This is down from the 40+ races I was going to a few years ago and it appears that it will fit my circumstances well. Here you go:
Stan's tentative racing schedule 2013
1) Fri Apr 26 SCVR thunder #1 umss (w)
2) Sat Apr 27 UMSS CLS
3) Sat May 11 School Bus Night CLS (cover photos)
4) Fri May 24 SCVR thunder #2 umss (w) Tabor Mem
5) Sat May 25 Pack the Track Night (cover photos)
6) Fri May 31 IRA SCVR thunder #3
7) Sat Jun 1 CLS triple IRA
8) Fri-Sun Jun 21-23 Back to 50's Fgnds + Via 1st gig 22nd
9) Fri Jun 28 SCVR open wheel nats #1
10) Sat Jun 29 SCVR #2 umss (w) both nights
11) Sun Jun 30 CLS WoO
12) Sat Jul 6 CLS Night of Destruction (cover photos)
13) Fri Jul 12 SCVR traditional 40 (non-wing)
14) Sat Jul 20 Car Craft Summer Nat'l Fgnds
15) Fri Jul 26 SCVR thunder #4 umss (w)
16) Fri Aug 2 CLS USA Natl's night 1
17) Sat Aug 3 CLS USA Natl's finale
18) Fri Aug 17 SCVR thunder #5 umss (w) Kouba
19) Fri Aug 30 SCVR bullring blast #2 LM, A Mod, Trad, MWM
20) Sat Sep 7 CLS JR Mem
Some of the races absent from my schedule include the Jackson Spring Sprint Car special (signed up for vacation but weather and piggy bank are suggesting no), WoO Elko date, and a few more of the nearby USS shows. My schedule is made up entirely of events at two tracks, Cedar Lake and Saint Croix Valley.
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| I'll be seeing the UMSS Traditional Sprints several times this season. |
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| There will be some UMSS, IRA and World of Outlaws winged shows in the mix as well. |
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| I'll be catching the Late Models whenever I get a chance and adding shows for that purpose. |
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| I'm a bit of a premier class/specials only snob. Why not when I can fill my schedule with the good stuff? |
Aside from racing I'm sick for the second work day this week. I came down with a rash in my left under arm on Sunday and it got worse and spread around the left side of my chest during the work day on Monday but wasn't hurting at that time. It got worse by Monday evening so yesterday I went to the doctor and she told me it's shingles (return of the dormant chicken pox virus) and prescribed some medication I have to take for a week. She offered to give me some pain meds as well but I declined because it didn't feel painful yesterday. Today is a different story, I didn't sleep well last night and it woke me up a few times but it's tolerable pain so I'll wait one more day then return to the office (weather permitting). The best way to describe it would be the feeling one gets after getting a tattoo or for those without ink, hold a weed whipper to your leg and skim the tips of the string on your skin to replicate the constant feeling of shingles. Advil will have to do the trick and keep me sane until this mess clears up.
Aside from my physical ailments I had another unexpected development on Sunday. I washed my cell phone through the complete wash cycle in my jeans pockets and had to go order another one. I have the old style flip phone and use it for calling and text only. It would be nice to have one of the Android or iPhones that are internet capable but I got a quote on those when I was at Sprint and the package would be too expensive for both me and my wife. I refuse to pay $200 per month for a friggin' telephone. I'm expecting to get the new phone in the mail (or UPS - not sure) today and then I'll be able to load contacts. I dried the old phone for three days but I can't get it going so I probably lost 50 contacts that I accumulated over the past ten years. That sucks but it is what it is, I get to start over.
One more thing I'll mention is that I'm enjoying the hell out of the Gibson SG that I bought a couple weeks ago. I put this tune together starting with my old guitar, an Agile AL2000 that I gave to my son after I bought the SG and finished the lead with the SG. Some people give me static about my playing not being professional but that mentality that one must make money at something or not bother doing it in my opinion robs a lot of people of potential enjoyment. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of composing and performing music on my guitars and I could have easily denied myself that opportunity. My singing voice sucks but I can pick out the melodies by ear so there's a disconnect between my ear for music and what comes out of my mouth.
When one considers that I'm plugging an effects pedal directly into the mic input on the back of my computer and mixing these songs with the free open source program Audacity I think they're pretty damn good for what I have to work with. My timing and scales are getting better but there is still some work left to do. I'll never be as good as my daughter Roberta's fiance' Jason who's new band Via will be holding their CD release party at the Fine Line Music Cafe in June but I do occasionally get the opportunity to jam with the pros and I love doing that.
Well, if this weather ever breaks and I can get over this illness maybe we'll see you at some of those races I listed above!
