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