Spec Miata racing in NASA Southeast is close. How close is it? Well, just have a look at this clip of NASA Southeast Spec Miata series leader Yan Dia and No. 90 Teen Mazda Challenge driver Dean Dybdahl battling through Turn 8 at Carolina Motorsports Park. The two are door to door, so close that Dia’s mirror folds back Dybdahl’s mirror, and yet there was “no contact.” All the while Jeremy Barnes pulls away from them while Eric Gerchak takes advantage of Dia and Dybdahl’s dicing and noses ahead into turns 9 and 10. It looks like great fun.
“I felt I got a good start, got a good run on the guys in front of me. And when I went in to Turn 8, I was thinking, ‘Oh man, why did I make this move?’ But at the end of the day, I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not going to lift. I’m going to hope maybe he’ll back out.’ But it’s a younger Teen Mazda challenge driver Dean Dybdahl, and I trust him, and I’m like, ‘Well if he’s going to go in, I’m going to go in,’ and you’re thinking the whole time, ‘All right, this is a little hairy,’ but full trust in him and me,” Dia said. “And both of us made it through there perfectly. And as we came out it seemed like we got darn close. And then again, we raced down the back straightaway and another competitor came down to our inside and it was just really exciting.
“So we raced tight together the rest of the race,” he added. “And when we came in, I remember going over to Dean and I’m like, ‘Did we touch?’ Because I saw his mirror was shoved in when we were coming off track. So I went over there and he looked at my car, I looked at his, no other touch on either one of our cars other than that mirror got folded in. So, I thought that was pretty crazy that we got that close and never rubbed.”
