The History of Kira's car (to the best of my knowledge)

Red Racer!

I bought Kira's car from someone that was out of quarter midget racing. When I got the car, the frame was bare and the car was black.
Immediately Kira informed me she wanted it white. I tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't budge. So, we left the frame bar and spray painted the thing white.
Throughout the season, we were constantly having to steel wool the frame to avoid rust. This is how I learned my 15 year old was allergic to wool.
Did you know steel wool is really made of wool? So weird!
Anyway, that was a main reason for powder coating the frame in-between seasons.

And if you powdercoat a driver's frame, the next thing they'll want is a color change... Or is that "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?" Eh, whatever.

So then Kira wanted a red car. Now you may be wondering why I didn't take it in and just get it painted normally instead of spray painting, which obviously never looks as good.

I went back and forth and almost took it somewhere but they wanted a pretty penny I wasn't willing to pay. I could have had some other racing families that do that stuff on the side do it but I didnt really have time to mess with coordinating such a thing.
Additionally, some of the body panels have been munched in accidents and I dont feel like buying new ones and it seems stupid to put a good paint job on an imperfect surface.
So I got spraypaint from O'Reilleys Auto Parts store and went to work in my back yard.

Here are the pics of the transformation.

The white panels

Going to red

This is only allowed if you are not married - everyone else must dry panels in a shop or garage.

Bragging Rights

I really should have posted these at the end of last year but I just slacked off. So here are some miscellaneous photos of the kids I love me stuff.



Getting their sweatshirts at the end of year club banquet!

 

Sr. Novice Track Record award



      In novice year, the kids get jackets. They are embroidered with their names and novice class. Zachary loves his and wears it almost every day!

This is Zachary's trophy and ribbon shelf from 2012 race season.
 

Getting Ready for Race Seaon - year 2!

The Walsh household is slowly (slower than I would like) gearing up for race season...

In the off-season, the bumper got repaired on the RV from my little U-turn/jacknife incident.

Zachary helping during disassembly.

Then I tore Kira's entire car apart and sent in the frame to be powder coated at Perfection Powdercoating in Graham. It cost us about $200 (it is more or less depending on how much prep and what type of color you choose), didn't take too long and they did awesome work. We just went with a pretty basic grey so that it could match most anything. They also check all the welds and will straighten out your bent bumpers. I didn't do that so not sure how much that part is. Anyway, I was super happy with them.

Bare frame (except rust)

At the shop - fresh powder!



Time to put her back together!!

Now I've had the car apart for several weeks because I was just going to spray paint it a different color (she wants red this year) but it has been so cold that I haven't been able to do it. Now I am getting nervous about getting it back together and may just send the pieces in to get painted at a shop.

Aside from trying to make the body pretty, I sent all the motors out to the shop to be refreshed. I have been waiting on those for at least a couple weeks so far. If you do this, allow enough time.

These are our three Honda 120 motors.

Other things we had to take care of include ordering new safety belts (they expire every 2 years), general RV cleaning, and I am starting to slowly order organizational storage for the trailer. I still need to figure out what flooring is the best/most economical for the trailer application.

Both kids are out of novice this year so we will be going full on from the very get-go. The oldest will still be running Sr. Heavy Honda and the youngest will be running in the Jr. Honda 120 class. Luckily the oldest gets to be home most of the summer this year so we may end up adding more of the region races to our schedule this year.
Both of them are missing their track friends and can't wait to return to racing!!

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!