Great Year and Major Heartbreak

Dale Ernhardt Sr. said, "You

win some, you lose some, you wreck

some."

Mama Lori says: "Racing. Gotta love it...or you wouldn't be paying

for it!"

Hunter had an absolutely fantastic racing year in TAG Cadet I at North Texas Kartway. Our 2010 racing season will go down for us as one of tremendous growth and maturity in racing. We watched this year as Hunter came out of his Kid Kart running consistently mid-pack, to being one of the three rotating front runners in this Cadet class. He won the Summer Series and was just mere points away from walking away with the Year End Championship at our last race yesterday. Mere points. A first place finish would've cleared it for him. A second place finish to Gunnr would have cleared it for him by 1 point. Anything else and he finishes with a 3rd place for the year. Nothing to sneeze at, ya know.

So, we start the day with a really good qualifying run - starts 2nd but on the front row. Move on to the pre-final heat and Hunter left the field behind...ran away with it...sets himself up on the pole for the final heat. Dad and I had checked the kart over...bolts tightened down, chain and bearings lubed up, air pressure right in the tires, carb jetting set just where it needed to be. We were all ready.

The boys were lined up for the final, rolled off the grid and since we had a bunch of rookies in the back of the field, there was some confusion on the rolling start so they were waved off for another lap. That's when it happened.

Hunter's side-pod fell off. Well, it didn't just "fall" off...it broke off. And the rules we run under for safety state that we can not run without a side-pod. Hunter received a mechanical black flag and had to leave the track. Leave the track. Not race. His night and championship bid was over. An entire year of earning points to get to this race...gone with one broken bracket.

Heartbreak just barely begins to describe the emotions we all went through (and still going through). But we all are strong enough in our Christian faith walk to know that God will "prune" us like a gardener growing grapevines will prune a vine to produce the very best fruit. Pruning hurts, but we grow...in character...in faith..in Christ...we grow.

Hunter did great. He is our champion and we couldn't be more proud of him. We'll be back next year ready to make that championship run again. And this time...we'll be checking those side-pods, too!!

Summer Series Finale

Okay, I'm a blog slacker. Sorry about that. I think it's the heat. But our "cold front" came in today and the heat didn't get over 100*...just high 90's. So, here I am again!! LOL!

I rea

lly don't know if I can relive the last few races. They've been nail biters for us. But nothing compared to the last race of the summer series. In checking the points total for the series, Hunter was in the lead. But the last race would determine the Summer Series Champion. If Hunter won Summer 6, he would win the series. If he got 2nd place to his buddy Reilly, he would lose by only 1 point. Wow.

So, imagine my surprise when I found out on Friday night at practice that Reilly would not be racing on Saturday. A small part of me was elated that there would be no real pressure (Hunter could lose to the other kids and still win the series), but a larger part that was really bummed that he wouldn't be able to really "race" for the win.

Anyway, a couple of other parents agreed with us on that and put in a call to Reilly's parents to see if they co

uld help out in any way to get him to the track on Saturday to race. When they walked in to register on Saturday, I had to tease about my mixed emotions of them showing up (We really wanted them there), to which Reilly's dad teased back, "well, we couldn't let you walk away with it!" No, no you really couldn't!!

Heat 1 qualifying didn't go too well for Hunter. He was having some issues with the kart set up and was spinning off the track in some areas. Then came the Heat 2 pre-final race. He got behind Reilly for 2nd and just wasn't able to make a pass, so 2nd it was and 2nd was where he would start for the final.

For the Heat 3 Final, we told Hunter to go out and do his very best and if he could get ahead of Reilly at the start, he very well could hold him off for the race...hopefully. The boys rolled out on the track, lined up, came around the last corner toward the race director and....GREEN FLAG...Go! Go! Go!!!!

Hunter jumped out to the lead and for 11 3/4 of 12 laps held that lead. However, Reilly was on his tail and would nearly pass him on the same corner for many of those laps. Talk about stressed out parents watching!!!

Then it happened.

On the 2nd to last corner, Reilly made his move to pass. However, this is a banked turn and momentum will push a kart on the inside, low line, up higher...and who was in that high line? Yup. Hunter. The two collided and Hunter spun off the track. Fortunately, his kart was still running and he was able to get back on the track and finish the race. Hearts were broken, but that is racing.

Both boys were devastated. Reilly didn't want to win like that. Hunter didn't want to lose like that. But both are such good friends that it didn't take long to make up and hang out again.

But that wasn't the end. The Race Director decided (probably in the interest of safety and after hearing from corner marshals watching this corner) to penalize Reilly one race position and award Hunter 1st place.

So, we have a champion racer in the house, but more importantly were all the lessons learned that night:

GOOD Sportsmanship in ALL situations is paramount to being a great athlete.

SAFETY counts in ALL aspects of racing.

And GREAT friends can be GREAT competitors!

We're looking forward to the Fall Series season.

See you there!

Turning on the Heat!

So, it's been a while. I've slacked off on the job of keeping Hunter's blog up. I guess it's because we went from "another 3rd place finish" to "HOLY COW! Where did THAT kid come from?!?"

We finished out the Spring season with a solid 3rd place finish. At least it's a podium trophy for the season, but this is what we looked like in Kid Karts, too...middle of the pack.

Our track hosted a benefit race for Kali's Cure for Paralysis over two days in mid-May. Scott and I decided to enter Hunter in these races. It was a decision because even though the Saturday race was for trophies, the Sunday race was for cash and we just didn't want to deal

with that kind of pressure - money races seem to be a little more intense. So come the Saturday race, we just sent him out there in pre-finals with a kiss, a high five and a "do your best". First place ran away from him, but oh, what a race it was with Hunter and the 3rd place driver. It was so close a finish, I was practically crawling over the fence, but it set Hunter up to start on the front line for the final heat.

Then it happened....

The final heat started and Hunter FLEW in front of the pack and STAYED there. I was down the fence line because I was nervous for him to hold on to 2nd place and the kid up and went in front to hold onto 1st!! The other boys were on his tail the entire time, but just couldn't find a way to get around him on the corners and Hunter would pull away from them on the straights. This Mommy was coming unglued at the fence watching this take

place.

I found out later that I was almost as much of the show as the drivers were - first time Mommy win and all! Well, my baby did it and held on to his 1st place finish. A first place trophy for Hunter - for real!!

Then on Sunday - the money race - we weren't that nervous. You know, we had the win on Saturday, so whatever happens on Sunday is fine. But do you know what? That little boy went out and won again - pre-final and final heats. And won $300 for his efforts! Where did this kid come from?

So all of that happened then we took him to the track to practice for the first Summer series race. At NTK, we reverse the direction of the track for our Summer races. So, picture it if you will - Mom and Dad coming of this high of Son winning two races back to back and we get him on the track again - in a different direction - and blah. Slow times and sloppy corners. *Sigh* It's like running a new track, so we figured it'd take him most of the season to come along.

Then last weekend at Summer 1 -- his times dropped to where they were for the Kali's Cure races, and he was keeping up with the leader and the others couldn't get around him. And for the final - Luck! The leader dropped his chain and was out of the race and Hunter ended up with another 1st place finish!

We've got a lot of work to do on his corners still, but wow! He is starting to really turn on the heat!!

NTK Spring 4 - Over and Done!

It almost didn't happen for us on Saturday. At Friday night practice, we were ready to call it a night and get the kids home relatively early and in bed to rest for the busy Saturday that was coming. Scott and I picked up the kart, put in on the stand and rolled the back wheels to make sure the stand wasn't rubbing anywhere....when it happened.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG....

Not a good sound on a kart.

Turns out, it was the clutch we knew needed to be replaced, but were hoping that we'd get another race or two out of before replacing. And naturally, we didn't have a spare one just laying around. Fortunately for us, one of the racing Dads whose son just moved up from our class still had an old clutch laying around. He disclaimer'ed it saying it *may* make it through Saturday. After breaking a screw off in it and then working to get that out, replacing the clutch, and putting it all back together, we finally got home around 11pm. So much for an early bedtime for the kids. BUT, Hunter would get to race on Saturday.

Come Saturday's race, all was well and Hunter did a great job. He hung up there with the two faster kids in his class and raced his heart out. We brought home another 3rd place ribbon and some more experience.

We'll just keep practicing...and order a new clutch.

Oh....My....Gosh!!!! Spring 3

The title says it all for me. I am completely in awe of my little boy. We had our Spring 3 race last night - our first Saturday night, under the lights, race of the season. And what promised to be a nice day weather-wise turned into a bitterly cold and windy evening. But that didn't matter to the action on the track in the TAG Cadet class.

We had 6 kids racing together last night in our group. For the 5-minute qualifying heat, Hunter got caught behind a kid who spun out and he ran into to kid. But he jumped back into the racing action and caught up with the back two and worked until he passed them both to get a good lap time and be able to start in 3rd position for the pre-final heat. But his kart suffered a bruise. The front nose cone was bashed in a bit. Oh, the drama of seeing his wrecked kart after he came back in to the pit area...but it got popped back out...racin' is rubbin' ya know!

Then came the pre-final heat. Hunter was gridded up to start in 3rd position, but all of a sudden, Reilly's kart stopped running...bad clutch. So that put Hunter up in 2nd position. But Gunnr is a seasoned veteran in the TAG Cadet class and we didn't think Hunter would be able to keep up with him. OH BUT GUESS AGAIN!!! At the drop of the green flag, Hunter took off and flew in front of Gunnr and STAYED THERE for half of the heat...but Gunnr was right on his tail the entire time. Finally, Gunnr managed to pass Hunter and took off for the win of heat 2. But my stress level was through the roof watching that. I've never been so proud of my son!!!

Finally came the Final heat of the night - this was the points race - the place ribbons race - all the marbles so to speak. Hunter was gridded in 2nd position right by Gunnr with Reilly now back in the race right behind Hunter (I'd tell you the other kids, but I don't know them yet). There was a confusion on the track as the kids were doing their warm up laps and then needing to slow down to line up together for their rolling start. We had one kart that was 1/2 a lap behind the pack so they had to go around the track again, but then that kart pulled off the track for problems. Then once we thought they were ready to go, another kart pulled in front of the pack away from his starting position and we thought we would have to do another lap, but the flagman chose to start the race anyway. With the exception that Gunnr, Hunter, and Reilly had to try to get around the stray kart in the front (again, he was not supposed to be there). Gunnr got the jump on the lead this time, but Hunter and Reilly were right there with him (see attached video). The they had the #57 to try to pass - this was our wayward kart, but they all three got around him and it looked like a good race brewing. But Gunnr finally pulled away for a comfortable lead.

But the race was for 2nd.

Hunter and Reilly stuck together like glue for the majority of the race. Their karts sounded like they were in perfect sync with each other. They looked GREAT! Reilly would try to pass Hunter on the straightaways, but Hunter would pull away from him. I was so stressed watching all this, yelling and clapping. I was beat, but excited. At last, Reilly caught and passed Hunter for 2nd and then we got to the checkered flag and 3rd place. But that still counts! He came home with a white ribbon and points for 3rd place.

Ah....racing. Love it!! And OH....MY....GOODNESS!!!!

Spring 1 - Done and Movin' On

So, we decided for Hunter to go ahead and race the first race of the season at NTK on Sunday. He was super excited!!

He didn't have his times down to where we wanted them on Saturday, but he did get down to :47 second laps on Sunday.

And he finished 2nd!!

Okay, okay, there were only two karts racing in his class, but it's still 2nd place points!

One boy had an accident during practice and banged up his elbow pretty badly and damaged his kart, so he was out, then another racer did something to her kart during practice, so they packed up and left, which left Hunter and another boy to race. The other kid is in his 2nd season in this kart so he had at least a 4-5 second lead on Hunter per lap. But that was okay. We got seat time.

I took a little video of the first lap on the final heat of the day for Hunter. Boy, he looked good on the start...he jumped up front and looked like he wanted to stay there...until...well, we have some corner work to do as you'll see, but bless his little heart he did good!! We are so proud of him.

We're not racing in Spring 2 next week...Dad is working the race so Hunter will just collect the 1st place points for that (cool deal, huh!). But we'll get some corner work down for Spring 3 on Saturday, March 27th at 6PM. Come on out!

Back in the Saddle...or Kart Seat, that is...

We are racing again!! The track re-opened in January from our paving and weather delay adventure and Hunter raced one last race in his Kid Kart in January.

Now we are moving up to the next class: TAG Cadet 1. (pic - we haven't put his # on it yet) This kart is bigger and faster for him and we thought it would take a long time for him to get to speed. After all, his first time out in this kart had him running slower times than he did his first time out in his Kid Kart. Yipes!

And with more weather delays during January and February, it wasn't easy to just run to the track for some practice. So, with the Spring racing season starting this Sunday, March 14th, we jumped on the good weather this week and took him to the track. We were really not expecting to be able to race this Sunday or even maybe next Sunday...possibly if he really worked hard, we might make it for Spring 3 race. But Hunter told Daddy that he would do whatever it takes to get up to speed so he could race in Spring 1. Uh-huh. Hunter has always been such an overly cautious boy - holding on to fear - that we really didn't see it happening too quickly, but we were willing to work with him.

So we went out Wednesday to the track and he brought his time up from 1:10 a lap to 1:02 a lap....he needs to be at :47 seconds a lap to race - and this will be on the low side of his class. Then we pulled Hunter out of school a little early yesterday and went to the track to practice. A Kid Kart friend of his showed up to practice and with that little bit of competition to push him...

Oh...My...Goodness...!!!

The boy started running :56, then :54, then, :52, then consistent :51 second laps. We were thrilled and told him how great that was and how proud we were of him, but that it had to get faster still to race on Sunday. Before we left, he clocked in consistent :49 second laps.

We are ALMOST there! He has shown us he is determined to get this down and race. And I think one he is out with the even faster karts in his class, that will push him even more to get it down. So, we are going to the track today for more practice....

I think we'll be racing on Sunday. Maybe we'll see you there!!