[Slowhands]

Well, I'm back in the saddle after a 15 month layoff, and it has been interesting. Good things: being a part of this crazy traveling circus again, getting to hang out with my favorite people, getting to strap in to a race car, the beautiful western Connecticut scenery. Bad things: how much my skills have atrophied during my time away. Very discouraging to be 2+ sec off the pace when it used to be 0-0.5 sec, and to have so much lack of trust in both myself and the car. The fine coordination between brake release, turn-in hand speed, and visual movement of the eyes is just enough out of sync to seriously affect commitment to entry speed. Thanks to a a focused car control clinic on Tuesday with Rob, focusing on my advanced skills (few) and needs (many), my car feel has come back well, but I will be very happy when the other stuff catches up, because I am being a serious p'baby (according to Bruce MacInnes) when it comes to the entry of the Uphill, West Bend, and Big Bend.

Last 2 days here we might as well have been in Atlanta-- mid 90's and humid as anything. I was so drenched when I got out of the car after my third session today I could wring the water out of my clothes. And I felt like puking. The track has been greasy and slow thanks to Grand-Am rubber that does not get along with our BFGs. The cars are sliding all over the place and as you can see the times are quite a bit slower than usual. We had some hellacious storms the last two evenings--high winds, downed tree limbs, hail, lost power for 5 hours last night on the outskirts of Canaan. Tomorrow is supposed to be better --mid 70's, and hopefully the rain this evening will give us a better track surface tomorrow.

Scott Anderson is crushing everybody driving like a bat out of hell, but Pat and Greg are driving better than I have ever seen them and are not far behind, and I have no hope of running with them this weekend I'm afraid. Greg gave me a few laps of lead-follow, and "Hot Tub" KnightRider spent some time discussing what he thought was working in the various corners, so hopefully tomorrow I will be able put to use some of what I learned today from then. Thanks, guys.