A major reason for moving up to higher level within the National Auto Sports Association (NASA) HPDE program is to get away from the “trains” that often form behind drivers new to the program or to the track. Having been a participant at NASA events for six years, and having worked my way up to HPDE3, I was very familiar with the expectations of all who drove in this group and yet, returning to Willow Springs International Raceway (WSIR), it was as if I was starting from the very bottom – yes, I had a lot on my mind that weekend but there was little excuse for me to hold up other, more experienced drivers. It had only been a short time before making the trip to the western edge of the Mojave Desert that I had been behind the wheel of our C5 Z06 Corvette driving lap after lap around Colorado’s High Plains Raceway (HPR). In the years I have spent at HPR, I have accumulated more than 500 laps – possibly as many as 1,000 laps –pretty much every surface crack is now a familiar lan...