Hello again! It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these.
Our last race was way back in June at Indianapolis, so as you can imagine, we were all incredibly excited to finally get back to the racetrack — especially Austin.
We left Lindsay, Ontario late Tuesday afternoon for Virginia International Raceway. As usual, yours truly drove through the night so we could make load-in, get everything set up and be ready for our first-ever laps around VIR.
Day One
Day one gave us three 30-minute practice sessions to get Austin and Izzy acclimatized to a completely new track.
Austin was incredibly quick right from the start. Maybe a little too quick at times! He had an “off” in each of the three sessions as he continued pushing the limits and figuring out exactly what Izzy could handle around this incredibly fast and challenging circuit.
The other major challenge was the heat. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, it was almost unbearable. The temperature combined with the extreme humidity made conditions exhausting for everyone. I can only imagine what it was like for Austin strapped into the car wearing a full race suit and helmet.
Still, by the end of day one, the speed was definitely there.
Day Two
Friday's schedule included practice, qualifying and Race 1.
Practice went extremely well, with Austin finishing P1 in class and P5 overall — ahead of several much more powerful cars.
Things were looking very promising heading into qualifying, and Austin delivered again. He qualified P1 in class by more than three seconds and P5 overall.
We were ready for Race 1.
Austin had a phenomenal start, moving into P4 overall by Turn 2 and immediately hunting down P3. Over the next several laps, he steadily closed the gap until he was right on the back of the third-place car.
Just as it looked like he was about to make his move, disaster struck.
Austin suddenly lost drive.
A broken driveshaft ended his race — and with it, his incredible streak of 12 consecutive race wins.
It was heartbreaking. We knew something was wrong when he didn't come around on the next lap, and then we heard the call over the radio.
Because Race 1 took place so late in the day, the failure also meant a long night for the crew. Race 2 was early Saturday morning, so there wasn't much time to get Izzy repaired.
As always, the team stepped up. By around 9 p.m., Izzy was repaired and ready to fight again.
Day Three
Our race weekends normally take place over four days, but VIR was condensed into three. That meant early mornings, late nights and very little downtime. Add in the relentless heat and humidity, and it was an exhausting weekend for everyone.
Race 2 would see Austin start P5 overall because his starting position was based on his fastest lap from Race 1.
So despite Friday's disappointment, all was not lost.
Once again, Austin had a fantastic start and moved into P3 overall on the opening lap.
Then came another problem.
Entering one of the final corners, Austin was hit from behind, breaking the mount for his right-rear fender. He managed to hold his position onto the main straight, but with the fender flapping around and creating significant drag, he became easy prey for the higher-horsepower cars behind him.
Amazingly, Austin battled through the damage for the entire race.
He crossed the line P7 overall but, most importantly, still managed to take the class win.
After everything that had happened, that one felt pretty good.
Our final race of the weekend took place Saturday afternoon under the blazing Virginia sun.
Izzy was repaired once again, and Austin would start an impressive P4 overall.
For three-quarters of the race, he held that position while battling cars with significantly more horsepower.
Then, with just three laps remaining — disaster again.
Austin's power-steering module failed in one of the fastest sections of the track, nearly causing him to crash.
Thankfully, he managed to keep control of Izzy and get the car safely back to pit lane. His hopes of another class victory and an incredible P4 overall finish appeared to be gone.
But the crew wasn't giving up.
With some very quick work, they were able to temporarily reset the module and send Austin back out to finish the race.
Despite everything, he still managed to finish P2 in class, salvaging some extremely valuable championship points and, most importantly, maintaining his overall Revolution Cup Championship lead.
It certainly wasn't the weekend we had envisioned when we arrived at VIR.
We had a broken driveshaft, contact from another car, a damaged fender and a power-steering failure. But through all of it, Austin never stopped fighting, and neither did the team.
That's racing.
