Paulie's Blog: Capping off the season with a victory

This week was possibly the busiest yet, but also the most rewarding. After a busy week at Duke, including my first full-scale examination of the semester, I headed out to California for the last race of the Camping World West season.

After a busy day on Friday doing TV shows, building shocks, and crew chiefing a local assemblyman, we put an exclamation point on our season by qualifying on the pole and leading 149 of the 150 laps of the Toyota/Copart 150, ultimately winning by 2.774 seconds.

Harraka wins finale

Paulie Harraka ended his rookie season in the Camping World West series by winning the final race of the year and finishing fourth in the point standings.

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Monday through Wednesday were somewhat standard days at Duke, with classes and plenty of work to do. On Wednesday night, I participated in a discussion, moderated by Father Joe Vetter, the director of the Duke Catholic Center, about carrying out God's will in our daily lives.

Thursday morning was my first big examination of the semester, so most of Wednesday was spent preparing for that. The exam was in a Public Policy course that I'm taking and was centered on Game Theory and Negotiations. I haven't gotten my grade back yet, but I believe I did just fine.

Thursday night is when the excitement began, as I flew out to Sacramento for the final race of the Camping World West Season, connecting in Houston. I finished reading True North, a required book for my High Impact Leadership class, on the flight from Raleigh/Durham to Houston. On the flight from Houston to Sacramento, I put together my shock plan for the weekend, including what I needed to build and what I wanted to start the day.

Friday started before sunrise, as I left the hotel and headed to the BMR shop for our first TV show of the day to promote the upcoming race at All American Speedway. Brian Hickey interviewed me live for the morning show on KCRA 3.

We then did a second interview, which was taped and aired later that day. From there, West series media director Kevin Green and I jumped in the car and headed to the CW31 studios, where I did another live morning show, this time with Mark S. Allen. Kevin and I then headed back to the BMR shop, where I did my final TV interview for the day, this time with Mark Demsky from Fox 40. Links to some of these videos are up on my Web site (www.paulieharraka.com).

After the interviews I headed into what's now referred to as "Paulie's Cave." Basically, whenever I'm at the BMR shop, I tend to spend very long days (usually from 9 a.m. to midnight) in our team's hauler building shocks. Using the plan I had put together on the flight out, I went to work. My only break was to grab lunch with crew chief Duane Knorr and one of the crew members from BMR's late model program.

Once I wrapped up the shocks, I helped Eric, our truck driver, finish loading the hauler and headed for All American Speedway to help out with a race of local media members and government officials. I was the crew chief/spotter/driver coach for Assemblyman Ted Gaines. After that, Duane, Ryan Precher (our car chief) and I grabbed dinner and discussed our plan for Saturday. I caught a good night's rest getting ready for race day!

Top rookie

Paulie Harraka is the Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the Camping World West series and will be honored at the Touring Series Gala in November.

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All morning at All American Speedway felt a bit awkward, as my race mornings are usually consumed with building shocks. I was able to help the guys take the car through inspection and did a few more interviews before the first round of practice.

The car was decent at the beginning of practice, but we really struggled with forward bite, meaning I couldn't put the accelerator down as quickly as I wanted. We made a number of substantial changes during both rounds of practice and got the car to a point where I was very happy with it.

After doing some research on carbon monoxide and the effects it can have, I began looking into filtration systems. I finally settled on the TrackFresh System a few weeks ago because it was small, didn't draw much electricity, and seemed to be very efficient.

Saturday was my first day using it and I'm really happy to have chosen this system. I ended up getting more air into my helmet than I normally do, and this time it was almost completely free of carbon monoxide! This is definitely something I recommend to all race car drivers, especially those on short tracks.

Duane and I decided to make one final change before qualifying, looking to cure the slight push in Turns 1 and 2. The change paid off, as we qualified on the pole by .025 over my teammate, Moses Smith.

When the green flag fell, I immediately jumped into the lead. Moses pressured me a bit, as did Greg Pursley, during the first 60 laps of the race. Eric Schmidt was able to get to second and edged me to the start/finish line on a restart (the only lap I didn't officially lead), but he faded as the race wore on. Although there were cautions at Laps 109 and 117, we were still able to pull out to a 2.774-second margin of victory in the 150-lap race.

The Victory Lane celebration was awesome. My mom, stepdad, sisters and girlfriend had all come out to watch the race, so it was great to share the win with them. After inspection, the whole team headed out to savor the win.

In closing the season, I'd like to thank everyone that poured their heart and soul into the team all season, as well as those that came through for us in the clutch, especially Bill McAnally, Mike Curb, Duane Knorr, Ryan Precher, Jack Hudack, Tony Oddo Sr., Tony Oddo Jr., Randy Stalter, Joe Goodrich, Eric Mills, Kara Sizemore, Deanna McAnally, Paris Amstutz, Kaye Reshaw, Denise Decoque, Miguel Ochoa, Darrell Mills, and everyone at the BMR shop.

I'd also like to thank NAPA AutoCare, all of the NAPA brands, Toyota, Copart, Briggs and Stratton, Drive for Diversity, TOE Performance, G-Force and Tex Racing, Curb Records, NGK, TOE Performance, Randall Race Parts, Safety Kleen, Valvoline, Fel-Pro, Howe Racing, Paul Oil Company, Simpson Race Products, Tri-Co, Ramjet, and Martin Senour Paints and Mechanics Wear.

Without each and every one of these people and companies, as well as some I've failed to mention, this season would not have been possible.

Ending our season this way is the best way to enter the off season. It also helps Bill McAnally and I as we work to put together our package for next year. Winning two of the final three races of the season is a big help when you're approaching sponsors! That said, if anyone's interested, there's an e-mail address on my Web site (www.paulieharraka.com) for sponsorship inquiries.

Thanks and have a great week!

Paulie Harraka, a native of Fairlawn, N.J., is a student at Duke University. He is a member of the Drive for Diversity program and races in the Camping World West series for Bill McAnally Racing. Harraka won the 2008 track championship at All American Speedway.

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