Club Race #6 and 7 Aug 2012

I got a little behind on the race weekends so this may not be as detailed as I'd normally like...

  This weekend it really felt like forever since we'd raced - and even longer than that since we'd been at home track. I was also constantly questioning, what I had done at the Grands as far as set-up. Should I change back now that I was at home?? Or was my set-up sort of sucky in the first place so I should just leave him alone?? Since I really couldn't answer myself, I left him be, but not without much internal debate after every single time he drove...
  They ran heats this weekend. Right before he went out, it occure to me that race season was almost over this year and that although my boy was getting faster, he still wouldn't pass. It just so happened that one of the novices that repeatedely won was moving up - and Zachary saw that as an opening.  I also saw an opening - BRIBERY!
   Yeah, I said it. Yeah, I did it. Zachary was sitting in staging in his car w/ all gear on when it occured to me that I should bribe my laid back boy to win (because really, who doesn't need that lesson as early as possible??). 
   So right before he left staging, my son and I had a business deal - and it was the business of passing. Now I will not mention what the bribe was, but I will tell you that he did not just pass a couple cars - he lapped cars and finished first ---about 1/2 track ahead. Finally!
   Zachary got a huge confidence boost and now he knows he can pass. Oh yeah, it's on. No, really, it totally is!
   Zachary went straight to A Main. The first race day, I cannot remember what happened but I believe he got 4th or 5th in the race. He was disappointed but the good thing about double race days is that the first day you can tell them, "There's always tomorrow!"
   So the next day Zachary somehow ended up as car number 7 after the heats. It was not a pretty place to be but maybe one of the best things that could have happened as far as the lesson...
   I think we were both feeling a bit unsure if he could come from behind that day. I told him how many cars he needed to pass and sent him out.
   That boy passed his little butt off and pulled 3rd in the A Main - trophy territory!!
    And we have since reflected on the fact that if he's in the back, he can still pull ahead and to never quit trying.  That is gold!

2012 Portland Western Grands

    You actually have the option of doing club races, region races, and then states/national events as well during one season. If you do them all, you can pretty much be racing every weekend.
    Since this was our first year racing, I decided that we would pretty much stick to home track stuff - club races. This gave us a bit more time in-between races and not make us feel quite as flustered all the time.
   The Western Grands were our exception. This year they were held in Portland, OR at Alpenrose Dairy. Novice entry was free so we just had to pay to get there and to park, etc.
   Part of the reason for going was that it was close and every year tracks "bid" to have the race. The next two years the race will be in CA and then AZ (or maybe vice versa). Anyway, the point is the same - the races will be further from home. The other half of the reasoning was that the novices all get big old trophies - win or lose. This was important to me because I need to build up some confidence in Zachary and since it was such a battle all season watching his sister get trophies for just being in races, I thought maybe he deserved one too.
    So we registered for the week way in advance. It is a bit odd because the whole process isn't very informative. We planned on going down Sun to get a good parking spot and come back either late Thursday after novices were done or early Friday because we had other scheduling issues.
   The week before the races, we took Zachary's car to our friends' house and they changed his worn out breaks for us. While there, the Grand came up and I happened to mention my schedule ideas. They informed me that it was probably not going to go that way at all.
   First of all, when you pull into Alpenrose, you park in a field and drop your trailer. If you've ever seen the back of my RV, you'd know why I thought this was a horrible idea. I really have some damage back there that I don't intend to fix until I get better at backing with a trailer!!  I digress.
  You drop your trailer then go park the motorhome. After that they take your trailer (cars and stuff and all inside) and forklift into some spot. Now you may be able to imagine the forseeable problems with getting out early....
   So we have an uneventful drive to Portland Sunday. Thankfully our friends in the club had already alerted the people there that I would be the crazy single mom coming and I alerted them that I also can't park in tight spaces. So the first night I got parked with our club and the trailer got parked next to our friends' trailer. Good to go. The motorhomes are quite a jaunt away from the track/trailers. I was not used to this since at home we always just stay hooked and can see the whole parking field.
   Alpenrose Dairy is big though. It has a functioning dairy, a Velodrome (the little bicycle track for people that don't joke about bike riding fast), Little League baseball fields, some mock town, and then of course, the quarter midget track. Some people actually rented or brought golf carts to get around. I suppose it may help to mention that there were something like 260ish cars there - probably more.
   So the first night we just settled in and ate dinner. Over the next few days, we car tinkered (well, I did anyway - some people did real stuff to their cars!), ate, and had campfires at night. The other classes safetied and signed in in the mornings, practicing I believe began on Monday or Tuesday, and qualifying was I think Wednesday. As novices, we didn't have anything to do until Thursday.
   Thursday they had an opening ceremony. I really didn't expect much but it was very cool. They had flags/national anthems/some aerial artist that all the dads were jaw dropping at/and some Ricky Bobby prayers. The kids walked in groups and their clubs got introduced and they also all signed the track.

  Afterwards novices went out to practice in groups of 5 I think it was. Then we had no time do anything and were sent directly to qualifying. From qualifying we had a little time while they figured out order before the main race.
  Zachary did pretty good at qualifying again. He came in at worst 10th out of 30 novices from varying states. I say at worst because I am not sure whether they inverted the 2 Main or not. To give you an idea of how close of races these are, the track record for novice there is 7.447 I believe. Zachary drove an 8.017.

   For the novices, it is more of an exhibition thing there so they don't actually move up like they normally would. They put the fastest eight in the first race, next fastest eight in the second race, and so on. So Zachary raced in the second race and came in fourth there. If it was a real race, he would have transferred.

    When they all got done, the track decided that they were behind with actual races so they took novices off-track and gave them their awards (their big ass trophy and a bottle of fresh milk in an old style milk carafe). The winner of each race also got a hat from Vega tires.

    After that we were all done. In the end, we ended up staying until late Sunday to watch most of the races and it was totally worth it. I am really glad we did.

   Here are some things you may want to know if you decide to go to the Grands one year:
- Trailer and motorhome parking are seperate fees.
- Water and sewer service come the first Tues and then Thursday as well - that's extra charges per time. You are not obligated to get them.
- Bring lots of cash, the snack shack actually has a decent selection and if your kids are anything like mine they will be bugging you for something out of there.
- If you have an R/C car, bring it - they do a little race. We actually didn't have one and ended up buying one last minute.
- Tons of vendors are there and there are some good deals there. Don't worry if you don't have something - someone's bound too!
- They do a live feed so people can watch your races. This is a fun way to let family/friends see you race.
- Be prepared to see some serious racing. The Grands are like an everyone eats their Wheaties event. There is some hard racing going on - many accidents, some serious heartbreak, and some super earned trophies!

Yup, you're looking at our friends car nose up in this pile-up!

What we got out of the Grands:
- Our feet wet at an away from home event
- Lots more time to learn about set-up and racing from our friends (it was really one of the first time I got to just sit in the bleachers and just watch other kids race). I also learned a lot just having the time to watch other people do different things to their cars. I got to rebuild shocks too(although I still dont think Id quite remember the steps myself).
- Some faces at other tracks around the country - there were families from Kansas, Wyoming, Ohio, California, Oregon, Washington, and probably some others I forgot!
- And some good fun with our track friends - well, except for the time I got body slammed (j/k on the not fun time - not joke on the body slamming!)

I know we had WAY more time there because we were novices. I would totally recommend going as a Novice. We will be back - maybe not in rookie years because I'd like the baby to be a little easier to manage, but we will be back!

Tech - the declarers of DQs (disqualifiers)

    There is a Tech Director at each race. They are in charge of making sure everyone is playing fair. So they are the ones that check out stuff that may be doctored i.e. fuel/motors/little parts and pieces you've never seen before.
 So your kid goes out on the track and races their little heart out. You're so ecstatic because they kicked butt in qualifying. They come off track and must go over scales to make sure they are at the proper weight for their class. Then they drive onto a board where alignment type things are checked (i.e. are your wheels outside the roll cage).
   If it's a qualifying day, tires get "stamped" (basically branded to make sure you don't change tires).
   You also get your motor sealed. Sealing means someone comes around with paint and paints 13 different points on your motor in the pretty color of the day. The spots are a little different for different types of motors. If they don't paint all 13 points, you will get DQed (by tech) and it will not be the painters fault - it's yours. Here's how our days mostly go:
       1, 2, 3, 4, 5, shit - I lost count. Did we get it all? Is there enough paint so it wont come off throughout the race day?? Is there any old color that looks like it should be painted? Can we paint the whole thing so we dont have to worry about it?
         About that time the painting volunteer (who is usually a track mom) hands us the list of what SHOULD be painted. And mostly, I don't remember what part is what anyway so it's fairly useless.

         So your kid goes out on the track and races their little heart out. And since they did so great, straight to impound their car goes - to wait for tech. If there's no paint and it was qualifying - guess what? DQ!
     So at the very end of the day, after all racing is finished, Tech starts looking at cars. They check fuel w/ a sniffy thing. If you are not within proper numbers - guess what? DQ!
    They look at your tires and who knows what else. If you pass this part, and it's a full tech day, they have you pull your car up to a big long "Tech" table.
    

"YOU WANNA SEE MY WHAT?!"

       I hardly think that's appropriate to ask! Oh, you're tech? Okay then.

"No, really, what the crap do you need from me?" 
    Tech will ask for anything they want. One time we got asked to see our muffler (uh, hello?! the thing that gets a bazillion degrees and has more than likely been rusted on the car for years because nobody touches those things). Yes, there is really rules about the INSIDE of that thing! Wow!
     Another time, I got asked for - well, I can't tell you because I still don't know what the hell I was asked for but it was WAY deep in the thing that makes the car go... uh, the motor.
     Problem #1 - "How the hell do you recommend I get it off to give it to you?"
So, I still haven't quite figured out the 2 pit cart/tool problem but just so you know, you are supposed to bring your tools to tech. Also, have something to drain whatever it is you may need to drain.
Ummm, so thank god for people willing to tell me/loan me some tool to get the thingamajig off the whatchamacallit so I can give the doohickey to tech.
  
        Tech uses all sorts of special "tech" tools to make sure you didn't do something??? to something??? inside the motor. Luckily I do not know enough to cheat, but I do cross my fingers everytime that whoever had the motor before I bought it from them was also not a cheater.

         So after you get done with Tech, you get your stuff back.

       Problem #2 - "What the hell do I do with this?!" aka HELP!
     Umm, I have seen tech look at junk so far in the motor and then just hand a bunch of parts back to the owner. Good luck Chuck - hope ya have more knowledge than me!
    I will say that there are so many people willing to help--- but the crap is very intimidating!

Stuff I have seen go wrong firsthand: So ya forgot to seal your motor, huh? Wasn't your car supposed to go to impound after you placed? There's something wrong with your slide?

Nothing feels worse than knowing that you caused your kids to get DQed after they did awesome. But, I bet the same mistakes aren't made twice.

And for all you people that actually understand this stuff....here's some light reading:
http://quartermidgets.org/documents/Tech/Honda/2011_Honda_120_Tech_Manual.pdf

And if you do understand it, I'm looking for pit crew! =)

   After all this I feel compelled to tell you, Tech directors are volunteers from the track and they take some of the most heat from angry racer sponsors (i.e. parents). They deal with Why do we hafta (insert foot stomp)? And probably some other not nice encounters.
  But in my experience if you catch a tech director or former tech director when they are not busy as heck, they are knowledgeable as hell and will bend over backwards to help you/educate you/keep you from getting DQed.
     So go give your tech director a big smooch! =)


  

It's More Than Racing...

     This part may be hard to properly convey because it's more personal but I feel I must make an attempt.

    One of the reasons I began looking into racing was to bring my family together. With 3 kids and significant age spans, it's hard to find something that all of them can do together.
    So far, it has been great. We camp together in the motor home so unlike at home where the teen's in her room, the boy's outside, and I'm with the baby - everyone is forced to be more connected and help each other more. Don't get me wrong, there's bickering and some stress for sure, but knowing the memories we are building will last makes it all worth it. Even if all they have to talk about when I'm gone is "Remember when mom made us.....!" At least they'll have it all in common!

    Our first race weekend at the track, I surely did not know what to expect. Kira was hesitant about being a 14 yr old girl in an environment that seemed predominantly filled with 5-6 year old boys. We had a few conversations about girls race too but I don't think she was really convinced.
    Now Kira and Zachary are entirely different personalities. Zachary can be shy/reserved but I am always confident he will make friends with kids AND the adults. Kira is a different story and her negative attitude/teen self-esteem issues can get in the way of making friends.
    After we got all settled in, there was a knock at the RV door. There stood two teen girls - one I knew to be another novice that also happened to play soccer. They asked if Kira could come hang out.
    Ever since that first night we've been golden. The kids have their "track" friends that they hang with whenever we are out and I like them expanding their circle of friends beyond school and the neighborhood. For Kira it has been really good because sometimes the 8th grade drama was a bit much and when she went to the track, there was none of that school junk.

    And for the record, it seems like there are a lot of older girl racers. It's actually kind of cool. Look out Danica!

    The racing families as a whole are awesome. It's like no other sport because it takes so much family participation - much more than the other sports my kids participate in. There are for sure people with all kinds of varying backgrounds and personalities and because I never grew up with that sort of parental involvement, I am continually impressed with their level of commitment to their kids. If the world were full of parents that took the time to connect with their kids like these parents do, I think there'd be a lot less kids on some shaky paths. It is no secret I am trying to surround my son with good male role models. I know he has a hole, but my goal is to fill it the best I can and make sure he knows how to do "guy stuff" along the way.
      The paradox of racing parents is, many of them are competitive. No, super competitive.
I have heard stories of people going crazy about judges calls during the race. Sometimes you can hear parents cheering so loudly and often (not that their kids can hear them in the helmet) that you wonder how they don't lose their voices. And they get mad at each other's kids too - "so and so shouldn't be doing that!" "that's not the right order!" "so and so broke our car - again!!" etc, etc
     But on the flip side, these same parents that are highly competitive will often drop everything to help you with your kid. They'll push your kids car, fix your kids car, let you borrow tools/parts, practice with you, even sometimes give you some tips (although this isn't to say there aren't people holding out on info either!).
     Between breaking stuff and just not knowing anthing, we'd definitely be dead in the water (on the track???) if it wasn't for many of "the competitions" sponsors - the parents!
     For me personally, racing makes me forget. It is so busy between trying to watch the baby, getting things ready for both kids, getting them to staging, learning all about racing and tools, etc - I don't have a lot of time to think about what my daily life is like and what's going on it. I'm always exhausted when I get done and am happy for that little mental break away from my mind.

     For me and my family, there really is WAY more than just the race!

Racing Roller Coaster - We're Up, We're Down

This weekend was a double header (I don't really know if this term applies to racing but you get the idea).
  We got to the track Friday evening and got some practice laps in. We tried a few things on Kira's car earlier in the week and she was running faster than she had been. Zachary ran some laps with his foot to the floor and was looking good. We went through safety and felt pretty good about Saturday.

Saturday - qualifying:
   - Zachary came in 3rd with a 8.04 and went straight to the A main! To give you an idea of how close these places are - 1st was 7.99, 2nd was 8.02, and then Zachary at 8.04.
                                             

   - Kira was the last senior novice so she had nobody to race. She did break the track record for senior novice at 7.6. It was a great way to leave the novice class and the previous record holder was from another track so we brought it back home! Her name and time will now stay up on the tower until the next qualifying day if someone breaks it (although it would have to be an out-of-towner because all our senior novices moved up).

  Zachary got some playing time in waiting for the A Main. When he went in the A Main, he was car 2 but had a bad break. 2 cars got hung up next to each other, slowing them down - right in front of him on a straight away. He ended up with nowhere to go and bumped into them. They got untangled and sped away. He lost a lot of momentum and fell back a half lap. He didn't get back up after that. I can't remember where he placed.

   Kira had no one to race so went out and did 15 laps all by herself. Luckily she came in first but did say it was really embarrassing to be on the track by herself like that.

Kira with the checkered flag on last Senior Novice race

   Zachary had a hard time because when you go to A Main directly, even though you kicked butt to get there - if you don't place in the race, you get no ribbon/trophy. Meanwhile Kira broke track record AND got a 1st place trophy.

After races were done Saturday Kira's motor had to go through TECH because we were pulling her motor out that night. I'll tell you about tech some other time...

That night we went through Kira's car - changed motors, put on new right side wheels (they have rules about right side wheels when you get out of novice, and changed gears. By the time we got finished I was beat, out of lemonade for my Honey Jack drinks, and had no idea how that car was gonna run the next day. I went to bed crossing my fingers that her car was fast and Zachary won any award at all.

Kira ready to race with Senior Honda

Sunday - heats:
     Kira moved up to Senior Honda. I really wanted her to run Heavy Honda but didn't have the time to change everything that needed to be changed to get her there i.e. weight addition, springs, etc.
    Senior Honda is just what it sounds - kids 9 and over running Honda 120 motors. Heavy Honda has the additional rule that the kid has to weigh 100 lbs minimum.

    When you move up and out of novice, they put a little green ribbon on the back of your car so everyone knows it's your move-up race. You then start in the back of the race.

                            
  
      Kira put a big 0 on her car (meaning number 10).  She started her heat off very aggressively and confident. She made some good passes but earned two calls (yellow flags) for charging (more on calls later). You can only get 3 calls in one race before you're out. She got two calls for the exact same move - passing on the turn without her front wheel being next to the driver before the white line. She finally got told what she was doing and we didn't see that again.
      Unfortunately, she got thrown another yellow when someone in front of her slowed down and sort of bobbled. She ran into them and spun out. It was a bummer because it was really not her fault but because she spun out, caused a caution flag (yellow) - it was her third and she did not get to finish the heat.
       This was a hard weekend of lessons for us. She did not understand how she got called for that since she didn't cause her own accident (but I guess I can compare it to our dumb road rule of if you hit someone from behind, it's automatically your fault). Under normal circumstances, if that was her only call - it would have been fine and she'd be back in the race - just at the back.
      After she got ejected we had a long time of working through that whole thing. Since there were 10 cars though, she was going to get to run the A Main anyway - (in novice the run 8, in other classes they run 10).
       When she got to her main, she began at the back again. She had 3 clean passes. Then somehow she ended up rubbing the wall (I say somehow because so much happened that I don't quite remember how now). She ended up with a flat. She came off track to fix it. When you come off track, you have 5 laps to fix whatever's wrong if you want to re-join the race. The problem with being new, you don't have enough stuff to efficiently do this. So usually people come out of the woodwork to help you. I think this is the coolest thing ever and more on this later.
        Now she's in the pit - or whatever it's called and one of the other guys is banging on her wheel with a hammer trying to unbend it so it'll hold air (FYI - that was technically his wheel we were using). He got it reshaped, threw air in it, and we sent her back out.
       About 1 lap later, they are racing and she is flat again. I am working a corner and going crazy cause I know she's flat, I am not allowed to say anything, and I am wondering why they aren't pulling her off when I know for a fact that can't be safe.
       And here came the hard lesson.......
      Kira's car slowed from the flat tire and the kids behind her didn't see it or avoid it. She got slammed on the straight- away sooooo hard. Many people told me they hadn't seen that hard of a hit in awhile. (Shhhh - I didn't tell her that!)  She busted her tail cone, her rear METAL bumper folded and broke off,  her exhaust pipe (oh yeah, I gave her the "good one" I just had rewelded) got pinched and bent. And we still had the busted up wheel. Also, it scared the crap out of her. There was no fixing that by 5 laps so we were done. She was so mad that she didn't get to even finish the race and it was her last one before leaving for the summer. It really was a bummer. So much for senior honda. I think we'll try Heavy Honda when she gets back.
       Zachary still had his race to go. He was moping about his ribbon/award issues and did not want to race. Then he saw Kira's wreck and REALLY didn't want to race. Finally he said he did because his friends were racing. He was car 8 and had A LOT of passing to do (not something he's fond of) in order to place at all. When he drives, he drives really good though. It's just that he gets nervous when it's more than just him on the track.
       The race starts - I can't remember if they were under caution but I see him leaving the track for no apparent reason. I am on the oppposite corner of the track with no real good way to get to the car and no idea what's wrong. I see about 5 people I trust with my kids life (pretty good for people you just met) over there so I just wait. Finally my body burying friend goes to check what's going on for me. She comes back and tells me my son's brakes were gone. Apparently he realized he lost brakes and it scared the crap out of him. What's weird is one of the last things you do in staging is a brake check. You never go out without making sure you have brakes.
       Well, Zachary can read his car! He came off, didn't wreck or get injured. Thank god for good 6 year old decisions.

       So while we started off the weekend good, we didn't end on the greatest of notes but we did learn a hell of a lot about a lot of stuff this weekend. We are starting to get the cars adjusted to actually be competitive but now we have a lot of race rule learning to do.
     
       I will say it was a big jump for Kira to go from a 3 man senior novice class to a 10 car race. Her novice class was mostly in the rain and snow i.e. not high speed and if they passed, they had TONS of room. We're in a different world without a lot of training there.
     
          


 

A Little Competition Never Hurt Anyone or (Sibling Rivalry)

Kira has been winning trophies since day 1 - they are last place trophies that she gets because there are only a few novices and it's automatic but to her 6 year old brother this is no consolation. Every post race, Kira's name is annonced for her position, her car is put in IMPOUND, and she gets a trophy and a ribbon.
And every race, Zachary watched all that happening and will ask, "Did I drive better than Kira?" "Howcome she always gets a trophy?" And we once again go through the explanation of her not having enough racers in her class.

So when Zachary qualified high enough to go to B Main and then placed to move on to A, we were all super ecstatic that he got his first real EARNED ribbon!!

Go Zach Attack!!!

The MAINS - where it counts!

   Saying the mains are where it counts is sort of a misnomer because obviously you had to earn your way there....  But, for trophy/ribbon/points purposes (which I don't understand yet because novices don't race for points) the mains are what matters.

    So, let me take you back to the qualifying example of Zachary:
If you remember (or bothered to read) he placed 6 out of 14 jr novices - which placed him in the B Main with the other 3 that had the best times (5-8). So this is what it looks like on paper....


A MAIN
1 Filled by fastest qualifier 1-4        5 Blank for top 4 of B MAIN
2 Filled by fastest qualifier 1-4        6  Blank for top 4 of B MAIN
3 Filled by fastest qualifier 1-4        7  Blank for top 4 of B MAIN
4 Filled by fastest qualifier 1-4        8  Blank for top 4 of B MAIN

B MAIN
1 Filled by next 4 fastest qualifiers   5 Blank for top 4 of C MAIN
2 Filled by next 4 fastest qualifiers   6  Blank for top 4 of C MAIN
3 Filled by next 4 fastest qualifiers   7  Blank for top 4 of C MAIN
4 Filled by next 4 fastest qualifiers   8  Blank for top 4 of C MAIN

So while C Main ran their race, Zachary just waited. When C Main finished, they took the top 4 drivers and moved them to compete in the B Main.
Then it was Zachary's turn.

Before I tell you about Zachary's race, I have to fill you in on Zachary's driving history....
When we went to ride day, that kid was on it - trying to drive a racing line and holding a good consistent line, etc. I was like oh man, we are gonna do some racing!
At some point between ride day, novice training, and actual race season - Zman began to fear the gas pedal. And for a good many races all I hear is that cutting of the engine and reapplication of pedal OVER AND OVER!!
This prompted many conversations that went something like this with very little variation.... Me - Did you put your foot down all the way in that race? Z- Yes.
Me (knowing there is no way possible) - even in the corners? The WHOLE time? Z- No.
Me (now bargaining) - Okay, well, how about keeping your foot down along the wall and then taking it off in the corners? Z - Okay.
Me- You know you have to put your foot all the way down if you want to win. You are fine to put your foot down all the way around the track.
Z- Okay.
And repeat.

The point of this all is to let you know, that Zachary was not winning squat in any races. In fact, sometimes it literally looked like he was out on a Sunday drive in the country looking for random garage sales. So when he went to the B Main on qualifying I was super duper excited. No, really, SUPER DUPER!!

Okay, back to the races.... The C Main got finished, 4 racers bumped to the B Main and we were ready. Zachary was car #3. Zachary held his position that race. He doesn't really do much passing yet so if he's already in one of the top positions he has a way better chance of advancing...
Because he stayed in position 3 by the end of the race, he was one of the four cars to move to the A Main. The A Main is it - the top race of the day!
I was as giddy as a NASCAR pit crew. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. I really don't know if pit crew are described as giddy very often anyway.

This is requires another interjection - this day I learned the word "TRANSFER." Yes, of course I already knew the word transfer dictionary wise. I did not know that I should not let my kid get out of the car and take his gear off after we cross scales so he can cool off because --- TRANSFER means we will directly go to staging and race the next MAIN. Oops!!
Zachary went out and raced the A Main and immediately went back to Sunday driving. He placed 5th and was done for the day. That was his best run so far though!

The more comfortable he gets with the pedal, the more I will be interested to see how he does. I think his skills are higher than his confidence level right now. Eventually they'll meet-----or reverse roles!

Heats, Qualifying, and Mains - OH MY!!!

   Alright, I told you I'd get to this but it really requires its own section. If you have raced in some type of racing or watch racing, you already know more than me and will probably be able to tell when I get to the point that I don't know what the heck I am talking about.

A race will either start with a HEAT or QUALIFYING, not both. I say this because in Novice training they did both one day and confused the snot out of us for a good couple races.
The whole point of HEATS and QUALIFYING are to determine the racers positions during the MAIN races (more on MAINS later - but these are the overall - what you want to win).

   The same beginning day procedures start both formats i.e. safety/sign-in/draw numbers/practice.

   HEATS: The tower places racers in groups (or heats) based on their numbers drawn. Then they post the order on the tower board. The posting is broken up by class (jr novice, sr novice, etc) and then by car position (1-8). Oh, did I tell you they go out with 8 racers??
    So the cars line up on the track to begin the race in their number position. If they do it right, it looks like this on the track:

                                       Car #

                                             1     2
                                             3     4
                                             5     6
                                             7     8

Car #1 is also referred to as the "pole" and sets pace. They must be lined up like this before they will throw a green flag to race (if you are watching the jr novices and cant figure out why they haven't started racing, it's usually because of this)q.

Heats still confuse me, but basically the more you win the HEATS - the better position you'll be for the MAINS.


    QUALIFYING: So after getting your order at the tower, each kid goes out for 8 laps all by themselves. They have to run as fast as they can for all 8 laps. This is somewhat of a hard concept for the littler guys to get right away. The tower takes the best time.
   During qualifying you hear a lot of that little "charge" song like you do at the baseball games. At first I thought it was just a thing and started to get annoyed with it going off all the time. Even the kids were like "Why do they keep playing that obnoxious thing?!"
   Later we found out that qualifying is the only time you can set track records and they play that when someone breaks a track record. Track record breaking is kind of fun because it's another aspect of competition, plus the kiddos name goes up on a board on the tower and stays til it's broken again.

   So let's say you are one of the top 4 fastest times in qualifying, that automatically earns you a spot in the A MAIN. That's the highest race and you get to kick back and wait awhile til you race again i.e. go get some snacks/use the restroom/get refreshed while the parents adjust little stuff on your car.
   So if you were the next 4 fastest cars, you are in the B MAIN. And the next fastest in the C MAIN, and so on until you run out of racers. The number of MAINS depend on the number of racers.

So, Zachary ran qualifying format last time. This is what happened:

   He went out and ran his 8 laps. He placed 6 out of 14 jr novice racers. The first 4 fastest cars went to A MAIN. Zachary was in the next 4 fastest cars so he went in B MAIN. The remaining racer went to C MAIN (You can run with less than 8 cars if you are doing the math here).

Kira also ran qualifying last time and this is what happened:
   She went out and ran her 8 laps. She came in 3rd out of 4 racers. All 4 senior novice racers went to A MAIN i.e. that's how many kids there are in that class so they all go to A MAIN - good for trophies, bad for drive time.

Now if you followed all that, I will talk about MAINS next. If you didn't follow it, re-read or ask someone who gets it more than me! =)



   

Race Day!

   So race days start about 7am on Saturday mornings and don't end until sometime late at night
i.e. 6-8pm or later.
If you stay the night on Friday, hopefully you got a bunch of stuff done so you don't need to rush so much. At our track, you will get the pleasure of waking up to a compilation of tunes that usually includes; reville, bagpipes that remind me of funerals, and some 80s/90s flashbacks.
  Safety/Sign in is usually between 7-9 am. If you aren't signed in by 9am, you aren't there....even if you are.
  If you haven't done safety, you do it first thing. Then you take your drivers and their safety sheets to sign in.
Sign-in has you all sign forms (even your drivers that usually at this point are dying to run around and play instead of focus on getting ready) and sign-in takes more money for entering that particular race. Then they have your kid draw a number out of a big (ours is white) bucket. Your kids will pick numbers like 279 or 158....something outrageously big (or at least mine always do). I cannot tell you what happens from there in the number category. Some kind of math magic that I have no idea about. Something about the higher number, the lower the position or whatnot. Really, don't ask me.
    **I should note that during the morning safety, they may ask to see and empty gas tank/loosened float bowl and SEDIMENT bowl all the way off. Look, I remembered the name. 
  Okay, so if you sign in on the earlier side, you have a little bit of time to tighten everything up, find your kids that by now surely ran off to see so and so at their trailer, and add a bit of fuel to their tanks.
   In no time at all the tower will be calling for practice. You are not obligated to practice in the morning before races. I have heard theories by some that they don't want to mess up their cars (i.e. risk an accident) right before race time. Other people want to warm up their cars/drivers and make sure everything is as it should be. We pretty much always practice unless we are in the middle of fixing something major.
   Sometime between practice and racing, the tower will announce they have posted line-ups. Everyone goes over to the base of the tower to look at sheets organized by class and then driver position. Then you go pick your number out of a box and tape it to your car.
    **For actual race portions, 2 numbers go on your tailcone and 1 number goes on the drivers side nosecone (aka front of the car/rear of the car).
   This is where it gets complicated and I am going to skip it for later explanation... The kids go out and do either HEATS or QUALIFYING runs. The outcome of those determine their placement in the races.
    I will cover how a race works later. For now, I will tell you that the racers are called by class and will more than likely race more than one race throughout the day. The races are not at pre-determined times/orders so that is why we can never tell you exactly when the kiddos will be on the track. If you want to watch, plan on making it out on the earlier side and sticking around for a few hours. Basically, the kids can race from early in the morning and not get done until late at night, depending on how many kids/volunteers there are and how smoothly everything goes.
   If you place/win in certain races, your car goes to what is call IMPOUND. You cannot touch your car in impound. NAUGHTY! NAUGHTY! CHEATER PANTS!
   After racing is COMPLETELY finished, they go through the impound cars (which is usally a lot) and do things like sniff gas (with a tool, not their noses!) and tell you to go to the tech area so you can pull things off your brilliantly set-up car (like the motor). Again, more on this later.
  After everyone is done with all that, they will get everyone together at the tower to give out awards.
  As you can tell, it is a LONG day.
  Now you know why we like to stay the next night, even if there is not a race the next day.

A typical trophy has a quarter midget racer on top and is taller or shorter deoending in place.
The kids also can receive ribbons

   
 

Off to the races...or something like that!

So after getting their licences and race log (where they log their times and positions) we were..................ready-ish??
So race weekend can be either Sat/Sun or just Sat. But either way, it requires a lot of stuff to go on so we tend to get out there Friday night to do pre-race stuff and stay Saturday night to do post-race stuff. You know, important stuff like:

- On race days you have to have fresh gas from a specific gas station (at some point after the racing if you place they *sniff* your fuel). The sniff test makes sure your numbers are within a certain range ensuring you didn't add something super special to make your kid a racing champion.

Well, in order to get fresh fuel - that means at some point you need to drain your little racing team's gas tanks. I tend to do this Friday night and then add just a smidgeon for practice Saturday morning (a little goes a LONG way).
When they are doing Qualifying and doing full tech (I'll explain this some other day), you actually have to loosen your float bowl and take off your some other kinda bowl that I don't remember the name....but I can take it off! =)

- Find a parking spot and hook up power - hopefully not to one of the outlets that is blown. I think they pruposely wait til newcomers figure this out for themselves so they can laugh about it.

- Make sure your kids have all their safety gear - so far we have been pretty good about that but bad about things like oh, the baby's shoes, the crockpot for dinner, etc...

- If safety is super nice, they will check you out Friday night so you can avoid the mad rush Saturday morning. This has been a saving grace for us running two cars.
Safety checks stuff like:
Do your kids have all their gear aka are you at least attempting to make them safe while encouraging them to go as fast as they possibly can at their age?
Does the gear and seatbelts have the proper safety rating and not expired (seatbelts only last 2 years!) aka are you gonna catch your kid on fire? or will they fly out when testing the roll cage?
Do you have enough bolts in certain places/are they tight aka is crap gonna fly off your car and wound somebody else's child (this is not proper strategy)
Are all holes in your floor pan covered (w/ painters tape if necessary) aka are you gonna catch your kid on fire? or have your kid fall out the bottom?
Do your gas/brake pedals work properly aka go means go, stop kid stop!!!

...and probably some other stuff I don't remember.

Getting our safety sheet filled out.

- And fix everything you forgot was broken when you put the car away about a week or so ago or broke in practice a few days ago...

- Say hi to all your track friends you haven't seen in a week/discuss all your problems w/ your car/your kids/your parking spot/the track gossip.

And when you're done with all those necessary things, there may be some time left to practice...a little.
It is customary to wander to staging and wonder just how in the hell everyone else is getting their kids car/kid to drive so fast.

Because we usually have like Friday night baseball, we generally don't get there til late and generally dont get in to bed til pretty late.

Driver's Training

Well, you can't race novice class until you take novice driver's training. So, we immediately had to have all our equipment in time for the novice class to begin.

While we were looking for a car for Kira and such, Kira and I were butting heads on her driving at all. At first she was all excited but then I realized she was going to be gone for most the race season since she leaves all summer to NC - race capitol of the world --- where she can't race at all.
So I started to think of not letting her race at all. She was also being a 14 year old pain and being picky about what color of car she should have.... So  that's it, decided. Not racing, not worth the cost and her grumpy attitude.
Enter temper tantrum #1: "My brother gets to do it! You love him more than me! You'll pay for him but not for me!"  I offer to pay for something back in NC like soccer camps (IF she can talk her dad into taking her to anything productive during the summer). No, not fair.
A few weeks go by.....
Fine, you can race too. I am now thinking Zachary can grow into her car. Same set-up. No real financial loss.
Enter temper tantrum # 2: "I won't ever see my friends or hang-out! I'll be too busy and I already don't see them in the summer!" Well, there is no way you are staying home all day on the weekends by yourself so, I don't care if you race but you are coming with us.
"Fine! You can make me race, but you can't make me like it!"
Deal.

I hate you with my eyes!

     
After getting who was racing out of the way, we were in a scramble to find a car her size. Don't worry, we found one.
Driver's training (aka Novice Training) was about 1.5 months of every weekend driving followed by a graduation race. I think there were about 15 junior novices (ages 5-8) and there were 3 senior novices (ages 9-16).
Our novice training happened to be completely in the rain and snow. It sucked bad. We were all wet and miserable and the rv smelled like wet kids. Blech!
There is probably so much to say about novice training, but not enough words to aptly describe everything going on.
So I'll sum it up this way -
      the kids learned how and what to wear, the parents learned how to put it on them
      the kids learned how to make the car go/stop/and pass, the parents learned how to push off cars/ detangle wrecks/work corners
     the kids learned all the other kids names/parents/cars, the parents learned to not worry so much cause their kid was off playing with another racer
     the kids learned flags --- yeah, I did too

Key learning points -
   Air is good to have in tires BEFORE you go on the track - otherwise you'll hear a gawd awful scraping and a lot of whining out of a senior novice.
  Turning the fuel ON at the gas tank helps the car go (this goes hand and hand with put gas in before you take the track)
   Listen to everyone, you need all the advice/help you can get.

Novice Graduation Class 2012

 

     

About the Equipment

So once you decide you want to race, cost becomes a factor. Always the first question is, "How'd you get into that?" immediately followed by "Is it expensive?"
Well, cutting to the chase, it's can be mildly expensive to insanely expensive depending on you. Some people go to the track with the bare minimum. Some people race (run) one car, some people have 3 or 4 per kid. Some people go to the track looking like they are on the NASCAR circuit (via Washington?).

So I will tell you the bare minimum gear -- then fill you in on what we thought made sense, and be we I mean I because the kids had no say.

Equipment

The 2 Fiser cars on the right are ours. The one on the left is a friends.

Quarter Midget

You can find a car w/ an engine and pit cart anywhere from $1500 to $6500 for package deals.
** Typical, you'll pay about $2500 - $3500 ish unless you get lucky
*** Lots of people are super nice in racing and will give you all kinds of spare things you dont understand why you need until much later. There are, of course, sometimes buyer beware instances where people are selling you junk. =(

A note on cars - often you can sell them for the same range you bought them. Kind of like borrowing. =)

A way to get the car to the track

You'll see all sorts of set-ups at the track - RVs and trailers, trucks and trailers, pickup trucks w/ the cars in the bed (yes, they fit)
Most everyone has some sort of canopy situation for keeping dry/shaded.

Driver's Safety Gear

Helmet - protect the noggin'
Neck collar - support the weight of the helmet (Z has a 2 lb helmet cause he's got a fathead)
Wrist restraints - Keep the hands in during an accident
Gloves - Fire rated
Jacket - Fire rated

** You can also get a full drivers suit but dont have to. If you just have the jacket, then they have to wear jeans and closed toed shoes.


So, we ended up having to get 2 cars, one for each because they are different sizes. I really balked at that but then decided that because  of their spacing and they can only drive until 16, Zachary could grow into Kira's and Elena could grow into Zachary's and I'd get my money's worth - plus be able to recoup some cost when I sell them sometime.
** When I was looking for cars I looked for the same brand so the car parts would be interchangeable and I wasn't having to try to figure out two designs.

I went with the RV and trailer combo mainly because of the baby. It's really super hard trying to do this with the baby and I wanted place to be able to have her nap, get down, have toys, etc. I didn't get an outrageous one but it was very worth it and I don't have any regrets yet.
Well, maybe just that I don't know how to drive a trailer very well and my yard and HOA don't allow for RVs and trailers.

Ride Day #2

After the first Ride Day we went home and did A LOT of talking and googling about racing and if we thought we could take it on and if the kids liked it enough, the schedule, the cost, kids with attitudes, etc, etc. Somewhere between the first ride day and second ride day, we decided we were going to do it -- more on that later.

So by the second ride day - we had an rv, trailer, and my son's car. (Yes, I mean we didn't have any such things before).

Zachary's car - a 76 Fiser

And, of course, like you always want to do when you find something cool to do ---- we invited all our friends to come out too. I think we brought three families out with us to the second ride day.

The actual ride day was the same set-up, but with more people this time. It was a long wait because we got there more toward the afternoon. The kids all had fun again and the best of all......
we thought we had some friends convinced to try the race season with us! YAAY!

After Ride Day #2 we had about a month or so to find my daughter's car. Yipes!

Our Ride Days

The track closest to our house (also referred to as your "home track") hosted two seperate ride days.
The first one was rescheduled so not so many people showed up. It was very laid back and exciting at the same time.
** I must pause now to interject that I had no idea about ANY racing whatsoever. And when I mean no racing, I mean NONE. No bike, motorbike, running, NASCAR, nothing! Okay, I had the concept of going around in the circle a bunch of times and saw a couple dragging for dollars on SPEED here and there. I don't think that counts.

I fully expected my 6 year old son to love ride day. He drove his Cadillac Escalade up and down our cul-de-sac, over curbs, through shrubs, in reverse. This is the same boy that whenever anyone came over, he would ask to see their car. Then when they took him out, he'd ask to see their engines. And if it was a girl that didn't know how to pop her hood, he'd find the release for her. He could tell me most makes of cars driving down the road at about 4 years old. No question, he was going to love it.

The big question?? My 14 year old daughter - the non-competitive one that hangs in group sports where no focus is directly on any one person. The one who barely said yes to ride day. *sigh*
Truth is, I NEEDED her to like it. First of all, there aren't too many activities that allow a 6 year old and 14 year old to participate together at the same place/time. Secondly, I am scared to death of her getting a real driver's license. In the back of my mom mind, I am thinking that maybe this would give her a little pedal and brake control and situational awareness (Please?!) before I have to pee my pants while trying to teach her to drive.


So we go to ride day...

The first ride day there werent too many people there so we kind of just wandered up unsure of ourselves. I think we paid like $20 or something a kid. They had cars for us to try and gear we could borrow. We had a basic, "this is what you have to wear/how to get in the car/where are the gas and brake orientation."
The kids went out on idle speed and did a couple laps. If they stayed straight - ish and seemed to be okay, the people on the track would stop them, chat with them, and ask if they wanted to go a little faster. Then theyd turn the idle up a bit. They did this a few more times and then came off the track.

As I said, I was totally not worried about my son's ability to keep a car on the track but luckily my daughter did too - with 0 prior experience but a few go kart runs!

So, of course my son thought it was fun but I was so unsure what my daughter would say. I pulled the helmet off her head and she said.... she loved it!

Well, let's try Track Day #2....

How We Got Started

When people find out the kids are racing one of the first questions is inevitably, "How'd you get into that?"

The truth is - I don't really know. I heard about the racing somewhere last year, when my youngest was just an infant. I can't remember where I heard of it but I googled it, found the track near our house - and then decided against it because it seemed like too much work with an infant. After that, I sort of put it out of my head as a fleeting thought.
Fast forward one year and after getting some personal business out of the way, I decided I needed something to bring our family as close as we could possibly be. The problem was figuring out what especially with three kids ranging from 1-14.
So I stumbled back to the racing site again and found out there was a "Ride Day" where you could try out. They had two ride days and we went to both and decided we would give it a go - more on Ride Day next.

Who We Are...

This page was created to help keep our family and friends updated on our racing adventures and hopefully to draw some more people into the racing world with us.

Walsh Racing

Our Drivers

Kira - 14 years old Senior Novice
Current Goal: move to Heavy Honda 120
Away from the track, Kira carries straight A- in 8th grade, plays 3 instruments, is in concert band, and participates in soccer and track.

Zachary - 6 years old Junior Novice
Current Goal: ribbons and trophies
Away from the track, Zachary wrestles and plays Little League baseball. He will be adding flag football to his schedule next year.

Support

Mom - handler/pit crew/cook/parts procurement/transportation/cheerleader
Current Goal: To learn enough to help the kids reach their goals and to keep sanity.

Elena - 2 years old  Cheerleader
Current Goal: To wear all equipment big brother and sister have, drive both cars, and go wherever she wants when she wants while eating lots of candy

Grandpa - pit crew/alternate handler