had a spin in his first race here, which led to a backward impact with the tire barrier, resulting in a DNF. Last year, Balto and Kyle finished eleventh after battling handling problems that dogged them all weekend and never got fixed before the race. Part of the problem was the fact that the previously mentioned ground effects tunnels that run along the undertray and develop downforce were smaller on the Porsche 962 (as well as its predecessor, the 956) because they had to fit under the flat engine. On GTP cars that had V-engines, they tunnels were much larger, therefore being able to generate more downforce, resulting in more grip to aid a car's handling. That grip would come in really handy in the twisty second half of the course. The downside, however, was the higher center of gravity when compared to that of a flat engine. And before you can suggest running the tunnels over the engine, don't, because it just wouldn't work. The pressure exerted on the engine and gearbox (the latter being racer's slang for transmission) would likely cause serious damage to both drivetrain parts as well as other major components, including the suspension. Throughout practice, Balto and Kyle were actually surprised by what they were able to achieve in terms of lap times. They were up in the top five overall, despite being at a disadvantage in terms of handling through the twisty back half of the track. This was achieved by having to go with a softer tire compound than normal. It was still a medium compound, which offered a balance between grip and durability. The hot weather throughout practice forced many teams to go with hard compound tires. But not Fox/Ridgemount. Their car was actually getting such good mileage out of its tires that they decided to risk using a softer tire than what most of the other teams were using. It would pay off in qualifying, as Balto put in a lap good enough to put his Porsche on the outside pole, meaning second place. On pole was the #83 Electromotive Nissan, which this time would be shared by Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson, unlike at Lime Rock where the two were split between the #83 and #84 cars. Both Kyle and Balto were surprised with the feat that they had pulled off. The only real question mark in their tire compound choice strategy was: Will the mediums be able to hold up in the race? The answer would come to them with the drop of the green flag. Race day dawned with warm temperatures and clear skies. The temperature wasn't as warm as it had been during practice and qualifying. This would give a slight edge to the medium compound tires that Fox/Ridgemount Racing were using, as their tires would get up to temperature faster than the harder compound tires that their main opposition was using. As they usually did on race weekends, Balto, Jenna, and Kyle met up for a run before the day's track activities began. Kyle got into the whole driver fitness deal after Balto informed him about the positive boost it gave his on-track performance. It really helped him, too, although he found fitness to be a bigger problem than Balto had. When Kyle began racing back in the pre-GTP days, driver fitness wasn't even an issue. Balto, on the other hand, was in decent shape prior to his GTP career, but after his dehydration-and-exhaustion-induced fainting at Sebring two years ago, he took it much more seriously. Balto was very much inspired to start his own training program after hearing of a similar happening with one of his racing heroes: defending Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna. When Ayrton entered F1 back in 1984, with Toleman (which later became Benetton and then the factory Renault team), the Brazilian found himself fatigued after only half an hour of strenuous driving. Following that year's Canadian Grand Prix, Senna was so exhausted that he needed help climbing out of the car, at which point he promptly fainted. After recovering, he sought help from two Montreal area doctors to help remedy the problem. (The F1 Canadian Grand Prix was held at Montreal's Circuit Ile Notre Dame, located on a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River. It was later renamed as Circuit Gilles Villenueve following the death of the great French-Canadian driver.) The biggest difference between their respective stories was that Balto needed more emphasis on the training aspect, having moved up to a far more physically demanding form of racing that what he was previously in due to the increased race duration. Eventually, the start of the prototype race came around. Balto had managed to set the fastest time in the morning warmup among both the GTP cars and overall out of all four classes. As was the case at the Pontiac Grand Prix of West Palm Beach, Balto would be the starting driver. He and Kyle alternated starting driver duties, which had been determined via a coin toss prior to the start of that year's Sunbank 24 Hours of Daytona. Balto won that coin toss and was the starting driver at Daytona and later at Sebring, with Kyle taking his turn in that position at Miami and Road Atlanta. Once the pre-race ceremonies had ended, it was time for the drivers to climb into their cars and eventually time to start the engines. As usual, before climbing into the car, Balto got his customary "good luck" kiss from Jenna. Once in the car, Balto fastened his six-point safety harness and plugged the connection for the pit-to-car/car-to-pit radio, which he usually did himself anyway. Eventually, the command to start the engines was given, and the cars proceeded on to their warmup laps. Because of the unique position of the start line at Mid-Ohio, even though the pace car pulled in at pit in, the race was not yet underway. It wouldn't be until they reached the start line at the Turn 5 kink on the backstraight. Once they reached it, the green flag was waved and the race was underway. Immediately, Balto went on the attack. Having accelerated away better than Geoff Brabham, he reached the braking zone for the Esses first. But Brabham wasn't ready to concede the position to the driver who wrecked him for the win last time out at Lime Rock. They traded paint (meaning they rubbed bodywork) as they battled for the top spot. The battle continued through the Esses, eventually ending at Turn 8, just after the Esses. Balto got the better exit out of Turn 7 and came out in the race lead. The Fox/Ridgemount crew were pleased to see their car out front at the end of lap 1. But their was still a long way to go, and they knew all to well that anything could happen. In the early laps, Balto was content to edge away from Brabham at a rate of a few tenths of a second per lap. But on lap 7, he really cut loose and increased the gap by a full second, to 3.2 seconds. The Porsche was steadily pulling away. By lap 20, the gap was out to 9 seconds, and although it ebbed and flowed a little bit as Balto, and then his pursuers encountered heavy traffic in the form of backmarkers, for the moment, he was beyond threat. The first round of pit stops came and went with little trouble for Balto. The tires were changed and the car was refueled without incident. Balto made his first stop before the Nissans and beat them out of the pits when they made their first stops. By now, however, they were right on his tail. The gap continued to ebb and flow as the threesome continued to thread through the traffic, which by now included not just the GTP Lights cars, but backmarkers from the big GTP class that the likes of Porsche, Nissan, Jaguar, and Toyota competed. Just before the second round of pit stops, the complexion of the race began to change. Working through turns 12 and 13, Balto got caught behind a Lights car, forcing him to back off. By now, Brabham was right behind him. As Balto "checked up", as they say in NASCAR, to avoid hitting the back of the Lights car ahead of him, Geoff got into the back of Balto's Porsche. Geoff couldn't see the Lights car from his position and therefore may have wrongly concluded that his rival was playing dirty by giving him a "brake test." At the same time, Brabham himself was rear-ended by another GTP car. The hits sent both Balto and Geoff off on the inside of the Carousel. When Balto came back onto the track, both the Lights car he was trying to lap and the GTP car that rear-ended Geoff were ahead of him. Unfortunately, the #84 Nissan had just come across the nose of Balto's car. The left front corner of the #35 Porsche clipped the back of the #84 Nissan, pitching it into a spin. The red, white and blue Japanese machine spun off onto the grass on the outside of the corner. Both Balto and Geoff continued on in first and second, respectively. The #84 Nissan was able to continue. As he continued along on the lap after the contact, Balto felt something amiss with the car. When it went to put on the brakes and slow the car down, he felt the pedal travel shorter than what was necessary to slow the car down. "Something's wrong with my brakes here," Balto keyed into the mike. "What happened?" Stan asked. "What's wrong?" "The brake pedal is stopping short of where it should be when I go to slow down," Balto replied. "Stay calm, try and bring the car back, and we'll take a look at it," said Stan. Somehow, Balto did bring the car back to the pits and the crew got to work immediately. Brabham brought his Nissan in as well with overheating problems caused by grass blocking the radiator. Turns out, when Balto had the off-track excursion at the Carousel, some grass and dirt got in between the brake pads and the rotors on both front brakes. Some even got into the radiator ducts, causing a bit of overheating. As it was the end of Balto's stint in the car, he climbed out and helped Kyle strap in. Afterwards he climbed over the pit wall and was immediately greeted with a kiss from Jenna. "How was it out there?" she asked. "Okay, until I had to check up for a

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