When I rolled out for the qualifying session on Thursday I immediately noticed a problem with the gearbox. It was a strange noise that just didn’t sound healthy.

I went out on older tires and just couldn’t get the car into gear very well. I came into the pits after 6 laps because the noise was getting worse. As I was downshifting to slow down to pit speed limit, I got into second gear and there was no drive.

Daly's Irish origins aren't hard to miss with his exceptionally green Star Mazda car. (Doug Werner)

Then I went down to first and still no drive. So I had to go back up to third gear to finally get some drive to get to my pit box.

My mechanic and engineer’s faces did not look promising as I described the noise from the gearbox. We couldn’t continue the session, when I got the order to get out of the car, I was devastated. There was still so much time left in qualifying and all I could do was watch.

At the end of the session I was 16th and my teammate, Richard Kent, was on the pole. So talk about a little more pressure heading into the race with my teammate fastest in qualifying!

I immediately started trying to find the positives from the situation. I knew I was going to gain a wealth of information during the race. Considering I had never raced a car with big wings and this much down force before, I had to learn quickly about how to race with a pack of aero sensitive cars like these.

When a car with this much down force gets very close to the car in front it takes the air off of the front wing inducing some under steer through the corners. I knew I was in for a very exciting race.

I had an excellent first standing start in the Star Mazda car. I made up several positions in the first corner and continued to work my way through the field.

Last weekend's Sebring event was the latest of many trips to the Floridian track for Conor. Here he is with his dad Derek inside the NPTI Nissan GTP car in the early nineties. (Derek Daly)

There were cars scattered all over the track with a lot of two and three wide racing. Cars were very close and at times there was a bit of contact -- the final two laps rolled around and I made it up to fourth place.

I had a fantastic battle with another competitor for third resulting in him claiming the spot at the finish.

However after the race he was penalized for blocking me on the final lap moving me up one position to third. I was absolutely elated after my race.

I had so much fun and learned so much that it almost could not have gone better. I can take that wealth of information with me to the next round at Virginia International Raceway on April 25th.

Unfortunately now I have to go back to school and get as much work done before I leave for my next race. I have to do all this work while racing is still in my head! It’s difficult but I have to make sure I graduate from high school before I can think of heading to the University of F1.

~Conor



The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Conor Daly, a second generation race driver, is the son of former F1, IndyCar and Sportscar driver Derek Daly. Conor's lineage of speed also extends to his mother, Beth, a winner at the Jet Ski World Finals. He became the youngest driver in the country to win a Pro kart race when he won the Pro Invitational race at the TaG World Championships, and later won the Stars of Karting TaG East championship.

In 2008, Conor won the Skip Barber National Championship and the Canadian Formula Ford 1600 Rookie of the year title after winning a total of ten races in both series. Along the way he set three new lap records in Canada, and scored ten pole positions in three different classes.

In November 2008, Conor represented the Team USA scholarship when he won the prestigious Walter Hayes Formula Ford Trophy at Silverstone, England. He was the youngest driver to ever win the event and the first American.

Just 16 years old, Conor lives in Noblesville, Indiana with his parents and attends high school while competing in the 2009 Star Mazda open-wheel championship. Learn more about Conor at ConorDaly.net

Conor's columns are produced with SPEEDtv.com contributor Declan Brennan.

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The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED