Verve's Corner: 2006

A 1200 mile drive to Topeka didn’t seem so daunting until about the 9th hour when I realized we weren’t even halfway there yet.

Somewhere in between St. Louis and Kansas City (hour 17), I wanted to shove an ice pick into my temple to end it all mercifully.

With 7 miles to go, I missed the exit to Topeka. Having been trapped in the car for the last 20 hours with my husband, coupled with effectively no sleep in the last 35 hours, anything less than a screaming match would be an unacceptable outcome.

Nonetheless, Steve and I arrived safely at Heartland Park Topeka, passing Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #1: Get to Nationals without killing anyone first.

Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #2: Find paddock space. Bonus points if you find paddock space on actual pavement. Triple point bonus if you find paddock space on pavement near your friends. Zen Master status awarded if you could find paddock space on pavement near your friends without using a cell phone.

Zen Masters we are not, but we did get the triple point bonus.

Upon parking, many familiar faces from WDCR and Autocrossers, Inc. greeted us. Tents were pitched, coolers were out, folding chairs were setup, and Ian Baker was already tinkering with his CRX, apparently McGuyvering a spoiler. Boy it was good to be home.

Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #3: Get one’s bearings. Pregnancy requires that I know where the closest bathroom is at all times. Careful research revealed that there were only 2, and they were at polar opposite ends of the world from each other. Note to self: don’t wait to go or you’ll be sorry.

And that was just Day 1.

On Monday, as scheduled, the courses were open for walk throughs. Unlike WDCR Solo events where I am lucky to get 2 walk throughs, Nationals allows competitors to walk the course all day. Steve and I were determined to take advantage of this novel idea! Yet after hours of repeatedly walking the course, my back hurt, my feet hurt, I was hungry, and my brain had turned to mush. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. At least I was relatively close to a bathroom.

At the end of the day, we hit the sack early to get a good night’s sleep. Within 30 seconds of my head hitting my pillow, I was out from the sheer exhaustion of the day’s mental and physical effort. Two hours later though, I was staring at the ceiling. Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #4: Get a good night’s sleep the night before competition. I started to blame the pregnancy hormones for my insomnia, but the reality was that I was driving the course over and over again my mind’s eye. Steve was out like a rock, but there was not a wink of sleep in sight for me. At least one of us passed that hurdle.

The first day of competition arrived, so I parked the STi in Grid. Shortly thereafter, the other ladies in my class parked their cars in Grid and started milling around. Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #5: Don’t let your competition get into your head. The mere sight of the corvettes parked next to me – not Morning Sickness – almost invoked involuntary vomiting. I guess I failed that hurdle, too.

All too soon, it was our turn to run, so our Grid became the active Grid. My bladder decided it wanted to join the fun and be active, too. The bathroom was nowhere close. I couldn’t risk missing a run, so I strapped on my helmet, latched my seat belt, shut my eyes to run the course in my head one last time, and ignored my pesky bladder.

I followed the long line of traffic to the East course. I pulled up to the Start line, and instantly blanked on how to launch the car. Putting the car in first gear, for example, is a key element to launching any car, yet there I was, revving in neutral. Despite that display of newbie nerves, when I got the signal that I was clear to go, I launched the way only a STi can – like a bat out of hell.

Vindicated, I attacked the first turn with gusto until I heard a non-standard-for-the-STi metallic clunk. Concentration broken, I drove totally out of control resulting in what I felt was a worthless run. Yet the announcer called my run clean so it wasn’t totally worthless! No cones is an accomplishment for me!!! Then he announced that my competitors finished a full 2.5 seconds ahead of me. My happiness for no cones instantly evaporated.

I got back to my grid spot and told Steve I heard a clunk. He eyeballed the front sway bar and said that from what he could see (without taking wheels off), it was fine. Since I couldn’t blame the car, my time must have been because I was intimidated and therefore, overdriving. Duh. It’s Nationals. Of course I’m overdriving. I regularly overdrive at local events, so why should this be any different?

My other two runs were as worthless as my first (despite being cone-free), finishing DFL in the class by a lot. The disappointment was suffocating. I broke down into a sobbing mess. Eventually I dried my tears, but I was silently inconsolable because I was going to be DFL of the class no matter what happened during the next day’s runs.

That night, I slept like a rock. Yet what normally would have been plenty of sleep wasn’t even close. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. When my Grid became active during the next day’s competition, I cared enough to put on my helmet and seatbelt, but that was it. That day’s course was supposed to be STi friendly but this was Nationals, and it had already been proven that I couldn’t drive, so… whatever.

My first run was not only clean but within 1 second of the leaders. ?!! The car felt like it was all over the place, but an objective WDCR friend gave me a tip to be more aggressive in the sweepers. I had nothing to lose so why not? Plus, there was a rumor that one of the Corvettes in my class had spun on both of her runs so far. I felt a glimmer of hope…if she were to spin again… I wouldn’t be DFL! Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #6: Neutralize the stress/pressure inherent in a National level event.

So I ran my 3rd and final run with a vengeance, shaking like a leaf from the adrenaline. I dropped another second off of my time and finished my first Nationals with 3 more cone-free (!!) runs. I was still a second or so behind the leaders, but I knew deep down that I’d run that car as fast as it could go. Unfortunately, the loopy Corvette got a clean run, so although I wasn’t last that day, I still finished DFL for the event. But I honestly didn’t care. That day, the car was my limiting factor, not my driving. I proved to myself that I can drive, I do belong at Nationals and I can actually NOT hit cones! Besides, I was the fastest pregnant chick driving a blue STi in the class, so there.

Later that afternoon, Steve took his last runs. By the time he finished, he was flaming mad because the car was not responding the way he expected. Having finished competition at Nationals, we went back to our paddock spot and started to change our rcomps back to street tires. When Steve took the left front wheel off, an eruption of swear words could be heard for miles. Nationals’ unspoken hurdle #7: Double check everything because it might not be your driving. Apparently, the front sway bar bolt was sheared off. We’d driven 1200 miles to race 6 minutes with effectively no front sway bar. Although I was kicking myself for not being more insistent that I thought something was really wrong with the car, at least there was a very good reason for my poor performance. See, it wasn’t just me. It really was the car.

That night, we attended the banquet to celebrate the success of our fellow WDCR and Autocrossers, Inc. members at Nationals. While we were there, the National staff asked all the Nationals Newbies to stand. Despite our inclination not to, Steve and I stood since really, we could be newbies at Nationals only once. And from a newbie perspective, boy there sure are a lot of big hurdles to pass on the road to becoming a National Champion.

Let’s do it again next year, Mommy!

We’ll see, Little One. We’ll see.

Some pics from Nationals

Verve's Corner

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Solo Nationals: A Newbie’s Experience

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Verve's Corner

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Solo Nationals: A Newbie’s Experience

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