|
Sept 06 2007, Roseville, Ca. When a call came from Frank Jordan of Golden State Racing on Wednesday the 5th, offering a test in one of their late models the following day at All American Speedway in Roseville, Ca, Laura did not hesitate to jump at the chance. After a quick trip to the GSR shop to fit her in the car that evening, Laura was ready for her first opportunity to wheel a stock car. That she would be doing it in a car from the stable of one of the premier West Coast late model teams made it even more exciting. GSR fields cars for Eric Schmidt, 2005 SRL champion and current point leader in the Whelen Late Models at All American.
On Thursday afternoon Laura met up with Frank and his team, who were also having a test with veteran driver John Moore who would be driving Schmidt's backup car the following Saturday at Roseville. Following a quick shake down to acclimate her with the car and GSR lead crew chief / spotter Eric Snyder, Laura began running multiple sessions with Snyder providing feed back and radio instructions. Immediately, Laura's racing experience and abilities began to show, as she ran consistent, smooth laps, testing the cars limits. After a few chassis changes to help a corner exit understeer issue, Laura was turning times within a couple of tenths of Moore who was admittedly in the better of the two cars and on fresher tires.
After completing the test day, Laura had a debrief with Jordan and the two Erics. All parties declared the test a rounding success. Frank and his team were impressed with Laura's ability to rapidly adapt to the heavier stock car and felt she would be immediately competitive. In turn, Laura felt that she'd learned a lot including some things that she could take back to her sprint car. She and Snyder demonstrated an immediate chemistry in their ability to communicate with one another. Eric proved to be a great coach and Laura a willing student.
Laura would like to thank the entire Golden State Racing team including Frank Jordan, Eric Snyder, Eric Schmidt and John Moore for the test and their input and support. Additionally, she would like to thank Terry Thomson of GoneRacin' for helping to arrange the test.
|
