Uncle Sam’s Tax Run at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Lowes)
This was a last minute thing, I hadn’t intended to do this event but since it looked like a lot of Spec E30 folks were going and I got $50 off for attending the HPDE at NCCAR, what the heck. Plus I had never driven there before, or on any banked oval for that matter, so it would be a good experience. It was only one day but with practice, qualifying, and two sprint races it was a busy one.
I arrived the evening before and barely got there in time to drop off my trailer in the paddock. Fortunately Scott Lusted and his family was kind enough to let me stay with them overnight which ended up being a huge relief since camping at the track wasn’t a possibility. All hands meeting Monday morning at 0700 and practice at 0800 meant we got an early start.
The first couple of laps were intimidating. You can’t get a sense of the size and banking of the track until you see it in person, video just doesn’t do it justice. After a couple of laps I was comfortable enough to take the oval flat (full throttle all the way around) since I heard that’s how it was done. Even with the steep banking and the modest speed of a Spec E30 (about 125 mph) the g-forces are significant, I felt almost like a fighter pilot between the compressive force of the banking and the lateral load provided by the tires at the limit of adhesion. The infield portion of the track was relatively straightforward, it even had some elevation and camber change which was a pleasant surprise. After a short break we headed out for qualifying which put me at a severe disadvantage – many of my competitors had driven this track before (NASA-SE ran at Lowes in 2009) whereas I had barely 20 minutes of time on it. Not surprisingly I qualified ninth out of ten drivers with a 1:29.8 (four seconds faster than practice) but the good news was that the next five cars were less than 0.7 seconds faster so I was only slightly off the pace.
Race #1 was just before lunch, we got a clean start but the car one spot ahead of me (Fred Switzer) spun in turn 4 forcing me to lift slightly. I caught up to the next pack of cars but after several of them teamed up to draft in the oval I was left behind and drove the rest of the race solo, finishing eighth.
spec e30 tax run – race 1 start from jason tower on Vimeo.
Race #2 was after lunch but since we used the same qualifying time I still had to start in ninth position. Again we got off to a clean start and I spent the first half of the race mixing it up with Fred; we traded positions a few times and had a couple of driving oopsies but kept it clean and had a great time. Eventually I was able to open a bit of a gap and cruised the second half of the race. A couple of guys didn’t finish (Alex Reznikov was black flagged for an exhaust problem and Al Taylor had an unfortunate encounter with a concrete barrier) so I finished in fifth position.
spec e30 tax run – race 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.
At one point I spotted former Cleveland Cavalier and current NASCAR analyst and NASA racer Brad Daugherty walking past my car so I asked him if he’d pose next to the Kirk Key (located just outside Cleveland) logo, which he graciously did without a moment’s hesition. In fact Brad was running in the same group as me (meaning we were on track at the same time) but in a different class.
Beautiful weather, friendly people as always, and great racing (my good friend and fellow rookie Evan Levine, also in his first time at this track, qualified sixth and finished fourth and second, a fantastic result). Coming up next: the Pit Bull Brawl at one of my favorite tracks (CMP). Let’s get it on!
2010 Season, Race Results, Video | jtower | 
April 20, 2010 13:46
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