Mason Ludwig

Mason Ludwig
Mason Ludwig, Driver #31

Saturday, July 30, 2011

HEADING HOME

We are on our way home. Charlotte was alot of fun and there is so much more we could have done if we had an endless supply of money. We were able to see and visit all the race shops we had hoped too and then some. The Hall of Fame was alot of fun for the boys especially. We all drove in the NASCAR simulator race with a bunch of other people. Apparently the wrong members of this family are racing as I am the one that won the race out of everyone there! And do you think I would get a "good job". Nope. Oh well, I was proud of myself. This morning we did a tour of Charlotte Speedway. They drove us in a van around the track and the boys thought that was pretty cool. Over all we had a really good time with no issues except for this darn drive home. Next time we will be splurging and flying there and back. :P

Thursday, July 28, 2011

DAY 2 VACA

We spent the majority of the day at Carowinds Amusement Park. It was only 101 degrees. Needless to say, we are whooped. The boys enjoyed the roller coasters and water park. We spent way too much money but they had fun. We also took a trip to Ikea since it's right around the corner from our hotel. :)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

RACIN VACA

Today was our first day in Charlotte, NC. We arrived around Noon and headed to a couple race shops. Michael Waltrip Racing was our first stop. That's a super nice facility and very visitor friendly. We then went to JR Motorsports which is a smaller shop. They had a life-like statue of Dale Jr. and Mason thought it was a real man. Trent had his picture taken with him but Mason refused. He said it was "creepy". After that we went to a drive-thru zoo, Lazy 5 Ranch. They had alot of animals including goats, deer, long horn cows, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, water buffalo, "pork-belly" pigs (as the boys call them) and much more. Tomorrow is Carowinds amusement park, a division of Cedar Pointe. Should be fun. :)

Monday, July 25, 2011

HE PULLS OUT ANOTHER WIN!

Racin' Mason has won his last two feature races. He's been struggling on the heat races and dashes/shootouts but he knows what he has to do for the feature. He's learned that he doesn't like to lose. For the past two weeks there is one driver that has been giving him a hard time and appears to be intentionally driving into Mason to keep him from passing. This week he actually spun him out as Mason was on his way to the front and Mason was not happy. He held his composure though and finished the race in 3rd. Mason ended up with the ultimate payback though by winning the feature race. :)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

NO WINS :(

Both Mason and Rick raced this past weekend. Unfortunately, neither won brought home a win. Here's the details...

Saturday, July 2: Mason raced at Arthur Raceway. His practice times were good. Rick added wedge here, took out air there, and he was off to qualify. He had the fastest time out of his class with a 10.16. A storm came through during qualifying and completely changed the track. His first heat race, he was once again stuck in the rear of the pack due to winning the prior week's feature. He made it up to 4th place for the finish. After a couple other adjustments, he went back out for his 2nd and 3rd (dash) heats and took 1st place in both of them. This sat him on the pole for the feature. Due to lapped traffic, track conditions and gearing, he wasn't able to get to the front. He made it to 2nd place. Rick and I have always said, we don't want Mason to dominate, we want him to be competitive. We feel he will learn more from having to race the kids, rather than drive out in front of them. It's still hard to accept a loss though, especially after so many wins. I was a bit disappointed until Mason and I went to tell the driver that won "good luck". The smile on that other driver's face made Mason's 2nd place finish acceptable. The kid was smiling from ear to ear. Other good news is that he doesn't have to start in the rear of the pack next week. And next week is Mid-season Championship for double points so it's a good week to not have to start in the rear. :)

Monday, July 4: Rick's race started off on edge after being drawn in the same heat as the "bad seeds". He went out on the track not knowing what direction to go in... keep a level head or get pissed off. He jumped out in the front early on and was going strong until he wasn't going at all. After leading 8-9 laps out of a 12 lap heat, the car had mechanical problems. He went over a jump and didn't hardly make it up the next one. The passenger side motor mount broke, allowing the motor to shift and pretty much everything else to fall out of place. The car was carried over to the trailer and his night of racing was over as quick as that. That's the downside of the Bump-N-Run. You work so hard on the car and get so excited and something happens that's beyond on your control. Way too much is being asked of these cars and it's bound to happen. Maybe next time...