HANGING IN THERE

Mason has raced twice since I last posted. He did well in both races as he ended up in 4th and 5th places. Last night was a little rough going but we made it through. There was one mud puddle and Mason hit it during practice. We cleaned him and the kart up as they both were completely covered in 1in think greasy mud. He went back out for more practice and hit the puddle again. This time his dad was hot! He was hitting it because he likes to run on the bottom of the track. He made it through his first race but during the second race he got loose and hit the damn puddle for a third time. This time he hurt himself though and it truly wasn't his fault. He hit the steering wheel and knocked the wind out of him and bit his lip. Grandma Deloris made him stop racing so she could check him out, which dad wasn't too thrilled about. I was glad she did though because he was pretty sore. He went back out for his feature race and took 5th. They gave him his trophy and then...oops...he ran it over. It slipped out of his hand and his rear tire got it. He is driving pretty nice and making some really good moves when his is near the other racers. It's just a shame that he keeps getting out motored and we don't have the funds to get him an animal motor like the other racers are running. We will keep plugging away at it...

Rick hasn't raced since the Eastern Michigan Fair. He was all set to scrap his cars until he heard Grandma Ludwig really enjoys going and watching him race. Apparently she has gone to several of his races. He decided to keep one car and will run in North Branch if they have one in September. Rick realizes that Grandma won't be here forever and as long as it makes her happy he will race.

IT'S BECOME A JOKE...

The Eastern Michigan Fair's Bump-N-Run was last night. Rick didn't finish his heat due to a broken half shaft. He got hit by a car that he lapped. Oh well, same old story. What was interesting, however, was the fact that the counters called nearly every race wrong. Heat one was done and over and they named one driver the winner. A few minutes went by and they changed their minds, the winner was another driver. Heat three was clearly won by Joe Kirchoff #544, however, they say he didn't even come in 4th. I have the video to prove it! And you better believe I am going to bring this to their attention! Heat four was Rick's heat. Car #XXX was also in this heat and he got hung up on a jump and didn't appear to finish the race. Well, his wife argued for 40 minutes that the went too many laps and that he did finish the race and they once again changed their minds. It's this interesting? Did I mention he went on to win the Main? This is #XXX's third win in a row at this event. I'm so completely disgusted and Rick is even more so. He's seriously thinking about just leaving the car on the trailer and hauling it to the junk yard and calling it quits. If it's not the drivers messing the races up, it the officials and counters. All night long, the officials couldn't agree on which flag to throw. Half of them would be standing there holding green flags while the other half had red flags. Then when the race was done, the drivers didn't even know it was over because the officials just stood there. HELLO!!! You have red flags for a reason! Use them!!

Mason will be racing today at Arthur. Rick's working on his kart right now. I guess it's raining there as I write this but it's supposed to clear up. Keep your fingers crossed that he does well.

Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law today!

RECENT EVENTS

We had a great vacation this past weekend. Rick enjoyed it because I was smart this time and incorporated motorized events. We left Friday afternoon and headed to Jackson, MI where we went and watched go kart races. They had just a few of Mason's type of kart and several of what they referred to as "Future Stars". They also had some super modifieds that were really cool. Saturday morning we headed down to Brooklyn, MI where Michigan International Speedway is so Rick and Don (brother-in-law) could do a 3-lap ride along in an actual race truck. They loved it and of course, now they want to go back and do the driving experience. Maybe in a couple years. :) Once that was done, we headed to Montague where we camped at White River Campground. This was an awesome campground. We started Sunday out with a trip to Silver Lake and rented dune buggys and rode the dunes. Mason kept yelling at Rick to slow down. Some racer he is! :P After that we found Duck Lake State Park and swam. It fed into Lake Michigan where we all went for a dip. It was a fun time but as always, it goes way too fast.

This weekend we will be heading to Reese so Mason can race. He hasn't been in a couple of weeks. Hopefully he will finish good.

I received a letter today from the North Branch Lions Club in response to the letter I wrote voicing my opinions & concerns regarding the Auto Cross race. They took the letter before the whole club & talked to the flaggers that were at the July race. They agreed with my comments & assured me that that type of aggressiveness will not be tolerated in the future. Someone had to do something; just hope they stick to it. I hope the other Lions Clubs stick to it as well. We will be racing in Imlay City on Friday the 13th. 13 is Rick's lucky number so we are thinking positive!