Up Next: Lorain County Speedway

It appears we will have the car finished in time to race at Lorain County Speedway on July 4th. We are looking forward to finally being back on track this weekend.

We Will Be Idle One More Week

I am in the middle of taking 6 semester hours in three weeks at Kent State University as part of fulfilling as part of my teacher licensing requirements, and have had literally no time to repair the damage from the crash at Lorain County Speedway two weeks ago. So, the car will sit idle for one more week.

I plan to repair the car on July 3rd, and we will return to action on July 4th at Lorain County Speedway

Happy Fathers Day!

We hope all of you have a Happy Fathers Day!

Car Will Be Idle This Weekend

We have a family commitment on Saturday night, so we will not be making the trip to Midvale for the Northern Ohio Legends Series race. We will be back in action at Barberton Speedway on June 30th.

It appears that the car only suffered minor damage at Lorain, so we should have it back together well in advance of the Barberton event.

Crash Ends Our Night Early

What's worse than finishing dead last? Finishing dead last and not even completing the first lap. That's the way our Feature went Saturday night at Lorain County Speedway. In this photo, you can see my view of the track lights as I sailed through the air.

After finishing fifth in our heat with a much better handling car, we lined up in the 9th position for the Feature. Coming off turn 4 at the end of the first lap, a car spun at the front of the pack and set off a chain reaction that sent our car through the air after striking Dave Spotton's and Mike MacDonald's cars. The car then landed hard, bottoming out as it returned to earth.

Check out the video below for an in-car account of the first lap. Even after carefully padding the inside of the car, I managed to find un-padded places to strike with my arm and ankle. I bet I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Crash Ends Our Night Early

Getting Ready for Lorain

Just a few items remain, and we will be ready for the Northern Ohio Legends event at Lorain County Speedway on Saturday, June 13th. We learned quite a bit about the setup and the changes needed over the last several weeks, so hopefully that super-loose condition is behind us.

Hope to see you there!

Good Night at Barberton on June 6th

While the finishes don't exactly show it, the car ran the best it ever has at Barberton Saturday night. On Friday night, I completely re-worked the setup and included some things I should have been doing all along.

I finished 6th in my Heat, and went on to finish 11th in the Feature. We were held up a bit at the beginning, and that set up the group of cars I was running with to get lapped about 3/4 of the way through the feature. Check out the in-car video in the article below. This is the first of many more in-car videos to come.

Overall, I was very pleased with the setup and the car, and can't wait to get back to Barberton. Yes, you read that right.

#85 In-Car Video

We Visit Lander Elementary School

In what has become an annual event, we visited Lander Elementary School on Friday, June 5, 2009.

Our first stop was at our daughter Hannah's second grade class, where I was the "Mystery Reader." I read a book that Hannah wrote and gave to me for Father's Day when she was three years old. Many thanks to Mrs. Dugal for having me in class today.

The next stop was with all the fourth-grade classes. We talked about safety, teamwork, engineering, communication and other skills necessary to be successful in racing, or most other sports and vocations. We then went outside and students got a close-up view of the car. Many thanks to the fourth-grade teachers for having me in class today.

Both classes received our baseball cards. This has become one most rewarding activities we participate in all year. It's important to me to do just as much off-track as I do on-track.