Tentative 2008 Schedule

Subject to change.

The following dates are a starting point of where our schedule should take us next year. We're going to try and make four of the five Midwest Sprint Series races with a career first for Sam in the Dunlop Tire Road America Supernationals.

Because of this we are most likely going to compete in only half of the scheduled Bridgestone Point Series races at Badger, but as we've experienced in the past this could all easily change. We made it a point to make time for both of their bonus points races as well as the August 24th race which will be a return to the Briggs and Stratton Motorplex at Road America.

We look forward to another great year and hope you can be a part of it too. See you at the track!

April 20 Badger Kart Club Points Race #2
May 1-4 MWSS at New Castle Speedway in Indiana
May 18 Badger Kart Club Points Race #5
May 29-June 1 MWSS at Badger Kart Club
June 8 Badger Kart Club Points Race #6
July 10-13 Dunlop Supernationals at Road America
July 20 Badger Kart Club Points Race #9
August 3 Badger Kart Club Points Race #11
August 23-24 BKC Points Race #13 at RA Motorplex
August 28-31 MWSS at USA Raceway in Shawano
September 7 Badger Kart Club Points Race #14
September 21 Badger Kart Club Points Race #15
October 5 Badger Kart Club Points Race #16
October 12 BKC Backwards Enduro

2007 Awards Banquet

This past November the Badger Kart Club hosted it's annual awards banquet again at the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc Wisconsin. As in years past everyone in attendance was treated to a fine night of food and festivities leading up to the awards ceremony.

This year we got the big one! Class Champion in HPV Jr. and although I myself voted earlier in the year for a change in the awards, mainly to something more compact, the monster that we were given put smiles on everyone's faces. With the biggest grin coming from Sam. Another nice caveat in being bestowed this honor was the jacket that all class champions were given. Sam still has it hung in his room as a part of his shrine of past accomplishments. It's a nice looking jacket that probably is equally nice to wear but something tells me it won't leave the Hall of Fame any time soon.

So until we can repeat it again next year we have a fair amount of work to do. In the weeks following the holidays we'll start the long methodical process of stripping the kart down to a bare frame and rebuilding it. And hopefully several weeks and a handsome amount of money later, we'll be able to do it once more.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

The "Old Guy's" turn at the wheel

All year I wrench on my son's kart and envy him for having the opportunity to do this at his age. Ever since I can remember I wanted to have something to do with racing. And when an uncle of mine purchased a kart and began competing with it back in the 70's I knew where I wanted to be.

So I pestered my father and saved my money but nothing ever came of it. Whether it was a lack of money, a lack of time, or my inability to stay focused on one thing and one thing only, the plan never came together. I had to wait until I was much older to pursue this dream.

Most of you who know me know that I gave up driving about 14 years ago after a luke warm career racing Formula Fords in the SCCA. Just before Sam was born, I sold everything I had and put it into our first house in preparation for a new life as a family and with it, the terrifying thought of being someone's father. There was no way we could afford to continue in the sport and more importantly, we couldn't afford to have one of us going out and risking our neck on the weekends. So with that, I hung up the driving suit for good. And even though I can honestly say that I don't for one minute regret the decision I made, there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss it. Flash ahead 14 years and an opportunity just presented itself.

The annual Backwards Enduro at Badger Raceway is an event that we've had the unfortunate luck of not being able to attend in the past three years. It sounded like a blast. At the end of every race season the club puts on a fun only event where drivers take to the track in the opposite direction of how it's normally run. There's a Powder Puff class that we always thought my daughter would do well in, and an Enduro where my son could share his seat with one of his friends. And what about this Mechanics Race I thought? A quick talk with the troops about who wanted to race in what class and we quickly discovered that even though we could finally attend it, no one really wanted to compete. It looks like the kart is all my own!


Now again, anyone who knows me knows that even though the key word in this event is "fun" I was taking it much more seriously than that. I knew I had to find a seat to fit me but I didn't stop at that. I had to find out all the set-up specs for someone my size and I had to track down a larger pipe that would be less restrictive and be able to handle it's new payload. I dug my old safety equipment out of storage and dragged my family to the track to show them how it's done.

The biggest mistake anyone can make when getting into one of these things is assuming that driving a much smaller and lesser powered kart over a race car is going to be a walk in the park. On the contrary it's the exact opposite. It demands much more of your strength, which was apparent in my inability to hold my neck straight through corners, and the variety of deep painful bruising in my ribs and arms. Without suspension, karts are a handful when it comes to keeping them steady. It took me nearly the entire day to find my stride and work up the strength to pilot this thing along something resembling the racing line. Although the entire day I would come off the last turn onto the front straight with one side in the grass I'm pretty proud in how far I came. I would eventually finish 5th with a personal best lap time of 42.02



The student is now the teacher "Your not going flat out through turn one Pop!" "You're all over the place in the sweeper, you need to work on it!" he's telling me. Man is that how I sound every weekend? That kid of mine was busting my chops from the moment I set foot in the thing. And no matter what type of progress I made he would always have some smack talk to back up how much quicker he was than me. I'll give him that. With a 38 second lap compared to my 42 he reserves the right to be a little cocky. What he doesn't realize is that I was going in the wrong direction on the track (which he never drove before) and I'm taking along about 50 extra pounds for the ride. I know, excuses, excuses, but he better pray that we never go head to head on the same track. If I ever get a kart of my own I have no doubt in my mind that I'll show him my backside and hand him his in the process.

So what did I come away with after this experience? Oh where to start. I think the biggest thing that hit me while I was out there is that I couldn't believe I was making my son drive at speeds like this. I was doing everything I could to keep the thing pointed in the right direction and I was expecting my 13 year old to do the same? The rate at which you come up on things is so quick that if you snooze for just one second you can easily find yourself in a world of trouble. Those hay bales come up real quick on you.

Another thing that's become very obvious is that I'm not twenty years old anymore and I take longer to recover than I used to. Two weeks after the race and I'm still nursing wounds from that day. Now I know why some bright individual introduced a rib protector in this market. I just started taking full breaths again without pain.


And the last thing I came away with is the fact that the bug is still with me and now more than ever I'd like to get back into it again. Probably not auto racing though. Unless someone with very deep pockets would like to take a chance on me I'll stick to karting. How else can I prove to my son that his old man is still king?

The sun sets on yet another season

The 2007 racing season is in the books with Sam finishing first in points and earning himself his first class Championship in HPV Junior.

This year was his third year in karting. It was also his third different chassis in karting. And to top it all off this was the third different powerplant sitting behind him so the learning curve had to be repeated every season. Just when he would get comfortable with the 4-cycle, we moved to 2-stroke. And just when he got acclimated to the powercurve of a 2-stroke, we moved into a much quicker class. He literally had to start over every year!

Out of all the transitions that he's had to make, this year had to be the toughest. we spent a lot of time trying to get up to speed with the new engine and just being able to trust his equipment at these higher speeds was a hard pill to swallow. In the end though we bettered our times by two full seconds and enjoyed the 2007 fast time of 38.90 seconds in our class. Even if it was for a very brief three week period. Another driver eventually bettered it by two tenths of a second and knocked us off our roost. It was to be expected as a lot of talented kids compete in this class, but no one can take away the fact that we were there with the best of them.

There will be people who will challenge the validity of a class championship when declining entries hampered us for most of the season. But in my mind, and anyone who knows Sam and knows how hard he's worked to come this far, it's no less of an accomplishment than if we had dozens of competitors show up every weekend. The real issue here that makes him a champion is the fact that he made the effort to go out and better himself every time he set foot on the track. Being within two tenths of a second of drivers who have much more experience than him is a strong testiment to what he has done and what he has yet to accomplish. This is worthy of noteriety all in itself and I myself as well as all of his friends and family are very proud of the accomplishment. Congratulations Sam!


Of course every year we can't forget to thank all of the individuals who've made this possible for us. First and foremost, Chris and Carla Heitman and everyone at Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies. Without their help we couldn't have done half of what we did. And I mention everyone else at the shop because if it wasn't for my co-workers who pull together and fill in for me while I'm away at the track then a lot of this would not have been possible.

OMP USA, and Gabriele Pedone and Danilo Oliveira. This is just the start. We have so much more we can accomplish and we hope you're on board every step of the way. Your equipment is head and shoulders above the rest and we're going to do everything we can to make everyone aware of this.

Margay Racing, and Keith Freber and Brandon Atkins. You've both put up with my silly questions all year and have been a fountain of knowledge for us. I'll be the first to admit that in all my years of racing I've never claimed to know much about chassis set up. You both are helping me overcome this.

Kent Laukaitis of Laukaitis Racing in Decatur Illinois. Thanks again for a good strong engine, your constant advice, and the patience with us when we needed it.

And none of this would have been any fun without the friends and family who joined us from week to week. Their support was very much appreciated. We are especially thankful to the other competitors and their families who were more or less on this circus tour with us. Being kind of your second family, these individuals were always there for a laugh or a hand when it was needed.

So now the not-so-long rebuild season is upon us. Like in years past we'll put together a list of wants and needs, (slowly whittling the wants away as the money is gone), and begin rebuilding for next year. I can promise everyone that we will be returning to HPV Junior next season. We do have an interest in this class and unlike before when my family would charge me alone with being the only one committed to it, I can say that Sam is excited to return as well. It appears that the entrants will more than double next year as we have firm committments from several individuals who will be joining us.

The caliber of competition will be going up as well. Another class champ will be joining us along with several other quick individuals from their respected groups. We will have our work cut out for us but as always, we welcome the challenge.

Thank you again to everyone and anyone who I may have missed. We'll see you all in 2008!

Bridgestone Championship Series Round 15

Only one event left to go and this past Sunday in the books! Second place was ours again but in the hunt for the championship it all adds up. Any way we can get it we'll take it.

There really isn't a lot to report other than it was another average day at the track. It usually starts out with me chasing my tail for the first couple of sessions and slowly comes together, or somewhat together, by the time of our first race. That's where "average" ends since the temperatures loomed in the high 80's making everyone feel abnormally hot for this time of the season. We still haven't experienced the fast times that we achieved a couple of weeks back and really can't chalk it up to anything other than our above average temps combined with an engine that's about as ready for the end of this busy season as we are.

One of the things I don't share with our more seasoned competitors is the budget to have several motors at my disposal. I also don't freshen the one I have as much as I should. It's common sense to know that anything spinning in excess of 14,000 rpm should be looked at once in a while. Since most of the big ticket items have been obtained already this season I'm hoping to focus some of our time and finances on this area next season. With Sam learning so much and coming as far as he did this year we owe it to ourselves to pay much better attention to what our engine is telling us.

We're also going to need to pay more attention to this because next year we're expecting the class to grow a bit as well. Attendance should be up from this year as it appears there's going to be an exodus from another similar class who are all willing to participate in ours. We welcome the competition, but on the other hand we definitely want to show them that they'll be in our house now and nothing is going to come to them easily. It sure will make for more exciting times though. I know that's what Sam has been wanting all the while now.

This just in!

Just in time for christmas and for 2008. We've now added a calendar to our online store with team photos spanning our first three years in this sport. Check it out at the Inch-Hi Motorsports Online Store.

Tough to get back in the swing of things

photo courtesy Mike Weaver

Three weeks is far too long to be off. We shared a half day of testing back in August with a coach to help us get our times down and to polish up our act. The day was very useful to both of us, but when you're out of the seat for over three weeks you become a bit rusty.

Actually I was far worse off than Sam. I couldn't remember settings, I forgot the usual set of tools I take out, and tire pressures were all lost in the fog. I finally got my head straight by about our third time out on the track and things began to feel more routine for me. Unfortunately our lap times that I had anticipated for this weekend didn't culminate either. Up until Sunday we held the fast time record for our class. We were bound and determined to lower that and hopefully challenge the track record. Nice cool temperatures, one set of new tires, and a chassis that was laser straight and I felt we had the right combination to do just that. Too bad for us as two drivers from our class had the same idea and put an end to our record fast.

No disrespect to Sam. Although he had little to no sleep the night prior, he found his stride relatively quick but it just wasn't enough. The two front runners left us in their paths by the tune of almost a half second! Usually we're right there with at least Travis but not this time. He was on rails and nipping at Tommy Anderson's tail for most of the event. Third place was the best we could muster and the unofficial (at the time of this writing) fast time of 38.7 is now awarded to Tommy Anderson. I have a feeling it won't stay there for long though, he has gone quicker.

It goes without saying that both Tommy and Travis have far more experience than us at this game. But on the other hand Sam has come a long way this year and he's proved that he's no slouch. Having said that I can't chalk this disappointment up to anything other than a motor that could be getting tired. After all I haven't even put a new ring in it this season so it's probably crying for help. It did sound noticeably different than the others but that could also have been a gearing issue. Whatever it was we didn't share the same crisp sound of the two ahead of us.

With two races left on the season I think we're going to just stick it out. It makes no sense to work on anything at this point. I don't share the luxury that our competitors have in owning multiple engines. Some day I hope to but at this time I have only one. When it goes in for a rebuild we're down and I can't chance not getting it back in time for the next race. Our lead in the points is pretty safe as long as we compete in the next two events. We'd be smart in focusing our attention on that and making the dash for the track record next year.

Our next event is at Badger Raceway on Sunday October 7th. The season is quickly coming to a close so if you haven't had the chance to get out there we'd be happy to see you.

Congratulations on 1000 visitors!

It took a while, but we reached one-thousand visitors to date on Sam's Race Page. Thank you to everyone who stops by from time to time to see our progress. We hope you continue.


Unfortunately I don't have the name of the lucky individual who checked out the site and helped us reach this milestone. If I had, I'd be giving them the keys to a brand new 2008 Chevrolet Z07 Corvette with all of those 650 Supercharged horses crammed under the hood. The kind of trouble one could get in with this thing is almost inconcievable.

Too bad though. I'll just have to drive it until we reach our next milestone of 10,000 visitors, or I lose my license. Whichever comes first. I'll keep all of you posted.

Thanks again,

Sam, Mike, and the whole crew at Inch-Hi Motorsports

2008 Corvette Z07 Giveaway disclaimer: Let it be understood that there is no car to giveaway. At the sake of being sued by someone who can't take a joke I am obligated to print this refuse after making the statement that I did. At no time was there ever a 2008 Z07 Corvette available to the 1000th visitor to Sam's Race Page.com. Any person who honestly thought there was one should seriously look into getting a life, not a car. For any of you out there who know me personally you know that I pretty much don't have two quarters to rub together much less the ability to give a gift of this size. And even if I did have the money I don't think my lovely wife (who has more common sense than me) could justify us spending this type of cash on ourselves. So if I've disappointed anyone, I'm truly sorry.

New Fast Time for '07

Congratulations Sam!

We've been trying to break the elusive 39 second mark all season long and finally did it last Sunday.

I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine informing us that our fast time on Sunday was posted as 38.93 seconds. I didn't realize this at the time since we were in such a hurry to leave. I threw the kart in the trailer without checking any data on his gauge and off we went.

Understand that this is not a track record. The record in our class still stands at 38.38 seconds and was set back in October of 2006. Our time is the fastest that anyone has gone on the track in 2007. We've made some improvements to the kart and are off to the track to test this afternoon. We've brought on board with us a driving coach that will not only help Sam with his duties, but assist me with my set-up as well.

38.2 here we come!

Bridgestone points series race #13

Sunday August 26th. Badger Raceway, Dousman WI.

A very wet past ten days gave way to sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures once again at Badger Raceway in Dousman Wisconsin for round #13 of the Bridgestone Championship Race Series.

An early fuel delivery problem scratched our attempt at our first morning practice, but once we discovered and fixed the problem we took to the track with a little re-learning to do. Sam had been out of the kart for almost three weeks now and had to find his stride once again. Thanks to Travis Kosik who is our closest competitor in our class, Sam had just the motivation to find the speed once again by the time the final arrived.

Although not his quickest time to date, he managed a 39.13 lap around the six-tenth of a mile track to score yet another 2nd place finish in HPV Junior. A big thank you has to go to Bob Clark who helped me point the chassis in the right direction. We've been struggling a bit with the front end geometry on our Pegasus Auto Racing/ OMP Margay since our recent crash and finally got it sorted out. Thanks Bob!

We now have another three weeks off until round #14 on September 23rd. In our quest to break the elusive 39 second mark we are planning on testing several times before this date with a private coaching session planned for Friday August 31st. Until then Happy Labor Day to you all, and kids, good luck in the new school year.

Schedule Change!

The September 8-9th MWSS Event in New Castle Indiana has been released from our schedule.

It was a hard decision for us (well, mostly me) to do this but seeing that Sam is leading the Points series at Badger, The fact that school is in session, and a date was needed to put on a party for my daughter's birthday, we really felt it was the right thing to do.

This particular track is one of which I was very excited to visit. From the perspective of other drivers who had competed there it sounded like a fast, fun course and I will miss it. Next year we will put it at the top of our list of events to attend and we hope you'll be there to join us.

Aug. 19th Race Rained Out

Thanks to our recent monsoon season arriving early this year, round twelve of the Bridgestone Championship Points Series was rained out at Badger Raceway this past weekend.

Racing will hopefully resume on Sunday August 26th.

A win, but at what cost?

The Bridgestone Championship Series round #10 event at Badger Raceway was a hot one on and off the track. Temperatures in the 90's and yet another three class combination made our day tough to say the least. Sam won his race but because of a first lap skirmish with another driver not even in our class (and gridded behind us) he finished with a battered kart.

Someone once told me that when you run up front or when you are surrounded by better, quicker drivers, the chances of contact or a crash are usually diminished because of the caliber of talent around you. This theory didn't hold true as the above mentioned driver proceeded to aggressively push and shove his way to the front of the pack with an obvious disregard for others around him. In doing so he wrecked not only Sam's kart but another driver that Sam was closely competing with.

I totally agree that there is going to be rubbing, touching, and contact in racing. Although I find road racing to be a far cry more civilized than circle track racing, this sort of thing does happen from time to time in our sport. But this was totally avoidable in my opinion and a very dumb move on this driver's behalf and I'll tell you why.

The driver that I'm talking about has far more experience racing karts than probably half the field of drivers on that day. He also was probably the quickest when you look at his lap times compared to others. Saying this one might think that he/she would possess enough maturity to wait until the right moment to safely pass everyone on either a slower turn or a long straight. It was clear after this act of stupidity that this frame of mind obviously doesn't exist inside this driver's head.

And a mature person would apologize to everyone affected by a stunt like this but none was to be heard by him or his father. At least none was made to us as I can't speak for the other driver involved. It was truly disappointing also when they were pitted directly across from us and didn't even make eye contact after this. They returned from tech, packed up their trailer and drove off. Maybe their conscience was getting to them, most likely it didn't, but at least we know now we'll need eyes in the back of our heads the next time we share a track with him.

The silver lining in this dark cloud is the fact that Sam now is in first place in his class in points. Like I've said before if and when more drivers in our class return from other series' that they are involved in we're going to have to work extra hard to preserve this lead. It won't be easy but he's proven time and again that he can step up when the moment comes.

Wish us luck!

Light at the end of the tunnel

This past Sunday we posted another 2nd place finish and bettered our time to within .03 of a second of our class record. As happy as we all are on the tremendous amount of progress we've made, it's bittersweet in the fact that once the front runners return from their trek to Pennsylvania that record is more than likely to fall in the mid 38 second range. No worries though as we'll be there very soon ourselves.

Sam and I really have to thank Dan and Travis Kosik alot for our recent successes. If it wasn't for them showing up at the track over the past two weekends we very well may not have improved as fast as we did. Travis is a great kid who's very friendly and knowledgeable, and not opposed to sharing tips with other people. And because Sam and Travis are so close when it comes to their times around Badger, this helped motivate Sam and gave him something to shoot for.

A big thank you also goes out to Laukaitis Racing Engines for getting us a carb in the 11th hour. The problems that we've been experiencing over the past three weeks are just about gone and with the new carburetor that he supplied us for this weekend we were able to post a personal fast time of 39.05 in HPV Jr. Thanks again Kent.

So technically after this weekend we are leading the points in our class. Although we did not set out this season to chase points in the club it would be a nice caveat if we were to win it. There are several drivers who could put an end to this for us real quick if they decided to enter a few more races between now and October. If this does happen though we won't mind, we'll take the competition over an easy win any day.

Badger Raceway- Sunday July 15th

I wish I could say that last week's carb issues were a thing of the past but we're still struggling a bit to find out what the situation is. The kart is definitely quick once it gets up to speed, hence our personal best lap time of 39.14, but it still struggles to move on the low end. The carb was rebuilt, settings were changed, and we even began to teach Sam how to reach back and tune the darn thing in flight. And after all of this, it was still a roll of the dice on whether or not we would make it out of the pits under it's own power.

Although the stress level was much lower than last week you wouldn't have thought a thing had you seen Sam. We brought a couple of his friends from back home with us to the track and they quickly embarked on doing what all young boys do. Make stupid noises, run around like indians,(forgive me if any native americans are reading this, I mean no disrespect) and flirt with girls. This was the first time I might say that I've witnessed my son noticing the opposite sex. He keeps this kind of thing pretty much to himself but I know he notices them. He's just too shy to admit it. It's not until he's around other guys that you can see it more clearly. Maybe this is half the reason for his stupendous showing out on the track. That whole peacock displaying it's feathers thing is a very powerful motivator.

Once the race came we were very confident that what little of a deficit we had we could conquer. The kart was getting pretty easy to predict and Sam was getting the hang of tuning it on the road. So this, combined with our dropping lap times, had us excited to see what the final held in store for us.

Travis Kosik joined us from his normal CES schedule and offered a great chance for us to compete with someone who was not only a great teacher for us but a good friend as well. I actually grew up with his late uncle Dave and knew his father and Aunt through this relationship. We all went to the same grade school together about 100 years ago and became reacquainted through the sport. Truly a small world.

The final was pretty uneventful with Sam nipping at the heels of Travis for much of the entire race. Both of them were posting some pretty impressive times. Impressive for Travis in the fact that he hadn't been on this track for some time and was trying to find his stride again, and impressive for us in just being able to stay that close to him. The real excitment came on the last lap. I almost couldn't believe what I saw when the two of them were nose to tail coming down to take the checkered flag. At the last moment Sam drew out from behind him to challenge for the win and just came up short. We took second place but there was no more than a half a kart length seperating them at the line.

Aggression? I asked myself. Was that aggression I just saw? Is he finally finding the tenacity that I've told him he needs to do the job? I sure hope so. I could get used to races like this every weekend.

AAAAARRRRGH!

Our once pristine kart now has it's first set of battle scars.

When practicing for last Sunday's race, Sam came upon a slower driver who was not very aware of his surroundings. When he went to overtake him on the inside of "the boot" at Badger, this driver came right across the track and chopped off Sam's line and a good portion of our nose in the process. Nothing mechanical was damaged in the altercation but the site of that body scuff is going to drive me nuts until the end of the season.

I had the priviledge many years ago of working with an all around master mind of race car fabrication and chassis prep who asked to remain anonymous. One of his attributes that rubbed off on me is the fact that all of your equipment had to be kept in immaculate condition all of the time. We would wipe down and polish our cars when they came off the track before we'd ever begin to inspect them. After all it did help in identifying potential problems, and a lot of things can be covered under a layer of dirt and grease that could remain hidden until they would bloom into something much larger.

But even though I'm thankful for all that I learned from him in the past, this is one thing that I wish I didn't. Or at least one that I'd pay less attention to later in life. It's almost become an obsessive compulsive disorder for me. And clean, polished, nicely painted equipment doesn't always make it to the finish line first so I don't know why I try so hard. Making it to the finish line first should be the only priority, clean or not. I'm going to try my hardest to live by this but it won't be easy.

I can't leave this one at the track

I've learned a long time ago to "leave it at the office", and not to bring my work home with me. I can't say I've been the best at it but nonetheless I've tried. The same holds true for racing. You have your highs and lows and you learn to live with both of them. And up until now I think we've all done pretty good. So then why does the disappointment of this weekend not want to go away?

A lot of it had to do with the enormous expectations that we had. After all, This was the Midwest Sprint Series coming to OUR home track. We have plenty of miles logged at Badger, and our times were well on their way of closing in on the faster guys, so we thought we'd be able to truly compete with this group for a change.

We also rectified a couple of things with the kart that may have had an adverse affect on us performance-wise. Couple that with new rubber and a strong will to show the out-of-towners how we do things here and you can see how we felt that we really had a shot at something this weekend.

Friday's practice session was hot both on and off the track. The temperatures were hovering in the 90's making it unbearable to even sit still much less wrestle a kart around the track all day. Sam was getting beaten down by the heat pretty good so after a late morning session where he posted a personal best 39.43 lap, we decided to temporarily quit for a couple of hours and return to test later in the afternoon once things could cool off a bit. We were back out around 4pm for the last two remaining sessions and managed to stay in the mid 39 range. The kart was handling well, it was quick, and all looked very promising for Sunday's race.

Here's where the "life isn't fair" thing comes in to play. As hard as we worked to get down into the mid 39 second range, our competition worked just as hard to get in to the mid 38 range. We've been chasing this idea that 39 flat was where we needed to be to compete up front and now it looks like the bar has just been reset. Back to the drawing board!

Now comes the point in today's story where you hold your hands to your face and cry with frustration. I know I have for the past 2 days so feel free to join me. After all misery loves company, right?

Sunday morning's practice session went well and we were still firmly in the 39 second range. Once qualifying came though, the kart decided that it didn't want to move from a dead stop. The carb would load up so bad it took about 50 yards with the pedal to the floor to finally clear out and begin working it's way up to speed. By the time the race came it was so bad that Sam couldn't even stay up with the pack on the pace lap! And if any of you have been to a race and seen how much they slow the drivers down on a formation lap you'll understand how pathetically slow this kart must have been. Needless to say when the starter threw the green flag the field was almost to turn 2 before our kart cleared out and began to run. We were already a quarter lap down from the field before they completed the first lap!

If there's one silver lining to this horrible experience it's that Sam's commitment to finish this race well within the pack didn't change. After 5 laps he had made up enough time on them to make it look like things were beginning to turn around for us. With 10 laps left and at the pace he was going I felt he could easily catch back up but this premonition came to a screeching halt in a whisp of tire smoke as he spun the kart exiting turn 2 and couldn't continue on. Had the carburetor been working right he would have had enough power to re-enter the track and finish the race but once the throttle was released, the thing would load up so fast it couldn't get out of it's own way. A truly disappointing end to what should have been one of our finest moments.

Now we need to put this all behind us and just move forward. The next two weekends we're going to be back at Badger for the local club races. I'm hoping that after my telephone call to the engine builder, a few new parts, and a couple of test days we should be back in the swing of things again. I hope so, because it's going to be a long way for us to get into the 38's.

Another Win!

It sounds alot more exciting than it actually happend. But like we've said before, we'll take them any way we can.

This past Sunday was another good day as we've shown improvement in a few areas of concern as well. We're so close to breaking the 40 second mark we can taste it. And all of the test time that we've spent trying to get through a couple of key areas quicker has really begun to show. I've thrown off the gloves and challenged Sam to try breaking into the 39's and it looks as though he's on his way. I told him he could name his price if he does so I fear what I may have started is going to cost me dearly. Oh well, I figure this is a small price to pay to run with the fast guys. Bribary is a very powerful motivational tool I've found.

And speaking of the fast guys, we had one of the Midwest's best HPV Junior drivers on hand for Sunday's race and quickly found out why this title has been bestowed upon him. He's so fast and smooth it's almost silly how quickly he can pull away from the pack. He, as well as his father, are a great pair as well. Very friendly and equally informative. They don't fit the mold of people that are as successful as they are. You know the ones who are either so focused with their team and the task at hand that they pretty much ignore every other human on earth. Or the type that doesn't have time for candid banter with the "steerage".

Well let me first say that they handily won over us by the tune of about 15 seconds. Like I said, this kid can drive. He also drove in two classes on Sunday, and if that isn't enough work, the classes that he entered were run back-to-back! He had to leave his kart at the scales after his HPV finish, run down pit lane, and jump in his second kart to compete in his other class. Where the problem starts for him, and the lucky chance happened for us, is when there was a large wreck in this event. They had to red flag the race due to so much debris and so many people on the front straight that it made it literally impassible. When they were informed that they would have to restart the event in back because said events were caused by them you could sense some tension between them and the officials. They obviously felt that the punishment was harsh for an incident that wasn't exactly caused in total by themselves. With that, they took both karts and left the track. And in leaving, they failed to weigh their karts and driver in tech, awarding the race win to us.

I want to also add that Sam did this with a seriously injured kart. Contact was made with another kart on the warm up lap and what originally looked minor, caused a bent spindle and tie-rod. We also had one tie-rod end just about ready to seperate from itself. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that had come to be on a high speed turn. Now I know why the kart seemed almost unwilling to cooperate with him as the laps went by. The kart was progressively getting harder and harder to drive and you could tell. By the end of the race he was physically beat.

So there you have it. Although I'd love to have fabricated some valiant story of our dedication and talent finally prevailing, I had to tell the truth even though it's far less exciting. But to not take all the wind out of our sails I have to say that if it wasn't for Sam being in the position he was we wouldn't have prospered like we did. Even though talent, determination, and the will to win are key ingeredients of a winner, chance plays a very big part in things as well. And for this weekend, it was on our side.

Schedule changed yet again!

Due to a scheduling conflict with a family comittment, the July 28th Route 66 Series race at Norway has been dropped from our agenda.

Midwest Sprint Series Round 2, Shawano WI

Undeniably the best track that we've seen, and probably will ever see in our time. Someone told me that the USA International Raceway in Shawano was nicknamed "Little Laguna Seca" and it couldn't be more true.

The elevation changes here are enormous compared to any other track that we've been to. The racing surface is quite smooth, it's wide, and the course offers a variety of challenges found in many other tracks, all rolled into one. Spectators have plenty of places to find just the right vantage point. And being situated on an amusement facility, there's plenty of food and fun to occupy your time when the last flag falls on the day.



As for us and the real reason to be there, we came to race. The Midwest Sprint Series was explained to us as the right place to compete with all of the bigger names in karting, but with not quite as much pressure as a WKA Man Cup event. This is not to be mistaken as a series that's any simpler to compete in. It just doesn't normally attract the very large team or the teams from out of our region or even our country.

With the exception of just one moment where Sam got a bit wide exiting a corner and took it off road, the weekend went pretty smooth for us. The kart was set up for the track and basically stayed that way through every session. From practice on Friday to the pre-final on Sunday his times consistently dropped and he became increasingly faster and much more comfortable with the kart and the track. But if you know me you know that I just can't leave well enough alone and feel that I have to constantly change things to be quicker. For the final I decided to add a tooth to his final gear ratio and it didn't net the results I had hoped for. He eventually finished in 14th spot verses his 11th place finish in the pre-final.

Now we have our sights set on Round Three which comes to our home track in July. We are planning on testing every possible day that we can leading right up to this event. We might not have the experience that most of these drivers have in general, but what we do have is time on that track. It's our home turf, now all we have to do is bring our A game and make them all aware of this.

May 20th race date scrubbed

I apologize to anyone who may have ventured out to the Badger Kart Club to see us on Sunday May 20th. Scheduling conflicts and personal committments made it impossible to attend the race like we had planned.

Our next scheduled event is in Shawano Wisconsin on June 9th and 10th. We will most likely be using this time beforehand to test at Badger not only for this event, but mainly the Midwest Sprint race being held here at our home track on the 7th and 8th of July. If there's one event that you planned on attending this year then this one is it. We hope to see you there.

Fish out of water

That's what I felt like at least, and I'm sure Sam felt a bit that way himself. These kids that came to compete in the WKA Man Cup's Zoom Zoom Nationals sponsored by Mazda were the real deal. They were undoubtedly some of the best in the country, and a few from beyond our borders. Because I didn't know that's what's to be expected at a Manufacturer's Cup event, it made for a long stress filled weekend.

We arrived in South Bend Indiana at about 6pm on Thursday. With the exception of a slight deviation from our intended course, (we got lost) I thought we managed to make good time seeing that it was my first time behind the wheel of the S.S. Marmurowicz for such an extended period of time. And in Chicago rush hour traffic I must add.

Our worst fears were confirmed the moment we went to registration and were told that all electric hook ups were taken for the weekend. I was the FIRST person who had called six weeks ago and reserved a space for our trailer with electric. Not having a generator on board I had stressed that it's of the utmost importance that I have one. "No problem" they quickly replied, "You're the first on the list" I was told, and they still managed to screw things up for us. Luckily it was a temporary thing as they made one available shortly thereafter for us. I was known to them as the "No Generator Guy" and once that was said, action was quickly taken. I want to especially thank the fine gentleman who flew all the way from Florida to help in registration and had to put up with me. I was quite irrate when he informed me of the shortage and I truly didn't mean to take it out on him. But you have to admit that driving 4 hours in a moving billboard, fighting crosswinds, and listening to an ongoing acapella choir of Are We There Yet would put anyone's nerves on edge. The only thing left to do after we had set up camp was to walk the track, getting some much needed reference points on it. The course in general really didn't look like much other than maybe for a small right hand chicane which led onto a banked left-hander. This one was particularily important due to the fact that it dumps you onto the front straight, and a long front straight I must say. It was no surprise to us that this part of the track eventually prooved to be our achilles heel all weekend.

The entire day on Friday was reserved for practice and we were bound and determined to take full advantage of it. That was until Sam became ill after the second session. From that moment on the only thing his rear end saw was the bed in the trailer. He complained that he must have eaten something to cause it but I still think it was nerves. I had them and I wasn't even driving.

Saturday was originally our day to race but they bumped us to Sunday about two weeks prior to the event. Most teams with much deeper pockets would either add or remove weight, or install another engine to compete in another class on this day but for us it was a day off. We sat on a few corners, watched the lines and habits of the faster guys, and just took good mental notes. We toured the pits, visited with friends, and came to the stark realization that there are more people in this world who spend alot more on karting than we once thought. We passed by the pits of independant drivers who had as many as four karts per kid! I saw one pit where their young driver, who was all of 10 or 11 years old, had four karts with his name on it. I saw more lap top computers and techy nerds assembled in one area than I had when I worked for Ameritech! And tires! Let me tell you about tires. I am positive that I was the only guy who let his driver go out on the same set of tires all day. There were people scrubbing in sets of tires and throwing away rubber that I would use for 3 races back home. Not here though. I figure most of the front running teams spent more on tires this weekend than I will all year long. It's amazing how the cost of living keeps going up and with fuel prices nearly killing us we still have people who have this much disposable income.

After 50mph winds and light rain on Saturday we woke to sunny skies and about 65 degrees on Sunday. It was definitely shaping up to be a great day for racing. We jumped into our first practice session of the morning and looked pretty good. His times consistently fell and he looked much smoother behind the wheel. The only thing that he was still fighting was the chicane and bank combination. The kart just didn't reassure him that it was going to stay on track in that section. I tried to figure out what else I could do to help settle the kart down in that area but I kept coming back to the fact that what we really needed were those extra 4 sessions that we missed during Friday's practice. With Keith, Gina, and Caleb from Margay lending a hand in getting us properly set up, I had felt that the kart was doing all that it could. We just needed Sam's confidence level to be a bit higher and the only way to do that is lap after lap of practice.

We qualified 26th out of 26 drivers for the pre-final. And it was not because of Sam. We managed to get bumped to the back of the field since my fuel didn't register properly with their testing equipment. It wasn't until the official tested it three times that I remembered I still had fuel from our local track mixed with the spec fuel they sold at this event. Had we managed to practice a full day on Friday we would have easily burned through all of it but since we parked the kart after only two sessions we still had some non-spec fuel in the tank. Darwin is laughing I'm sure. Unfortunately for Sam his first race would be short lived as there was a huge wreck going into turn one just after the drop of the green flag that took out nine competitors. There were so many karts spinning and flying off the track that Sam had no where to go to avoid them but straight off the track. He spun, killed the engine, and ended up watching the rest of the race from the outside of turn one.

And here's another one for the Darwinian Theory. I went running over to the fence where he's standing and asked him to hand me his helmet, gloves, collar, and so on. What the heck I thought, I'll make him more comfortable while he's standing there in the sun and lighten the load that he has to bring back with him. What I didn't realize at that moment is that after the race he still needs to cross the scales in tech. He goes through without his gear and ends up 2 lbs under weight. We receive another penalty and will start from the back of the pack in the final as well.

An F on a report card is not tolerated in our household. Although Sam and his sister have been doing extremely well this last year, he for one has seen his share of less than adequate grades on previous report cards. So it was our little inside joke when I told him that this weekend he really needed to try hard to get me an "F". The "F" I'm talking about is a "Finish" in the final race. You see at this level the WKA does not allow back markers to be lapped. If the lead group is within two corners of catching you, they quickly bring out a black flag and your race is done for the day. I was doing the math, and with Sam being 4 full seconds off the leaders and having to complete 16 laps of a .7 mile road course, it was going to be close.

He started from the back of the pack and luckily made it through any incidents that had happened around him. And although this race was pretty uneventful, there was one particular driver worth noting who was much quicker than us but had a bear of a time keeping himself on the track. He would go off at a corner and Sam would slip through, then he would catch and pass him, only to spin off course again on a different corner. This went on for several laps and I felt it contributed to some very quick lap times for Sam since he was either running from or chasing down this guy. That all ended after about the fourth mistake when the guy caught Sam for the last time and never looked back. That wasn't before he ran into the back of our kart two or three times to drive the point home that he felt we were holding him up. A couple of those hits came on the banking and you could clearly see Sam's head snap back and forth as he hit him. And although when I was first told about the black flag policy I didn't care for it, I could now see to a certain degree where the logic came from. The WKA feels that with the level of competition at National events, there are bound to be instances where the leaders are not going to tolerate slower traffic and just bounce a kid off the course if they got in their way. If it keeps my son or anyone else from getting hurt then I can live with it. I've never been one to question any rule when it regards safety. I just think the guys who formulated this rule had their heads screwed on wrong and are penalizing the wrong people. I mean c'mon, we don't arrest people for getting assaulted by another individual, we go after the perpetrator.

The race ended for us on lap 12. What had once looked like a very distinct chance of us finishing the race on the lead lap had gone south with the wave of a black flag. Sam quickly responded with a hand in the air and an exit off the track as to say "Thanks guys for letting me play too". We were both a little disappointed and relieved all at the same time. Disappointed in the fact that he was doing so well in keeping himself in arm's length of the pack and getting quicker and quicker each lap, and relieved that he made it back in one piece. Kart and driver. His eventual finishing position was 24th out of 26th so we beat somebody, and we're all ok with that. I think we all learned alot from this event with Sam hopefully having more confidence in himself now.

Although our schedule has changed for this season (see side bar) I could see us competing in another one of these events some day again. I know of one family who's son competed in Sam's class who had beaten all of the deep pocketed factory drivers last year when the Man Cup came to our home track so it can be done. For now I think we're going to focus more on the Midwest Sprint Series. I'm told the talent is more regional than world wide and is a good stepping stone to the Man Cup. With a little luck and a whole lot of work we'll be there again.

The season is upon us

Elation and exhaustion. Two words that come to mind when I think of this first race of our season that took place at Badger Raceway in Dousman this past Sunday. It's sure nice to see the winter weather finally breaking and the season upon us once again. The exhausting part comes from selling your old kart 3 weeks before your first race and having a virtual mountain of things to do before heading out. Combine that with a new trailer that hasn't been looked at for over four months and you find yourself wishing for another couple of weeks.

After working out the bugs with the new chassis, and the 45 pound deficit that we were facing, I was quite surprised to see that Sam found his race legs relatively quick. Although in this new class the bulk of our competition are drivers who have been around for nearly ten years in some cases, he got himself up to a 41.77 lap. This took us nearly half the season last year to get there so I think things look pretty promising. Albeit he is about 3 seconds off the lead group and about 4 seconds off the track record for his class, with some seat time and maybe even some private tutoring I think we can close that gap real soon.

It was a pretty uneventful day with the only problem coming from a fuel tank that decided to purge about a quart of gas all over the kart and Sam. He came in after a practice session with a strange sheen to his suit and helmet. Once I got closer to him and took a good sniff I could quickly tell it was fuel. What I realized was in my desperation to have him make weight I filled the tank as much as I could to use the fuel as ballast. Obviously we found out that this was a very bad idea since the fuel had to seek a comfortable level and when it did, it decided to self vent all over Sam.

He wasn't very happy at all to say the least and once we got him out of his clothes and cleaned up I proceeded to empty about half of the tank's contents in hopes of not having to experience this again. He must have lost a little trust in me because even with a half tank of fuel he wanted me to make a rock solid promise that it wasn't going to happen again. He refused to set foot in the thing until he got it. And honestly, I wasn't even convinced that I fixed the situation completely. After all I still needed the tank as full as possible to assure us a chance at making our minimum class weight. I just crossed my fingers and off he went. I must have done something right that time since he came in dry and almost 3 pounds over the minimum. I'd be lying if i said there was some scientific procedure that went into this. It was good old fashioned luck. Some times us old folks aren't so smart after all.

When the day was finally over we finished fifth and had managed to keep all of the gremlins away that had plagued us since Friday. No spins, no crashes, or unwanted fuel showers. Just a great day to finally be back at it again.

Next, we're off to our first National event in South Bend Indiana on May 5th. It's going to be interesting to see just how good the competition is at this level. I just hope we can be quick and learn something from them. We'll bring all of the news to you as soon as we return.

A long way to go and a short time to get there

Six weeks. That's all we have until the kart needs to be back together and running. Right now it's a bare frame waiting for our engine, seat, steering, and - well just about every single piece that it takes to be a fully functional kart!

We're planning on going out to our local track to break the new engine in before heading right out to South Bend for the Man Cup race on the weekend after. The first WKA National of the season was this last weekend in Florida. We couldn't attend, but I read an article on our club's website saying that in Sam's class (HPV Jr. Lite) the competition was hot and the number of entries was high. T.J. Koyen and Tommy Anderson were there and both faired well with T.J. earning a podium finish. There's no doubt that this next race in May will probably have the same number in attendance so we're going to have to buck up quick if we're going to make it amongst them.

We are very excited to say that at this time we are in negotiations with OMP on a limited sponsorship deal and as always, full support from Pegasus. Our new graphics package for 2007 is being made for us as we speak and pictures will follow. It's time to start paying back the people who've been helping us and getting everyone's name out in this sleek fashion should prove to be just the trick. My son and I designed this image and I have to say that I can't see us not being noticed this year.

So we look forward to seeing some of you at the track in May. It's been a long winter and we're all a little eager to get back out there. Until then.

Man I'm getting Old! Or am I?

It's time for me to jump on my soap box again and bang the drum of reason.

At the risk of sounding like some tree hugging hippie I have to say that I'm appalled at how our uptight, self-centered, antagonistic, blood thirsty society is spiraling out of control. People just aren't happy anymore unless there's drama in their lives. And when they can't get it themselves by forcing you off the road for that last coveted spot on the interstate they turn to the next best thing; their television sets.

Today you're hard pressed to cruise through your 500 or so odd channels and not find half of them populated with a plethora of garbage to satisfy your malicious sweet tooth. You turn on the news and see a father launch his son's wrestling opponent across the room. You can choose from a dozen or so reality shows watching person after person lie, cheat, backstab, and steal their way to a fortune in prizes. And you can watch the latest craze called Pride Fighting where very dangerous men use whatever technique they can to darn near kill their opponent. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a good fight but this Pride Fighting thing is no different than anything that I've seen spill out onto the street in front of my local waterin' hole. It's just a free for all with no talent or skill involved. You're just a one man wrecking crew who swings, bites, and kicks until you're the last man standing. I really don't understand it. How can there be any pride in that? I myself enjoy the martial arts where highly trained individuals compete against one another with the style, integrity, and strength that commands respect in your opponent and pride in a fight well fought. Unfortunately the world is not interested in this. You tell me, who's going to watch a couple of guys taking strategic shots at each other verses two animals pulling off each other's face? I guess that's why you don't see many Tae Kwon Do tournemants on the tube today.

But Pride Fighting, and my lack of enthusiasm for it, is not the reason I bring you this post today. What brought on this whole rant was an incident I saw while watching a kart race on Speed Vision. The Stars of Karting league taped an ICA race held at New Castle Motorsport Park and I decided to take it in. The action out on the track was exciting and I really enjoyed watching these kids and the unbelievable talent that they possess at such a young age. Like any kart race at this level no one gives an inch and people bump and hit one another from time to time with the occasional crash happening. But what developed in one instance is what really concerned me. A kid with an on-board camera who the network was following had become involved in a crash that led to the other driver running over to him, lifting him in the air, and body slamming him to the ground. The vantage point of the camera did not allow viewers to actually see what had happened to provoke this but then again what in the world could ever happen to constitute this type of behavior? What's really funny is that the karting world is trying to bring it's story to the masses and show them an affordable family friendy environment that anyone can compete in. This kind of air play does nothing to help them. I mean where was the editor of this piece was he sleeping? There was absolutely no reason to save this piece from the cutting room floor.

What kills me and everyone else like me is that these kids are 15 years old and they're acting up like their adult heroes who are cursing at, and drop kicking each other every night at local tracks across the country. These morons who call themselves athletes and even celebrities are having their immature antics glamorized by ESPN and other networks who save these moments for posterity by playing them night after night on their highlight reels and who sees it? Our kids. I used to think that race car drivers were gentlemen and that occurrences like these were almost exclusive to the overpaid hacks in the NBA but I was wrong. Stupidity like this has crossed all racial and ethnic lines and crept into just about every sport played today. You literally can't escape it.

That's not the way I want my son, my driver, to act. You can preach all you want to them and hope that it sticks but you know it's hard to compete against a guy they idolize that talks as fast as he drives, makes money by the boat load, and shrugs off 100K fines everytime he feels like showing or telling anyone how he feels. I'm sure there are plenty of good sportsmen out there that would still give you the shirt off their back if you needed it but they are a dying breed. It's so true when people say that racing isn't what it used to be when drivers like Alan Kulwicki, Jim Clark, and Sterling Moss were a part of it.

So here I am wondering if I'm just getting old, if I'm getting sappy, or if it's a combination of both. Could be, but the more I think of it I feel it has alot more to do with the fact that I'm just plain tired of seeing it any more. It's a disgrace and an embarrassment in any setting. Sporting event or not. People just have to calm down and be accountable for their words and actions. If not for the fact that it makes you look silly, you may have tomorrow's talent watching.

New Engine - New Class - New Season

This is our third class in our third year. HPV Junior is where he'll be competing this season. The class is for 12 to 15 year old drivers and uses the same powerplant that we had last year but with a much larger carb and pipe combination.

Larger carb + Larger Pipe = Large Power. We started with a 4-cycle Briggs and took an entire season to get up to speed. We then started our second season with a 2-cycle HPV and took all year to get quick. Now we start our third year with yet another deficit to tackle. Although it's the same kart and engine, it's going to feel alot different with it not being as heavily restricted as it was. Even though the class runs on average about 3 seconds quicker than we did last year, I'm confident he'll find his stride quickly enough. I sure hope he does anyway. We're planning on trying ourselves against some of the top national drivers in the Midwest Sprint Series and the WKA Manufacturers Cup division. When we first planned our season for '07 we had just National races on our docket. If you now check out our schedule you'll notice we've rearranged it a bit. A couple select Nationals have been dropped in favor of competing at our home track in Dousman a few times. This was done not only because I'm having my doubts in just throwing him to the wolves, but also because one of my co-workers has purchased a kart package for his son and we plan on doing some weekends together.

I'm really looking forward to this season because for the first time since we started out in this sport there is no pressure to win. We're not chasing points at Badger, and we're not heading into any of the national races with the intention of doing anything other than staying up with some, if not all of them. I told Sam that since this is most likely going to be the class that he spends the next 4 years in, we have plenty of time to be great. Let's just practice being really good for now.

Never say never

It's been said "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it". Most of the time when the phrase is used it's intended to strike home in someone thinking negative or malicious thoughts. Kind of like when you were young and wished death on someone for messing up your sandbox. Or when you thought how great it would be to date the prettiest most popular girl in school only to find that her fangs rivaled those of a mountain lion.

Well we've been wishing for something and we finally got it. I also got the enormous amount of debt involved with it but hey, live for the moment right? You may remember a few posts back when I mentioned our zeal to keep up with the jones's. Going to the track and seeing more and more trailers like these every weekend made our once accomodating 6x12 look more like a foot locker. And when we traveled out of town that hard floor was really uncomfortable to sleep on but it was still better than paying the prices they charge (rob) you for a room at a hotel. Now we have the best of both worlds. A shop, and a hotel, all in one rolling package.

Alright I know what you may be thinking. Like any of these nut cases in racing, I'm just another guy who's compensating for something in his life which is understandably smaller. Not that it really matters but I want to assure you that the compensation is not for slight of anatomy, rather than slight of trailer. I'll agree with you that some guys you see at the track pull up with 40 feet of trailer for two karts and it looks a little ridiculous. Unless you are the factory support group then who really needs all that space? But as big as our new trailer seems it still pales in comparison to most of what's out there. Makes no difference to me though. I've got running water, heat, and air-conditioning to comfortably accomodate all of us. We've got 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, full bath, and every other creature comfort you can imagine. And the best part is I have my very own "shop" in the back of the unit. Is this a great country or what?

Oh, did I mention the truck is new too? Yes sir! an '06 Ram 3/4 ton with a Cummins Turbo Diesel. It does the job seeing that the old truck was not nearly strong enough to brunt this new load. I just wish someone could do something about the obscene prices that I myself and all my oil-burner brethren have to pay for fuel. And if fill ups weren't enough of a small fortune then don't even get me started on all the aftermarket performance add-ons that are available for this thing, I have to fight this temptation every day. Even if I wanted, there's nothing I can do anyway. The Jeanie informed me that I've pretty much rubbed a hole in his lamp.

A belated Happy Holidays to all

We wanted to wish you and yours a very merry christmas, and hope you'll enjoy a great new year. Pray for good health and prosperity, a safe and quick return for all of our troops fighting overseas, and that my son will return to normal some time soon.

God bless us all!