The infamous "Weenie Wagon" has been taken out of storage and will make an encore appearance on September 12 at the Jerry Richert Memorial. I'm not certain at this time if the owner, my brother-in-law Mark, will be joining us but I want to thank him for this generous MDTR sponsorship. I guess sponsorship is what you call it when somebody takes their motorhome out of the barn, power washes the dust off of it, checks that the tabs are still good for another month and throws a spare battery in it to get it going. Tajmahal it ain't but I think it will get me through the night and that's what counts. A bunch of family is coming out including the annual racing appearance of the non-race-fan wife. It should be a good time for all.
I got into a bit of a funk after the USA Nationals and my sour mood lasted for about three weeks before a banzai trip to Grand Forks reminded me why I love racing. The trip had it's challenges but I was introduced to an awesome track and Craig Dollansky scored his second win of the season. In retrospect my meltdown can be attributed to the realization that we all come to at a certain point each season when racing is approaching it's conclusion here in the upper Midwest. Do you guys get that "now what am I going to do" feeling too? I can't afford to travel to exotic places like Florida (funny I once lived in Jacksonville but now it's an exotic destination) in the winter. I'm not complaining because I've got it pretty good. I don't get upset when I miss a race or two, Lord knows I've seen plenty of them in my lifetime.
The Grand Forks race reminded me what being a dirt track fan is all about and an aborted run to Rice Lake concluding at the CLS season championship drove the point home. Imagine if you will sitting in the Rice Lake concession area talking to Steve Sinclair and Sam Hafertape Jr. after visiting with Brooke Tatnell, Travis Whitney, Jerry Richert Jr. and Bill Balog in the pit area as drizzle forced me to seek shelter the nearest hauler. Turn the clock ahead a couple hours and I'm standing in victory lane at Cedar Lake taking a photo of Greg Nippoldt winner of the Cedar Lake Pro Stock track championship. Race winner Tim Borgeson appeared to be a shoe in for these honors at the start of the season but his highs were too high and his lows were too low which allowed Nippoldt to snatch the crown. Now that, my friends, is an oxymoron of an evening if I've ever seen one.
Racing has been a lot of fun this season but I spent the first half of the year getting accustomed to a more rigorous schedule than I'm used to. I lost the Ranger back in June to terminal rust but she carried me to a lot of races during the six seasons that I owned her. Even though she was old, underpowered, sagging in a few places and looking like she was ready to fall apart I still loved her. I stroked her along as far as I could take her but the tired ol' gal gave out and reached a premature climax.
I got way behind posting to the blog and now that the season is nearing it's end I'll see if I can't pick up where I left off and get something on here more often.
There are a few racing weekends left, it's Thursday night and I'm getting ready to go. See you at the Navy Davy Memorial race.
