Day 7 - Pittsburgh International Race Complex

Today we were at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.  We arrived around 7:30am this morning; I especially liked the "Start your engines" sign at the entrance!

Today looked like it was going to be a pretty wet one, so it was a bit disconcerting getting up this morning knowing you'd be soaked and burying your stuff in a tarp burrito all day.  See example burrito below.  I guess it's more like a taco... that fell over... whatever.  :)

Brock Yates Jr couldn't even remember the last time we had a rainy track day on One Lap... Supposedly it was 2009?  No idea if that's correct - purely hearsay.  BUT... Drumroll!!! It stopped raining just as we began unpacking the car.  THANK YOU JESUS!  Huge blessing.

The track, however, was quite damp and slippery for the first run.  Everyone was pretty tentative out there and the ones that weren't simply got to do a bunch of slip sliding around.  Dave's score the first run put fire in his veins for the second half of the day.  He was pretty upset with himself and began nicknaming it the "Miss Daisy" run.

Pittsburgh was a relatively short and simple course with a carousel and some significant elevation changes.  

So, we found out today that the Porsche GT3 drivers came back into the competition with a Toyota Camry rental car.... Hilarious.  

Lunch consisted of a shared chicken gyro and granola bars... We decided to save the calories and pigging out for when we go to Outback tonight for our celebratory dinner.  It will be amazing to have actual food again... I may even get a salad I miss green stuff so much...

I was able to catch a quick cat nap around lunchtime... 

 

The second run Dave took about 45 seconds off this time!!  He ended up finishing 40th that round which was a personal high so far in this year's competition.  Go Dave!  I knew he could do it, but that initial low score really lit a fire under him for the afternoon.

Shockingly we were finished with the afternoon session around 1:30pm enabling us to hit the road and have an ETA of 7pm in South Bend.  This is what it must feel like to be in the front runners, even though we're not (they always leave track early because they run first)!  

Can I just say it was pretty ironic that N'Sync's "Bye, Bye, Bye" came onto my Pandora station as we drove out of the parking lot... Gotta love it (Mr. Klein that reference was for you haha).

Tonight's plan is to enjoy a dinner out, relax at the hotel, and stroll in for the final skid pad competition tomorrow.  What a week.  It's been a heck of a ride.  Thanks for all the continued support and encouragement- you guys are awesome!