Portland International Raceway is one of the oldest tracks in the country and is one of the few located right in the city. Although I have run several events in sports cars at Portland, I have never had the opportunity to run NASCAR at the track. Last week, out of nowhere I received a phone call from a car owner and long time veteran of the sport, Dick Midgley. Dick needed a driver for his car when Patrick Long, last year's winner at Portland, was unable to make it to the race due to scheduling conflicts. Dick called a few NASCAR officials for driver recommendations and they mentioned that they thought I could do a good job in the race. I was thrilled when the team asked me to drive, what they said, was a competitive race car. With just a few days before the event, we scrambled to get prepared. Unlike any other series, racing Nascar on a road course is the equivalent of gorilla warfare except with 3400lb 700 horsepower race cars.
Dick Midgley Racing is based in Canada, so I didn't have time to meet the team in advance. I arrived at the track two hours before the first practice to meet everyone and get fit into the car. I didn't know then what a dedicated, hard working crew I had working with me. My wife, Dorine and my close friend and fellow racer, Kai Goddard, rushed to put my Red Line Oil, March of Dimes, SNT Motorsports and #88 decals on the car while I suited up. As soon as I hopped into the car, I found the pedals were set up for a left foot breaker and I was really having to reach for them and the shifter. With minutes to spare before the start of the first practice session, I was forced to accept there wasn't enough time to be fitted into the car perfectly. We get two one hour practices to make the car right for qualifying and the race. In our first practice session I went out for one lap and the gearbox jammed up on me. We ended up changing the entire transmission so I was forced to miss the whole session. I was amazed at how quickly our crew put the new transmission into the car, just in time for the second practice session. In the second session, I managed to get only two laps before the rear end housing cracked, leaking oil everywhere. As the crew hustled to change the rear end, I was pretty disappointed that I had missed the entire day of practice, especially because I had never driven the car before and wasn't able to make any changes to the set up. We stayed positive and looked ahead to qualifying well the next day.
I went out to qualify knowing the new gearbox had a bit different gear ratio then the previous one. This made figuring out what gear to use in different parts of the track a challenge. It didn't help that I had zero seat time in the car either. I'm pretty adaptable when it comes to driving random cars so I figured I would be ok. I was up for the challenge to qualify well regardless of the hardships I experienced. I would only have four laps of qualifying to figure out the car and get up to speed with the top guys who had two full hours in their cars the day before. I qualified 17th, disappointed knowing I should have used first gear in some places, which would have improved my lap times tremendously. 17th position left me to start mid pack.
For the start of the race, I somehow got pushed back behind the pace car to about 25th position when the driver I was supposed to be lined up with also got pushed back. I noticed the problem with just seconds before the green flag. I went to take a sip of water from my drink bottle on the final pace lap, not knowing that would be the last drink I would get for the next 2 1/2 hours. When I put the drink tube down it drained everything out of my drink system. The green flag waved and I quickly made my way towards the front the pack. A car spun off the track a few laps into the race, causing the first full course caution. I went to take a drink, already completely dying of thirst, and I was devastated to find my only water was gone. I knew I was in trouble and this was going to be a very difficult situation. The temperature outside was 90 degrees and 140 degrees inside the car. I had to dig deep and stay positive.
Portland International Raceway is very hard on brakes, due to the long straightaways where the car reaches speeds to 160 plus mph in the straightaways before braking hard to make the tight corners. It was difficult getting this 3,400 pound car slowed down to 45mph into the first corner coming off the straights. My brakes started to overheat, causing my brake pedal to go all the way to the floor. I was barely able to slow the car down. Thankfully a few more back to back caution periods helped cool off the components enough to regain my brakes. Once they cooled, I knew I had to manage the brakes much more carefully. From that point, I was forced to pump the brake pedal to make sure I had the pressure before I demanded stopping power. It was a little scary at times not to know with certainty if I could stop the car. I have never had to work a brake pedal in a race car like I did in this car. It was busy!
Another challenge materialized when I found the motor consistently stumbled on the back straight, only allowing me to rev to 7,000 RPM instead of the normal 8,500 RPM. Guys were killing me on the back straight. It was a bizarre problem because everywhere else the engine was fine. To add to all this was my shifter knob being loose and I had to get rid of my gloves the entire race so I could get a good enough grip on it to repeatedly hand tighten it back.
The race had become very intense and extremely hot. David Mayhew got sideways in front of me and I didn't have anywhere to go to avoid him, so I just finished turning him completely around. He was able to get going quickly after his spin and later came back to spin me deliberately. It was up and down all race long - cars beating and banging, tempers flaring, spotty radio communication, no water. It was getting bad late in the race with my motor stumbling, brakes fading people being pissed off on track. My legs were now cramping due to dehydration and heat exhaustion.
We did two pit stops. The first one for fuel. I wanted water then but it would have taken too long and would have caused us to lose too much time. We pit in a second time right away to give me four new tires. As soon as the tires were on I was out of the pits in a hurry and back on track. Suddenly I had a race car again. The car started to work so much better in the handling thanks to my new tires. The extreme understeer I battled the first half of the race was now gone. Having new tires was like getting and injection of adrenaline! I worked my way up through the field, having a few good battles along the way. Nobody was giving an inch to anyone at any cost. It just so happens I got into it again with Todd Souza, who came in my trailer, interrupting an interview after the race at Infineon, wanting to fight over something he thought was my fault. On one caution he was in front of me and my spotter, Steve Tarpley, was told by NASCAR to move ahead of him,so I did. Well, this reignited this guy's temper again and he started hitting the side of my car and the back, all the while flipping me off during the caution. Nice! He went back ahead of me again under the caution. I knew I was faster than him and that I would take him when we went back to green. The green flag waved and I was in 8th position. Passing Todd was my next main objective. We drove down to turn four and I had an incredible run out of the chicane. I got to the entry of four, went underneath him cleanly, made the pass and never looked back. Two laps later his car was on the side of the track by the back straight. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, I thought.
At this point I had been in the car for over two hours, thirsty,overheated, cramping, sweat dripping into my eyes, shifter knob spinning loose, engine stumbling, and brakes fading. I struggled to hang in there, convincing myself that I wasn't hurting that bad. I had to dig down deep. I felt sick literally thinking about giving up back and forth in my head. I could not wait to get out of this race car! My spotter, Steve, said there was still six laps to go, which was the worst news I could have heard. I didn't know how I would make it. I continued to power ahead of guys, not knowing exactly my position. I think the race went 68 instead of 63 laps because of the green/white/checked, to make sure the race ended under green condition. I had no idea where we finished when I crossed the checkered flag. The thrill I felt when I found I had actually finished 5th was overruled by my heat exhaustion. I nearly collapsed when I exited the car. I ended up needing treatment by the team of Medics with an IV and ice to cool me down. Unfortunately this caused me to miss the post race festivities. I was glad to hear Luis Martinez Jr. had won, his first ever NASCAR event. It's always good to see an underdog win (maybe because I have a soft spot for underdogs).
Thank you to my team of great mechanics at Dick Midgley Racing, to Dick himself for the opportunity, To Steve Tarpley of SNT Motorsports Development for your support, and for doing a great job spotting for me along with Kai Goddard, to Red Line Oil, the March of Dimes and Muscle Milk for your continued support and especially to my wife Dorine for hanging in there with me through it all. I am glad to continue to help the March of Dimes raise awareness and funds for the prevention of premature birth through my racing. My efforts were recognized on Speed TV, Fox Television and with a documentary film crew who was touched by our charitable endeavors for the March of Dimes. I am pleased to overcome huge hurdles to bring home a 5th place finish in Portland.