Calculated Risks on All-Star Night

Last night’s Power Series season nine All-Star Race at Gateway Motorsports Park had the sort of excitement and drama that would make NASCAR jealous.

Of course, NASCAR’s all-star events haven’t always been duds like we’ve seen recently.  Years ago, many of those races were classics, and I was there to witness several of them first-hand.  When I was growing up, my dad worked for RJ Reynolds, and he got tickets nearly every year to the all-star race, then sponsored by RJR’s Winston cigarette brand.

From the grandstands, I watched late passes for the win by Geoff Bodine in 1994 and Terry Labonte in 1999.  I saw Jeff Gordon dominate in the infamous T-Rex car in 1997, then lose the next year when his fuel ran out on the last lap.  And I watched a new generation from a famous family emerge when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in 2000.

In all of those races, the drivers raced their opponents a little closer and made more aggressive moves than they might have in any run-of-the-mill points race.  After all, there’s nothing to lose and only a victory to gain.

So entering last night’s race, I decided to adopt a similar mindset and take calculated risks as they presented themselves.  As I mentioned in my last post, this race meant something special to me since I could revisit my first online sim racing victory and wrap up a season of supporting the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.  That was certainly on my mind throughout the night as extra motivation to do well.

I qualified in second and ran there for much of the first 30-lap segment, but in the closing laps, I got pinned on the bottom and was freight trained by a group of cars running a bit higher — the fast line around the flat Gateway track.

At one point, we were three-wide down the backstretch.  Normally, I’m the first to back out of those situations, but being the All-Star Race, I made my first of several calculated risks by staying in the gas and driving a bit deeper into turn three than I otherwise might have.  I still lost the positions, but it was an all-star worthy moment nonetheless.

Getting shuffled back wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, since I learned some helpful hints about the racing line — namely, that I was pinching the exit of turn two a bit too much — while following the faster guys.  It also let me save my tires during the 20-lap second segment and make just a two-tire change at the pit stop.

Those two tires worked pretty well on the restart, and I was able to get a run on leader Chad Dalton.  I then took another calculated risk by making an inside run on him entering turn one.  He had the preferred outside line, so I knew I’d have to push hard to challenge him.  But then: SLAM!

Instead of hugging the bottom like I hoped, my grip-starved tires took me straight up the track and into the side of Chad’s car.  That cost him a couple spots, although he was able to retake the lead after I balked the second-place car in turn three.

In that case, the risk didn’t pay off, and I ran into one of the guys who has always raced me cleanly (and vice versa, for the most part).

A caution came out shortly after that, and both Chad and I pitted — him for two tires and me for four.  Even that pit stop turned out to be a calculated risk, as those fresh tires cost me valuable track position.  I restarted in sixth place, and after another quick caution, I started to make up spots.  A few laps later, I was up to third and I set my sights on Brad Collins in second.

With the laps winding down, I took another calculated risk with five to go.  Entering turn three, I broke late and dove in low on Brad.  Even with fresh tires, I still slid up the hill and into the side of his car.  Ultimately, I got the position but also wrinkled the fender — and, perhaps, the trust — of another driver who always runs me close but clean.

After seemingly battering my way through the field, I was in second place for what turned out to be the final restart.  I had fresher tires than leader Scott Simley, and when he slid up the track exiting turn two on the restart, I made the pass and, for once, I did it cleanly.  I then held off Scott and a hard-charging Chad in the final laps to score the victory.

So was the final reward worth those calculated risks?

I can’t say I’d be thrilled if someone roughed me up and went on to win.  But on this particular night, I also can’t say I would’ve been happy with myself for not trying those moves.  Certainly I wish they turned out differently, at least as far as the contact goes, but that’s the nature of calculated risks.  If consequences weren’t possible, they wouldn’t be called risks.

From a spectator’s point of view, I’m sure this All-Star Race, like some of NASCAR’s classics, was one worth watching, and those calculated risks are a common theme.  Although I’ve never been one to emulate his rough-and-tumble nature, Dale Earnhardt — who blocked Kyle Petty and subsequently spun on the final lap of the 1992 all-star race — summarized that pretty well after the race.  A reporter asked him “Are those the rules of The Winston?”, and Earnhardt replied “I don’t know about the rules.  That’s racing.  He was trying to win and I was too.”

With that said, I offer another apology to Chad and Brad.  And trust me, if the circumstances are ever reversed and you take the same sort of calculated risks as I did, I will understand completely.  To quote another racing cliche, “rubbin’s racin’”, and I’m prepared to take some rubbin’ in return.

Those incidents aside, I’m absolutely thrilled to bring home a win in my throwback paint scheme at a track that’s now even more special to me.  The win plus a few laps led added another $30 to my season-long pledges to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, bringing the season total to $257.  This afternoon, I made a donation for that amount online.

It’s been another great season of racing in the Power Series, and it finished with an exciting all-star night at Gateway.  To wrap up this post and this season, I again want to thank the league and series organizers, especially John Hensley, for making it a great place to race every Sunday night.

And thanks also to the competitors, who I know I can race close with every week.  I hope one night of risks from an otherwise calculating driver won’t change that going forward as you try to win and I do too!