Hasport Integra - Thirteen Laps Of Long Beach

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one starting to figure out the course. Two teams had leaped passed my time, knocking us down to fifth overall and second among the FF cars. Hiroki Yoshimoto in the 5Zigen Accord Euro-R was half a second faster on lap four, but then his times leveled off. Yoshimoto races in GP2, a support series which tours with Formula One. He explained that they rarely get much practice time and you have to learn the tracks quickly to survive. With his times hitting a plateau, I'm pretty sure he was getting everything he could out of his car. But my times were still dropping and I had one last session left.

Saturday was the big one. I went into the 90,000-strong crowd for some reconnaissance. The complex approaching the hairpin was throwing me off. I wanted to see what lines the other drivers were taking. There were no seats available in the general admission grandstands, but one kind person agreed to let me perch while their kid went for snow cones. The Champ cars came tearing through, but they were all over the place, looking as lost as I was. I really wish I could have watched the pros in ALMS. After two laps, I got the boot and headed for turn one. By the time I got there, the celebrities were taking the green flag in their Scions. I know they're all hacks, but they get a good deal of coaching from instructors who teach there every year. I figured most of them would be on the line even if they were off the pace. My competition credentials meant nothing to the reserved-seating ushers, though. I was on my own.

The final run was total chaos. A pile of parts was scattered across the apex of turn five. The black trail of oil led to Rob Walker, trying to flee the scene in the Evasive Evo. I watched Yoshimoto brake straight into the slick and almost hit a wall. I passed both of them and didn't look back. Next lap, the Six Autoworks Evo exploded and caught fire. There were yellow flags approaching turn nine where the red car sat under a 30-foot cloud of dry chem. Then the engine bay of the Factor X NSX burst into flames right in front of me. Billy Johnson had his hands full bringing it to a stop while sliding in his own burning transmission fluid. It was all quite comical; my in-car camera caught most of it, even if the exposure was a little off. We've uploaded the footage to sportcompactcarweb.com

Despite deteriorating track conditions, I had a great time. Within a lap, it was obvious that any shot at winning was gone. I couldn't be mad, though, since I'd done the same thing just a week earlier. The only thing left to do was enjoy the moment. I settled into a groove and the car performed flawlessly. It pulled a 30-second gap on Yoshimoto during the six-lap stint. I looked up at the packed grandstands as they flashed by. With earplugs on and a screaming open header reverberating off the walls, I couldn't hear them rooting for me. But I could imagine that they were. Montoya had nothing on me.

In reality, they were just waiting for us to get off the track. The ALMS was running right after us and our Muppet-Show shenanigans delayed their race by half an hour while the jet dryers cleaned up the mess. The jury is still out on whether the Super Lap Battle will be invited back. I'm not sure if this was a once-in-a-lifetime or a first-in-lifetime experience, but it's one I won't soon forget.