As I reflect on the last 12 days, there were a lot of highs and lows from the Runoffs at Daytona. We had clients that won National Championships and those that had nothing but bad luck all week. First off a huge thank you to my guys Brian Zellner and Blake Hughes at Atlanta Speedwerks for prepping cars to the very top level.
Coaching clients Brian Linn (1st in HP) and Tray Ayres (2nd in SRF3) were at the top of their game. Great fun to be on the radio with them both talking them through strategy on the last lap run to the stripe.
Huge props to Mazda for allowing us to race under the lights. Having run the Daytona 24 Hours as a Mazda ladder driver, I can say that all the SM drivers that took the green got to be a part of something special that in my mind was equal to the experience of running the 24 Hours (at least the first 14 laps of it!). Congrats to everyone for putting on a great show!
It was fun to work with several drivers new to Daytona, such as Brian Linn, Spencer Rutherford, Spencer Patterson, Mike Collins, Steve Sturm, and Jeff VanBendegom. Watching these guys get up to speed was very rewarding as a coach.
Our shop did a bunch of setups at the track for various drivers, and even did a motor swap for Michael Cottrell before the race.
I personally made a bad call on the tires for the race which kept me from joining the fun up front, but as a consolation prize I was able to set the fastest lap of the SM race, and got a little shoutout at the start of the race broadcast. That will have to do for now smile emoticon
I had a great time hanging out with the Meathead camp at Wing House for just about every meal during qualifying week. I swear I will never eat wings again…unless Alexis is serving them.
Thanks to East Street for taking care of the horses, Todd Buras for the donuts and drafting help, Ken Mersereau and Glenn Murphey for the help in the paddock, Sturm and Collins for the hospitality, and Becky Mishtawy+1 for showing us all the cool local hangouts after hours.
Congrats to the SM podium finishers Jonathan Goring, Andrew Carbonell, and Alex Bolanos.
Thank you to all of our customers and friends that were part of year one with Atlanta Speedwerks.
-TODD LAMB
