Frankly, I’m amazed that we took the green flag to start the race in Montreal considering the events leading up to it.  While the skies and the forecast threatened rain we felt conditions would stay dry at least for the start of the race.  I had just finished scuffing the tires for my co-driver, Ryan Dalziel, and was exiting the pit lane with my own new set of tires that I was to start the race with.  On my way to the grid position I spun the tires to warm them up as I exited the first corner.  As soon as the tires began to find some grip on the slippery pavement I heard a loud crack from the rear of our BMW Riley Daytona Prototype. I quickly discovered that I had a box full of neutrals, meaning that I could rev-up the engine in all the gears but the car would not move.  I had completely lost drive in the car.

My first feeling was maybe it was the clutch but after a few quick checks I determined that the clutch was still working perfectly.  I radioed to the pits that we had a drive train issue while at the same time hoping that somehow this problem would fix itself and magically I would be able make it to my starting position and begin the race, which was now less than two minutes away.  Unfortunately, I slowly rolled to a stop.

I couldn’t believe it!  A sinking feeling came over me because I knew in just a few moments the race would be starting and the entire field would come streaking by as I sat motionless in one of the fastest cars on the track.  So many thoughts go thru your head in times like this, how we had rolled the dice to come so far and race, even though we didn’t really have the budget to do so, the thought that maybe I could do something to get us going, finally starting to think about all the people that give me support;   friends, family and the team who live and breathe through the performance of the car.  It was looking like we might have rolled craps this time.

After what felt like an eternity the crew radioed that another car had just crashed heavily on the back part of the circuit on its way to the grid.  Right about this time the tow truck showed up and began to pull me back to the garage when some quick thinking from our strategist Peter Baron gave us the second chance that did not seem to exist.  Instead of pulling us back to the garage Baron pleaded with the Grand Am officials to have us pulled back to pit lane and give us a chance to fix the car.  In very confusing circumstances because of the crash of the other car, driven by my friend and NASCAR regular Carl Edwards,  it was determined that the race would be delayed by 10 minutes and  now the car and I were redirected to pit lane where the crew was waiting.  As I was being pulled by the accident scene I was very happy to see Carl exiting his car under his own power and was quite amazed how hard he had hit the wall and by the many pieces  that were strewn through the wet grass.  I would never wish anything like this to happen to anybody but from his misfortune we were now given new hope.

It was truly amazing how the fast the guys jumped over the wall and began to take the rear bodywork off, even before the car came to a complete stop.  Because of the layout of the Montreal F1 circuit our garage was quite far from the pit lane and our Crew Chief , Matt Bishop, had the forethought to bring a few extra spare parts just in case something like this might happen.  Again, under normal circumstances a driveshaft is 99% reliable for a 2 hour sprint race so we would not even have one in the pitlane.   In the shorter races like Montreal and our next race in Miami if you break a driveshaft you typically retire the car because there is not enough time to replace it and justify re-entering the race. Well, the guys did replace it and they must have done it in record time!  As the green flag waved to start the race I was sitting at the exit of pit lane ready to go, as the field stormed by I dropped the clutch and gave it full throttle with 100% confidence the car was ready for battle.  

It’s this type of effort that has been the cornerstone of our team. We may not be one of the famous teams, have a fancy trailer or a big budget, but when it comes to perseverance, attitude, and teamwork we rank among the very best.  This story is only one of many that took place that weekend in Montreal and why sportscar racing is so great.  Somehow we will be racing in Miami Nov 10th, even though we do not have the budget to get there.  We’ll find it because this team deserves it.  I know our season’s not over yet.