I RACED ROUSH RACING PART II ...

After the Ralphs Racefest, I went to the Malibu Speedzone where Jeff Burton and Mark Martin were scheduled to appear. I saw this pair here last year, but I wanted to see them again, especially RACE against them. After a private party from 6-7pm, Mark started signing autographs and Jeff took to the tracks (I heard Mark wasn't feeling good, so he let Jeff do the driving and he just stayed indoors to sign). I stood in line to race and made the cutoff for the last race. I started about 4 cars behind Burton, so I drove like heck to catch up (we only had 5 minutes of race time). Finally I caught up (he was caught in slower traffic :-). For a while, I was driving side by side with Jeff Burton, him bumping me and me bumping him. Finally, I got to the inside and passed him, but no sooner than that, some idiot bumped me hard from the back. I had to lift as the kart drifted toward the outside barrier. No sooner than I stepped on the gas again, Jeff blew by me and passed me(now I know how Rusty Wallace felt when Jeff Gordon bumped him from the rear on the last turn on the last lap of one of the short tracks from a couple years ago). At that time, we got the signal to come in, so I didn't get to finish ahead of Jeff. But it was FUN! Last year racing Martin, this year racing the current points leader Burton. Maybe next year in Part III, I'll pass and finish ahead of one of them. Anyway, here a couple of pictures...

Jeff Burton's entrance.

Jeff signing autographs for his fans.

Jeff in the Slicks car. He raced two races on the Slicks track, then two on the Turbo track, which is where I raced him.

I snapped this quick picture of Jeff and the back of his car, as I followed him into the pits at the end of our race. I wish I was thinking faster during the race. I had my camera with me in the car. I should have taken his picture when we were racing side by side. That would have been an awesome one-of-a-kind shot, but more importantly, the flash would have probably blinded him and I could have pulled away as he struggled to see ;-)

"Good race, Jeff!"