I can’t believe it is over. It seems like I have been planning, working towards, living and breathing the 2005 NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by the United States Air Force for months now. Believe it or not, it seems like it went by too darn fast.

After last years win, I was both physically and mentally drained. The problems that left us off the podium in 2003 were conquered in 2004. My guilt & the feelings of having failed my drivers & crew in ’03 were banished by our 14 lap leading win in E2! A great weight had been lifted. I was spent & didn’t plan to return in 2005. In fact, I even talked to another team about crew chiefing for them. When the NorCal Honda Challenge season ended in November, my season would be over too. December would be a month to rest & recharge. My friends, both drivers & crew, had other ideas!

Fast forward to fall 2005. Things are slowly starting to come together. The most important was getting all the right people together. I have already gotten commitments from almost all of the 2004 crew to help out. This was extremely encouraging since most of them were with me since our 2002 12 Hours of Thunderhill E2 win. (Note: There was not yet an evil gleam in Jerry’s eye so the 25 Hour didn’t exist yet. Ok, there was an evil gleam but the 25 still didn’t exist yet.) Most of the drivers will be returning too. Two new drivers will be aboard for this race. While friends, they have never raced with us. We are also adding a few new crew members. Team chemistry is vitally important to having a good time so much care was used in selecting those invited to join us.

The car prep was coming along too. James Chin, of Griffin Motorwerke, was finished rebuilding the engine. A fresh clutch & Xact flywheel from ACT waited for the tranny rebuild to finish before being installed. My Spec B pads, GT 3000 rotors & brake fluid were on the way from Cobalt Friction. Some additional Slipstreams were being sent by Rota Wheels. When you have to be prepared for both wet & dry conditions, you have to have lots of wheels & tires on hand. Lucky for us, the guys at Auto Innovations don’t mind helping to mount tires and set the race car’s alignment. Speaking of tires, we had stocked up on Toyo RA-1s for the race. We kept some as full treads for rain. The rest we had ‘race shaved’ over at AIM by Ron Cortez. Keeping the crew safe is always a priority, Impact Racing came thru with gloves for everyone. A few of us would even get to try out the new ImpactMAX underwear!

The race week came and I was scrambling. I needed to get the motorhome one day earlier than I planned. I didn’t get enough rooms for the crew. I was able to get the motorhome pickup changed but I couldn’t find any more rooms in Willows! I had to send some of the crew to the next town up the highway. Idiot!

We got to the track early on Thursday and waited for the gate to open. When it did, those of us in line drove to our spots & prepare what we could. We chose a paddock spot between our hot pit & the garage we rented. We didn’t want to get stuck in pouring sideways rain like we did in 2003. As fate would have it, it rained pretty steadily on Thursday. Thank goodness it didn’t last thru the weekend! We unloaded some stuff into the garage and set up the trailer and motorhome. Around 2 PM, we decided that there really wasn’t too much more to get done. We hightailed it to the hotel to clean up. That night, we met one of the crew in Chico for dinner. After dinner, we were too amped up to sleep. Roger had brought his Playstation and we wasted way too much of the night trying to master a game.

Friday came way too early after our late night game playing. Lucky for us, Thursday prep work meant we didn’t have to get to the track early. We arrived there at 9:30. Most of the team would arrive today around 11 AM. The rest would have to come up after work on Friday. One team member who works swing shift wouldn’t be able to get there until Saturday morning! Those that arrived during the day finished setting everything up. A few of the driver’s needed some seat time. In fact, Pete hadn’t been in a regular car for a couple of years. He would need to adjust since he had been racing his Radical exclusively. Lucky for us, the weather on the test day matched the race day! Night qualifying came before we knew it. After that we packed up and rushed to town for pre-race dinner with our class rivals GOTO Racing at Family Pizza in Willows.

Saturday comes and with it an air of excitement. Everything goes smoothly except for an early hiccup. It seems that one of the new rear hubs is acting up. Lucky for us we catch it before the race this year. (We had to change one during the race in 2004!) A spare gets installed & down to grid we go. A bit of confusion for us as we thought we were in row fifthteen not row thirteen but we find the correct spot finally. The start and race go smoothly. The drivers follow the team orders. The pitstops are perfect. We face stiff competition but we stick to our game plan. Drivers’ changes are fast. Fuel is done cleanly. Tires and brakes are changed quickly. We aren’t the fastest but we don’t get penalties and everything gets done. OK, the guys are really fast – back paddock for 4 tires, front brakes and a drivers’ change are all done in seven minutes.

Sunday arrives with bitter cold in the dead of night. Other than trying to stay warm, everything else is going great. We are facing stiff competition but we are in the lead and dictate the pace. Morning arrives and the last stint is coming soon. I get in the car with a four lap lead. Last year, I had a different driver finish the race. This year, the checkered would be mine! I get out there and putt along. I just don’t want to make any contact, go off track or break the car. I am waving everyone by going putt, putt, and putt. I get passed by one of the ’06 Civic Si’s and start following them around. We pass my friend’s car, the GOTO Racing Integra, and they start following us. Next thing I know, we are crossing the line with the two ’06 Si’s two wide in front and the GOTO car and our Civic two wide right behind. What a sweet feeling to be with the other Hondas! We finish first in E2 and fifth overall.

Congratulations to all the racers especially our E2 competitors, TC Motorsports and California’s Best. We fought TC Motorsports for the entire race and California’s Best was always there within striking distance. The good clean driving and sportsmanship was much appreciated. This was by far a tougher race than we faced in 2004. The teams pushed us to the limit. We look forward to a rematch in 2006!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors who believed in us for another year. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
Advanced Clutch Technologies (ACT)
Auto Innovations
Cobalt Friction Technology
Griffin Motorwerke
Impact Racing
Precision Muffler
Rota Wheels
Toyo Tires (USA)

To the drivers and crew, everyone did an incredible job. We were able to compete against some very accomplished teams and came out on top. You all were important. You all did a fantastic job!! Last year, I told you I couldn’t be more proud of you. I was wrong. You would not believe the complements the team has received on our teamwork & positive attitude. You guys just keep getting better. I count myself lucky to have friends like you!