November 2002 Reports

23 November - Awards, Prizes and Surprises
The Mid State Ohio Kart Club 2002 Awards Banquet turned out to be quite an event for saluting its top drivers and Conlin SpeedSports was in store for several surprises.

Dana was awarded her trophy for fifth place in the Briggs Stock Medium class as expected. She shared the spot light with Jason Karr, Champion, Joe Fagan, 2nd, Jacob Gearhart, 3rd, John Fox, 4th as well as Matt Rice 6th and brother Marc in 7th. What wasn't expected was Dana receiving the Most Improved Senior Driver Award. I don't envy the selection committee (who I think consisted of Beth Hopkins, Steve Tatman, Bob Strawser and Tom Hickey) that had to make the choice. With the performances of Jacob Gearhart and Sean Dillon late in the season, it couldn't have been an easy decision. But we are very flattered and appreciative that, in the end, the nod went to Dana.

I too was surprised to learn that I was selected as the 2002 Volunteer Of The Year for my work on the club's website, msokc.org. While it is always nice to have your work acknowledged, I can't help but wonder if maintaining a rather straightforward website in the comfort of my air-conditioned family room or office really out-merits working the scales on all raceday long as Erin Dillon does or all the work that Erin, Beth Hopkins and Sarah Long put into the awards banquet. But with that said, I'll just shut up and graciously accept a very nice gesture. Julie was also shown appreciation for her dedication to managing the club's points all season with a collection of her favorite items from Bath & Body.

But our good fortune wasn't over at that point. Before the banquet was done, drawings for over a hundred door prizes took place. These were everything from hats and T-shirts to body work and new kart stands. Conlin SpeedSports managed to win a new set of tires (approx $160), a helmet bag ($35), a kart cover we've needed for a long time ($55) and a tire pressure gauge ($20). That was on top of the great meal and the freebies at each place setting. For some racers, their cash championship award, jacket and drawn prizes approached $500 in winnings! Wee Doggies!

All in all, pretty nice night out! Erin & Mike Dillon did a fantastic job of pulling everything together - the awards, the MSOKC mugs, the elegant dinner (with linens & stemware - imagine that!) at Gala Events and all those prizes. And it took only a little over 24 hours for news of the bash to make it through the grapevine and back to me from a racer that couldn't make it: "that the MSOKC banquet was a smash ... excited about all the items received ... sounds like the best one that MSOKC has had..." Great job folks.

11 November - New Kart & New Driver For 2003
As Granddad would have wanted, we're pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and looking toward the future.

We're pleased to announce that for 2003 we will be moving Dana up to the HPV class with Mike Unger's Biesse Viper which Conlin SpeedSports will take delivery of in December. For power we'll be using a Mike Manning-massaged engine purchased from Brian O'Hara. We're excited about the potential of this package and the knowledge base behind it in the form of Mike's and Brian's expeience and expert advice. We've heard nothing but good things about the Viper and J & J Racing in Erie, PA. All those benefits combined has us looking forward to getting Dana competitive as quickly as possible. We plan to run the entire MSOKC schedule plus some Ohio Sprint Series, Great Lakes or even WKA Manufacturer's Cup races.

This doesn't mean we're out of the Briggs classes. Younger sister Tracy, who has been serving as crew chief for the past three years, will give racing a try in the Briggs Stock Medium class at the MSOKC events. Naturally, we'll continue to use McCall Motorsports engines for power. We'll see how she likes the view from behind the wheel instead of behind the wrenchs. If she does, then we'll run her the enitre season too. If she doesn't we'll either sell the Margay/Briggs package, run me in the Super Heavy (I'm even more super-heavy than I used to be) class or just hang on to it for guest drivers.

We are currently beating the bushes for small sponsorships as we do every year at this time and are chasing a couple of decent leads. We will have several high-exposure associate sponsorships for as low as $300 for 2003 so if you know of a business that would like to have a very determined team fronted by a couple of very determined racergirls, have them contact us. We may surprise them with what we can do to support their marketing strategy.

1 November - We Lose A Teammate and Our Biggest Fan
On November 1, All Saints Day, 2002, we lost our biggest fan and a member of our team from before there even was a team. My Dad, the girls' grandfather, passed away after a sudden complication from cancer at the age of 73. His encouragement and pride at our races will be very sorely missed.

Born in Chicago only months before the stock market crash of 1929, "Granddad" was a fan of the local short track bullrings. He would watch the "jalopies" at Raceway Park in Blue Island but liked most to reminisce about the Midget races at Soldier Field. Those were the days when men raced in shirt sleeves and leather helmets and the names from the Indy 500 might show up on the side of a Midget car a few nights later.

My earliest racing memories were listening with my dad to the Indy 500 live on the radio. Not one to just sit and listen, he would go about his chores and house projects with the broadcast on in the background but he would pause when the announcers' attention focused on his favorite drivers, his racing heros like Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Roger Ward, Billy Vulkevich and the Bettenhausens from nearby Tinley Park.