Night 3 (Thursday)

So tonight's race didn't go the greatest.... Shane started his heat 2nd row inside and finished 3rd, which was just one shy of making the main event.  He then had to run a B-feature, which he started pole and finished 6th...Not so good!  So that was the end of his evening.  They do have a race for non-qualifiers called The Strawberry Dash, but the way I understand it, they do a random draw of the non-qualifiers, and he wasn't chosen tonight.

Dale (Mathison) had a strong run going in his heat, when all of a suddened he slowed with troubles (I think it was a flat tire).  He also had to run a B-feature, which he placed 7th (I think).  He was chosen for the Strawberry Dash, and was running 4th when he and another car tangled, causing another tire to go down. He seems to have a very fast car, just needs a little more luck.  And you know they say: "It's one part hard work, one part skill, and one BIG part luck"

And the winner is.......Rodney Wing! 2 nights left at East Bay, then off to Volusia Speedway!

Night 2 (Wednesday)

Well, the second night of racing could be considered a success!  Shane won his heat in a side by side battle to the checkered flag, and finished 17th in the A-main. I know what you're all thinking.....17th doesn't sound like a success to me!  At this point, Shane is not proving to be of much competion come feature time, but he has accomplished his goal both night thus far: to make the main event!  And he has won both of his heats so far, so we are proud of him for that!  Tonight in the main event, his right front tire's valve stem was leaking, and after the race, they checked the pressure, and it only had 3 pounds in it. Need I say that it wasn't the best handling car to drive?!

The real success tonight though, was none other than Diamond Dale Mathison :)  He finished 2nd in his heat, so that transferred him to the A-main.  I think he started 15th-ish, and moved up to 5th in the main event.  He had some bad luck last night, but he sure made up for it tonight! 

Tonight's feature winner was # 36 Brady Short.  And I believe there were 52 modifieds tonight. Sadly, the stands were emptier than my living room.... We hooked the computer up to the big screen, so all of us stuck back in MN can enjoy the races (live via pay-per-view). I'm guessing as the weekend nears, more cars will enter the gate, and more fans will enter the stands! 

That's all for now!

Night 1

Well, night one of Florida racing is in the books.  Shane faired 'so-so'...He was 3rd fastest in his group for time trials, so that put him outside of the front row for his heat (they took the 4 fastest times, and inverted them for the heat line-up). The inside guy initially took the lead, but Shane ended up passing him on the second lap to win his 'first race' of 2010.

Here comes the 'so-so' part....He redrew a 7 for his feature starting spot, and was running the bottom of the track in 6th place, then decided to try high, and fell back to 8th.  Then, with 10 laps to go (or was it 10 laps in?) he got a little too high, and banged the wall coming out of turn 4.  Needless to say, they have a little work to do tomorrow (but what better do they have to do anyway, right?!)

I'm not familiar with many (hardly any) of the guys racing down there, so I can't congratulate the winner, cause I forgot his name (and I could probably look it up, but I'm way tired...and why I am up past 1am on a week-night anyway)...I do know he was from Florida, and 2nd place was Dave Hess from Pennsylvania. And the only reason I remember that, is because last time we raced in Florida, we pitted next to, and hung out with him most of the time!

And, We're Off...

Well, not exactly "we", as I am sitting on the couch typing away, watching some boring judge show, as the kiddos are napping after a somewhat of a hectic morning.  I was so busy worrying about Shane having everything he needed, that I completely forgot to pack myself.  I will be flying down for part of the time, but I wanted to send my clothes with the guys so that I wouldn't have to worry about luggage at the airport.

So, we said  our good-byes which  went something like, "You gonna miss me?"  "Um, probably......Are you going to miss me?"  "Probably  after a  few days"  Oh, can't you just feel the love?!

 Did I forget to mention the destination?!  Warm and sunny (hopefully), Florida!!!  In my 28 years, I have never flown alone, so this will be something new for me!  My only fear, of course, is A) getting lost during the plane change, B) the pilot crashing, and C) a man next to me with a bomb is his underwear, oh, and D) riding in the taxi from the airport to the race track.  Something about being alone in a car with a stranger gives me an uneasy feeling!

The races don't actually start til Tuesday, which I'll watch via webcast, hoping that Shane does better than he did the last time he raced south.  I think he made the main event only twice out of the 12 nights (and wrecked it the final night).  He's going with low expections, knowing that this is a whole new ball game, and the fact that he's running a spec Wissota motor, when most of the guys have an open motor (more horsepower is what I was told, other than that, don't ask me what the diffence is).  He debated on getting an open motor, but the cheapest he could find one for was $13,000.  That just isn't in our budget (I mean his budget...we don't share money).  And to spend that much for only 2 weeks worth of use is not justifiable. 

So long for now, and I'll try to update finishes when I get a chance! 

Hopefully we didn't forget anything!

A-mod

Well, here it is.....The new grafix on the A-mod. Well, at least for Florida anyway (we'll see if it stays in one piece)!!!

Oops, forgot the wheel covers! 

Happy Birthday MASON!!!

January 11, 2007

8 pounds 2 ounces

20 inches long

Sorry the pics are yellowish...they were scanned!

And bald til he was 1 year!

We love you, Mason!!!

First post of 2010

Is it twenty-ten, or two thousand ten?  What do you find yourself saying? I use a little of both...twenty ten sounds a bit futuristic, but two thousand ten doesn't follow past pattern.  When it was 1999, we all said nineteen ninety nine, not one thousand nine hundred ninety nine, cause that would be really long and wierd!  Well, either way is fine with me.... Happy 2010!!!

Sorry, I don't have a whole lot to say lately...It's kind of boring around here!  We went to a waterpark hotel with some of Shane's fam in Brainerd for New Year's Eve...the kids had a blast!  Mason was brave enough to go down one of the slides by himself (after 50 previous times with Shane or I), and even went on the BIG slide twice (with tears the whole way up the flights of stairs).  He would whine while walking up there, but once they took off, he was pretty excited and had to give me "high-five" afterwards! (I didn't want my camera to get wet, so sorry no pics.)

This past Saturday we caught some snocross races in Elk River, MN.  How crazy are we to take our 'almost 3 year old' out in the frigid temps (like 15 below 0)?  But every time I asked him if he was cold, he'd say "No, I'm fine!"  And he was covered head to toe (except his eyes), so it wasn't as bad as I though it would be.  Thankfully Ebert's let us warm up in their hauler/semi, or I would've froze my face off! Dan (Ebert) did outstanding, as usual!  The day we were there was qualifying, and Dan won 3 out of his 4 races, and took 2nd in the other.  Sunday was the finals, which we missed out on to watch the Vikings dominate their game as well! (Again, sorry for no pics, I figured my camera would freeze!)

The "Bemboom" cousins with their zhu-zhu pets (minus Cassie, she's a little old for toy hampsters)!

Mason taking pics of everyone (me with my ornaments from my Godchild, Madi)

The "Sabraski" cousins with their new toys!

Attempting a snow angel!

Well, for not having a lot to say, that looks pretty long....