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30 July - Finally!
Tracy broke our long winless streak.
Tracy broke our win drought by getting a perfect start and then running a perfect race to win the second Spec 100 heat during the Saturday evening race. She then ran strong in the feature to finish fifth right there with the leaders. Dana also ran strong in the first two TaG Senior heats and then was let down by her mechanic (me) who failed to tighten a rear wheel before the feature. Fortunately she became aware of it on the pace lap and pulled off before she had a big accident but the result was a DNS earning her no points in the feature towards the championship. Just goes to show that even at this level, racing is a team sport and if any team member messes up the total effort is affected.
The results of practice prompted us to go with new tires for the night but a shortage of club spec tires due to customs delays (damn terrorists) meant we only had one full set to use between the two karts. We would have to swap the tires back and forth between the 13 kart and the 99 kart. Normally there would be plenty of time for moving them kart to kart but the evening's event was on an accelerated schedule trying to beat the darkness. Circleville Raceway Park owner Steve Tatman had been transported to Columbus suffering from a possible stroke (prognosis was good with Steve expected to be home by Tuesday) and he was the only person that knew how to tame the CRP lighting system.
Dana was up first in TaG Senior starting on pole next to Chris Tatman but at the green Chris squeaked by into the lead. Unfortunately, Dana was soon in no position to retaliate as almost immediately a broken clutch spring was causing the brakes to lock up with the slightest pressure. That made entry into every corner an adventure and each lap a show for Len Bailey right behind her. She did manage to keep her second place in spite of the braking problem. More...
25 July - CSS To Support SICSA RDRCA Again
October 15 will again see Conlin SpeedSports roll its equipment and drivers out to Dayton in support of the SICSA Red Dog Racers Charity Auction of racing memorabilia. This will be the second year our drivers will be on hand to meet bidders before the auction starts and we'll have a kart on display to add to the racing atmosphere at the Quaker Steak & Lube restaurant in Beavercreek (across from Wright State U.) SICSA is the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals serving Dayton and the Miami Valley area and the Red Dog Racers Charity Auction benefits SICSA with the funds raised from the auctioning of a wide range of racing collectibles from a variety of racing disciplines. Many of the items have been donated by teams, tracks, series and the drivers themselves. Donations also come from other racing memorabilia collectors and fans. The 2004 Red Dog Racers Charity Auction raised $3000 for SISCA's spay and neuter program and this year's event is set to be even bigger.
This year the RDRCA has the support of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Drivers Association and Dayton's ESPN radio station WING-AM (1410 AM) will again be doing its Saturday morning NASCAR Now radio call-in program remotely from the auction site. Last year hosts Brian Casey and Lee Riley interviewed Dana and Tracy live on the air. As bidders preview the items to be auctioned, our three (oops, did I say three?) drivers will be meeting and greeting them and signing autographs for the kids along with Pikes Peak Champ Jeri Unser, Silver Crown driver Josh Wise and Super Modified driver Randy Burch.
We're hoping the real racing fan in you will bring you out to Quaker Steak & Lube on Saturday, October 15 to treat yourself to a piece of racing history (or donate one that you can give up) and support this great charity. For more info go to the RDRCA web site.
17 July - Dana Gains Much Needed Points, Tracy's Troubles Continue
Still fighting for good starts to lead to good results, both ladies had an up and down day during the fifth race in the 2005 Mid State Ohio Kart Club Vega Tire Championship. Dana persevered through the heat and humidity all day to take a second place in the TaG Senior Feature looking pretty much on pace with championship leader Chris Tatman and at times a little faster late in the race. She gained valuable points on second place man Jim Martin. Tracy on the other hand suffered through a horrible start in her first heat, a great start but bad run in the second and didn't even make it out for her feature scoring the fewest points on an outing this season. More...
10 July - A Busman's Holiday
Tracy, Chris, Dana (L to R) go wheel to wheel - sort of.
So what does a kart racing family do when they have a free evening in the middle of the summer when there's a break in the racing schedule? Find some other go-karts to race naturally.
Chris eyes up his next defensive move, taking advantage of an old guy.
It is not often that we all find ourselves with an open evening on a non-racing weekend so the occasion prompted us to find something to do together. For nostalgia's sake more than anything, I suppose, the go-karts at Sports Ohio beckoned. It was seeing the girls there at Sports Ohio eight or nine years ago doing all the right things - keeping the pedal flat to the floor, following all the right lines, getting close but not bumping - that first put the germ of the idea of going karting in our collective consciousness.
Back then those concession karts were a rush for the girls but now, after five years of full blown racing karts they seem ridiculously amusing. Back then spending $48 to get the four of us three sessions of eight laps each seemed like a tall fee for a few minutes of fun but compared to what we now spend on a typical raceday, anything under a C note seems ridiculously amusing.
The interesting thing is that the level of competitiveness doesn't scale to the power of the karts or the price of admission. The same look of determination sets on the faces and the same scowls of frustration are found after a poor result. In this case, of course, a driver's results were dependent on what kart they happened to climb into. There were a couple of real dogs and anyone that found themselves in one of those pretty much just drove around on cruise control with their arm up on the window sill - if there was a window sill. But a couple were okay and there were a couple of good races. Dana and Tracy ran at each other pretty hard. Chris had a go at Dana once. For my efforts I seemed to always be watching from behind but I'm sure that was due more to me taking pictures than from being overweight, slow on the reflexes or anything like that! In the final race we all had a good half lap with the four of us in tight formation looking for an advantage but soon Dana and Tracy began to pull away. Chris did too a bit but when catching the girls seemed unlikely, in a selfless act he dropped back to keep me amused.
Or maybe he wanted to be sure to be in the pictures.
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