The show turned out to be pretty anti-climactic for Ryan and myself on the Stanley/Geico team, but it was quite an experience.  I had a great time with most of the people on the show and made a ton of good friends that I hope to see at the track many more times to come.  Stay tuned to http://www.mikeskeen.com to see what I’m doing, check out the videos and pictures, or contact me.  See you guys at the track!

At this point we all already know the outcome, Chris Prey  is the winner and he walks away with the test with Pontiac and 100 grand.  Congratulations Chris.  Anyways here is a quick look at how the race went from the 07 Geico(Sobe/NoFear) solstice.  The car was quick in practice and we made a small tire pressure change before the race which helped with alittle more rear bite.  Jamie dropped the rag and it was a drag race to turns 1 and 2.  We started on the outside of row 1 and had a good start, Justin starting next to us on pole also with a good jump kept us on the outside.  Apparently Brady was the man with the real jump and squeezed inside Justin going into Turn 1.  This did’nt help us one bit. With Brady making the move inside Justin, we got forced further out putting 2 wheels in the dirt. Going into turn 2 still three wide I had no choice but to take the long way threw turn 2 watching half the field pass by on the inside. BOOOO!  This only being the first lap and with Brady out front I was still very confident.  I gathered it up and put my head down. With laps clicking off Jr in sketchers brought us 2 yellows for clipping hay bails.  With the field bunching up I was able to pick  off 3 positions to find myself behind Skeen in the Stanley car.  Trying to make up some time on Skeen is a difficult task.  We were able to stay within a few car lengths of him for a few laps thats when disaster struck.  

Following behind Skeen, I saw Jordon step out of line to try and pass Danan down the back straight. I saw this happen twice and thought to myself that it was a bad place to make a pass. The entrance to the esses is narrow, blind and there is only really enough room for 1 car. Well coming down the back straight once again I saw Jordon step out again, by the time I got to the esses Skeens car disappeared into a wall of dirt and debris. At this point it was to late. I tried slowing the car which wasnt happening and recall seeing the bottom of a barrel rolling solstice, thats when I felt the impact.  It wasnt solid enough to be another car, thats when I realized it was hay bail. When we came to a stop the car was high centered on top of it starring straight at a demolished  solstice.

Danan man I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say ” we are glad your alright.”  I knew  as soon as we hit the hay bail that our quest for fame and fortune  had finally come to an end.  When the track was finally cleared we went back to the task at hand. Our car was pretty battered up but we werent going to give up that easy. We turned  2 or 3 laps before they called us in. If it were up to us we would have finished the remaining 35 laps.  Yep 35 laps left.  Impatience and poor decision making seeled the fate of 4 drivers on lap 15. 

Well we all know how this turns out.  Its back to reality for the rest of us, searching for the next big brake. Scott, thank you for this amazing opportunity. Tommy, thank you for some suttle words of wisdom and for being real. My big brother Cory, thank you for everything, I couldn’t have done it without you. I learned alot from this experience, mostly that it takes a certain amount of showman as well as the hot shoe to be a pro driver. You have to learn to sell yourself as well as your sponsors.

Again thank you for the unbelievable opportunity and we will see you at the track.

                                 “There’s No Can’t in Canzone” 

Man……that was intense!

No offense to anybody there but as soon as I started taking lap times that day…..it was pretty clear that Chris P. had about a full second on everybody and a few seconds on a few others. I figured if only he was able to be in a good position in the last few laps this race was his. It was literally his race to lose.

Did didn’t show it very well but there was a few instances during the crazy race that Chris P. was able to open up almost a 10 second gap which was almost the shole front straightway on the whole pack. Then a yellow would be called or an accident would happen and the lead would vanish.

Once it was down to a few cars, I knew he would win it. Chris P. was the fastest from day one in the Karts. He passed the whole feild a few times during course of the show. The only times he had issues was because he would get ahead of himself and try to hurry some passes etc… he just need to calm down a bit and he did.

Considering his background in Skip Barber dodge series, his time in a indy lights car and his limited but still important experience behind the wheel of a infinity pro car (open wheel indy type car 200mph +) not to mention his vast go-kart racing background. I pegged him as my best guess as the favorite from the start. Especially when I saw the passes Chris made on the Tony kart professional driver Andre during the showdown with the pro karter, it was impressive. This of course was not aired on TV as it would of made the same impression on the viewers. looking back it might of spoiled the ending a bit.

I was surprised then happy to be his team mate, as I knew I had lots to learn from him and he was willing to coach me a bit and it was exactly what I needed to help me make it to the final race. Unfortunately events conspired against me.

I as watched the final race on top of the semi trailer that day I was hoping Chris would keep it together and win……but during that insane race with yellow flags every five mins…..standing starts…..4 wide starts…..red flags……shuffled cars….etc….nothing was certain until 2 laps from the end…..

Congratulations Chris!!!!! You deserved it. (IMHO anyways)

Good luck with your upcoming Pontiac test and your “other” upcoming racing developments.

I hope to see you around soon!

Shout out to all the other losers on the show, even tough you might of made the last episode we are all in the same club now!!!

Was a pleasure racing all of you. I would do it again in a heartbeat any day.

Bring it on!

-P.S- Danan if you ever read this, happy your alive. We were all pulling for you and were happy to see you walk back that day. Hope to see you around sometime!

So we left off with Skeen in the lead, jordon in 2nd and , myself in Geico in 3rd.  On the restart Skeen was penalized for blocking which moved us up another spot to 2nd. We definitly had the quicker car when compared to Jordon in Reliable.  After the 2nd restart Chris in Royal Purple had a good  jump to make up a few places.  A couple of laps later I was able to out break Chris into turn 2 and regain 2nd position. With only a few laps left the battle for 1st continued. What wasnt shown on tv was Jordon drifting wide into turn 2. I was able to pull along side him, until he muscled me out of the way with some door to door contact.  Still close on his bumper we settled into a 2nd place finish.  Our first podium for NoFear in the Geico machine. Excited but still alittle disappointing knowing that we had the faster car.

The final elimination race at “The Streets of Willow” didnt go as smooth. With a poor start at the green we were shuffled back a couple of spots. Settling in we pushed hard to make back positions. A fast James Hunt was on the move taking spot after spot. Going into turns 3, 4 and, 5 James in Koni was very close behind. I knew James was there but never expected him to attempt a pass into turn 4.  Thats when i turned in. We made contact, my right rear to his left front. Unfortunately James got the worst of it, Koni down on power. Sorry James I didnt know you were that far inside

Well pressing on we managed to work up to 3rd place by the half way point. Running  very close behind 1st and 2nd we worked are way around to the esses. At the entrance to the esses the 2nd place solstice brushed and barely moved a hay bail. Already committed at about 100mph I compensated for the once again, barely moved hay bail.  The solstice stepped out and I thought I had it until it snapped back. At that point I was just a passenger.  When I finally stopped spinning, my foot on the clutch the car had stalled. I quickly grabbed a gear a dropped the clutch, refiring the car. This time 3rd to last in one wild ride. The Geico car was suffering from an electrical, when the car would run for long periods of time the starter would heat up and some how engage itself. We bypassed this problem by removing the starter relay after the car was running.  Good thing we still had some foward motion after the spin to help refire the car.

We got the car going again and we were able to make up some positions with the help of Justins spinn and Jr’s off coming out of the carousel.  After fighting back to 7th we caught Brady in the Mac tools solstice. Brady was getting a good run out of the corners which made it difficult get a run on him. Once again going into the esses I was very optimistic about making a pass work that I havent attempted before. Close to Brady’s rear bumper I tried to out brake him at the end of the esses. I was able to set the pass up but was very poor on the exicution. Brady turned in and I tagged the left corner of his car. I was in to deep to back out and was glad that I didnt hurt his car in the proccess. An apology followed the race. Apparently there was more going on in the pits then I was aware of. Thanks Cory for getting my back even tho it was my poor judgement that caused the conflict. Well down the straight into turn 1 I was able to pull along side Brady to make the pass into Turn 2. This time clean. We held on for a mid pack finish. We showed some good speed at these last 2 elimination races. This helped the confidence into the final race. I could be anyones race.

James out drove Cristiano in the shoot out but suffered because of it. Cristiano jumped a hay bail destroying the intercooler. By a giant leap of faith Scott pulled another intercooler from his ass giving James another shot.  The track had alittle more grip which we found out by James lap time that morning. Everyone looked very quick in practice. Jordon over shot turn 2 into the dirt ruining his intercooler and almost his race. Thanks to some Jb weld he was able to get back in the game.  Stay tuned for the final episode. Holy cow Danan!

So finally after struggling with tire pressures, camber, caster, angle/dangle and so forth, Pat and Chris got the Mac car to be a front runner…Jordon was leading when Ernesto decided to see if the traction control was still connected (he found out it wasn’t), and my race went pretty well even though I gave up my lead to Skeen..

 2nd was not bad based on the talented drivers that are left at this point, and the mechanicals we experienced. We still had a little work to do to get the car dialed in as Jordon and I were still sharing the car, so we had half the time behind the wheel as the other fast guys at this point, and our setup was still blend of both of our driving styles.  We both felt we did not have the Mac car getting as much mid corner speed as the other fast guys, and that is exaclty where Skeen got by..

Couldn’t have asked for better team mates, and it was pretty neat to see the mac car on the poduim both races when Jordon and Chris got the Reliable Car…

 So, it is Pat and my responsibility to put Mac up front again..Stay tuned.

The added rear grip really helped out the Mac Tools car this week. Along with some passing going on behind us, we were able to put half a straight on the entire field in just a couple laps.. and then the red flag came out because of the WOW car’s off. Tommy gave the race to us since we were so far ahead and because of the time delay they were worried about getting the 2nd race in that day.  Although not the way we want to win, I am was happy to win one for Mac Tools.

Fortunately I finally have my own car, and I volunteered to switch to Reliable Car Carriers.  After some routine maintenance and putting a baseline setup on the car for a new longer track, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Here we are with our final race at “The Horse Thief Mile”.  The first race was cut short  due to Ernesto’s wild ride. Glad to see he was ok.  Hats off to Ernesto for not laying up. Unfortunately I think Kyle got an unfare deal of the cards.  Being that teams were a part of the show he suffered from others mistakes.

On to race 2, we had a good starting position and by tthe first hairpin we settled into third.  James in the koni car snuck inside to steal the position by the second hairpin. Aware of Jr. in Sketchers behind us I squared of the final hairpin to get a good run down the hill. Jr. put a nose in far enough to make contact just hard enough to upset the car. Instead of jumping threw the  dirt or possibly spinning in front of the field I decided that the pit lane was the best option.  So from fourth to last in one corner.  After rejoining I turned consistant laps long enough to make up time on Pedro. Getting around him was going to be tough which I learned in the last race. I was getting a better run out of the chicane than him that day,  so I tried to set the pass up at the top of the hill.  I was able to get the Stanley car inside but not far enough to take the position. We drag raced down the hill were he was able to regain the position in the next corner. Heres where the fun started. Passing the start finish line I received word from Cory (my crew chief at large) that i had 2 laps to make the pass or we were out. Well another good run out of the chicane I was able to out break Pedro for the position, this time to make it stick. From there it was a game of catch up. With others making mistakes we finished a dissappointing 6th.

Back at the shop the next day the tables turned alittle.  Pedro and Ed had left, alittle sad to see them go, but thats part of the game. Good job guys.  Jordon took over the Reliable car and Skeen was claimed to have found a secret.  Yeah I know a secret about Skeen, he is f@#kin fast. So to level the field Geico and Stanley traded teams. Skeen to Stanley, and Laura and myself to Geico. I was upset alittle because after losing the NoFear machine I was comfortable with my present position with Stanley. I also felt that the car we just traded off wasnt really mine. Laura did an awsome job taking care of the equipment, after all it was her car from the beginning. Sorry Laura.  However, after talking with Scott and Tommy about the switch I felt alittle better. It was nice to hear that, despite our rough ride on the show they thought we still had a good shot at this whole thing. Alittle confidence booster I guess.

Alright now for the setup. The switch of teams came halfway threw the day and nobody was close to being finished with the cars. After going over the car we found a few loose nuts and bolts. To be on the safe side we squared up the car and applied our own setup. This decision came from our whole team. In no way did we think that Skeen and Ryan were with holding info to their setup. Even if they did, they are not obligated to share info, which they did anyways.  Skeen, not only curtious and fast but one hell of a nice guy.  Thats what sucks, you want to dislike him for his talent but he is to damn nice of a guy. Thanks Skeen, Thanks alot.

Now its the “The Streets of Willow”,  Faster, longer, alittle more open.  Well alittle used up, the Geico car was quick and yes you guessed it so was Skeen. Damn it! As we all knew it wasnt the car.  After practice came the biggest shock to me. Laura our teamate suffering from a pinched nerve was alittle off the pace in practice. After several discussions between the team Laura decided to step down. We were sad to see her go. Laura you did a great job, we love you.

So Jr. led the first lap, which saved him. Skeen led the second, which saved him.  Jr. serverly flat spotted a tire and forced a him to pit.  Jordon in Reliable in second and Me in Geico following a close 3rd. Tune in next week for the outcome of race 1 at “The Streets”.

What an episode.  With the crash near the beginning of the first race, very little of note happened from the Geico point-of-view.  After the fence was repaired and we got our talking-to from Scott, we moved on to race two.  Due to our previous wins, we were set to start at the very back.

With a good start, I found myself making up positions on lap one in the chicane and a couple other spots.  After a lap or two, we were in about the middle of the pack and everyone was starting to get into a rhythm.  After witnessing the Sketcher/Stanley and Sketcher/California Car Cover conflicts, I managed to make up some positions by the resulting penalties and collisions.  Then I got around Junior and set my sights on Brady in the Mac Tools car.

I made my move in the second downhill hairpin and Brady gave me just enough room to make things work.  Good on him for racing hard and clean–and getting the good finish to show for it!  Last on the list was my good friend James Hunt in the Koni car.  After putting hard pressure on him for a couple laps, James made a little mistake that handed me the win.

After all the on-track action, there was the off-track drama.  Due to all our good finishes, some of our competitors apparently thought we had found a trick.  When asked if I thought we could perform the same way in a different car, my answer was a confident “YES.”  I knew we weren’t cheating and I knew we hadn’t done anything to even fudge the rules, so it was no problem with me changing cars.  The only downside in my eyes was leaving our awesome sponsor, GEICO!

After making the switch to the Stanley car, there was some innuendo suggesting we were hiding our setup or sabotaging Larry and Laura.  We simply had not done a nut/bolt check yet and we were in the middle of lots of work on the car when called in for interviews.  I think the new Geico team will agree that we were forthcoming with all the information we had on the car and everyone involved helped each other in moving seats and such.

Thanks to Geico for the good run!  Now it’s on to the final elimination races with the Stanley car!

So here my complete recap of that fateful day…..should help explain alot.

The day before in the garage me and my crew chief and I were at bit at odds. He wanted to make some drastic changes to try to improve the setup. Me and him used to road race motorcycles together and he was always making lots of changes and with enough testing time he would end up with some good setups! My style is always to make small changes and concentrate on riding/driving. I usually don’t make larger changes until I feel confident I know the current setup well enough to really feel and understand any further changes I make. That takes time unfortunately, which we did not have on this show…..I wanted to just leave it be for the most part as me and Chris had been rockin with the setup we had. We reached a compromised and basically took some castor out of the front and some camber out as well as I was hoping to have a flatter contact patch to improve my braking. We could not agree on a tire pressure that day.

The next day in practice at the HTM he wanted to try an extreme tire pressure setup that I knew would not work so I told him a number I wanted. He ran the more extreme number anyway against my wishes and the car just sucked so I came in and he added some pressure back in and a finished of the the last few mins of practice. Basically In my mind we wasted half of the practice session trying out something I knew I would not like and would not work really well. Ow well…..we figured we could use the first race of the day to learn if the new setup was any good.

Well the first race that day Skeen took off in the lead Earnesto was in second and I was in third. I was all over Ernesto and he was slower than me pretty much everywhere. Then coming down the hill in lap 4-5 I see him run a bit wide on the run down the hill then when he changed directions to go thru the S turn in front of the crews/water tower he basically had to add more steering since he was wide and when he transitioned and changed directions there was alot of weight transfer and he probably got on the gas a bit too soon for the amount of steering he had in the car at the time and the car got a bit sideways exiting the front S turns and he started a high speed oscillation and eventually as he was running out of track he locked them up missed the camera man by a foot and went sailing off the track thru 2 fences and almost hit a on coming van on the access road below! So red flag came out.

They had to call the few laps we did a race since the track owners would not allow a race to be held with a hole in the fencing. So I effectively ended the race in 2nd place. So we all went to lunch while the track maintenance crew went to work fixing the fence. Unfortunately this meant we barely had a chance to get the tires up to temp and check out the changes we made on the car.

It would all come down to race 2 for me then.

I had a horrible start and was struggling with the car right away. I did my best to keep the car on track to avoid any stop and go penalties and was basically trying to figure out the car. I was struggling with the uphill chicane alot. My drive out of there and up the hill just sucked. The car was under steering alot in the slow chicane and was a bit tail happy when I layed the power down. It all honesty also could of been just me! I was a bit frustrated with my driving that day to be honest. I was just a bit off my mental game. I can definitely learn a thing or two from mr cool, calm and collected Mike Skeen!

I was doing my best to salvage my race and not get passed, when I hear my crew chief saying “they just told the Stanley car (Larry canzone) that he had to pass you in the next 2 laps or he going to be off the show!” So I knew he was coming. He was in my side view mirrors soon after. I got a suck ass drive off the chicane again and he got a run on me into the hairpin at the top of the hill. He went by me but I got a great drive of the corner and repassed him in the next corner. We were both fighting for our lives. He did get by me again and right as I was pushing to stay in his bumper I made a big mistake.

For the record, yes I did basically go wide entering the chicane. I did not “overshoot” it like they said last night. If I had overshot the corner I would of gone thru the cones tires locked like many did that day and the previous day sending cones flying everywhere.

I was pushing my braking point a bit to deep got all locked up and right before I was going to go straight thru the cones I got it gathered up and turned the car and never went thru the cones and completed the chicane normally! As I was turning away to go thru the chicane I knocked over 1 single cone.

I was hoping not to get a stop and go since I hadn’t “blown” the chicane and gone straight thru it
yet I still got a stop and go….. for basically making a mistake and simply going wide in the corner. I never went thru the cones and bypassed the chicane like many had done. I ended up driving thru the chicane like normal after my lock up. But whatever the race director says goes!

I pulled in the pits completely mad about the situation. I took off like a bat out of hell since I knew that I was now in the last place car on the track. I was struggling with car now more than ever seamed like our tire pressure gamble was getting worse as the laps wore on. I started to click laps away and started to try to close in on the next competitor.

Then I get a radio call from my crew cheif ” They want you to come in to serve a stop and go” I was like WHAT??? For what I replied. He said” they saying that you laying up”

LAYING UP? you got to be kidding me! Why would I be laying up if I’m in last place??????

It made ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE to me.

I was SO pissed. I followed the ridiculous instructions and served a second stop and go penalty for basically doing NOTHING.

I came out of the pits and finished the few laps left in the race and I was completely dejected after… . I have to say I was also disappointed I was not able to adapt to the new yet deficient setup on the car. As a driver if the setup is wrong it’s up to you to make the most of it. I did fail at that.

We went home really bummed out. I still did not think I was going home since Technically speaking I was NOT last. Danan was.

Also accordingly to the rules we were given, if you cause an incident that causes the other car not to finish the race you are the one going home. Which would mean Mike Junior would be the one leaving. So we went to sleep with some hope of continuing on the show.

The next day in the shop we pretty much spent like 30mins standing around while the WOW crews got chewed up by Scott about cheating. Eventually they told him to go home! Then he call me up and was like Pedro you were last your going home. Please leave. 3 secs. later he tells everyone to go back to work. They spent 30 mins. to eliminate the first crew and 3 second to send us home. I thought that was funny.

I didn’t get a chance to voice my concerns about Danan and Mike situation and my displeasure with the second stop and go.

I don’t like it but I get it. It’s a TV show.

I’m just a a fast clean racer that kinda kept to myself and was not showboating like Piquet or making any drama like Danan. So looks like the end of the road for me.

I do take responsibility for putting myself in a position (last across the line) to be sent home. In the end it was up to me to get the setup right and up to me to make it WORK! That specific day we were waaay off! On this show you can’t have a bad day.

Your bad day is your last day on this show. In the real world it’s a bit different. We have championship points so we can make up for a bad race.

What really makes me mad is that I never got a chance to race at Street of willow. HTM is challenging track, but it is a “constipated” track. You can never really get up to speed there and stretch the cars legs. Streets is also wider and has rumble strips so passing is more doable without contact.

On the other hand, I had a good run. I made it almost to the last episode and was able to hold my own and beat racers with much more experience than me. I was able to open gaps from racers with more experience from me and keep a fast race pace up to the last episode.

I did not make an ass of myself on national TV.
I did not look like a rookie and total my car on national TV.
I did not go out with my tail between my legs like Brian did.
I did not go out looking like foolish like Ernesto and his crew cheif.
(Flying off the track is bad enough then not pulling the fire pin on the fire system is Ernesto AND his crew’s fault. As a driver your safety is ultimately your responsibility)

I raced more than I had all year in just 3 weeks and it only cost me time off of work.

I gained some friends, meet some incredible people, gained an immense amount of experience from the driving and the off track situations. Not to mention being in front of a camera in a interview room with 4 cameras pointed in your face. I will never be nervous for a job interview again!

So all in all it was a good thing. I just wish I could of had a shot at showing my stuff at streets of willow and maybe been a position to capitalize on the last race mayhem and take the whole prize. I would of loved being able to give my crew chief Edward a nice check to for all his hard work.

I like to thank Scott, Elsa and all the crew for the opportunity of a lifetime.
I like to thank Reliable Carriers for getting us all there.
I like to thank my Crew chief Edward for making it possible and getting me in the game.
I like to thank my incredible team mate Chris Prey. I learned so much from you! He has a incredible talent and hope for the best for his racing future. Maybe some day we can share a race car again!

Finally I’d like to thank my Boss for giving the time off work and for not firing me during the show like so many bosses did. Thanks Todd!

Thats all folks!

Now I’m just a spectator on the couch just like the rest of you!

See you at a track somewhere under the California Sun!

p.s - To see what I’ve been up to lately visit my site www.bmw1602.com

Although 2nd place certainly isn’t exactly where I wanted to be, it was good to keep progressing toward the front.  Running 2nd behind Skeen did give me an opportunity to gauge where I was lacking. It was quickly apparent that off the slow chicane, I was getting killed- literally 5 cars a lap off that one corner.  Everywhere else we were close.  So for next week, I dialed in a ton of rear grip to help the car off the corner.. lets see where this gets me!