OK, so I haven't blogged as much as I'd hoped, but things happen. The 2009 season is a wrap for me, and for most local autocrossing in general.
First of all, I'd like to say that, once again, WDCR-SCCA has done a great job putting on their series. It's to the point now where it's easy to take for granted all the things they do well, but as a member of a different club that hosts events, I'm constantly reminded of how difficult it can be. Great job!
Autocrossers Inc. is "my" club. Of course the club isn't "mine," but it's the one I've belonged to for a long time. I'd like to also thank all of my fellow A.I. members for another great year of hosting events. Hopefully we can refine our schedule a bit next year, and avoid all the late-season stadium issues at FedEx field.
For me, I had a great season. I picked up the E Street Prepared championship for the DC Region SCCA, and I ended the year with a couple of top-10 PAX finishes. I feel like I could have done better at Nationals, but the surface really is going to take some tuning on my part. The car needs to lose a few lbs. as does its owner/driver/crewchief.
The most important thing I'll take away from the 2009 season is what I feel is the next step in my evolution as a driver. On more than one occasion this year, including once in Nebraska, I found myself running an extremely competitive time on my first run, but then unable to improve upon that time. For years I've generally needed a run or two before I really had a good plan in place and executed that plan in an acceptable way. More and more I find I'm able to go out and execute on the first run, but then what? The answer so far has been to overdrive my subsequent runs and go slower. When presented with this, my friend Dave Newman summed it up thusly: "Now you need to learn to go out and drive smarter." Sounds easy, but I don't think it's going to be.
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