Cindi Lux
Probably one of the sweetest calls I've ever had was in February or March when we received the opportunity to represent Mopar. It's kind of like Christmas in March. It’s kind of a double-edged sword … you’re excited, but it’s a huge responsibility. You've got to be careful with what you wish for because you have to live up to the expectations. The partnership with Mopar has put a breath of fresh air into my team. The car just rocks. I enjoy working with Mopar and the Mopar family is a class-act racing organization. They are very motivated and know how to run a motorsports program.
We went to Long Beach in April with our goal to place in the top-10. Getting through Long Beach without your fenders ripped off was pretty important to us. Then it was on to Salt Lake. The cool thing about Salt Lake is that I spend a lot of time there in the off-season teaching at a road racing school. After Long Beach we had a lot of momentum at our home track and qualified third in the event, and I took a career best fifth-place finish.
The season has truly been like a roller coaster. We pretty much plowed face first into the ground in the last three events. It has been frustrating, since many problems have been out of our control. They call it character building. I say “it sucks.” Every team goes through this, nobody likes it, but the teams that come out of it will really shine. It's a bittersweet pill. We have Mopar on the side of the car … on the other hand we have been having some freaky problems. We've got to turn this thing around. We did so well at the beginning of the season. We as a team can’t focus on the negative. We have to focus on what we do best. We have a great team and my husband has provided great support.
We are geared up for this weekend with the World Challenge coming to Belle Isle for the first time. With there not being any track time, it should be very entertaining. It’ll be a real crap shoot. It’s been great to hang out in Detroit and get to know the Mopar family better. And the whole Viper Owners Invitational (VOI) thing happening at the same time is something special. It's amazing having so many Viper owners here in Detroit. I had no idea until I attended a VOI what it was like.
I can tell you that the Belle Isle race is going to be physical. With the Viper being the heaviest car in its class, we’re going to have to get extremely physical. There is going to be some pushing and shoving. I think that is what the Viper fans want to see. They will definitely get their money’s worth.
