The night before the first day of the Skip Barber Shootout, at 8:30pm, I jumped the fence and jogged the modified track with a flashlight because I couldn’t keep still in the hotel, wondering what this great historical track looked and felt like. It was an amazing experience being one-on-one with a sleeping giant that has molded or broken many great racing drivers’ careers.

Day 1: The first morning after introductions all the drivers headed to classrooms with Randy Buck and Bruce MacInnes to discuss the preparation and dedication it takes to be a professional driver. The first day we drove in Mazda 3’s and RX-8’s experiencing and covering subjects of consistency, smooth driving, track walking, drifting, autocross, and safe driving on the streets. This day was fun because everyone had little experience in these cars and from my car control capabilities I was definitely in the spotlight and everyone knew I was a top contender.

Day 2: Into the formula cars we went, they divided us up into three groups depending on how much car experience we had, and I was in group three (the least experienced). At the end of the first round of practice I was at a 1:23:758 still learning the car and track while the better times were in the low 1:20’s… I wasn’t even in the top 35. Realizing that I had the least amount of experience in the car and the least amount of track time at Sebring than any other driver at this event, I had to change up my game plan and re-evaluate my approach. Most drivers here had at least a full season in the car, national race experience, personal coaches at the event, and Formula 2000/ Formula BMW/Formula Renault experience. While other drivers were eating, talking: I listened to feedback from experienced drivers, watched other cars, asked hundreds of questions, kept a notepad full of notes, walked the track and took pictures of apexes to study. I studied YouTube videos, and spoke to Skip Barber coaches until I literally was rolling off the grid.

Day 3: I understand the track better, the car, aerodynamics, weight transfer, braking seamlessly, and tire slip angle of the radial tires better from 3 sessions and last night’s visualization session in the hotel room. We learned about public speaking and marketing through Bob Varsha and Barbara Burns. After their seminar, we had to speak publically for ourselves to show Bob and Barbara what we had; coming out of this media session, I believe I did well because people were asking for my business cards. By the third and last session of the day I was upper prtion of the group two charts and I was still only in group three, but it was getting too late. Most participants, dads, and coaches had no idea what they were exactly looking for, and people started talking about me potentially walking home as a winner. It wasn’t because I was the fastest, but because I was learning quicker and my progress was better and more consistent than anyone else. My public speaking, interview sessions, and feedback was really where I shined from experience. I could hardly sleep that night because I had no idea if they were looking for a future star or someone who could win a national car race tomorrow.

Day 4: This was it, one session in the morning and they would make the decision after a 2 hour deliberation and announce the winner at 1:30pm. They advanced me to group two; this put me with faster drivers because in group three I was in too much lap traffic and I wasn’t learning from anyone around me like those in other groups. Out of the twenty laps I ran, every lap my times dropped to the point where I was running within the times of the national drivers who were in group one. After, I had an interview session with Bob Varsha, it was a great experience. The judges said there were a lot of heated discussions because there’s too many ways to judge the event and it was the most competitive they've ever seen. It turns out I finished 8th, but I wasn’t one of the top six winners because I wasn’t fast out-of-the-box. I needed more track time before entering the event, and 80% of the judging was from a points scoring process that has to do with consistency and lap times throughout the week; therefore my first day lap times put me out of the competition. The winners were national drivers or regional series front runners that tore up the track on the first session and proved their open wheel experience and credibility.

This was the best experience of my life, I learned so much and I am twice the driver now than I was last week. My dad and my family now believe in me more than they ever did. I built relationships with great people in the industry, and I have knowledge now that I can’t put a price tag on. I’m excited for my future!