Another May in Indy has come and gone! For me, this has by far been the busiest Month of May. But I had a ton of fun and got to see some great racing. We wrapped up my on track activity at the Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, then the grand finale – The Indianapolis 500!
My Carb Night Classic was a great learning experience. This was my first year in the bigger and more physical USF Pro 2000 cars at the oval. The step up was very apparent with how much heavier the wheel weight felt. Over testing I had to figure out how to conserve my energy and how to get the most out of the car with the fitment of my controls. As a taller driver, this is where I start to see disadvantages. The wheel has to be closer to me so that I avoid the wheel running into my knees. But, this limits the range of motion of my inside arm making my outside arm do more work. After making some adjustments and moving the wheel further, I found a more balanced spread of work between my arms. On top of that, I learned how to better conserve my energy and I was more prepared for the 90 lap race.
We had a strong car in practice finishing with the 6th best time and we were 5th in qual sims in the next session and I was confident we could put the car in the top half of the field. We rolled off the grid P10 for the start of the race. At this point for me it was about surviving and taking care of my tires over the course of the long race. We had solid pace at the start, but as the tires begin to fall off and the race gets more physical, it became tough to hold on. We ended up finishing P12. I know what I need to work on for next year. It’s frustrating to not be able to run at the top of your capabilities, so I will work hard to be where I need to be next time we make the trip to the oval.
Two days later was the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500! As a fan, I thought the race was very entertaining and one for the history books and I was very happy for Josef Newgarden to get his first 500 win. Josef is a fellow Team USA Scholarship Alum, Rising Star Racing driver and began karting where I did at Newcastle Motorsports Park.
It was also a great month to raise money for a couple of great causes and treat other donors and our partners to great experiences. We hosted guests from new partners California Closets, Hays + Sons, Velocity Sales Consulting, the UPS Store in Plainfield and Greenlight Guru along with our friends from Browning Chapman Specialty Contractors, Prime 47…Indy’s downtown Steakhouse.
Our events for the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and Race For RP went great and were a lot of fun. The Prime 47 Burger Bash presented by Peterman Brothers Heating Cooling Plumbing was bigger than last year and we raised nearly $8,000 for cancer research.. And, while we didn’t have the eventual winner join us, his “Bus Bro” Scott McLaughlin did (it’s a YouTube show they created)! I missed the event at SILO for autoimmune disease research because of the IRP race, but I’m told it was a big success, also raising almost $8,000 for Autoimmune Research. And, last year’s winner, Marcus Ericsson, was there along with Derek Daly and the NBC announcers.
Next up, we are off to my favorite track on the calendar – Road America. We will take on the 4 mile race track June 16-18. Both the team and I have had plenty of success in the past there and I am very confident we will have a shot at a good result!
Thanks to all of my supporters,
Stay fast!
Jackson