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3-1-2010
I am on the plane to Orlando from Vegas. Sorry I missed a post after Fontana but one of the things about our life is at times I am racing at the same time as Colin. I was in Sebring testing a LMPC prototype car as we prepare for the 12 hours of Sebring.
Diane keeps me updated with text messages during the race and I try to sneak a peak at the Direct TV screen in the team hauler between testing runs. Colin was struggling with a very loose car and the #16 guys were making changes all day to get it better. I was struggling to get my car better as well but to be completely honest I would have traded .3 seconds per lap on my car to give to Colin. Just hope my team owner does not read this!
Toward the end of the Fontana race my team was leaving the track at Sebring for the night and I rushed to my rental car in the infield at the track, fired up my computer and my Sprint data card so I could watch the end of the race on my computer. I have a device called Sling Box that allows me to log on to my home TV and it sends the feed from home direct to my computer. The quality of the image is dependent on the connection and you can guess how that was in Sebring FL. So I watched as Colin got stuck behind the #10 who broke a transmission on the restart, and Colin had no where to go except straight back. I must have looked very strange in a dark car with the glow of the computer yelling at no one in frustration as I watched a jerky, fuzzy image of an event taking place 3,500 miles away, knowing my wife was having the same feelings in the grand stands at the track. We could imagine how Colin felt. Oh the glamour of being a racing family.
After that it was straight from Sebring to Vegas to catch Colin’s race live, yes! Rain almost washed out that chance as I have to leave Sunday back to Florida for a race, in Homestead. I was so happy the rain held off Saturday and the race went off with only a short delay.
As a parent you tell your kids that if they work hard, study, never give up, are polite and respectful and always strive for perfection, that things will work out in their favor. The #16 team had a perfect day. Making good changes on pit lane, with good pit stops. Colin and his spotter, Lorin worked great together and having a top spotter like Lorin was never more important than Saturday. Listening on the radio to him and how he helps Colin is like listening to a coach, advisor, psychiatrist, and Jedi Master all in one.
With 30 laps to go Colin was in the right spot on a restart in 9th. A solid top 10 was in the cards and all they needed was to keep doing what got them there. Into turn one on the restart and another driver makes a mistake and runs into the back of Colin and spins him into the wall and in an instant a perfect race is ruined.
This is the most frustrating thing for Diane and I. We can’t help Colin by telling him he should have done this or that, or he put himself in a bad spot, or made an error in judgment. If he had screwed up it is easier to help.
The next thought is that he did all the things we told him to do and embraced as a kid, the hard work stuff and all that, and what did that get? It got him crashed in the wall by some one else. Not fair.
The only saving grace for us as parents is that stuff like this has happened to Colin from age 6 and in Japan, the USA, France and Italy.
So he is used to it. Still it makes Diane and I want to go choke some one for not allowing all his efforts to pay off like they should. The best thing is Colin takes it better than his parents. He is quite possibly more grown up than us.
Jeff Braun |
