Ever since the NASA National Championship started in 2006, Nationals has been at Mid-O for 3 years now, 2006-2008. I was fortunate to go last year (2008), and it was an amazing trip from Socal to Mid-O and back. More than anything, I feel lucky I was able to go last year because this year is the 1st year that Nationals will be at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) in Utah. When we were at Mid-O last year, NASA made an announcement during the dinner banquet that Nationals is going to alternate every 2 years between Mid-O and MMP. So for 2009-2010 we would be at MMP, then back to Mid-O for another 2 years, and so forth.
It has almost been a year now, and the 2009 National Championship at MMP is right around the corner (Sep 10-13). Last year at Nationals I was competing in NASA’s Time Trial series in TTA. This year I started racing in Super Touring. The transition from NASA’s Time Trial series into NASA’s Racing series with Super Touring has been amazing to say the least.
Judging by the current Super Touring entry list, I’m going to be the only Evo racing in Super Touring at Nationals this year. I have seen 1-2 Evos signed up for Time Trial (Ryan Upham in TTS), but I haven’t seen any Evos listed in any of the race groups. So unless there is some last minute entry (Dave Fazzino, ST2 Evo from the East coast), not only am I going to be the only Evo, I’m also going to be the 1st Evo racing at MMP for NASA’s National Championship. I’m leaving soon, so the anticipation is killing me.
We have been really busy preparing my car at RRE the last few weeks for Nationals. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing RRE has been for my 2009 race season, let alone how hard they have worked to help me prepare for Nationals. Lots of things to check and address. Coupled with that we made some changes recently for the better. Too many things to note so I will not get into those details at this juncture. I will address everything in my post-Nationals race thread when I get back.
Good thing is my car will be raced rigorously at Nationals. Because other than our Practice and Qualifying sessions, I will have 2 Qualifying races, and our 45 min National Championship race. If I can make it through the entire weekend, that will quantify a strenuous amount of racing.
If everything works out beyond that, after Nationals we will be back to close out our 2009 season with our last 4 Socal regional races at BRP (Oct and Nov). Now I just need to make it out to Nationals and hope everything works out. If any of you want to see Nationals, don’t be shy, come on out and show us some love. Besides, I can sure use all the help I can get. Here is my schedule for Nationals. I’ve excluded my Practice and Qualifying sessions, so this is just a schedule of my races:
Thurs, Sep 10: Qualifying Race
Fri, Sep 11: Qualifying Race
Sun, Sep 13: National Championship Race (45 min)
Some of the races will be shown live on the internet at SpeedCastTV. I don’t know the details but from what I was told the Super Touring race is one of the ones that will be shown. If you are interested, go to that link to find out how.
In case I don’t make it back alive, I need to say a quick thank you for now to my sponsors and friends who helped me get ready for Nationals:
- RRE
- Girodisc
- SCM
- ACT
- Island Tire
- And all my friends