From a Super Touring Driver..

I really need to dig up some pictures for this…

My 2009 race season as a rookie racer is over. It has been an amazing year. I don’t know how I can articulate how amazing it has been to start racing this year. So much has happened from the end of the 2008 season to now. I went from competing in NASA’s Time Trial series, to racing in Super Touring. I’m an example of NASA’s ladder system. I didn’t start in HPDE 1 with NASA, but either way I made my way up the ladder system from HPDE, to time trialing, and now racing. Typing about this now is probably the first time I’ve sat down to think about it all.

The transition into racing, besides all the thrills, has been stressful. Compared to what I go through now, it used to be a walk in the park when I used to get ready for time trial events. Now, the development and preparation is endless. We usually have about 1 month between our regional races, but that 1 month never seems to be enough. The days seem like hours, and the weeks seem like days. I just never feel like I have enough time to rest and get ready.

Having started racing this year has been a great journey. There have been several major unexpected highs, and a ton of challenges stacked with more challenges. I’ve learned a great deal about myself, my friends, my sponsors, and about racecraft. On top of all that, I finished all 6 of my regional races without any incidents. I successfully completed my provisional racing license, and before leaving for Nationals I received my official racing license. Also, on top of being the 1st from Socal racing an Evo in Super Touring, I’m also the 1st to race an Evo at MMP for NASA’s National Championship. Here is everything I accomplished this year:

Details: 2009 Results

* Total of 8 Super Touring ST2 races
* 2 Super Touring ST2 National Championship races
* 6 Super Touring ST2 Socal Regional races
* 6 podiums in a row
* 4 wins in a row
* (2) 2nd place
* Winner of hard-charger award
* (1) Pole position
* All the while as a rookie racer

I had a very successful year of racing this year (which was totally unexpected), but I know that it’s only going to get more challenging from here on out. I have learned that racing, compared to HPDE and Time Trialing, is on a completely different level. I knew that prior to starting racing this year, but I now have that experience. Racing, in one sense, is a major battle of attrition. Parts are going to wear out more quickly, there is going to be contact, and there is nothing you can do but hang on and try to deal with everything accordingly. And the only reason why I was able to hang on so that I could persevere through the challenges and achieve those accomplishments was because of my sponsors and friends. Thank you to all of you for your support:

- RRE
- Robispec
- Girodisc
- SCM
- ACT
- Island Tire
- Last, and definitely not least, my crew, my friends, Robert Ramirez (a.k.a. Honda Robert), Sean Bradley, and Mark Homer.

As for the 2009 Socal NASA Championship, I don’t know what place I took overall because the final season points have not been assessed yet. When that happens I will note it accordingly. I know I didn’t win it because I missed too many races. But for what it’s worth, I was in 1st place after my first 6 races with a total of 580 points. The 2nd place driver was very close behind me with 565 points. Unfortunately, after getting hit at Nationals, I was not able to repair my car to participate in our last 4 races (Oct/Nov). That incident cost me a podium finish for the season. Even though I didn’t have enough points to win the Socal Championship, if I had been able to race in October and November I would have had a chance at a podium, and possibly 2nd place overall. But that’s racing. The 2009 season is over, but the 2010 season is right around the corner. In less than 3 months we are back at Big Willow to start the 2010 race season. I
must say that it all went by really fast.

Check out Ed on His blog and say Hi!