Congrats on Daytona!

Hi again Patrick,

Yes it’s me, VroomGrrl in Alabama. And may I quote myself upon the end of the 24 Hours of Daytona:

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Congratulations!!!!

WOW. I apparently slept through the best part of the race, when you moved the team to the front (wooooo!!!!) but there was no live coverage here between 10P and 7A. I was actually at our Virtual 24 charity fundraiser party until 4AM, but we were reduced to gathering round the computer monitor watching the Grand Am live timing & scoring page as our sole means of “watching” the race. Agonizing! If I were a betting woman, I’d have made out this weekend! Instead, I’m happy to reap any reward solely in the form of shared joy at your success, and the Brumos team (Hurley) as well.

It was absolutely incredible how that 24 hours of racing was completely flat-out the whole entire time. Just amazing. I can’t imagine the energy it takes to be a part of that, and to sustain concentration of such intensity for hours at a time. And to be in a GT car with those DPs having their own battle to the finish for the whole thing. Truly awesome!!

I imagine the event has its own built-in buzz that keeps everybody going to a certain extent, but at its essence, as many people as there are involved in the whole huge enterprise, at any given moment during that 24 hours, down on the track it boils down to one car, one driver, one race. The focus it must have taken to succeed in working your way to the front of that race? Just..WOW. The whole race will be played on television sometime soon and I cannot wait to see how it all came together!

Our own virtual 24 Hours of Daytona went off pretty well in the end, and it was a great way to pass those long blacked-out hours of the real race. Our virtual drivers were great, and we are hatching plans to grow this idea and do parallel sim endurance races as charity fundraisers, attached to all the upcoming endurance races. We had a couple of back-up simulator rigs for our drivers to warm up on before their stints, and when they were open, I got in lots of virtual seat time on the Daytona track in a simulated DP car. I started with lap times over 2 minutes and was down to 1:52 when I had to give up my seat. Tremendous fun, and plenty of back-seat drivers (GOOD real-life drivers, too). It was the geekiest geekfest ever, but with a larger purpose, which amplified the fun immeasurably. We only raised $300 toward our $1K goal, but the charity idea came along late in the planning. We will have a much better machine in place to spread the word and generate interest & support for our next outing.

I’m so proud for you!!! What a great way to start the season, and to start off in your new adventures for the coming year in GT. I’ll be watching you & wishing you all the best!

Again, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sorry, regular words are insufficient to convey my utter glee at your performance. Heartfelt congratulations on a stunning job!

Sincerely,
VroomGrrl