Hello,

The last race weekend of the year is finally in the books after
competing at the American Road Race of Champions (ARRC) event at Road
Atlanta this past weekend. This event is considered THE nationwide
event of the season for SCCA amateur regional road racers. The
competition would be tough!

The format for the weekend would include a practice day Thursday, 2
qualifying sessions on Friday, and the final 20 lap sprint race on
Saturday. All the top dogs in ITA were there including Kevin Ruck and
the Moser's. A couple other fast guys were also in the mix including
Thomas Lyman, Tom Hoppe, and Bob Stretch. The stop watches showed
that the Moser's were the guys to beat this weekend with Joe Moser
already running below the track record during the practice day. I
spent the day with the help of my crew, Jeff Underwood and Pat
Griffith, scrubbing in tires and bedding in brake pads and also
reacquainting myself with this extremely fast and challenging track.
During the last session of the day, Kevin Ruck unfortunately hit the
tire wall on the inside of turn 5. There was some heavy damage to the
right side of the car, but he and his crew busted butt that night to
get it back together for qualifying the next day.

For qualifying, Thomas Lyman and myself were going to try and work
together to put down some fast laps. This strategy didn't seem to
work out at all. Our cars came up to speed at different intervals.
My car was quick on the first out lap, while Tommy's was faster after
a few laps. Because of this, we were a bit out of sync and would
unfortunately run into some lap traffic. The first qualifying session
put Lyman on pole with a 1:42.4, Joe Moser with a 1:42.5, Bob Moser
with a 1:42.7, and myself with a 1:42.9. Kevin also surprised us with
running a 1:43.1 with his bent ride.

The second session of the day did not work well at all. Lyman and I
tried to utilize the same strategy as the first session but we didn't
go any faster at all while Kevin Ruck and Tom Hoppe beat my morning
qualifying times. This would put me in P6 for the start of the sprint
race on Saturday. Joe Moser went faster the second session and took
pole with a 1:42.2.

The goal for me at the beginning of the race was to get by as many
people on that first out lap of the race as possible. I hoped to use
the fact that my car would come up to speed faster than some of the
Integra's to my advantage. I was gridded on the outside of row 3 with
Tom Hoppe next to me. We took a rolling start and the green flag
dropped. We roll down the front straight and Joe Moser and Thomas
Lyman tried to outbrake one another going into the first turn. Joe
locks up and slides a bit wide and Thomas has to check up a bit. By
this time, it's about 3 wide heading up the hill and into T3. There
was some unfortunate contact between Tom Hoppe and Thomas Lyman which
caused some cars to go off track which included myself. As Tom Hoppe
spins in front, I run into him and slide off the track to the outside
and almost run into a spinning Bob Moser. I drop a couple gears and
take off. By this time, I had fallen back to about 13th or 14th
overall and dropped the hammer and tried to work my way through the
field. I then realized that the alignment was all out of whack and
seemed to crab walk a little bit but it was still drivable. I pulled
off some wild maneuvers during the race and I really encourage you to
check out the in car footage to see what happened. I pulled off a
pass on two cars going into 10a at the end of the back straight that
got the approval of Bob Stretch who witnessed it from behind. I
clawed my way back through most of the field into 4th overall. I
started to also gain on Lyman as well and got as close as a 4 second
interval, but the car then started to go away from me towards the end
of the race and had to settle for 4th at the end with Joe in first,
Kevin Ruck in second, and Thomas Lyman in third.

You can view in car footage of this race by clicking on the following
link:

http://www.ajnealeyracing.com/AJNR/ARRC-11-08-08.html

In post race tech, Bob and Joe Moser were protested for having illegal
air intakes and both were disqualified. This then put me on the
podium with Kevin Ruck winning the event! A huge congratulations goes
out to him. He went from zero to hero throughout the event and am
extremely happy for him.

I'm quite happy with my finish considering the contact I was involved
in at the beginning of the race. I will definitely be back next year
to try to conquer this event!

A huge thanks goes out to Jeff Underwood and Pat Griffith for giving
me a hand this past weekend!

I'd say this past season with Team Phil's Tire Service was a pretty
good success with 18 race wins, two championships, a podium at the Pro
IT Festival and the ARRC, as well as being runner up in the inaugural
IT Triple Crown.

As for plans for next season, it is really hard to say at this point
what I plan on doing, but I will definitely keep everyone informed and
will also be presenting some sponsorship proposals in the near future.

Thanks for staying along for the ride this year and I hope you'll be
back to enjoy another exciting season.

Until next time, take care!

As always, these weekends wouldn't be a success if I didn't have the
help from the following:

Phil's Tire Service - He's teamed up with me this year and I hope he
sees a return on his investment! Seriously, if you attend any NASA
events in the Mid-Atlantic region, Ohio/Indiana region, or Mid-West
region, you'll see him at the track. Not only does he take care of
all of your race tire needs including mounting, balancing, and
shaving, but he is also a dealer for a wide array of performance
wheels and other race related parts. He can either bring your items
to the track of have them shipped! Check out his site here:
http://www.philstireservice.com

Hondamans Auto Service - We are here for all of your Honda and Acura
needs. Located in Pasadena, MD. Check out our site here:
http://www.hondamans.com

Signs By Tomorrow - These guys are also located in Pasadena, MD and
can accommodate all of your graphics needs. Check out their site
here: http://www.signsbytomorrow.com/pasadena

FastTech Limited - If you are at all interested in purchasing any type
of data acquisition for your race car, Jeremy Lucas at FastTech
Limited is your guy. Check out his site: http://www.fasttechlimited.com

Hondaworks - If you want to make your Honda or Acura go faster...talk
to Kevin Helms. He is the most dedicated person when it comes to
this. Extremely hard worker and a hell of a nice guy. They are
located in Charlotte, NC. Give him a ring at 704-527-9433.

Lee Grimes at Koni North America - Need to improve the handling of
your ride? Lee can help you out. Give him a ring at 859-586-4100

AJ Nealey
aj_nealey@...
http://www.ajnealeyracing.com
http://www.philstireservice.com
http://www.hondamans.com

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