Been Too Long....

Ah, yes, it has been way too long since our last update on Hunter's karting "career". But alas, the scheduled race for October 17th has been canceled. Our track is undergoing a repaving, but Mother Nature has not cooperated with the proposed schedule. The base is too wet to pave right now, so we have to wait...and pray...for a few days of drying weather. And according to the nightly news, I don't know if we have that coming.

Funny thing about the rain, though, in my pre-school class, we've been teaching the kids about Noah and the Ark. In discussing the constant rain for 40 days and nights, I've noticed some worried four year old faces- no, don't worry kiddos, our rain does stop occasionally and God did promise not to do that again.

Anyway...North Texas Kartways will be represented at Texas Motor Speedway during the weekend of the Dickies 500- November 5-8 on the Midway. Come by and see us if you are out there. Special race day to inagurate our newly paved track is on the schedule for November 15th.

Summer 6 - Complete with Motor

I've been getting emails and phone calls, so I figured I'd better post something about the boy's run the other night.

We were able to borrow a motor for the race...two actually. Scott and Hunter took off for the track in hopes that a spare motor would be available to use for the night. Hadyn and I followed a little later to find out that yes, there was a motor to borrow and that there were TEN Kid Karters running that night. Wow!! I was told later that in the days of old (you know, a few years back) this was the norm. We've had five or max of six this year, but ten?? Awesome!! So we were even more thrilled to have such a great networks of families at the track to tap into in a time of need. Yes, needing a motor to race is a great time of need.

So, with motor one mounted, Hunter took off for practice and ran pitiful times. His first qualifying heat was pretty pathetic, too, given where he was getting up to before his engine went caput. But we all kept reminding ourselves how grateful we ALL were that he was even able to race.

Our friend Steve, who is the go-to guy for parts at the track, offered up the second motor (first being his, too). He knew the second one was a fast motor, so let's just see what Hunter could do with it. So his next two heats were a bit better - he ended up middle of the pack in 5th. However, we know that with that motor, he could've led the pack, so he still needs a lot of seat time (practice).

Today, Scott tore the motor apart and discovered ugly ruts/grooves in the piston and head - looks like we'll be pouring more money into the pit. But we have time. The track is closed for September for repaving. We'll be ready for October.

Racing...gotta love it!


Here's a pic of lil' sis "driving" the kart. I'll bet that we'll be seeing more of this in a few years.

Ah, Man! Again?

Well, I was going to post something last week about Hunter's last race and I didn't get around to it, then I was planning to post an update tonight for tomorrow's race after what I was hoping to be an awesome practice.

But, the best laid plans....

Okay, last race, we had to run on a borrowed motor. Actually, we ran on two borrowed motors. We started out with one and when another dad took pity on our horrible lap times and brought us another one, we changed out and ran a little bit better (like how I say "we" as if I'm actually in the kart myself? - It's a family activity - I can say "we"). But we were anxious to get Hunter's motor back. We did, and Scott got it put back on the kart, got the new carburetor put on, worked the motor to break in the new piston and rings, basically, did everything we were supposed to do.

So, we took off for the track tonight for a little practice and "make sure" everything was in place. I was just expecting Hunter to fly on his new stuff. And fly he did. To the first turn where a loud "POP!" ended his run for this weekend. The piston, the new piston, broke. Literally. Broke. Looks like someone carved a big chunk right off the top of it. Even I knew that didn't look good. Guys were coming over to look at it with a flash light and make "ewww", "ouch", and "wow" noises.

I'm bummed. Dad is bummed. I don't think it has sunk in for Hunter yet. It will tomorrow if we can't find a motor to borrow to race. And this is the last race of the season. The track will be closed for a month to repave.

*sigh* I know. This is racing. I don't think I'm liking this part of racing right now.

Summer 5 - Only 2 More Until Repaving!

We have two more races this Summer before the track is closed for repaving. Our Fall Series schedule has been disrupted by this, but it needs to be done and ohhhhh, won't the racers enjoy a nice, new, sleek track to race on!!

So, this Saturday, August 15th and Saturday, August 29th will round out the Summer Series races at NTK. They'll pick back up with some non-points racing in October after the paving is finished.

I heard at the club members meeting that there is a special benefit race for next Spring in the works. This race will be to benefit Kali's Cure for Paralysis. There is a lot of buzz generating on getting country stars and racing stars to come to our track for this benefit. The organizer of this benefit will be at the race this Saturday selling raffle tickets for a car giveaway. There is a Jaguar of some kind up for giveaway for Kali's Cure. Tickets are $50 each or 6 for $250. Come on out and find Jim Hickerson for your tickets to help Kali's Cure and have a chance at a baby blue Jaguar (again, can't remember what year/model/etc.).

Race starts at 6PM!

The Thrill of Victory....The Agony of Defeat

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!!

Summer 4 at North Texas Kartways started out GREAT for our Speed Racer, Hunter. Now that he is out of rookie status, he doesn't have to start at the back of the pack and try to catch up. Well, starting on the front row worked well for him during the qualifying heat. Hunter took off like a flash and stayed out in front for the entire 8 laps! He even pulled ahead of the other 4 karts and put a great deal of cushion between him and them for a fantastic finish. There was a delayed reaction when he took the checkered flag...one that almost said, "who's that for? Oh YEAH, MEEEEE!!"

However, the thrill of victory was short lived. Last night was also the last race for the Red River Regional Series race, so when we went out to qualify for that race, things did not go so well for Hunter. With no set up change from the first heat to this one, we lost on average 4 seconds a lap which put him dead last. The only thing that changed was the weather. It went from hot to cooler and cloudy. And Scott and I are not experienced or knowledgable enough to know how to change the set up according to weather.

With there being a club race and a regional race last night, Hunter ended up running a total of 6 heats last night, broke a chain, lost some set screws on the rear axel, passed some karts, got passed by others and we didn't leave until 11:30 last night. By the time the last couple of heats came up, we had made enough changes to get some of his time back, but nothing like he ran in the first heat. I guess we'll be experimenting with his fuel mixture based on weather. Anyone really good at formulaic equations for stuff like this?

We are so proud of how well he is doing with all of this. Even with the bad runs he had, he never quit, he kept running until he crossed that line. That's racing, folks.

On another note, we are so very proud of our little NTK friends who went to Kid Kart Nationals in St. Louis this past weekend. Reilly won 2nd place in nationals in the unrestricted class!!! His trophy is almost as big as he is. Our Tulsa friend Paige, placed well too, in nationals. Ryan and James placed 1st and 8th in the restricted class. Way to go kiddos!! We are so very proud of all of you!!!

Diagnosis: Heat Exhaustion

Saturday night's race did not end the way we imagined. We imagined his last rookie race to go great and then he would be awarded not only his ribbon for competing, but also his white plate to replace his orange rookie number plate. But no. Not this Saturday.

We have coached Hunter repeatedly on drinking a lot of water and have provided him with bottles of water and replenishing drinks as well as insisting he peel out of his firesuit as soon as he is off the track.

The problem with coaching is that sometimes the coach-ee does not always apply the teaching. I was working in the gatehouse (in the air-conditioning) doing registrations yesterday so I was not on hand to enforce the rules and Scott was working on the kart and had repeated the rules but apparently, they were not applied. I think Hunter was drinking, but not enough, and he and his friends were running between from trailer to trailer and goofing off inside the trailers (although they were air-conditioned). And he was only dropping his suit down to his waist - all the boys were doing the same - and not taking it completely off.

As the first heat was ready to start in the 109* heat, Hunter told me his tummy was hurting. At this time, my Mom senses were telling me it was heat, but I also knew he had not had dinner yet, so I ran back to the truck to get a cool neck wrap for him and his poweraide drink. I cooled his neck down and he wanted to go race. He completed the first heat, but when we pulled him out of his kart, I could tell, it was not good.

He was taken to an air cooled room and then Brad, our track paramedic came in to look at him. He put ice bags under Hunter arms. The child I was listening to was not our Hunter. He was sick, tired, weak, eye hurting, just wanting to lay down, and just generally, not well. After a while, Brad advised us not to have him in the heat any more today and we might want to consider taking him to the hospital for evaluation and possibly IV fluids. After getting him back to the car and watching him for a few minutes, we did take him to the hospital in Denton.

At the hospital he was given an IV for fluids and a popcicle for a treat. After getting the fluids into his little body, he was a new kid. Our sweet little boy was back and better than ever.

Lesson learned for sure - HYDRATE 3 days before an outdoor activity, keep cool, and get that suit off!!

But the good news is: since he took the green flag for one heat, he was signed out of rookie status and has his white plate!!

Last Rookie Race?

This coming Saturday is the Summer 3 race at North Texas Kartway. It could actually be Hunter's last race as a Kid Kart rookie. Possibly.

I say possibly because NTK is a member run club dependent on the club members, family, and friends to volunteer to work each race. And from what I've seen on the forum so far, we have scoring, registration, scales, and gatehouse covered - all moms/wives positions. And as great as this is, unless the corners are covered on the track with volunteers, we don't race.

The Race Director can cancel the race if he does not have enough volunteers up to 24 hours in advance of the race - which means by 6pm tomorrow night (Friday), but may allow us all to get there on Saturday, register, then beg for volunteers - the "if you want to race, you'll get out and work" tactic.

However it has to work, I just hope and pray we can race so we can finally be rid of that orange rookie plate and Hunter can start in the position he qualifies in.

Praying. Keep you informed.

Kid Kart Volunteer Day at the Races

Well, Hunter didn't lose his rookie status orange number plate this weekend. He didn't run a race. There was a call for the Kid Karts as a class to not race and to instead work the race. I volunteered to work registration and Scott was on standby as a corner worker, but was not needed. There was another dad who was also on standby, but was also not needed, so we thought maybe the two boys could run the race, but it was decided to pull out as a whole class.

So, we got to watch some awesome karting in 103 degree heat until the sun started to set. Hunter and all his Kid Kart friends were running and playing all night long. So he had fun anyway.

In addition to the great Kart racing, there is the Northstar Dragway right by North Texas Kartway. So we can hear the drag racing and see the end of their strip from our track. A skidding-braking sound caught our attention and we looked over at the dragway just in time to see a car tumbling over and over and over before coming to rest. Our paramedic heard the radio chatter that the driver was complaining of only a sore side. Ambulances were called in for what we assumed to be just procedural checking for an accident of that magnitude. But then finally we saw CareFlight coming in. We pray that this driver is okay today. It looked like a nasty wreck - I imagine it was a lot worse close up!!

Next race - July 11th.

Hot. Just Too Hot.

We have a race on Saturday. The weather is predicting 100+ temps all this week and weekend. And Hunter will be practicing and racing in the heat of the day. So, even though we would love for you to come out and cheer him on, we will certainly understand if you choose to sit in your nice air conditioned homes drinking nice iced down cool beverages. Just please think of Hunter often!

I have two nephews serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Andrew, the Marine in Afghanistan, was able to acquire a few precious minutes on a satellite phone to call home. His one request/desire: a refrigerator. They are tired of warm/hot drinks in that heat. Can you imagine?

So, yeah, I'll whine a bit about the heat and my little bitty being in full racing gear, but at least I can cool him off and give him iced down drinks and then we can go home to our cool house.

Post more after the race!

Birthday Run

Hunter had a great birthday yesterday! He had a choice of having a birthday party at home or racing (with a smallish party at the track) and he chose racing.

Even with the heat, it wasn't too bad. We had a nice breeze blowing all day, so it was bearable for a daytime race. Hunter broke his carburetor on Friday night during practice, so we were using a borrowed carb. He was turning some really good times during practice. Then we had some other issues and thankfully for the good sports of other dads (Scott was still at work), those problems were fixed and we were good to go.

He had a really good qualifying run and then he and his race buddies met at our pit stall for birthday cake. Hunter opened his box of NASCAR's from Mom and Dad (he collects and plays with the 1:64 diecast cars). Seems that all the karting boys like NASCAR and Lego's, which was what Hunter was getting for his day.

Heat 2 - Pre Final went pretty good for Hunter. It would have been better, but one of the kiddos was black flagged for blocking another racer and had to leave the track. In leaving the track, he slowed down right in front of Hunter, which made him slow down and he ended up losing a position in that race, but up until then, he was flying!

Heat 3 - Final. For some reason, Hunter was not prepared to leave the start/finish line at the green flag and did not get his good start. He was in fourth place keeping up with the pack and then he spun out at a corner and dropped even further back from the pack. He knew he could not catch up but he did not quit. He raced hard to finish strong. Of course he was so bummed out when he came off the track, but it didn't last long. Once the boys hit the tech barn for the awards, he had cheered up and was goofing off with all of them.

I told Hunter I was so proud of him. He raced even though he knew he would not win. He was bummed, but he knows this is just part of racing.

Yeah, I think I have a racer on my hands. Love it!!

Hunter's 8th Birthday - Sunday Race

If you are anywhere near North Texas Kartways this Sunday, June 7th, starting at 1PM, please come join us for a great Sunday afternoon of kart racing and to celebrate Hunter's 8th birthday.

His birthday is Sunday and we decided to have his cake and "eat it, too!" so to speak at the race track. He was excited about having a race on his day and sharing it with his family and friends at the track.

We hope you will be able to join us!

Whoo! What a Race!!

Wow! I haven't seen a race this close in a while!! Our little karter, Hunter, did great last night. He was running 55 second laps during qualifying and running really good. This was his fourth race under rookie status, so we have two more to go and then he'll be out of rookie in this class for the rest of the year. Which means, he'll be able to start where he qualifies instead of a the back of the pack. But with Hunter, that doesn't seem to make too much of a difference.

For some reason, even though he doesn't have the speed on the straightaways that some of the others do, he has the speed and pickup on the starting line. During the pre-final heat, Hunter bolted off the starting line and caught up with the others and was in 3rd position for a while, but eventually got caught by another and ended up in 4th.

But the final heat was the race. It was under the lights and was a real race! Hunter, starting from the back, bolted off the line and passed 1, 2, 3 kiddos to get up to 3rd position and held on to it for the entire race! Reilly and Parker were battling out 1st and 2nd and that was a good show to watch, but a couple of seconds back from them was the battle for 3rd between, Hunter, Aryton, and James. Oh my goodness! These three boys were stuck to each other like glue and Hunter was not giving up his spot. They couldn't catch and pass him on the straights and he owned the corners with them. I was so excited for him!! I became that mom standing at the fence yelling "tuck down, tuck down, faster, faster, go faster!!!!" And when he crossed the finish line in 3rd I jumped in the air cheering along with several others around me who were cheering for our boys!

Wow! All Kid Kart class kids are awarded first place ribbons and trophies so we have a new ribbon to add to the wall. It was so cool to see him run like that. I hope more of you can make it out sometime to watch him run!

Oh, yeah, one of the coolest things is watching the boys (and girls) before and after the races. They are the best of buddies. They all can't wait to get to the track to see each other and play together all day. But when it is time to race, they are competitors. But they aren't out of the tech barn and their karts before they are high-fiving each other and off to run and play again.

I love this sport.

(picture: Ella, Parker, Reilly, Hunter, Aryton, and James - Kid Kart class 5/30/09)

Countdown to Saturday and NO RAIN???

Saturday, May 30th is coming up and hopefully we will have no rain on that day. Way far out extended forecasts are showing a clear day, but we'll see. If you are in the area and can make it, we'll start racing at 6PM. Hunter's class is always first up.

Also, Sunday, June 7th is Hunter's 8th birthday!! We will be having his "party" at the track this year. Just cake and melted ice cream, good company and great kart racing. Come on out and support our local track and our 8 year old little boy!!

That's the Way it Works

For any of those that are really following our blog, you may have noticed that we included a race date for today in Waco. But after watching the local weather all this week and even up to last night, the potential for rain here and in Waco was just too high for us to load everything up and drive 2 hours to "maybe" get to race.

Of course, now that I look at the weather and forecast, there is no rain here or there right now and there may be some rain late tonight in Waco.

Bummer.

But on the bright side, we been having a great family day and are watching the NASCAR All-Star Race on TV tonight.

Silver linings, baby, silver linings.

Rain, Rain, Go Around NTK Please???

Eech. Well, it started out to be a good race day. It was nice and warm, a little humid and overcast, but no rain. There was a threat of rain in the afternoon forecast, but Hunter had been praying fervently all day, so he was pretty sure it wouldn't rain.

By the time we got to the track, it was no longer nice and warm, but windy and cold. And we didn't take jackets with us. Silly us. May 9th and we didn't take jackets. What were we thinking? Oh, I don't know, maybe that IT'S MAY???? But yes, I know, it's May in Texas, which means the weather can change on a dime.

Anyway, we got in three practice sessions before driver's meeting. Then after a short delay, the race got underway with the qualifying heat. Hunter did GREAT!!! He finished in 2nd place! It was great to see him run so well and with such improvement.

Scott tweaked on the kart a bit more for the 2nd heat. Remember, Hunter is still under rookie status, so he always has to start at the back of the pack. Immediately off the line he passed two kids and caught up with the leader. I was so excited for him. Whatever Scott did was working.

Then it happened. The kart stalled off of turn 1 on the 2nd lap. There was no starting it back up. She was gone...for this heat anyway. And I had a heartbroken little boy on my hands.

It was a minuscule piece of something - grass, dirt, etc. in the carburetor. Scott and Carl cleaned it all out and got the kart ready for the final heat. But it was not to happen. Droplets of moisture fell from the sky. The weather service assured NTK that is was not rain, but dew, mist, condensation. Uh huh. Look, if it's wet and falls from the sky, it's rain, okay?

After several minutes of waiting for a clearing, it was finally decided to call the race. Hunter was devastated. "Mom, I prayed for no rain. What did I do wrong?" I just calmly and gently assured Hunter that he had done nothing wrong, simply that God answers prayers with "yes" or "I have another reason and purpose". We also discussed that this is just racing - sometimes you have to fight weather, sometimes it's mechanical problems or an accident.

Anyway, he did great for what he got to run. He'll be wishing for some cooling rain come this summer in the heat and him in that full fire suit and gear!!

(picture of Hunter & Aryton and their 1st place ribbons - all kid karts get 1st place)

Race Weekend - Let's Try This Again!

Last weekend, our schedule race was rained out. This weekend, we have a 40% chance for showers in the afternoon. I'm praying that those showers will miss the NTK track!

Scott and Hunter just left to go practice a little bit. We're still having some kart issues - seems to have lost some power and we don't know why. But, Hunter is anxious just to get back out there and race.

If you are around, come on out!! Saturday night at North Texas Kartways at 6PM.

Race #3 - Will it Happen?

Detailed Local Forecast for Denton, TX:

• Today: Cloudy early, then thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 73F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
• Tonight: Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low near 60F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Scott's plan is for us to continue on as usual. Plan to go. Pack it all up, tarp it up and go. We live in Texas - and if you don't like the weather, stick around for a little while - it'll change. But in looking at this picture, I'm not so sure the weather people are too off target in this prediction. Look at what is coming in toward us!!

Hunter will be so upset if he doesn't get to race today, but we will have another scheduled race next week, too, and we may go back to Waco the following Saturday.

I'm sorry for my baby boy, but we need the rain - we have to make it through a hot Texas summer, so let's get all the rain we can now!

I'm still praying for this to be moving a whole lot slower than what it looks like.

Rain in the Forecast? Must be Race Weekend.

Yeah, I saw the 7 day extended forecast. Rain. Rain everyday.

Which can only mean one thing: it's race weekend.

We need to do some work on the kart. It's running slower for some reason. Not sure why. So, if it rained this Saturday, it would give Scott more time to figure it out before the next weekend's race, but then Hunter would be devastated. He is so excited for his next race.

Well, we'll see what tonight's weather has changed.

Traveling Time - Waco, TX

(see, I'm not the only Mom who has to dress her racer!)

This past Saturday, we made an impromtu trip to Waco, TX for a race. The coach that worked with Hunter at NTK told me that we needed to take him to Waco to race. Ummm, okay. They had a race on Saturday, we didn't at NTK, so we borrowed a truck & trailer from Scott's step-dad, loaded up and went.

It had been raining all day Friday and Saturday morning here and in watching the weather, Waco was getting more of it, but we chanced it and went anyway. As we got to the track under sunny skies, we saw people out on the track brushing away the puddles of water. We also noticed there weren't that many people at this track at all. At NTK on race day, almost the entire pit runner would be full by this time. Here, not so much. So we were concerned whether or not to unload. I went and talked to some people and we decided to park and unload. Fortunately, another kid karter showed up before registration time.

As Hunter took the track to practice, I was still wondering why in the world did Chris (coach) tell us to come here. It was smaller, seemingly unorganized (rain played havoc with things), and well, just dinky if I were to be snobby about it (I'm so sorry for that). But after Hunter spun out on each and every corner - wet or not, I started to see the light...a subtle glow, if you will. Then when Joe, the other kid karter took the track, the reason was obvious. Hunter can hang with the other boys at NTK - he's making good time, but here, nope. Joe blew Hunter out of the water. This 6 year old kid slid around every corner where Hunter was still trying to drive around them. And Joe knew where to go to pass Hunter on the corners, which is a big no-no at NTK.

Once Hunter got some footing, so to speak, under him, he started doing better. He couldn't keep up with Joe, but he didn't get lapped either. It was a good learning and training experience for us all. I learned that Hadyn really needs to stay with someone else on race days, Hunter got to learn a new track to which will need to go race some more, and Dad met a very helpful fellow who gave him all sorts of tech advice.

They were all very friendly and we had a good time. And everyone at the track was amazed that this was only Hunter's 3rd race and he was doing as well at their track as he was. The consensus at Waco was "if you can race good here, you will be great everywhere else".

Ahhhh, now I see the light, Chris. Thanks for that.

Race #2 - Rained Out - Sort of...

Hunter had his second race at NTK this past Saturday. He did great!! We got there just in time for him to do a couple of controlled practices and then hit the drivers meeting.

During the meeting, the race director called out the group starting order, in which Kid Karts are always Group 1 in each heat (3 heats total). But this time, he also called a Group 11 Kid Kart class, this one being for the Red River Regional Shootout Series. This is a series of races between NTK and the Tulsa, OK, track. After talking to a few dads, I went ahead and got Hunter signed up for the Shootout, even though we won't make the Tulsa races - well, one may be doable for us. With this entry, this meant Hunter would be running 6 total heats - and he was thrilled with that.

We ran the first regular club heat and he was outstanding!! A young little lady from Tulsa ran away with the race, but our four local boys stuck together in a tight little pack making a good race. It was great right up until the end when Hunter spun out and lost a little time, but he still finished strong running 55 second laps! This is a great improvement from his 1st race.

Then we were called up for the RRR Shootout Heat 1, and Hunter moved up to 3rd place within 2 laps of that heat, then it started raining. Red flag came out and we moved the kids into the tech barn to see if the rain would pass. It did and then they got to roll back out to the track to have a rolling restart - Big Guy style!

Then came heat 2 of the the regular club race and Hunter was passing kids and doing great. But we noticed that he seemed to be losing steam, so to speak. After he was done, we ran back the the truck to check out the kart, but since Scott (Dad) wasn't there yet due to Easter services at church, we didn't know what really to look for (Mom and Cousin Carl were pit crew for Hunter last night).

Finally, the rain really started to pour and NTK canceled the races altogether. So we cleaned everything up, loaded up and went to the tech barn for the awards. Hunter came out with 2 blue ribbons last night since he was running 2 races (all Kid Karts are awarded first place).

After we got the kart home and Dad was able to look at it, it was discovered that the spark plug had wiggled loose and that was causing him to lose power. Good thing the races were canceled when they were. I wouldn't have known to look for that and he would have stalled on the track.

Next race is May 2nd! Hunter is ready and waiting!!

Race #2 This Saturday!

We are almost ready for Race #2 this coming Saturday. We took Hunter out to NTK on Saturday evening to practice are going back out tonight for some more.

I've been on the phone and web all afternoon ordering new "club required" tires and parts for the kart. Man, it was no joke when I was told this is a money pit! But right now, it is well worth it. Yeah, eating is overrated. HA!

I was watching my little boy practice his corners the other day and was amazed at the control he has. I was thinking that he looked like he has been doing this for 10 years, but he's only 7 and this will only be his 2nd race ever. His mentor coach had told us that he had a natural ability and when I thought about it I remembered our Batman days. Santa brought Hunter an electric powered Batmobile for Christmas four years ago and when Hunter would drive it in the cul-de-sac, he would lean into his turns like a pro - at age 4. And this was before he got us all into NASCAR.

I'm excited for his race this weekend. If you're in the neighborhood of North Texas, stop on by. Schedule and map are on the side.

(picture at the top by Craig Maccubbin - this is the pic that Jeff Hammond told Hunter he needed to cut his hair! LOL!)

Off Topic Part II - Robert Richardson, Jr

We had a fabulous day yesterday. We dropped Hadyn off at a friend's house for an all day play date and the three of us (Mom, Dad, and Hunter) cruised out to Texas Motor Speedway for NASCAR Sprint Cup practice and qualifying. We walked around and collected all sorts of neat NASCAR trinkets around the midway. We also found ourselves on TV during the live recording of NASCAR Live! on Speed. Cool!!

But the highlight of our day came after leaving TMS. We came flying back to McKinney to hopefully make it to a meet and greet with Robert Richardson, Jr. Robert is a NASCAR Nationwide Series and in a couple of weeks Sprint Cup Series driver AND Robert is from McKinney! He grew up here and played football for the McKinney Lions. He went to SMU to play football, too. But somewhere in there got the racing bug and has moved up through the ranks to NASCAR's elite levels of racing. Since he is not on one of the "Big" teams (his dad is his team owner), he has to literally race his way into a race. There are a certain number of cars that do not have enough "owners points" to make each race, so he may not make each race. Therefore, we need to really cheer on our local guy!!

Anyway, we did make to to see Robert and got to spend some great time with him. He and Hunter got to hang out and swap autographed pictures - at Robert's request! In this picture Robert is holding the autographed karting pic of Hunter and Hunter is holding his autographed pic of Robert. How cool! Then Robert put Hunter into his Sprint Cup car (top picture). This car is the actual car that will be qualifying to race at Talledega in a few weeks. So when we watch that car at Talledega we will be cheering even more so, because Hunter sat down in that car!!! When asked if we were going to make it to the race at TMS today (Nationwide) or on Sunday (Sprint Cup), we had to say no. We laughed and said that now that we're into karting, we've made some alternate budget choices. Robert and his dad laughed and then Robert winked at Hunter and told him that maybe he could hook him up with some sponsorship down the road. Now, we could go for that! ;)

Hunter has been floating on cloud nine since Wednesday and getting to see Jeff Hammond and David Ragan again and now with this, I just don't know if I'll ever get him down again. That's okay, Mom is floating up there with him just so happy for him!

Fun times!!

Off Topic - a bit - Hunter, David Ragan, and Jeff Hammond

This entry isn't about Hunter's karting, but it IS about Hunter!! We went to Grapevine today to see David Ragan (NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series #6 driver) and Jeff Hammond (FOX Sports NASCAR announcer and former crew chief and then some). We met both guys in November and got pictures and autographs, but Hunter wanted to go see David again.

This time, though, we took pictures of Hunter racing his kart (thank you, Craig Maccubbin!). Both guys enjoyed looking at Hunter's pictures and talking to him about his kart. Jeff asked Scott if he (Dad) was enjoying it and having fun. He said his best memories are of him and his dad racing on the dirt track. David told Hunter to keep having fun with it, too! David also told Hunter that he remembered meeting him in November. Talk about making a kids day!

After the line passed through and we were still lingering, Hunter and I went back over to David and talked to him some more. Hunter offered to sign one of his karting pictures for David and David gladly accepted. Hunter signed, "To: David From: Hunter". It was great! I wish I had thought to take a picture of that. David talked to us more about racing and about where we live and that Robert Richardson, Jr. is from here, too (NASCAR Nationwide Series driver). We actually met Robert at Market Street last year and hopefully will meet up with him again this Friday.

Anyway, I thought it was cool. Maybe one day Hunter will be racing in the Sprint Cup series along with an older David Ragan.

Hmmm...

Our Week Off

We took this past week off from racing. Hunter did such a great job in preparing for his first race and did awesome there and since we had three weeks between races this time, Scott opted for a week of rest. Good call.

When we started talking about this back in January/February, it was the cost of it that really deterred us from making a snap decision. But after watching a race and asking tons of questions, we wanted to try one out. We did try a kart out and still wasn't sure if this was for our family. Hunter was never giving us a real clear signal on if this was something he really wanted to do or if was just something to pass time. For us, this was too expensive just to pass time away.

I prayed and prayed for an answer on what to do, but God just wasn't handing an answer over to me. Scott would ask me my opinion and I just waffled. I didn't know what to do.

So, one Wednesday morning the kids and I were heading out to my bible study class. I had told Scott that we really needed to let the dad with the kart we tried out know if we were taking it or not. One of Scott's concerns was where we were going to keep a kart - we have a two car garage, and we want both cars IN the garage. On our way back from study, I told Hunter that if he really, really wanted to race, he needed to let his daddy know that and he and I discussed how to rearrange the garage so we could put a kart in it.

We got home and Hunter went to talk to Scott. He told Scott that he really wanted to race and told him our thoughts for the garage. Scott just sighed, looked at me then back at Hunter and said, "well, you and Mom better get out to the garage and start cleaning it out, because we are going to get your kart at 4pm today." I was shocked and so was Hunter. Then we saw how excited Hunter truly was about this. He started crying and hugging us. I think he was afraid to get too excited before.

Anyway, that's how it started and I'm so glad you are with us on this ride. We are having a blast and we welcome you to come watch a race! The schedule and map are posted on the right.

We Survived the First Race!! - with Video

Whew! The first race is over and it was a great day! Scott was a nervous wreck the night before and had to go to work at the church on Sunday morning, so Carl (Scott's young cousin) and I loaded the kart, gear, and driver and headed to the the track. Nick (Carl's younger brother) stayed at our house to watch Hadyn until race time.

We must have gotten to the track at a good time for registration as I didn't have to wait in a long line, but there was one behind me when we were done. The pit runner was pretty full of trucks and trailers by the time we got there (10AM!) so we were pretty far down the runner. I wish now I would've worn my pedometer so I could see how much I walked and ran yesterday.

Carl and I unloaded the kart and gear and Hunter jumped into his firesuit and started playing/talking with the other kids around us. We rolled the kart to the tech barn for a safety tech inspection and the run down on the practice expectations. We passed safety tech and went all the way back to the truck, got Hunter ready to go out and rolled back to the grid for his first practice of the day.

His coach was watching him and advised me to do some set up changes on the kart. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say, Carl or I neither one were sure on what to do, but finally found someone to help and got it done. Hunter got to run a couple more practices and during the in-between times, we made more setup changes.

Finally we got to go to the drivers meeting, get the announcements, rules, expectations, lineup and the "let's go!" from the race diretor. Again, back to the truck to get the kart and gear and off to the grid for the start. I was on the phone with Scott nearly the entire time because he had left the church and was "flying" to get there in time. The four young drivers lined up on the grid and took off to go line up on the other side of the track for the start.

Off they went for 8 laps of Heat 1. Hunter did GREAT...for most of the first lap and then he spun out on turn 8. Bummer. But he got right back around and took off. He had fallen behind, but was still racing his little heart out. Then he spun out again on turn 8 during lap 7. The lead kart was closing in behind him to lap him, but Hunter managed to keep ahead of him far enough that Hunter finished the heat on the lead lap...and Daddy had gotten there just in time for the last couple of laps.

Heat 2 was a little better, but Heat 3 was the excitement. By this time, Dad had made some more set up changes - and he knew better than Carl or myself what needed to be done. We went to the grid and Hunter was nice and relaxed. He took off from the starting line and kept up with the pack for a little while and kept a good pace with the kart in front of him for the entire race. One of the kiddos spun out and went off track and that pushed Hunter to the third place spot. He held that spot for the rest of the race and finished strong with some really great laps times.


All the kids in the Kid Kart class receive 1st Place awards, so at the award ceremony, the boys were called to the stand. Reilly took 1st, Ayrton took 2nd, and Hunter 3rd, (Ryan took 4th, but had already left for home) but since they all get 1st place awards, the other two boys pulled Hunter up on the 1st place stand with them. How sweet. These boys were so sweet to Hunter the whole day - I say sweet, I'm a mom.

Hunter also received a 1st Time Driver trophy. He was floating on air all the way home and cannot wait until April
11th.

Whew. I've got three weeks.
(pic of Hunter and "fans" - cousins Brendan, Elizabeth, and Andrea, and sis Hadyn)

Tick Tock...

Well, here we are. The day before race day. Hunter is so excited. I'm so excited for him, too!

I was in complete awe of my son yesterday at practice. When we started this adventure at the beginning of February, I just wasn't sure what he could do. Although Hunter has always had a car fascination of some sort in his short 7+ years, he has been a very cautious child. When he became a NASCAR fanatic (and hooked Mom, Dad, and Nana into the sport, too) he told us he wanted to be a race car driver like Jeff Gordon when he grew up. We really figured that his little sister was more geared to being the driver and Hunter becoming a commentator - Mr. Talks-a-Lot, you know.

But yesterday, wow, what can I say other than I was in complete awe of my son. He went from running 1:12's laps in the beginning to yesterday running :56's!! He rounded those corners with such confidence and poise. He looked to me like he has been doing this all his life and that his life has been longer than 7 years. Awe. And this is only the beginning.

Yeah, I'm the mom saying this, but, well, you just come watch him for yourself and then you can tell me.

Can we pray?

If there are any more possible delays to getting Hunter on the race track for a race it would be one of these two things:
1. Rain
or 2. Not enough volunteers

The races are run by the member volunteers and according to the rules, if there aren't enough workers (most needed are the guys on the track watching the corners), there will be no race. We've been getting emails from the current race director and seems that as of now, there aren't enough workers to have a race. But it also seems like, as I peruse track history on forums that this is a common occurrence per races and everyone steps up at the last minute. We did hear from one race director that he actually had to cancel one race last year for lack of workers.

Geesh. How about adding some more stress to this why don't ya?

Hunter and I prayed this morning for enough volunteers (Scott offered his services - even though it's Hunter's first race and Scott will get there late) and for good weather.

Will you join us in prayer, too?

We're Just About There...

We had another "coaching" day with Hunter. We met up with his coach at the track today after all our delays and it was a really good day. The kart had some mechanical issues that Coach and Dad had to work on - good coaching for Dad, too - but all in all, it was a good day.

So good, in fact, that Hunter was running 59 second laps!! His coach said that "Hunter is a good little racer" and once he stops "lifting" he'll shave more time off his laps. Lifting is simply enough, lifting his foot off the gas pedal. The idea is to slide through the corners, not slow down and take the corners nice and easy. And Hunter had two spin-outs today and got right back on the track and took off like nothing had ever happened.

Awesome!! Sunday is almost here!

Delays, delays...

Marvin the Martian would walk around his space platform upset that his plans to blow up the planet Earth were foiled again and again. He would mumble, "delays, delays..."

Yup. We're there.

Oh, not to destroy planet Earth for a better view, but to make better times around the track. Due to the much needed rain we received in North Texas last week, practicing was not an option. Scott took Hunter to the track for a little bit on Sunday, but there were things going on that weren't really conducive to speeding up the time. Then the NTK website said the track would be closed on Monday (yesterday) for engineering evaluation for the forth-coming track repaving. So, we didn't go practice yesterday. The plan was to go today. BUT...the evaluation that was supposed to be done yesterday, was delayed to today. So, I guess the track was open yesterday, but we didn't know it. And now we are waiting until tomorrow. Sigh.

Delays, delays.

And it begins.

I decided starting a blog site for Hunter's karting adventures would probably be easier than having to tell everyone all the stuff separately. And why HES2? Well, Hadyn has to do everything her bubby does, so we figure she'll be racing in a few years. Anyway...

Hunter is our NASCAR fanantic. Ask the kid anything about NASCAR (for the past few years) and he can probably tell you what you want to know. Jeff Gordon is his favorite driver. Hunter wants to be a NASCAR driver like Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon started his career by racing karts when he was Hunter's age. Following the line of thought here? Ergo.....

In Google-ing around one day, I found a karting track fairly close to us. We went to visit and watch a race, asked some questions and watched Hunter to see if he really wanted to do this. Since he is 7 years old (turning 8 this year), he would be in the Kid Kart class for a year before he would move up to the really competitive classes. In the Kid Kart class, everyone comes in 1st place and gets a nice trophy...you know...just gets them into the racing aspect of this sport. So if he was going to do it, this was the year to start.

We started checking around to see if anyone had a Kid Kart we could just try out and see if he would even be willing to "go fast" and race. We talked to a couple of racing dads and found a kart to try out and maybe buy. Hunter didn't seem too sure of himself while trying it out, but we decided to make the plunge anyway.

As we have visited the track (we're members now), he has gotten more confident and faster. A mentor we are working with complimented Hunter telling us that he as a natural ability as a racer. Wow! The Angels were singing with that statement. Any parent loves to hear that about their child. Especially a kid that has had no interest in anything other than racing and cars for years.

We skipped the first race of the Spring season to make sure that Hunter was ready and safe to race before getting on the track with the other kids. His mentor advised us that he should be making this 1/2 mile, 9 turn track in under 60 seconds in order to be safe to race. His first few times on the track were turning 1:15's down to 1:04's. The last time we were at the track, he was making the laps in 57 seconds!!! So, we are ready to race.

His first race will be on Sunday, March 22nd at 1PM at North Texas Kartways. I've put the schedule of races and a map on the sidebar of this blog for the convience of Hunter's fans ;).

We hope to see you at a race!!!

(FYI: the Kid Karts run 3 heats - qualifying, pre-final, and final. For the 1PM starts, the times usually run as such: 1PM qualifying, 2:30 pre-final, 4:45 final.)