Covering Avoidable Contact

by Tammy

The cover is here! And it's gorgeous! How's this for evoking the mood of the 24 Hours of Daytona?

And to whet your appetites, here's the summary:

Racecar driver Kate Reilly is suited up and ready for the start of the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona. But what’s ahead will test her will and nerve more than any other endurance race.

Even before the green flag waves over Daytona International Speedway, Kate receives word her boyfriend Stuart is fighting for his life after a hit-and-run earlier in the day. Still reeling from that news, Kate must absorb other shocks in the race’s opening hours, including an on-track accident with tragic consequences and an eyewitness who claims Stuart was run down deliberately by someone from the race paddock.

Alternating stints behind the wheel of her Corvette racecar with stretches of quizzing colleagues and searching for clues, Kate taps every possible source—friend, foe, and family—to find out who’s after Stuart and why. As the race clock counts down to zero hour, Kate must come to terms with her own fears about the past and decide who she’s willing to trust. Only then can she identify who’s willing to kill to keep a secret buried—and stop them before they lash out again. 

_________________

Avoidable Contact will be released in August 2014. Pre-order on Amazon or Barnes & Noble (I know it's got the old title, we'll fix it).

Oh, Rain Delays

by Tammy

In a way, I'm grateful to the rain delay for the Daytona 500. On Sunday, I had to finish some last edits to my manuscript of Avoidable Contact and send it off to my editor (done!) before I could watch the race. Being on the west coast meant the race was supposed to start at 11 a.m.

Cue the rain, which meant I could get my work done and still watch some of the race.

Of course, the idea of a rain delay is laughable to a sportscar racing fan, right? Or a variety of other types of racing fans. When the rain hits, other cars put on rain tires and get on with it.

But I know, I get it. Ovals (never mind that sportscars race in the rain at the 24 Hours of Daytona, on the banked track) and rain don't mix. Fine, whatever.

So what do you do during a rain delay?

Twitter was lit up by a few memes during the break, like #replacemovietitlewithDanica, such as Smokey and the Danica, and #AirTitan (the track dryer), including #AirTitan considers Jurassic Park a petting zoo. But the biggest fun on social media was lighting up Fox News for tweeting that Jimmie Johnson had won the Daytona 500 ... because Fox Sports was showing a replay of the 2013 race, which Jimmie won.

Call that one #twitterfail.

So during the rain delay in my house, I did some laundry, wrote a blog, called my parents, and watched some old CSI: Miami (fun fact: Long Beach stands in for Miami in that show, just add wet pavement).

What did you all do?

A Sneak Peek of Avoidable Contact

by Tammy

I spent all weekend frantically working on a draft of Kate #3, Avoidable Contact, and that's the only motorsports I'm thinking about. So I thought I'd share a short snippit of the story for today's blog. It's actually Chapter 4, at the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona....

______________________________

CHAPTER FOUR

“Green, green, green! We are green for the 24 Hours of Daytona!”

All eyes in Daytona International Speedway focused on the sixty-eight racecars sweeping under the green flag. As they crossed the start/finish line, the official clock began its twenty-four hour countdown.

Every one of the hundred-plus people packed into the Sandham Swift tent strained to monitor each twitch and bobble of our Corvettes as they negotiated the melee. I exhaled, my release of tension echoed up and down pit lane, as the field got through the narrow, tricky Turn 1 with no accidents.

Holly grabbed my arm. Someone else pointed at the camera feed showing two prototypes shoving each other through Turn 2—only two cars ahead of Mike.

The cars slid off-track driver’s left at the approach to Turn 3, the right-handed International Horseshoe. Mike and the rest of the sportscars checked up but weren’t impeded. We breathed again.

Mike fought for position. Still second in class. Dogging the back of the BMW on the GTLM pole.

“Easy,” I muttered. “It’s only the first lap.”

As if he’d heard me, the half a car length between Corvette and BMW widened as both cars powered through the Kink, Turn 4, a flat-out, left-hand bend in the track’s inner loop.

Through the West Horseshoe, Turn 5. One of the prototypes forced off two turns prior sliced through the GTs on his way back to the front.

The car dove under our 29 Corvette, and a mechanic next to me growled, “Careful there, you sumbitch.”

I laughed, provoking a sheepish grin from the mechanic. Daytona was big enough that unless the cars were all on the front stretch, or a car was directly in front of us making a pit stop, we could carry on conversations—and sometimes hear under-the-breath mutterings.

Someone leaned over my shoulder to point at one of the screens. The lead BMW had bobbled under braking. Distracted? Missed a shift? Whatever the cause, he drifted wide approaching Turn 6, the left-hander that transitioned from the inner loop to the banked oval track. I tensed as Mike pounced, slipping under him and scooting away into the lead.

“Whooooo!” We all cheered. I high-fived everyone around me, feeling energized and alive. Regardless of what happened in the next twenty-four hours, we’d made a small mark on the race.

______________________________
(More to come in August 2014 ... pre-order it today!)

My Favorite Daytona Things

by Tammy

I'm writing non-stop this month, and particularly this week, trying to get a draft of Avoidable Contact out to some beta readers (or maybe alpha readers, because it might still be that raw). But I've been combing through the hundreds of photos I took, and I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

(me, reflected in Jake)

(coming out of tech inspection)

(I found Kate's tires!)

(with Katy, Arm Candy founder and cancer survivor, raising money for the cure)

(the Dempsey Racing team's sign in the evening light)

(off to race...)

What I Learned At Daytona

by Tammy

I spent Thursday through Saturday noon at Daytona International Speedway last week, doing some final research for Avoidable Contact (aka, Kate Book 3). I came home with a ton of notes and ideas—for the book, but also about the cars, drivers, and approach of the new Tudor United Sports Car Championship.

1. Fans like TUSCC. Combining two series worked for pulling in the fans. The paddock/garage was packed even on Friday—and everyone I asked agreed they'd never seen so many people there. There were even (gasp!) quite a number of people in the stands as the green flag flew.


2. The C7.R is awesome. Corvette fans are legion, and they love their new racecar. There was always a crowd around the garage for the #3 and #4 cars. And they're pretty. To hear the drivers tell it, they're also fantastic to drive—more like a prototype in terms of stability and handling, per Ryan Briscoe.

3. Thumbs-up on the competition. On-track traffic is intense—and the competition is going to be good this season. Over and over, drivers referred to it as a "nightmare" on track, admitting with the next breath that fans seem to like it. And none of the drivers were really complaining (or complaining much), which, as a fan who does like seeing drivers have to be strategic in navigating multiple classes, I appreciate.

4. Sportscar racing has gone corporate. The ALMS was a small, grassroots, startup company. More like a family. TUSCC is definitely part of a corporation. Maybe that has to happen, at some point, for an entity to get bigger (I know that's often true in the business world). And maybe I feel that because I no longer know anyone at the Series level (most of them have scattered to teams and manufacturers).

But the vibe in the paddock was different. More removed. More professional? Maybe, maybe not. It'll be interesting to see how the paddock feels at Sebring, Long Beach, and Road America—tracks that aren't as steeped in the NASCAR corporate culture as DIS. But ultimately, some of the charm is gone.

I'll stick with the Series, because I still think the on-track racing is the best out there (sorry, all-oval NASCAR and all-dull F1). And I'll still argue that in theory, it's better for there to be only one sportscar series in the United States. I believe all that. But I think I'm going to find TUSCC a bit less fun than the ALMS was.

Change is inevitable. And hey, now I can be one of those people who wax nostalgic for the old days.

Buckle Up at Daytona

by Tammy

I'm Daytona bound this week! Time for some last-minute research for Kate's book 3, Avoidable Contact (look! it's on Amazon!), and time for a first-look at the Tudor United Sports Car Championship.

Time also for another Team Kate giveaway, now including book-cover belt buckles. Just tweet a photo of yourself and someone in a Team Kate shirt (most likely, me) and "Buckle up, Team Kate" to @tkaehler and @katereilly28, and you'll win two items from the Team Kate prize list, PLUS a belt buckle of your choice.


Prizes:

• Team Kate book bag
• Team Kate shirt 
• Signed copy of Dead Man’s Switch
• Belt buckle featuring Dead Man's Switch or Braking Points cover

How to Find Me
I'll be at the track Thursday through Saturday about noon, and then I'm heading home—I know, I'm flaking on the race itself. But I'll watch what I can from home and get my fingers back to the keyboard. After all, my research is about talking to people and verifying car and track details ... which can't be done when everyone's absorbed in the race.

I'll be checking Facebook and Twitter, so hit me up for my location. I'd love to chat with friends and fans!

Racing Year in Review

by Tammy

Simon and I are taking a blog hiatus for the end of the year (going dark for 2 weeks over the holidays), and when I return, it will be January 6, 2014. Leaving aside that I'm not prepared for the new year, at that point, we'll be less than two weeks to the 24 Hours of Daytona, the first race of the year and the first race of the TUSCC (the Tudor United Sports Car Championship). Big stuff.

So it's time to reflect on what I thought was significant about 2013. Chime in with your thoughts and anything I've missed....

• Daytona 24: I was embedded in a race team, and it was fabulous.
• Daytona 500: Danica on pole, which set a bar too high for her to meet the rest of the year. By the stats, I think she did well for a rookie, but of course, the Danica lovers or haters will believe what they believe, no matter what. We'll see if she improves in 2014.
• Long Beach Grand Prix: the introduction of Team Kate! And the start of the long good-bye to the American Le Mans Series (the merchandise trailer was absent from this race, for instance).
• Indy 500: Kanaan wins!
• Le Mans: the death of Allan Simonsen (which, as I noted in a blog post, eerily reflected a plot idea I'd hatched just the night before), the triumph of Audi. Leena Gade as a rock star.
• Baltimore GP: what a bus-wreck of accidents.
• IndyCar: A more contentious year between drivers and Race Control? The oval races were mostly uninteresting? Dario retires.
• Petit Le Mans: farewell to the ALMS. Hello to the Corvette Stingray. A great time had by all.
• Formula 1: a total snoozefest. I'm not sure I watched more than 10 laps of a single race.
• NASCAR: Jimmie wins 6. Danica receives hate mail. Smoke breaks a leg. 

What did I miss? What do you remember as being the most significant racing events of 2013? Overall a thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

Hey, while you're ending the year and prepping for 2014, make sure you're following me on Facebook and Twitter (@tkaehler and @katereilly28)!

Planning the Racing Year

by Tammy

When the leaves are off the trees (except here in Southern California). When the last racing champion has finally been crowned. When there's nothing on television on Sundays but football ... you know what time it is, right?

Time to plan what races you'll get to in 2014!

So let's talk. We've got NASCAR, IndyCar, and the new United Sports Car Championship. Oh, and don't forget the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The givens for me in 2014 are Long Beach and Le Mans. I'm considering at least a pre-race trip (is that a travesty?) to the 24 Hours of Daytona to double-check some last details for the next book and lay eyes on the new C7.R, so I'll add that one in.

Then there's talk about a trip to Indy to hook up with some of my new racing besties, Glass Hammer Racing ... and that's more likely to be the IndyCar road race, given the proximity of the 500 to Le Mans.

Then I start getting tempted by all kinds of other options ... Laguna Seca's just up the road (USCC May4) . We have family in the Detroit area (USCC May 30-31—wait, too close to Le Mans). Petit is always an E-ticket ride (USCC October 4). NASCAR's out here March 23 (nope, I'll be in Monterey at a mystery convention). IndyCar's out here August 30 (doable).

And that's not even considering Houston or Austin (family, friends, and a great mystery bookstore in the state) for any number of types of racing. That's not considering F1 at all. But I don't think it's the year for either the Indy500 or F1. Maybe 2015.

Because the big one is going to be Le Mans. June 14-15. Wahoo!

So here's my schedule so far:

• January 24-26, Daytona 24 (USCC
• April 11-13, Long Beach (USCC/IndyCar)
• ?May 10, Indianapolis? (IndyCar)
• June 14-15, Le Mans

And the rest, TBD. So tell me, what am I missing? Where are you going in 2014?

The Real Stuff

by Tammy

Back in the day (not so long ago, really), they used to race the Daytona 24 Hours without the lights that make the front stretch as light as day and provide a lot of visibility in the infield throughout the long night hours. (It didn't look like this photo, that's for sure.)

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to visit with "Uncle Stan," Stan Laughlin, a great guy who was a crew chief for a lot of different racers over the years (thanks to Barb and Mary!). He told us that Daytona was his favorite race of all, and he had enough data to back that up: he was crew chief there 18 times, from 1969 to 1986.

He repeated what others have said, that the big thing is daylight. You start the race mid- or late-afternoon on Saturday, and by the time the sun comes up the next morning, he said, "you feel like you've almost won the race." Even though there are still nine hours left to run....

When I confirmed his experience was all pre-extensive-lighting, he laughed (almost snorted) and said, "of course, we did the real stuff!" I believe him.

He has tons of great stories, ranging from stories of rule-pushing among different teams in the paddock (things were a lot less regulated then, let's just say), to fans with (let's call them) interesting ambitions, to wild stories of daredevil pilots and the injuries they had to live with after wrecking.

Also, you should watch a race with a crew chief, because it's a whole different experience. The guy he likes the most in NASCAR? Chad Knaus. And we bonded over appreciating Tony Stewart.

I'm not going to say a whole lot because a) they might end up in my writing in some form, and b) I'm hoping Stan himself will write about them. But I learned a lot about how a crew chief ultimately needs to be a problem-solver ... as well as a smooth talker. (Did I mention he was crew chief for John Paul?)

I'm telling you Uncle Stan, you need to write this stuff down! Or let me return with a tape recorder. Either way, I'm game.

The Kindness of Friends and Strangers

By Tammy

I've talked about it before, but it bears repeating: people in the racing world are incredibly welcoming, supportive, and helpful.

Because I was in Daytona last week to observe everything, I ran around scribbling notes constantly in a notebook. Not once did anyone ask what the hell I was doing in the middle of the team strategy meeting or in the Series driver's meeting run by the race director. No, instead, they were uniformly helpful when I stopped a random crew member to ask how much the car's tires weigh. When I grilled a spotter on how he prepares for and then does his job during a race. Or when I sidled over to a driver to ask what his "homework" was after Thursday's afternoon practice. More than anything, they seemed amused, to be honest.

I returned home with buckets of information and pages of notes. And of course, lots of photos.

The funny thing is, as I show the photos to friends, family, and co-workers, I'm almost surprised at the looks of shock and awe on their faces. It takes their reaction to remind me just how spectacular my experience was, because I've become so used to the kind of access and perspective I get at races. (Not that I don't continue to appreciate it.)

So yes, I sat in the pits listening to the team radio for 15 or more of the 24 hours. I attended the all-driver meeting held by Race Director Paul Walter. I met Lyn St. James. I got drivers to detail the speeds and gearing at different points around the track. And I stood on the spotters' stand at the top of the Daytona International Speedway.

All because I asked nicely and have a legitimate need. All because the racing world is populated with incredibly generous people (especially the guys at The Racer's Group who hosted me).

Now it's time to write!

24 at Daytona

by Tammy

I'm going to cop out just a little bit today by giving you a link. But I wrote eight blog posts, tweeted dozens of updates, uploaded 20 photos to Facebook, and took hundreds of snapshots. Most of that (the blogs for sure) was in 25 hours between Saturday and Sunday. My brain has nothing left to give at the moment (besides the fact that I'm flying home Monday as you read this).

So I'll send you to those blogs: From The Pits

Photos and some of the stories and good lines I heard will follow....

The 52 Hours of Daytona

by Tammy

Sure, the race is the 24 Hours of Daytona. But I'm heading out to Florida this week to embed with my friends at The Racer's Group (see my December post about it) for the duration of the weekend. And as best I can figure it, I'll be at the track for the better part of 52 hours between Thursday morning and Sunday evening.

And no, for everyone who's asked, I won't stay up all night. I don't think I can. But I don't expect much in the way of sleep, that's for sure.

Next Monday I'll have a quick report, with more details and lots of photos to follow (I'll be posting to Facebook and Twitter throughout the weekend, if you want to follow along). And on a personal level, I expect to have piles and piles of notes for the next book.

So what am I looking forward to?

• The racing season getting underway!
• Sitting in on team meetings, to find out what really goes on there ... I've got my suspicions and some memories from the 2004 season, but I need some current details.
• Sitting on the pit box with a radio headset, listening to team communications.
• Seeing the Corvette DPs.
• Seeing friends from over the years, including Kevin Buckler and Bob Dickinson at The Racer's Group and drivers Patrick Long and Andrew Davis.
• Hanging out with friends Barb and Mary.
• Generating new ideas for the story I'm working on (I hope).

What about you? Will you be watching the 24 Hours of Daytona? Are you looking forward to anything in particular?

Loud or Quiet?

by Tammy

If you're in Dubai, the racing season has already begun. For us in the States, however, we're just two short weeks away from our season's kickoff, the 24 Hours of Daytona (you'll hear a lot more about that from me soon).

Out of the pre-season testing that's been going on, an article popped up that intrigued me. Oliver Gavin, one of the Corvette factory drivers, urged rulemakers and manufacturers not to make cars too quiet (Gavin Fears Quiet Cars a Fan Turn-Off), arguing that the noise is part of what fans like races for.

Now, I'll admit to being amazed and awed (and even startled) by the super-quiet Audi R-10, whose diesel technology made the car almost undetectable from five feet away, at least with the rest of the racing noise going on. And I'm well aware of the beating that one's body and eardrums take over hours and hours of race noise. Noise is exhausting. And probably less environmentally friendly overall.

But I have to agree with Ollie. I think the occasional quiet machine is fun and all, but racing wouldn't be the same without the high-strung whine of the Porsches and Ferraris. Without the base rumbly growl of the Corvette's V-8. Even without the grating roar of the Mazda rotary sometimes. Part of the racing experience is the overdose on noise and power and speed and drama.

And I don't think you can take that away from us! What do the rest of you think? Noise at the expense of environmental benefit? Can we have both?

See You in Daytona!

by Tammy

As some of you may know, I'm currently writing the third Kate Reilly Racing Mystery, this one set at the 24 Hours of Daytona. I attended the race once, in 2007, and I've watched it many times. But I've never really been inside the race before. But that's all going to change come January.

No, I won't be driving a car. But I'll be doing the next best thing.

Through the generosity of Kevin Buckler (with me, right) and The Racer's Group (whose friendship and support goes all the way back to 2004), I'm going to embed as part of the TRG team for the race weekend. That means I'll be sitting in the pits for as many of the 24 hours as I can manage (I won't promise not to sneak off to find a stack of tires to take a nap on), and typing just as fast as my fingers will allow.

Not only will I be doing research (I've got two pages of notes about questions to ask already), but I'll also be posting to Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, both for myself, for TRG, and maybe for other media outlets.

So anyone who wants a photo of a hard-working writer, let me know, and I'll send one. And feel free to send me (@tkaehler) or TRG (@theracersgroup) questions throughout the race. I'll be happy to give you all the inside scoop I can about what it's really like in the pits for a 24 hour race ... from the excitement of the start to the dragging, cold hours of the night.

Stay tuned for more!

Seasons' End

by Tammy

IndyCar, Grand-Am, and now the American Le Mans Series, all done for the year. All headed for the off-season now, the extra-silly-season.

For the ALMS, which wrapped up its season with a dramatic 9.5 hour Petit Le Mans on Saturday (that's the Turn 10a/b complex in the photo), and for Grand-Am, this means time finally to work on the specifics of the merger for 2014 (those in charge have promised decisions about the class structure for the merged series by the end of 2012). For teams in respective series, it means gearing up for a final, possibly lame-duck season as a separate entity. Because while they'll be preparing for 2013, their eyes will undoubtedly be on 2014. I can't imagine there won't be losers in the merger, but it's certainly too early to tell who that will be.

For IndyCar, F1, and NASCAR, it's time for drivers and sponsors to move teams and new deals to be struck. For fans, it's time to hunker down and either get friendly with Aussie V8 Supercar racing or haunt racing sites daily for the latest news. Maybe we do both. Certainly we spend some time trying to teach ourselves the new driver, sponsor, number combinations (for NASCAR, at least).

For me, it's time to do some of the above, plus a lot of writing on a new book. But I know I'll be following the off-season soap opera that is racing, avidly. Sometimes I think I like the stories about racing even more than the racing itself. I suppose that figures.

But hey, there's still a month of racing left! So until the fat lady sings, signaling the end of F1 (4 more races, finishing Nov. 25) and NASCAR (4 more races, finishing Nov. 18), I'll savor some of the year's last competition and look forward to 2013. Only 96 days until the 24 Hours of Daytona!

Who's with me? Are you done with racing for this year? Hanging on to the bitter end of F1 or NASCAR? Making travel plans for Daytona?

Best Laid Schemes

by Tammy

In his poem "To a Mouse," Robert Burns famously said, "The best laid schemes of mice and men/Go often awry." We all know this to be true, and most of the time our best laid plans are shot straight to hell. But once in a while, they turn up trumps.

The news last week of the merger between the American Le Mans Series and Grand-Am (which Simon and I discussed on Friday) threw me for a loop. First, the surprise that it would happen. Second, wondering what it would mean to me.

See, in 2010, as I was preparing my first book for publication, I faced a dilemma. I'd written the book in 2005, which was before Lime Rock Park revamped its track and before the ALMS restructured its racing classes. So my book didn't match the current state of the world. At the time, I made the decision to add a note to the book asking for readers' indulgence, and leave it as-is.

Well, now the ALMS is changing again, but bigger. And I dodged a bullet that the ALMS will still be the ALMS in 2013, when my second book set in the ALMS is published (BRAKING POINTS, due out April 2013, set at Road America and Road Atlanta).

Where it gets interesting is because I'm starting to think about Book 3, which I plan to set at the 24 Hours of Daytona and hope to publish in early 2014. The nagging worry in the back of my head has been how to forge the same kind of contacts with teams and officials in Grand-Am that I have with the ALMS--contacts that are vital to do the kind of insider research I like to include.

But you see what happened here, didn't you? I think my work just got easier. Because now I'll know some teams (and even officials) in the new combined series whose first race will be the 24 Hours of Daytona 2014. Not to mention there will be a whole bunch of new drama to write about, with new competition, new rivalries, new rules, new suppliers ... and plenty of the above who've been left out in the cold, because, let's face it, we're downsizing from two series to one. Yeah, I can work with this.

But it just goes to show: you never know what's going to happen to change your plans, and you never know if the change will be for the better or worse. Has anyone out there had a situation where you thought a change would ruin everything, but found it was the best thing in the end?

Underdogs Take the Win

by Tammy

It's a truism that anything can and will happen in an endurance race.

The 24 Hours of Daytona race proved it again this year, with favorites falling early and late, and a couple underdogs staying out of trouble and pulling through for their first wins.

Was it epic? Probably. It was only one lap short of an all-time record distance, and each class had two or three cars that finished on the lead lap. In fact, in both classes, first and second were separated by no more than 10 seconds ... AFTER 24 HOURS OF RACING! That's astonishing.

What's interesting is the change that's happened in the endurance world, the result of teams and cars getting better and more reliable. More than one "old timer" commented during the broadcast that in their day, you'd be conservative until the last couple hours, and then you'd really race--because if you tried to race flat-out the whole time, your car would break. But as one driver (Andy Lally, GT winner) put it, "This was 24 hours of qualifying."

I can't even stay awake to watch it all. I can't imagine how the crew does it (even the drivers get some sleep, but the crew only catches what naps they can in the pits between pit stops).

There's always a story with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and this year, between the visiting celebrities of the entertainment world (Billy Johnson of AC/DC and Patrick Dempsey) and those of the racing world (Michael Waltrip, Travis Pastrana, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jamie McMurry, Mario Andretti, Dario Franchitti, and many more), a set of series regulars and underdogs came through for the win. Both were, in some ways, the Little Engine that Could.

New winners. New stories for the year ahead. I'm liking this start to the 2012 racing season. What about you? Did you watch? Did you enjoy?