Bruce had an eventful stint. It seems that everything mostly went well, but about 30 minutes into his second fuel load, Bruce called to say that he had been punted by the #62 Atlanta Motorsport Group car. This car has 2 drivers that both Bruce and I (well, and a ton of other people) have had issues with in the past on it’s roster, so it wasn’t a huge surprise to me.
It turns out that it was neither of those two that were the driver when the 62 car lost control under the brakes while attempting a pass. Bruce had just passed another car and the AMG car made a try at the double – like in a sprint race.
One of the things I like about NASA is that they actually do something about sketchy driving. I was the lucky guy that got to fill out the mandatory incident report. While doing that, one of my “favorite” drivers of all time, Marc Hoover, wanted to give me his opinion of what had happened – I’m not sure it’s possible for me to care less about what one guy thinks. Marc has way more mouth than skills, and I informed him that 1) we had been through this before, and 2) I wasn’t driving the car so he could save it, and 3) that his claim of the cars having been side by side was in conflict with both the damage to the left rear of our car and the corresponding damage to the right front of his. Marc thinks that since at that moment his car was “faster” (perhaps because it wasn’t slowing down for the corner) that his obligation to make a safe pass is not so important – nevermind that we are in the same class and 2 laps ahead….
It turns out that I even have an example of Marc’s excellent car control skills and judgement from an SCCA national at Thunderhill a couple of years ago. Bravo, big guy.
Marc is driving the white car in the following video.
Jonny Davies is now in the car and it is getting very dark. We are running second to The Gorilla with the AMG car on the next lap behind us. It is our plan to give those guys as much room as they need to get around without hitting us again. It’s a 1,500 minute race – and this ain’t “Days of Thunder” – even though it kind of sounds the same…
Brian, The team is so lucky to have you. The blog is terrific and your racing experience is invaluable! ie: the “punt”. We are monitoring closely. Can’t get NASA timing yet. Cheers to all!!!!!!!!!! Shred
Good luck to you guys! Dave