I'm going to take a few minutes to talk about my 2009 racing plans. Of course nobody can make any plans to go racing without transportation to get them to the track. I'll be driving the ol' Ranger for the seventh consecutive racing season so as to put off car payments for another year. I only drive about a mile per day to a park & ride and take a vanpool back and forth to work so that makes it possible for me to hang onto my vehicles longer than most people would. I have been in car pools, rode the MTC bus or rode in vanpools for going on thirty years now, not for environmental reasons but mostly for cost savings and convenience. It's nice to be able to buy a vehicle in 2003, still be driving it in 2009 and only have put about 34,000 miles on it in six years. My truck will probably rust out before the mileage hits 150,000, it's 16 years old and currently at about 139,200 miles. The last brake rebuild was a year ago, the exhaust and battery about two years, the starter a year, and it was tuned up a year ago. The tires are a few years old but they still look like new. The rubber on the sidewalls will probably start cracking before the tread starts to show any wear.
The old girl needs is a new radiator so I'll try to do that before the racing season begins. I could probably get by without replacing the radiator, the Rangers had problems with grommets leaking between the tank and fin tubes in cold weather. It leaked a little bit when the weather was below zero there for a couple weeks but has since stopped. Apparently radiator replacement due to this problem was covered under one of the recalls for this particular model but I'm long past taking advantage of that. It's a 5 speed with no air and a manual transmission so the radiator has four bolts holding it in, two hose clamps and a quarter round plastic shroud held on by a couple of screw/clip fasteners. Even I should be able to handle that job when the weather gets a little warmer. Perhaps the Saturday that the canceled Sandbox race was scheduled for would be a good day to do the repair. It has been leaking like this only in sub zero weather for a couple of years and as soon as the weather warms up it doesn't leak a drop all summer. I could probably let it go and keep dumping anti freeze in but I hate having to go out and do that when it's 20 below. At the rate I put miles on my vehicles this truck could last a couple more years so it's probably a good idea to get it done.
I'm not advocating that everyone drive tired iron but so far that has worked for me.
So now that I've got a way to get there let's take a look at my schedule. I'm planning on getting out to both nights of the Cedar Lake opener. It's going to be exciting to see the Late Models, Modifieds, Midwest Modifieds and Super Stocks take to the track for the first time in 2009. I've got all ten UMSS races at Kopellah on my schedule. The Billy Anderson Memorial at Cedar Lake, CLS School bus night, the Masters, all the CLS Sprint races. The Masters, the Firecracker, the Outlaws, the USA Nationals, Richert Memorial and Legendary 100. Forgive me if I missed anything.
The Elko Dirt Nationals, Deer Creek, Jackson and Brainerd vacation list and budget willing. Two IRA stops at Rice Lake. Possibly some Princeton and a visit to the new track in Ogilvie. It's going to be a stretch this year but I'll even try to take in the Fireman's Nationals at Angell Park and Roger Rager's induction into the NSCHOF at Knoxville.
Traveling beyond the nearby tracks might be more of a challenge this year but I'm pretty confident I'll be able to stick to most of my proposed schedule. I've got enough money in the budget to do about 40 races close to home, CLS, Kopellah, Elko, Ogilvie and possibly Princeton. Rice Lake won't be a problem, Deer Creek, brainerd, Superior and Jackson are a little further and require a motel stay so those will depend on car pool opportunities and photo sales. I tuned up our Olds and the only things left to do are a stabilizer bar and alignment which I'll tend to before the season starts. I'm looking forward to getting past the planning stage and getting outside doing something. These winters start to get kind of oppressive by the time March rolls around.
I was going through my files the other day and happened upon a strange statistic. I have sold 410 and 360 Sprint Car photos, Modified photos, Midwest Modified photos, Super Stock photos, Street Stock photos, Pure Stock Photos, Hornet photos, and even Kart photos. But I have never sold a Late Model photo. That's kind of a strange irony considering that up to 75% of the races I attend each season were Late Model shows.
The UMSS races combined with nearby IRA and World of Outlaws shows along with Jackson and Arlington will make it possible to reverse my trend of spending more time at fendered than open wheel race. I've still got my Late Model friends that I'll be seeing whenever I've got a free Saturday night but I'll be putting a little more emphasis on the Sprints this year. I've still got my favorite Late Model shows etched in stone on the schedule and I'll be watching the NASCAR Late Models every free Saturday night I get. I'm blessed because I enjoy a wide variety of racing have the opportunity to fill that need for variety without having to travel very far. What's nice about the Sprint shows up here is that when I follow them to the various tracks I get to see a lot of drivers in the support classes that I wouldn't get to watch if I always stuck to one routine. I like the variety, all of these racers regardless of what class of cars they drive all love the sport.
Well, that's going to do it for tonight's thoughts. I'm ready to kick back and watch some television for a while before I hit the sack.
Later
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