The 14hrs of Sebring – Chump Car Spec Miata Race

What a great time I had last weekend. I participated in my first Spec Miata Chump Car race. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect other than to have fun. The 14hrs of Sebring is one of the highlights of the Chump Car series which was demonstrated by the 98 cars on the grid and over 400 drivers. This is a real spectacle. I was invited by Jeff and Colin Braun to drive their Spec Miata race car as a guest driver. Needless to say, with their pedigree the car was very well prepared and we had no mechanical problems for 14hrs. Our only challenge was the heat and humidity that took a toll on us driving two almost 2hr stints each. And I was in for a surprise. This was real racing. We exchanged a lot of paint during the 14hrs. Towards the end we worked our way up to position P2 and before the last driver change with a little more than one hour to go to P1 with a 30sec lead over P2. That’s when the electrical gremlins hit. Our tail lights went out and we were black flagged for repair. Although we managed to get the car out in very short time we couldn’t make up the loss of the pit stop anymore in the final hour. We finished just a few seconds behind the winner on P2. What can I say? After 14hrs such a close finish? Chump car racing is real racing with lots of fun!