This past weekend was the IndyCar event at Barber Motorsports Park, where the Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup was a support series. We had some gorgeous weather over the three days we were there, although on the day of the IndyCar race it rained so hard they had to postpone it to Monday!
We had perfect weather for racing!
My role for MX-5 Cup continued as both a series driving coach and a driver steward in race control. It’s always a unique balance. One moment, I’m getting the perspective of helping drivers in the series extract a little bit of lap time, whether it’s looking through their video or comparative data. The next moment, I’m in the control tower, potentially calling out any infractions or mishaps that ensue during the races.
It can be pretty intense in race control. We might have multiple things we are reviewing at one time, like at the start of the race if there is contact or if another car is blocking. A quick and efficient review process is used to determine the outcome. Ultimately, you want to see everyone have a great, clean race, but with 30 MX-5s on the track, something is always bound to happen.
The action was certainly intense all weekend, with the top 12 cars qualifying within one second of each other. In the end, we had another exciting finish to both races, which were rounds 3 and 4 of the season. Nikko Reger won both races, so congratulations to him. We have now had three winners in four races. Nikko may have won twice, but it was not easy in either race. This series produces some of the most exciting races and now that I’m in the race control environment, I get a new perspective of just how high-quality the racing is. First-time fans often remark on how incredible the clean, close racing is.