Cindi Lux
Where did the year go?
Our second-to-last race was held at a brand-new motorsports facility in New Jersey. Just put this thought into your mind … racing in the middle of a construction zone on the freeway. Yep, that is what it was like … lots of dirt! All we were missing were those guys/gals with the bright orange vests with the stop or slow sign in the middle of the road. Needless to say, it was a little premature to have a professional road race there. But since it was the first time the World Challenge Series had raced here, I knew I had to try and get an advantage somehow on my fellow competitors. So I traveled up to this track a week early to get some time hopefully before other drivers. I had arranged via a buddy of mine to use his race car for the day to practice on the track. It turned out to be a wise move.
All went according to plan, we unloaded the Mopar® Viper and I was ready to rock and roll and throttle up on the track. I was immediately one of the fastest cars on track that race weekend so we were feeling pretty good. But then the weather gods decided to open up the skies for the next two days and it just rained non stop. I had a meeting with our team and we decided to take a much different approach to the race weekend from what we normally do. We decided to be slightly more conservative on our race setup on the chassis. Meaning the Mopar Viper would be fairly good in the dry and or the wet conditions. This kind of sucked because we normally would roll the dice and setup the car for one condition and hope for the best. But with our last race at Road Atlanta a few days after New Jersey, we had to be smart and keep the car in one piece.
But I don’t think the Aston Martin team got the “memo” on being smart in this race. On the second lap in turn one, the Aston Martin pulled the biggest “bone head” move of the year and hammered our car in the braking zone. He decided to brake so late in this particular corner that he wasn’t going to even make the turn and luckily for him, I was there and he smacked into the right front of our car. WHAM! Now, I was ticked for two reasons: 1) for knocking me out of the race and 2) for damaging our hotrod for the next race. I have to admit, it was tough not to walk over to the Aston martin camp and give them a small piece of my mind on what happened.
Finishing up the racing season at Road Atlanta was icing on the cake. This facility is just awesome. While the guys were prepping the race car, I was able to sneak out for a few hours and visit a local high school. I am part of a group called Racers Who Care, Inc. We help speak at various agencies on goal setting and what it takes to get there in life. So I hung out with 120 high school students for a couple of hours. It was a great experience and I always enjoy so much doing these talks.
The final race at Road Atlanta was excellent. We ended the year with another Top 10 finish. That makes five Top-10 finishes and one Top-5 finish for the year. Not too bad for a second year team in this series. I know that we raised a few eyebrows from other teams who have been in this business for a long time. They know we are coming on strong. After the race, we attended the Awards Banquet for World Challenge. I must admit, I have been to my fair share of awards banquets in my racing career and thank goodness these are totally different. We had a ball that evening.
So now I am back in Portland, Ore., catching my breath and sleeping in my own bed. I have to admit it’s nice to be home for a while. However, it’s been four days since our last race and already my mind is going 100 mph thinking about next year. There is no time to slow down. I think once it’s in the blood, you live and breathe this sport.
Being a part of Mopar carries extra responsibilities but also provides a ton of motivation. Striving to bring out the best in not only myself but all the people on our team is something I thrive on. It’s a huge challenge. But this challenge can never be conquered. It’s all about digging deep and thinking outside of the box to find new ways. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I wish all my fellow Mopar drivers the very best who are still competing in '08. Looks like I will be attending the SEMA show next month which will be a lot of fun. So please stop by the Mopar booth during the autograph session and say hello!