July 27th in the books, and August 3rd is off

Although the amount of money spent this weekend wasn't nearly as much as last week's, the amount of frustration seen from driver and crew was just as high.

It all boils down to seat time. And when priorities with one of my three jobs or scheduling conflicts in our personal lives should interfere with this it's easily noticed on race day. We only managed to finish a couple of hours of testing time on Saturday, and with the track being as dusty and loose as it was we never really found any quality times from it. Contrary to the belief that smaller drivers need to have all of their bars removed, we did find that we ran much better with the rear bar installed on our kart. It was apparent that Sam was faced with a loose condition on corner exit and adding this bar just about eliminated it. He liked the way the kart now felt so we figured that's where its new home was going to be.

Race day would once again begin with a false impression on how we would stack up against the others. I often wonder if the other drivers are not as quick to find their race legs as we are, or if by some cruel joke they decide to sand bag the first couple of sessions so we feel we're "on it". More than I can remember have we looked very quick in practice only to have our competition pull away from us later in the day. In the final, Sam did manage to narrow this margin as all five drivers were within three tenths of a second of one another. Sam brought up the rear but was easily within striking distance of Tyler Lucich who was closely guarding the fourth place spot. We later commented on how we both felt that if the race was one more lap it may have been a different story but we'll just have to wait until our next race on August 17th to see if that will be the case.

So with that we want to apologize to everyone for pulling the August 3rd date from our schedule. We're planning on using this down time for a much needed engine rebuild in addition to our family vacation to Road America for the American Le Mans Series event. Ahhh, one week of getting to enjoy our trailer with no kart to work on in the back of it. For a change I get to be the spectator while someone else works their tail off for that win, and believe me I will revel in every minute of it.

It began to look like we couldn't buy a break.

I know I've said it before and with my luck I fear today won't be the last, but this was by far the worst week we've ever had to date. Beginning this last Tuesday our intention was to get out and dust off the cob webs after a six week hiatus from racing. We planned on practicing each day out at our local track leading up to this past weekend's event. But all too often we find that what you plan for is not always what you get.

Our first day back behind the wheel was supposed to be a carb needle familiarization day. In our class, like many others, you have to pretty much master the art of carb set up if you're ever going to run right. These things are so touchy that what may have worked one weekend could be totally off the next. And if the weather changes in a single day you can find yourself starting all over again real quick. Unfortunately for us this test was never to be as we cracked our frame and had to call it quits until we could find a welder. One day later, $150 lighter, and we were back on track again. Or so we thought.

On the second day we spent most of our time reassembling the kart. A hair brained idea of mine to strip it to the bare frame had back fired so I was looking at more work than I should have really had to do. The night before, I had an idea that if I could skinny this thing down a bit I might be able to fit it in my wife's car and save myself an obscene charge for a mobile welder to visit us. It wasn't until she arrived did I find that the frame didn't fit at all. One more lousy inch of clearance and it would have gone in. Aside from the fact that I now realized I was going to pay dearly to have this thing fixed, I also realized I made more work for myself than had I just removed the components around the spot that needed welding. No need to cry over spilled milk. We jumped on it and began assembling it before the welds were even cool. Once the dust settled and we had it back together again there was about fifteen minutes left in the session to get Sam out on the track and shake it down for any loose bolts or anything needing a last minute tweak. Not bad for the deficit that we were once facing. I sent Sam to get his gear on while I put the wheels back on and as if the gods of high performance were messing with us, a broken hub stud sidelined us for the day.

We returned on the third day with a new hub and a strong determination to put the past few days of bad luck behind us. We checked everything over, gave it a clear bill of health, and sent man and machine out onto the track for some much needed seat time. Everything appeared to be going smoothly, that was until he found himself under full throttle situations and the kart was stumbling all over itself. After several failed attempts at tuning the carb we found ourselves in the same situation that we had been in at the last Midwest Sprint race. It sounded like the pop-off was inaccurately set and in desperate need of an inspection. Not having the tools or knowledge in handling situations like this, we packed up for the day and made a call to our engine builder not knowing if he was even coming to the track this weekend.

So day three was over and we managed to complete just seven laps of this track. I found myself asking god why this was happening. Was it bad Karma? Had I been such a bad person that I now was finding myself paying some sort of penance for my sins? If so, why drag my son into it? I had spent a lot of time and an equally appalling amount of money this week and in the end this is all we get? These and many other questions were running through my head including whether or not there was another sport that we could get into that would take less of a toll on us financially as well as mentally.

Sunday - Race day. Not knowing whether our engine builder had got my voice mail, or for that matter if he was going to be at the track at all, we could do nothing but wait. He did eventually arrive and although we had to skip the first practice session he changed the pop-off setting and we changed the filter, fuel lines, and spark plug. After all, with a week like we had I wasn't about to chance anything here! We set out for P2 and found that it ran as good and strong as it ever did. Light at the end of the tunnel? I'm not saying a word yet.

We had the usuals show up for this weekend's event. That is, the drivers who usually finish ahead of us. But the difference this time was that Sam had stayed well within range of them through one of the heat races and the final. In one heat race he climbed up the back of Andrew Kiedrowksi and did a half spin off course. Once he got his wings again he was about ten kart lengths from the back of the pack and never had time to catch up. Either way, the new carb and my lesson learned on where my adjustments need to be seemed to garner us a new found respect as no one to be counted out. We were showing that we could run with them and with a little more practice I have no doubt that he'll be in that pack soon.

We eventually finished fifth and posted a personal best so far this season of a 39.64second lap.