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Racing As A Family Since 1999

Tracy			Dana

January 2006 Reports

28 January - Speeds Farewell Bash

Dana (#38) prepares for the Fastest Time of Night shoot-out against birthday guy Brent (L)

With Speeds closing on January 31 a group of our MSOKC friends gathered there for one last Saturday night of racing. Eric & Dave Creech, Randy Kilbarger, Dale Bethel, MaShawn Jones, Rocky Johnson, Todd Mees, Tracy and I were all registered early. Dana came in from a friend's party just in time to get in the first heat.

That first heat was cool - a Conlin SpeedSports sweep with Tracy winning, beating Dad and Dad beating Dana by only .014. That run actually put Tracy third fastest for the day and ninth fastest for the month. Fourth was Eric and then Randy. In the second heat things changed around a bit. Eric and Randy were P1 & P2 with Todd third & Dana fourth. Dave and Dale followed her. Tracy and I were bogged down in 7th & 8th with poor excuses for go-karts. None of 'em pushed Tracy out of the Fastest Time of Day and Month positions but Eric's performance moved him right behind her in both.

Dana was on top of the results sheet for heat #3 with Eric turning in another good run for second. I managed third with some interloper inserting himself between me and the rest: Tracy, Randy Rocky, Dave and Todd. Her time was good enough for 3rd FTD and 9th FTM. It was in this heat that I thought I had again incurred the wrath of Rocky. About mid-way through the heat I closed in on Rocky and a guy not from our group. The closer I got to their battle, the clearer I could see that this guy had been watching too much NASCAR and was of the "rubbing is racing" school. Well, actually, at Speeds rubbing is racing but this guy's theory had evolved into "crashing is racing". As I was trying to figure out how I could get him so I could take on Rocky, he launched a Bonsai attack going into the last hairpin before the pit straight. He hit Rocky so hard that as they bounce apart in different directions I was able to slip between them. As I passed Rocky all I could think of was that Rocky would think I did that to him. And it has been reported here before what happens when Rocky goes into retaliatory mode. More...

28 January - Let Us Get You A Room

When I travel on business, I almost always stay at Holiday Inn Express hotels. Most of them are new and well kept, these days they're just about everywhere, they're usually less than a hundred bucks a night, most have free wireless Internet (so I can update this web site on the road from the bed, at the workdesk or even in the bathroom - now there's a image you probably didn't really want), free breakfast with great variety and the Priority Club is one of the best frequent stay rewards programs out there (and believe me, I've tried them all). For long stays in one location I often choose Candlewood Suites, also by the Holiday Inn people, for many of the same reasons.

So when we got the opportunity to become an InterContinental Hotels Group Affiliate and provide a link for our visitors to get the "Lowest Internet Rates Guaranteed" on all InterContinental hotels - and make a few bucks for ourselves in the process - we signed up. That's why the Holiday Inn Express Official Site banner showed up at the top of our site about mid-January.

So if you travel for business, racing or just for vacations, click through us to make your reservations for any Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels. In affect, we'll be your travel agent when it comes to lodging. Wouldn't you rather have those commissions go to a fellow kart team than to Expedia, Travelocity or Hotels.com? You can bet we would! Just click the banner at the top of our main page here and make your reservations like normal. You don't have to do anything else - InterContinental knows you came from our site and will give us credit.

Stay Smart® and let us get you the room.

22 January - In Jan NKN

The January issue of National Kart News has Mike Unger's converage the TaG 200 at New Castle Motorsports Park and we managed to get into a number of photos and a side bar article about our crew led by an all female driving team. We were pleased to see that that article got our partners, Infonetics, Goodyear BW Tire, KAM Karting, POWERsports & J&J Racing a nice mention. If you're a subscriber, the article starts on page 24. If you're not a subscriber, what's wrong with you?

The January issue is also the 20th Anniversary edition for National Kart News. We'd like to be one of the first teams to extend congratualations to Editor Curt Paluzzi and all the staff at NKN for standing the test of time in a industry that sees a lot of turn over. In fact, Dana gives her own salute to NKN and/or its readers in a photo on page 49 among the likes of Derek Daly, Jay Leno, Sam Hornish, Danny Sullivan and Pablo Montoya.

We'll let you find a copy of the January NKN to read on your own but in a few weeks we'll post a copy here for our readers that don't yet have NKN coming to them every month.

14 January - Rematches and Reprisals At Speeds

In December we posted details of a visit to Speeds indoor karting center to settle a score between Tracy and boyfriend Robert. The episode was teeming with tension as Robert at first bettered Tracy's times before Tracy got a good kart and starting position to put in a time that was better than anything Robert could muster. But that report finished up with me casually (I thought) mentioning that even Tracy's best time wasn't a quick as her old dad's best time. All sorts of excuses were promoted for that but the bottom line was that the old man beating her hung over Tracy's head for a month.

One of the reasons, and probably the most valid one was that the December visit was Tracy's first visit Speeds. So when we returned on January 14 to join our karting friends for a surprise birthday party for Mike Dillon, there were some scores to settle. At least as far as Tracy was concerned. And settle she did. She must have been psyching herself up for it for days since she went out and not only beat dad but a lot of other people. Of the 36 drivers that were in our group, Tracy beat 32 of them, her best time putting her fourth, behind only Ray Bazar, Tim Tope and Randy Deem - all pretty good company. She made Dana and Dad look absolutely silly as we were mired back in 17th and 18th position, respectively. Yes, even Dana beat Dad. In fact, Dana may have done better than 17th but we'll never know because we never got the official results for heat #47, the last race of the night. Full results can be found here.

Now, the results have a lot to do with the karts but Tracy was one of the quickest in each race she drove. It also had something to do with the company you kept on the track and the consequences of one's actions. I, for example, was racing along in one of my heats, minding my own business when I came under attack from behind. After a few corners of getting bumped and pounded and shoved off line, I managed a glance back to see who the bully was. Rocky. Why was I not surprised?

After a few laps of that and a really big effort to push me off line NASCAR style, Rocky lined me up and pushed me straight into a wall. It was a glancing blow and he still didn't get by completely. Which was unfortunate for him as my kart suddenly went out of control and it pushed Rocky right into the wall on the other side of the track. Rather hard too, I'm told. It was a good thing he was there because his kart, as it squashed against the wall, snapped my kart back into control. Whew, what a relief that was. Thanks to Rocky I was able to carry on and finish the race turning quick laps!

When Rocky gridded a few rows behind me in the very next race I really didn't think much of it. But when, about half-way through the race, I started getting clobbered again, it was like déjà vu all over again. When Rocky drilled me going into the hairpin at the end of the long straight I couldn't hold my line and he was able to get inside. But he didn't get by and I was able to stay with him on the exit of the hairpin and through the left in the left-right S before the pit straight. I was ready and willing to race ol' Rock all the way down to turn one and beyond but that depended on a little cooperation in the right of the left-right.

The last thing I remember was thinking, "I wonder if Rocky's gonna give me room", right before the lights went out for a second. When Rocky took his normal line I had no option but to give the guard rail a glancing blow. But the guardrail was about as accommodating as Rocky was. Rather than glance off like a billiard ball like I was expecting, I stuck like a yard dart. I stopped so fast I don't remember it, only being shocked that I was stopped. And that my tooth was still vibrating. Best I can figure, the kart stopped then my body did but my head didn't. I think my helmet hit the steering wheel and my tooth the inside of the helmet. Freaky. Man, that was fun.

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