DRIVER BLOG // JOEY ATTERBURY @ MID-OHIO

After some very encouraging weekends at both rounds 5 & 6 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge we were headed to Mid-Ohio. Mitchum Motorsports accomplished a lot in the two early races in June; our 8th place finish at Lime Rock Park was the best of the year, and we were running in the top five for the first hour of the race at Watkins Glen before our rear bumper peeled off and we had to stop for repairs. Needless to say we unloaded the trailer in Ohio with high hopes for the weekend... [read more]

GRAND-AM, who is always looking to keep the playing field level, allowed the Camaro’s to drop a bit more weight, down to 3200lbs. The team is constantly working with the officials and this change would certainly help us compete with those M3’s and Mustangs! We had great weather the entire weekend in Ohio, and also had the pleasure of having regular co-driver Devin Cates back in the car. With the sun out and high humidity, I was constantly reaching back to the cooler for yet another water or Gatorade. Staying hydrated in the car for almost two hours during a race is very important, and it starts well before race day.

For qualifying we decided to put Devin in the car and he performed great, giving the Camaro a starting spot of P12 out of nearly 70 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge cars. As Friday was coming to a close at the racetrack, things at the Mitchum Motorsports camp were just starting to get fired up. Chris Mitchum and I had planned a small meet and greet with several young, up and coming drivers to explore plans of racing in GRAND-AM in the years to come. Needless to say it was great to see the ‘new’ drivers in the paddock come and meet the team at Mitchum.

With race day upon us, that also meant the fan walk was drawing near. This is probably my favorite part of the weekend (besides the actual race), meeting our fans and sharing stories is always great! Attendance at Ohio was high - I love to see that people are interested in motor racing and are coming out to see it in person. I was even able to get an autograph of my own from the Sahlen’s ST car sponsor, ‘Hot Dog Boy’!

Saturday was the hottest day of the weekend, which made for an awesome crowd for Round seven of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. I don’t think the drivers or teams have let down the fans yet, every race has been action packed and Ohio did not disappoint. Devin made good work of his opening stint in the car moving all the way up to 5th position. I was able to get in the car just about half-way through and found myself 19th after the all the pit strategy worked out. Unfortunately I made a mistake with about 10 minutes left and spun the car, this resulted in another car clipping the front-end after I had come back on track to resume the race.

The damage was enough to force us to pit to check the car out before I could continue. Nothing could be repaired in pit lane but I was able to limp the car home to the checkered flag. It was a disappointing end to what seemed to be a great break-through weekend for the Mitchum Motorsports team. I made sure to apologize to the crew for the mistake I made and have learned from it so it will never happen again. With about a month before our next race at New Jersey, I’m confident that you will see the Black/Yellow #6.2 Mitchum Motorsports Camaro back at the front!



Photo(s): Curtis Creager
Editorial: Joey Atterbury