I know I should've looked at a map before we left, but I didn't realize that Phoenix is only an hour's drive from the California border. Suffice to say, this weekend featured fabulous weather on this tight, twisty track nestled in the foothills of the Rockies. After being the feature show at Homestead (FL), the Grand Am Cup was once again a support race to the Rolex series. It meant we didn't get a whole lot of track time, but we did get to hang out with some of our friends running in the faster (and much bigger budget) group.

I've said before that you can't be "in the show" without actually being there, and the number of fans that turned out this weekend proved that true. Now, road racing doesn't generally sell out to capacity, and there would've been a whole lot more people if this had been a NASCAR race, but I _was_ asked to sign my first autograph by a guy who was collecting all of the BMW drivers' signatures on his big BMW flag. That was a pretty big deal for me ;-)

Speaking of the show, it was really cool to be paddocked right next to Kyle Petty (see photo, above -- he's in the trailer at right) who was racing a powder-pink 911 in the Rolex race. Their title sponsor is the upcoming Pixar movie "Cars", which features a boy car and a girl car (hence the pink), with voice talent that includes Petty himself. He was the epitome of professionalism, and made time for his legions of fans (including one of our crew), but I can't say I'm not disappointed I wasn't offered a ride with Petty Enterprises ;-)

The usual suspects -- Crew Chief Ian McQuillan, Timer/Strategist Rob Lavigne and me -- flew in Wednesday night and were at the track early Thursday morning. The Z3 had been driven straight from Homestead to Phoenix behind a motor home, and it took us a while to find it and get it out of the trailer. We managed to make tech just in time (a little late, actually), but the Grand Am officials moved the stragglers through quickly and we were on the grid for practice (see below, with our Z3 in tech just behind the Rolex 24hr at Daytona GT-Class winning car).

Texan Ray Bailey had signed on earlier in the week as my co-driver. He owns an eight-seat turbo-prop plane, which made it a convenient commute from his place to the track (a quick 900 mile trip, according to Ray), and he brought along a few friends, too.

Interestingly, Ray and I first met at Daytona in 2003, when we were paired to run an Audi S4 that unfortunately never even got to start the race. (It's a long story and more fittingly told elsewhere.) Ray and I have kept touch over the past year, and it was a real treat to finally get to drive with him.

There wasn't a test day for us at Phoenix, and often when we run with the Rolex guys, we don't get a lot of practice time. But Ray and I split the time equally, each getting about 45 minutes in the car. We both found it to be quite tricky to drive, with pronounced oversteer in most corners. I found it especially challenging in the really tight left-hand corners. We did get good value out of our tires, though, as I ended up cording them towards the end of my final session. That said, I did manage to set some reasonable times with those dead tires!

Obviously, Phoenix is a very different track from Homestead, where we found there to be a fair bit of understeer. As usual, we had our co-driver qualify, and Ray went out for our 15 minute session on Friday afternoon (with a nice new set of Hoosiers, of course). He qualified 16th of 19 cars, turning a low 1:13; the pole was a high 1:09.

Ian and I decided to fit softer springs to the rear of the car, and see where that left us. That done, with all of the bolts tightened (and checked twice!), we retired to the top of the transporter trailer to watch the Grand Sport race and enjoy a Corona or two. The GS race was fun because it was run as a "sundowner", starting at 6pm and going until 8:30. The race was run very cleanly (unlike the yellow-laded crash-fest that Saturday's Rolex race turned out to be), with Terry Borcheller and Craig Stanton taking their third win in a row in their 911 (see the photos section for some of my pix).

Our race started at 2:30 on Saturday (just before the Rolex race), and Ray had a good start. He radioed in that the car drove really well and he turned qualifying times in the early going. As the tires wore though, Ray felt less comfortable with the handling of the car, and by the time he had finished his stint, he was doing 1:17's. On one hand, were were five laps down when I got in the car, in 16th place. On the other, Ray drove smooth, reliable laps, doing no damage to the car or driving off track. As I've said, in Grand Am Cup you need to pace yourself and drive where you're comfortable. Ray did just that!

As Ray had felt, the car worked much better with the softer springs, and I immediately felt more confident. For the next hour and a half I turned 1:13's, and hoped for attrition to help us. I passed two competitors and was in 14th with ten laps to go, when trouble struck. Going into the first corner, just off the banking (and doing about 130mph), I blew a rear wheel bearing. This, in turn, caused the ABS to switch off. Needless to say, I didn't make the corner! Smoke poured from the front wheels as I locked them up, then across the grass and up the other side of the banking. Fortunately, I managed not to hit anything, and brought the car into the pits.

Ian and John Vincent (Chief for Matt Connolly's #39 330i) looked over the car and sent me back out to save 14th place. If the car hadn't handled all that well before, it was extra slick with a pooched wheel bearing! But it was worth staying out, as two laps from the end, one of TC Kline's lovely BMW Z4's ended up in the wall on the infield section. This brought out only a local yellow flag, which allowed me to take 13th place.

No question, that was the hardest-fought 13th ever.

So, we've finished three out of three races. The Z3 has proven itself reliable, and with a little work I'm confident we can return it to the podium. It is, after all, the winningest Z3 in Grand Am. Ian and I are going to pick it up in a few weeks and run a few test days at Mosport before we head to Tremblant at the end of May. In the driver's standings I am in a three-way tie for 22nd place out of 75 drivers who have been in the series so far. Ironically I'm tied with Matt and his capable co-driver Zach Arnold. With only three races out of ten on the books, lots can happen and (as Murray Walker was so fond of saying), it probably will.

SPEED Channel airs our Phoenix race on Sunday April 18th at 1:00pm. Should be interesting to watch...

Karl Thomson