Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2016-01-04 12:42 am
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2016-01-04 12:42 am
112.3.1 - diary
Making changes
Today's the big day. The official first day of my 2016 racing season. I'm home in Daytona, where I'm reporting for duty with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, sitting in meetings and putting finishing touches on our car in advance of Friday's Roar Before the Rolex 24. Which is in itself just a big warm-up to defend our Rolex 24 title at the end of the month. But it's part of the job, so we're all here, drinking coffee and asking idly how the offseason was.
Everything feels so different than it did last year. I wasn't here for the Roar last year, so I'm able to spend more time with the team and help shake down the car, rather than showing up a few days before race day and going in cold. I can't stop being amused at walking around in a Chip Ganassi Racing polo when I know my closet back in Indianapolis is full of Team Penske shirts. And this time, I'm able to actually enjoy spending time with my teammates instead of thinking that they're all worried about me.
How much one good season changes.
Last year I was looking at this event as the one shot I had to re-start my IndyCar career. Now I'm not worrying at all. Now this is something fun before the real work starts in March. Not to say that I'm not taking this seriously, but I know that whether I earn another watch on my wrist or I don't, the real point of this is enjoying the drive. I'm here to cherish the things that I don't get to do at any other race in the season.
Things like the sheer experience of endurance racing, where you don't just have to work with your race team but you also have to work as a team with three other drivers. Looking between the three men I'm working with, it's a really fun experience to put our heads together and just talk about how we're going to move forward. I know two of them pretty well from having to see them across the grid every week, and then I get a completely different perspective from Jamie, who comes from a whole other league.
This is a totally different car than I normally drive, too, one that I get to re-learn since I haven't seen it since last January. I get to tinker with it, experiment, and generally let it loose a little bit in a way that I might not with my IndyCar. I'm a driver by trade, but I also pride myself on putting my Engineering degree to use, so I enjoy the chance to work with a new machine and just get my hands dirty. Plus, this one has a roof so it's a bit more enclosed than sitting in an open tub.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to be teammates with Scott. It's like a baseball player getting to play with Cal Ripken Jr. Having spent so many years racing alongside him and before that watching him race, it's a whole other thing to see his process and to be a collaborator instead of a competitor. It makes me respect him even more. And having him and Tony there makes me feel more comfortable because I'm familiar with them, and they're people I enjoy spending time with off track as well. I've got friends to take this journey with.
I've also got family. My parents' house is a twenty-minute drive from Daytona International Speedway, so this is the one chance I have all year to bring my mom to the racetrack and show her what I do all day (in this case literally). My dad and I see each other all season since we're both in the sport, but I get much less time with mom or my niece and nephew. I really like that I can share my career with them, because I know that once the season starts I'm going to be busy and focused and things will get in the way.
Plus, this is Daytona. One of the great racetracks in American motorsports. I get to work all day in the great Florida weather, then I'm still close enough to drive home every night and sleep in my own bed. Aside from Indianapolis, there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be. Between the holidays and the actual Rolex 24, I'll have gotten to spend six straight weeks in my own backyard. In my line of work, that's a luxury.
So yeah, right now I'm excited. I'm excited to get to be part of Team Target for a while, and do some new interviews, and joke around with people that I don't ordinarily get to laugh with. I've got some meetings and then some press, an autograph signing later and then at some point there's a pretzel with my name on it. Last year I know I was a basket case, but this year I'm just ready to have some fun. Things have definitely changed for the better.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need for Speed OC
840 words
Today's the big day. The official first day of my 2016 racing season. I'm home in Daytona, where I'm reporting for duty with Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, sitting in meetings and putting finishing touches on our car in advance of Friday's Roar Before the Rolex 24. Which is in itself just a big warm-up to defend our Rolex 24 title at the end of the month. But it's part of the job, so we're all here, drinking coffee and asking idly how the offseason was.
Everything feels so different than it did last year. I wasn't here for the Roar last year, so I'm able to spend more time with the team and help shake down the car, rather than showing up a few days before race day and going in cold. I can't stop being amused at walking around in a Chip Ganassi Racing polo when I know my closet back in Indianapolis is full of Team Penske shirts. And this time, I'm able to actually enjoy spending time with my teammates instead of thinking that they're all worried about me.
How much one good season changes.
Last year I was looking at this event as the one shot I had to re-start my IndyCar career. Now I'm not worrying at all. Now this is something fun before the real work starts in March. Not to say that I'm not taking this seriously, but I know that whether I earn another watch on my wrist or I don't, the real point of this is enjoying the drive. I'm here to cherish the things that I don't get to do at any other race in the season.
Things like the sheer experience of endurance racing, where you don't just have to work with your race team but you also have to work as a team with three other drivers. Looking between the three men I'm working with, it's a really fun experience to put our heads together and just talk about how we're going to move forward. I know two of them pretty well from having to see them across the grid every week, and then I get a completely different perspective from Jamie, who comes from a whole other league.
This is a totally different car than I normally drive, too, one that I get to re-learn since I haven't seen it since last January. I get to tinker with it, experiment, and generally let it loose a little bit in a way that I might not with my IndyCar. I'm a driver by trade, but I also pride myself on putting my Engineering degree to use, so I enjoy the chance to work with a new machine and just get my hands dirty. Plus, this one has a roof so it's a bit more enclosed than sitting in an open tub.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to be teammates with Scott. It's like a baseball player getting to play with Cal Ripken Jr. Having spent so many years racing alongside him and before that watching him race, it's a whole other thing to see his process and to be a collaborator instead of a competitor. It makes me respect him even more. And having him and Tony there makes me feel more comfortable because I'm familiar with them, and they're people I enjoy spending time with off track as well. I've got friends to take this journey with.
I've also got family. My parents' house is a twenty-minute drive from Daytona International Speedway, so this is the one chance I have all year to bring my mom to the racetrack and show her what I do all day (in this case literally). My dad and I see each other all season since we're both in the sport, but I get much less time with mom or my niece and nephew. I really like that I can share my career with them, because I know that once the season starts I'm going to be busy and focused and things will get in the way.
Plus, this is Daytona. One of the great racetracks in American motorsports. I get to work all day in the great Florida weather, then I'm still close enough to drive home every night and sleep in my own bed. Aside from Indianapolis, there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be. Between the holidays and the actual Rolex 24, I'll have gotten to spend six straight weeks in my own backyard. In my line of work, that's a luxury.
So yeah, right now I'm excited. I'm excited to get to be part of Team Target for a while, and do some new interviews, and joke around with people that I don't ordinarily get to laugh with. I've got some meetings and then some press, an autograph signing later and then at some point there's a pretzel with my name on it. Last year I know I was a basket case, but this year I'm just ready to have some fun. Things have definitely changed for the better.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need for Speed OC
840 words