Slipstream - July 2010

Club Racing is Not Just For the Boys
by Lisa Steele
Have you ever felt an equal
amount of pure nervousness
and excitement all in one
moment? Club Racing is that ball of
nervousness and excitement all rolled
up tightly in the pit of your stomach and
MORE exciting than I ever thought it
really would be. Many questions went
through my head once I made
the decision to take the next step
from DE’s to Club Racing. Will
I be able to keep up with all of
the men? Will the car handle
two drivers or will it have lots
of mechanical issues? Will I be
able to be aggressive, but level
headed and smooth at the same
time? I decided to just jump
right in with both feet and have
FUN! Everyone I spoke to prior
to the race weekend said that I
needed to have a goal, so my goal
was to simply finish the weekend
CLEAN.
Saturday morning practice
gave me the opportunity to get used to the HANS device that
I have never worn before and feel the handling of the car.
Everything was feeling great until the realization hit me that
I have to do practice starts and a fun race after lunch. Here
went the nerves again! With some helpful advice from my
wonderful mentor, Colin Graidage, and my very supportive
husband, I took a few deep breaths and got excited once
again. As we started our engines and went out for the
practice starts, the adrenaline was definitely pumping. As we
lined up twoby-two
at the
back straight,
I actually
said out loud
to myself “I
can’t believe
that I am
about to do
this.” I was
completely
surrounded by these incredibly loud beautiful cars and
there was no backing out now. We came down turn 11 and
although I could not actually see the green flag, I knew we
were green because everyone was accelerating and taking
off from me. I made it through corner 1 and the rest of the
corners without any incident…I did lose a position but “I
20
Photos by John Sandusky
Made It.” I was starting to get a little more confidence as
we practiced the other two starts and I began my first “fun
race.”
Once I got off track, I felt a sense of relief, but
disappointment too because I just was not very strong with
the starts and I was a bit too timid. After watching Mark
take the car out and be 3 seconds faster and do the starts
with such intensity, I knew I had a lot to learn. Once again,
Mark gave me some great advice
that night and really helped me
visualize what I was doing wrong
and what I needed to do to be
more successful on the starts.
So, I had a good night’s sleep
(okay only about 5 hours because
I had so many things to think
about) and I woke up ready to get
the “real race day” under way. As
all of the cars lined the grid ready
to go out for our first sprint race,
I just kept saying to myself “stay
ON the bumper of the car in front
of me and don’t let there be any
space between me and that car in
front of me.” When I saw that
James Shoffit was in front of me, a sense of relief came over
me because I knew he had lots of experience with starts and
I knew that if I stayed ON his bumper, he could “help” me
through corner
1. It Worked! I
think I actually
passed a car,
too! I was
starting to feel
the aggression
within me and
I had a great
time dicing it
up with James
and a few other cars…still have a lot to learn on “closing the
door” on those people wanting to pass me. Again, I finished
the race CLEAN and I was ready for the second sprint race.
The second sprint race was ready to begin and I was
feeling hot and tired, but was ready to go do the best I could.
My start was not as good as the last one, but the race was
definitely on. You see, I believe there is a “little tiger” in all
of us and I must say that I definitely found that tiger within
me during this race. I would like to give a big Thank You to
Marilynn Moseley for helping me pull out that tiger within!
Grrrrr….