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There’s a big difference between watching racing and actually doing it.
This past weekend, I took my Legend Car out to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, and I’ll tell you right now—I learned more in two days than I have in months.
Not because everything went perfect...
But because it didn’t.
Pulling up to the track and sitting in line waiting for the gates to open, you get that feeling. You look around at the race trucks, trailers, and cars getting unloaded, and it starts to hit you.
This is real.
Practice day wasn’t about being fast. My goal was simple: get seat time and figure the car out.
And right away, I knew I had problems.
The car had speed, but it wasn’t usable speed.
That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned already: a fast car doesn’t matter if you can’t trust it.
This weekend I worked with Race Driven Performance, and I’ll be honest—it changed the whole experience.
Instead of loading the trailer, stressing over setup, and guessing what was wrong, I could show up, get in the car, and drive.
That alone made me feel like a real race car driver for the first time.
And more importantly, they actually fixed the car.
At that point, it was on me to learn how to drive it better.
My first race did not go exactly how I dreamed it up.
I finished last. I spun out twice. I made mistakes.
But honestly, I still counted it as a win.
For the first time, the car ran the full race, I could actually push it, and I started learning what “too fast” really felt like in that car on that track.
That’s where things started to click.
I went into the weekend thinking I needed to brake harder and carry more speed in.
That was not the answer.
What I started realizing was that I needed to focus more on getting the car straight and getting on the throttle earlier.
Once I started paying attention to cleaner exits, earlier throttle application, and not overdriving the entry, I immediately started picking up speed.
That was probably the biggest breakthrough of the whole weekend.
Even with the progress, there were still some clear issues I need to work through.
The brakes still were not where I wanted them to be. Under heavy braking there was chatter, and the car just didn’t inspire the kind of confidence I need going deep into a corner.
I also think I need to improve the brake fluid setup, because something still felt off there.
Once the car got faster, I started driving over my head in a few places.
That meant:
That’s the trade-off. Once the car is finally right, now you have to be right too.
Some of the best gains came from simple advice and small changes.
One of the biggest was going down to a lower gear in certain sections instead of trying to carry momentum through everything.
Once I started downshifting and using torque to dig out of the corner, the car felt completely different. It was more aggressive, more responsive, and it gave me a much better drive off the turn.
That was one of those things you can hear people tell you, but once you actually feel it happen, it makes way more sense.
This may sound simple, but it’s true.
Once the car stopped having the same old problems, once the fuel issues were handled, and once I wasn’t constantly waiting for something to go wrong, I relaxed.
And when you relax, you drive better.
I really believe that having fun made me faster over the weekend.
If you’re not enjoying it, it gets hard to improve. If you are enjoying it, you stay loose, you stay open, and you start making real progress.
By the end of the weekend, I was noticeably better than I was at the start.
That consistency is what separates the experienced drivers from the beginners. I could find speed here and there, but the better drivers were hitting their marks every lap. I’m still building toward that.
Here’s my honest advice if you’re new to this:
This sport is serious. It costs money. It can be stressful. You can get hurt, and you can hurt other people if you’re careless.
That’s exactly why I think enjoying it matters so much. If you are not having fun, this probably is not for you. But if you are having fun, even the frustrating parts become part of the journey.
This weekend was not about winning.
It was about learning the car, building confidence, getting more seat time, and figuring out what I still need to improve.
And honestly, part of it was just being able to say I raced the Charlotte Roval.
That alone made it worth it.
I still have a lot to learn. I still need to improve on braking, consistency, and adapting faster when the car changes. But this weekend reminded me why I wanted to do this in the first place.
I had a blast.
And that matters.
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