Sam's Race Page

Another one down the drain

2008-06-09T11:23:00.005-05:00

We only came to practice. But after the spot where our truck and trailer was parked literally turned into a running stream we decided to white knuckle it through the night and try leaving in the morning.

We just can't seem to catch a break here in Wisconsin. What first appeared to be a winter that was never going to let go quickly turned into the Great Lakes Tsunami season. Saturday we only managed to get in two practice sessions before the skies began to threaten. Weather reports were coming in fast of impending storms packing high winds, hail, and in some areas tornadoes. This got the attention of my youngest who is absolutely horrified of even hearing the word much less being in the middle of one. We noticed several members of the club heading for shelter in the registration building and it didn't take much coercing for the girls to leave the trailer and head there themselves. Sam and I, as stupid as it sounds, decided to ride it out in the trailer until it got too bad. And although the "women and children first" line echoed in my ears the fact that I had a refrigerator, a pizza in the oven, and a television at my disposal made it hard for us to make haste with our departure.

We survived the night and the morning brought more grey skies with the forecast of rain all day. In grand fashion the registration windows opened and we were led to them like the Pied Piper leading rats through the streets of Hamelin. Everyone plunked their hard earned cash down in hopes of getting in what we could in what little time we had when just as if Mother Nature and registration were in cahoots with one another, the rains came and they cancelled the day. One hour and a thorough drenching later we were on our way home.

Our next stop was going to be the Dunlop Super Nationals at Road America but we're seriously re-thinking our approach to the rest of the season. Rising fuel costs as well as our inability to run strong on race gas is forcing us to contemplate removing key events from our schedule and just focus on Badger. We started the season very optimistic in our chances at competing in the regional and national events but given the fact that it takes hundreds of dollars in just diesel fuel to get to these venues leaves us no choice but to cancel a select few. We are still committed to competing in the BKC Points race #13 scheduled for the end of August at Road America but outside of that we are unsure about anything else. Check our schedule frequently for updates.

Record broken and palms burned

2008-06-02T16:09:00.006-05:00

Congratulations to us is due in the fact that we've broken yet another record in our illustrious career in karting. We've managed to spend more money at this past weekend's Midwest Sprint Series Race at Badger than we have in any race to date and with absolutely nothing to show for it.

Round two of the MWSS headed to Badger Kart Club this past weekend and we felt confident that we could run not only with our club competitors but with the talent showing up from outside of our area as well. People from as far away as New York and Montana were on hand with all of the big names that you read about in any of the trade magazines. But this was our track and no matter how talented they may be, we were going to finally have our day in the sun. Or partly to mostly cloudy skies with rain. Or so we believed.

Half of the obscene amount of money we spent went on rain gear for the kart and the driver. MWSS races are held rain or shine and with the forecast calling for some strong rains on Friday and Saturday, we knew that if we ever were going to become acclimated to racing in the wet stuff it was going to happen this weekend. So with a new rain suit, booties, and rain rubber all around, we headed to the track.

Friday morning was wet indeed when we woke up at the track. Engines started at around 10am but no one really took to the track until about noon. The problem was that although it wasn't raining, the track was wet in areas but not enough to sustain life in a rain tire and bit too dangerous for race rubber. For those who are not familiar with racing tires the "slicks" that are used on a normal race day have no tread and can become quite unstable in even the lightest of showers. Rain tires on the other hand are usually a softer compound and sport large deep grooves to force water away in the event of a storm. Kind of like your all season street radials on your personal car. Where it really gets tricky is during these bouts where no real rain is falling or standing water is on the track. Only the smoothest most experienced drivers can pilot a vehicle at speed in this environment on race tires. And if you opt for rain tires with no standing water, they "chunk", or come apart quite rapidly from the heat generated in them. We, like many others, decided to watch the skies and wait.

The skies eventually cleared and stayed that way for the better portion of the day. We tested for several hours struggling to break that forty second mark but didn't find any more speed. That was until I realized that I bolted the cylinder head on his engine backwards. Just so everyone is aware, there is no right or wrong way to bolt an HPV head to the block. Yes, the cooling fins that are angled slightly do face forward and the portion that's more square faces the rear. I have been told though that there is no advantage or deficit in having it mounted one way or the other. We told Sam that now it was going to be more aerodynamic and he would see a definite improvement. There was obviously no way this statement could hold water but as wrong as we were in telling him this, a 39.70 was predominantly displayed on his dash after that session. Something can be said for playing with your driver's head now can't it? The day remained dry and we wore through a set of racing tires in no time so before we could call it quits I had to drive down to the local shop and have another set mounted for Saturday. Ka-ching! more money we didn't plan on spending.

If only our good luck could have followed us into Saturday! We started out in our practice session with hopes of bettering our time from Friday but with an apparent fuel problem we didn't even finish the six minutes that were given to us. We couldn't make the kart go down the straight over 13,000 rpm and with an engine like this that just begins to live and breathe at about fourteen-five, we were leaving a lot of power on the table. We decided to pull the plug on the session, rebuild the carb, and take another stab at it during our qualifier.

No such luck would be had during qualifying either. It didn't even matter that we rebuilt the entire carburetor. It was acting the same way it did before and we were left perplexed to say the least. Our obvious inability to perform put us dead last on the grid for the pre-final and our streak of bad luck didn't stop there. After the green flag flew on our race, Sam went into turn one and appeared to immediately lose power. It had to be the fuel I was thinking, there could be no other excuse for it. Either way he signaled that he was coming off the track and with not even one lap completed our race was over. I grabbed my gear and headed for the scales to meet him when I realized that his loss of power wasn't contributed to our ongoing carb issue but a total loss of brakes! The rod connecting our brake pedal to the master cylinder broke and rendered his brakes useless. Once he came down pit road he had to slow the kart to a stop with his hands on the tires and the ensuing friction wore holes in his gloves and embedded rubber in the palms of his hands. Poor kid, talk about taking one for the team. He did mention that before he came in to the pits that the kart felt strong and he believed our problems with the carb were gone. Outside of my initial settings I couldn't understand how but I was optimistic in our chances in the upcoming final.

Of course not finishing in the previous race put us dead last again for the final. No worries though, as we believed our problems were behind us and all we could look forward to now is a good, clean, hard race. If it was only that simple. It ended up being good for others, clean for the most part, but hard for the two of us. Hard for him to drive and hard for me to watch. It turned out that the kart never really did miraculously fix itself, and shame on us for even thinking that. Within two laps the engine was up to its old tricks again and Sam used everything in his power to just keep the kart running. Towards the end of the race there were moments when he would be driving the kart for complete laps with one hand on the wheel and the other adjusting the carb just to keep it alive. Perseverance prevailed as he managed a twelfth place spot out of sixteen drivers. But the really sad part about it all was that his fastest time he recorded was the same speed we were stuck at the day before. We can only imagine how fast he could have been had the engine been on key.

Out of all the frustration and anguish we went through I have to say that I've never been more proud of him. It could have been much easier to throw in the towel and head for the pits but he stuck in there and did what he had to do to finish the job. It had to be tough to watch the field pull away with no chance of joining them but he focused on the task at hand and made best with what he had. And in the end we finished on the lead lap. Hard to imagine if you seen first hand how poorly the kart performed.

So now its back to Badger for Points Race #6 and a reevaluation of our remaining schedule for this year. It's hard to make this assumption but I feel that it was the fuel that caused this debacle. History has shown that when we race in events that use race fuel compared to pump gas we end up with problems like this. The odd thing is the front runners never missed a beat so why us and only a few others? You can't really blame the engine builder or tuner since we had a different builder last year when we experienced the exact same problem. So if it's me and something that I and only a few other fathers are doing wrong, I then owe it to all of us to stay away from these events until I get it straight. Our pride could sure use it, not to mention my pocketbook.

Rained out

2008-05-13T12:46:00.003-05:00

Nothing of much importance to report about our last event. Sunday May 11th was rained out.

We did manage to scuff in some new tires and complete a few laps on Saturday before the weather went away on us. The temps fell and turned the track in to a slippery mess so we threw in the towel early in hopes of the weatherman being wrong about Sunday. I'm very surprised to say that for the first time one of these clueless individuals (who pull down several times my salary) were right.

We'll hopefully pick up where we left off at our next event scheduled for Sunday May 18th.

Hello 2008!

2008-05-05T11:24:00.009-05:00

Sorry everyone! I haven't been able to update all of you on our progress so far this year. Obligations with work and family have made it nearly impossible to keep this site up to date as well as my own personal page over at 3am with Gus.

I'm serious about passing the torch to our illustrious hero that I write about every week and make him bring these installments to you with his very own words. This was our (my) intent when we started this blog four years ago but I've been more or less sucked in to it myself when his reluctance to pursue journalism was made all too clear. I've told him that pro drivers today spend an equal time, if not more, on marketing themselves and handling all of the "non-racing" tasks that are so essential in keeping your sponsors and the public happy as you do with your driving responsibilities. It's just part of the machine and you have to be just as successful outside the car as you are inside if you're ever going to make it work. And if by any chance he doesn't decide to go as far as he can in this field he might stand a chance of getting an A+ in English. Not too bad of a trade off I'm thinking. Wouldn't you agree?

So far this year we've been to our local track three times already with two of our visits being actual race weekends. The first time out was points race #2 and we were treating it like any other test day. Sam had not one moment behind the wheel this season so we were content on going out to just shake down the new kart and its engine. It didn't take him all that long to get acclimated with things again but a new seat that had been formed without a nice radius on it was thwarting his ability to concentrate on his driving. It cut so badly in to his side that he was literally holding his breath in pain while going through corners at speed. This forced us to fore go the main and just pack it up for the day.

We got out and tested for a few hours one afternoon and found a couple of tenths but we were still a world off our pace from last year. Almost to the tune of a full second. With it only being our second time out and combining it with the fact that he was still nursing some serious rib wounds we decided to keep our chin up, get some rest, and look forward to points race number three.

With some new safety equipment and a rested driver we headed to the BKC in hopes of finding some much needed faster times. Disappointing the day was in that we were scheduled to be in New Castle Indiana for a Midwest Sprint series race but with our new trailer being two weeks overdue we had to stay back home and race Dousman as the alternative. Only one other competitor in our class was in attendance with the remaining drivers opting for the MWSS race. Shades of years past were evident with the small field but with a bit of optimism we felt our personal best times would be lowered if this was our only objective of the day. The race found us finishing second to our competition and although it didn't net the results we had hoped for, a 40.20 second lap was our fastest time of this year so far.

Now we're off to Badger again next week on Mother's Day. It's a last minute addition to the schedule and one that was given the full blessing of by my lovely wife so no scoffing here folks. I purposely left it off the planned schedule just for her but since she said it was OK then it's OK with us. No one needs to tell me twice that we're going racing.

Not much to report yet

2008-03-07T14:36:00.002-06:00

If you stared out the window every day for the past three months and all you seen was this you wouldn't be too hopeful that the 2008 racing season is about five weeks away either.

At the rate this weather is coming at us I think we're going to take the month of April off and just hit the ground running in May. More news as the date draws nearer.

Tentative 2008 Schedule

2007-12-19T15:07:00.004-06:00

Subject to change.

The following dates are a starting point of where our schedule should take us next year. We're going to try and make four of the five Midwest Sprint Series races with a career first for Sam in the Dunlop Tire Road America Supernationals.

Because of this we are most likely going to compete in only half of the scheduled Bridgestone Point Series races at Badger, but as we've experienced in the past this could all easily change. We made it a point to make time for both of their bonus points races as well as the August 24th race which will be a return to the Briggs and Stratton Motorplex at Road America.

We look forward to another great year and hope you can be a part of it too. See you at the track!

April 20 Badger Kart Club Points Race #2
May 1-4 MWSS at New Castle Speedway in Indiana
May 18 Badger Kart Club Points Race #5
May 29-June 1 MWSS at Badger Kart Club
June 8 Badger Kart Club Points Race #6
July 10-13 Dunlop Supernationals at Road America
July 20 Badger Kart Club Points Race #9
August 3 Badger Kart Club Points Race #11
August 23-24 BKC Points Race #13 at RA Motorplex
August 28-31 MWSS at USA Raceway in Shawano
September 7 Badger Kart Club Points Race #14
September 21 Badger Kart Club Points Race #15
October 5 Badger Kart Club Points Race #16
October 12 BKC Backwards Enduro

2007 Awards Banquet

2007-12-06T13:52:00.000-06:00

This past November the Badger Kart Club hosted it's annual awards banquet again at the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc Wisconsin. As in years past everyone in attendance was treated to a fine night of food and festivities leading up to the awards ceremony.

This year we got the big one! Class Champion in HPV Jr. and although I myself voted earlier in the year for a change in the awards, mainly to something more compact, the monster that we were given put smiles on everyone's faces. With the biggest grin coming from Sam. Another nice caveat in being bestowed this honor was the jacket that all class champions were given. Sam still has it hung in his room as a part of his shrine of past accomplishments. It's a nice looking jacket that probably is equally nice to wear but something tells me it won't leave the Hall of Fame any time soon.

So until we can repeat it again next year we have a fair amount of work to do. In the weeks following the holidays we'll start the long methodical process of stripping the kart down to a bare frame and rebuilding it. And hopefully several weeks and a handsome amount of money later, we'll be able to do it once more.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

The "Old Guy's" turn at the wheel

2007-11-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

All year I wrench on my son's kart and envy him for having the opportunity to do this at his age. Ever since I can remember I wanted to have something to do with racing. And when an uncle of mine purchased a kart and began competing with it back in the 70's I knew where I wanted to be.

So I pestered my father and saved my money but nothing ever came of it. Whether it was a lack of money, a lack of time, or my inability to stay focused on one thing and one thing only, the plan never came together. I had to wait until I was much older to pursue this dream.

Most of you who know me know that I gave up driving about 14 years ago after a luke warm career racing Formula Fords in the SCCA. Just before Sam was born, I sold everything I had and put it into our first house in preparation for a new life as a family and with it, the terrifying thought of being someone's father. There was no way we could afford to continue in the sport and more importantly, we couldn't afford to have one of us going out and risking our neck on the weekends. So with that, I hung up the driving suit for good. And even though I can honestly say that I don't for one minute regret the decision I made, there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss it. Flash ahead 14 years and an opportunity just presented itself.

The annual Backwards Enduro at Badger Raceway is an event that we've had the unfortunate luck of not being able to attend in the past three years. It sounded like a blast. At the end of every race season the club puts on a fun only event where drivers take to the track in the opposite direction of how it's normally run. There's a Powder Puff class that we always thought my daughter would do well in, and an Enduro where my son could share his seat with one of his friends. And what about this Mechanics Race I thought? A quick talk with the troops about who wanted to race in what class and we quickly discovered that even though we could finally attend it, no one really wanted to compete. It looks like the kart is all my own!

Now again, anyone who knows me knows that even though the key word in this event is "fun" I was taking it much more seriously than that. I knew I had to find a seat to fit me but I didn't stop at that. I had to find out all the set-up specs for someone my size and I had to track down a larger pipe that would be less restrictive and be able to handle it's new payload. I dug my old safety equipment out of storage and dragged my family to the track to show them how it's done.

The biggest mistake anyone can make when getting into one of these things is assuming that driving a much smaller and lesser powered kart over a race car is going to be a walk in the park. On the contrary it's the exact opposite. It demands much more of your strength, which was apparent in my inability to hold my neck straight through corners, and the variety of deep painful bruising in my ribs and arms. Without suspension, karts are a handful when it comes to keeping them steady. It took me nearly the entire day to find my stride and work up the strength to pilot this thing along something resembling the racing line. Although the entire day I would come off the last turn onto the front straight with one side in the grass I'm pretty proud in how far I came. I would eventually finish 5th with a personal best lap time of 42.02

The student is now the teacher "Your not going flat out through turn one Pop!" "You're all over the place in the sweeper, you need to work on it!" he's telling me. Man is that how I sound every weekend? That kid of mine was busting my chops from the moment I set foot in the thing. And no matter what type of progress I made he would always have some smack talk to back up how much quicker he was than me. I'll give him that. With a 38 second lap compared to my 42 he reserves the right to be a little cocky. What he doesn't realize is that I was going in the wrong direction on the track (which he never drove before) and I'm taking along about 50 extra pounds for the ride. I know, excuses, excuses, but he better pray that we never go head to head on the same track. If I ever get a kart of my own I have no doubt in my mind that I'll show him my backside and hand him his in the process.

So what did I come away with after this experience? Oh where to start. I think the biggest thing that hit me while I was out there is that I couldn't believe I was making my son drive at speeds like this. I was doing everything I could to keep the thing pointed in the right direction and I was expecting my 13 year old to do the same? The rate at which you come up on things is so quick that if you snooze for just one second you can easily find yourself in a world of trouble. Those hay bales come up real quick on you.

Another thing that's become very obvious is that I'm not twenty years old anymore and I take longer to recover than I used to. Two weeks after the race and I'm still nursing wounds from that day. Now I know why some bright individual introduced a rib protector in this market. I just started taking full breaths again without pain.

And the last thing I came away with is the fact that the bug is still with me and now more than ever I'd like to get back into it again. Probably not auto racing though. Unless someone with very deep pockets would like to take a chance on me I'll stick to karting. How else can I prove to my son that his old man is still king?

The sun sets on yet another season

2007-10-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

The 2007 racing season is in the books with Sam finishing first in points and earning himself his first class Championship in HPV Junior.

This year was his third year in karting. It was also his third different chassis in karting. And to top it all off this was the third different powerplant sitting behind him so the learning curve had to be repeated every season. Just when he would get comfortable with the 4-cycle, we moved to 2-stroke. And just when he got acclimated to the powercurve of a 2-stroke, we moved into a much quicker class. He literally had to start over every year!

Out of all the transitions that he's had to make, this year had to be the toughest. we spent a lot of time trying to get up to speed with the new engine and just being able to trust his equipment at these higher speeds was a hard pill to swallow. In the end though we bettered our times by two full seconds and enjoyed the 2007 fast time of 38.90 seconds in our class. Even if it was for a very brief three week period. Another driver eventually bettered it by two tenths of a second and knocked us off our roost. It was to be expected as a lot of talented kids compete in this class, but no one can take away the fact that we were there with the best of them.

There will be people who will challenge the validity of a class championship when declining entries hampered us for most of the season. But in my mind, and anyone who knows Sam and knows how hard he's worked to come this far, it's no less of an accomplishment than if we had dozens of competitors show up every weekend. The real issue here that makes him a champion is the fact that he made the effort to go out and better himself every time he set foot on the track. Being within two tenths of a second of drivers who have much more experience than him is a strong testiment to what he has done and what he has yet to accomplish. This is worthy of noteriety all in itself and I myself as well as all of his friends and family are very proud of the accomplishment. Congratulations Sam!

Of course every year we can't forget to thank all of the individuals who've made this possible for us. First and foremost, Chris and Carla Heitman and everyone at Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies. Without their help we couldn't have done half of what we did. And I mention everyone else at the shop because if it wasn't for my co-workers who pull together and fill in for me while I'm away at the track then a lot of this would not have been possible.

OMP USA, and Gabriele Pedone and Danilo Oliveira. This is just the start. We have so much more we can accomplish and we hope you're on board every step of the way. Your equipment is head and shoulders above the rest and we're going to do everything we can to make everyone aware of this.

Margay Racing, and Keith Freber and Brandon Atkins. You've both put up with my silly questions all year and have been a fountain of knowledge for us. I'll be the first to admit that in all my years of racing I've never claimed to know much about chassis set up. You both are helping me overcome this.

Kent Laukaitis of Laukaitis Racing in Decatur Illinois. Thanks again for a good strong engine, your constant advice, and the patience with us when we needed it.

And none of this would have been any fun without the friends and family who joined us from week to week. Their support was very much appreciated. We are especially thankful to the other competitors and their families who were more or less on this circus tour with us. Being kind of your second family, these individuals were always there for a laugh or a hand when it was needed.

So now the not-so-long rebuild season is upon us. Like in years past we'll put together a list of wants and needs, (slowly whittling the wants away as the money is gone), and begin rebuilding for next year. I can promise everyone that we will be returning to HPV Junior next season. We do have an interest in this class and unlike before when my family would charge me alone with being the only one committed to it, I can say that Sam is excited to return as well. It appears that the entrants will more than double next year as we have firm committments from several individuals who will be joining us.

The caliber of competition will be going up as well. Another class champ will be joining us along with several other quick individuals from their respected groups. We will have our work cut out for us but as always, we welcome the challenge.

Thank you again to everyone and anyone who I may have missed. We'll see you all in 2008!

Bridgestone Championship Series Round 15

2007-10-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

Only one event left to go and this past Sunday in the books! Second place was ours again but in the hunt for the championship it all adds up. Any way we can get it we'll take it.

There really isn't a lot to report other than it was another average day at the track. It usually starts out with me chasing my tail for the first couple of sessions and slowly comes together, or somewhat together, by the time of our first race. That's where "average" ends since the temperatures loomed in the high 80's making everyone feel abnormally hot for this time of the season. We still haven't experienced the fast times that we achieved a couple of weeks back and really can't chalk it up to anything other than our above average temps combined with an engine that's about as ready for the end of this busy season as we are.

One of the things I don't share with our more seasoned competitors is the budget to have several motors at my disposal. I also don't freshen the one I have as much as I should. It's common sense to know that anything spinning in excess of 14,000 rpm should be looked at once in a while. Since most of the big ticket items have been obtained already this season I'm hoping to focus some of our time and finances on this area next season. With Sam learning so much and coming as far as he did this year we owe it to ourselves to pay much better attention to what our engine is telling us.

We're also going to need to pay more attention to this because next year we're expecting the class to grow a bit as well. Attendance should be up from this year as it appears there's going to be an exodus from another similar class who are all willing to participate in ours. We welcome the competition, but on the other hand we definitely want to show them that they'll be in our house now and nothing is going to come to them easily. It sure will make for more exciting times though. I know that's what Sam has been wanting all the while now.

This just in!

2007-10-03T12:26:00.000-05:00

Just in time for christmas and for 2008. We've now added a calendar to our online store with team photos spanning our first three years in this sport. Check it out at the Inch-Hi Motorsports Online Store.

Tough to get back in the swing of things

2007-09-27T12:57:00.000-05:00

photo courtesy Mike Weaver

Three weeks is far too long to be off. We shared a half day of testing back in August with a coach to help us get our times down and to polish up our act. The day was very useful to both of us, but when you're out of the seat for over three weeks you become a bit rusty.

Actually I was far worse off than Sam. I couldn't remember settings, I forgot the usual set of tools I take out, and tire pressures were all lost in the fog. I finally got my head straight by about our third time out on the track and things began to feel more routine for me. Unfortunately our lap times that I had anticipated for this weekend didn't culminate either. Up until Sunday we held the fast time record for our class. We were bound and determined to lower that and hopefully challenge the track record. Nice cool temperatures, one set of new tires, and a chassis that was laser straight and I felt we had the right combination to do just that. Too bad for us as two drivers from our class had the same idea and put an end to our record fast.

No disrespect to Sam. Although he had little to no sleep the night prior, he found his stride relatively quick but it just wasn't enough. The two front runners left us in their paths by the tune of almost a half second! Usually we're right there with at least Travis but not this time. He was on rails and nipping at Tommy Anderson's tail for most of the event. Third place was the best we could muster and the unofficial (at the time of this writing) fast time of 38.7 is now awarded to Tommy Anderson. I have a feeling it won't stay there for long though, he has gone quicker.

It goes without saying that both Tommy and Travis have far more experience than us at this game. But on the other hand Sam has come a long way this year and he's proved that he's no slouch. Having said that I can't chalk this disappointment up to anything other than a motor that could be getting tired. After all I haven't even put a new ring in it this season so it's probably crying for help. It did sound noticeably different than the others but that could also have been a gearing issue. Whatever it was we didn't share the same crisp sound of the two ahead of us.

With two races left on the season I think we're going to just stick it out. It makes no sense to work on anything at this point. I don't share the luxury that our competitors have in owning multiple engines. Some day I hope to but at this time I have only one. When it goes in for a rebuild we're down and I can't chance not getting it back in time for the next race. Our lead in the points is pretty safe as long as we compete in the next two events. We'd be smart in focusing our attention on that and making the dash for the track record next year.

Our next event is at Badger Raceway on Sunday October 7th. The season is quickly coming to a close so if you haven't had the chance to get out there we'd be happy to see you.

Congratulations on 1000 visitors!

2007-09-06T11:47:00.000-05:00

It took a while, but we reached one-thousand visitors to date on Sam's Race Page. Thank you to everyone who stops by from time to time to see our progress. We hope you continue.

Unfortunately I don't have the name of the lucky individual who checked out the site and helped us reach this milestone. If I had, I'd be giving them the keys to a brand new 2008 Chevrolet Z07 Corvette with all of those 650 Supercharged horses crammed under the hood. The kind of trouble one could get in with this thing is almost inconcievable.

Too bad though. I'll just have to drive it until we reach our next milestone of 10,000 visitors, or I lose my license. Whichever comes first. I'll keep all of you posted.

Thanks again,

Sam, Mike, and the whole crew at Inch-Hi Motorsports

2008 Corvette Z07 Giveaway disclaimer: Let it be understood that there is no car to giveaway. At the sake of being sued by someone who can't take a joke I am obligated to print this refuse after making the statement that I did. At no time was there ever a 2008 Z07 Corvette available to the 1000th visitor to Sam's Race Page.com. Any person who honestly thought there was one should seriously look into getting a life, not a car. For any of you out there who know me personally you know that I pretty much don't have two quarters to rub together much less the ability to give a gift of this size. And even if I did have the money I don't think my lovely wife (who has more common sense than me) could justify us spending this type of cash on ourselves. So if I've disappointed anyone, I'm truly sorry.

New Fast Time for '07

2007-08-31T10:23:00.000-05:00

Congratulations Sam!

We've been trying to break the elusive 39 second mark all season long and finally did it last Sunday.

I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine informing us that our fast time on Sunday was posted as 38.93 seconds. I didn't realize this at the time since we were in such a hurry to leave. I threw the kart in the trailer without checking any data on his gauge and off we went.

Understand that this is not a track record. The record in our class still stands at 38.38 seconds and was set back in October of 2006. Our time is the fastest that anyone has gone on the track in 2007. We've made some improvements to the kart and are off to the track to test this afternoon. We've brought on board with us a driving coach that will not only help Sam with his duties, but assist me with my set-up as well.

38.2 here we come!

Bridgestone points series race #13

2007-08-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

Sunday August 26th. Badger Raceway, Dousman WI.

A very wet past ten days gave way to sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures once again at Badger Raceway in Dousman Wisconsin for round #13 of the Bridgestone Championship Race Series.

An early fuel delivery problem scratched our attempt at our first morning practice, but once we discovered and fixed the problem we took to the track with a little re-learning to do. Sam had been out of the kart for almost three weeks now and had to find his stride once again. Thanks to Travis Kosik who is our closest competitor in our class, Sam had just the motivation to find the speed once again by the time the final arrived.

Although not his quickest time to date, he managed a 39.13 lap around the six-tenth of a mile track to score yet another 2nd place finish in HPV Junior. A big thank you has to go to Bob Clark who helped me point the chassis in the right direction. We've been struggling a bit with the front end geometry on our Pegasus Auto Racing/ OMP Margay since our recent crash and finally got it sorted out. Thanks Bob!

We now have another three weeks off until round #14 on September 23rd. In our quest to break the elusive 39 second mark we are planning on testing several times before this date with a private coaching session planned for Friday August 31st. Until then Happy Labor Day to you all, and kids, good luck in the new school year.

Schedule Change!

2007-08-23T10:48:00.000-05:00

The September 8-9th MWSS Event in New Castle Indiana has been released from our schedule.

It was a hard decision for us (well, mostly me) to do this but seeing that Sam is leading the Points series at Badger, The fact that school is in session, and a date was needed to put on a party for my daughter's birthday, we really felt it was the right thing to do.

This particular track is one of which I was very excited to visit. From the perspective of other drivers who had competed there it sounded like a fast, fun course and I will miss it. Next year we will put it at the top of our list of events to attend and we hope you'll be there to join us.

Aug. 19th Race Rained Out

2007-08-20T09:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to our recent monsoon season arriving early this year, round twelve of the Bridgestone Championship Points Series was rained out at Badger Raceway this past weekend.

Racing will hopefully resume on Sunday August 26th.

A win, but at what cost?

2007-08-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

The Bridgestone Championship Series round #10 event at Badger Raceway was a hot one on and off the track. Temperatures in the 90's and yet another three class combination made our day tough to say the least. Sam won his race but because of a first lap skirmish with another driver not even in our class (and gridded behind us) he finished with a battered kart.

Someone once told me that when you run up front or when you are surrounded by better, quicker drivers, the chances of contact or a crash are usually diminished because of the caliber of talent around you. This theory didn't hold true as the above mentioned driver proceeded to aggressively push and shove his way to the front of the pack with an obvious disregard for others around him. In doing so he wrecked not only Sam's kart but another driver that Sam was closely competing with.

I totally agree that there is going to be rubbing, touching, and contact in racing. Although I find road racing to be a far cry more civilized than circle track racing, this sort of thing does happen from time to time in our sport. But this was totally avoidable in my opinion and a very dumb move on this driver's behalf and I'll tell you why.

The driver that I'm talking about has far more experience racing karts than probably half the field of drivers on that day. He also was probably the quickest when you look at his lap times compared to others. Saying this one might think that he/she would possess enough maturity to wait until the right moment to safely pass everyone on either a slower turn or a long straight. It was clear after this act of stupidity that this frame of mind obviously doesn't exist inside this driver's head.

And a mature person would apologize to everyone affected by a stunt like this but none was to be heard by him or his father. At least none was made to us as I can't speak for the other driver involved. It was truly disappointing also when they were pitted directly across from us and didn't even make eye contact after this. They returned from tech, packed up their trailer and drove off. Maybe their conscience was getting to them, most likely it didn't, but at least we know now we'll need eyes in the back of our heads the next time we share a track with him.

The silver lining in this dark cloud is the fact that Sam now is in first place in his class in points. Like I've said before if and when more drivers in our class return from other series' that they are involved in we're going to have to work extra hard to preserve this lead. It won't be easy but he's proven time and again that he can step up when the moment comes.

Wish us luck!

Light at the end of the tunnel

2007-07-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday we posted another 2nd place finish and bettered our time to within .03 of a second of our class record. As happy as we all are on the tremendous amount of progress we've made, it's bittersweet in the fact that once the front runners return from their trek to Pennsylvania that record is more than likely to fall in the mid 38 second range. No worries though as we'll be there very soon ourselves.

Sam and I really have to thank Dan and Travis Kosik alot for our recent successes. If it wasn't for them showing up at the track over the past two weekends we very well may not have improved as fast as we did. Travis is a great kid who's very friendly and knowledgeable, and not opposed to sharing tips with other people. And because Sam and Travis are so close when it comes to their times around Badger, this helped motivate Sam and gave him something to shoot for.

A big thank you also goes out to Laukaitis Racing Engines for getting us a carb in the 11th hour. The problems that we've been experiencing over the past three weeks are just about gone and with the new carburetor that he supplied us for this weekend we were able to post a personal fast time of 39.05 in HPV Jr. Thanks again Kent.

So technically after this weekend we are leading the points in our class. Although we did not set out this season to chase points in the club it would be a nice caveat if we were to win it. There are several drivers who could put an end to this for us real quick if they decided to enter a few more races between now and October. If this does happen though we won't mind, we'll take the competition over an easy win any day.

Badger Raceway- Sunday July 15th

2007-07-18T15:42:00.000-05:00

I wish I could say that last week's carb issues were a thing of the past but we're still struggling a bit to find out what the situation is. The kart is definitely quick once it gets up to speed, hence our personal best lap time of 39.14, but it still struggles to move on the low end. The carb was rebuilt, settings were changed, and we even began to teach Sam how to reach back and tune the darn thing in flight. And after all of this, it was still a roll of the dice on whether or not we would make it out of the pits under it's own power.

Although the stress level was much lower than last week you wouldn't have thought a thing had you seen Sam. We brought a couple of his friends from back home with us to the track and they quickly embarked on doing what all young boys do. Make stupid noises, run around like indians,(forgive me if any native americans are reading this, I mean no disrespect) and flirt with girls. This was the first time I might say that I've witnessed my son noticing the opposite sex. He keeps this kind of thing pretty much to himself but I know he notices them. He's just too shy to admit it. It's not until he's around other guys that you can see it more clearly. Maybe this is half the reason for his stupendous showing out on the track. That whole peacock displaying it's feathers thing is a very powerful motivator.

Once the race came we were very confident that what little of a deficit we had we could conquer. The kart was getting pretty easy to predict and Sam was getting the hang of tuning it on the road. So this, combined with our dropping lap times, had us excited to see what the final held in store for us.

Travis Kosik joined us from his normal CES schedule and offered a great chance for us to compete with someone who was not only a great teacher for us but a good friend as well. I actually grew up with his late uncle Dave and knew his father and Aunt through this relationship. We all went to the same grade school together about 100 years ago and became reacquainted through the sport. Truly a small world.

The final was pretty uneventful with Sam nipping at the heels of Travis for much of the entire race. Both of them were posting some pretty impressive times. Impressive for Travis in the fact that he hadn't been on this track for some time and was trying to find his stride again, and impressive for us in just being able to stay that close to him. The real excitment came on the last lap. I almost couldn't believe what I saw when the two of them were nose to tail coming down to take the checkered flag. At the last moment Sam drew out from behind him to challenge for the win and just came up short. We took second place but there was no more than a half a kart length seperating them at the line.

Aggression? I asked myself. Was that aggression I just saw? Is he finally finding the tenacity that I've told him he needs to do the job? I sure hope so. I could get used to races like this every weekend.

AAAAARRRRGH!

2007-07-18T13:47:00.001-05:00

Our once pristine kart now has it's first set of battle scars.

When practicing for last Sunday's race, Sam came upon a slower driver who was not very aware of his surroundings. When he went to overtake him on the inside of "the boot" at Badger, this driver came right across the track and chopped off Sam's line and a good portion of our nose in the process. Nothing mechanical was damaged in the altercation but the site of that body scuff is going to drive me nuts until the end of the season.

I had the priviledge many years ago of working with an all around master mind of race car fabrication and chassis prep who asked to remain anonymous. One of his attributes that rubbed off on me is the fact that all of your equipment had to be kept in immaculate condition all of the time. We would wipe down and polish our cars when they came off the track before we'd ever begin to inspect them. After all it did help in identifying potential problems, and a lot of things can be covered under a layer of dirt and grease that could remain hidden until they would bloom into something much larger.

But even though I'm thankful for all that I learned from him in the past, this is one thing that I wish I didn't. Or at least one that I'd pay less attention to later in life. It's almost become an obsessive compulsive disorder for me. And clean, polished, nicely painted equipment doesn't always make it to the finish line first so I don't know why I try so hard. Making it to the finish line first should be the only priority, clean or not. I'm going to try my hardest to live by this but it won't be easy.

I can't leave this one at the track

2007-07-10T12:03:00.000-05:00

I've learned a long time ago to "leave it at the office", and not to bring my work home with me. I can't say I've been the best at it but nonetheless I've tried. The same holds true for racing. You have your highs and lows and you learn to live with both of them. And up until now I think we've all done pretty good. So then why does the disappointment of this weekend not want to go away?

A lot of it had to do with the enormous expectations that we had. After all, This was the Midwest Sprint Series coming to OUR home track. We have plenty of miles logged at Badger, and our times were well on their way of closing in on the faster guys, so we thought we'd be able to truly compete with this group for a change.

We also rectified a couple of things with the kart that may have had an adverse affect on us performance-wise. Couple that with new rubber and a strong will to show the out-of-towners how we do things here and you can see how we felt that we really had a shot at something this weekend.

Friday's practice session was hot both on and off the track. The temperatures were hovering in the 90's making it unbearable to even sit still much less wrestle a kart around the track all day. Sam was getting beaten down by the heat pretty good so after a late morning session where he posted a personal best 39.43 lap, we decided to temporarily quit for a couple of hours and return to test later in the afternoon once things could cool off a bit. We were back out around 4pm for the last two remaining sessions and managed to stay in the mid 39 range. The kart was handling well, it was quick, and all looked very promising for Sunday's race.

Here's where the "life isn't fair" thing comes in to play. As hard as we worked to get down into the mid 39 second range, our competition worked just as hard to get in to the mid 38 range. We've been chasing this idea that 39 flat was where we needed to be to compete up front and now it looks like the bar has just been reset. Back to the drawing board!

Now comes the point in today's story where you hold your hands to your face and cry with frustration. I know I have for the past 2 days so feel free to join me. After all misery loves company, right?

Sunday morning's practice session went well and we were still firmly in the 39 second range. Once qualifying came though, the kart decided that it didn't want to move from a dead stop. The carb would load up so bad it took about 50 yards with the pedal to the floor to finally clear out and begin working it's way up to speed. By the time the race came it was so bad that Sam couldn't even stay up with the pack on the pace lap! And if any of you have been to a race and seen how much they slow the drivers down on a formation lap you'll understand how pathetically slow this kart must have been. Needless to say when the starter threw the green flag the field was almost to turn 2 before our kart cleared out and began to run. We were already a quarter lap down from the field before they completed the first lap!

If there's one silver lining to this horrible experience it's that Sam's commitment to finish this race well within the pack didn't change. After 5 laps he had made up enough time on them to make it look like things were beginning to turn around for us. With 10 laps left and at the pace he was going I felt he could easily catch back up but this premonition came to a screeching halt in a whisp of tire smoke as he spun the kart exiting turn 2 and couldn't continue on. Had the carburetor been working right he would have had enough power to re-enter the track and finish the race but once the throttle was released, the thing would load up so fast it couldn't get out of it's own way. A truly disappointing end to what should have been one of our finest moments.

Now we need to put this all behind us and just move forward. The next two weekends we're going to be back at Badger for the local club races. I'm hoping that after my telephone call to the engine builder, a few new parts, and a couple of test days we should be back in the swing of things again. I hope so, because it's going to be a long way for us to get into the 38's.

Another Win!

2007-06-27T16:36:00.000-05:00

It sounds alot more exciting than it actually happend. But like we've said before, we'll take them any way we can.

This past Sunday was another good day as we've shown improvement in a few areas of concern as well. We're so close to breaking the 40 second mark we can taste it. And all of the test time that we've spent trying to get through a couple of key areas quicker has really begun to show. I've thrown off the gloves and challenged Sam to try breaking into the 39's and it looks as though he's on his way. I told him he could name his price if he does so I fear what I may have started is going to cost me dearly. Oh well, I figure this is a small price to pay to run with the fast guys. Bribary is a very powerful motivational tool I've found.

And speaking of the fast guys, we had one of the Midwest's best HPV Junior drivers on hand for Sunday's race and quickly found out why this title has been bestowed upon him. He's so fast and smooth it's almost silly how quickly he can pull away from the pack. He, as well as his father, are a great pair as well. Very friendly and equally informative. They don't fit the mold of people that are as successful as they are. You know the ones who are either so focused with their team and the task at hand that they pretty much ignore every other human on earth. Or the type that doesn't have time for candid banter with the "steerage".

Well let me first say that they handily won over us by the tune of about 15 seconds. Like I said, this kid can drive. He also drove in two classes on Sunday, and if that isn't enough work, the classes that he entered were run back-to-back! He had to leave his kart at the scales after his HPV finish, run down pit lane, and jump in his second kart to compete in his other class. Where the problem starts for him, and the lucky chance happened for us, is when there was a large wreck in this event. They had to red flag the race due to so much debris and so many people on the front straight that it made it literally impassible. When they were informed that they would have to restart the event in back because said events were caused by them you could sense some tension between them and the officials. They obviously felt that the punishment was harsh for an incident that wasn't exactly caused in total by themselves. With that, they took both karts and left the track. And in leaving, they failed to weigh their karts and driver in tech, awarding the race win to us.

I want to also add that Sam did this with a seriously injured kart. Contact was made with another kart on the warm up lap and what originally looked minor, caused a bent spindle and tie-rod. We also had one tie-rod end just about ready to seperate from itself. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that had come to be on a high speed turn. Now I know why the kart seemed almost unwilling to cooperate with him as the laps went by. The kart was progressively getting harder and harder to drive and you could tell. By the end of the race he was physically beat.

So there you have it. Although I'd love to have fabricated some valiant story of our dedication and talent finally prevailing, I had to tell the truth even though it's far less exciting. But to not take all the wind out of our sails I have to say that if it wasn't for Sam being in the position he was we wouldn't have prospered like we did. Even though talent, determination, and the will to win are key ingeredients of a winner, chance plays a very big part in things as well. And for this weekend, it was on our side.

Schedule changed yet again!

2007-06-21T10:36:00.000-05:00

Due to a scheduling conflict with a family comittment, the July 28th Route 66 Series race at Norway has been dropped from our agenda.

Midwest Sprint Series Round 2, Shawano WI

2007-06-12T11:18:00.001-05:00

Undeniably the best track that we've seen, and probably will ever see in our time. Someone told me that the USA International Raceway in Shawano was nicknamed "Little Laguna Seca" and it couldn't be more true.

The elevation changes here are enormous compared to any other track that we've been to. The racing surface is quite smooth, it's wide, and the course offers a variety of challenges found in many other tracks, all rolled into one. Spectators have plenty of places to find just the right vantage point. And being situated on an amusement facility, there's plenty of food and fun to occupy your time when the last flag falls on the day.

As for us and the real reason to be there, we came to race. The Midwest Sprint Series was explained to us as the right place to compete with all of the bigger names in karting, but with not quite as much pressure as a WKA Man Cup event. This is not to be mistaken as a series that's any simpler to compete in. It just doesn't normally attract the very large team or the teams from out of our region or even our country.

With the exception of just one moment where Sam got a bit wide exiting a corner and took it off road, the weekend went pretty smooth for us. The kart was set up for the track and basically stayed that way through every session. From practice on Friday to the pre-final on Sunday his times consistently dropped and he became increasingly faster and much more comfortable with the kart and the track. But if you know me you know that I just can't leave well enough alone and feel that I have to constantly change things to be quicker. For the final I decided to add a tooth to his final gear ratio and it didn't net the results I had hoped for. He eventually finished in 14th spot verses his 11th place finish in the pre-final.

Now we have our sights set on Round Three which comes to our home track in July. We are planning on testing every possible day that we can leading right up to this event. We might not have the experience that most of these drivers have in general, but what we do have is time on that track. It's our home turf, now all we have to do is bring our A game and make them all aware of this.