I quailified 13th out of 29 cars. I found that strange with the times I was running. I thought it would take more to get that high on the grid. I thought maybe it was the green track from the rain, so I took it. Next the silly time came with preparing the car for the race and having guests arrive. Rick Peeters, Tony Mann, and Ray Lehor put the car together in no time and we were ready early, leaving me to attend to our guests. Thank God for an understanding crew.

Finally race time! We had been there for four days and it was time to have fun. On the grid, Chris Pedersen and I have this silly routine lately that we wish each other luck and hope we have a one – two finish. Some events it ends with “not caring who is in first” and other times we express our desire to be first. Both of us have raced together for a while and have come from cars that desire more attention than they deserve. So finishing has always been important to us. Here we are this year in brand new cars.

We had discussed that we both wanted to at least be behind Denny into corner one. At the last moment Rick comes back with a message from Chris that “just follow me into one”. I thought that to be a strange comment since he was gridded behind me and to the left (he had a poor qualifying and is usually further up in the field). I just laughed and replied with something about it didn’t really matter, lets just get it done. Someone must have changed something and when we were in the false grid he was next to me. So I thought…this should be interesting.

The pace lap is pretty boring with four miles to putt around out there and the drivers just did not seem to want to bunch up. We finally got it together, literally coming out of fourteen with the field really slowing down. Then the brake check or whatever they were doing in the front. I could not see the front of the field. All I could see was Denny Lamer’s #66 Black Olds and that’s all I wanted was to follow him into one, not be part of the “big crash” on the first lap, and keep the field behind me. I decided to listen to Rick for the green flag call. Not one of my better decisions. The moment they finished the brake check thing they took off and I did not get a good jump like I normally do. I felt like I was in my V-6. I just kept grabbing gears.

With the long straight-a-way, horsepower can really play a role. Chris was able to get enough steam to pull in front of me. I thought that was cool. Then he took it a step further and passed me and then Schiffmeyer, who was on the left, and made a hole in front of him. This caused Schiffmeyer to then have to move to the right to be able to stop in time for one.

This allowed me to get back on the bumper of Schiffmeyer which put me back into 13th position. I was on the inside and Russ Adams and Schiffmeyer went side by side as we went through one. Schiffmeyer then pulled out in front of Russ and got into the left lane. I took this opportunity to get past Russ and almost made it to the inside of three for the pass on Schiffmeyer and only four car lengths off Chris. I did not make the pass and went side by side into three with Russ. Russ had the outside line and good ole “tractor motor” pulled him right passed me.

We all went like ### to get to five. As I came over the hill we began bunching up, but I was not able to do anything with it and Kehoe was already on my inside. Side by side we came to the apex and Kehoe had a little too much speed and I almost saw the driver's side of his car on a left hand turn with me on the outside. Since it was such a slow corner with all the cars I had to wait a moment to not hit Kehoe and lost my momentum up the hill to six. Kehoe and I made up those two car lengths by six and I just stayed as close as possible to the second pack, but I was not in the position to do anything.

We complete our first lap and as we are going towards one we still had a nice train going until we reach what I saw was the four marker in one. The train was breaking up and not as clear as usual. As the cars started going to the passing lane I could see up front that there is a GT3 car at the one marker. I find out later that the driver did not make the field in time and went before being told out of the pit lane. Later the driver was penalized two laps. Schiffmeyer was able to benefit from this, but Russ, Kehoe and I stayed together until corner three where Kehoe made the pass on Russ.

As I crested the hill to five, Richard Grant and Bill Paul came roaring on my left/inside at the five marker. I was stuck on the outside and followed Russ. When we came out Bill Paul was in front of me and Russ was side by side with Richard Grant towards six. Grant took Russ into six and Paul took Russ out of six. Then Russ slowed with a mechanical problem and I passed him. I stayed with them as long as I could.

At this point I knew that some people might have not qualified well and were coming up through the field. Do you think?

The next lap I was so busy trying to do nothing wrong that I never thought that Doug Nies would try and out brake me into corner one. Again there I was thinking. It must have been a pretty big dive into one for him, because I spent the next few laps almost hitting him in the brake areas. He has a great motor, but I knew my strong point was braking. I remember calling in more that once that “I was going to hit him” and “I am going to punt him off the track”. I knew if I did not charge him and be ready for my moment to pass that I would miss it, but at the same time I was not sure if I would be able to stop in time from hitting him and used all the track not to. It went through my head that this must be a great show for the workers/fans, but it is not getting the job done.

Unfortunately I began overheating my brakes and decided to back off a bit to save them for a real attempt. I remembered that I told myself if I ran into this situation again with a driver with a bigger motor that I could out brake, that I would back off a tad and use MY brake points and corner speed to catch the driver at a point I could work with. There again I was thinking. I forgot that I was on a four mile track instead of a two mile track and this would not work at a horsepower track. So I spent the next couple of laps getting back to a place that I could use my brakes. I could see that during our original battle that the field had left us, but now we had both caught back up to Paul, Grant, and another driver.

At this time Trotnow was off at the exit of fourteen and I think another car was off somewhere else. That’s what I get for waiting so long to write this. The double yellow came out and where under the yellow, then the pace car for a few laps. Rick told me there would only be three to go when we went green. It ended up not being a good single file restart. Rick told me there was the first group, then us in the second group, and then the rest of the field when the green was thrown.

On the single file restart I was behind a GT2 car and Rosenmerkel was behind me. He went off during the race and was in the process of coming back up. Rosenmerkel was to my right and not in single file. I stayed single file until I heard Rick call the green. I then pulled out to make the pass and decided to double-check my mirrors for Rosenmerkel. I saw that he had gotten a great jump and I was not sure if I would cut him off and at the same time be three wide. I decided that he was going to pass me on one of the straights and I would be better off just letting this situation unfold smoothly. So I let him go and immediately jumped in behind him to pass the GT2. In that moment the GT2 pulled out to pass another car and I went three wide past the start/finish line to complete the pass on both cars.

Doug had put traffic between us just prior to the restart and was able to take advantage of the lead. I was not able to make any other passes, only hold my 12th place finish to the checkered flag.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CLIFF EBBEN ON HIS SECOND WIN!!!!

It was a great event to participate in and if you ever get a chance to drive or spectate it is worth the trip. I have to thank Ray Irwin, Rick Peeters, and Steve Butzen at Auto Concepts, Inc. for the great prep job on the car and the hospitality during the weekend. It was a site to see. Six GT1 cars took over the end of the CART paddock at pit out area. Irv Heorr provided the set up pad for all competitors in our paddock area and quality people to help you with the set up pad. One of the guys, Mike, worked with Irv on the WSC car and I hope all who attended sucked up as much information from him.

Next race is the CAT National back at Road America.