What an exciting and successful weekend June 7-9, 2024, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin! This is one of the very best race tracks in our beautiful country. A 4+ mile long track on 650 acres of America's heartland. I was excited to have friends and family from Scottsdale and Seattle in for the event. The weather forecast was for mild temps and sunny skies (this being the Midwest, more on that later!).
My primary focus for this weekend was to move up in the championship fight. We entered the weekend in third after our result in Indianapolis Raceway Park at the end of May.
BATTLING THE WEATHER IN QUALI
The first surprise of the weekend was waking up Friday to significant wind and rain, which would influence all the series and schedules throughout the day. The long main straight is protected from the wind but when we turn right at turn one wind lashes the car broadside. Wind affected our cars in both qualifying sessions. We ended up 6th and 8th. We were confident with some setup adjustments we will be better in the races.
Indycar practice in the rain.
RACE ONE
Saturday morning our #20 car started sixth and through the race moved up to finish fourth. The car had some braking issues so we made the decision to change brake fluid and bleed the brake system before the second race.
RACE TWO
The afternoon's race two provided the most "excitement" of the weekend. Starting in P8, as our cars entered the downhill toward turn five a car behind me went off into the grass and then reentered the track on an angle, driving over my front wing and tire. He then T-boned the car directly to the right of me taking both of them out of the race. In this melee I fell back several spots. During the yellow I assessed how the car was handling given the damage. I decided to go for it 100% and worked my way back to fourth by the end of the race.
These two fourth place finishes meant moving up to third in the championship run. Good motivation for the Pabst engineers to repair the damage before Sunday's last race.
RACE THREE
Sunday brought out the promised fine weather. Perfect. Starting the race in P5 we were able to get fourth on the first lap and then third. Although we were not strong enough to challenge for second or first, the third place podium finish was a great way to finish the weekend.
THAT'S A WRAP
Most importantly we moved into second in the USF Pro 2000 championship. Pabst had a great weekend with three podium finishes.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE
Over the weekend I reconnected with several people in the Indycar series, and I was invited to join two teams for a test session at the Milwaukee Mile following the Road America race. I got to experience being on the timing stand plugged into the audio feed between the driver and team members. And also working with a team spotter.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The upcoming July 4 weekend finds us at another amazing Midwest track, Mid Ohio in Lexington. I think you know what our focus will be!
Your support means the world to me, thank you as always.
ROAD AMERICA MEDIA
Watch the races:
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