Angels Among Us

The 2011 SWRC TAG Cadet Gazelle Boys

This is one of those blogs that I may have a hard time writing without tears in my eyes. Good tears, though. If you can't wait until the end...Hunter won the Southwest Regional Cup series championship!!!

Whether you are a believer or not, we had angels, in the form of friends blessing us this weekend. Hunter raced the last two races of the Southwest Regional Cup series in Caddo Mills, TX at the new Dallas Karting Complex.

Going into the weekend, we knew that Scott could not get off work. There is too much going on at the church right now with a current music set-up and they could not see not having Scott there.  God calls and needs him there, he's there.

Which meant, until Scott could get to the track, which was about an hour away, it was the Mom show. But I wasn't worried. We went to the track on Friday to let Hunter practice and Scott got the kart tuned in and set up for this track. At the end of our practice, we found a brand new set of tires in our pit stall with a note that said, "Win this weekend!". We couldn't believe it! Some beautiful, precious angel gifted us with new tires. Tires, in a race like this can make the difference in winning and not. So, Hunter now had no choice but to go win! Ha!

Saturday morning came and the kids and I headed out to the track. We had planned on just running two practice sessions just so Hunter could get the track under him a bit more and save the kart for the race. During the first practice session, he didn't even make it half way around the first lap when he went off the track - got bumped and broke his chain. Great. Now what? Well, buy a chain and replace it. How? How do I replace a chain??? Pray...ask and you shall receive. Again, angels came flying to my rescue in the form of my brother-in-law Scott, and the NTK Vice President Bob. Both got to work on the kart and got the new chain on. Later on, both came back and mounted Hunter's new tires, too!

The 2nd practice session ended with a kart spinning out in front of Hunter and he had no where to go but slide to avoid the kart and hit the hard plastic barriers. *Sigh* Again? Really? But, I had another angel fly to my rescue. Our main competitors dad, Randy, ran down and got Hunter started and back on the track for me. Then later, he came to the trailer and worked on the front end of the kart to make sure it wasn't damaged. Everyone was so helpful and willing to help out.

Scott got there right before the qualifying heat and discovered the front right tie rod and the steering column was bent, but got that banged out enough for Hunter to race - and he got the pole! Some more work came to the kart afterwards and even though it is still bent, it didn't seem to make a difference to the boy. Hunter raced his little heart out and won the event for the night!

After our adventures on Saturday, I figured Sunday would be a piece of cake! I knew that whatever would happen, it would be okay. And it was. Hunter raced a great race and ended up winning on Sunday, too. He was bummed later that night after he realized that it would be a while before he saw these new friends again. Thankfully, it is still about having fun for him. Which makes it fun for us. We just keep reminding each other of that.

Finally, to our NTK friends (Chris & Lisa, Tim, Steve & Maria, Scott & Kim, Bob, DJ, and everyone else from NTK who have helped us through this far) and our SWRC new found friends (Randy & Mandi, Chris & Stephanie, Tommy & Tiffany, and all the other racers around us) and our awesome engine builder, George, we are forever blessed and grateful for these friendships and hope to work with you all for a long time to come.

And Hunter, who we are so very proud of, is now the 2011 Southwest Regional Cup series TAG Cadet Gazelle Champion!!!