Harris Hill ChampCar Endurance Race
This weekend I was invited to drive for Callan’s Crew Race Team in the Saturday 8-hour and Sunday 7-hour Champcar Endurance Race at Harris Hill Raceway. We had a main car, a backup car, and 4 drivers including myself.
Chas, Kevin, Jack, and I started the weekend with a few practice sessions each on Friday. Both cars felt great and we were all within a few tenths of each other. Unfortunately, though, at the end of the day, our main car’s clutch started to slip. We ended up retiring it for the day and taking it to the shop for repairs in order to make it to Saturday’s race.
With our newly replaced clutch, we started the race in P1 out of 31 cars. Chas began the first stint and got a great start. However, within a few laps, the car suddenly went into a huge puff of white smoke and had to be towed in under a full course yellow. It turns out that the engine had exploded, blowing a hole right through the block. This was not the driver’s fault, as the newly bought engine was given to the team already faulty. Trying to make the best of the situation, we decided to quickly switch to the backup car and make up as many positions as possible, as it was only the first hour of the race. Little did we know, it would only get worse from there.
Left with no choice but to use the backup car, we knew that we were going to run into some problems. During the rest of the race on Saturday, the radiator hose broke, the water pump belt and fuel line fell off, and we had to pit multiple times for overheating issues. On the bright side, though, we were running lap times as fast, if not faster than the leader and knew if we could get all the kinks worked out on Saturday, then we had a pretty good chance at winning it on Sunday.
During my stint, I made lots of passes, experienced some crazy drivers, and most importantly, had tons of fun! Although we were very far back in the order, everyone drove their hearts out and kept a positive attitude in the brutal 100 degree heat.
On Sunday, with the grid order being reversed, we started dead last. This time, Jack started the race. He made it to the upper half of the mid field by the end of his stint. We were looking great and the car was surviving! By the time it was my stint, we were running in 2nd place!
About 3 laps into my stint, I felt a very violent vibration and wobbling of the car down the straightaway and in the corners. I radioed into the team that something was very wrong and I needed to pit or else the left rear wheel might fly off. Once I pitted, the team jacked the car up on stands and realized that the axle had broken in the left rear. They went to work fixing it as fast as they could, but it unfortunately cost us the race.
Once the car was fixed, the rest of my stint consisted of managing the water temperature and trying to make up positions. At the end of the race, we had finished 7th out of our class. Although we didn’t get the results we wanted, the crew bonded through teamwork, dedication, and a passion for racing. Overall, it was a great experience and I learned a lot about watching the gauges and bringing the car back safely. It was a pleasure being apart of the team and I can’t wait for the next one!
September 23, 2023
