Jake was in my car for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation race last weekend, June 2nd & 3rd for several reasons:
First, Jacob Bobst deserved a ride in Portland after his performance the previous weekend in Seattle, and I didn’t really deserve to be on the field with those guys. Jake was three seconds or so faster than me in my own car!
Second, though it wasn’t a points race, every drive in a different car makes you a better driver in each car. I wanted Jake to have the experience. It appears I may be transitioning from driver to car owner, a demotion.
Third, my car, #99, is low on horsepower. On the dyno a month ago it pulled 107 hp when the top cars are pushing 120hp. Jake would really have to up his already good game to keep up in front of a huge crowd and a national TV audience.
Finally, the Portland NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation race was a bit of a big deal. Jake had scrambled for tickets for his sponsors, his family, his fiancée, her family, his friends, her friends, their friends, friends of friends, fifth cousins … He even scrounged a ticket for me — on somebody else’s crew sheet.
He’d also put the name of one of his sponsors on my car for the race. He told me about the extra sticker when the car was on pre-grid for the first practice session. Maybe when we brought it out of the trailer.
I admire his brass. If sponsors are buying tires, you put their name on the car you’re driving whatever you do. Thank you, Distinctive Landscape.
BTW, Jake is 22. He’s running his operation like a 40 year old pro.
Oh, the driving? The race?
In the final big event, Jake came in 12th out of a field of about 37 cars after starting 14th. Not so good, you think?
First of all, he was stoked when he got back to the pits, talking about how much fun he’d had on the track dicing with friends. That’s most important.
Secondly, last week in Seattle, he was two seconds slower in my car than his own before the wreck. So while it’s speculation, he might have been a full second faster if he’d had as many horses in Portland as other drivers.
His best lap time in the Portland race was 1:32:219.
Ken Sutherland, the winner, turned a 1:31:300.
In other words, Jake was less than a second off the pace.
That doesn’t mean Jake would have won. He would not have won, or been in the top five. There’s a lot going on besides speed, and fastest is not always first. But Jake is on fire with desire to be near the front. He might have been within shouting distance of the leaders. In his second season.
Last week I ordered a new engine for my car. And I may be able to cut a few more pounds out of the weight. If the new engine is in, I fully intend to drive my car in the Rose Cup in Portland next month and I don’t care if I’m last. Jake can just get his car, #$98, fixed and drive it in the Rose Cup.
It will be interesting to see what he can do.