My First Professional Race
(Kind of)
Last weekend Lelane and Roy headed out to Virginia International Raceway to watch The Rolex Grand Am race. Lelane had never seen a professional race of any kind and Roy just likes to see how the big boys do it. As they pulled into the infield to park they noticed signs directing different types of cars to different areas and one said MINI. Looking at each other they said in unison “what the hell” and followed the signs. It turned out that our brothers in the Tar Heel MINI Club had reserved a special parking section just for MINI’s.
Once parked and while pulling the required stuff one must bring to a race out of the car a man from one of the race teams came up on a golf cart. He said he was from RSR Motorsports and asked if there was going to be a big group of MINI’s here today. Roy shrugged his shoulders and said I’m not sure, we just followed the MINI parking signs and here we are. He mentioned one of their MINI race cars had lost a body part and the officials wouldn’t let them on track without it. The only thing they needed was the black plastic molding around the left rear wheel arch. The team had brought a bucket full of front ones (because the fat 225mm race tires often pop them off) but not a single rear piece. The old one had been taped on but with the race being televised the officials wanted the cars to be pretty (at least for the first 30 seconds or so).
Roy pointed at his car and said “take that one”. Being an SCCA racer Roy knows all about being at a race and needing some stupid little part to get on track (usually a part he already had but forgot to bring). The crewman quickly popped the plastic trim off the car promising that it would be returned after the race plus they would send him a new one. Lelane and Roy strolled by the team’s paddock spot to see which car Roy’s part was to go on and while there met the whole team and the owner. The team was very appreciative of lending them the part and gave Roy an RSR Motorsports t-shirt, hat and stickers. He jokingly mentioned that he was a racer but would never be good enough to go pro, but was glad at least one of his parts would make it to the big show.
The RSR team is competing in the Continental Tire Challenge. This is the step just below the full blown Rolex Grand Am series. Basically like the Tidewater Tides is the triple A team to the NY Mets. They run 2 classes the GS being the big bore cars and the ST class being the small bore class. Needless to say the MINI’s fall into the ST class. The RSR guys were running two cars in the race. They were numbered 196 and 197 but the interesting thing was that the #196 car was on the pole by setting the fastest qualifying lap time in class. But alas Roy’s part was not on the pole car; it was starting toward the pointy end of the midpackers (where Roy usually is when he races).
Fifty nine cars took the green flag at the start with thirty of them being in the ST class. The #196 MINI held the lead for a number of laps until a competitor finally snuck by in a turn. They fought long and hard, maintaining a podium position until having to retire with a low fuel pressure problem. The #197 car soldiered on picking up a few positions but then it too started having low fuel pressure issues but was able to make it to the finish. The #197 car finished 37th overall and 16th in class which is not bad at all for a sick car.
After the race Lelane and Roy headed back to the RSR paddock to retrieve the now famous “as seen on TV” official racing part. The rear trim pieces had survived the race but the fronts were long gone. As the crew popped the part off and started to put back on Roy’s car he stopped them by saying “This is as close as I’ll ever come to being a pro racer. That piece of plastic trim is now a trophy”. Someone found a silver Sharpie so Roy had the entire crew autograph it. As they were leaving the driver came over to ask if they were coming to the next race at Lime Rock. Roy answered no but if you need any parts give me a call.
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