~Richmond Journal~
Hi Y’All
I only have one thing to say about yesterday’s race: !#$%^&*.
Seriously though, at the end of the race I just wanted to kick myself
for not being more…PATIENT. Man, it all looks so clear when I look
back on it from where I’m sitting now. Unfortunately, it’s a different
story when I’m behind the wheel of my racecar.
I knew we were in trouble after our first practice session Thursday
afternoon. The car, the same one I ran to my best Busch Series
finish ever in Fontana, just felt all wrong from the get go. Making
matters worse, I was having a tough time finding my line around the
track; Having never raced RIR certainly makes it tough, you know?
What I was finding was that RIR is a really tricky racetrack;
especially through the turns. These two factors combined had us
running close to dead last in practice. We tried everything we could
to try and get the car into shape for qualifying but nothing seemed to
help.
I’ve never been so anxious about qualifying as I was on Thursday. In
all honesty, I have to admit that backing my dad’s Cup car into the
wall during testing here 3 years ago is still a vivid memory in my
mind. Maybe that had something to do with the problems I was
experiencing at RIR. Whatever the case, I knew that I would have to
put my anxiousness aside and just go out and run my best. Which I
did; my qualifying time was the best lap I had run all day.
Unfortunately, it was not good enough to get me into the top 25.
As y’all know the rain canceled 2nd round qualifying on Friday. To be
honest, it was kind of a relief to know that I could just concentrate on
the race. Although concentrating on the race for over 10 hours during
the rain delay was a little much. I hate rain delays! The toughest part
is not knowing whether or not you are even going to race. Then all of
a sudden you get the word that the race is on. It’s just hard to
maintain focus and intensity under these conditions, you know?
After getting the word that the race was on, Lance reminded me of
our race strategy: “remember, 80% until the last 50 laps and then
110%” The thinking here was that running 200 laps at 80% would
allow me to slowly gain the confidence needed to run all out those
final 50 laps. Like I said before, it made perfect sense to me before
the race. But out there on the track in the heat of battle, man, that’s
something all together different. To help keep me focused on our
strategy, Lance posted it on a piece of tape and stuck it on my dash.
30 laps into the race, running at 80% was really working well. I mean
rather than focusing on how to catch the leaders, I was focused on
trying to find the best line around the track; especially through the
turns. Still, the car felt way out of shape; tight going into the turns
and real loose coming out of them. When the caution came out
around lap 32, Lance told me to come into the pits. He said he had
an idea that he thought might help the car handle a little better.
Unfortunately, the adjustment didn’t work. Determined to keep my
cool, I decided to just concentrate on figuring out a way to use what I
had. I lost a few more spots as I experimented with different ways to
compensate for a tight setup into the turns and a loose one coming
out.
Unable to gain much of anything on the track, Lance gambled a bit
on our lap 67 pit stop by deciding to pick up position by taking on
two tires instead of four. It paid off as we exited pit row in 27th
position. I wasn’t able to hold the position long though. Before I knew
it I was back in 30th position.
The next 20 laps or so were intense! Not once, but twice, I was able
to just barely escape getting caught up in the middle of multi-car
wrecks. Many people have asked me what it’s like drive in, around
and through wrecks like that. The best way I can possibly think of is
that it’s exactly like what y’all see on TV, only much, much faster. To
really understand what I mean, find some good crash footage where
the car with the on-board camera makes it through. Now, play that
footage on your VCR on fast forward and you will have a pretty good
idea of exactly how fast these things happen. I don’t care what
anyone says, a driver’s ability to avoid getting caught up in a wreck
has as much do with luck as it does skill.
In any case, while driving under caution, the mysterious line aound
the racetrack suddenly became crystal clear. It’s hard to explain
other than to say that I just seemed to all of a sudden ‘understand’
how to drive RIR.
It was at this point in the race that my battle with fellow rookie Tony
Raines started to heat up. First and foremost let me say that I have
the utmost respect for Tony; he is an excellent racecar driver. But the
fact of the matter was that he was trying his best to intimidate me by
cutting me off time and time again going into the turns. I think I got
my message across that I refuse to be intimidated when I finally
passed him.
By lap 128 I was running strong and feeling much more confident;
perhaps too confident as I drove the car way too hard into turn one
forcing me to let off the gas to avoid backing the car into the wall. The
mistake cost me 7 positions as I slipped back to 29th position.
In danger of getting knocked off the lead lap, we were real lucky to
get a caution on lap 146.
After taking on 4 tires and a can of gas, I raced back to the green in
27th position. On lap 155 I was extremely lucky once again to
escape getting caught up in the middle of yet another wreck. When
the smoke cleared on lap 161, I found myself running a strong 20th.
At this point it was 11:50 PM and there was a lot of concern that the
race would be called because of a ‘midnight noise curfew’. When we
got word that the race would be held in it’s entirety, I made up my
mind that once we got the green flag, I was going to race for a top 15
finish.
After picking up two spots in the next few laps, I was extremely lucky
once again to escape smashing into Elton Sawyer who spun out right
in front of me. I wondered how much longer my luck would hold out
as I raced back to the green on lap 172.
By lap 200, I was running steady and consistent in 19th position. By
lap 219, I was still in 19th position but I had race leader Mark Martin
on my bumper. Some would argue that the best thing to do in this
situation would be to let the leader go by. Not me. Like I’ve said
before, the reason why I don’t mind the Cup guys racing in the Busch
Series is because it gives me a chance to race and learn against the
best. Well, this was one of those times; if Mark wanted to get around
me he was going to have to earn it! After managing to hold him off for
4 laps, Mark showed me why he is one of the best in the business
with an unbelievable move coming off turn 4. It was one of those
deals where he got me to commit one way while he blew by me on
the other.
At this point, I was one lap down running in 18th position with less
than 30 laps to go. Looking back, I should have just been content to
finish the race with a top 20. But like I said before, things aren’t
always that clear behind the wheel. After that exciting duel with
Mark, I felt confident that the car was capable of a top 15 finish. I
think I would have been right had the lapped car of Chuck Bown not
unexpectedly locked up his brakes going through turns 3 and 4. I
tried to check up but it was too late as I smashed into his rear
bumper. While the damage looked worse than it really was, the real
problem was that the twisted sheet metal from my hood and quarter
panel was rubbing against my left front tire. As much as I hated to do
it, I had to pull into the pits to get the problem fixed. By the time my
crew got me back onto the track, I was running 5 laps down in 30th
place. Thanks to another caution with 5 laps to go, we ended up
finishing the race in 28th; a far cry from the top 15 that I had hoped
for. After the race, I was upset that I didn’t just lay back and settle for
a top 20; that would have been an awesome finish considering what
little we had to work with. All in all, I consider Richmond to be yet
another valuable lesson in my quest to become a more patient
racecar driver. Y’all please bear with me; I’m finding that learning how
to be patient in this ultra-competitive series is extremely difficult. Like
a racetrack, I will ultimately develop an understanding; it’s just going
to take some time.
All right, enough talk about racing, let’s talk about your Discussion
page. First and foremost, I want to send out a special thanks to Kriss
for her kindness and generosity in donating $200 worth of Spree
Prepaid Foncards to help families and loved ones with sick kids stay
in touch with each other. I can’t tell you how proud I am to know that
an act of pure kindness like that, especially one involving my sponsor
would originate right here on my web site. It’s a beautiful thing.
Speaking of beautiful things, I want to thank each and every one of
you who took the time and effort to suggest ideas for an Adam Petty
Charity Event. I assure y’all that my marketing guys will review each
one of your ideas. As for myself, I especially liked your idea, Dave. I
did not realize until I read your post what a financial burden it is for
families and loved ones to stay in touch while their child is in the
hospital. I absolutely love the idea of creating a charity program that
is designed to help those in need AND my sponsor at the same time!
In any case, I’ll keep y’all posted on my Charity Event development;
feel free to keep those great ideas coming!
On a lighter note, I got a good laugh out of being corrected on my
Revenge of the Nerds Trivia. After reading that the guy’s name in the
movie was Louis, not Gilbert, it all came back too me!
Let’s see, someone was
asking about my workout
routine. Petty Enterprises
has an outstanding
personal trainer on their
staff named Mark who has
develop a pretty intense
workout formula specially
designed for me. In a
nutshell, I do cardio work
on Tues. Thurs. and
Sunday and weights on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In between, I stay away from fatty
junk food and instead eat lots of fruit, veggies, chicken and
sometimes fish. Very rarely will you ever see me eat meat. You may
have noticed my guys ribbing me about how skinny I am. The fact of
the matter is I’m actually starting to bulk up a little bit; I think my
guys are just jealous! Seriously though, I take staying in shape very
seriously because I believe it gives me an edge behind the wheel.
Here’s a question for y’all. Being fairly new to the Internet, can
someone please explain to me what LOL means? I notice that a lot
of you use LOL on your discussion page but I don’t have a clue what
it means.
Hey, did y’all catch the new ‘appearance’ link on my main menu
page? Click on it and you will find a schedule for my personal
appearances as well as the schedule for my simulator/showcar. If
you ever have the opportunity to try out the Spree Prepaid Foncard
simulator, be sure and let me know if you manage to beat my score!
Be sure and check the appearance schedule often because I have
plans for more personal appearances that are not finalized as of yet.
Plus, when my schedule permits (unfortunately, that won’t always be
the case) I plan on making an appearance at my souvenir trailer
immediately after Happy Hour. In any case, I hope this new feature
will help ensure that I get the opportunity to meet as many of y’all,
the greatest fans in world, as possible!
I know I sound like a broken record again, but the Fan Club is
coming, I swear. Rest assured that I am on my marketing guys to
get the club off the ground. I’m told that there will be a Fan Club link
on the main menu section of the site next week. I know, I know,
that’s what they said last week. Please be patient, though. When
you see all the cool stuff that they have included in the club, I
promise it will be well worth the wait. What’s taking so long is the
fact that I insisted my guys design the best fan club in NASCAR for
y’all.
Well, that’s about it for now. Let’s hope we have better luck in
Nazareth. No predictions this time; just a guarantee that I while race
my heart out for y’all next week. As always, thank you for your
continued kindness, love and support; y’all know how much it means
to me! Have a great week,
God Bless,
ADAM
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