As I look at my schedule for the next few weeks, I'll be luck to make it out more than a couple of times in December. That's just how it rolls I guess. Wish there were places to race during the week, but we're lucky to find a good race program on the weekends in these parts without driving 5 hours. I plan to make up for it in January when I head down to the Big O at Monee and I'm trying to find a wingman for a trip to Teas in February to take on the Midwest Outlaw Nationals.
Made it out to race Saturday night for the "Turkey Day Classic". I didn't know it was a special night, but the track had some free food and an all day race program going on. I'm a dirt oval guy so there's not much point in the other stuff for me, but there were a few late models there and a handfull of Sprint cars to race.
Only a couple of sprint cars were there. Managed to do ok with the GTB still in that one. It feels like I might be ready for a little more motor in that one. The best run I could muster was 49 laps. The track record is 50, so I need a little something :O Might wait until the track comes in a little more before I get to crazy.
Late model action was a little rough again to say the least for me. In the first heat, my car just wasn't hooked up. In the other heats, my car was crazy fast, just couldn't keep it away from the carnage. In one heat, I came up on lap traffic and tried to thread the needle through two cars in front of me getting into it. That didn't work out so well. Knocked the motor mount loose and ended a promising run. In the main, I had a good showing for myself put together, when a marshalled car rolled out right in front of me at the end of the straight. Broke a shock shaft on that one. Oddly enough, I managed to break shock shafts in my late model and sprint cars for the first times ever. I had never broken that part before last night.
Anyway, no sense crying over a four minute race with toy cars. I was the beneficiary of some others having unfortunate luck the week before. I was out of the race, but I think I heard Curt Garret get called out as the winner. That guy can flat out drive! It's not luck that he manages to miss just about every accident on the track.
Some of the newer dirt oval racers might not know Curt Garret, although they probably should. Curt might be one of the best RC drivers I have ever seen. I still remember the first time I ever went to a dirt oval race, I sat there watching in amazement as Curt handled the field with ease. When he came off the track, he was gracious enough to talk to me a little about the hobby and when I asked him about dirt oval he said "I like because you don't need the best stuff to run good". Even though I feed my addiction by buying any gadget I think will make me go faster, I still try to keep that in mind.
Curt was running a hand made car and showed me one that he had converted from an old gas truck. Looked cool, tranny was flipped like a CW car. That guy is always fabricating something. I think he gets a kick out of creating something that you just can't buy. I have no doubt that he will get it set up to run up front before too long.
The Intimidator SE is just about ready to go now. Kind of wish I hadn't given up on it over the summer. I put a 17.5 in it and hope to have some laps on it the next time I go racing. I think it's going to be the ticket when we head down to Monee, maybe even at BFG if I can get the balance right on it. Just got to make the leap.
Hoping to get out at least one more time before the points race if I can figure out how to get out of some of these holiday appointments :)
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