The bit below is from my friend Di from her Blog about the EMCO race that ran yesterday. She does so well at her indepth play by play that I would rather pass along her insight to all of you fans rather than try to write something as interesting and great myself.

Dempsey Racing finishes in 6th place at the EMCO Gears Classic Grand-Am Rolex Series at Mid-Ohio.Joe Foster and Patrick Dempsey drove a Mazda RX8 to a sixth place finish Saturday the 20th of June 2009.First in the car was Dempsey, who had the luck of completing 3 laps before going into the first of the race’s four full course cautions. After the first lap Dempsey was in 13th place for the next 6 laps.He slowly worked his way up to 7th and maintained it for the duration of his stint. After completing his 38 laps he handed the car to Joe during the second full course yellow. He was then in 6th place. Patrick’s best lap time was a 1:27.777.The Speed TV reporter gave him only enough time to remove his helmet before approaching for an interview. As he put on his Mazda cap he was asked how it felt to be back after Le Mans. Although at this time I must say the reporter has stumped me by saying that Don Kitch only drove for 2 hours during the 24 hrs of Le Mans. That does not sound correct at all!

Exhaustion and excitement all over his face here is what he said:

“It was a real mental struggle to stay focused throughout. I think the toughest stint was certainly the 3:30 in the morning until like.. I don’t know how long. I was in there for a couple hours. Just to get focused, try to wake up and hit your marks was the biggest challenge. And succeeding that, I think is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, mentally and physically. And I had a tremendous time though; I love it.”

Anyway, after what seemed like a very lengthy pit stop car #40 was back in motion with Joe
Foster behind the wheel. Speedy Joe began his stint, coming in at the tail end of the yellow flag
which placed him in 9th place to start. Joe amazes me each time he’s behind the wheel with
consistently good lap times. He stayed in the 1:26′s throughout the remainder of the race. Yes
folks, the remainder of the race. Dempsey drove 38 laps and Joe ended up driving the rest of the race which was a total of 67 laps. hmmm can we say, not even driving time… at all?!?!?

Joe had moved Dempsey Racing into 6th place with only a .001 of a second gap behind 5th place. When lo and behold the course goes yellow with caution. At this point I am glad I was in the comfort of my own home and room. Let’s just say I was not a happy camper because suddenly yellow had turned to 7th place with 20 seconds of ground to make up to recover 6th place position we had just held.

At this point I wish I was prevy to exactly what’s happening between car and pit; because Joe was going slower and slower bringing in times of 1:29′s and a hand full of 1:30′s. 20seconds turned into 40 seconds and I was content with 7th. 7th is still top ten right? With only 3 more laps in the race the 3rd place car had a tire problem.(blown?not sure) and with the final lap and only a few seconds left…then it’s a checkered flag…race over! #40 finishes in 6th place. And the tweeters (AKA: The Dempsey Dolls) go wild!!!

Yes siree 6th is better than 7th!!!

Congratulations Joe and Patrick. You guys always amaze us.

Foster turned in the team best lap time of 1:26.014 on lap 80 of 105
Started at 27th of 32 ended 18th of 32.
Started 11th in class ended 6th in class.
I say you skip top 5 and just take the podium!!!

Looking forward to spending the 4th of July with you @ Daytona.
Well, SpeedTV live from Daytona!!

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