18 April 2008 | Grand Prix of Long Beach | Houston, Texas
ambivalence
LEAD UP TO THE RACE
“Everybody's talking at me,
I don't hear a word they're saying,
Only the echoes of my mind.
People stopping staring,
I can't see their faces,
Only the shadows of their eyes.
I'm going where the sun keeps shining
Thru' the pouring rain,
Going where the weather suits my clothes,
Backing off of the North East wind,
Sailing on a summer breeze
And skipping over the ocean like a stone�
--Everybody’s Talking, Jimmy Buffet Live in Hawaii (words & music by Fred Neil)
Midnight Cowboy was one of the most explosive movies of the 20th Century. It was the movie that brought us John Voight (the father of Angelina Jolie) and moved Dustin Hoffman from a very promising actor (The Graduate) into a star.
Tucked in with the great dialogue and the phenomenal acting by Sylvia Miles and Voight and Hoffman, under the elliptical direction of John Schlessinger, was an all-star soundtrack, which included a version of “Everybody’s Talking� by Harry Nilsson, a songwriter/performer gifted enough to record with The Beatles and John Lennon. Buffett’s version, recorded live in Hawaii, has a little less melancholy and a lot more rhythm than Nilsson’s, the sound fuller, the mood more fully expressed.
“Everybody’s Talking� succinctly expresses the mood I feel every time we race in California. There is a lot to love about California—the climate, the ocean, the geography, the culture, the glamour—and an equal amount to question. It’s a tough stage, a career crusher par excellence. We race here twice a year, once in the spring at Long Beach and once in the fall at Laguna Seca.
The two races could not be more polarizing. Long Beach is in the Los Angeles area, it’s a Hollywood venue, all glamour and palm trees and dreams. It’s short, too, just 100 minutes, perfect for Hollywood’s attention span.
The season ending ALMS California event is at Laguna Seca, one of the most beautiful tracks on the circuit, located smack in the middle of Northern California, the most beautiful part of California. That race is four hours long, enough distance to really stretch the cars and drivers.
Long Beach is often described as America’s racing equivalent of the F1 race at Monte Carlo. It’s by the sea; on a demanding street course; a test made glamorous by its surroundings. But Long Beach is not Monte Carlo; it is a fast, testy, difficult street course with little appreciation for nuance. Make a mistake at Long Beach and your car will meet the wall at a higher-than-comfortable speed. Stay off the walls and strategize correctly and you might win. Make one minor misjudgment and you will lose.
I always feel a bit of ambivalence when we race in California. I know what the experience should be and know all too well what the expectations are for our team. But……..it’s California. The land of dreams and illusion. It will always be tough to win here, for anyone.
Last year, we won this race, the third leg in a four race win streak that started at Sebring, included St. Pete, Long Beach and Houston. Sebring was not favorable for us in 2008, nor was St. Pete. Long Beach is our immediate challenge and Houston is not even on the radar screen because the race was cancelled as a result of the IRL/Champ Car Merger, which took that Champ Car “weekend� off the calendar and made the Houston ALMS race an orphan. It might return in 2009; it might not.
Coming into Long Beach, there is the feeling that we have yet to hit our stride. Yes, we were leading at Sebring when we went out, but the critical part of that sentence is the “when we went out� portion. Our Number 62 F430GTC, driven by Mika Salo and Jaime Melo and Jimmy Bruni had a DNF while leading. The No. 61 Car (Krohn/Jonssen/van de Poele) finished third, as Krohn and Company are proving quite the team in distance events.
And yes, we were leading at St. Pete when we started backing up in the standings
The No. 62 car eventually dropping down to 10th and the No. 61 (Brix/Freisacher) taking fifth in their first outing in a Risi Comp 430GT on a street course. Well done.
Our competitors are having a good start to the season: Flying Lizard took first place at Sebring and new-to-Ferrari Tafel took first at St. Pete, after swearing off of Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs for the 2008 Season.
This week, I have fielded more than a few phone calls that began with the phrase “what’s going on with Risi Competizione…�. Here’s the answer: racing.
Last year, Risi Competizione pretty much had its’ way with the field, winning an astonishing 8 out of 12 races, a record of dominance in GT2 that is breathtaking in retrospect.
This year, racing luck has reared its’ ugly, expensive head, and pushed us to the sidelines in the first two races of the year. No, we don’t like it. Yes, we have been continuing development work on the car that started in January. Yes, we will continue to develop the car, relentlessly.
It’s been a tough two races and perhaps we got spoiled by last year’s winning runs of four and three races. But despite early season “cruel days� (to paraphrase Finona), we’re going to show up for every race on the calendar.
In 2006, we won the Championship by winning four out of 11 races. In 2007, we took 8 out of 12.
There are nine races left and Risi Competizione has the drivers and the team to win multiple races. In a row.
Despite frequent trips and exposure to California, I remain ambivalent about the place, but committed to one belief: don’t bet against Risi Competizione.
We may very well turn a corner we need to turn this weekend and if we do, we will be very difficult to stop on a run to a third consecutive title.
And if we don’t? We will be even more difficult to deal with on the race track because while we may be ambivalent about racing in California, we are defiantly not ambivalent about winning. And we have the record to prove it.
17 April 2008 | Grand Prix of Long Beach | Houston, Texas
harmonics
LEAD UP TO THE RACE
“They say it’s all right.
They say it’s all right.
It’s all right to have a good time.
Cause it’s all right.�
--It’s All Right, Huey Lewis & The News, from the Tribute Album to Curtis Mayfield.
We have had surprisingly positive response to the blog for Risi Competizione.
Stunning actually. I had no idea that anyone would follow it or care so deeply about it, or mention it in conversation or emails. Frankly, I am a little bit blown away by the whole thing. Humbled and blown away. And deeply thankful that it connects.
This blog covers one team—Risi Competizione—of which I am a member, and the team’s never-ending quest for excellence on the great race tracks of America (and once a year in Europe).
It was created to fill a need in motorsports’ coverage that maybe we didn’t even know existed. From years of reading motorsports coverage I noticed that perhaps some of the greatest stories about racing were never told, some of the most important details never pointed out. Some of the most important moods completely missed. So that’s what I try to do. Fill in the blanks. The writing is intensely personal and not for everyone and that’s fine. But for some—it communicates like a sharp right cross to the chin. It connects and arouses passions and emotions. So far it seems to be working and I am encouraged by your enthusiasm for the writing.
And yes, the blog is biased, because I love Ferraris, love racing Ferraris and Ferrari race cars, love working with the racing team. But I respect all those we compete against, because I know, from first hand experience, what it takes to be on the starting line for a major race--a lot of work and a lot of money and courage and expertise. It is a major commitment to run a season in ALMS and then, just for fun, toss in the 24 Hours of Le Mans to really check your game out.
The one thing that most people mention to me about the blog is the use of song lyrics in the opening to each installment. They like it and want to know how it came about and what it all means.
It’s very simple really. The lyrics set the tone for the piece. If I could program your experience of reading this blog, I would hook you into a pair of really great headphones—some 
Sennheiser’s or AKGs—and plug you into one of my McIntosh power amplifers or an Apple iPod if you’re portable, dial up the song, set the volume to stun, and you would then be be listening to the music that was being played when the blog was being written.
It’s a pretty awesome experience and if—just if—you have the music that is referenced in the beginning of each blog entry, you might want to try it for yourself. It will get you into the music and the writing and you will be here with us, as we fight it out at Sebring, sweat it out in St. Pete, or grind it out at the Petit Le Mans. One day, the technology will allow me to deliver the music and the words to you, but for now, you’re going to have to click the links we provide here in the blog.
I have a thing for loud music, always have had. But it has to be the right kind of loud music—undistorted, not-clipped, clean, pure, and pin-you-to-the-walls loud. My friend Bullet Bob McAlister, who has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, calls it “tire slashing rock and roll� and I think he’s got it right. It sets the perfect tone and mood for the topic at hand and so 
I let it rip when I write. I have broken more than one lease because of my love for big amplifiers and even bigger speakers.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your support and your indulgence.
Because it’s going to keep coming. Just like our cars on the track, this blog is relentless.
Turn the volume up. Because it’s all right to have a good time.