Racing is so glamorous isn’t it? The sounds of Porsches, Ferraris and Corvettes mixing with the sights of short skirts, chrome and Patrick Dempsey’s hair. The smell of exhaust, sweat and champagne waft past as your feet pound the pavement and the sun pounds your skin. Yes, all this could have been yours this weekend… in Alton, Virginia.
What? You don’t know where Alton, Virginia is? It’s right next to Milton, North Carolina. Milton? That’s down the road from Danville, Virginia. C’mon, you’ve never been to Danville? Dude, there’s an Outback Steakhouse there!
And also really good pizza that may or may not make you sick. Hmmm… worth it?
Alton is the home of VIRginia International Raceway, where I spent the first weekend in October.
And I was OUT BAKED people! Look at these minion cupcakes one of our crew guy’s wives made for his birthday! A Twinkie on top of a cupcake is so Despicable.
It was the second-to-last race of the season, so people are getting a little stir crazy… sometimes just running into each other.
But we are more like mad scientists… we plot.
Did you know it’s possible to finish second in a race when you’re a second slower than the leaders? It takes practice.
Lots of pit stop practice.
So we practice.
And we cross our fingers that everything out of our control somehow goes according to plan.
The checkered flag dropped and we had not one, but two runner-up finishes. If you’re confused, let me explain that in the American Le Mans Series we have five different classes all racing together at the same time. So, it’s like if NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Trucks and ARCA all raced together. Our Porsche 911 GT3 RSR finished second in GT. Our ORECA FLM09 finished second in Prototype Challenge.
Wrangling four drivers that need water, their cell phone, someone to hold their helmet, their sunglass, their hat, to feed you quotes, to get to the airport… is a good problem to have.
The boys got rings instead of trophies at VIR and they also got medallions made from the iconic Oak Tree that used to stand in Turn 11, but fell in July. So it’s safe to say: everyone on that podium had wood.
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 
Just when I thought this one was going to be pretty tame… BAM… last line!
Nice!
-TM