 Joel at Road America (photo: Eric McCombs/Star Mazda)
It has been some time now since my last Blog entry and a lot has happened since then. Summer is almost over and the Star Mazda Championship is going into the last 4 races of the season. I am proud to say that I currently lead the championship after many high and low weekends. My current statistics so far in 2008 are 5 podiums in 8 starts.
The month of August was busy for the JDC Motorsports team and me with 3 back to back races. One of those races was at Trois Rivieres near Montreal, Canada. This was my first proper street race in a formula car. Last year I was able to race at Cleveland with Skip Barber but that was on an airport circuit. Starting off the month of August the series went to my favorite track in North America (so far) which is Road America. I looked forward to the Road America event as we had conducted a great test there earlier in the year. However, while battling for the top three spots a broken radiator ended our hopes for a strong finish. Yes, it was a hard blow especially to the championship, but I could not let this get to me as there were many races left in the season. The team and I regrouped and headed up to Canada.
Like I mentioned before, Trois Rivieres was my first street circuit in a formula car. I looked forward to the event and the challenges that came with it. The street circuit had a few difficult areas that made Rick Cameron (my engineer) and I think hard about chassis setup. In the end we qualified 4th and finished 4th. A positive look on the weekend was I finished ahead of the points leader and after Road America that had to happen for points. After that race Rick and I sat down, looked over many notes, and tried to find what we were missing. A general pattern became clear, and we were onto something. In the week between events, John Church was able to get some track time on a test track near Mosport to try out a new setup.
The third event in the back to back races was at Mosport which is near Toronto, Canada. This track has character and really makes a driver be on top of his game. Turns 1 and 2 are flat out in the Star Mazda car in the 120-130mph range. The first session of the weekend showed that Rick and I found something in the car during testing as we were a close P2 on the charts. The afternoon sessions became our experiment sessions so we opted to not put new tires on. I was able to qualify on the front row for the race only 8 hundredths off the pole. I knew the race was going to be close. However, most of the race was under yellow which did not allow for me to fight for the lead. I ended up finishing second, but the big gain was in the championship point’s race. I managed to take the lead back by one point over second! The words to the crew after the race were “We are back in it.”
So now where do we go from here? The next round is two weeks away and will be held at the new facility in New Jersey. I visited the race track this past week to do a few laps in a Skip Barber car. The track is going to be fast in the Star Mazda car for sure, but my initial thoughts are no passing zones so high risk overtaking is going to happen. To say it bluntly, “I want to be back on the top step of the podium, badly.”
I have the most top 3’s in the championship but want to show I have what it takes to win. Like I mentioned earlier, Rick and I have finally made a positive development in the car to make us more competitive. In two weeks look for the #20 car to be at the front of the grid once again!
Aside for racing, I have been enjoying the summer in southern California. Not too many trips to the beach but to the families’ vacation home in Laughlin, Nevada. I have been able to improve my wakeboarding this summer but the limiting factor is that in the back of my mind I still need to race so cannot push it too far. With all the races in August I have not been able to go out to the river, but we will soon have a weekend off.
With this month coming to an end and September starting tomorrow I am hoping to report great news from my upcoming events. I have great thanks for all my current supporters and their involvement with my career. Without their continued belief in my program this season would have been much more difficult, thank you.
Joel Miller
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