As the northern reaches of the country are locked in winters brutal cold embrace something extraordinary was about to happen. It’s time for the mid-winter migration of “turtles” to the much warmer climate of Sebring Florida. It happens every year about this time and for those of us that long for that first club race of the season it can’t come soon enough.

This year the contingency of “turtle” carriers that made the trip south was smaller than last years due to some changes in the rules for the D.E. event that coincides with the club race but none the less there were still some 240 plus cars at the track. Chesapeake region had a strong showing with myself, Eric Allen, Manny Alban, and temporary member Pete Tremper making the trip together.

Once there we hooked up in the paddock with some other region members as well as the folks from GT Performance/ Accu Bid Racing who are always a welcome sight since they are more than willing to offer their help to anyone who needs it. The weekend started out with beautiful weather and some good times on the track. My wife Kim and our son Travis and his friend Jason flew down for the weekend. We were also joined by my father and his wife along with my sister and her husband who were down visiting my dad at his house about 2 hours from the track. One of the more exciting things for my dad was the 3 laps he got to take with me in my race car during the track tours. Its supposed to be a nice leisurely drive around the track but every once in a while you can take a turn or two at a more than leisurely pace!!

When the qualifying and racing did start that’s when things started getting a little more exciting. Maybe it was the warm air or all the awesome cars but whatever it was the concentration level on the track wasn’t what it should have been and the carnage began in earnest. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but there was something like 50 GT3 Cup cars there and about 13 or so went home needing major repairs. As for our group of the 8 cars directly in our paddock only 2 went home in the same condition that they showed up. The good news is that none of us had any significant damage and we all finished the weekend in running condition. That’s more then can be said for a lot of others. All of that aside though I think everyone there had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we all turned in respectable times on the track.

The weekend features two major races the main one being a 40 minute sprint race which is held on Saturday and the second being a 90minute endurance race on Sunday. I won’t bore you with all the final places except to say that yours truly did win his first race ever in Saturdays sprint race.

That evening we all gathered for a huge awards banquet were after listening to Kevin Buckler speak I was awarded with a very nice trophy and lots of adulations from all my fans. It was a very special moment for me and I'm extremely grateful that I got to share it with all the friends and family that were there. It just proves once again that its not just a car club and its not just about the cars.

Some other folks from the region posted good finishes in the enduro as well. Pete and Manny teamed up to score a 3rd in C class, Igor Soykher placed 3rd in GT2R and Bill Walczak brought home a first inGT2S. This is a huge feat for Bill considering the shape both he and his car were in at the end of last year. Bill had a pretty bad off course excursion at Summit Point and he and his car took a lot of rebuilding. All in all I think the team from Chesapeake put on a darn good show and we all came home in one piece. If you ever get the chance to go to a PCA Club race I encourage you to go. It’s quite an experience and won I'm sure you’ll enjoy, maybe even as much as the participants. See ya at the track!!!!