One Lap Race

Billy Mains e-Journal

(Editor’s Note: The views expressed by Billy Mains are his own and are not those of Dunlop Tires. Your performance experiences may vary.)

 

 

Are we there yet? Well, after a much needed night of fun. the film crew is coming by to film me waking up. I’m still in bed when they come knocking. I let them in and they want to see the “reality” of how I get ready. The aftereffects of last night’s party are still with me, but I somehow pull myself together and walk to the car.

Those Racing Owls, who we “married off” last night, retaliated. It was all in fun, and I enjoy the Racing Owls, because they are passionate about cars. But there sat the Dunlop Motorwerks Kleeman Mercedes covered in roughly 20,000 Post-It notes. The entire car was covered. Nothing was left untouched. This was a great prank, because: 1) it doesn’t harm the car in any way; 2) the visual impact is fantastic; 3) it looks hilarious; and 4) I can look back and laugh at myself.

Life is not a dress rehearsal; live it to the fullest, and we are. After cleaning the car for 20 minutes, we head for Tire Rack for the final competition on a dry skid pad. I have never driven the skid pad. Did I tell you how much I missed co-drivers this year? At the moment, the Benz is 12th in class, which is impressive since the first six cars are driven by professionals. I showed up in the heaviest car and the least horsepower. To finish 12th out of 18 cars was simply amazing. I took a car that usually has two baby seats in the back and we were competitive. I truly believe that the Benz was driven to its full potential. The Dunlops were predictable and I will be leaving them on for the entire summer – even after a demanding 5,000-mile drive and racing on a track daily. They performed as expected.

Back at work, I talked about the SP Sport Maxx tires so highly that Reggie, my Canadian friend bought a set for his car at Tire Rack. I shared some of my Dunlop decals for his car. In addition, the television people want to do a series, so it’s surreal that it is happening. I told my Dad, Gil “Wild Hoss” Mains, who is a World Champion Detroit Lion from 1952-3, and he said, “Boy, don’t you know that is what you’re meant for?” Well, let’s hope so. He was always my biggest fan. I would like to thank Stephen; Janice with Dunlop without whose help, this would have been impossible; and Brandon, Corey, Jason and Bert from Kleemann for all of their help and support, because the car would not have run as awesome as it did. Also Satish Tummala and Sachin Khullar, the two principals of Motorwerks, who gave me the time off to go, the help and support of the shop, Shajan “the best Mercedes tech in the world” for installing my supercharger, and Sunil of Motorwerks Houston for all his help with the electronic and the suede roof. He talked me into it, and it is worth it. It is suede, baby!

We will see what the future holds. TV or no TV, that is the question. No matter what happens, I have a wonderful family and many friends. And I have the passion for driving and racing. I will stop racing and having fun when you pry the steering wheel out of my cold dead hands. Life is too short to regret things, move forward, have faith, and be kind. Also be forgiving of co-drivers who bailed at the last minute. They missed much more by staying home than I did on the road. The only thing I missed was some sleep.