Did You Miss Me Race Fans!?

Sorry to all my faithful followers who MAY have been looking for updates on Caleb's racing. I have not updated for the last 2 weeks due to various reasons that i will not go into. First off for anyone that i did not talk to last nite, Caleb is fine from last weeks horrible ordeal. All the x-rays came back fine and there were no lasting effects. Thanks goes out to the quickness of the Welland Hospital in assessing him and getting him looked after. He was none to happy about being strapped to a backboard with tape across his forehead and hair for a few hours because he had to not move his neck. Caleb claimed he felt fine and wanted to get back in his kart and race. The fact that he had potentially 280 pounds of kart and driver sitting on top of him on his head was irrelatant. Safety first so he had to endure not racing, missing Bob Davidson's annual BBQ and Corn Roast and miss out on points for the nite. VERY UPSETTING. I am just glad I don't have a quad in a wheelchair.
OK back on topic. Racing Tues August 26th!
Being the excitement of last week and our visit to the hospital, bill yet to come, Caleb was a little OK a huge amount nervous to race again. Pit Crew Chief said " RElax we are here to have fun. Just go around the track and cross the finish line. I have no problem with you finishing last just get yourself out there!" Yes we started last and finished last. Good Phase 1 complete. Next huddle was Heat 2 when he starts in first position because they flip there starting order. Just the look on Caleb's face told me he was wreastling a herd of wild butterflies. Pit Crew Cheif said " Take it easy, do your best let the faster cars by and don't worry about being aggressive just yet. Go around the track I don't expect you to finish first." The race started, bumping Caleb drops back then someone is off the track, restart. Repeat above. The third time they started single fill and i was beginning to wonder if we would run out of fuel if we keep restarting. Single fill worked and the race was on. Yes Caleb dropped back but then there was a space so he slid infornt of 2 karts. He raced a bit and ended up last again but that is OK. He was slowly getting his grove back. Feature race he started in last place which suited him just fine. Now the sponsor bibes come out. Every place above second last that you finish i will pay you $5. I have $70 in my hand let me see what you can do! He raced well considering everything. The leader did lap him but we finished 3rd last! WooHoo! Caleb pocketed $5 from 2 of his sponsors and got a bit smile on his face! Next week we will have to see how things work out but not bad in my books. My driver is happy so I am a happy pit crew cheif. hopefully next year we will be more competative and get money from the track for our place in the race not just sponsor incentive bucks.

Wed Aug 5th Racing

Welcome fans to another episode of "As My Axil Turns!" or "As the Track Turns". Maybe we should vote which one is better. Anyways good nite for racing. We used Grandpa's truck. He had to do some repairs and now it seems to be working OK. We got to the track about 6:15 and had already missed the driver's meeting. The boys from Tillsonburg were visiting again and so they upped the meeting and we were behind schedule. Which if anyone out there knows me is VERY UNUSUAL! On the good side the starting order was different with visitors and we were bumped to the end part of the list with only 2 groups racing after us. We get the kart looked over and racing began OK. The track was wet and slippery so we started the nite with the SS11 on the right rear and just played with our air pressure to try to get more grip. No matter what the changes were though it did not seem to help Caleb race much better. We seemed to be slower and sliding more than everyone else out there. Frustrating cause I made changes to the axel height adjuster 2x, we figured out why the engine was shaking the other week and fixed that, moved the back gear sprocket to line up better with the engine for smoother chain movement. Blahhh! Every race same story. 1st heat he started 5 out of 7 and finished last. 2nd heat he started 3 out of 7 and finished 6th. Then for the feature he started last in tail and finished 11 out of 13 karts! The crazy thing was he raced better in the last feature race where he was side by side with his freind #20 and #87. All 3 were jockeying around each other verging on passing the other at any point. Exciting for me to watch but everyone elase was watching the leaders because the rest of the group were 3/4 of a track ahead and almost lapped "our group" of 3. Here is the funny part. When Caleb came off the track and we go to lift him back into the truck we noticed he has a flat left front tire! here i spent all nite playing with pressure and i should have left them flat because he raced better! Go figure! Maybe it happened as he came off the track who knows at what point it occured because he slide off the track on 2 different occasions. So in light of this.... If Life is leaving you flat just think again because it actually might be better!
Till next week race fans! :-)