Filling the Field

I’d always said when I had something that was “blog worthy,” you’d hear from me. Thankfully, today was one of those days.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some great people in my professional racing circles and you can add the “Field Fillers” to that list.

Much like Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s group of friends known as the “Dirty Mo Posse”, the “Field Fillers” are a group of young racers that include Corey “Supershoe” Lajoie (Who is two-time NASCAR Busch Series Champion Randy Lajoie’s oldest son,) Brandon “Franchize” McReynolds (Son of NASCAR on FOX’s and former Winston Cup crew chief Larry McReynolds,) Casey “Beaver Dragon” LaJoie (Randy’s younger son,) NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Joey “Sliced Bread” Logano and Ryan “Rampage” Flores who is a former modified driver from New Jersey’s Wall Stadium.

These guys have renovated an old go kart track behind Randy Lajoie’s racing seat business and called it the “Field Fillers Fairgrounds.” They organize go kart races once a month and drivers such as two time Chili Bowl champion and sprint car driver Kevin Swindell, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Marc Davis, various crew members from NASCAR Sprint Cup, Legends Cars and karting backgrounds gather to race in a safe, controlled and competitive environment.

Corey had suggested I get a kart and join in on the fun last year at a race in New Hampshire, and once my Legends Car friend Dan Snyder got involved I wasn’t too far behind. Dan and his brother Tim helped set my kart up for the first time we raced there in January, but the cold temperatures and lack of experience racing go karts sent me packing early. Dan is always fast as he and his brother come from a karting background.

This time, Dan was off with a few of his Legends Cars customers at Caraway Speedway and the low car count worked to my advantage as they allowed all fourteen drivers to take the green flag in the “A” Main event.

I was also lucky enough to have one of my Legends Cars driver friends help me as a crew member, and he came in handy after I lost the left front wheel in practice. Tyler Kivett worked tirelessly on my kart to get it ready for my qualifying laps and heat race, which determined my starting position.

After finishing second in my heat race, it was time to line up for the feature in ninth position on the inside row. The format was to run two 20 lap segments and after each segment they’d park the last two lowest finishing drivers. After the two 20 lap segments were complete, they’d line up the final eight drivers for a 10 lap final segment.

After the first 20-lap segment, I parked on the backstretch away from the other karts because I figured I’d be one of the first drivers to get cut. I wasn’t running near the front of the pack, but I was fast enough to retain my position and I quickly pushed my kart to the frontstretch after they called out the first three drivers to get cut. Tyler checked over the air pressures as I drank some water and tried to catch my breath. It had been quite a while since I had drove that hard and I was feeling it!

So, imagine my surprise when a few karts didn’t finish the second 20-lap segment and I made the cut for the final eight in the last 10 lap segment! I couldn’t believe it and I was panting like a dog on a hot day after the second segment because I was so breathless from trying to go as hard as I could to keep up with the leaders.

I started eighth in the final segment and made it up as high as fifth due to missing a couple wrecks and keeping my nose clean, but the faster guys who wrecked started behind me on restarts and quickly motored past me under green flag racing conditions. The final 10-lap segment got pretty physical in front of me, and I just wanted to finish in one piece and not cause any problems. That plan seemed to work because when the checkered flag waved, I was credited with the 7th finishing position!

To me, that was a pretty big accomplishment due to not having the kind of income some of the other drivers and crew members make and I proved to myself that I can still race hard and manage to avoid trouble with quick, split second decisions after being out of a race car for so long. So, to run that well and finish as high as I did surpassed my goals of just making the “A” Main.

There isn’t any prize money and the drivers get together to race for fun but it is obvious that the competitive juices get flowing as well as tempers. Today was pretty calm and we ran a pretty clean race. Dan and Tim had a friend from New York drive Dan’s kart and he won with a thrilling last lap pass on Marc Davis. So, to have both of the team karts in the final segment was a great showing for us.

As for me, there’s certainly room for improvement. I may try to get on the treadmill and work on my endurance as well as adjust the seat in the kart for a better seating position. The 20 lap segments were tough on me, but the final 10-lap segment went by pretty quick. I’m just happy to have survived it!

I’m pretty sure there will be a highlight episode on www.WeekendWarriors.tv in the near future and SPEED Channel was also there filming a segment for future airing. Keep checking my facebook page and I’ll post anything I hear about it so you can check it out.

First Top 5!

I was excited to get to Greenville-Pickens Speedway. It’s one of my favorite tracks that I have visited since I moved to Charlotte and began travelling with the Whelen Southern Modified Tour. I had been to Greenville-Pickens three times previously, and saw some great races there. Tonight would be no different.

Greenville-Pickens is best described as a old, worn out version of my home track, Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut. It’s a flat half mile with long straightaways and only slightly banked corners. We were opening our 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season at Greenville, so it was rather fitting to have that connection to what I loved back home.

Our driver, Ryan Gifford had a good couple of practices and was 4th quick after the morning session, and 10th fastest in Happy Hour before qualifying. I was slowly gaining confidence that we could have a car capable of winning if qualifying went well.

This was my first race with Ryan and after doing some research online about him and his previous races in the series, I was pretty confident we could be a contender later in the evening.

Ryan qualifined 8th in the Distribution One Chevrolet and was the second fastest of the cars in our team. Darrell Wallace, Jr. whom I worked my initial test with Revolution Racing,  just beat us by one spot and would start inside of Ryan in 7th.

So that put us in the high lane for the start. I was a little stressed by that, because Greenville-Pickens is known as a track you need to be on the bottom groove to be able to pass cars that slip up in front of you when the tires get worn out. But Ryan was making the top lane work to his advantage and we were solidly in the top 10 in the early stages of the race.

We were caught up in an early caution and got hit from behind and Ryan spun out and had to restart at the rear. But everyone on the team knew we had a good car and Ryan began carving his way forward. With about 30 laps to go, we were back inside the top 10 and racing for 6th or 7th when another car got under us and drove too deep into the corner and making contact with our car and spinning Ryan a second time.

At this point, I was getting stressed out because I was just not used to having cars I spot for getting run over by drivers who race that way. But Ryan assured me there was nothing I could have done different and during a red flag for a big wreck a few laps later, we cut loose on the radio a little bit and I did some “Waterboy” quotes to help Ryan relax a bit while he was getting a drink inside the car.

Well, it seemed to work because we missed a big wreck on the final lap and snuck back by the car that had wrecked us earlier to finish a strong fifth! We all learned on Tuesday that the second place car had illegal shocks and they disqualified him and moved us up to fourth….So overall, it was a great start to our season.

Darrell Wallace, Jr. ended up winning the race after a hard fought battle with Cole Whitt, who was driving for the Red Bull team, so the mood was good when everyone celebrated our first win in our first points start. That was pretty big, and a special thing to be a part of for Revolution Racing.

This week, we go to a track I have been to several times, South Boston Speedway. The spotter’s stand isn’t in the best of locations, but Ryan had a strong 2nd place finish in the #29 Shell/Pennzoil car at South Boston last year. So, I’m ready to get there and help him get his first win.

Big News, Big Expectations…

I said when I had news to share, I’d post it here. So I guess I’ll fill you in!

After my week long experience in Orlando with Dan Snyder, I finally got the phone call I had been waiting on since the week of Christmas.

A long time friend from my modified days suggested I visit Andy Santerre because he was putting together FOUR K&N Pro Series East teams for the 2010 season and could be looking for help. I drove straight to Andy’s shop and inquired about a spotting job with one of those teams. Andy informed me while I was there that they would also be running a NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model Stock Car team with a rotation of six different drivers over the course of a Firday-Saturday weekend at two different tracks.

I immediately offered to spot for both racing programs because a lot of you already know I have no desire to go back to Bowman Gray Stadium this year after they raped Derek Stoltz and our team out of a legitimate championship.

Saturday night was my first night “on the job” as I spotted for California driver Jason Romero at Hickory Motor Speedway. I traveled to a test earlier in the week at Greenville-Pickens Speedway with the K&N East team and driver Darrell Wallace, Jr. so I was ready to “knock the rust off” and get ready for the new season.

Andy was the crew chief on Jason’s car Saturday night, so there was a lot of “self imposed” pressure to do the best possible job I could and prove to myself and Andy that I could do the job at this level. Thankfully, I think passed the test with flying colors.

Everyone was happy with my spotting skills and even one member of the team who has known me since my childhood days in Connecticut told me I was “too good to be spotting at the Saturday night level, because you sound like a Cup spotter up there.” To me, that was the best seal of approval I heard all night.

So we head to South Carolina and Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday morning to spot for Revolution Racing (www.RevolutionRacing.net) and driver Ryan Gifford (www.RyanGifford.com). Lee McCall is the crew chief and he has previous Cup racing experience with Ganassi Racing and drivers Sterling Marlin and Jamie McMurray. Our driver Ryan Gifford is under a development contract with Richard Childress Racing and has four previous starts in the K&N Series with a best finish of second on two occasions.

Another cool thing is all these races on the K&N Pro Series will be televised on SPEED Channel, abeit on a tape-delayed basis. So, it’ll be cool to go back and watch the races from the couch and see what elese was going on during our races.

I’m really looking forward to this opportunity, and thankful for the friends who steered me towards it. Now, it’s time to get all my gear ready, and do the deal.

Wish us luck at Greenville, and I’ll be sure to blog about our race when I get back.

Catching Up…

I had originally intended to blog from Orlando all week while I was there, but after having two rain days and not feeling all that great at night….I think you can understand. I wasn’t feeling great all week with a heavy chest cold while I was there.

We left Mooresville with five cars and when we got back home, we only had one that could be raced the next day. So, to say it was a rough week is an understatement. I really enjoyed my trip to Florida. I was glad I went and it was a great opportunity to be at the race track for 7 straight days. Regardless of how we ran, it was an experience I’ll remember.

I’ve got to think that’s the longest I have been away from home in quite a while. Most of my racing trips only take me away from home for two or three days at the most. So, I was happy to see my cats when I walked in the door and “Hemi” seemed the happiest to see me.

This week, I’m heading back to the Legends shop and finish tearing down one of the cars that got wrecked in Florida, while getting back into my Monday night slot car racing groove. I’m piecing together a new car tomorrow with a new body and pieces from the car I have been running. I’m anxious to see how well it runs tomorrow night.

I’m still waiting to see what the rest of my 2010 racing plans are, but there have been some exciting opportunities presented to me, so we’ll just have to be patient and see what develops!

I’ll keep you posted….

Orlando Day #1

For those of you who didn’t know, I was invited to travel to Orlando, Florida to work with Dan Snyder Racing for the 6th Annual Winter Nationals at Orlando Speedworld during Speedweeks. Dan Snyder Racing is one of the most succesful Legends Cars teams in the INEX Raceceiver Legends Cars Series and is the home of 2009 National Pro Division Champion, Daniel Hemric. I’m also helping Dan with his new website, www.DanSynderRacing.com

We left Mooresville at 3 PM on Saturday and drove 10 hours to Orlando with a borrowed toter home and Dan’s pickup truck with a second Featherlite trailer. We were taking five cars, and Dan’s primary race trailer only carried four, plus the pitbox, the tire cart and the crash cart with spare race parts. The trip went smooth and we pulled into the track near midnight and found a couple parking spots to set up for the night.

I had told Dan this was my first trip in a toter home and staying at the race track during the week, so I was excited about the new experience. I was looking forward to the week as it was, but having a few new things I hadn’t done before were making this trip special.

Sunday morning rolled around, and I wasn’t feeling all that great. Both Dan and myself had been fighting a cough and cold-like symptoms, so I knew it was going to be difficult unless I really paid attention and stuck to my meds I had packed. We had a couple cars to finish decalling and set up the pits and the trailers in a different parking spot. That all went smoothly and I went back up into the toter to rest a bit after a few people told me I didn’t look that great. I was feeling like hell.

After a nap (Which was way longer than I had expected) we started to get the cars ready for practice. We have five cars working out of our pits with Daniel Hemric, Hoyt Demis, Jake Cole, Joey Herques and John Freeman.

After practice, we met up with Kenzie Ruston’s group and headed to Hooters for some food and the second half of the Super Bowl. We went from Hooters, to Buffalo Wild Wing, to TGI Friday’s before we could finally find a place to sit and eat.

We came back to the track and dropped “The Hangover” in the DVD player. I hadn’t seen it before, so there were a few good laughs in the film for me. Now I know what everyone’s been talking about!

Anyway, I am feeling a lot better and I’m up in the loft writing this on the laptop while everyone’s trying to wind down for the night. We’ll get some more practice starting at noon tomorrow, so I’ll try to check in tomorrow night and let you know what happened then.

Getting “Older”…

Okay, so the 40th birthday has came and went and was on Friday the 13th, which made it sting just a little bit more…

As usual, plans were shot down (for various reasons beyond my control) and I ended up spending yet another birthday alone. Even I have to admit, it’s a miracle I haven’t taken matters into my own hands before now.

I received an overwhelming amount of greetings on my Facebook page, and I thought my posting of some Bon Jovi lyrics hit pretty close to home, and fit rather well for the occasion. It was cool to see the responses I got to that, but I wonder how may people would have even given it a second thought, had it not been for the little reminder on the side of the page.

Mom sent me a card that read, “You’re only as old as you feel” but I gotta tell you, sometimes my heart feels like it’s 50.

 I’ve been through a lot in the past two years and the highs have been high and the lows are not even worth repeating (See the previous blog titled “Dishonesty” for a further explaination.)

But somehow, I soldier on….I’ve been called a “Glutton for Punishment” on more than one occasion.

All I know is this: It’s time to turn this thing around, and in a major way. I want to be able to go back and look at this blog next year on my birthday and say, “Wow, that guy was NOT happy and bitter with a lot of folks.”

It’s time for me to do what I want to do, and what makes ME happy. And the only person who can make those things happen is ME.

Hopefully, this week will start those plans into motion….

Dishonesty…

Why do people in this day and age continue to be dishonest with each other? Is it for financial or self gain? Is it just to make themselves feel better or more important than the people they’re being dishonest with in the first place?

I’m growing a little tired of people talking behind my back, or making comments about me when they don’t think I’ll hear about it. I’m nearing my 40th birthday this week, and the grade school playground drama is getting REALLY old.

Thankfully, I still have some REAL friends who keep me in the loop about the people who continue to stab me in the back.

It’s pretty fucking disheartning to devote three full 14 hour days to a cause, only to have the people you helped throw you under the bus and tell your friends that they didn’t like or appreciate the work you did for them. For FREE, I may add.

Now granted, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on things and that’s fine. But instead of letting me hear about it through the gravevine or from a second hand source, why can’t you just man up and tell me face to face what was done wrong, or how I can improve on the job that I did? Especially after hearing the week before that there were things I could have done differently and I made those adjustments this week…Again, after hearing about it through second hand sources.

Whatever.

I’m sure I just threw a blazing torch on the bridge after posting this blog, but this is exactly why I’m walking away from these types of volunteer opportunities to focus more attention and effort on things I want to do, and not things that frustrate, or stress me out.

I deserve better than this.

Don’t get too excited…

I’ve tried doing this blogging thing a couple diferent times and failed horribly at it on Yahoo 360 and MySpace. I finally decided that the MySpace blogs needed to stop, because that wasn’t the original intent for that page.

Hopefully, with the potential of some pretty exciting things on the horizon for the upcoming racing season (meaning NEXT year), there might be some entertaining stories to tell, rants to rave or just something to laugh at from my little place in the line.

So, check back often, but keep in mind that you may not get what I’m talking about unless you post a comment and ask me what the hell I’m talking about!

But, that’s okay, because it’ll be nice to interact with folks who actually read my posts here.