It's a Hot One!

Happy 10th Birthday, Hunter!!!

So, I'm hearing that besides having a record breaking drought, the Houston area was also having record breaking heat this weekend. Great. Glad we could be here for it. But the scorching heat aside, we could not be more proud of our son! Hunter's character was really shining this weekend.

After a heartbreaking wreck to knock Hunter and Michael from the first place podium finish on Saturday, Hunter still ended up with a 2nd place trophy and points (thank you, God, for small classes this time out, right?) because during the back and forth battle with Michael, Hunter crossed the start/finish line ahead of Michael right before the wreck by .0014 of a second...or something really, really close like that.

So on Sunday, Michael's Dad was ready. He worked to find more power for Michael in that engine, changing out carburetors (said he went through 3 of them). On the other hand, we have one. One engine, one carb, one of just about everything. So I told Hunter that we had the engine as tuned as it was going to get...the rest was up to him. AND HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!

His times in the final heat were consistently faster than Michaels and he was reeling Michael in. If Hunter hadn't gotten a slow start - something going on with our clutch, we think - and if he could've gotten ahead of Michael at the start, I'm not sure M would've been able to catch him. But, it is what it is, and Hunter raced his heart out. The problem came when Michael and Hunter came upon lapped traffic of the other class of racers with us and Michael managed to get around them, but Hunter got bogged up in their traffic and lost valuable ground (the picture is the effect of close bumping and passing in that traffic). So, we joyfully took home a 2nd place finish.

Hunter told me later that he was okay with that. This was Michael's home track and just like Hunter got a win at NTK, his home track, Michael needed a win at his. The boys were all high-fiving each other and congratulating on the great racing and running off to hang out together.

When Hunter accepted his Saturday trophy, he was asked who he'd like to thank. At this time, we'd heard the obligatory "sponsor" and "team" thank you's being doled out, but Hunter thanked God. "I want to thank God for keeping us all safe out there."

I love that boy.