One Lap '98

by Jim Byrd

Fifty six hundred miles, 19 states, 6 tracks and three time zones in 8 days.

The Michelin One Lap of America was an absolute blast. Our home for the next eight days was a 1995 M3 Lightweight and was entered this year with the goal of raising money and awareness for Habitat for Humanity Southeastern Region. We started this years' event with Mike Renner and myself driving up from South Carolina on Friday the 29th of May. Mark Stokes was to fly up on Saturday so we could start this journey across the US.

We arrived in the city of Watkins Glen around 3:00 PM and immediately started prepping our car for the week long event. Saturday morning was exciting as it brought all participants together for a drivers' meeting detailing what to expect over the next week. We found ourselves among 78 car participants broken out into 9 various classes. We were assigned car number 11 in class GT1 which meant that we were close to the front of the pack. Brock Yates, the event organizer, stressed that speeding on the highways was not necessary since we had more than enough time to arrive at the next destination. He elaborated that driving cars which were cleverly disguised as race cars would certainly attract attention.

Our first check point was the Watkins Glen Racing Museum where we quickly viewed the history of road racing in America, ate lunch, met Mark and were off to the track. We were instructed upon arriving at each track to unload, prep our car and wait for our timed runs. At this time our adrenaline was high as we found ourselves among our class that consisted of Vipers, Vettes, Porsches and two other M3's. We soon felt overwhelmed when we discovered that most of these cars were far from stock with some pushing 600 hp. This of course was not comforting considering our 260 hp, however defeat was not yet an option.

We arrived at Watkins Glen International Raceway with our week of hurry up and wait about to start. Before our venture was to begin, we had the chance to watch the final laps of The Nascar Truck Series. Running Watkins Glen proved uneventful for us except for the spin in turn one by one of the other participants, causing a red flag and enabling us to a second chance to learn the track. It was now time to re-pack with 846 miles ahead of us, our spirits and motivation were high in anticipation of our performance which was to be announced upon arriving at Gateway International in East Saint Louis, Illinois.

We left Watkins Glen around 6:30 PM, drove all night and with very little sleep we arrived at Gateway 13 hours later. A quick shower and breakfast at a nearby truck stop, we now had been up for more than 24 hours. We were off to the track to prepare ourselves for the two scheduled runs and a few minutes sleep. This is where we learned of our position from Watkins Glen, 20th overall and 11th in our class. Since we did not start off so well, we concluded that consistency was the name of the game. At Gateway we found a low banked oval with an infield road course that was very sandy and thus very slippery. We elected our strategy to be a bit more cautious and let others loose time by spinning. Our strategy paid off; two runs, no errors and it was time to re-pack and head towards our next destination, Pikes Peak International Raceway.

We left St. Louis at 3:20pm EST, next stop Pikes Peak a mere 860 miles. The drive covered many miles of open plains and breath taking country, yet to our amazement taking us through only three states. Our route book took us straight across I 70 with fuel stops and nature calls, we arrived in Colorado Springs at 3:00 am est. At this point, a motel bed or floor looked very appealing. We found that our M3 was not an ideal place for sleep due to a fairly stiff suspension and expansion joints on the highway, forcing sleep was a very difficult task for all of us.

Waking 7:00 am EST to beautiful snow capped Pikes Peak we were once again off to the track for an early morning run. The previous 4 hours of real sleep was much needed as we were now all feeling refreshed and ready to attack the raceway with our next two runs. We found ourselves after the two runs at Gateway in 16th and 15th overall and 10th in our class. Sleep turned out to be our enemy as we suffered two spins during our second run, we could only guess that our standings were short lived.

Mid afternoon, we left Pikes Peak towards Phoenix International Raceway, 795 miles away. Our One Lap Official route book was to take us south on I 25 to US 160 to the Four Corners area and into Utah our 20th state. We were told that this scenic route was wonderful and well worth the added time of non interstate. The temperature by now was climbing and with all M3 Lightweights not being equipped with air conditioning, we elected to by-pass the scenic route and get back to the interstate exiting US160 at Alamosa, New Mexico and headed towards Santa Fe. Looking back I wish we could have seen more of the Rocky Mountains but the invitation of additional sleep in Phoenix was more appealing.

Four more hours of sleep we awoke to find Phoenix already blistering. Our plan was to arrive at the track early in order to get a shaded pit, however, we found ourselves waiting until the track opened. Once we were able to enter the track we found the pit area closed and had to settled for the hot sun parking area. After our disappointing performance of 44th overall at Pikes Peak we understood the difficulty that lay ahead. Phoenix brought us a low banked oval with a very fast infield road course. With air temps in the low 100's, the track was hot and slippery and caution was high on our minds. Between our two runs at Phoenix, Mark and I were treated to our first opportunity to view a track at speed. Billy Evans, who is the Public Relations Director for One Lap, showed off his driving skills in the M3 press car while navigating us flawlessly around this track at speed. Our second run complete and hopefully much better than the previous day, we were ready to start our journey back east. Much to our surprise, Mark's father had flown out from South Carolina to watch our run and cheer us on. With a needed delay we joined Dr. Stokes in one of our few real meals without having to rush. This is where we started making plans for the 1999 One Lap with hopes of running a M5 (we later learned that the M5 will not be available).

Our next track was Memphis, 1500 miles away and 26 hours to get there. Leaving Phoenix, we found ourselves in the middle of severe heat so we elected to go north to I 40 through Flagstaff where temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler instead of running the designated I-10. Running I 40 through Arizona, New Mexico and into Texas we drove until we could drive no more. During this run across the desert we had the opportunity to drive faster than normal and enjoy the performance of the M3, with average speeds between 90 and 125; sorry Brock.

Amarillo brought us four more hours of sleep guessing our remaining leg to Memphis to be about 700 more miles. During this leg we made our first and only unexpected stop when we came across the Route 66 Museum. Stopping a few minutes for a quick view and pictures, the clock was ticking and Memphis still many miles away.

We arrived in Memphis about 7pm EST, almost to our home time zone and the time we have been trying to stay on during this week of non stop driving. After checking into a motel outside of Memphis we were all ready for a good meal and an adult beverage. We soon learned that no restaurants served alcoholic beverages, however brown bagging being acceptable, we sat down to enjoy the first cocktail of the week.

Thursday and Memphis Motorsports Park we found the first real road course since Watkins Glen. The first run was a welcome site as Mike feels more at home on a non banked course. The second run brought us a drag race with no prior experience. With a lot of guess work in determining our bracket time, we earned one of our best finishes yet.

Our next stop was the BMW Zentrum in Greenville, SC. which was only 574 miles away. We left Memphis in mid afternoon with plans to arrive in Greenville about 1am and get 8 hours of sleep at Mike's house. This plan was put slightly off track due to a faulty speedometer and check engine light that appeared during our run through North Carolina. We settled for 6 hours of sleep, and made an early morning visit to Century BMW for hopefully a quick diagnostic and repair. (Century being one of our car sponsors, we could not have asked for a better place to seek help and we were off in 30 minutes.) Arriving at The BMW Zentrum for the second check in point of the week, we found an excellent reception with front row parking. We were finally in our home state and found many Sandlapper Chapter club members there to meet us. A catered lunch provided by BMW and Michelin, we were then ready for the Michelin Proving Grounds Test Track, another true road course. This track had been sprayed with water which gave us an advantage over the high horsepower cars as it placed more emphasis on the driving skill. The Proving Grounds are a highly secretive secure place, so we were very lucky to have been invited, this however was not so for our car owner, Greg Young, who was not allowed to enter.

Leaving Michelin late Friday afternoon we were starting the final leg and 848 miles to Wyoming, New York. We drove as far as Erie Pennsylvania before finding a motel room and another four more hours of sleep. We estimated we were only 1 1/2 hours from Wyoming so the sleep was well worth it. Our third check point for the week was the home town of Brock Yates and his famous Cannonball Run Pub. Spending a couple hours in this quaint little town, we enjoyed lunch but the pub was "off limits" until after our final run at The Glen. Once on our way to The Glen we drove through our final check point at Letchworth State Park. This gave us a some time to relax without being hurried and enjoy a beautiful spring day in the park.

Cold and windy, Watkins Glen was not as pleasant as the prior week. We arrived at the final track to find the results of Michelin and were very happy to see we had jumped to 5th in our class. We now had just one more attempt to improve our totals. We were scheduled to run the full SCCA track, however, last minute changes kept us on the NASCAR track. The Genesee Valley Chapter had just finished their drivers' school and turned the track over to the One Lappers and the final event was underway. All too soon we were finished, the long journey had about come to an end and we all headed back to the motel for some very needed sleep. Our fun filled week ended with a closing dinner and the announcement of each team's final standings. We were elated to learn that we had been tied 15th overall and 10th in our class. To be among so many talented drivers and more powerful cars, three guys from South Carolina with no previous experience had accomplished more than what was set out to be.

Back to reality and home to South Carolina, we were now retracing our steps from the previous day with the thoughts of "wait until next year" dancing in our heads.

Many thanks go out to all that were involved in this "guy thing." First and foremost to Greg Young for the opportunity of driving his Habitat for Humanity M3 Lightweight. To the many other sponsors who made this adventure possible; Century BMW, Racing Dynamics, Road Atlanta, Bilstein, Martin Plummer of Revolution Motor Sports for tuning and prepping the car, Fikse Wheels, Performance Friction and Ernest Hemingway for lending his quote that "Auto Racing, Bullfighting and Mountain Climbing are the only real sports, all others are games." However without the thanks to our wives, next year might not arrive. Thanks; Marion, Carla and Lisa for letting us go.