How is everyone doing today? Everyone have a nice weekend?

I'm ready for a vacation, new employee, new job, or something. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, at least I have a job to complain about. Sure would be nice to have the whole weekend off. Looking forward to having the day off tomorrow.

 

worked in the garden all day. It is nice to have the time to do most anything I want, but the paycheck sucks... hoping to find some kind of part time job sometime. I head out for my sister's wedding next week, be gone for a while on that, then my wife graduates her LPN degree the 10th... got a mild sunburn apparently today, didn't realize how long I had been out until it was too late... oh well, get it started now, and no more for the rest of the year. My native blood shows through that way, I get the one sunburn, then no more for the year, unless it is too bad, then peels, and I have to start over.

 

I was worn out yesterday. Got back from racing in Wisconsin late Sunday night / early Monday morning. It was a long, but really fun 4 day trip. I'm definately ready for the next race weekend.

 

So how did you do?

 

I'm new here, but I thought I'd throw in my reply anyway... Sore as hell, rented a bobcat to excavate my yard... went to getting a few trees out, my god that'll juggle your brain, running at full speed and either hitting or pulling the tree...

 

Well, the possibility to do well was there, but it didn't play out. My bike (I sold my R6 and got a Buell XB1200 to race this year) is not ready yet, so the only race I was going to run is a 2 hour team challenge event on my buddie's brand new 2006 R6. The tech line was long and slow, so I only got in 1 of the 2 practice sessions. It was the first time I had thrown a leg over that bike, and it felt very foreign. I would have liked to have had more time on the bike before I had to start the race, but I had no choice. Tim (who owns the bike we were racing) has me start the races because I am much better at launching the bike and am more agressive on the opening laps than he is.

Green flag drops, I get a good launch and suddenly the bike starts cutting out a little bit before the first corner. Not good. But, it cures up and I settle into the bike and it feels good. I start thinking this is going to be a good race until about half way through the first lap. I go to tip into the carousel (a huge 180*+ right hander) and the bike just shuts off. I re-start it, but the throttle has no response - the bike just idles. The new R6 has an electronic fly-by-wire throttle, so I knew it was an electrical problem. Probably one of the connections on the Power Commander (like a chip for the bikes) was just loose. If I could get it off the track, one of the crash trucks could pick me up, we'd get the bike back into the pits, fix the problem and be back on track in probably 20 minutes. Still a lot of time left in the race after that.

So, I looked at one of the corner workers to direct me where to go, as any good racer should do when you have a problem on the track. For some reason, he directs me past his station, which is on the outside of the track, and onto a spot on the inside of the track. Well, the crash truck could get to me coming down a very steep and rocky hill, but can't get me out as the truck can't get back up the hill and they can't cross the track with the race going on. So, I had to just sit there with the crash truck for the next two hours. I was not a happy racer. I drove 11 hours there, spend several hundred dollars, and all I got was 4-5 laps of practice and a half lap of a race.

We found the problem to be just a loose connection on the engine computer. When the guy who put on the Power Commander installed it, he didn't get the connector snapped back into place. The problem was fixed later in the day and the bike ran fine after that, but my weekend was over.

It just really sucked for me. That was the only race I was going to run, and I had been looking forward to it for a while. Also, we got no points for the race. You have to complete at least one lap to be scored. And, we finished 4th overall in the class last year running the Team Challenge. We were hoping for a top 3 finish in the points this year, but a zero points event deficit may be hard to overcome.

Long post. Sorry. Just still a bit worked up about the whole thing.

 

That sucks. I guess you got the one idiot on the race track.

 

I guess. Most of the corner workers are volunteers for the weekend and don't regularly work the tracks. I did learn one thing though, I won't follow the corner workers directions anymore in a situation like that.

Oh, and I also told Tim that is the exact reason I don't let anyone else work on my bikes but me. For one, I wouldn't have anyone to be mad at buy myself, but more importantly, the problem probably wouldn't have happened. I've built all my own race bikes for the past 4 years and never had a major problem that took me out of a race - well short of a crash, and that's not mechanical related.

 

JTharvey where is next weekends race ?

 

May 27-28 at Mid America Motorplex in Pacific Junction, Iowa, very close to Omaha, Nebraska. Still up in the air about that one. I'll be gone the two weeknds in a row before that (track day in Topeka, KS and World Ford Challenge in St. Louis) and don't know how it will play out. I'm about 80% sure I'll go, but just for the team challenge race on Saturday.

The next one after that will be July 1-2 at Heartland Park in Topeka, KS.

Here are the two schedules that I am following. I won't make all the races, but if I go to any, it will be on these schedules:
http://www.ccsracing.com/schedules/2006/gpschedule.html
http://www.ccsracing.com/schedules/2...cschedule.html

I should have my bike ready to go by June or July, so I'll be able to do some more racing besides the team challenge after that. Another decently close one that I should be at will be Sept 9-10 at the Autobahn Country Club, in Joliet, IL, near Chicago. I will not be at Gateway though. I know it's close, but that track is just too dangerous. You're surrounded by concrete walls and a crash can be really bad news. I've pushed my luck at that track too many times before, and I'm afraid that it will run out.

 

jt, how much do you make a week?....more than me no doubt, wanna help out with the sprint car??

 

Racing or at my job? Racing - not a dime. It costs more money to go race than I get back. But, it's my hobby so I accept that. My job - it's hard to say. Since I sell real estate, it all depends on how many contracts I've got closing in a month. I don't get paid weekely, it's all on commission. Some months you don't make anything, others you could make a good bit. It really makes you become good at budgeting your expenses. You learn quick not to spend money just because you have it.

I'd probably be willing to help with a sprint car. I enjoy racing of all types. As long as it's got a motor, I like it. Right now, motorcycle road racing is what I'm doing. But, who knows what the future will bring. I could be racing dirt track cars on a circle track in a few years. Whatever happens, I don't ever see myself not racing something.

 

Slmann,

Sounds like you had a little excitment near your neighborhood last night.

 

Yeah, I guess there are crazy people everywhere. I thought they were only in Fenton. My brother works for the sheriffs department, I'll have to get all the details from him this weekend.

 

That's not very nice.........