Sorry everyone! I haven't been able to update all of you on our progress so far this year. Obligations with work and family have made it nearly impossible to keep this site up to date as well as my own personal page over at
3am with Gus.I'm serious about passing the torch to our illustrious hero that I write about every week and make him bring these installments to you with his very own words. This was our (my) intent when we started this blog four years ago but I've been more or less sucked in to it myself when his reluctance to pursue journalism was made all too clear. I've told him that pro drivers today spend an equal time, if not more, on marketing themselves and handling all of the "non-racing" tasks that are so essential in keeping your sponsors and the public happy as you do with your driving responsibilities. It's just part of the machine and you have to be just as successful outside the car as you are inside if you're ever going to make it work. And if by any chance he doesn't decide to go as far as he can in this field he might stand a chance of getting an A+ in English. Not too bad of a trade off I'm thinking. Wouldn't you agree?
So far this year we've been to our local track three times already with two of our visits being actual race weekends. The first time out was points race #2 and we were treating it like any other test day. Sam had not one moment behind the wheel this season so we were content on going out to just shake down the new kart and its engine. It didn't take him all that long to get acclimated with things again but a new seat that had been formed without a nice radius on it was thwarting his ability to concentrate on his driving. It cut so badly in to his side that he was literally holding his breath in pain while going through corners at speed. This forced us to fore go the main and just pack it up for the day.
We got out and tested for a few hours one afternoon and found a couple of tenths but we were still a world off our pace from last year. Almost to the tune of a full second. With it only being our second time out and combining it with the fact that he was still nursing some serious rib wounds we decided to keep our chin up, get some rest, and look forward to points race number three.
With some new safety equipment and a rested driver we headed to the BKC in hopes of finding some much needed faster times. Disappointing the day was in that we were scheduled to be in New Castle Indiana for a Midwest Sprint series race but with our new trailer being two weeks overdue we had to stay back home and race Dousman as the alternative. Only one other competitor in our class was in attendance with the remaining drivers opting for the MWSS race. Shades of years past were evident with the small field but with a bit of optimism we felt our personal best times would be lowered if this was our only objective of the day. The race found us finishing second to our competition and although it didn't net the results we had hoped for, a 40.20 second lap was our fastest time of this year so far.
Now we're off to Badger again next week on Mother's Day. It's a last minute addition to the schedule and one that was given the full blessing of by my lovely wife so no scoffing here folks. I purposely left it off the planned schedule just for her but since she said it was OK then it's OK with us. No one needs to tell me twice that we're going racing.
