June 9th 2006

No damage from last weeks race other than some paint trading and a small nick in one of the rims. Got a start on things on Saturday as I washed the cart and tightened and oiled the chain. Noticed that the right front tire was a little hard to rotate. Removed the tire Tuesday night and noticed that the bearings looked bad. Removed the part that the bearings press into (not sure what it is called). Wednesday afternoon I noticed my neighbor out so I went over to ask him if he had anything to press bearings in. He suggested Quick Fix Auto out by Westfare here in town. I met Jerry and he was able to punch out both the outer and inner sealed bearings and installed new ones for me. I am VERY happy to find someone that is close and here in town that can help me with this Kart.

Mounted hub with new bearings on Kart today, changed the oil (16oz 10w-30), blew out the air filter and its only 4:45pm and the Kart and van are packed and ready to head out with a half hour to spare!

Weather did not look good with chance of Thunderstorms moving in. We got to the track and pitted next to Wade from TRW Racing (we got our seat cover thru him). Jaz was doing OK but right before the hot laps she said she didn't feel very well and did not want to get in the Kart. She got ready and we lined up but she did not look very good at all, I think she was hot and the mix of eating after we got to the track caught up with her. She ran her hot laps but was very much under the weather. She ran in the first heat and with only a couple of laps left she encountered a spin out in front of her and could not slow down in time, she made contact with one of the Karts and once again the right side belt had pinched her neck. She made 1 more lap and then talked with an official and pulled off the track. The ambulance guys took a look at her shoulder (they were awesome) and we gave her a pack of ice. We talked with Wade about the belt pinching her neck and what we could do to prevent it. He gave us a towel and some duct tape to wrap around the belt. Jaz felt OK with the extra padding and was ready to go back out (now she had something to prove). After her DNF in the first heat she went out and got 2nd in the 2nd heat. Jaz was back... after pulling off the track she was feeling better and ready to go!

For the feature she lined up on the outside of the 2nd row. She made her way up to 2nd place but Kart #3 was out front and gone. She finished the night with a 2nd place finish. I was very happy that everyone finished and it was a nice clean race and I don't have anything to fix on the Kart. We did have one new rookie driver tonight but it was a very nice night of clean racing and I just love leaving the track with a Kart that doesn't need repairs. I think once the sun went down and the weather dropped Jaz started feeling better. We did feel a few sprinkles before the feature but the weather held out. On our trip home we made it back to Council Bluffs before we encountered any rain - once we hit town the rain started, very good timing.. The night started a little ruff but Jaz had fun and that's what counts. When Jaz came off the track and went to the ambulance after the first heat race I had quit a few people stop me and ask if Jaz was OK, that was very cool! No matter what, we don't like seeing people hurt and even though Jaz was hurt she wanted to get back in the Kart, she had something to prove not only to herself but to everyone else.

While we were lining up for the feature a small girl yelled Hi to Jaz, she couldn't hear here so I pointed her out and told her to wave. She then asked, "who is that? I just said, "A fan, your a driver now and people just want you to wave to them". She thought that was cool. I thought it was super cool, Dad was very proud of pint sized racer girl.

1. 3 - Trevin Ballinger
2. 14 - Jaz Nelson
3. 95 - Matthew Schaaf
4. 60 - Jackson Chicone
5. 82K - J. Livingston

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