Winning :)

Hello to all of you!!! Once again I am bringing you up to speed on what our Hubby/Wife race weekends have been like for the last few weeks.  Lets see -- Last post was the end of June - Since then we have been to Caprock twice & Jeremy went to Hobbs while I went to a class reunion.

First outing at Caprock left me hungry for a win - I think if I remember correctly I went out 4th round on both days. I had a chance to make a jump on Jeremy and Cory in points since neither of them did well on Saturday but I didnt make up much ground, but alittle is better than nothing. We had some problems at the track with the timing system and we were down for a couple of hours all together I think - but they did get things up and going and we finished the race... but it was super late when it was done.

The following weekend I had a 10 year High School class reunion.. crazy.. I think things like Facebook ruined it though.. We did have about 30 or so show up.. but it was nothing like we had imagined it being. We had a silent auction and some great food. I got to see people I honestly hadnt seen in 10 years. I enjoyed getting to decorate and help Holly get the silent auction together! We had a good time afterwards on Friday night at the McDonalds house just visiting on the back porch. I love nights like these.  Saturday night after the reunion the after party was at our house since I was going to be home alone while Jeremy was gone racing. We stayed up til 6am... crazy I am usually not EVER up near this late.. but I guess once every 10 years really isnt that bad.  Jeremy had gone to Hobbs to race and he called me around 10:30 or so because Cory's car had broke and he wanted to know if I cared if Cory drove my car - naturally I said No... but only because he's extremely experienced and I wont let just anyone drive my racer.. I guess Im just protective of her... lol  Anyway turns out- Cory won in my car!!! I was so excited and I felt great after talking with Cory and his dad on the phone about it after he had won.

Brings me to this weekend. Back to Caprock :)  Saturday... seemed to be a perfect day.. I could do no wrong.. I did lose one round against Kevin Thorp - he sure has my number at that place ... I havent been able to beat him yet! With 5 cars left..Jeremy, Cory and I were all still in.. Jeremy got the "Bye" run which means he wouldnt have to race anyone since there was an odd number of cars. Cory and I tried to stay away from eachother but it didnt work. I love racing great racers so I was up for the challenge going up against Cory. Somehow we were both red on the tree but since he was dialed just slightly slower he left 1st so he was red before me... He is such a great competitor and racing people like that only make me better! Jeremy was also red in his bye run so the only guy left got the bye run at 3. Jeremy and I had to face off for the first time in a while. As Jeremy puts it " she beat me on both ends of the track" ... we had a good race and somehow I did come out on top and going into the finals.  This would be my 3rd final of the year..I had split one with Jeremy...Lost one in Hobbs ..so I was really hungry for the win... and I GOT IT! I was so happy to see my win light come on... it makes for such a great day!!

I am looking forward to next month already! Caprock is putting on an "All Girls Class" on Aug. 4th and I could not be more pumped up for that! We are also going to hit up the Lindsey Calloway Toy Race in Hobbs.. Its always a lot of fun.. and in the two times my car has been there its been in the finals so thats pretty good!! There will also be Labor Day to look forward to @ Caprock Motorplex!!

As for this weekend.. We are off to Mexico -{Pray for US} Jeremy's cousin Brantley is getting married..so we will be there Thurs- Sun. I hope we have fun and dont have any travel problems!

So I guess thats it for now... I guess for you fellow racers I'll be seeing you soon.. and I hope that everyone racing this weekend has an awesome time!

5 Straight Weekends...

We have been racing for the last five weekends - I get home on Mondays and work consumes me for the week so I have not had much time to blog about all the losing we have been doing.  :(   

Memorial day at Amarillo was hot and windy (as always) but we had a great turnout. I heard 90 something cars in our class which was amazing! Racing however did not turn out so great for the hubby/wife team of ours. Seems like we went rounds but couldn't make it count when it needed to. I honestly can't even remember who won exactly - Our friends the Braceys (Kevin, Cole and Alan) did really great though if I do remember correctly. So kudos to Wicked Motorsports as always!  

The next weekends that followed we spent at our new favorite place to race (Caprock Motorplex) - This place reminds us of Abilene in the good ol days when all of our friends would all show up at the same place to race. Makes for an interesting day with so many good racers in your class - but it makes it easier (somewhat) to lose to a friend rather than to someone you don't know as well or like as much :)  Jeremy has made numerous semi final appearances at Caprock but can't seem to get thru that last round taking him to the finals.  He is however the Caprock points leader so that makes it a little better, I guess...he will get over this semi slump soon! 

One off weekend we got a chance to go hang out with our friends the Thorps and Johnstons at the biggest JR Dragster race I have ever been to in Midland, TX. It was something to see thats for sure! 58+ kids on the property and they came anywhere from California to New Jersey. Tanner, Tyler and Jalen all raced good - We were proud to be apart of their pit crew :) We ate BBQ and got to visit.. and watch some good little racers do their thing! It was a fun weekend with great friends!

As we go deeper into the season it will only get hotter from here. When I say hot.. I mean like 120+ degrees on the racetrack...and the asphalt of course where we pit. Some people probably are wondering what in the world I even do it for. Its become a part of me. When I'm not there Im checking on friends at other races elsewhere or we are watching NHRA on TV or simply getting things ready to go again. Washing cars - Changing Oil - fixing things ...Its like anything else.. once it gets in your blood its def. there to stay. Its a chance for me to still be competitive and to beat up on the boys - I think thats the best part!! So I'll continue to sweat - but try not to complain too much - Thats one thing I have come to really hate..Racers show up (having already looked at the weather) and complain and cry about how hot or windy or this or that - just SHUT UP AND RACE :) This will always be a favorite saying of mine out there. Trying to stay positive is hard especially around a bunch of negative people that show up to race or to be part of a racers crew- but oh well... I'll do the best I can.

We will take this weekend off again ( 2 in a row) and then make an appearance at Caprock next weekend. Hopefully we can finish one off for a change! We will have two classes to compete in Sat and then just one on Sunday! I already can't wait to get back in my car and hopefully turn on some win lights!

Congrats to all my friends who have done well lately - Cassie Pennington and her Hubby Michael have been representing another awesome Hubby/Wife racing team around the East and South Texas area! :) Our cousin Cory Beatty has been wrecking shop at Caprock as well - and is currently second behind Jeremy in the points! Its quite the family affair as somehow I am sitting third..I need to do a better job next weekend though!!  Tanner Thorp - JR Dragster winner at Caprock last time we were there... Tyler went rounds also and is the Leader of the Summit Series points at Caprock and Top three in Caprock points - Great job boys!  I know I am missing people - so Congrats to all that have done so great lately... Keep up the good work even though we all know how quickly you can go from Hero to Zero in this great sport.

Good LuCk to all the racers racing this coming weekend!

 - -  Happy 4th of July to everyone next week!!

On a side note - for the racers who take the time to read this. A friend of ours from Kansas has found out that she has a form of bladder cancer.. Jeryka is a young, strong woman and I would like you guys to just say a prayer for her to have a quick recovery!! Anyone else who reads this can say one too !! I just figured since I talk about racing in my blog that its mainly you racers that read it! Anyway if y'all could do that for me I would greatly appreciate it - and I know she will too! She also has a blog as well..if you would like to follow her journey....   jerykalobner.blogspot.com  

Til next time... :)

Racing :)

Weekend April 28 - - -
Having a planned time to leave to go racing is hard to stick to. Friday ended up being a super crazy day for us at work and we didn't get out of town until the sun was going down. We got to Hobbs around 10 I guess after almost having an altercation with some idiot at a gas station about 5 min from the racetrack. After riding in a motorhome of some sort and pulling a trailer making you waaay over length I have a new found respect for truck drivers. So next time you don't let one of them on the loop or make it difficult for them to turn in somewhere.. Imagine me cussing at you cause thats how frustrating it is to drive a big rig. We waited for a boyfriend/girlfriend combo to get out of the way so we could get fuel for at least 10 min - they were parked at the outside pumps just talking, flirting, carrying on but most importantly NOT GETTING ANY GAS! Anyway.. we get to the racetrack finally. I managed to cook supper and get to bed fairly early after some brief visiting. My husband the night owl did not turn in until waaaaaaaaaay later - do you see a pattern starting to form here ?  ha ha ha

Saturday was hot not the hottest I've ever been but it was hot. Heat tends to make tracks slick and greasy and not good to race on for us. After having a second drivers meeting they have made the decision to wait a few hours to start. So we got to watch some Jr Dragsters. Jeremy helped Tyler Thorp and Kevin(their dad) helped Tanner who is Tyler's twin brother. We have really enjoyed the friendship we have made with these boys and their awesome parents (Kevin and Nicole) and we have loved watching the boys develop into the great racers that they are. I have always told Jeremy when those boys get "big cars" like ours - I QUIT! ha ha They are going to continue to do great things and Im excited to see it!

We made a few time trials and started up the rounds.   1st and 2nd round were pretty easy - as both of my opponents went red on the tree (basically a false start for those of you who arent racers) so I get the automatic win...3rd round would be the hardest race of my night - as I am paired with my new cousin (by marriage) Cory Beatty.  Cory has been racing a long time and we have always gone back and for beating on one another - but I was nervous because I knew it would be a tough race.  It was an extremely close race - closest one I have had all year but somehow I came out with the win light and I would move on.  We all get together after rounds and talk about what happened and who won and who lost and after talking about this with all the guys we have come to find out - Im the only one out of our clan thats still in. I make a couple more rounds and am headed to the final round once again!  Unfortunately I went red in the final for the loss.  Despite how bad red it was ...I have found some confidence that I thought was lost after last year only being in a couple of final rounds.

I am going into May very hopeful of continuing this streak of good driving that has fallen in my lap and hopefully I will have many more fun weekends to keep writing about!!

..... Next stop Wichita Falls :)

I had planned on publishing that first part of the blog well.. The Monday we got back - but as we all know things just get too busy and I put it off and well.. here I am today on a Tuesday after a long hot windy weekend in Wichita Falls with no winning to report but some good stories to add.

Jeremy and I left Thursday night after work (which has been stressful to say the least with all these new pulling units but anyway...) We get to WF around 10:30 visit with friends for a bit and turn in for the night. Friday is the 64 car shootout which was full but since racing is so unpredictable for many of us there were about 10 cars that had dropped out and were not replaced. Jeremy and I both made it to second round but that was about as good as it got for our camp.

Saturday was hot but thank goodness for some wind to kinda keep things bearable. Saturday was without a doubt the worst day of racing I have had all season. I lost every single round I staged for. I was alittle frustrated to say the least but I know you cant win them all. Jeremy did better though making it pretty deep into rounds - but like I said before there is no winning to report this weekend. Our friends Kevin Thorp - Mike Lamberson - and Jim Calloway led the pack - Jim had a great day and ended up winning the race!

Sunday morning I was determined to do some better racing than Saturday.  Everything went pretty well for me up until about 4th round.  I ran a guy from Arizona. Now in racing we have whats called a "dial-in" and most everywhere is it displayed on a HUGE scoreboard at the end of your lane. In order for the electronics to work in your favor for this racing stuff you need to have your dial and your OPPONENTS dial in this box we have in our cars.  Well my opponent had a 4.57 in for his dial in instead of a 4.67 ... making a longer story shorter he went red and lost ... but when he got back to his trailer and realized this.. he DEMANDED a re-run.  I told Jeremy absolutely NOT - No Way - NOT HAPPENING!  Jeremy went to the tower and relayed my message so I could keep a cool head in the situation.. The guy was put BACK in the RACE after I clearly beat him - So of course Im mad. I go up for next round wanting to run him again but I didnt want to be cocky about it and get my butt handed to me so I pulled up - checked my tires and got into my car. Sure enough though - I did get my second chance to run that guy.  He ended up going red AGAIN..and I was soo excited to have beat him out again fair and square. It felt good to come back down the return road and have our friends clapping and yelling for me. :)
I lost the next round with 5 cars left. I was disappointed - but much happier than the day before and I had a feeling of satisfaction in beating the guy that made such a HUGE deal for nothing.  Jim Calloway won day TWO also!  He did a great job and drove great!  Cade Bracey and the Thorp boys also did a great job as always this weekend ...and so did our good friend Tyler Dax !

We will hopefully be off to Amarillo this weekend for a 3 Day Race again - Then we might let things cool off in the racing world as the temperatures will surely soar these next few months.

I'll keep yall updated on the upcoming races! Wish us LuCk!  

GoOd LuCk to all our Friends racing @ other tracks this weekend!

Racing thus far...

Well as all of you probably know my Hubby and I spend quite a few weekends away from the house, sweating in a double layer firesuit with gloves and helmets on in 90+ degree weather, driving 140+ mph - trying to win some cash every now and again. Jeremy has been racing something since he was 15 years old and is a pretty salty racer when it comes down to it, and no Im not just saying that because he's my husband - he really is pretty good! Me on the other hand, well lets just say Im getting to where I wanna be finally after racing for about 7 years. I honestly can't believe its been that long.  Its been alot for me to learn and even though I still dont actually mechanic on anything - I think I have a pretty good understanding of the sport, and I've done some pretty great things I think!!

 We started out our racing season this year in San Antonio at a 2 day race which was going to pay $3,000 to win both days - We ended up spending more time with our friends the Penningtons than anything else because it rained us out until Sunday. Unfortunately Sunday we did not get in the winners circle and it was a bit frustrating actually but you can't win them all!

We made our next outing at Amarillo Dragway a couple of weeks ago. It was a fun weekend - Jeremy had originally thought his motor was hurt, but it turned out to be okay. I got beat with 8 cars left by our buddy Cole Bracey. It was really more my fault since my foot accidentally slipped off the throttle when I went to take off, so I beat myself actually.

Which finally brings me to the last weekend for me to catch you guys up on.  This past weekend we traveled to Odessa to Caprock Motorplex. We hadn't been there since it closed down a couple of years ago, and now the Wrights are running the place and it was great! I can't say enough about the track we had no problems and we had 53 cars in our class - Thats the most we have seen at a track in a long time unless its a big money race. We also got to see most all of our San Angelo friends and many others that we have not been able to see in a long time. So there was lots of drinking and talking Friday night - a handful of them stayed up half the night, but not me - I turned in fairly early to get some sleep.  When Saturday morning rolled around I didn't think my hubs or my dad had much of a chance of winning that day because their eyeballs were literally hanging out of their heads from all the drinking that happened the night before. haha   Me on the other hand was rested and ready (as always).  A typical raceday usually consists of a couple of time trials - a dash for cash and then rounds.  Saturday's dash for cash would pay $450 bucks to the winner. Each racer that enters puts a dial in (what they think their car will run) on their car and you make a pass. Normally the person who runs closest to their dial in wins but in this case it was the best package. Jeremy made his run and was dead on his dial with a 7, Dad made his run and was dead on with a 0 (4.700). So naturally we all thought Dad was going to win - however I had not made MY run at this point. I went 4.844 and was .002 on the tree. Giving me a .006 package and Dad a .008 package - I ended up winning $450 to start our day! I did split that money with my pops though cause I am nice :)  So into rounds we go!

 First round me and my dad both lost - Jeremy ended up winning so that was good. Most places you can buyback into the race for second round so we did. Second round - Jeremy and I are winners - Dad lost so he was out.  Jeremy and I stayed away from eachother best we could all night. We ended up as the last two cars left! Husband and Wifey final! We did not actually run out the final round because it was around 2am when it was over, but it was a great way to end our Saturday! This makes the 3rd final round Jeremy and I have raced eachother in. I think currently he is up on me 1-0 seeing as how the last two finals we made together we just decided to split the money since it was all going to the same place anyway. I think people would really like to see us race eachother though! haha So maybe next time I'll make him actually race me just for fun!  Jeremy let me keep all the money from Saturday so I was pretty excited :)

Sundays portion of the race was hot, and by Sunday we are usually worn out and ready to go home but we raced anyway.  Jeremy went red second round and was out, and I ended up going red 3rd round so I was out. Dad didn't race at all - he was exhausted!

All in all it was a great weekend for us racing! We had many of our friends go rounds and did great as well! Jory and Wes did awesome in footbrake both days! If they could learn to stay away from eachother they might could have ran eachother in the finals!  In the Jr Dragster ranks our good friends Tyler and Tanner Thorp did great as always w/ Tyler making it deep both days and WINNING it on Sunday! We are super proud of him!

 I am going to try real hard this year to blog our race weekends - might be fun to look back on one day!  For now I know we have a busy schedule coming up.. 2 big money races in May that we are looking forward to right now. One at Amarillo Dragway and one at Wichita Falls Raceway Park! Both 3 day races with payouts over $3,000 a day to win! So hopefully we can bring home some money from those races!  We are off to Hobbs Motorsports Park this weekend.. Stand by for results next week! :)

Pics are kinda hard to take while we are racing - but here are a couple that I have from last year!

Jeremy & Me @ Amarillo Dragway 2011

Me @ Hobbs Motorsports Park 2011 but its a Cool Pic!