One Lap 2011 Yearbook has been received!

The new 2011 Yearbook from One Lap has been published - and imagine my surprise that my article was included - or maybe it was one of the few he received for publication?  Jim and I both wrote for the yearbook and both stories are on a 2 page spread - with both of our cars showing.  Great job with the layout, Mr Rossini.  I even spotted my thigh and my jacket in two other photos, always just a smidge out of the pictures - was I really there?  Anyway - please enjoy my recollections of the best time I had all year!

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In early February I volunteered for Transit Driver duty with the Jimbob Racing Team, car #38.  The team now includes Jim Roberts and myself, Rick Stauffer.  With Jim’s experience in racing at tracks in PA and WV, and participating in One Lap for a few years already, I felt confident of our chances at placing in the top 25.  Jim had mentioned early on, there was always a chance of equipment breakdown or complete failure, and we would need to solve those problems when they happened.  We both know he brought it up, and we both felt that would not be a problem, as the car was very strong.  The engine was only 4 months after build at the start of the race, and Jim had put some shake down miles on it, so we any concern we had about it was minor.

We spent the next 10 weeks or so, preparing for the race, getting last minute sponsors and raising donations for the PA Breast Cancer Coalition, who represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors throughout Pennsylvania.   Since we were traveling in a Corvette, Jim said something about packing light and allowing me a duffle bag to pack in.  The duffle bag I own is a small duffle bag, so I packed another carry on and hoped we would have room, turns out Jim has a huge duffle, about 36” long and maybe 14” square at the end. We had room for my extra bag thankfully, since all my tees were there.

We arrived in South Bend IN on Thursday afternoon, and I found out Friday morning that I would be called a ‘Lap Puppy’ from then on.  I was OK with that, heck I was just thrilled to be helping my friend and fellow Corvette club member with this race.  The thought of driving the car for over 3,500 miles and an additional 1,200+ miles to get to South Bend, was enough to get my adrenaline pumping. My final mileage was 5,569 miles in 11 days total.

We registered Friday morning and got busy putting decals on the car and going over what I needed to do every day as a transit driver.  Jim did well on the wet skid pad Saturday morning with a ‘first in class’ and sixth overall and was satisfied with his autocross in the afternoon.  We packed the car & trailer and drove to WV for the next day’s race at Summit Point.

At Summit Point Jim placed a respectable 24^th in the morning session, respectable especially since he sat behind a Porsche for three or four turns before he could pass on the last turn, and at the finish line, the engine gave a bang and let out a large cloud of oil smoke.  As I watched for him to do a cool down lap, just thinking the puff of oil smoke was not a problem, I noticed he had managed to limp into the pits.  Once I got to the car, the hood was open, and Jim and others were conferring about what could possibly be wrong.  Car 19s Ty Timperly was a great assistance with troubleshooting, arriving first and staying with us through the final determination, ‘dead engine’. We even had a GM technician from Summit Point stop by and help diagnose it, for a fee.

Long story short, that car stayed at Summit Point for the next week, while we hitched a ride back to PA and picked up Jim’s backup Corvette.  We drove the 2 ½ hours back to PA, and then drove the many hours to SC and Carolina Motorsports Park, arriving late on Monday morning.  Once there we were assigned “car 55”, Jim chose the ‘speed limit’ number. We drove the “absolute purpleline” C4 the rest of the week, not earning points, but still having a great time and enjoying helping others where ever we could.   Of course, not earning points also means, we ran last, and allowed us the pleasure of running in the morning and getting to the next stop early.

One Lap gave us many lasting memories and we both hope to run again in 2012, hopefully the entire race in one car, earning points all the way.  A new engine is installed, getting some race time on it and ready to go for 2012. 

We raised over $2,000 for PA Breast Cancer Coalition and were named one of two “Grassroots Partner of 2011” for the use of our passion to raise fund, at their annual dinner in the Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg, PA.

See you all in May for One Lap 2012!
Rick Stauffer & Jim Roberts - Car 38 - Yellow C5 and Backup Car 55 - Absolute Purpleline C4