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)