The first big race of the year is getting ready to take to the track a DIS. The Continental cars will be on track today for a 2 1/2 HR race. Most of you guys know that I will pulling for Orbit Racing as my son is a fly-in pit crew member and the tire speicalest for the team. He will also be going over the wall changing front tires today as well.
For the Rolex 24 tomorrow Orbit has been fast in their GT car in practice posting the top 5 time of practice. They had a little snafoo in qualifying but Shane Lewis put the car on the grid in 21st. The new kid that they have as on of the drivers is lightning fast. If they hold up for the 24 they could win this thing again. Good luck and be safe.
As a lot of you know my son started with Orbit the day he turned 16 and still is heavily involved as a crew member while attending college at 21. Living the dream. I couldn’t be happier you him!!!
Good luck to Orbit and your son! Shane is a great guy, a real team player. He drove with us when we finished 10th in GT and 18th overall in the 2009 Rolex 24. When I look at Orbit’s shop in the video, I am even more proud of our finish against teams with that kind of support and resources. We did it out of a one bay shop doing set up on concrete with chalk and strings, and we qualified 8th fastest!
Joe. Thanks man. You know it takes a lot of luck to win this thing.
Shane IS a great guy. A pretty good wheel man also. We often get to run karts together on Wednesday nights after the PBIR driving club. We get a lot of the ALSM drivers to come over and try to out run me or my son on the kart track.
I also know what you mean about being proud of our accomplishments. We almost won the ASA Championship out of a 1 1/2 car garage that is shared with an a/c, water heater, and washer and drier. We have to take half of the jack handle off to jack the car up. At Homestead when I showed Butch Miller, who’s team won the championship, the pictures of our garage he had no idea and couldn’t believe that we beat every outer team in ASA. People think I was bragging but I was just damn proud of what we had accomplished as you are. And we have every right to be proud.
You will be even prouder of yourself when you see this. Click on the video.
I don’t know if any of you are watching on tv or looking at timing and scoring but Shane Lewis has already drove the Orbit #32 car from 21st up to 6th and is turning laps consistently faster than the leader. Made it up to 2nd during pit stops. After the driver change they are in 8th.
Thanks Seminole. I didnt know about that but around 2am they setup at Obits pit and showed a pit stop. Also around 8 last night on speed right before a commercial break they showed Orbits pits and Dustin on pit wall.
The car ran strong through out the night. One stop took a little than expected changing rear brake pads but the worst thing was the radio holder broke off and the radio was flying around in the car and ripped the wiring harnase out. It took 4 minutes to put in a new one. We fell out of the top 5. But we got a podium car and there is still like 7 hrs left. Keep your fingers crossed.
Just got the word from Dustin. They broke a gear box on the last lap and limped home in 11th. They had a great race. They came from 21st out to 2nd. Ran for a while in 2nd and ran in the top 5 for half of the race. Turned the 5th fasted lap of the race in GT I think and brought the car home with out scratch on it. The boys are loading up the haulers and will be home by 10.
I wondered what happened. They were 9th in GT right up till then. Same thing happened to my buddy Randy Pobst in the #55 Porsche. Goes to show just how tough it is just to finish.
Joe. I think that they both broke in the same place on the track. The bus stop. We had a really race going too. It would have been nice to be able to say that we got a top 10 but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Joe. I don’t know if you remember when Orbit won the 24. That last year they won GT the big deal was that they finished 2nd over all in GT and in DP. That was the last time a GT car stood on the overall podium. They almost won the whole thing. Maybe next year.
The boys got a penalty with the Continental car before the race on friday and had to start the race from dead last. About 80th I think. They had to start from a dead stop on pit road. They drove their a$$ off passing over 60 cars on the track and a few more in the pits and worked their way up to the 8th position during the race to finish 14!!! Here is the recap video.
And in the 24. Well what else can I say. They broke a shifter cable with about a mile to go. The team did an unbelievable job. The team work is incredible and I can tell you in all of the things in motorsports that I have been involved with over the years there is nothing more incredible than being a part of and completing a Rolex 24.
For those of you that are interested. Orbit put up the photo gallery there are some pretty good shots from the 24. You can also see pictures of there podium run at The Nurburgring and the 24 HR of LaMans. Also video clips. Here is the link to the gallery.
Joe. Here is a good shot of Shane and my son after the race. My son has the thumbs up on Shane’s left shoulder and his head on Shane’s right. And the second one of Dustin setting pressures for Shane’s first stop.
No Joe. It would have been for both cars but we wrecked the 34 at The Roar before the 24 and couldn’t get it ready for the 24. Orbit sold the 34 entry to another team but I think it was still listed as Orbit Racing. We tried to get them to change the listing because the 34 car was the slowest car in the race. Not sure if they did change it.
With the exception of the over the wall crew for the 24 these guys also crewed the 70 car in the Continental race on Friday with a few crew member spots switched around. My son prepared the tires and also went over the wall as the front tire changer for that race.
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