We had a 30-minute race so I knew I needed to run hard and not make any mistakes.

My start of the race was ok. I was worried because I was gridded on the outside, a bad position to be in on this track but I did well and I maintained my position. I stayed close to the train of cars and pushed hard. One by one I pushed my way into 5th place. During the middle of the race my car started pushing through the bowl and I got passed. I stayed on her bumper because I wanted to learn her line through that turn. I tried to apex the corner later and spun my car in the bowl. I was passed by two cars by the time I entered back on the track. A few laps later, a car up front crashed and brought out a yellow. On the restart a car from the back flew past me in turn one. I pushed harder than ever and started turning laps two seconds faster than I qualified on Friday. I passed another car and was working on the car that passed me on the restart. Another yellow came out and unfortunately the white flag (last lap) flew at the same time. The race was over, I had placed 7th.

I learned a lot this race. Patience in a sedan is so important. I am looking forward to my next Women’s Global GT race, Sears Point in Sonoma, CA in July.

--Terri Hundertmark

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