Portland International Raceway

Portland, Oregon, USA
June 3 and 4, 2005

I think the clubs have it pretty tough. With their volunteer staffs, they have to put together a race weekend with adequate safety teams and administrative personnel, and then still try and turn a profit. Or, at least, break even.

Rent at PIR has gone up, and to compensate, the club which hosts the races has invited some semi-pro drivers. The FranAm drivers come with their piles of tires (one team had more than eighty!) and huge transporters. When I arrived at the track, I was about tenth in line. But I only narrowly secured a pit slot for myself.

As usual, I got setup and had my car teched. Then, I took off. I was very tired. I had forgotten to get my hotel reservations and couldn't book my usual hotel. I ended up at the Marriott up the road, and thought it was just a great place to stay.