I had planned for my last race weekend of the year to be the Western States Championships, the first weekend in November. At first, I hadn’t even considered going, but after talking to a few people, all of whom told me I should go, I decided to register. It was a three day event starting on that Friday. I was very much looking forward to it as a way to cap off my first season racing. Unfortunately, our CFO decided to schedule a very important budget meeting on that Friday afternoon. I asked if there was any way to postpone it or reschedule and was told no. So I had to withdraw.
Sadly, about noon on the Friday of the meeting, his admin sent out a note that due to unforeseen circumstances, the meeting would be postponed. Unfortunately, that was too late for me to change my plans and go to the championships.
But, I felt very unfulfilled after that, so I began looking at other groups that were having track days soon. The months of November thru February/March are notably bare for most groups that do track weekends. I’m not sure whether this is because it sometimes rains here, or out of respect for our brethren back East, who are buried in snow and not able to even contemplate tracking their cars.
But, I did find a group – Trackmasters – that was running the weekend before Thanksgiving, and that Saturday was also a charity donation event. Add to that, Sonoma (where it was being held) was having an Open Test Day the day before. So, that nailed it. I was going for a final 3-day “last hurrah” of the season.