As exciting as racing in this years La Carrera Panamericana was I just can’t help but want to get back behind Lucky’s wheel for more… A LOT more. But before I go any further, please don’t get me wrong, the effect of having competed in the La Carrera is far from over.

One of the single biggest accomplishments for a car builder is to see his or her project not only perform well but in fact having done it against the very best competitors and having done it at a do or die level and that is exactly how I drove Lucky. Backing up several years ago I remember it was near the end of the year and I was in a very good spot to take the overall points lead for the national seasons championships with only two races left in the season. Right when I thought nothing could go wrong… That’s right… everything went wrong as my car took me head-on into a concrete retaining wall while doing over 125 miles per hour. The good news was I walked away unscathed. The bad news was there was not a single piece of the car that resembled a race car and there was only three and half weeks until the next event in the series. Back in those days I did not have the usual 8 or nine back-up cars that we typically keep on hand for such reasons these days. That meant I had very little time to build and test a car that had already taken me years to accomplish and as everyone knows even the best built car will have “bugs” that usually will only be found while thrashing the car. In an endurance series finding gremlins or any other type of problem can result in a less than satisfactory result and usually any car needs to be “dialed in” regardless of how well built it is.

On the following Monday after the crash I found myself along side my team of dedicated men building a replacement car that had ONLY a roll cage and not a single other part whatsoever in it. I mean NOTHING! With only 3 days before the next race I found myself buckled in the car sitting on Infineon (Sears Point) International Raceway on a test day waiting for the green flag to drop. If you asked me if I thought there would be something that needed attention I would have told you it wouldn’t be if but more like how many. I will never forget that day as I began tearing up the track and going faster and faster all the time asking myself, “When in the hell is something going to happen?” As amazing as it was, the “when” never happened. Not only did I go on to win that years seasons championships but that car kept on going until it had 4 more seasons championships and a lot more and not once did a single component ever break or give me a problem.

As with that amazing car Lucky too has shown that he too could very well be another awesome car. Some may find this sort of a story to sound like a lot of bragging and if so that’s fine with me but a lot more important than what others think is how confident a driver must feel about his car if he or she is to have the needed confidence required to go win time and time again. If for a single second the driver feels as if there may be any sort of issue it could result in the lack of confidence or cause a mental lapse just long enough to result in a less than desired ending.

After a race I usually have a good feeling for the needs of whatever car I have driven and as far as I can tell the only things I will be doing to Lucky are new front brake rotors and pads, change the engine oil and filter, transmission oil and rear end gear oil and flush the cooling system which is water only with some “water-wetter.” Due to some bad fuel in Mexico I will surely install a new fuel filter and I will take a peak at the spark plugs but I have a feeling that even those will stay unchanged based on how it was tearing up the roads in Mexico. After that I will wash and clean up the entire car with pride and elbow grease and stand back and take a long look and reflect no doubt with a huge smile.

Regarding the small battle scar Lucky succumbed to on Mil Cumbre… I will have to wait and see what it looks like after he’s all cleaned up and then I will decide if it’s a good way to start a conversation with (Oh that. I was racing thru Mexico when… ) or if Lucky should have it repaired or not. The usual reason for not getting such a small dent removed is simply because if you do, it is like begging for another. On the other hand is the fact that Lucky already has a commitment to be on display at next years SEMA show in Las Vegas so whatever our sponsor wants is what they will get.

As a matter of fact I am so confident that Lucky is ready to go that I have entered him in the 2008 NASA endurance series. I don’t even know which class he will fall into and it may have to be with the unlimited class which is primarily meant for whale tail Porsches, Radicals, Nascar, or any other late model high performance race car but whatever class we choose to run it in we know one thing for sure… When running an endurance series, money does NOT buy consistency or help you to be a skilled driver.

All that being said, It gives me great pride to announce that in less than two weeks on December 1st Lucky will be the honorary pace car for this years 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by The United States Air Force. For more information click here.