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!
