Monday, thoughts turn to racing...

Ah, finally some racing. Nothing lifts the mood like seeing a great Sprint Car race. I have seen a lot of races and I know a good one when I see it. Jackson was one of the good ones. The one thing that really impressed me was Brooke Tatnell's drive and determination. You could sure see why he's a champion and the work ethic he brings to the entire team. I had no idea how stout the Olsen #34, formerly the yellow #18 driven last year by Tony Hargrave was. Tony had some good runs in the car and has a lot of experience but you can't compare a weekend racer to a WoO driver and Australian Sprint Car champion. Not only did Brooke hustle the car on the track but he took the lead in thrashing on the car during a red flag. They had to make repairs to the fence which gave the team time to replace the entire front axle assembly but they still had to hustle. It was so fun to watch that I wanted to put my camera down and run for wrenches to help the cause.

Here's my picture of the day:



Left to right, me, Lyric "the Beebes" Peterson, Owen "Owenowski" Zimmerman, Debbie "the non-race-fan wife" Meissner and Lucia "Loose Eye" Meissner.

I've got a commitment from three of my four kids and their spouses to join us at Cedar Lake for the Firecracker. We're still waiting to hear from Owenowski's parents then all three of the grandkids will be there. My oldest daughter, Owen's mom, and her husband are environmentalists but she used to wear a Sammy Swindell shirt when she was a kid so I have a hunch she'll be there. It should be a fun night, the grandkids hear me talking about races and see them on television but I'm sure they can't visualize what it's like. And the fireworks going off right in front of them, I'm sure they'll think that's pretty awesome.

I'm mulling over whether to go to the Red Cedar Rumble or the WDRL race with Sprints at Spencer in July. If Jon McCorkell is successful in adding a Thursday night Sprint race at Jackson that will be the clincher. The tough part will probably be finding a place to spend the night. That's too far to pull my camper with the old Ranger. Getting a motel room would be the way to go but if I end up traveling alone it's going to be pricey. Let's see, I'd have to stay down there Thursday and Friday night, drive to Brainerd on Saturday and I could drive home from North Central after the races. The problem is that the Ranger doesn't have air or cruise so if it's 95-100 degrees that will take the wind right out of my sails. I'll be exhausted by the time I get to the tracks. The old truck seems to run alright but it's exhausting to drive when it's that hot, especially if there's a headwind. It's an underpowered 4 cylinder with a 5 speed and you really have to keep your foot in the gas when it's windy. Pulling a camper any further than 50 miles would be out of the question with that thing. Used to be a time I would suck it up and do it but I'm gonna' be 60 years old in a few years and I don't have that kind of stamina anymore. We'll just see what happens and decide from there. Maybe the wife won't need the Olds that weekend. It would be easier to drive than the truck and gets better mileage but I'll have a hard time wrestling it away from her.

I'm up to three races for the season. To a lot of people that isn't much but I looked at the last few years and that's about what I've usually got in by this time of the year. Early in the season I only go to the opener and a couple of Sprint specials until the weather warms up a little bit more. I've never felt a need to put up big numbers of races for the season anyways. I don't have anything to prove, I just do as much or little as I feel like doing. Some years more, some years a little less.

I like the Sprints and open motor Late Model shows but don't go to that much weekly racing. This Friday it's USAC Midgets on pavement so my first four races of the year will be three Midget races and one Sprint race. This has been so fun that I'm adjusting my schedule to add more of the type of races that I enjoy. I'm getting where I prefer a specials schedule over weekly racing. There is usually a special every week somewhere nearby or something going on that's a little bit different than the steady diet of same old same old classes. I'd get bored if my lunch bucket held peanut butter sandwiches every day for 25 years. Same with my racing, 25 years of every track running the lame old lineup of limited Late Models, Supers, Streets, Mods and now Midwest Mods gets, for lack of a better term...boring. I need to step back and take a break from the politics and monotonous lineups.

By Stan Meissner