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.