May 16 - Washington : All done

We had a half-day in Seattle / Kent before our flights in the afternoon. Dad and I decided to try to replace the fuel pressure sensor for Taylor. We should have done it during the trip, but the combination of exhaustion and not being sure how long it would take kept us from diving in.

The last hotel- Doubletree! Thanks to Dad for smoking through his whole stash of Hilton points!

After a quick breakfast, Dad and I went over to Taylor's apartment. Here's one last photo of the tire wear on our Bridgestone RE-71R's. 7,500+ miles on these, plus 120 minutes of track time, give or take.

Just dipping into the wear bars...

We popped the hood on the Volvo and dug in to try and get the fuel pressure sensor replaced. I followed a nice DIY write-up on the Volvo forum Swedespeed.com, so thanks to the folks there that provided it!

Only moderately worse for the wear.

Fuel pressure can be released via this valve. Helps minimize the fuel spray.

For anybody who may find this and want to know the replacement part number.

Dad at work.

The sensor is located under some of this stuff.

It was going nice and easy until I dropped the one bolt we needed. It didn't hit the ground. Ugh.

Dad found an extra bolt in his collection that fit nicely, but I jacked up the car to try and find it anyway. Bolts floating around the engine bay worry me. Miraculously, I found it wedged in some suspension components. It doesn't sound like much of an issue when I type it out, but this probably delayed us 45 minutes, doubling the length of time we spent on the replacement.

We tested it out- the car ran nicely. It was nearing time to leave, so we rolled across the street to get some lunch before our flights.

Dad and Taylor ordering at Kigo, a noodle place.

With lunch finished, it was time to pack up and head out. Our adventure had come to an end. It was an amazing journey- Thanks Dad and Taylor for doing this! It's a memory that will stay with me forever; I feel very lucky.

Thanks, too, to my wife, Ryann, who was pregnant and taking care of our 18 month old daughter- she encouraged us to sign up, then was one of our biggest cheerleaders the whole time. Thanks to my Mom, who flew to Houston to help Ryann with the house and the baby, and thanks to Ryann's family as well for doing the same. 

And finally, thanks to our readers out there who have followed along- I hope you enjoyed!

Dropped off by Taylor at the airport- so long!

May 15 - Montana, Idaho, Washington : Done

Our last day of the road trip. It was agreed that if we did this again, we wouldn't start 2,100 miles away.

Another day, another breakfast buffet.

The prevailing mood was much better than captured here.

The scenic route was pleasant. At this point we were nursing the car along with a check engine light, required maintenance light, broken fuel gauge, low coolant light, engine system control failure light, brake assist service required light, malfunctioning cruise control, and fuel pressure cutting in and out. Come on, Volvo, you can make it!

Lunch at Panda Express.

Standard road trip positions.

Last gas stop before Seattle!

We made it! Right back to where we started nearly two weeks previously. 7,500+ miles driven. Exhausted, but elated, we set about unpacking so Tom could be returned.

Yay!

I took this photo to remind myself that the trailer was fully unloaded.

Dad and Taylor continued to get unpacked while I returned the trailer. Adios, Tom, you served us well.

After getting back to Taylor's apartment, we took this final photo before setting off for dinner at Duke's Chowder House across the parking lot. For the first time in two weeks, we took our time, without the specter of a monster drive ahead. It felt good.

May 14 - South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana

We got up reasonably early at the Hampton Inn in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A full day of driving lay ahead. Our goal was to make it 800 miles to have dinner with the Smiths in Bozeman, Montana.

Not too much to report for the majority of this transit day. Drive, gas, food, drive, gas, food, etc.

Still loving the breakfast buffet life.

Taylor volunteered for the first shift.

Crossing the Missouri River in South Dakota.

At this point, we were getting some complaints from the Volvo that a brake pressure sensor was malfunctioning. No problem.

Well, except the cruise control would quit working. The alert would go off and we would pull over at a rest area to stop, turn the car off, turn the car on, then resume with cruise control working again.

Then we'd do it again.

Then we'd do it again.

Wildly enjoying the cruise control, which was working at this particular moment.

Gas stop in South Dakota.

Gas stop in Wyoming.

We paired a lunch stop with a gas stop in Wyoming. It was a total fiasco. Dad and I got some fish from a Long John Silver / A&W combo restaurant. It sounds so stupid now. Why would we do that? It wasn't particularly edible. Worst meal of the trip, right here folks.

Taylor got a bacon cheeseburger with an extra large side of gloating.

**Shudder**

Gas stop right after lunch, before hitting the road.

Once we turned into Wyoming and Montana, the scenery became really nice. I've included some shots here for posterity.

Giant blades for wind turbines being transported on a train.

As we gained elevation, over 5,000 feet as we crossed Montana, the coolant sensor in the Volvo started complaining about low coolant. Not a great sign, but once we checked, it wasn't really low at all.

We topped it up anyhow, just for good measure.

Gas / coolant stop in Montana.

Cruising into Bozeman, MT.

As we traversed the country, another one of Taylor's best friends from the SAE racing team in college, Tyler, was in the midst of his own (much longer and much more relaxed) monster road trip. Tyler and his girlfriend, Liz, had quit their jobs, ended the lease on their apartment, bought a van, converted it into living/driving quarters, and set out on a months-long journey criss-crossing the U.S., visiting friends and landmarks across the country. In fact, I'd had a really nice dinner with them as they passed through Texas in early March!

Tyler and Liz had been at RIT in Rochester, NY on May 6 for the introduction (or, "unveiling") of the RIT Racing Formula SAE race car completed during the '16-'17 academic year. Following the unveiling, they were meandering their way towards Seattle to see, amongst other friends, Taylor. Maybe you can see where this is going...

Taylor was texting with Liz early in the morning and by lunch time it was becoming clear that, given our relative travel vectors and barring any unforeseen stoppages, we would be in Bozeman around the same time! The plan was on for a full dinner party! Liz even decided it would be fun to keep the plan a surprise for Tyler.

Having traveled 6,000 miles in the meantime, we made it back at the Smith's. We arrived first, and parked on the other side of the road, facing the opposite direction from our first visit. Symbolism and all that.

I really like this picture for some reason.

Tyler and Liz arrived to great fanfare and excitement- we cracked open some cold ones and enjoyed each other's company. Tyler was only mildly surprised due to some strange behavior from Liz as she tried to stall for time, waiting for us to catch up on the road.

Tyler, Bruce, Dad, and Taylor.

I recorded a bunch of video- should be edited and ready by 2025.

Bruce and Jeanne, our illustrious hosts for the evening, provided an outstanding homemade meal of pulled pork and all the fixings. It was the first non-restaurant meal we'd had since the burger cookout the week prior! The food tasted great.

Not a great picture, but I guess I was too busy eating to get a better one.

After eating and sharing many stories, we went outside to pack up and check out Tyler and Liz's travel van.

Thanks Bruce and Jeanne! The stop was wonderful; we said our goodbyes and hit the road to make Butte, MT for the evening. It was only 85 miles, but we were so exhausted and full, it was a surprisingly miserable drive. We all were wishing we'd just stayed in Bozeman for the night.

Nonetheless, we made it to our hotel for the evening some time after 11pm.

Just (!) 590 miles, about 10 hours, tomorrow to Seattle, and that'll wrap the show. No celebrating yet, though. Don't want to jinx it.

May 13 - Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota: Skidpad + Banquet + Depart

Sadly, the last day was upon us. Dad would drive the event this morning, although it was only a skidpad. A repeat of the very first event, only dry instead of sprinkler-soaked. 

Our finely tuned morning routine took us to McDonald's across the street. We celebrated by ordering what must be the unhealthiest food by weight: Sausage Egg & Cheese McGriddles. Plus hash browns. 

Back to where the first event and kick off was held: Tire Rack Headquarters. Parking was in our assigned and numbered spaces- right next to the MR2 Lins! Everyone was dropping off their trailers and making their way across the skidpad to line up for photos, so we did the same.

We were directed into place and got out to visit while everyone else parked. 

Photographers on the roof of the building in the upper right.

Dad and Taylor visiting with Howard, the syrup magnate.

All competitors made their way to stand next to their cars and wave. The top 10 finishers (at least with one event still left) were parked up front.

Once the photo was finished, cars were driven back to the parking lot and parked to wait for the skidpad event to start.

Finishing breakfast, waiting to start the last event.

As mentioned previously many times, we had some concerns about the tires lasting to the end. Expectations were fully bald tires by this point in the trip, but as you can see below, we had some tread left for the journey home- yay!

Maybe someone can benefit from this photo in the future: Bridgestone RE71R's after a full One Lap event, plus a 2,100 mile highway journey from Seattle.

One of Taylor's good friends from college, Matt Smith, drove out to meet us and say hello! If he sounds familiar, that's because his father, Bruce, hosted us for burgers in Montana on the journey out!

Matt, Taylor, and Freddie, a fellow competitor. Thanks for coming to visit us, Matt!

The run order was the reverse of the overall standings, so we were running pretty early. Dad got in line and ran the short skidpad event.

And with that, we completed the 2017 One Lap of America! Dad's run was good enough for 55th place with a 0.894g average of both directions. We were in close running with the Civic Si in the overall standings, and Dad beat them, so we held on for 59th place- yay Dad!

We did it! All events completed! Dad parked in our spot and we wandered around, visiting with friends. Everyone was in high spirits to have finished such a grueling event. Nice work to all!

Taylor in the aforementioned high spirits.

Because we went so early, there was plenty of time to enjoy the morning.

Matt and Taylor discussing the car lineup.

Film crews out in full force, me included!

Dad, always sensitive to anything amiss in the force, was concerned about a vibration that had slowly crept its way into existence on the Volvo; he suspected a tire out of balance, which wouldn't be unreasonable given the punishment we'd inflicted.

Fortunately, we were at one of the largest tire service centers on the planet, so we scheduled a quick appointment to get the tires rebalanced. After all, we were going to leave for a 2,100 mile road trip to Seattle in just a couple hours. Tire Rack has outstanding customer service and were as helpful as ever; the Volvo was in a service bay for tire balancing before lunch.

Volvo ready for a tire balancing.

Inside Tire Rack, a massive warehouse and service center.

After dropping the Volvo off inside, I made my way back out to Taylor and Matt to watch the front runners make their skidpad runs.

Happy as ever to have his picture taken. Again.

The last of the competitors to run the skidpad. The wagon was given #1 as a wink, nudge sort of joke. They were in last place.

Watching the fast guys go.

Once everyone had finished, the winners were settled. It was our friend, Hugh, in the red 1,000 horsepower GTR with the victory! Congratulations, Hugh! He's a really nice guy and engaged us in friendly conversation throughout the week.

My favorite car, the black Porsche, took second, and the crazy guys in the Ariel Atom took third. Well done, chaps!

The winners.

The event was officially over. 

However, tradition held that whomever felt like destroying their tires was free to line up to do burnouts for the crowd. So the crowd gathered and many lined up to try their hand at a crowd-pleasing drift and/or burnout.

Most failed.

The Roadkill crew did not.

Chris Lin and I were filming from the crowd. I was experimenting with the slow motion setting on my Sony RX100 V. A better photographer/cinematographer would have nailed the following shot. I messed up the focus. Sorry about that.

Once the burnouts were over, everyone made their way over to the storage warehouse side of Tire Rack for the closing banquet and awards ceremony. It smelled very strongly of rubber, but the food was good. 

In the food line.

More importantly, there was beer. Even a local brewery that was pumping a couple select drafts!

In the beer line.

The Lin's were looking lonely at a table by themselves, so because we were sure there was no way they could possibly be sick of us, we joined them.

Mike + Chris.

To be honest, the ceremony was pretty odd. A lot of goofing off by longtime competitors with a huge amount of inside jokes. I'm sure it was awesome for them. For those of us on the outside, it was just strange.

But hey, food + beer!

I spent some time hanging out with Walter, the Falken Tire cinematographer, talking racing and cameras.

Walter grabbing some B-roll footage with a cell phone.

Yo Dad!

Brock Jr. presenting awards.

Losing interest in the inside jokes...

After an hour and a half of the gong show, we decided we ought to hit the road. We hoped to make it to the edge of South Dakota for the night. Preferably before 3am. This time the time changes would be in our favor, though!

We said our goodbyes to those that still remained. Many had snuck out before us and the parking lot was pretty empty.

Hooking up Tom for the last time.

We hit the road again, aimed for Seattle. By this point we had become salty old highway pirates, unfazed by the never-ending asphalt seas before us. Finely tuned road tripping machines, forged in the fires of One Lap.

As such, not a whole lot to report from the road during this section. There are some pictures though.

Gas stop at an Oasis off the Illinois Toll Road leading into Chicago. Expensive toll road at that.

At some point, Taylor lost his sunglasses. Matt Smith donated a pair for the journey back. Thanks, Matt!

Our dinner stop came in Wisconsin. We tried to make engineer a Pizza Ranch pizza buffet dinner, but it wasn't meant to be. None were close enough to hit that glorious buffet window.

So we stopped at a B.A. Burrito Co., a Wisconsin burrito chain that puts Mac N Cheese, among other things, in burritos.

None of us were interested in a Mac N Cheese burrito. Well, more like we weren't interested in the consequences.

Dad finished pretty quickly, then took the car for a gas fill up around the corner. Once Taylor and I finished, we sat outside and watched the sunset while we waited for Dad to return. It was nice.

Taylor looking majestic, living and loving that #modellife.

The Wisconsin farmland was picturesque as we made our way west. I'm sure a good photographer could have generated some seriously nice photos as we traveled during the golden hour of lighting.

We cruised into a Hampton Inn, brought to you by Dad's Hilton Honors rewards points, around 12:30am Central (yay for the hour gained!). After a smooth check-in, we were in bed before 1:30am.

While a celebration to commemorate our successful completion of One Lap might have seemed in order, the 1,500 miles and 22 hours of driving loomed large. 

We were pretty proud, though.

May 12 - Michigan : GingerMan Raceway

At some point during the night, we had to turn the room HVAC off. The grinding noise was too overwhelming. We woke up at 630am hoping we hadn't caught too many diseases. Taylor was to do the driving for the day, so we all got ready and helped Taylor into the driving suit.

I was running low on clean clothes, but I still had some new t-shirts to crack open, thanks to Taylor.

10 points if you get the reference here. Hint: it's a Blue Origin shirt.

The weather outside was looking perfect- a nice change from yesterday's gloomfest.

Packed up and headed to breakfast. Hotel equally terrifying in the day.

Breakfast was served in the lobby and it was buzzing with One Lappers. I enjoyed my 87th hotel-buffet-breakfast-waffle of the trip. Just as good as the first!

Ready to roll. Taylor was being dramatic; the weather was great.

The track was a few miles down the road. Everyone was in high spirits as the end approached- we'd all made it to the last track event! We parked next to our amigos Chris and Mike Lin in the Honda-powered Toyota MR2. They'd had a really strong showing the previous day in the rain- 12th place in both the morning and afternoon! Well done, chaps.

Unpacking for the day.

Just some race cars.

With everything unpacked, we had some time to relax and enjoy the day before our first session. Dad was still pretty horribly sick at this point, so he sat down for a bit. We both arrived in Seattle sick, seemed to heal up a bit, then swapped sicknesses. Taylor caught one or both colds somewhere in there, so we were all 3 sick at this point. Nice.

I walked to the grid to watch the fast cars. It wasn't far away.

So sweet. The Porsche took first place in the morning rain session yesterday.

After some time, I walked back to the car + Dad + Taylor to help get ready for the first run.

Relaxing in the morning shade.

Getting ready.

Way back in Memphis, the Roadkill crew blew their engine. They'd spent the week getting their car put back together in hopes of making it back before the finish. We'd heard over social media that they planned to be back for Michigan and sure enough, they made it! Their production crew was out in force and they were glad to be back.

Welcome back, Roadkill!

Dad was battling through his bubonic plague and helped Taylor get in the car. I was not particularly helping, but taking a bunch of photos and video.

Can you feel my help from here, pops?

I was running around with my video camera and Steadicam setup. I'm really terrible at using it, so I don't actually have much usable footage to show. I did manage to get the Contour action cam setup for the on-track stuff, so here's a video from that showing some footage of Taylor:

Taylor wasn't happy with the session. The hand controls weren't working well and he didn't know the track. He admitted to having a little fun, but mostly was just frustrated. The novelty had worn off and he wanted to get back to a competitive speed.

We brushed it off and focused ourselves on the next important task: lunch. Taylor and I chatted with Mike and Chris beneath the EZ-up while Dad went to stand in the lunch line. Chris told us about his experience at the GT Academy, a racing competition that qualifies through Playstation- it's incredibly competitive and difficult to get into, so clearly he's got mad talent! I tried to qualify in 2014, but never got anywhere close to the top 32 drivers. Maybe top 32,000...?

Taylor + Mike + Superchris

Dad taking one for the team, waiting in slow-moving lunch line.

The lunch line seemed interminable, but Dad's hunger should never be challenged. He made it through and scored some delicious cheeseburgers. Actually, they were pretty exceptional- good smoky flavor and a solid char on the outside without being overcooked. I wished I'd ordered a double!

Nomz.

As the afternoon session kicked off, it started setting in for everyone that we were near the end. A melancholy nostalgia brewed in the pits.

Starting to get sad already.

Taylor and Dad watched along the front straight while I fumbled around with my steadicam and video setup some more. The weather was perfect and music played over stereos across the track.

As the groups went out, we started to prepare for the afternoon session. Taylor buckled in and moved the car to grid.

Last track session for the Volvo :(

Bulldog LED Lighting ftw!

We got Taylor as situated as possible and wished him luck. He was off.

Yay Taylor!

Taylor finished successfully, but he was angry upon return. Everything in the car had been fighting him- there are just too many things not designed properly. He knows what to fix going forward, but it didn't help with the current frustration.

However, it shouldn't be lost that we made it through all the track events! Great work Volvo, and great work team! I think maybe it was lost though. Taylor was pissed and Dad was on the precipice of death.

Well, I think we did well!

With the short track and efficient crew, the afternoon session finished pretty early. And, it was less than 75 miles back to the hotel- the Waterford Estates Lodge, back in South Bend. Brock, the One Lap Chief, decided to open the track up for competitors to run additional laps if they wished. Many lined up to participate.

We did not, for two reasons.

1. Dad was very ill at this point. We needed to get him to an urgent care or hospital. It was clear that he had a really bad sinus infection- his eye had turned completely red and the area around was swollen. He was downright miserable, so he needed attention.

2. Additional laps add a significant amount of wear to the tires. We were already concerned that we would barely make it back to Seattle with the present wear, so there was no interest in pushing farther.

With that non-starter decision, we packed up and started looking for urgent care facilities near our destination hotel. 

Tom's view.

For their own reasons, mainly fatigue, other competitors hit the road as well- some in search of beer. We agreed this was a good plan and would try to meet up with them after we prevented Dad's death.

With less than a two hour drive, we didn't even have time to open our drinks!

On the road and happy for a short drive to refreshments.

We found a CVS near the hotel and headed that direction. At this point, one of the angels in our support network mentioned they had an unused Z-pak refill with CVS from a recent sickness; we were welcome to use it so we could skip the doctor visit to get antibiotics.

Hallelujah! Dad was saved!

We called the prescription in to the CVS in Indiana where it would be waiting for us when we arrived. Miracle of miracles, it worked out and we had Dad on an antibiotics course in less time than a normal gas stop.

For liability reasons, said angel will remain nameless, but you know who you are - THANK YOU!!!

We would have to reassess later in the night and in the morning- if Dad wasn't better, we'd be headed to the hospital. But this was an excellent start!

A little extra pep in his death march after picking up the Z-pak!

Happy to have this problem solved for the moment, we cruised in to the hotel to find some of our friends out front. It was barely 4pm!

Happy to be back.

Now, we'd been hearing all week about Howard, driving a Corvette Z06, and his maple syrup shots.

No kidding.

He's from upstate New York and harvests and bottles his own maple syrup each year- about 20 gallons worth. Each year he brings some down to share with One Lappers- I think this was his 25th year of participating in One Lap. Maybe 35th? He's a salty old Lap Dog, that's for sure.

Howard, maple syrup dealer.

He serves the shots in small plastic shot glasses. At some point in years past, they lamented the syrup that was wasted by remaining stuck to the glass after the shot. 

There must be a solution.

Of course- a bourbon chaser! After the syrup shot, one swishes a shot of bourbon, Buffalo Trace in this instance, to get the last bits of the syrup- then down the hatch!

It sounds odd, and maybe it is, but it was wildly delicious!

Aunt Jemimah's High Fructose Blend, this is not. The syrup has great flavor and isn't overly sweet and clingy- great stuff! I wanted a bottle (of syrup) for myself!

"Howard, where do you sell this stuff, I'd love to buy a bottle to enjoy and support the venture!"

"Oh! I don't sell it- I do it for fun, then give bottles as gifts to friends!"

--Howard turns to talk to someone else--

Well, okay, I see. I guess I need to work harder in the future to make the friends list I guess? No syrup for us this trip.

No matter, he gave us ice cold beer following the shots, I certainly wasn't complaining. In fact, even teetotaling Dad was old-man-peer-pressured into a shot of both syrup and bourbon! It was a good group that had gathered- stories were being told and everyone was happy to be there.

It was a bonafide celebration, even though technically we still had one more event the next day: a repeat of the skidpad event, though, in the dry. A couple 30-40mph circles. So the event felt mostly complete at this point.

Hanging out, drinking beer, doing syrup shots. As one does.

An early finish photo.

Competitors continued to trickle in and join us as the afternoon progressed.

This GT-R was one launch control mess-up away from winning the whole thing.

The white GT-R's exhaust. Rocket nozzle?

It started to get mildly rowdy as some chose to do burnouts in front of the hotel.

A super sad one-wheel burnout from the Roushcharged Nitemare Truck. Seriously, their name, not mine.

A much more productive burnout. Not from the truck.

After a bit, we went back to the room to change, then headed to the bar to meet up with MR2 Mike + Chris Lin. Amazingly, I didn't take many photos of our bar time. The one photo does confirm that we ate food, though.

Hang in there bro.

While we were in the bar, the Griswold's in the Ford Station Wagon, car #1, bought us a round of Yuengling beer- a northeast brew. They loved the Volvo and were super cool all week. Cheers!

Despite our fervor to party, everyone was exhausted, so we finished up relatively early and made our way to bed.

Last day tomorrow :(

May 11 - Virginia : Dominion Raceway Park

I woke up at 630am - 8 hours of sleep in the bag! I felt positively supercharged with energy. Dressing quickly, I went and looked out the window to find the forecast had come true- it was absolutely pouring down rain. Dad and Taylor would be staying at the hotel for the morning session to get rested, cleaned up, and stay out of the wet. I would head over to the track, do the morning race, then come get them at lunch, as we did in Atlanta.

Not dry.

I didn't know if the race track had garages, like some of the previous ones, but I planned to be at the track super early to try and get a spot, just in case they did. I grabbed a bagel and some coffee at the breakfast buffet and was out the door before 7am. Dad and Taylor would swing by to get my suitcase out of the room later, so I didn't even have to wrangle that to get to the track.

I wasn't the only one with the same idea; the hotel lobby and parking lot were busy with competitors. I hopped in the car and made my way across the interstate to the track- Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, VA. Damn it was wet. I guess we'd find out how the Volvo did in the rain! Theoretically it should be good- plenty of weight and all-wheel drive. The wet skid pad showed we had decent wet traction, too, so if we didn't place well, it would be 100% my fault. Which is nice.

I was one of the first few at the track- yay! But, no garages. Boo. So now I was at the track more than 3 hours before my run group, in the rain, without my team.

At least I wasn't working on the ground...

I decided to be social and parked next to one of the few people there- car #7, a very well driven, lightly modified $120,000 650hp supercharged 2015 Corvette Z06. They were 6th place overall. The driver was on the ground in a puddle, working on the front corner of the car. His co-driver stood beside him in the rain. 

It was still raining as I parked and started to unpack. Because of the rain, and the fact that my camera isn't waterproof, I wasn't able to take many pictures of the day- sorry about that.

The first thing I did was make a break for Dad's magical EZ-up. It did great in the sun, now we would test the rain performance. I had my rain jacket on, a last minute $20 Costco purchase. It paid for itself quickly.

As soon as I had the shade up, I introduced myself to the co-driver-in-the-rain. It was Tina, the wife of the Corvette driver named Chris. I told Tina to please make use of the shade/rain cover/EZ-up; there was plenty of space for everyone. She was incredibly grateful and I was no longer by myself! As we introduced ourselves, another Corvette pulled up- this time an early 2000's Z06. The two people in this car, Chris (another one) and Jennifer, were good friends with the Corvette folks I'd just met; all four of them were from Oklahoma City and had been racing together for years. In fact, the Corvette that Chris came in used to belong to Chris, who came in the Corvette. They shared a mutual friend who helped them with their race Corvettes, Chris, who was back in Oklahoma. None of whom should be confused with our friend in the MR2, Chris.

I'm not making this up.

Oklahoma Chris's friends, Oklahoma Corvette Chris and Oklahoma Corvette Chris.

I tried to make it known that the EZ up was open to all, so we had a pretty solid group of people coming and going as the rain stopped and started. It was fun to meet a new group of people- most of them from the fast part of the race.

Chris in the blue, older Corvette had a problem at Road Atlanta and crashed pretty hard into the wall, breaking a bunch of components in the right rear of the car. They would have been out of the event, but an unlikely series of fortuitous events meant they were able to keep limping along. Some kindly man near Road Atlanta had a graveyard of crashed Corvettes, and he offered up some parts to allow Chris to continue. They had been running quite near the front, but the dilapidated state of the car meant they were now running much more cautiously and mostly just hoping to complete the event. But they were here!

As everyone finished unpacking for the day, Brock, the race organizer, called a meeting to discuss the day.

Meeting time.

We were originally scheduled to do the morning and afternoon sessions, as we had been doing, plus an event on a small NASCAR-style oval. Brock explained that because it was wet, we would not be doing the oval. Too slippery with no run-off area, so too dangerous. The morning and afternoon sessions would continue as normal. The crowd dispersed to prepare for the first run.

On my way back, guess who I ran into- Chris and Mike Lin in their MR2! They'd pulled an all-nighter to get back; the problem was a bad catalytic converter. The element inside had detached from the walls of the container, so it was tumbling around in the exhaust and blocking the flow- no wonder they were down on power. Overnight, they had disassembled the converter, removed the offending material, welded it back together, then reinstalled everything to make it back. They even did some tuning to get everything running nicely on the way to the track. Nice work guys! You can read about their adventure here: Chris+Mike+MR2

It was rainy and there was standing water on the track, but as they made their way back to the pits after their morning run, the fast guys mentioned there was a decent amount of grip on track. I guess I'd find out for myself.

Tonight's drive from Dominion to the next track, Gingerman in Michigan, was over 700 miles. With that in mind, I made my way up a bit early, to try to get in an earlier run group. That way, we could leave a bit earlier than usual. My plan succeeded, and I ended up about 3 runs groups higher than normal- score!

I watched a bit of the front straight as cars went by, and soon it was my turn to go out for the morning session. It was still raining. Here's the video from the morning:

47th place! And that includes having to slow way down in the second turn because the Factory Toyota team spun, causing the yellow flag. The Volvo felt great and I was happy with our result.

I stopped briefly back by our pit space to drop off the helmet, then made my way back across the freeway to pick up Dad and Taylor at the hotel. I stopped first for gas, that way we could get on the road quickly after the afternoon session. Dad and Taylor were ready to go when I arrived.

Taylor and Dad were pumped about our placing in the morning, too.

None of us had eaten anything all day. I hadn't seen anything available to eat at the track, so we decided to stop by the Taco Bell in the parking lot, grab something to go, then eat at the track.

Dad hadn't eaten Taco Bell in about 20 years, and now he was having it for the second time in a day; Taylor and he had eaten some after I went to bed the night before. Dad's so lucky like that. Taylor and Dad got XXL burritos and I got a quesadilla. The food was ready, and we popped across I-95 to the track and unloaded.

The track staff had opened up some of their facility to let people get out of the rain, so we decided to park in the area and head inside. Turns out, they have some sort of indoor music venue, for concerts; they're going for total entertainment destination: road race course, race oval, music venue, go kart track, and bar and grill.

Parked in front of the concert hall.

We assumed everyone would be inside eating, but there was literally not a single person in there. Strange, but we found a table and ate our Taco Bell in peace and dryness; no complaints. Well, except I didn't get a quesadilla. I got some sort of burrito, which actually was better than the quesadilla I planned. So no complaints then.

Delicious?

At some point, Dad went to find a bathroom. He found an elevator near the bathroom. An elevator that led to the bar and grill. 

Where the party was raging. They had food, drinks, music, etc. All right above our heads as we ate Taco Bell in silence. Whoops.

Well shit - there's the party.

We settled in and visited with friends.

The wife of one of the top drivers, Ann, stopped Taylor to chat for awhile. She was with her husband, Andy, in the new Nissan GT-R. In fact, they still had the paper plates on the car. They'd bought the car on Monday in Austin, TX, driven to South Bend, IN by Wednesday, got the 1,000 miles service on Thursday, then were stickered up and registered on Friday.

Originally, they'd planned on bringing a 2012 McLaren 12C.

McLaren 12C - image credit: https://www.pinterest.com/sigmararo/

Unfortunately, the McLaren had continued a streak of misbehaving. It broke the Friday before One Lap and needed repair. Ann was furious with that car, telling us that it had experienced over $90,000 in warranty repair work during their ownership. Andy, who was doing the track driving, had already come to hate the GT-R- Ann told us that it was for sale if we were interested. Not even 2 weeks old! He'd been having problems with the electronics on track, causing huge losses in time.

Soon the call was made to start the afternoon session. It was still wet, but the rain had stopped. It would be a bit drier this time around. Taylor and Dad decided to stay and watch from the bar, which was covered and dry with a good view of the track. I headed back to the pits to pack up and get ready for the afternoon run. We wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible to start on the 12 hour drive.

Since I didn't really unpack all that much, due to rain, it was pretty quick to get packed back up and ready to go, so I took some footage of some fast cars. Even in the wet, they move along purdy good.

With a shorter track and some hustling officials, our turn came up quickly. I slotted in line behind Pete in his C5 Corvette Z06, and in front of the Dubler crew in their HHR's. The high spot in the run groups meant we would get out of the track nice and early!

A ferocious clan of HHR's.

Yo Pete.

And we were off! Here's the video from the afternoon session. Always searching for a new camera angle, what do you think?

We placed 47th again! The conditions were drier, so everyone was a bit faster. The Volvo ran great, again.

I drove to the pits, packed up the driving suit and helmet, hooked up the trailer, and drove up to meet Dad and Taylor near the bar and grill.

No exaggeration, we were driving out of the track less than 15 minutes after I'd finished on track- it was 1:45pm. We'd become seasoned pros! On the road to Michigan, we were pretty pleased with the day so far, but it was 700 miles to the next stop.

A normal route would have taken us up near Washington D.C., but traffic was super bad. Brock had planned for this and suggested a squirrelly alternative route that went pretty far west of DC. We decided to give his route a shot, and it wasn't too far off the traditional route before Google recognized and suggested that this was, in fact, a much faster route.

After around 170 miles, we decided to take a quick stop for food and fuel. The gas gauge still wasn't working, and we weren't sure how much fuel was burned on the track. Better to be safe than sorry. Towns at this point were few and far between, so we settled on the cluster of gas stations and fast food restaurants at the bizarre intersection of I-70 and I-76 in Pennsylvania. I say bizarre, because 70 goes over the top of 76, then ends at a stoplight. You then have to putter your way through 300 yards of town, and get on a cloverleaf on-ramp to 76 west. I guess they didn't feel like paying for an interchange?

I thought we wanted some real food, so I first directed us an even goofier way to a standalone McDonald's that had a tour bus in the parking lot. Yikes. Dad had thought we were headed to a McDonald's / Gas station combo, so he voted that we move along, because we still had over 500 miles to go. I couldn't fault the logic, so we didn't even stop the car and meandered our way to a Shell/Subway/Dunkin' Donuts/Travelers' Oasis (?).

Needless to say, a lot of people stop for gas and food at this point, so we saw a number of competitors at the few gas stations along the 300 yards. I thought some Subway would be easy on the stomach, so I quickly grabbed a sandwich as Dad filled the car.

Taylor, on the other hand, chose to go big. He went to Dunkin' Donuts and loaded up a BIG N' TOASTED®. Straight from their website:

---

GO BIG FROM THE START

Two eggs, Cherrywood Smoked bacon, and American cheese layered between two slices of Texas toast— our Big N' Toasted® doesn’t go light on breakfast. (Neither should you.)

---

Well, he ordered one. Allegedly. 

I was sitting in the driver's seat and had fully eaten my Subway, thinking, "What is going on in there?!" I'm not a fast eater.

Dad went in to check on him. When they asked where the sandwich was (there was no line), the workers replied, "What sandwich?"

"This one I ordered right here on the receipt?!"

"Ooooooooohh. Oh yeah. Okay we'll make that."

?!!!?!?!??!

I sat in the car and watched One Lappers come in, fill up, and leave. And another one. And another one.

Once Sir Dunkin' figured out that there was a sandwich to be made, Taylor was out of there in 2 minutes. Eesh. It would have been faster to get in line behind the tour bus at McDonald's.

Oh well, we packed up and hit the road again.

I was behind the wheel for an hour and a half when we were passed by some of the front runners- Chris and his wife in the Corvette and Chris and his wife in the Corvette and the Ariel Atom. I picked up our pace and jumped in with 'em.

Pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down.

At first it was invigorating. They were definitely covering ground. Like a lot of ground in a small amount of time. A lot a lot of ground. Like, I'm definitely not going to put any numbers on the internet amount of ground. We were getting moderately concerned that Tom the trailer was going to explode behind us, but it was hard to deny the progress we were making. Until we hit a reduced-speed double-fine construction zone. And they didn't slow down.

I tapped out. 

Back on cruise control and I could breathe a little and remove the death grip from the steering wheel. Tom bounced happily in the rear view mirror.

We saw a few other competitors come and go on the Pennsylvania / Ohio turnpike as we made our way west. The weather was calm and we were treated to a nice sunset as we stopped for gas at another oasis.

At this point, the Volvo had started throwing some brake pedal sensor fault, which killed the cruise control until you stopped and restarted the car. Taylor did some research to determine that it wasn't anything critical, so we could continue on. Just add it to the list. Oh, and we were getting intermittent low coolant warnings. But the coolant wasn't low. But we topped it off anyway.

On the plus side, this particular oasis had a Starbucks! Real (enough) coffee! We were stoked and indulged accordingly.

Back on the road, we had just 270 miles to go. One more stop and about 4 hours. It was 9pm, so we were looking good! Dad hopped back in the driver's seat and drove us into the night.

It was smooth going to the next gas stop about 30 miles from the hotel. The timing was good; we wouldn't have to stop for fuel in the morning before heading to the track. I took over the driving to take us to the finish.

Ta da!

We made it just before 1230am! No sweat! In fact, when we got there, 40 rooms had yet to check in for the night. Short stops (well, except for Taylor's Breakfast Overload) and a clean exit from the track had left us in an awfully good spot.

On the minus side, this was definitely the flea-baggiest hotel we'd seen. By a lot. It was foul- it looked like The Shining, felt like The Shining, and smelled like 2-week old road kill soaked in a bath of Grandmother's perfume.

Come play with us...

Other than that, it was a nice place.

After briefly visiting with some friends, we got ready for bed. One last kick in the, er, eye, before bed- through our window, we spotted a shiny new Hampton Inn right across the street, laughing at us. Grrrrr.

A successful day complete, we drifted to sleep enjoying the aforementioned sweet smells, and the dulcet tones of the room's A/C fan grinding itself to a fine dust.

May 10 - South Carolina : Carolina Motorsports Park

We set our alarms for 6am. The track was 30 minutes away and we refused to skip breakfast so that meant about 3 hours of sleep. It was a quiet event, getting ready for the day. One foot in front of the other, we were out the door by 7am.

Packing up.

There weren't any pull-through parking spots at this motel, so I had unhooked Tom to put him in his own spot for the night. There wasn't much room to maneuver the car and trailer together, so I did everything manually, lifting and pushing the 1,200lb trailer uphill into a parking spot at 3am. I was so exhausted I got light-headed and nearly passed out.

I decided in the morning to have Dad move the car nice and close to Tom first, so I didn't have to repeat that dance/trauma at 7am. We hooked everything up, drama free, and set off in search of breakfast.

Dad drove and I found a McDonald's on the way. We started leaning towards McDonald's more and more; the time spent in each of the stores is consistent and short. The food comes out quickly and we can be on our way; other joints have a huge variation in experiences, mostly to the negative side.

This particular McDonald's was rammed full of people; the double drive-through had lines 4 cars deep.

No matter, Dad and Taylor parked Tom and the Meat Wagon off to the side while I went in to transact. As usual, the order came out hot and fast. Even the coffee was decent. Praise be.

Praise be.

A few minutes were wasted when Dad left the car to go inside and help me carry the order, but I had already left with the full order out a door on the other side of the restaurant. I got to the car and there was no Dad. Taylor explained the situation, so I went back inside to get Dad, but he had left out another door. Cue the circus music.

Believe it or not, we got it sorted out and hit the road for the track. The scenery was really quite nice and the sun was shining. We made it to the track in plenty of time, signed the waiver, and moseyed on in.

And mosey is indeed the word. The track grounds are all soft green grass and big leafy trees. Well, except for the the ~20 car garage that was fully occupied by the big kids. Instead of being lined up in a parking lot, competitors were parked all over the place- usually under trees on the grass! The vibe was great; we found a spot under a big tree next to our amigos, Chris and Mike Lin, who were killing it in the standings in their superbly well-prepped MR2.

Mike and Chris Lin with their MR2.

Chris and Mike weren't particularly happy. Well, Mike was, because he's cool like that, but Chris was pretty grumpy. The MR2 was having engine performance problems; low power, especially at higher RPM. They had some ideas on what might be causing it, but were going to run the morning session and go from there.

We unpacked slowly and sociably, chatting with friends and fellow One Lappers as they strolled by. Our late night suffering all but forgotten, we all remarked that it wasn't a bad way to live, sitting in the sun at a peaceful racetrack on a sunny day.

As had been happening all week, Taylor and I hassled Dad to get out on the track and race. Dad was worried that he was too rusty and therefore a risk to the vehicle; he'd crash or hurt the car, then we'd be in a bad situation.

Well, too bad, Dad. Between Taylor, me, and fellow competitors remarking how enjoyable and safe this particular track was, he finally relented and started looking at a track map. We probably should have a had a more serious conversation about the racing duty split before the trip; not having a plan meant nobody studied any of the tracks, which made us seriously slower than we could have been. I believe the Volvo is a top 45 overall car; our driving just wasn't up to par.

Enjoying the nice day.

After making an attempt to figure out which direction the track goes, Dad suited up, adjusted the seat, and headed up to the grid. Taylor and I followed him up, I snapped a few photos, then left them in line to change cameras.

Ready to go.

Well he's just happy to be here!

Strategy meeting.

When I returned to our pit area, I found Mike and Chris packing up the MR2. I asked Mike what was going on.

"Yo guys, where you going?"

"The car has no power at higher RPM. There is definitely something wrong. We're going to go to Chris's house near the next track to try to diagnose and fix whatever's going on. Don't mind Chris, he gets really grumpy when the car is not behaving."

It was clear that Chris was indeed, quite grumpy. His house is about an hour north of Thursday's track, Dominion Raceway, in Virginia. Not too far out of the way, but they had a long afternoon/night ahead of them if they hoped to make the start tomorrow. This wasn't lost on any of us, and optimism was in short supply. In fact, Mike asked if we'd be swinging by Cleveland at any point; he might need a ride to the airport.

I wished them luck as they fired up and pulled out of the track. I really hoped they'd make it back. I grabbed the video camera and made my way back to the grid.

Good luck, Chris and Mike! Hope you get it solved!

Taylor was hanging out with the timing crew under an ez-up; it was getting hot, fast. Direct sunlight was pretty much already unbearable and everyone was already sunburned. I hopped in the car with Dad to get out of said sun, chat, and take a little footage. Soon enough, it was our group on track- good luck, Dad! I put together a short video around the morning session:

Click to play video!

By the time Dad came off track, Mike and Chris were gone, so Dad pulled into their premiere parking spot in the shade of a large tree; score!

Amazingly, he even admitted to having a good time! Here's the onboard from the morning session:

The track is decently tight, with only one or two tricky spots, so he just took it easy there. With the morning session handled, it was time to think about lunch, and possibly swapping out the suspected-faulty fuel pressure sensor.

Unwinding from the track session.

Taylor had diagnosed our engine cutting in and out at light throttle loads (right around 80mph - the speed limit for almost our whole trip out to South Bend) during some down time on Friday, registration day. He ordered the part to fix it (a new fuel pressure sensor) and had it shipped to the hotel at Sebring. Yay for Amazon Prime! It was waiting for us at the hotel and we planned to install it at Carolina Motorsports Park.

But first, lunch!

The Volvo needed gas as well, so I volunteered to drive into town, less than 5 minutes away, get gas, and pick up lunch. Google maps revealed a Bojangles; fried chicken and biscuits! Dad and Taylor requested chicken tenders, a bold choice, and I hit the road.

There was a gas station right outside the track on the right side of the road, so I popped in to fill up first. I had the car parked and ready for fill-up when I noticed that the highest octane they had was 90. 90?! No way. We're high performance, we need the good stuff! I sealed everything back up and headed for town.

Even though the drive was short, the trees and road were really sweet. I tried to take a photo and not crash. I didn't crash, but the photo is no good; better than a good photo + crash I suppose. I guess you'll have to just take my word for it- beautiful road.

Nice road.

I quickly happened upon a Shell station with 93 octane. Much better. So I filled up. As I did, I saw there was a Subway next door. Maybe a reasonable sandwich would be a better choice than fried chicken and biscuits...

Volvo gettin' the good stuff.

I quickly banished such nonsense, finished at the Shell station, and zipped over to Bojangles to fulfill our true lunch destiny.

I would find out later from the MR2 Lins (who are from North Carolina) that Bojangles is the business, so I'm glad we didn't skip it. I selected something like the 200 piece homestyle chicken tenders box with biscuits, mashed potatoes, fries, gravy, BBQ sauce, honey mustard, ranch and a random chicken and rice bowl that the guy in front of me in line had that looked good. Satisfied that there would be enough for 3 people, I made my way back to the track. Dad and Taylor were right where I left them. I couldn't blame them- it was insanely hot in the sun, breezy and pleasant in the shade, and peaceful and quiet while nobody was on the track. The will to nap was strong. The fried chicken and biscuit buffet didn't exactly perk us up, either. The fuel pressure sensor would have to stay in the box for another day.

Yay Bojangles!

Nap time.

Soon, the fast cars were back on track. Dad and I managed to peel ourselves out of the chairs to take a little video of them flying by. Zoom.

Dad making his way up to watch.

The car at the end there, a highly modified 1200hp Nissan GT-R, broke his rear differential. Noone knew it at this particular time, but this would be the end for this car. The car could not be repaired in time to continue.

We visited and relaxed off and on until it was Dad's turn for the afternoon session. We were so lazy, we hardly packed anything before he went out. It could wait. Right?

Visiting with friends.

The weather was hot. Taylor attempted to cool off.

Ready for the afternoon session.

I mounted the camera on the rear bumper for no particular reason; change of scenery I guess.

Dad's lovin' the selfie.

Here's the video from Dad's afternoon session:

Taylor and I watched along the front straight again, in the shade. It was hot.

Dad had a good session, no incidents.

Nice work!

The drive for the night was our shortest one yet- about 400 miles to Virginia (6 hours or so), so nobody was too panicky about getting packed and out the door. Especially us. The track was short, so everyone was done in pretty short order. We packed and were on the road by 230pm. I drove first while Dad napped; racing in the heat, even just a few short laps, can definitely add some fatigue. Coupled with our cumulative lack of sleep, we were all pretty tired. I had 160mg of caffeine from a Monster Rehab Energy Drink, so I was good for the first leg of the journey.

Ready to roll out for the short 400 mile drive to Virginia.

We encountered some One Lappers on the freeway, but again, they were doing triple digit speeds, weaving in and out of traffic. I really wasn't interested in that, so I dropped back, hit the cruise control, and enjoyed the particularly scenic drive. Taylor made for excellent company.

We stopped for gas after 230 miles. Apparently the station we found was the only one in the area, as we watched multiple One Lappers come and go. The gas pumps were fighting us- we were all having our credit cards denied at multiple pumps. What were we going to do?! HOW CAN WE PAY WITH NO CREDIT CARDS?!?!

Oh wait, gas stations have been accepting cash for centuries. So I paid in cash and we were on our way, Dad at the wheel.

The drive was smooth and short- we pulled into the hotel at 842pm- hallelujah! In fact, everyone in the event knew the arrival time would be early, including the organizers, so the race track across the highway kept their bar and grill open late for an informal One Lap get together. 

By the time we were checked in and situated, it was well after 9pm. Dad had scored us two separate rooms, so we would each have our own bed. It came down to weighing an 8 hour sleep vs. partying late.

Repairs for some fast cars.

I was so exhausted I told Dad and Taylor that I couldn't even stay awake to get dinner, which we hadn't eaten yet. I was going straight to bed. They agreed that a good night's sleep was in order, but they popped over to the Taco Bell in the hotel parking lot first for some food.

Ready for sleep.

Exhausted, but elated at the prospect of my first full night of sleep in over a month, I was out. It looked like rain in the morning, but we'd worry about that later...