A Wet Start and a Fast Finish
The weekend began in a monsoon and ended with two second-place finishes, a new personal best and another reminder that chasing a faster friend might be the best performance modification available.
A rain-soaked Saturday and a fast Sunday produced two P2 finishes and a new 1:06.24 personal best.
It was my first time driving this particular track configuration with the Sports Car Club of America’s Texas Time Trials program. Saturday morning was less about lap time and more about keeping the car pointed in the right direction.
That was perfectly fine with me.
The Wet Session Became Car-Control Practice
Standing water and heavy rain turned the opening sessions into an extended lesson in car control. Golf Ball moved around, grip changed constantly and every input mattered.
I felt comfortable in the wet. The goal was not to be heroic; it was to read the conditions, stay smooth and learn what the car was telling me. As the track began to dry, the weekend shifted from survival and drifting practice toward finding speed.
Saturday morning’s monsoon turned the first sessions into car-control practice.
By the end of Saturday, I finished P2 with a 1:07.78. Sam took P1 with a 1:07.29, while third place ran a 1:10.28.
Perfect Weather, Better Lap
Sunday could not have been more different. The weather was ideal, Golf Ball hooked up and I had a better understanding of the track.
The result was a 1:06.24—my new personal best—and another P2 finish. Sam found even more time and won with a 1:05.87. Third place finished at 1:09.2.
Sunday’s dry conditions helped produce a new personal best of 1:06.24.
I have started calling Sam my nemesis, but only in the most complimentary way possible. He is seriously quick. Trying to keep up with him gives me a target, forces me to look honestly at my own driving and probably adds more speed than most of the parts I could bolt onto the car.
The Best Part Was Not the Trophy
The weekend also gave me time with the SCCA community, which continues to be full of genuinely good people. I got to hang out with Jose and see The First Ball again. That car started this entire part of my life, so seeing it at an event while I competed in Golf Ball made the weekend feel like two chapters of the same story sharing a paddock.
Seeing Jose and The First Ball in the paddock connected the beginning of the journey with its next chapter.
I did not crash. The car-control work paid off. I got faster at a track I had never driven. Golf Ball delivered two P2 finishes.
That is a successful weekend by any reasonable Ball Pit standard.