Heartland Park Grand Prix Course

Heartland Park was another wet day.  I was pleased with my finishes but would have liked to do even better.  As usual we had a morning event and an afternoon event then we were supposed to do two Drag events but because of the rain they cancelled the Drags and we were able to get a head start on our 518 mile trip up to Putnam Park in southwest Indiana.  

IF IT'S HALLETT IT MUST BE WEDNESDAY

If it's Hallett it must be Wednesday. We kind of lose track of the days so we just look at the schedule to see where we are and what day it is;^) It was a rainy day at Hallett and very slippery, slid a good bit but never went off track and did pretty good. After the afternoon session we headed up to Kansas to Heartland Park Grand Prix Course. On the drive to Kansas we had tornado watches and warnings and some tremendous downpours of rain. Fortunately we never saw any tornados.

BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

Tuesday was at the famous Barber Motorsports Park.  But before I went out to the track I found a Tire store that was able to replace my tire pressure monitors and got my car back to normal.  Had a decent run at Barber,

when we completed the afternoon session at Barber we started on the longest transit of the week, 700  miles to Oklahoma where we would run at Hallett the next day.

CAROLINA MOTORSPORTS PARK

Monday we ran on  the Carolina Motorsports Park National Standard Track,  just did ok, not great, since I had pulled the fuse on the ABS/traction control system because the system was fighting me on track with the failed tire pressure monitor.  After finishing as Carolina we were off to Lanier Speedplex paved oval near Atlanta only 248 miles away.  Decent run there then off to Birmingham, Alabama 238 more miles west to run at Barber Motorsports Park on Tuesday.  Got in at a reasonable time and got some much needed sleep. 

NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY ROVAL

 After Wet Skid Pad Competition and an Autocross on the runways of Grissom Air Force Base in Peru Indiana we headed 366 miles south to the Nashville Superspeedway Roval.  I have not been here and on my reconnaissance lap I ran off into the grass in the infield.  Usually that would not be too big a deal, but they had installed a sidewalk for workers to walk out to the track area and did not tapper the ground next to it.  I hit that concrete edge and damaged two tires.  After changing to my spare tires one of the tire pressure monitors didn't work and when I went out on my qualifying lap the ABS system kept fighting me and slowed down my effort big time.  Unable to fix the tire pressure monitor I finally removed the fuse from the system to disable the ABS/traction control and things worked much better for my afternoon run.  Hopefully the rest of the week will be better.  Now we are off to Carolina Motorsports Park only 438 miles away. 

WET SKID PAD

 Good start to the week, did real well on the Wet Skid Pad Competition. Now we are off to Grissom Air Force Base 82 miles south.  After an autocross on the runways at Grissom we then we will drive 366 miles to the Nashville Super Speedway where we will run the  road course on Sunday.

 

Here is our "Thanks to our Sponsors" picture for 2021.  I am on the right and Gary "Duck" Drake, my Transit Driver is on the left.  We will be using my 2008 Corvette again this year.

I am getting ready for this years event in which we will compete in early May.  This year we will be traveling from South Bend to Nashville then to South Carolina, next over to near Atlanta, then to Alabama, from there to Oklahoma, then to Kansas where we not only do two Road Course events but also two Drag Strip, our last stop before heading back to South Bend, will be in Southwest Indiana at Putnam Park racetrack.  The event will be over 3000 miles.  With the miles to South Bend and back home, the total will be almost 4,500 miles in about 8 days.

Gary "Duck" Drake from Hamilton, Ohio will be my Transit Driver again this year, helping with the highway miles, and I will do all the competition driving.  Duck is a car guy and is a great asset on our adventure. This will be my 13th One Lap and we have raised almost Thirty Seven Thousand dollars for the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition over the years.  Make a donation and you can ride along "vicariously" (with your name on the top of the car) on the trip and help a great cause at the same time.  The Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition, represents, supports and serves breast cancer survivors and their families in Pennsylvania through educational programming, legislative advocacy and breast cancer research grants. 
  To make a donation and get a sticker on the car, stop in at the store or send to Jim Roberts % West Main Auto, 14 W. Main St. Mount Joy, Pa. 17552 along with who to name on the sticker.  Make all checks payable to PBCC for short.  You can also visit https://www.pabreastcancer.org/one-lap-of-america/ and donate by using your credit card.  I am struggling to reach my fundraising goal this year, so I appreciate your generosity. This is a terrible disease that has touched the lives of many of our friends and loved ones, Thank you for considering a donation.

To help follow the adventure, I still maintain a blog at www.onelapadventure.blogspot.com where you can also find older stories. Or you can "Like" my Facebook page at Jim's One Lap Adventure. Keep watching for more updates.

2022 Route Map, One Lap of America

 Here is the 2022 route map for our One Lap of America event.  The event starts in South Bend, Indiana but our trip starts back in  Pennsylvania.

After beginning the competition in South Bend on Saturday with a Wet Skid Pad competition, we head to Grissom Air Force Base for an autocross on the old runways, then to Nashville for the The Nashville Superspeedway Roval course the next day.  Then it's off to South Carolina to the Carolina Motorsports Park National Standard Track.  We then go to the Lanier Speedplex Oval near Atlanta for another event on Monday and then continue on to Birmingham, Alabama where we will compete Tuesday at Barber Motorsports Park.  The next day finds us in Oklahoma at the Hallett Motor Racing Circuit.  Heading north we now go to Heartland Park Grand Prix Course in Kansas.  At Heartland we will do two road course events then two Drag Strip events.   After the Drag events we will head to near Indianapolis and will run our last road course events on Friday on the Putnam Park Long Road Course, then it's back to South Bend for the last competitive event for the week, which will be the Dry Skid Pad competition.  The route will be over 3000 miles in about a week, but adding in the miles to and from Pennsylvania and the track miles I will travel over 4,500 miles. 

BTW, we will be raising funds again for the Pa. Breast Cancer Coalition.  We have now raised over $35,000 over the years.  I will give more details in my next story but anyone interested in donating by credit card on-line can click on  https://www.pabreastcancer.org/one-lap-of-america/ and follow the donation instructions.