On the road to Summit Point

Well, it's 9:36 p.m. and we're somewhere in western WV.  We'll be arriving at our next destination (Summit Point) after 1.am.  It's been a long day.

The first day of competition was eventful - filled with lots of horribly embarrassing moments.  It's a good thing that Team Fritsch has a good sense of humor.  The first event was the wet skid pad, which I approached with some trepidation as I knew there could be a lot of hydroplaning.  What a disaster!  On the flip side, at least I didn't spin.  The skid pad had water sprinklers at every conceivable angle.  To avoid geysers of water in the front seat, I chose to run with the side curtains.  Oh boy.  As a result, I couldn't see the flag guy, who was supposed to tell me how many laps I was to run.  As a result, I didn't run enough laps because I couldn't see him.  You could ask: can't she count??? My brain was obviously not functioning as I forgot to turn on the windshield wipers until I was well into the first lap.  Frantically searching for the wipers, I accidentally turned on my signal; it wasn't even on in the right direction!  To make matters worse, I stopped at the pit out area -- not because I was supposed to.  I paused because I was trying to figure out if I had done enough laps or not.  As a result, the starter teased me about needing a GPS to get around the course.  Could it get worse?  Yes!!!  Because the car is so unique and has garnered the most attention, the announcer decided to say at the beginning of my run... Now this is the car you've all been waiting for.  Let's see what she can do!  Abject humiliation.

Poor Larry.  He RAN back to the pit area with all kinds of gear.  He was worried and was afraid that I'd be sobbing.  Nah... I was laughing so hard that tears were forming in my eyes.  My motto:  It can only go up from here!

And, it did go up.  I partially redeemed myself at the autocross.  I was at least 15 seconds behind the true racers and their super fast cars.  However, the car and I were making happy tire squealing noises all around the track.  I'm proud to say that the car and I were smooth.  We're still trying to get to know each other, but I'm happy with the afternoon.

Tomorrow is Summit Point.  One racer told me it was the most difficult of all of the courses.  Of course, it was also his HOME course (Could he be a little biased?).  He agreed to give me some pointers tomorrow, which will be exceedingly helpful and welcomed.  It's our first real "track", and my co-driver and I are excited.

As always, thank you very much for your support.  There are not many charities in the field, and no one is raising money for Parkinsons Disease.  We're very proud to carry all of you with us.

Good night!

Larry and Josie