As I write this, I am flying high over Washington State, heading east. I am also personally flying high after an amazing weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, and the 45th Anniversary of the Mustang celebration. Racing twice and winning twice is thumbs up in my book! I also got to meet Editor Turner (as well as a ton of Mustang fans!), and it was cool chatting with him about Mustangs and racing. Round #5 of the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge represents the halfway point of our sophomore season, and it also brings us to the sophomore season of New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Last year, the Mustang Challenge was fortunate enough to be a part of NJMP’s inaugural race weekend, and to be honest, the track showed its youth. Things weren’t quite buttoned up yet, and there were some details that needed addressing for future events. If you follow Grand-Am road racing, you’ll know that the folks in New Jersey have been hard at work preparing their facility for this weekend, and as a racer I have high hopes! The place has the infrastructure and the potential to be a great venue; it just needed a little polishing.

Speaking of polishing, my performance at New Jersey’s Thunderbolt circuit in 2008 could’ve used some. Our car setup was not ideal, and I made a few mistakes early in the race, finishing 8th (two positions down from where I started). So I’m going into this weekend on a mission:

Goal number one is to find a better setup than we had last year. I think we’ve already got most of that work done, so I’ll be feeling the car out on the test day to verify and make small adjustments if necessary.

Goal number two is to qualify well. If we can accomplish goal one, then goal two should be attainable. Since Andrew Caddell has 19 points on me in the championship hunt, I need to do everything I can to get points at every opportunity. This starts in qualifying, where 1st through 5th are awarded points based on their qualifying position (5 to 1, respectively).

Goal number three is to win the race. I know the TC Motorsports crew will do everything in their power to help me get goals one and two done, and if we as a team can do that, then three will be all up to me. I’ll just need to do what I’ve done all year so far: be fast, consistent, and easy on my tires.

Racing in the Mustang Challenge is all about consistency. Being able to turn fast laps is one thing, but being able to turn a fast lap every lap while at the same time conserving your tires is the true challenge. So far I’ve been able to do that, and hopefully with the preparation the team has done and a little bit of racing luck, I’ll be able to keep winning races and chipping away at Caddell’s championship lead!

Another important piece to successful racing is building relationships; from your crew, to series officials, to potential sponsors and marketing partners. It’s to this end that I’m excited to announce my partnership with Go Pro Cameras. Go Pro sponsors the series by providing cameras for each car that create all that awesome footage you see at www.MustangChallenge.com (you are visiting there, right?!). The folks at Go Pro were generous enough to provide me with a couple Motorsports HERO cameras (a wide angle and a standard lens), so you can count on more awesome racing footage throughout the 2009 Mustang Challenge season. Check out www.TedAnthonyJr.com for photos and videos of my racing!

Thanks for tuning in and continue to stay updated with the 2009 Mustang Challenge season at 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords magazine!