Tyler gonzalez: A legendary performance.

In motorsports, many stories focus on the champions in F1, or the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500. The big races and the major series get a lot of the attention. Sports car racing is starting to close the gap, and the 24 hours of Daytona and LeMan begin to gain more notoriety. As the big boys play and race, young drivers strive to get to the promise land. What gets lost is the incredible stories and performances that happen in the smaller series. Mazda MX5 Cup, SCCA races and this past weekend in the SMX Series.

This past weekend the SCCA ran sprint races at Road Atlanta. As a part of Saito Motorsports, I was on hand providing support and getting the chance to meet and get to know Nate Cicero, Elivan Goulart and Tyler Gonzalez. To say the weekend had obstacles would be an understatement. This was the first time Saito was racing these cars and in SCCA in this series. Getting the cars ready after being in St. Petersburgh the previous weekend with IMSA was going to be difficult.

On Friday we had the first qualifying session. We had no chance to run any practice rounds on the previous days. Right away we saw no times were registering and discovered the transponders on all three cars had an issue. This would mean we needed to register times in the second qualifying Saturday morning. This is where things get a bit interesting, because Nate and Elivan were able to register times, but Tylers transponder again didn't work. Meaning he would start both races at the back of the pack. Elivan was starting 6th and Nate was starting 9th.

The first race found Tyler flying through the field and was able to pass four cars heading into turn one at the start. Elivan had transmission issues and Nate battled mid field through the race. While all of that was happening, here comes Tyler through the field. The race ended decently with Tyler 7th and Nate 8th. There was still work to be done and was looking like a transmission swap for Elivan's car. What we discovered was Tyler's needed to be swapped as well. Storms and rain were starting to roll in, and the feeling of St. Pete's was weighing on the team. As I worked on getting tires over to Hoosier to get three sets of wets done, the team got working on the transmissions. This is when the storm hit and for some teams not prepared, created some chaos.

As usual the team performed and knocked out two transmission swaps in just a few hours and were actually able to get a good night's sleep at the hotel. What happened Sunday afternoon, I have never seen or experienced or been a part of anything like it. Less than one hour before having to be on the grid, one of the crew noticed a problem. Tyler's rear axle had a break in it. Jay and I drove over to the infield paddock and got hold of another and ran it back to the crew. I had to run back and forth a few times to make sure we had the correct nut to secure it. Success, it was changed and in time to make the grid. It had rained and it still sprinkled so the decision for wets or slicks was debated. Half the field went with wets and we went with slicks. Even Nate said to me afterwards "That was sketchy."

The decision paid off and from the start of the race Tyler did what he did in race one, but it was different. Like a man possessed he picked off driver after driver. As the track dried, the cars on wets struggled and both Tyler and Nate moved all the way to the front. Running two seconds faster than everyone on track, Tyler passed for the lead and maintained the lead. However, something changed, he wasn't pulling away and caution struck. What was wrong? Tyler was stuck in forth gear. Another obstacle, but that was not stopping him. He ran the last ten to fifteen minutes of the race in forth gear while Nate ran second. A one, two finish after all of the hardship from the weekend.

I would love to say that the weekend ended in glory, however a protest against us and some other drivers, created debate and disqualifications. The reality is what Tyler did with that car and what our team did in the weekend is what I see as legendary. This is what sports car racing is all about and these stories happen. I plan to tell them and continue to tell them. As for that protest driver, he's on the list!