Race Weekend Recap: High Plains Raceway

My first race weekend as a driver is officially in the books.

From August 14–16, I was at High Plains Raceway for my first competitive race weekend with Lead Foot Racing, and it was definitely a weekend of learning.

I had exactly one month to prepare for it. In that month, I was getting ready for a new car, a new track, a new setup, a new environment, and something I had never done before: actually lining up for a competitive race. I knew there was no way I was going to know everything going into the weekend, so I tried to approach the preparation with the mindset that I was going to learn as much as I could and make the most of the time I had.

I trained as much as I could to get stronger and more comfortable in the car. There were definitely days where I was motivated and excited, but there were also days where I felt unmotivated and honestly pretty defeated. I had moments where I wondered if I was doing enough or if I was going to be ready in time. I kept going anyway.

I even bought my own Miata during the preparation so I could practice outside of my sessions with the team. Having my own car gave me another opportunity to get comfortable with a Miata and work on the things I was learning instead of only getting that experience when I was at the track.

Then there was the fact that I had to learn how to drive manual in two weeks.

That was definitely a challenge, but I spent those two weeks practicing whenever I could. Going from knowing absolutely nothing about driving a manual to being able to comfortably drive and shift in just two weeks was a huge amount of progress for me. It wasn't perfect, but by the end of those two weeks, I had gotten that goal down well enough that I could focus more on driving instead of constantly thinking about every shift. That gave me a lot more confidence heading into the race weekend.

By the time Friday came around, I had put in as much preparation as I could with the time I had.

Friday was practice, and it was also my first time back in a race car on a track in about a year.

Before my first session, I was sitting in the car, out of my gear, just taking everything in. I was thinking about my goals for the weekend and trying to process that this was actually happening. After spending so much time preparing for this moment, I was finally sitting in the car I was going to race.

Even though I had driven a race car before, it felt like I had never done it.

Once I got out on track, though, the nerves started to settle. My focus took over, and I got back into that feeling I remembered from being on track. Everything outside of the car seemed to disappear. It was just me, the car, and the track.

It was calm and focused, and I think that's what I had missed the most. Once I was driving, I remembered why I wanted to do this in the first place. All the preparation, the practice, and the uncertainty suddenly made sense because I was finally out there doing it.

My first practice session also gave me a pretty good introduction to what being a rookie was going to look like.

At one point, I had an issue with the car shutting off and, in the moment, I completely panicked. I thought I had somehow broken the car. Once we figured out what had happened, my blood pressure could finally go back to normal.

The issue ended up being related to my seating position. Because I'm shorter, we had to make sure the seat and steering wheel were positioned so I could comfortably reach everything. With the way I was positioned, I accidentally hit the ignition with my hand while downshifting.

And then, during a race, I did it again.

This time, I knew what had happened, and the team was great about it. They were quick to address the issue and make the adjustment needed so it wouldn't happen again. After that, I had no more problems with the ignition for the rest of the weekend.

It was one of those unexpected things that came with figuring out how I fit into the car, and thankfully, it was an easy enough problem to solve.

As the weekend continued, I started becoming more comfortable with the car and the track. I knew I was behind the pack, especially compared to drivers who had significantly more experience than I did, but I wasn't going into the weekend expecting to suddenly be at the front.

My focus was on improving my own driving every session.

I wanted to be faster, but more importantly, I wanted to understand why I was getting faster and where I was still losing time. Each time I went out, I had something different to work on, whether that was braking, shifting, getting comfortable with a corner, finding a better line, or simply being more consistent.

That started showing in my lap times. By the end of the weekend, I had shaved 10 seconds off my lap time and started closing the gap to the cars ahead of me.

At the same time, I made plenty of simple mistakes. Some came from learning the car, some from learning the track, and some were just rookie mistakes that come with not having much seat time.

But every mistake gave me something to work on.

The team helped me understand what I could change and pushed me to make my laps more consistent while gradually finding more speed. They also kept the environment fun and relaxed, which made it easier to learn without getting too caught up in every little mistake.

There were sessions where I came back really happy with how I had driven, and others where I knew I had more work to do. Either way, I kept getting back in the car and trying again.

Having the support of my team made a huge difference throughout the weekend.

They helped me with the car, gave me feedback between sessions, and worked with me as I figured out how to put everything together. They also challenged me to keep pushing myself while making the whole experience fun and approachable.

My family couldn't make it to the race weekend. This was a huge milestone for me, so it was difficult at first coming to terms with them not being there to experience it in person.

Luckily, I had my friend Ella White there with me.

Ella is an F4 driver for Berg Racing, and we originally met at Allen Berg Racing School, where we first started our own racing journeys. She was there throughout the weekend and helped me a lot. Whether it was talking through things between sessions, supporting me after a difficult session, or just being someone familiar to have around, having her there made the weekend easier.

By the end of the weekend, I was surprised by how much I had actually learned and how much I was able to handle.

A month earlier, I was preparing for something I had never done before. I was getting comfortable in a new car, learning a new track, learning manual in two weeks, and trying to figure out what it would actually feel like to compete.

Then I showed up at High Plains Raceway and did it.

It wasn't perfect. but most importantly, I now have a much better idea of what I need to work on, instead of wondering what racing will be like, I now have an actual race weekend to learn from.

For my first time competing, I'm happy with the progress I made. I'm proud of my teammate and grateful for the work the entire team put in throughout the weekend. Everyone played a part in helping me get through my first race weekend and making it a good experience.

There's still a lot I don't know, but that's also what makes the next race exciting. I have a better understanding of the car, the track environment, and myself as a driver, and now I get to take everything I learned at High Plains and build on it.

This is only the first step, and I know the more seat time I get, the more I can improve.