09-01-2006

Since we did not get to start the feature (due to weather) last week we will run hot laps and then after that run the feature races from last week and then start our "regular" night of racing - it will be a late evening for us!

Wednesday - pulled the kart out of the trailer to give it a look over expecting everything to be OK since we only ran 2 heat races last week. I noticed that the disc brake was grabbing and upon closer inspection discovered that one of the pistons or seals was not working at all. No wonder Jaz was having such lousy starts, every time the brake was applied it would grab and not release properly.

Thursday - I took the kart out to see Jerry at "Quick Service" only to find out he had surgery a few weeks ago for blocked arteries! Another employee took a quick look at the brakes and thought the entire caliber should be replaced. I left a message for Jerry but did not expect any response for a few weeks at least. I called another racer and they volunteered to loan us a caliber till we could find one but that was later in the evening and I was getting nervous about having the kart ready for Friday night. I pulled the caliber and brake lines off and went over to "Uncle Franks" to see if they could match it up. It was an older "enginetics" assembly but they did have another brand caliber that would bolt right in (Caliper assembly, Brake fluid & sales tax $111.44). They also gave me a few quick tips on how to bleed the brakes. When I got back home I was surprised that Jerry from "Quick Service" had called me back. I called Jerry and told him I had another caliper already and he gave me some more tips, he sounded weak but said he was improving each day. I mounted the assembly, switched out the brake connectors (they were angled differently) and hooked the brake lines back up. When Joy came home she helped me bleed the brake lines. Wow! what a difference, no wonder Jaz was having trouble stopping. Jaz came out and sat in the kart and I pushed her down the street so she could get a feel of the brake pedal.

Friday - Stopped out and picked up some Meguiars Clear Plastic Polish for Jaz's helmet ($8). Not sure if this will be her last race for the season so changed out her spark plug and installed a new air filter, every bit helps. (update - we will run the 15th and the winner gets a 4ft trophy)

We had a great night with the weather, the threat of rain was there but never happened. Jaz ran her hot laps and said the Kart was running GREAT and the brakes were actually working! Jaz started in the rear of the first feature and finished 6th out of 8. A total of 16 rookie karts showed up for the night and the field was divided in half. Heat 1 Jaz started on the pole and was out front and running great when she and the 2nd place kart both spun out going into turn 2 (both recovered and kept running) she finished 7th out of 8. The second heat she started in the back and was able to avoid several wrecks on the track and finished 4th out of 8. For the feature race Jaz started in the back, she finished 6th out of 8.

The racing started off a little ruff for the night with several pretty hard accidents, luckily Jaz wasn't part of them and everyone was OK. My hat goes off to the staff for putting up the hay bails around the concrete barriers, I wasn't sure their purpose until I saw a Kart (35k-Kale Kosiski) hit the wall, it looked like a pretty hard hit but when I talked with him he was OK and ready to go back out. It would have been much worse without the bails.

We met some other new drivers and the mood at the track was very good for the night. On a surprising note we ran into Craig Jastorff and his son (this was their 2nd week of racing) who I haven't seen for a number of years. I used to work with his wife at Mutual of Omaha many, many years ago - how ironic that we would meet up again with both of our kids racing karts.

I am most surprised how racing has taken a back seat to everything else, don't get me wrong, everyone wants to win but getting the kart ready, everyone that helps, getting to the track, hanging with everyone, the kids playing together and then everyone suits up and races. It's almost as if the actual racing is the easy part and everything else is just the build up for the race.

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