We spent quite some time signing posters for all of the workers up there that build the Corvette, and it is always such a great time. They all take incredible pride in building that car, and it is easy to see why. After returning home, it was immediately off to Puerto Rico to cover for Speed Channel the world challenge series. It was a great race, and a nice way for them to end the year. Anyway, I’m probably boring you with this…so I’ll get on to Petit.

On Friday I once again held the charity auction and I think that everyone that was there had a really great time. I know that I did. One of the very cool items that went up was a 4 cycle margarita blender…totally cool….I should have bid on it !! Now there were a few items that I received late. They are 1.)

. If you are interested in putting a bid up on them, just send it to me at petitauction2003@aol.com. I’ll leave bidding open until the last day of November and will let you know where the highest bids are. Anyway, with the proceeds from this auction and the previous 2, we have raised almost $100,000 for charity… and I’m pretty stoked about that.

The race, hmmm well it really didn’t go as we had planned. We started off the week looking pretty good. We were quick most of the sessions, but then when qualifying came the circuit was wet. We didn’t have the tires that we needed, and as result we were further down the grid than normal. As race day was supposed to be dry, it didn’t matter much anyway. We were totally focused on what we needed to accomplish, which was make sure that atleast one of the Corvettes finished third to wrap up the manufacturers championship.

The first stint for Ron was going well, but it became apparent after about 20 laps that we might not have the tire we needed as towards the middle to end of a stint we would lose some performance…and the Ferraris would not. We got caught out early, losing a lap when the lead Audi was between us and the Ferraris when a full course caution came out. From that point on we pushed really hard, and were in third place a lap or so ahead of the 4 car which also had bad luck getting caught out with full course cautions.

Now the trouble for us was a little apparent even in the morning warm-up when the car would not start the way she normally does. It would take a second or so, and that for us is unusual. Things got way worse however when after a driver change from me to Frank, the starter simply would not engage. That meant taking the car back to the paddock and changing the gearbox. For those of you that were there, you certainly saw why the guys on the Pratt and Miller team are so well respected. They changed the gearbox and also some electronics and had us back on track in 36 minutes. Yeah…I know that the Audi can do it much quicker, but then that is a totally different car and category. Trust me when I tell you that the boys did a great job.

Anyway, from that point on our race was just push as hard as you can, and hope for bad luck on the other guys part. Ron, Franck and myself did all that we could, but with all of the time that we lost, were only able to come in fifth place.

Luckily, the number 4 car had no problems, and were able to secure third place and thus win the manufacturers championship. It was close…but they got the job done. A special well done has to go to Andy Pilgrim as during his final stint he had a vibration, and had it not been someone with so much experience, they might not have come in as Andy did. Anyway, upon pitting they found that one of his tires was in serious probability of failing, and with new tires he was on his way to bringing the 4 car home. So a good job by everyone doing what we needed.

Now some of you are probably wondering what happened to us the last 4 races. The way I look at it, the only place where we were handily beat was as Laguna. We never seem to go well there. At Elkhart, we finished second and had it not been for bad traffic, I think that we would have won there. The same can be said of Miami, where we for sure had the best car, but just had bad luck with traffic and the accident. Those things happen to everyone, and you need to look at it in the proper light and not be discouraged. So as we go into the off season, we know that there is work to do, but then I’m not that worried that we won’t get our car much better. Next year should again be exciting, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the competition is again strong.

Finally, it was great to get the drivers championship and share it with my good friend Ron. He is one of the best guys that I’ve met in racing, with a huge heart. There are a thousand stories I could tell about the type of person he is …but to save time….I’ll share just one.

Last year, Ron won the championship. This season, whenever we would do press events, he would always say that it wasn’t just him, but both of us that won it….which I thought was pretty darn cool of him. Anyway, at Laguna we were going out to dinner with our wives when he handed me a box. Inside was a copy of the ring that he received for winning the championship in 02…heck he even had it made in the right size for me. Now for someone to do something like that is so unheard of in racing….I was truly taken aback. So next time you see Ron at the track, realize that he is much more that just a great driver…he’s also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. I’ll keep you updated on testing over the winter, and like you…will look forward to another great year for Corvette racing in 2004.

Johnny O
10/28/03

MORE REPORTS...