It’s been said racing around the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is like riding a roller coaster.
With its up-and-down elevation changes, the famed “Keyhole” and “The Carousel,” this natural terrain road course offers every challenge an aspiring race driver would want.
This past weekend in the F1000 and F2000 races at Mid-Ohio, it was certainly a rollercoaster ride of experience.
With a stacked group of talent in both divisions, it was going to be my next great test in racing. I have competed at Mid-Ohio before in a USF2000 car, Skip Barber F4 and a Volkswagen GTI TCR car, so I was already familiar with the course.
Mid-Ohio is one of the most technical and challenging tracks in any condition, especially wet conditions because of how slippery and treacherous it can get. I had moderate success in the Volkswagen during an AER endurance in the past when I developed confidence in running on a wet track.
Because of my success in F1000 and F2000, I was confident that I could sweep the weekend at Mid-Ohio.
With two practice sessions in both cars, that meant plenty of track time on Friday. By the end of the day, even with used tires, I was on top of the timesheets for both divisions.
With restored confidence heading into the qualifying races on Saturday and Sunday, I gained a great deal of knowledge from my driver coach for the weekend, James Davison. He coached me at the beginning of my formula career for a few weekends in the Lucas Oil Series.
Davison is an Indy 500 veteran for Byrd Racing and was pleased with my progress as a driver.
That boosted my confidence.
The first qualifying session for the F2000 car was in the wet, but I was the only car in the session that crossed the start/finish line twice. Everyone else drove off the track or spun.
The session was halted and I got the pole based on my first practice speed.
In F1000 qualifying, the session was dry and I set fast time to start on the pole.
Unfortunately, in F2000, starting on the pole meant little because I was immediately passed by F2000 national champion Michael Varacin. He was a full car-length ahead of me before I reached the first corner.
No matter how well I braked or cornered, he beat me on the straights. The only passing zone I could use was “The Carousel,” which is turn 12.
After several unsuccessful attempts to pass the leader, we made contact at the apex and both went off course. We untangled and continued as the race leaders.
I made one final attempt to pass on the inside, but he had defended right in the middle of the track. He realized that was the only card I could play.
I got on the brakes even harder to avoid hitting him but ended up half-spinning myself out. This time I was overtaken by a couple cars. Despite having battled for the lead the entire race, I ended up finishing fourth because of what seemed like an inadequacy in my car’s straight-line speed.
My F1000 race had a similar tune at the start. I lost my lead before we even got to the first corner because of straight-line speed. I regained the position after a battle with Reilly Harris where I had to make a couple passes to make the move stick.
I ended up winning by a 12 seconds over my Arrive Drive Motorsports teammate Tommy Cadwalader.
The second qualifying session for both the F1000 car and F2000 car was on a wet track. That was awesome because I was looking forward to doing some true wet driving.
But in the F2000 qualifying session, we were black-flagged as soon as we went out. We were black-flagged a second time before I was actually able to make a couple of laps before the end of the session in second place.
The F1000 qualifying session started in the wet before the track started to dry and the dry line slowly became more and more feasible.
Me and my teammate, Cadwalader, went blow for blow, trading fast laps until it came down to the final lap.
He beat me by a tenth of a second.
My only solace was that it was a great learning experience and that Cadwalader started gaining true pace once the track started drying. When it was wet, I seemed to be in a league of my own.
The F1000 race was first up on Sunday. Cadwalader used a smart tactic at the start of the race to get everyone starting in first gear out of sync, including me. Reilly took the lead from third starting position.
I passed Reilly on the outside of turn two the next lap. From there it was smooth sailing, with Reilly dropping out of the race and Cadwalader struggling to keep pace. I won by nearly 9 seconds.
The F2000 race followed shortly thereafter. I had a great start to the race, passing Austin Hill for the lead in turn four.
Jean Trahan caught me in a car that was very similar to Michael Varacin’s. He caught me on the straights and in the brake zones while I was struggling with my car’s setup.
The car was looser than I’d ever felt it. Trahan passed me in turn four.
Eventually I built the confidence to brake late enough to match Trahan, but I was still down on horsepower to challenge him into any corners.
I ended up finishing only 3 seconds behind the winner.
Upon reflection, it was definitely possible that I could win the race just by having my braking zones figured out.
The weekend as a whole, I could have been the best driver on the F2000 and F1000 grids. That is something I would have never dreamed of one year ago, or even six months ago.
The coaching I received from Davison confirmed some of the presumptions that have been growing in the back of my mind, that I hesitated to confirm out of sheer unwillingness to put myself on some pedestal.
However, these results don’t change the fact that every weekend brings new competition and new challenges. These are challenges that have to be overcome with my skill and ability.
I have to maintain and build upon that through hard work and perseverance.