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31 October - Prayers Needed For A Teammate
Within a week of the RoboPong 200 we learned that Lynsey's dad, Roger Tilton, was diagnosed with Leukemia. From what I know it is one of the more complicated forms of Leukemia and it is going to get tough on him. So in less than a week he went from being trackside as part of our crew (for the 3rd year in a row) to being in isolation in a hospital room and had been there since.
If you're the type of person that talks to a God regularly or even just every once in a while put in a good word for a fellow racer facing a big challenge. Not only for him but for the entire family that is suddenly dealing with everything that goes along with a crisis like this. If it is God's will, your thoughts and prayers will make a difference.
30 October - RaceFanRadio.com Coverage
We had a lot of coverage by Charlie Brown and Greg Wright on RaceFanRadio.com during the Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone endurance race and they almost narrated our whole story. RaceFanRadio.com archives their broadcasts a while for later listening but we've snatched the audio clips that involved us and archived them here.
RaceFanRadio.com also has the entire race archived on their site and will have them up for some time. Click over there and then hit the "Click Here For Archives" button and follow then click on "Live Event Broadcasts and Bytes" and select RoboPong 200 Saturday or Sunday to hear everything that happened on both days.
27 October - Last ever Great Lakes SKUSA Banquet (new 22 November)
Jim Brickley, Eric Chappel, Barry Hatcher, Tracy, Alex Kish & Eric pose with their awards at the last Great Lakes SKUSA awards banquet ever. Photo by Julie
The entire team converged on Anderson, Indiana, Terry Riggins' hometown, for the last Great Lakes SKUSA awards banquet ever. Terry and Shirley have decided to break away from what left of the Superkarts! USA national organization now that it is based in California. "Converged" is a good word for it as only Lynn and Tracy actually originated in our home base in Hilliard. Julie came in from Ashland, Dana & Todd from Cincinnati, Dave, Joann and Eric from their home near Newark and I had to fly in from a convention in Jacksonville, Florida, arriving during dinner.
It was a big night with plenty of awards and prizes. Once again, Terry's sponsors came through with valuable door prizes (Conlin SpeedSports made out great). Tracy accepted her trophy for 4th place in the First Kart TaG Senior. Additionally, our team enjoyed some very flattering nominations including Most Improved Driver (Tracy), Sportsman Of The Year (Eric) and Family Of The Year - all of which carried extra significance since they were the nominations from our peers.
Terry and Shirley are already working on a new independent series to serve the Shifter and TaG racers in the Great Lakes Region. Budget and God willing we intend to be charter members of this new organization. Thanks to Terry and his whole crew and to INFONETICS, Bad Goat Racing, BGR Graphics, Kartworks, Powersports and Behind The Wall Racing Apparel for all their generous support through the year.
25 October - Ricart SuperCan 200 Lap Enduro Photos
We've got some great pictures posted that document the 200 lap Ricart SuperCan race at Circleville Raceway Park. Many, many thanks to Greg Wilkinson, Mike Brannon and Julie for snapping away. Click on the photo to the right or here to see 'em.
21 October - A 200 Win With An * (revised 24 October)
Eric cruises in P1 on his way to fastest race lap and most laps led - photo by Greg Wilkinson
As though one "200" endurance race in 8 days is not enough Creech Racing and Conlin SpeedSports combined efforts to form Creech-Conlin Racing for one more race of the season - the Mid State Ohio Kart Club's 2007 Super Can Endurance race sponsored by the Ricart automotive group for 200 grueling laps around Circleville Raceway Park. Jim handled race management while Tracy teamed up with "The Creech Brothers", Eric and (dad) Dave Creech to do the driving. The star driver was Eric who not only pulled superman duty by staying in the kart for 95 laps leading since lap 22, he managed to qualify second, set fastest race lap and led the most laps. Tracy and Dave were able to split up the rest of the race distance keeping the kart in first place until lap 160. Knowing that the second place Kartworks team was working a one pit stop strategy, the Creech-Conlin team decided to minimize the off-track time with a quick driver change and splash & go. The move incurred the expected one lap penalty but still put the kart back out on the track short of the required 2 minute minimum and about a minute quicker than a routine stop. In fact, even with the two pits stops Creech - Conlin Racing spent the least amount of off-track time of all the teams with only 5:25.3 consumed by "pit laps".
Mike Unger celebrates the win- photo by Greg Wilinson
The short stop wasn't enough to stay ahead of the Kartworks team but it was certainly worth the shock and awe value on the faces of competitors and officials who didn't expect such a move. Drivers Greyson Eves and Mike Unger both set a strong, consistent pace for around 100 laps each and overcame a lengthy pit stop. They moved to the front with 40 laps to go and stayed there. The Kartworks team earned the position though driver conditioning and a race strategy that capitalized on it. They were able to take full advantage of the 2 minute minimum pit stop rule/penalties which discourages 3 driver teams.
Unfortunately for Kartworks, a minor infraction was found in the tech shed removing them from the official results and handing Creech-Conlin Racing the win. Hume Motorsports with drivers Keith Hume, Matt Davis and Mike Davis moved into second spot with Team Mid-Life Crisis rounding out the top three.
Endurance racing requires a true team effort and there were several good teams running the event. But we believe the Creech-Conlin Racing had the best crew with Julie once again tracking laps, race strategy and timing our pits stops, Dave and Eric doing an excellent job prepping the kart, Lynn, Dana, Todd, Mark, Joann all providing support and even Bill Bruce helping out in the first part of the race. After a long and sometimes frustrating season for Conlin SpeedSports this was a high note to finish on. Thank you all!
18 October - Rebroadcast of RoboPong 200 Weekend
RacefanRadio.com, who was doing a live internet broadcast of the RoboPong race will be rebroadcasting both days of coverage in the next couple of days.
Today, Thursday, beginning at 1:00pm Eastern all of Saturday's broadcast will be replayed - all 8 hours! Direct your browsers to www.racefanradio.com and click on the "Listen Now" button.
Tomorrow, Friday, October 19, RaceFanRadio will rebroadcast all of Sunday's coverage. All three of our Conlin SpeedSports X team drivers were interviewed on air, Tracy's interview being done shortly after her crash. In fact, the stories that we're hearing are that her impact, which was about 10' in front of the RaceFanRadio booth, can be heard clearly over their mikes.
We're going to try to record the re-broadcast for our own archives but RaceFanRadio usually keeps these broadcasts in their on-line archives for several weeks after an event. So if you can't listen today or tomorrow we'll get you the link so you can listen when you have the time.
17 October- Mazda RoboPong 200 Photo Galleries #1 & #2
Friend and fellow Great Lakes Superkarts! USA Pro Tour TaG competitor Jim Brickley was at New Castle Motorsports Park shooting photos of the Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone. He pointed his lens our way a few times and sent us the results before we could even get the trailer back in the garage. See the images Jim caught for us here. Thanks Jim! Julie's photos from Saturday and Sunday can be found here.
14 October - We Finished But It Wasn't Pretty
Tracy leads a stream of karts in the Mazda RoboPong 200 before "The Big One" - photo by Jim Brickley
The Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone weekend did not go nearly as well as we had hoped but through perseverance the Conlin SpeedSports X entry was able complete the race finishing in 52nd position (of 94 teams entered). Wrong brake pads led to brake problems on a brake system that was flawless in the 2006 RoboPong.com 200. Running 23rd at lap 50, the unexpected accelerated wear on the pads started a series of brake system problems that led to the replacement of the entire hydraulic system. In the confusion of that work a pin was improperly installed in the brake pedal linkage.
The pin fell out at the worse possible point on the track - at the end of the backstraight where top speed is reached before going into a sharp left-hand turn. At 74 mph Tracy's left foot pushed on a pedal that was no longer connected to the brakes. The result was likely the most spectacular accident of the weekend and definitely her biggest crash ever. Partly due to Tracy's presence of mind to pitch the kart into a spin and largely by the grace of God, she hit a post in the chain link fence in front of the restaurant backwards. She was dazed and very sore but otherwise okay.
Despite massive damage to the kart, Dana was able to return to the track with the linkage pinned correctly. The twisted frame made the handling diabolical and wrestling with it soon aggravated Dana's reoccurring back problem. It was everything she could do to finish her session and get the kart to the final pit window. Lynsey then took the bent, broken and brakeless (now again) kart out for the final session. Being the professional and truly gifted racer she is, she managed to complete the last 50 laps for us dirt-tracking the kart in every corner and staying on pace with healthy karts. Lynsey's final stint was simply phenomenal, a showcase for her talents.
The best crew in the 2007 Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone - standing in front of the fence Tracy tried to knock down
Our Y chromosome team ran into trouble Saturday with handling going away in a big way for qualifying and forcing Eric and Ross Rocart to run the last chance qualifier race. Starting 15th Eric had moved up to 7th by lap 6 but reported for his schedule pit stop with no brakes. Repairs were attempted before Ross went out to complete the race but not much pedal came back. After reporting back to see if anything could be done to get more brake, Ross decided to try to finish the race without brakes. If we were impressed by Ross' abilities earlier in the year, we were amazed by his performance here, lapping in the 1:06, 1:07 range and taking the kart from 35th after the lengthy pit stop to 26th position in about 20 laps. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, only the first 20 advancing to the 200 mile race.
Once again we assembled one of the best crews at the race and if it wasn't for the dedication of each of these hardcore racers - Julie, Todd, Lynn, Dave, Joann, Mike, Barbie, Jay, Gail, Roger, Joe, Colin, J.D. and John - we wouldn't have been able to do any of this. Thank you, everyone.
06 October - Dana, Todd Exchange Vows
Our family team expanded officially on Saturday, October 6 when Dana Marie Conlin and Todd Raymond Mees exchanged their wedding vows in front of family and friends at Atonement Lutheran Church in Upper Arlington, Ohio. Officiating the ceremony was retired pastor Rev. Daniel Bell, who, as our pastor since our move to Columbus 15 years ago, has watched and helped Dana and her sisters grow into the amazing young adults they are today. Sisters Julie and Tracy shared responsibility as Maids of Honor.
The celebration continued with a reception in the Emerald Room at the MaKoy Center in Hilliard, where the couple shared their first meal as husband and wife with friends and family along with music, dancing and conversation.
Mr. & Mrs. Todd Mees will enjoy a brief honeymoon nearby returning in time for the Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone at the end of the week and will enjoy a longer honeymoon in a more exotic place early next year.
05 October - Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone Press Release and Entry List
As things heat up for this year's endurance race, New Castle Motorsports Park has issued a press release about the event and we have it here in PDF format for you to read. There is also a link to the official entry list displaying team name, number and drivers. This is a "living document" so as NCMP adds additional entries the list here will be updated. As of October 4 there are 74 teams entered.
03 October - CSS Swag: Let Them Know What You're Made Of
Conlin SpeedSports is proud to announce a partnership with Behind The Wall Racing Apparel to offer team inspired ladies' wear with a confident, competitive edge. "Less Testosterone More Determination", the CSS driver's credo since 2003, declares the how today's woman succeeds on the track and off.
Perfect for a female racer, race fan or any lady competing in a man's world. Available in a 100% cotton jersey T in small, medium, large, x-large and xx-large. Soon also available in a soft warm hoodie. Great gift idea and in plenty of time for the holidays. Get a better look here and follow the links to the Conlin SpeedSports selections and all the other racing oriented lady's wear at Behind The Wall Racing Apparel.
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