Momentum Continues in California
Ok boys and girls we are settled down and ready to head back to the east coast. No, that’s not how part two of this blog would have started if I started typing 45 minutes ago. The older I get the more I think before I speak. Or in this case, type. Something inside me is itching to actually type what I wanted to 45 minutes ago but I’ll save most of it for another time. I am sure by the end of this blog you will be able to connect the dots and know exactly what I was going to say.
So let’s backtrack to travel day. Fontana is in a great part of the county but the traffic. What the heck Arnold Schwarzenegger (or whoever the governor is now!) can’t you get some infrastructure to your interstates? On the way to our gathering at Monster Energy, there was a construction sign that said “exit closed until 2020” lol I mean what the heck. But the scenery is great out here and I suggest visiting once. Yes once. Maybe twice if you have family or something out here.
So onto the team’s event at Monster Energy. Let’s get one thing straight, if you’re reading this and don’t think Monster is one of the most badass sponsors then you are not invited to the “bonfires and beers” event at my house. I mean come on…The #1 car has started the year with a nice string of top 10’s and has Monster, Global Poker, and GEARWRENCH as sponsors. Again, if you’re reading this and don’t think an energy drink, poker and tool sponsor isn’t badass then you’re out of your mind. All we need now is to get a liquor sponsor. Then we would be America’s team!
I am so far off subject right now, this is where I used my get out of jail free card I created in the first line of blog one. So back to our trip to Monster. This started off as a nice gathering where the team unloaded the hauler for everyone to check out. Toolbox, race car and all the stuff that makes our weekend go. So after everyone ate, shot the breeze for a few and then took some group photos the real worked started.
So in this business every time you find something that will help on track performance you do your best to make sure you get it into your race cars ASAP. This week the team found a few items that we considered to be helpful at Fontana. So just when everyone started to conclude their conversations the race team put the race car on jack stands in the middle of the Monster Energy parking lot. All you sprint car guys out there know what I am talking about. We just started digging and meanwhile, a bunch of employees were thinking we were about to give some sort of demo. One guys asked me “are you guys going to give us a demo?” My response was, “sure but in this demo, we’re going to ask you to grab a wrench” Now this guy was most likely in their marketing department, therefore, wasn’t really jumping at the opportunity to lay down in the parking lot. Long story short is that gathering at Monster was great and a bunch of fun. Once everything was done and cleaned up all the boys scattered. One of the perks of SoCal is that Oakley lets all NASCAR hard card crew members into their little secret store. Yes, I call it secret because it’s at one of their main facilities and is almost hidden. The best part of this deal is we get a really nice price on all items. If you know me you know I’m a deal maker. So if the price is right then this guy is in! One new pair of shades and I’m ready to go! My last pair of nice sunglasses were turned into safety glasses at some point last year during crash repair. Barely could see through those things anymore. Dinner, ice cream, and bed. Thanks for shopping Thursday.
Friday I don’t like you. Not this year. Not yet anyway. I mean boy have we struggled in qualifying and it makes me wanna smash my face against something hard! Stage points, pit selection oh! How we have just pissed you away thus far in 2019. I promise to get you back. SOON! In all reality, I am going to brief you all on our Friday but it’s going to be the PG version.
“It’s like riding a jet ski in the middle of the ocean” -KB1. Lol, Yea that’s the humor in our driver who isn’t happy right off the truck. We sling all sorts of items to try and get a hold of the added downforce and worn out track surface. Guess what…P21 in qualifying. Yea we really got a hold of it….Not! If you spent the time to watch qualifying Friday you will understand how frustrated so many people were. You need to draft or “get a run” on someone to turn a good qualifying lap but at the same time, it’s a complete mess. We as a team just need to adapt and be better than everyone else right? I mean that’s all this sport is. It’s not being perfect but rather just better than everyone else. I ended this day by going back to the hotel mad and frustrated! Put my running clothes on and went for a few mile run and a little workout. It’s about the only thing that works nowadays for me to not let my mouth get me in trouble. I am sure some of you can relate. Insert foot in mouth. Preferably before you say something dumb Ryan. Mission accomplished. Dinner, ice cream, and bed.
Saturdays for us are usually pretty smooth….unless you’re riding your jet ski in the middle of the ocean. Whereas if that is the case you just put your heat sleeves on and start slinging parts. Practice 2 we suck. Practice 3 we still suck. Just not really any good. Not showing much speed, fall-off is bad and the car is driving KB1. I am pretty sure Kurt got hired to drive the car and not the car got hired to drive Kurt.
So the good news to all of this? Yes, there is good news. I love sticking to my roots and still trash talk all my buddies when they don’t perform. When I need a little refresher or small getaway in my head I just go check up on those guys. We got (David) Gravel running out at Chico in the WoO, the modifieds are down south at Myrtle Beach, and I am intrigued with this deal on Hamner Engines getting a restrictor plate. We didn’t get the results we were looking for at Chico or Myrtle but we did get some great Twitter material in this Hamner Engine debacle. Don’t hold me to any of this but the gist I get out of it is that they made good power and got slapped with a plate to restrict them. Is this true? In this sport, there are so many things that go uncovered that it’s hard to really know the truth but my truth is this. If someone sends me a “Free Hamner” t-shirt I promise to wear it out to dinner with my wife. She will be impressed! Dinner for our engineers birthday and yes, ice cream again. Gah, I just want to go to the ice cream stand on the way to Thompson again. Bed.
So here we go. Its race day and after burning down the PC’s all night the boys all came up with some adjustments that we needed to do. I mean as far as practice went we were going to run 10-12th at best. Meet your driver Kurt Busch. Lol so running 12th isn’t acceptable. I would consider our changes pretty big. But this is what we do and at this level, you need to trust in your tools and most importantly one another. We all have our opinions on which direction to go and I felt good with the changes the boys brought the team. Roll the dice and hope we at least put KB1 on a jet ski in a lake rather than the Baltic sea or wherever he thought he was on Friday and Saturday. Solid preparation by the road guys, solid day by the over the wall guys, good strategy calls and a driver who just flat out wheels it. P6. So the west coast swing is over and we’re bringing home 5th, 7th, and 6th.
Ha! So this is the part in which you’re wondering where the heck is the rated R version of how mad I was that “45 minutes” ago. Bad news for you all. We are almost two hours since then and I am in full control of my emotions again. But I feel obligated to explain where I was at and I am going to do so. I couldn’t be happier for the whole team right now. Two laps to go and we are running 4th. Then two laps later the checkered flag comes out and your 6th. So frustrating. It’s not one person’s fault but the way it worked out in the final two laps we lost two spots. So in return, it took me about 2 or so hours to gather myself up and not want to smash my face again.
I am not exactly sure how to end a blog. I feel like something needs to be said that keeps you all wanting to come back and read my nonsense next week. So I just put some 2chainz “ I’m different” on the headphones and here it is. Nikki Sixx walked into the lounge to use our bathroom before the race. Yes, Motley Crue Nikki Sixx. He comes out and my first response to him is “I hope you flushed?” I mean what, Ryan! He gave us a quick story about traveling as a rock star and the bathroom sequence of the early ’90s. Interesting.
Remember last week how I ended my first ever blog? If you do and watched the race from Fontana on Sunday just please refer to the big wreck off of turn two….Yep. And then onto my saving grace. McCall is on this new thing to fast AKA not eat for 24 hours starting every Sunday. And how is that my saving grace? Well, that means he doesn’t eat on the plane and that’s 2 I said 2 hamburgers for this fat guy!!!! Now if I can just get my wife to give me a foot rub when I get home I will be complete.
Next week is Martinsville and as I sit here writing my second ever blog in 8pt font. McCall keeps leaning over talking about stuff for next week. I think he is secretly trying to get a glimpse of my blog. Haha. In all reality every time I think of Martinsville I keep thinking of finishing second to Jeff Gordon in his final Cup win. Gah, it eats me up. I looked up to Gordon for so long but then wanted nothing more than to just fence him for the win on that day. This week it’s about 1 team and 1 clock! We’re coming for you!
I really feel like this blog is lacking structure bigtime. We are talking to Friday and Saturday in 3rd person and all sorts of awkward stuff and now I carry on with one last paragraph. I tried to avoid it and didn’t want to talk about it but I feel like I will help better myself by putting into words another little challenge I had this week.
It’s strictly personal but work-related. This is a team sport, right? When was the last time you heard of a guy winning a championship at a local short track without any help from some buddies? Never! Sometimes we get buddies that just drink beer and other times we get buddies who actually help. Either way what I am getting at is it takes all types to make a championship team. Last week at Phoenix we struggled with our first pit stop. Instead of giving some encouragement and helping the boys push through a tough stop I went far away from the pit box and became frustrated at the result. What did I do to be a good teammate and pump the boys back up? Nothing. Shame on me and after we hit that two-hour window post-race I was so frustrated with myself for not being a supporter of my teammates when they needed it.
My biggest fear is letting the team down. I get so focused on physically working and putting in hours that I sometimes simply forget that there are so many aspects that bring results. So this week I had several conversations in the shop with some of the guys and after each conversation, I pointed the finger at myself for just not giving that little fist pump of encouragement when it was needed. I simply wasn’t the teammate I needed to be last week when the boys needed it.
Turn to this week. No matter the results I wanted to be there for the boys. Back slaps, good games and just spread the focus throughout the team. Intensity, work ethic, and attitude are contagious and this week with all the adversity we had as a group we proved (again) to ourselves that we are relevant. That we are a team! What I am getting at is if you have a guy who turns wrenches on your late model or modified. Thank him. If you have a guy who just comes to the shop on a Tuesday night to talk trash and drink all your beer…you have one job…..Do not run out of beer!. That guy will be angry!
RB