Happy New Year 2020! I hope the new year brings you and yours the very best!
We couldn’t have imagined the changes that 2018 and 2019 would bring to our family, with both of us leaving our corporate jobs within 13 months of each other. Like any other change, there has been good and bad. The good, it’s allowed a lot more time with our son and has given us a pause in our hectic lives to take stock of what’s important to us now and in the future. The bad, well, that’s a bit obvious, really.
As we looked at the end of 2019, we decided that my head wouldn’t be in the right place going to the 2019 RunOffs at VIR. We’d been super fast and consistent all season, notching up 5 wins in a row and we won the Northern Conference Championship. But, I knew I’d be thinking about our family turmoil the whole week and that wouldn’t be good for me or my performance in the car.
Being out of the race car since the June Sprints at Road America has felt weird. I was super fast there, two lap records, two poles and two wins. I felt ready for the RunOffs.
We make choices, right? I chose to turn down many friends who made offers to get me to the RunOffs. It wasn’t about the financial part, for me it was more mental. I knew my head wasn’t going to be in the game.
So, what’s next. What’s next is that I’ve decided to drive the Fiesta again in B-Spec in 2020. Jasper Drengler, from Drengler Racing has a new Civic that he’s going to race around the Northeast and he asked me if I’d like to pal around with him this summer in my Fiesta and race at a bunch of new tracks. It’s going to be great!
Drengler Racing
We started talking about this at PRI in December, shook hands and here we go. Our schedule starts at VIR. I’m not sure who’ll be racing down there this spring, but it should be fun!
So what’s this mean to my relationship with Capaldi Racing? They’ll still prepare the car and make sure it’s the most awesome it can be. It’s being prepped as I write this. I can’t thank Leo, Craig, Sandie and Alex enough for their support these past three years. They’ve been amazing partners and teammates and they will be again in 2020. They’re the best pro team a competitor could ask for!
I couldn’t do this without the support of Kristine and Will and all of my partners for the 2020 season. Mobil 1, Frozen Rotors, Hawk Performance, Hoosier Tires, MMB Imagery and Leroy Engineering are all back for 2020. Chimney Mechanix is coming on board and there are a couple of other surprises in store.
So what’s 2020 going to be like? Not sure. I’ve never been to any of the tracks out east, except VIR, and VIR I’ve only run once. It should be new and interesting to say the least. Pitt, Summit Point, Watkins Glen, Thompson, Pocono, New Jersey, they’re all new to me.
We’ll still do the June Sprints and the RunOffs at Road America. Now that I’ve finally won the sprints, I’ll be back to try to defend my title there. Who knows what 2020 will hold? Here’s to new and interesting adventures!