I have had bigger days in my life (accepting Jesus as my savior, marrying my best friend, having our two kids, having grand kids, etc) but this is my biggest hobby related dream ever. I just spoke with Mike Janis Jr. and we have set the date for testing "The Black Hole". We will be renting Houston Raceway Park on August 13th and 14th for two evening/night testing/training sessions.
After nearly three years of building, rebuilding, and struggles, we are nearly there!
God has blessed me beyond belief to enable me to pursue this dream. At times I feel guilty to be where I am at while others struggle. Just know that I recognize what I have and I am praying for those who are struggling. "There but for the grace of God, go I"
For those of you that want to be there, you are welcome to show up. Houston Raceway Park is going to allow us to use the Media Suite so everyone has a place to stay out of the heat. Many thanks to Austin Hayward and Houston Raceway Park for accommodating us.
A few things you need to know about testing. I am a rookie and we will be taking baby steps to get the car and driver to be able to do the job. Although this day will be super exciting for me, don't expect competitive runs early on. The Janis family will be coaching and guiding me to a successful outcome. Their goal is to keep me safe and get me as much seat time as possible, not to be competitive! I will be following their coaching to the letter. Only when they tell me to drive it to the finish line, will I do that. I suspect that our best runs will happen on the second day after the car gets tuned and my heart rate stays below a ridiculous rate!
These cars require lots of maintenance after each run and most of our time will be spent working on the car, not driving it. That is just the nature of the beast!
Mike and I have acquired all of the spare parts we think we will need but there is always a potential to break a small part that prevents us from running. Again, the nature of the beast!
Traci and I are normally the kind of people that host all of our guests when we schedule a gathering of any kind. This will be different for us. Traci is a key member of our crew and we will have to be focussed like a laser to make sure we get everything right and learn as much as we can. We would love to host and I apologize in advance for not being able to focus on all of you that are there.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with the current world champ in ProMod and we will be shadowing them every waking hour. You will be able to watch us work but our pit area will be a work zone and a dangerous place so everyone will have to give us the space to work. I want to make sure that nobody gets hurt and we get as many runs as possible. Everyone will get a chance to look at there car but we will have a buffer zone when it is game time.
I will give you more details as we get closer but I wanted everyone to understand the environment at the track.
I hope some of you can be there because this is a big day in mine and Traci's life. We would appreciate your prayers during our dream coming true!
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