Chrissy C

Nearly 15 years ago, Mike and I moved to Germany for a little while for work. Months before we arrived in country, I wouldn't drive on the autobahn. I was afraid of speed. I was going to be Heidi of the Rhein, braided pig tails and ride a little bike with a basket. I had no intention of driving for the next three years. Still, Mike insisted that I take a written test for our German driving permits. So, on a snowy day,  I arrived at the on-base classroom to take the test. Just barely, but all the same, failed the first round. At that point, it was a matter of principle that I pass that driving test. I was very successful the next time around. So I figured after the 100 questions, I'd give the whole driving on the autobahn thing a try. Well, I wound up really enjoying it (but you, the reader, saw that coming).

Mike and I drove everywhere. We had faster cars than what we have now, we were taking road trips, and spending evenings after work at the "tourist fahrten" at Nürburgring and Hockenheim Ring. We had so much fun.

When we came back to the US, we didn't think there were any outlets for driving too fast other than on I-97 from Annapolis to MD Rt. 32. Then, on a snowy day a few years later, we were at the Baltimore Auto Show and Summit Point had a table set up with fliers. There was someplace to go to get the speed out of our systems.

Mike went to one or two events and was able to quickly move up the ranks with several HPDE programs, eventually becoming a coach. Again, out of principle, I went to my first track day at Summit Point. At that point, we had built camaraderie because Mike was coaching and making new friends from doing all of the track events. With the relationships built, I knew my coach (not Mike for my first event at everyone's insistence) pretty well. But I was afraid. I was going to be driving my first track event with a helmet on, on a track that was just had a tragic incident. Also, I was driving my commute car, so I was afraid of doing something to that too. Eventually, I got myself calmed down and I went out for my first session. I was actually fast in a VW diesel wagen. I passed a viper in the first session (he took his toy home after that because he got passed by a girl in a wagen). I wound up doing every session the entire day and I loved every moment of it.

Since we were going to all of the events, I got a little more track time. I also moved up pretty quickly. We made so many friends and saw so many new tracks. I really enjoyed being there, even when I wasn't driving. We had developed a community.

Since I've started my stateside track experience I have driven all of the summit point courses.  I've driven Pocono, Watkins Glen, both tracks at NJMP, Palmer Motorsports park, Lime Rock, and a couple of configurations at VIR. Not bad for someone who had no interest in driving fast 15 years ago.

When you come to events with our little community, you'll probably get to know that I'm part of the welcome committee. Like I said, I'm always there, whether I'm driving or not. I swear, I don't bite. Come over and hang out in our little tent village and get to know everyone. There are a lot of great people in our group. We take care of each other and it's far better to go to the track with friends than to go alone.