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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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ANTICIPATION |
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It
is Monday July 8, 2002 and four weeks from tomorrow, I will be at Southern Iowa
Speedway for race #1 of the 2002 NWWC tour.
What are the racers doing to prepare and better yet how about me? SCRA scheduled three races in eight days at three different venues, so they were getting in plenty of practice to attack the speedways in the Midwest and East. First was the hottest show of the year, not excitement, but temperature. As the cars went out for wheel packing, the thermometer teetered at 111F. Las Vegas is warm in the summer, making it difficult to get enough water into the surface to make a tacky consistency. It seemed that the track was taking rubber during qualifying. Meticulously grooved tires were reduced to slicks in only a few laps. Compounding problems was a steady breeze, which worked like a vacuum sucking the last drops of moisture from the racing surface. While the racing was strained for the competitors, it was dusty for the fans and during the evening, one of the favorite competitors, Mike Kirby took a wild ride over the wheel of another car. Mike was shaken up, but walked away, despondent over the loss of his favorite car. Five days later, the scene moved to Perris for the July 4th fireworks and a pyrotechnic display. This show was one of the best, most competitive races of the year and the fans who were only there for the skyrockets, found themselves enamored with the outstanding racing. Michael Hinrichsen lost his second engine in three weeks, which has the team scrambling to assemble enough parts for this cross-country tour. Two days later, it was the quick three-eighths mile at the Tulare Thunderbowl. Thirty-one cars checked in and Steve Ostling set a new track record in qualifying. The track stayed in excellent shape all evening, with periodic manicuring by the track staff providing exciting racing throughout the night. As the feature lined up, all the heavy hitters were there. When the green flag dropped, “The Demon”, Damion Gardner, probably the most exciting driver for the past two months jumped from third to first and led for 27 laps. Coming off turn four, Damion’s car slid up the track and came into contact with the crash wall, his right rear trying to take a big bite from the concrete. The result was a series of four or five endos, down the front straightaway. Damion soon crawled from his destroyed racer, unhurt. Now, lets take stock of how our travelers are doing. We have lost two racecars, a couple of engines and a myriad of those mysterious bolt-on pieces, a rear end or two and some torque tubes. This means that many of these teams will need to make some quick purchases at the racecar store for a supply of parts to carry them through two or three more California shows before saddling up and heading east for nine races in twelve days. By the time they return home, they will log about seven to eight thousand miles down the interstate. While spending time as a writer, I still consider myself a fan. So what do they have to accomplish before departing? Deciding to drive, since by the time flight arrangements were made and a rental car secured, my own car would cost less. My preparation is much like many of the racing teams, bolting on four new tires, checked and changed all the fluids and made a couple of trips to AAA for maps, tour books and other helpful travel aids. Since most of us, racers and fans alike, still have real jobs, we had to arrange for enough time off to make our journey. Some would opt to attend only selected races, minimizing requested time off and reducing travel expenses. As a veteran of a number of these tours, I have found it necessary to have an extensive wardrobe. Over the years, we have been exposed to hot and humid weather, but also had snow in Wisconsin one year, a tornado threat in South Dakota, Kansas and Illinois, rain at many venues and some extremely cold temperatures, which had us scrambling to locate thermal underwear. In this age of electronic “do-dads”, everything needs a battery or at least a charger, making a checklist and inventory a must. For us elders, we get around quite well, as long as our medication holds out. This requires many extensive refills. There is also a financial burden for anyone making this journey. Consider the transportation expenses, lodging for a couple of weeks, eating along the way and then when you reach the racetrack, you have admissions or pit passes, for the racers, there is racing fuel, tires, tear offs and other miscellaneous items. We all will want to get a track or event shirt; maybe some trinkets for back home and a sample of the local racer’s cuisine. For those of us traveling without our spouse, there is the usually list of “honey-dos”, held over our head, you know, if you don’t do this, you can’t go! Of course, the ulterior motive for this is to obtain the necessary funding to make the trip. There may be a tax refund squirreled away, while her eye is on new clothes at the local boutique. I plan to depart on Saturday, August 3, making a stop in Arizona to pick up a friend, who will be a joy for conversation and an inspiration for my writing. Besides that, we are splitting expenses, making this trip more tolerable on both our pocketbooks. The
racing teams still have to compete in three more shows before departing, trying
their best to conserve parts for the trip.
One of the really great experiences, while on the road is the strong
camaraderie of all the teams. If
someone needs a part, one of the others will probably loan it to him and help
install it. While the competition
is fierce on the track, the racers want the full complement available, when the
green flag drops. I can hardly
wait!
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