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2007 Archive

November 25, 2007 by Jeff

For the last three years, the weekend after Thanksgiving has been all about racing instead of shopping, football, or Christmas decorations for our family.  The Tucson Shootout has been the biggest race of the year in Tucson for Cody since we started and this year was no different.  He has been talking about this race all year.  He won his first feature race last year at the Shootout and he wanted to defend his title before moving up to the Jr 2 class next season.

We decided to switch things up for the race this year.  Mark Gorton of MRG Racing, Cody's sponsor, our teammate, and sometimes crew member did not want to race in the flathead class due to the usually rough driving that takes place during this race.  I offered him my animal motor in exchange for his flathead motor so we could both race.   I hadn't raced a flathead there in a year and thought it would be a good, fun challenge for me.

Cody also was approached by somebody (who wishes to remain nameless) who wanted to build him a motor specially designed for Tucson's flat track.  We've been running national powerhouse SBR motors since our start and they have been dominating in Tucson, but we also knew that this person knew all about motors.  He is a really good friend so we decided to give it a try.  That motor was a thing of beauty even though it hasn't been powder coated yet.  Each part was specially ordered and you could tell the care and thought that was put into it when it was assembled.

We decided to practice on Friday, mainly to test my set-up, to shake down Cody's motor, and to get Mark ready for his very first animal race.  We really didn't learn much.   The track was very bumpy and dusty.  I wanted to stop after one session, but Mark had the good idea of going out for another session and following my line around the track and then hopping out for the last portion and testing his kart's set-up.  That seemed to pay off as I could tell the set-up was good--just a little loose for his liking.   So a small air pressure adjustment and some tips on how to throttle through it was all he needed to come back on Saturday to go for his first feature win of his career.

Besides helping Mark, the only good thing we got out of practice was that Cody's throttle cable snapped after 4 laps.....and Mark and I learned that we needed to raise our front ends up to avoid bottoming out.  It was better to learn that in practice than a heat race.

The 80 degree forecast 10 days ago was completely wrong for Saturday....it was cold (for Tucson--60 degrees) and very windy with the threat of rain.  It was truly a test of our ability to adjust to the track and the weather.  We have 4 compounds of tires from very soft to very hard and we literally used all of them on Cody's kart--the first time we've ever done that.  We changed tires and gears every time we came off the track.  It was an exhausting day.

At the start of the day, I said I would be happy if Mark and Cody could win and I could at least be competitive.  It seems I spent too much time focusing on what changes to make on those two karts and not enough time on mine because we missed the set-up for my main event badly.  I didn't give Cody very good feedback on what my kart needed and I knew it from lap one.  It was a lot to hang onto.  I was so frustrated because the karts in front of me were not pulling away, but I could not get my kart to turn under them off the corner.  If I tried, my kart would slide and I'd lose speed and have to spend the next two laps catching up.  To make matters worse, I tore off my nose piece when a kart slid right in front of me and I hit him.  I had to spend the final 5 laps without a place to rest my feet and hoping my kart would hold together to at least get on the podium.  It's always frustrating to know what adjustment you need to make and only lose by about 5 feet.  It was an exciting race to be in.  I had to start in the back and pass people on a narrow, bumpy track with a less powerful motor than I am used to.  I hung with the TKC track champion all day.  I just wish I had given Cody that extra piece of information after my heat races so I could have brought home the win.

All was not lost though---Cody's new motor was a rocket ship---it did just what it was supposed to do--pull harder and faster off the corners and the starts--and something the motor builder didn't expect---pulled good at the end of the straights.  We probably didn't have the perfect set-up for him, but he was so good in the heat races we didn't want to adjust to far out of the ballpark.  It seems like the motor really helped him.  In the first heat race he went from last place to 2nd before turn one and his starts all day were strong.  There were two red flags in Cody's race and I used the 2nd one to motivate him.  He had been unable to shake the #99 kart of Carlos Martinez all day long.  Carlos hung around about 5 kart lengths before the red flag and looked to be closing the gap when the red came out.  Cody asked how big a lead he had and I told him that Carlos was all over his bumper.  That seemed to light a fire under him because on the restart Cody ran his fastest 4 laps of the race and won by half a straight away.

By far the highlight of the day was Mark's race.  You can read his version at his website.  My misery during my feature was Mark's gain.  We had already decided that he would use Cody's tires and he had to wait and pull one of them off of Cody's kart after his win.  I quickly gave Mark the air pressures to run--wanting him to be loose enough to pass people if he needed to.  Mark is such a good friend and I wanted him to know what it felt like to win.   That first win is always the hardest and like Cody and I did, he hung on the bottom of the track making anybody that wanted to pass him use the outside line.  It was so hard watching the race because another good friend and the nicest person we've ever met in racing, Dennis Smith was in 2nd place and was very fast.  Dennis told us that he probably has more 2nd and 3rd place trophies than anybody in the history of karting so it would have been nice to see him win.  The animals put on as good a show as the flathead class, with a 3 kart breakaway separated by just a few feet.  In the end, Mark held on and we were so excited for him to get that first win.

So not a bad day for our team--Paul French Jr, our quasi teammate all year took home a strong second place finish in Jr 2 (I don't know what we're going to do when he and Cody have to race next year.)  Mark used our engine, our tires, and our set-up to take home a win, so I got two wins as a crew chief.  When we started racing, many people told me that most people either enjoy racing or enjoy working on the karts.  I do enjoy working on the karts and it is satisfying when you see your set-up decisions lead to a victory, but I am so disappointed that I didn't give my crew chief the information he needed to get my kart in victory lane.  I still think I prefer driving over setting the karts up.

This being a money race was not our motivation to enter, but it is nice to have some cash to take home.  After giving his crew (Corryn and me) 10% Cody has $160.   Last year, it went it a Nintendo DS.  This year it is going into his kart.   It is going to be very expensive to convert to Jr 2 next year, so every little bit helps.  We didn't fare so well with my kart.  I wanted to run my already beat-up yellow body that I have used since our rookie year, but Cody wanted me to run the black body to match his and Mark's.  For some reason, every time I've used that body in Tucson, it has been broken.  This time, the nose piece didn't survive the race....I won $75, but a new nose is $95, not counting the graphics.

Our season may be over....we may save the money we would normally spend on the Holiday Classic for next season and to pay for some of Cody's conversion costs and routine maintenance on our karts.  It will be tough to turn down the always tough national competition that is at the race, but it may be nice to save the money and time it will take to compete there.  We'll keep you posted.

November 18, 2007 by Jeff

Like NASCAR, we ended our regular season on Sunday.  We started the same day as the Bud Shootout, so it has been an equally long season.  Cody ran 31 races this season.  I ran 21, so it has been a long season.  We were back at AKA to try one more time to get Cody's Icon figured out.  He felt like we had made some good progress during the state race, but wasn't able to run in open air long enough to know for sure.  I decided to try and run my flathead motor against the animals mainly to see what kind of set-up we need to run in Tucson and to get used to driving the less powerful motor.  I'll be running the flathead class at the Tucson shootout next weekend for the first time in a year.  I also wanted to win my second straight season finale at AKA.  Last year I won despite a bout of the stomach flu.  At least this year it was ONLY 87 degrees instead of the 95 we had last year.  You have to love our winter weather!!

The NEWS section has the main details of our races.  One thing that wasn't mentioned in there was how frustrated I was with Cody after the first heat race.  He again got tangled up in a big mess on the start and then got angry and didn't drive like his normal, consistent self.  He finally calmed down and gave me some really good feedback on how the kart felt.  We made some really big adjustments knowing that the person he had to beat was on the pole.  I have felt like such a failure to Cody since he got this chassis after wrecking in June.  It seems that no matter what we tried, it was a middle of the pack kart for the main event (or worse).

It felt so good to see him be able to pass people and be the fastest kart on the track.   His last win there came in May on his Phenom.  Hopefully we figured it out and it wasn't a one time fluke.  We feel like we learned a lot.

I had fun in my races trying to win with an under powered kart.  Cody has got to be one of the best crew chiefs out there.  He has learned so much the past two years on how to make the kart work like I want it to.  He promised me that I would have the fastest kart for the main and to just be patient.  He was once again right.  It is so much fun racing with him and seeing him develop.

We have our work cut out for us this week.  Cody will be attempting to defend his Tucson Shootout title.  That race was also his first main event win ever, so I know he is really pumped up for it.  I will be entering the flathead class due to the large number of entries.  The most people I've raced all year is 8, so it will be fun to get on the track with a full field of karts.  There are a lot of very fast karts coming to the race, so just getting a top 3 will be an accomplishment for either of us.

Unfortunately, Tyler has let his grades slip and has missed the last few races until he gets them pulled back up.  Hopefully he can pull off a "Hail Mary" of his own and be able to race with his big brother again at the Shootout.

October 30, 2007 by Jeff

Long drive......ARGH, Phoenix traffic!!.....glad I don't live there.....new track......late night......GO TO SLEEP PAUL & CODY!.......early morning......HOT......dusty......stupid kart stand......I'm so tired of pushing the kart up the hill to staging....wrecked body (again).....I won the main!......Cody looked great and nearly won!......clean the karts again.......ate Elk for the first time (Bratwurst) (YUM!)......late night.....SERIOUSLY, GO TO SLEEP OR YOU'RE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH!......early morning.....HOT.....we each win a heat race......it is so HOT!....missed the set-up in the main....awards banquet.....we both won right side tires!!!!....long drive......Cody, you need to stay awake so I don't fall asleep.....yes, you have to go to school.....early morning.....back to work.

Most of the details are in the NEWS section of our site.  The AZ State Championship Series was by far our most memorable races of the year.  We went to brand new tracks against top level national drivers and we held our own--winning a few heat races and even a feature event.  We were out-experienced, out-dollared, and out-driven.  I can only imagine if we ever find the funding to start traveling to the national race how good our team can be.  Their ability to adjust to the track and the weather conditions certainly showed. 

The best part of the series was getting to spend time with our friends.  The French family was so hospitable to us all season long.  We'll be lost if we ever have to pit somewhere other than right next to them.

We can't say enough about MRG Racing and Mark & Stephanie Gorton.  They came up for the whole weekend and washed tires, cleaned helmets, and our karts, and even repaired our kart stands.  That allowed us to concentrate on getting the set-ups right.  The best part of racing the past few years has been the friends we have made.   This series allows you to spend a lot more time with those friends.  Out of all of the other sports we have done, I have never seen one where your competitors lend you a hand or tell you what has been working for them.

We have a bit of a layoff (3 weeks), but we get no rest---between softball practice, Halloween, a school musical, this week is jam packed.  Cody & Tyler get to collect their championship cups on Saturday.

October 14, 2007 by Jeff

So many things happened this weekend that I don't know where to start!  First of all, Happy Birthday to the Dynamite Duo!  TnT (or Toby and Tayten) turn one on Monday.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.  These guys have been a second chance to enjoy having little ones around so we've tried to cherish every moment, but we're still sad and missing when they were little and needed held all the time.   We even kind of miss the sleepless nights.

Secondly, congratulations to Cody and Tyler on winning their points championships in Tucson.  Three years ago when we were just starting to come to the track and thinking about getting into it we would have never imagined we'd have one championship, let alone two in one season (three counting my championship at AKA.)  We've come along way, but still feel like we have a lot to learn...more on that later.

Thirdly, congratulations to Mark Gorton on winning the Stock Medium Rookie of the Year.   Mark is so much further ahead of where we were and we can feel good things happening to him next year.  It's been fun helping him and seeing him progress this year.

Fourthly, a big thank you to Mark and his wife Stephanie for sponsoring Cody for the remainder of the season and for their help at the track.  They've come and helped out several times and it makes our night better just having them around.

Fifthly, check out the NEWS section and read the article about the Jr 1-4 race in Tucson on Friday.  What a night!!  We always knew Tyler had potential---racing and any extreme sport is just in his blood, but we had no idea how mature he would be in his first full race with the regular Jr 1 class.  I was having a hard time maintaining my smile because I was so proud of both of them on Friday.  I had to get after Cody a little bit after the first heat race when Cody was pretty upset at what he perceived was blocking on Tyler's part.  Cody had some words with Tyler--mainly telling him that if he had driven the higher line around the track that he would have been winning instead of back in second place.

The second heat race was certainly a proud moment for us.  Cody and Tyler both started in the back and then watching the two of them come through traffic together was something we'll always remember.  They finished 1st and 2nd in that heat race.   That gave Cody the pole and Tyler the outside pole for the main.  The night was already way better than we expected.  I tried to give Cody team orders to let Tyler lead the first lap of the feature and he just smiled and shook his head.   Instead, Tyler came out third on the first lap, but by the halfway point the two of them were 1st and 2nd.  The race was clearly going to be won by Cody and we were just hoping Tyler could hang onto 2nd.  With about three laps to go, Cody made a move going into the corner to pass a lapped kart.  I'm not sure what the lapped kart was doing, but he turned right into Cody.

The last few laps were the most nerve wracking we've had in a long time as Tyler tried to hold off Carlos and Cody made a furious charge from tenth place.  On the last lap, Tyler pulled off one of the most daring moves I've seen at the track and reminded me of his older brother.  You can't usually be two wide in the corners in Tucson, but Tyler made it three wide--and he was on the outside.  A few races ago when he spun out many different times trying to pull off that move, we had told him to stop trying that.   Instead, he must have been practicing so he could try it again.  He made it stick and the momentum carried him to the checkered flag.

He was so excited that when he came around to get the checkered flag, he did a quick donut and broke his clutch so he wasn't able to take his victory lap.  He didn't seem to care and I think we were more excited than he was.  He just acted like he knew he could do it and would do it again.

The next morning as we were working on the karts, Cody and I had a chance to talk about the race.  You could hear the sense of pride he had in his little brother, but of course he wouldn't say it.  I asked him what he thought about racing him and he said it was a lot of fun.  I then asked what he would think of staying back in Jr 1 to do his option year so he could compete with Tyler all year and he said it would be a blast, but would probably cause a lot of family fights all season long.  I tend to agree--Friday was a lot of fun for us, but I could see a lot of conflict arising if that went on for 13 races next season.

Saturday was yet another back-to-back race.  Tyler despite our pleading, decided he didn't want to get up and get his kart ready.  All I had to do was take one green flag lap to claim the championship, so Cody and I were testing a new set-up on my kart.   We were also trying to get his new kart figured out for the fast track at AKA.   The night started out good with Cody winning yet another trophy dash.  We used it as a test session and it worked.  That's his 5th career trophy dash win in six attempts.  We tried another set-up for him in the first heat and it also worked, with him and Tye giving us one of the best ten lap battles we've seen in a long time.   From there, the kart again started getting worse and we were again chasing our tails.  He battled an ill-handling kart in the main to hang onto third position.   We just can't figure out how the kart can be good early in the race night and then be a mid-pack at best kart at the end.  Especially when we usually make my kart better as the night goes on.

The "test" we did on my kart failed miserably.  I haven't been that far off the pace since the first few races last season.  Thankfully we had good notes on where to move everything on my kart so we could put it back to how it was the race before.   Thankfully, Mark was along to serve on our crew because he had each of the karts ready to get back on the track so that Cody & I could just concentrate on set-ups.   The second heat was much better, but still not as good as I liked.  Cody made some big adjustments for the main--we didn't have much to lose and it really paid off.   I had fun battling Dicky the first half of the race, but when my tires heated up the kart was on rails.  I just had to hang on.

I just feel so bad for Cody.  He gives me great handling karts and almost always makes them better, but for some reason we can't get his kart good at this one track.   Hopefully we can try some new things and get it going because the next two races are the state championship races.

October 2, 2007 by Jeff

Well our roller coaster year continued on Friday, with our team climbing to the top of the mountain again. We could not have asked for a better night at the track. Every adjustment we made worked out and our karts were extremely fast. It was a strange feeling.

As we’ve learned from the past, it’s important to not let the highs get too high because a low will be coming again soon. The end of the night was actually a relief—Tyler locked up the championship and Cody will clinch his 2nd straight championship once he takes the green flag during the last race. It’s been such an up and down year I’ve had this fear that something would happen that would keep us away from our championship goals.

It was also a good night for our friends. Mark Gorton placed 2nd in the Adult 4 Cycle Class and our friend Paul French Jr. won his 2nd consecutive Iron Man Race in the Jr 2-4 division. We’ve pitted alongside both of them all year long and it is fun to see your friends have success.

Cody continues to impress me with the feedback he is giving. He knows what his kart needs (in Tucson) and he knows how to get around that track. Now if we can just figure out how to get his kart rolling in Phoenix.

Tyler ran his best race of the year—he ran 3 laps that were faster than the 2nd place kart in Cody’s division. He still needs to work on his consistency and passing the slower karts, but he has certainly exceeded our expectations this year. The best part of the last few weeks has been how much he is starting to get into it. He asks daily how long until the next race. He’s also gotten very good about working on his kart and making sure everything is getting done.

With his championship locked up, we’re going to let him race with Cody in the regular Jr 1-4 class for the last race. Ever since he raced with him in New Mexico he has been asking when he can race Cody again. That should be interesting!

The best news of the week was getting a sponsor on Cody’s kart for the rest of the season in Tucson. We are very thankful for our friends at MRG Racing. We’ve had a great time all year working with them and look forward to many more years of racing with them.

We’ve also been blessed by a good friend who has saved us hundreds of dollars in motor repairs and rebuilds this year. He worked hard to get Cody’s motor fixed for the race last week and it was a key reason behind his success on the track. He wishes to remain anonymous, but we are truly grateful for his friendship and his services.

Probably the most frustrating part of this year has been trying to find sponsorships so the boys could continue racing. I know it has been killing me to not be racing in Tucson and the thought of not racing next year is certainly depressing. I’m not sure how I’ll get my adrenaline rush, but I’m an adult and I’ll survive. I’d hate for my kids to not be able to do the sport that they love.

You would think that with all the on track success our team has had that sponsors would be lining up at our trailer. But like most things, it’s not what you know, but who you know. Plus, I am the worst salesman ever. When Tyler is older, he is going to be in charge of selling sponsorships for HMS. If the kid can find someone to give him a Quarter Pounder with cheese at midnight in the middle of nowhere, he can probably sell a few sponsorships.

It’s funny how quickly things can change. We were fine until Cody’s wreck in June and since then it has been a struggle. Before the wreck we were actually planning on taking Cody to some national races next year, but now we’re just trying to figure out how to make sure they can race in Tucson next season. Anything beyond that will be a bonus.

As we’ve learned over the years, God is always looking out for us and there is a reason we are going through this. We may not find out what it is for a long time down the road. In the meanwhile, I’m thankful for the time we’ve been able to race. I’m thankful that my boys have found something they can be passionate about. I’m thankful for the lessons they have learned because of racing. I’m thankful for all the friendships we’ve made at the track. But most of all, I’m thankful for all the time we’ve spent together as a family because of racing.

September 23, 2007 by Jeff

Saturday we were back in Phoenix for our 3rd race in 3 weeks this month. The weather made even getting the races in questionable. With word from the folks at AKA that the track was dry we headed to Phoenix. As we got closer to Phoenix, the sprinkles started. When we got to In-n-Out a few miles from the track, it started raining hard. While inside, the downpour that started made us think that we had just spent a whole lot of money in fuel to get to In-n-Out. Surprisingly when we got to the track it was dry.

AKA decided to try a new configuration for the track, running the first heat race in the upper groove, the second down 4 feet, and the main at the bottom of the track. The Jr Rookies had never run that high on the track and during hot laps (practice) it showed. There were several problems, but the worst was when Tyler tried to pass somebody on the high side and pancaked the wall. Thankfully, besides a bent rim and side rail, the damage wasn’t too bad.

AKA also had our races spread out so we only had two races in between each of our races. That made it nearly impossible to do much more than clean tires in between races. Cody and I had gone in with a game plan for adjustments between races, but all required putting the kart on the scale to make them. The cramped schedule prevented us from doing any testing.

Also making the night tough for me was the appearance of multi Holiday Classic winner, former track champion, and national racer Eddie Bonine. I think last year he won every race he entered. Oh yeah, he’s also a pitcher in the Tigers minor league system (AA). Although it is intimidating when he shows up at the track, he is also the nicest person I’ve ever raced with. We learn so much from him when he is at the track.

The first heat race had Cody starting third, but after two failed starts, the race director moved the second row to the front. Starting from the pole, Cody and the 85 kart took off as everybody else battled behind them. After 4 laps, Cody began to pull away and won. The kart still didn’t handle like he wanted, but it was certainly fast.

I started last in my heat race, with Eddie on the inside of me. I wanted to use him to work my way to the front and it was working pretty good until a caution came out. He had already passed the third place kart just before the start/finish line and I didn’t pass him until turn one. When a caution comes out they back to the last completed lap. That put one kart in front of us. On the restart, the third place kart hung back over 3 kart lengths, so by the time we got to the finish line, the top 2 karts were already in turn 1. I worked my way to third, but ran out of laps to catch up.

Tyler started on the pole for his heat race. He broke away and led every lap until a “rookie” that has raced since he was 5 years old bumped him out of the way, moving Ty back to third. I’m not sure how somebody with that much experience is considered a rookie, but it definitely gave Ty a lesson in how the big boys will race him next year. He was very upset about it after the race.

Cody’s second heat had him starting in the 2nd to last row. He knew he only had to beat the two karts starting behind him for the pole. He patiently worked his way up from the back and finished where he needed to. Unfortunately, he had gone out on the track for the first heat race without his rib protector, so they took away his win, which left him starting 2nd to last for the main instead of on the pole. I’m sure he won’t ever forget that again.

My second heat race was the most fun I’ve had for a long time at AKA. I started on the pole and Eddie started next to me. I got a jump on him and led going into turn 1. I led the first 8 laps when he got inside of me going into turn 1. I got back inside of him on the back stretch and was able to pass him in turn 3. Coming to the white flag he again passed me back. I sort of overdrove it and got loose in turn 2, but still closed to his bumper and nearly passed him at the finish line. The 2nd place finish was good enough to qualify on the outside pole.

Ty again showed his tremendous talent in heat 2. This time he started last and had to work his way to the front. After the last two weeks of spinning nearly 10 times trying to pass on the outside, he implemented what we taught him and set people up for the pass on the inside. By the end of the race he had worked his way up to second, qualifying him on the outside pole for the main.

For the main, we made some gear changes and a small chassis change to Cody’s kart. It helped, but wasn’t quite enough. Having to start in the back, he fell way behind the leaders as he worked his way to the front. He made several good passes (some on the outside—I’m glad Ty wasn’t watching) and he finally settled into fourth position. From there the leaders didn’t really pull away, but he couldn’t close much ground on them either. It was a night of missed opportunity for him. The kart was better, but still not fast enough at AKA. We sure wish we had his Phenom back, but we remember struggling at AKA early in the year with it until we hit on a few things that finally dialed it in.

My main was fairly uneventful after the first few laps. Starting on the outside, I fell back to third, but was able to get back to second by lap 2. By then, Eddie was about 10 kart lengths ahead of me. For the rest of the night we stayed pretty much the same distance. A caution came out just before half way, but on the restart my clutch didn’t engage properly and he again opened a 10 kart length lead. That clutch has been nothing but problems. It needs rebuilt and there are better ones out there, but we just can’t afford to spend money on that right now. Once we’re rolling it’s fine, but it sure is killing me on the restarts. I was proud to be able to hang with Eddie. Our lap times were fairly equal and he never opened that big of a lead. If we could just find a few more tenths in the kart we’d be pretty good. It gives me hope that if we are able to afford to go to the Holiday Classic this year that we might be able to hang with the top drivers like Eddie.

Although I was disappointed I didn’t win, I think the 2nd place finish pretty much clinched my championship at AKA, as long as I take one green flag lap during the next race.

Ty’s main was again the highlight of our night. He hung on the leader’s bumper the first 6 laps and tried to pass him on the inside. The leader came down on him and Ty got loose and fell back to fourth place. He moved back into third and then got loose again and fell back to fourth again. After a few more laps following the third place kart, Ty moved his line up the track and did EXACTLY what I had taught him to pass him. It was the nicest pass I’ve seen him make all year. Hopefully he’ll remember that when he gets back to Tucson next week. From there he closed on 2nd place, but got stuck behind a lapped kart as the white flag came out. It was his second consecutive third place finish at AKA. We are very proud of how he is competing with the much more experienced drivers.

Friday night is our fourth race in 4 weeks. Both boys can clinch their division championships on Friday, so it will be a big night. We are all looking forward to having the first weekend in October off.

September 15, 2007 by Jeff

What a difference a week makes. After doubting Cody’s chassis, motor, and my ability to set it up for him a week ago after his worst performance in over a year, we found our answer—-it was just a bad night last week.

You can read about the on track action in our NEWS section. I was proud of both boys, although I ended the night frustrated with Tyler’s stubbornness at wanting to try those outside passes. He’s seen his big brother and dad make them work, but has forgotten how many spins we had trying to learn how to do it. Ironically, it will be his stubbornness that will make him a great driver. We keep forgetting all the frustration we felt at Cody’s decision making (and mine at times) the past two seasons.

Cody had as close to a perfect day as possible. He came home from school, did the majority of the work loading the trailer and then got to the track and got all his work done on his kart and helped with Tyler’s. Then on the track and in the pits he was amazingly focused. He implemented our new style of driving—patient aggression, nearly perfectly. He kept himself out of trouble and worked his way to the front each race. Then when he got off the track, he described exactly what his kart was doing so we could make it better. That is one thing we’ve struggled with since he got the new chassis. The kart feels so different from his old one that he sometimes isn’t sure what the kart is doing. That has made us adjust in the opposite direction and actually make it worse.

We had just two problems all night long. The first was yet another mechanical problem. Last race we had wondered if it was an engine problem that made him so slow. We checked the engine during the week and suspected it might have been a head gasket, but wanted to verify it at the track. The motor looked very strong for a few laps, but it started smoking badly the last half of the race. We were just praying that it made it to the checkered flag, which it did. Nobody panicked and we changed motors between heat races. Despite being well used, the replacement motor ran strongly as Cody again won the second heat. Luckily, Brandi was there and the babies were happy so she was able to help with the karts. It is so much easier and more fun when she is there and able to help.

The other problem we had was what to do for the main. He had been so much stronger than everyone in the heat races that we were tempted to just leave it the same and let everyone else catch us. But one thing Cody taught me in New Mexico was that you would have more regrets if you were conservative and lost than if you were aggressive and lost. We got aggressive and made three big changes to the kart. It’s a good thing we did because the track started to pick up rubber in the main and Cody would have struggled to turn the kart if we had left it the same.

Everybody needed a big night like we had. Cody had said all week that he wanted to go out and make a statement that he still knew how to drive. His focus and determination on Friday showed his maturity. It’s funny because it came on the one year anniversary of our first victory. This was our 26th win in one year, but the drought Cody had been in made us think he’d never win again. Now the big question is what do we do to get the kart more competitive in Phoenix? If anybody has any thoughts, please let us know. :-)

September 9, 2007 by Jeff

What a long night. It ended on a winning note, thanks to another key call by Cody on an adjustment to make to my kart, which made the night so much better.

Brandi decided to make the trip with the babies. This was their first visit to AKA since March when we began night racing. They were so good, although we learned that Tayten doesn’t like applause. I had to leave the awards ceremony with him because he didn’t like all the clapping. I guess when he races, he’ll have to be really good and win all the time so people boo him. J

Brandi was saying they both got really excited when the karts were on the track, but didn’t like the delays in between races. We’re pretty lucky to have such good babies.

You can read about some of the on track action in the NEWS section. Luckily, we had Brandi there to also help on our karts or we would have missed some heat races. I’m glad we grabbed the back-up engine out of the garage before we left.

I feel so bad for Cody. You can see how badly he wants to win every race and when he has motor problems or the kart doesn’t handle right, it really is hard on him. I would give up every one of my victories if it meant he could win. We are still struggling to know what to do to make the new kart handle better. When it’s fast, it’s really fast, but the rest of the time it’s just not fun for him to drive. Hopefully, we think we found the speed problem when we were tearing the karts down yesterday. There were a couple of loose bolts where the axle bolts onto the chassis. If they were loose enough to cause the axle to move a little bit, that would explain the sluggishness that he was feeling. Hopefully it wasn’t the motor, because we don’t have the money to get a motor fixed. I guess we’ll see on Friday night.

He’s in a bit of a slump—he hasn’t won since June 29 and I can tell he’s starting to doubt himself, me, the kart, and the engines--pretty much everything. It’s funny to talk about this as a “slump.” He didn’t get his first win until Thanksgiving of last year. He now has 10 wins and we have 25 between the three of us. A year ago we were wondering if we’d ever win a race. He’s too much like me and takes it too hard when he doesn’t win. I’ve told people that the worst thing we ever did was experience winning.

Tyler continues to impress us with his God-given ability. He has a lot less experience than nearly everybody he’s racing and is younger than most people out there, yet he is beginning to find some speed and is not afraid to try some daring moves. He scared us so many times with the passes he was trying, but he never gave up and finally made the pass stick on the lap that counted. I told a lot of people that he has way more athletic ability than either Cody or I and if he learns to concentrate and give feedback on what he needs his kart to do, he will win more races than either of us.

The thing that impresses me most about Cody is his ability to adjust my kart. With everyone in my division closing on my bumper the last few races, we’ve been searching for more speed in my kart. Cody had a list of major chassis changes we could try and picked to change just one thing, so we learned the impact. The kart was better than it had been, but still was tough for me to turn. I couldn’t even get it to the bottom in the second heat and was nearly hitting the wall every lap. He had to make an air pressure change for the main and once again it was the winning call. I could put the kart wherever I needed it to go.

As hard as he’s been on himself as a driver, I had to remind him that he now has 12 wins as a crew chief. It’s amazing that he’s only 11 and understands what to do to the kart to make it better. A lot of his calls, I wouldn’t do myself, but he always ends it with “trust me.”

I love the chemistry we have when I’m the driver and just wish we could get that chemistry when he’s driving. It’s been so hard working on this new kart. Where we knew exactly what our Phenom needed, I seem so lost with the Icon.

He’s so sweet though. He’s very complimentary about my driving and is modest about his abilities as crew chief. Due to many things, money has gotten really tight. Luckily, we’ve gotten enough sponsorship money to carry our racing until the end of October, so we can each finish our runs for a championship. Racing next year in Phoenix is highly unlikely, and even getting to race in Tucson is doubtful unless we get some serious sponsorships. I’ve offered to sell my kart so they can race and Cody has been completely against it because he’s said I’m too good to not race and he has fun watching me and being my crew chief. Even yesterday he said that he only wants to race if I can race next year in Tucson. I keep telling him that I would give up racing so he can race.

Anyway, back to my race…..after the way I drove the week before (my apologizes to Dicky Dudd for the comments last week about his driving—I was the one driving too aggressively towards him), I wanted to make sure to race him cleanly. We’ve been tied to each other’s bumpers the past two years and most of the time raced incident free. He’s always the one I measure myself against on the track. “Where was the 21?” is the first question I ask.

He again won the first heat race. I started in the back row and had a heck of time getting around people. AKA narrows the track for the heat races to make a wider groove for the main, and it was tough with some of the different lines people run around there. His teammate started inside of me in the front row. It took me a long time to get around him and I finally did with just a few laps to go. As I crossed the line, the 21 was right on my tail again. That meant he would be on the pole for the main.

In the main, we both looked to be loose the first few laps. He was beginning to pull away from me and it felt like I would have to hang on to second. I started pressing a little harder and began to close the gap. He runs a slightly lower line than I do, so I started planning on where to make my move. Thanks to Cody’s adjustment, I changed my driving line to set him up for the pass. In a matter of two laps I went from a kart and a half back to the lead. I was pushing it to the limit and nearly spun a few times. I was getting so tired and having a hard time catching my breath, but I really wanted to win for both Brandi and Cody. It’d been so long since Brandi watched me race and I felt so bad for the night Cody had, I wanted to get him the victory. I held on for the win and was so relieved. I couldn’t wait to get my equipment off. I was so sore going home and am still sore today.

We have a lot of work to do this week with a race again on Friday. Luckily, I’m not racing. Hopefully Cody can have a better night and Tyler can continue his progression.

Until next week………………

August 27, 2007-by Jeff

Well the weather held out and we finally were back at AKA in Phoenix. Saturday was a rough night on the track. Everyone in my class (myself included) seems to have forgotten how to race cleanly. I'm not sure what was going on behind me, but there were too many cautions to count.  What I saw was a lot of people that hadn't driven in 2 months that had short tempers and no patience.  I started on the pole for heat 1 and led every lap, so I didn’t get tangled up in the mess.

We continue to struggle with the Icon and getting the right set-up (tires) on it. Cody led 35 of the total 39 laps the Jr 1's ran.  With 4 green laps to go, his engine started hesitating and the 12 kart got under him.  He nearly passed him back, but coming to the checkered he completely ran out of gas.  (By the way they are only supposed to run 30 total laps.  We protested as did another driver whose kid ran out of gas with 3 to go—we hate to do it, but AKA not following the rules could cost him 10-25 points.)
 
Tyler was the one that surprised us.  This was just his 5th race at AKA ever.   He led 5 laps of the first heat race before his chain came off.  He had gotten slammed on the start and it rattled his motor mount loose a little bit.  He finished 3rd in the 2nd heat race.  In the main he was running 4th most of the race, then with 5 to go he finally moved his line up the track.  He passed the 3rd place kart and got next to the 2nd place kart.  They had been a straight away ahead of him.  Then going to the checkered in turn 4, he and the 2nd place kart got together as he tried to pass her.  They both spun and finished last and second to last.

The night was made much easier for us as our teammate, Mark Gorton came along to serve on our crew. He completely took care of Tyler’s kart and made sure everything was done to the karts on time so we didn’t miss any races.

The irony of the night was, I was most disappointed in my night and I finished 1st. I was somewhat disappointed in Cody’s night (just couldn’t get any extra speed out of it) and he ran up front until the end. I was most proud of Tyler and he finished last!

August 20, 2007-by Jeff

What a long weekend. Friday there was a race in Tucson and you could tell we hadn't raced in 6 weeks.  You would think Tyler would be the one to struggle, but he did great.  They only had 2 rookies, so they combined them with the Jr 1's---11 karts and he had to tag both heat races.  They didn't split the heats up into flights either.   He finished 6th and 4th in the heat races.  He was only 3 tenths behind Cody's times.  He would have qualified 4th for the main!!!
 
Cody on the other hand forgot how to race.  He started the first race on the pole and beat everybody by a straightaway.  The 2nd race he started 9th (the two rookies were behind him).  On the first start he tried to duck under the row in front of him and got spun out into the infield.  On the 2nd restart he passed 3 people on the first lap and then going into turn 1 he decided to make it 3 wide by ducking to the inside.   Contact was made and he spun into the infield and lost his chain.  He qualified 5th.  Then the lights went out.  (Sound familiar—it happened at AKA last year)
 
Saturday we were off to Albuquerque for the IKF Regionals & New Mexico State Championship. The drive wasn’t too bad except for the constant bickering between Corryn & Tyler. I’m glad our teammate Mark Gorton was along for the ride to keep me sane.

There was no rookie class at ABQ, so Tyler again had to race with Cody.  They started 4th and 5th for heat 1.  It took them both the entire first heat race to get the line down.  Finally Cody was able to move into 3rd on the last lap.  Tyler was last.  The 2nd heat race Cody started outside the #2 kart from Texas (I guess he races in the KART National Series and was at Amarillo for the Texas Kart Nationals.)   He hung with him for the first 5 laps, but then faded.  He was on Maxxis tires, we were on Burris.  Ty finished last again after a kid did a bump and run on him.
 
Cody didn't want to try Maxxis tires for the main.  He started 3rd and was gaining on the leaders around lap 5 when he hit a bump in turn 2 and tore off what was left of his nose.  He faded quickly and struggled to hold off the 4th place kart.  Tyler started 6th and worked the entire race to get around the 5th place kart, trying high and low moves and finally made a cool move on the 2nd to last lap to get into 5th.  He was so excited.
 
The local ABQ animal driver had engine problems on lap 3, so it was left to Bernie, Dennis, and I.  Cody talked me into Maxxis tires for the main and I'm glad he did because that's what Bernie also had.  He was on me the entire time.
 
I'm not sure how some of these racers travel so much.  We are so tired.  I can see how much value there is for both the crew chief and the driver to have to show up and learn a new track.  None of our karts handled the way we wanted to and you could see our inexperience in set-ups really come out.  We also are struggling big time with the Icon as the track changes throughout the night.
 
We're looking forward to getting back to our old familiar AKA (weather permitting)

July 16, 2007-by Jeff
Well we made it back from vacation. Here is a recap:

Day 1—Left Tucson at 10:30 am—we had planned on leaving at 10, so that’s not too bad considering we didn’t get home from the track until midnight. Made it to Albuquerque around 7:00 their time—-wanted to go to their kart track, but Mom said no. We learned the babies have a 2 hour limit of sitting in their car seats.

Day 2—Left Albuquerque around 10:00 their time, made it to Denver around 4:00, just as the NASCAR race was ending. Luckily, we had our Sirius Satellite radio so we could at least listen to it. Had a BBQ at my sister’s house and got to meet my brother’s daughter for the first time. In 2006, our family had four babies and she was the youngest. It was cute seeing all the baby cousins together for the first time. Tayten made it known he would not be messed with, pulling his older cousin’s hair right from the start.

Day 3—Got to spend time with my sister and our nephew again. Tayten again showed that despite his size, he is not to be messed with, taking a toy back from his older cousin. Enjoyed an early dinner at Old Chicago—now I see why I was so fat when I moved from Colorado. Then Cody and I headed out to the Rockies—Mets game at Coors Field. It was a lot of fun to spend time with him away from the race track. He and I used to go there a lot when he was a toddler. This was the exact opposite of those times—-he didn’t want to leave his seat as he kept score the entire game. It’s probably the first time I was able to watch the whole game.

Day 4—Headed to my hometown of Sterling and had dinner at Delgados—the best Mexican food I’ve ever had and another reason I used to be so fat.

Day 5—Independence Day. We got to enjoy a small town 4th of July. My dad, Cody, and I built little lounge chairs for the twins while the other kids played outside. Then they made homemade ice cream. After a BBQ we headed to the park where they had a concert and shot off fireworks. Then we headed back to my parents house where we shot off fireworks. It was the first time in 8 years we’ve been able to legally have fireworks.

Day 6—Still in Sterling.

Day 7—Headed to Keystone. The temperature drop was so nice—-65 degrees when we got there.

Day 8—My parents, brother, sister, their spouses and babies all came up. Keystone had a Frontier Fair that day with jumping castles, face painting, petting zoo, etc. Watched the NASCAR race. Decided we would be bringing our TIVO on the next vacation.

Day 9—Enjoyed the mountains around our condo—-went for several hikes and bike rides. Learned how out of shape I am. Tried to take in a movie—decided that it was the last time in a few years we would take the twins to a movie.

Day 10—Went to Breckenridge to enjoy their “Fun Park”. They had Alpine Slides (like a bobsled run, but on concrete), Bungee Trampolines, Rock Climbing, a Zip Line, and a Maze. I made it to the top of the rock wall and learned again how out of shape I was. Brandi and I both left with many scrapes and bruises after flipping our slides trying to race Tyler down the mountain. We had to drag Tyler off of the mountain.

Day 11— Kids Discovery Days in Keystone allowed Brandi and I a chance to walk around the village without the older kids. Tried to have lunch. Decided it was the last time we’d try to eat out with the twins for a while.

Day 12—Lazy day around our condo, and then Family Fun Night in Keystone. Tyler mastered the carnival games and left with a bag full of prizes. Corryn & Courtney got on stage and did some Polynesian dancing.

Day 13—Tyler and I got a lift ticket to take our mountain bikes to the top of the mountain to ride down. Going up there, Tyler kept telling me how he wanted to do the black (expert) trails. I told him to try the green (beginner) ones first. He finally agreed. After falling twice during the first 100 yards, he was crying and saying, “I want to go home.” I told him that the only way to get home was down the mountain. He kept insisting that we were on the black trails and that I didn’t know how to read the map, so I told him we’d find the real green trails. With that boost of confidence, we made it to the bottom 75 minutes after we started. He then wanted to go three more times—each time taking about 45-60 minutes to get down. He fell about 3 more times, I flipped once. We wore out the brakes so bad we had to stop and adjust them. Thankfully, he finally was worn out and wanted to go home. We ended up walking our bikes back up to the condo because we didn’t have the strength to ride them anymore.

Day 14—Headed for home, made it to Albuquerque again. Not happy to watch the temperatures rising. We were happy to see a Fuddruckers!!!!! Must be the reason I’m still overweight.

Day 15—We wanted to leave by 9—-didn’t realize breakfast would take an hour and a half. Hotels are going to stop offering all you can eat breakfasts thanks to our family. Finally made it home around 4:00 our time. Cody wants to know why we don’t have a winter home in Colorado as the temperature hits 107. Told him that he could use his winnings from the Daytona 500 to buy us one. Of course, that would only cover about 1/2 the down payment on one of those houses.

Day 16—Corryn turns 13, making us feel really old and starting the first of at least 10 straight years of having a teenager in our house. In 5 years, we’ll have 4 teenagers. I guess I’ll be spending the next 10 years working in the garage.

Day 17—First day of school….time to get back to work and to start thinking about racing!!!!!

June 30, 2007-by Courtney
It was a great race in Tucson, both Tyler (Jr.1 Rookie) & Cody (Jr.1) won! They both did a Polish victory lap. It was Tyler’s first victory lap. Then the next day at 10:00 a.m. we had to get ready for our long trip to the mountains. It was a very tiring ride. But when we got there we were happy. It is a fun trip but I want to get back to helping with all the karts. It was a great race.

June 30, 2007-by Jeff
Whew!!!! As I type this, we are in the middle of New Mexico for the first day of a 2 week vacation. We’re heading “home” to Colorado. What better place to get away from racing than the state that has no kart tracks and only a couple of big car tracks. What a crazy week we had following the state series race last weekend.

Trying to pack a family of 8 for a 2 week vacation is tough. Having 8 month old twins that are now suddenly mobile makes it nearly impossible. All week Brandi and I tried to rotate watching our future racers as she tried to pack and I tried to get the karts prepped for the race in Tucson. By the time Friday rolled around, she still had nearly all the packing to do and as of 3:30 our karts were still not scaled.

We got the karts set-up and loaded by 4:45 and headed out to the track. Brandi was hoping to go and watch, but still had too much to get done. We got to the track later than normal, but nobody had unloaded yet. It seems that the water main at the fairgrounds had broke and none of the facilities had water. There was no water on the track yet, but the board worked to arrange some truckloads of water. They announded racing would start between 7:30 and 8:00, but at 6:45, they were ready for the drivers meeting, nearly on schedule. Thinking we had time, our karts were not ready. Making matters worse, we had left our extension cords, fuel, and some tools at home as we rushed to get to the track.

We planned on skipping hot laps to allow us to finish getting our karts ready, but they cancelled hot laps and went right to heat races. After a fast track the week before, the only way to describe the track on Friday was tough. It was still fairly hard, but was getting dusty and the groove was about half the size of the prior weekend.

Tyler and Cody both struggled. Tyler finally gave us some feedback (the back is sliding too much), but Cody was having a tough time describing what his kart was doing. My word was “junk.” He wanted more gear for heat two so we gave it to him, but then as we waited for his race he finally described to me what the kart was doing. I told him if it was doing that then he needed LESS gear, not MORE. It was too late to do anything.

He came off the track extremely frustrated. A kart that usually is getting lapped suddenly had more horsepower than anybody on the track. Who knows what is going on there, but if it’s not legal, the tech inspectors will find it eventually. Unfortunatley, there was no post-race tech to make sure everyone was on a level playing field. Hopefully next time. I told Cody that the best way to end the speculation was to beat him. We threw a lot of changes at the kart for the main—3 fairly big ones to be exact.

As you can read in the NEWS section, the changes we made based on the feedback the boys made worked perfectly. Both boys got out front and stayed there. That was probably one of the more rewarding parts of the season so far. To be “junk” in the heat races and then make that many changes to get back to the front was something we are not used to.

It’s been a hard 5 months of racing. After 19 races in 2007, always running at least 2 karts, we are ready for a break. Last year we went into the break wondering what it would take to break into the win column. We hadn’t won a race yet and we spent the break making wholesale changes to our karts. It worked and when we came back we were competing for wins every week. We finally broke through in September. Since that time we’ve won 22 times, which is amazing.

Now we will spend the break trying to get away from racing so that when we get back we can be mentally refreshed and ready to get back to the top of our game. I think we’ve let our concentration slip a few times and we haven’t performed to the best of our abilities. The competition is also heating up with several karts in our divisions all capable of winning each and every week.

I hope everyone has a safe Independence Day. We’ll be back in August with more updates.

June 24, 2007-by Jeff
Kids are amazing. On Wednesday, 11 days after being transported to the hospital with a back injury, Cody woke up and announced he was pain free. He could move his back without pain and most of the bruises were gone. He wanted to get his new (to us) kart scaled and set-up for the races this weekend.

It was tough for all of us while he recovered. The vision of the wreck and him being strapped to the backboard kept popping up. Cody said the same thing kept happening to him. He does so much work on the kart that when he’s not there, we really notice. Tyler really stepped it up during the week and did a lot of Cody’s jobs. Courtney also filled in and helped work on my kart. Cody had to be banned from the garage until he was better because he kept wanting to pick up a wrench and help out and then would experience more pains in his back.

Mark Gorton from MRG Racing helped scale my kart and Tyler’s on Tuesday since Cody couldn’t help, so Wednesday we set-up the new Phantom Icon. The set-up numbers provided by Mike Parker of ProRacing were drastically different from what our Phenoms run. After 2+ years of working on those karts, this would be a new experience. Luckily, Nick Parker, the former driver of the kart is about the same size as Cody, so getting the set-up right did not take too long. As Cody sat in the seat, he kept talking about how excited he was to get to race again.

Brandi also left the twins for the first night ever to come out and be our crew chief. This would allow us to focus more on our karts knowing how good she is at getting the ready to be on the track.

When we got to the track on Friday it was 107 degrees and windy—-not exactly ideal conditions for your first race back. Plus, due to the State Series race being the next day, there would be a large field of Jr 1 drivers coming out for the points race. I told Cody to just putt around in the back until he felt comfortable, but after hot laps you could tell he was back to his old self. He came off the track saying the kart felt flat off the corner, but after he consulted with Nick, he found out it was the track, not the kart. We made a small air pressure adjustment for the first heat race to try and help out.

Cody obviously felt no fear as he made his way through the evening. He made several daring moves for position in heat 1, and made a quick pass for the lead in heat 2, in which he won going away. All night he kept saying the kart was tight, so we just kept adjusting the air pressure. It was obviously fast and we didn’t want to dial it out. We just stuck to our normal air pressure adjustments and he took the lead on lap 3 and led the rest of the way. Brandi and I were so excited for him to get a victory in his first race back. It was certainly good for his confidence.

You can read the “official” summary by clicking on the NEWS section at the top, left of the page.

Tyler also had a good night ON the track. Several of the Rookies from Phoenix made the trip to Tucson. Having that competition was good for him. He ran with the lead pack all night and ended up 2nd in the main. The problem was he didn’t work on his kart at all during the night, so we made the decision that he wouldn’t race on Saturday night. We have a rule—you work on your kart or you don’t race. It’s too bad, because he would have had fun during the state race.

The tech director decided to check restrictor plates, so we got a late start cleaning the karts. Brandi and Courtney had my kart ready as we finished teching Cody’s kart. We still didn’t finish getting the karts ready until 1:00 am and we didn’t get to bed until 2:00. The babies gave us their wake-up call at 6:45.

As hot as it was, we were glad we didn’t wait until Saturday to prep our karts. We went to the track at noon and their were a lot of people working on their karts. We came home, had a BBQ and sat in the air conditioning until 5:00. It was still 105 when we got there. Mark Gorton and his wife Stephanie from MRG Racing volunteered to be our pit crew for the night. Their help all night was invaluable. The karts were ready quickly and the tires were AWESOME. With my class going out first and Cody’s next to last, we were actually able to sit and watch the first set of heat races. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch the second set of heats because we were replacing the nose on Cody’s kart. He hit a pot hole in the track and tore the front of it off, causing it to drag on the ground. We owe Dave Turner of Stickykid racing (#26 in Cody’s class) a big thank you for the nose—it was supposed to be on Tyler’s kart. We also owe Paul French of French Motorsports another thank you for cutting the wheel well to fit Cody’s kart.

I also need to say something about Mike Parker of ProRacing. When we started looking at getting into racing, we knew nothing about the mechanical side of the sport. Both of his sons were the champions in our divisions and when he sold us our Phantom Phenom karts he gave us their set-up numbers. He has worked many hours helping us with our karts and engines so we could learn what it takes to go fast. The SBR Motors have always been reliable and fast, so we could concentrate on our driving and set-up skills. He’s been there with subtle advice when we were struggling to get us back on the right track. When Cody wrecked he was there with the Frenchs and Mihokos helping to load our trailer. On Sunday he called with an offer we couldn’t refuse so that Cody wouldn’t miss a race and would still be in the points race and the state championship chase. He worked A LOT of hours this week both to get Cody’s kart ready and then to get Nick’s new kart ready to go. A lot of people do not like the Parkers because they are so successful on the track. We personally are proud to be associated with ProRacing and would recommend that anybody getting into the sport talk with Mike.

We made it to the grid just in time. Cody was fast again, but didn’t have quite enough speed to keep up with C.J. Hulsey. C.J. and Tye Mihoko are the two karts we always measure ourselves against. They both drive Phantom Icon karts and both travel to the national events and usually run in the top 5. Both have had top 2 finishes at various national events.

For the main we made another air pressure adjustment on both of our karts to try and get them to turn better. It worked on both of our karts.

You can read the “official” summary by clicking on the NEWS section at the top, left of the page.

I had a blast racing Thomas….he’s also the one I always measure myself against. He’s won so many races and championships that if I can run with him I know I’m doing good. I know I would have been able to beat him if I hadn’t gotten so tired. I made one mistake and he was able to pass me back that one last time—-he’s just that good. I didn’t realize it until afterwards, but if I had beaten him I would have taken over 1st place in the State Series points. Oh well, woulda, coulda, shoulda…….

I was EXHAUSTED after the race. My arms and legs were shaking...I’ve never gone that fast on that track and been racing somebody that hard for 20 laps. If anybody thinks racing is not a sport, they’ve never tried wheeling one of those karts at that speed. My arms are still sore from that race.

Cody’s race was probably the most exciting race I’ve ever seen. The battle Cody and C.J. had for first place was one to remember. That track has probably never seen that many clean lead changes. It is usually a one groove track, but those two made it work. There was also a fun battle for third as well as some battling going on for fifth and eighths positions.

Poor Cody had tears in his eyes when he came off the track—he wanted to win so badly. I had to remind him that at the start of the series he was only expecting top 5’s and to finish 2nd is pretty dang good, especially in a new kart. He also would have taken over 1st place in the state series had he won. I sure love the drive that boy has to succeed.

There is more speed in that kart, we just have to learn how to find it.

By the time tech was done and our trailer was loaded and we said our good byes to our friends from Phoenix, it was 2:30 am. We were up again at 7 with the babies to make it to church by 9. Needless to say, we are exhausted.

The boys have a race on Friday in Tucson, so it will be a very short week. They are both leading the points in Tucson, so it will be important to not lose our focus. The next morning we leave for a 2 week vacation. We are certainly looking forward to that!!

June 11, 2007-by Jeff
One thing somebody told us when we started racing was to not let the highs get too high or the lows get too low. After having a weekend we never thought could happen to us last time out (4 wins in 6 races), we were doing our best to not get too high. We knew some bad races were coming our way—-that’s just the way this sport works. We went into the weekend just wanting to have fun and take whatever we could get.

We didn’t expect that our best weekend ever would be followed by our worst weekend ever. You can read all about the details on our NEWS page by clicking on the link to the left. You can see from the pictures above, that we are lucky he walked away from the hospital 4 hours after it happened with relatively minor injuries. Seeing your kid placed on a back board is not anything I would wish on any parent. I can’t close my eyes without seeing the images of his wreck and the aftermath.

The kart and safety equipment did it’s job. The bumper crumbled and absorbed most of the impact. The chassis is bent, but it didn’t transfer much to Cody. His rib and chest protector, helmet, and neck brace all kept him safe. He never even had a headache after that!! The doctors and paramedics were amazed he wasn’t hurt worse.

In the ambulance both of us said we didn’t want to race ever again. After he was off the backboard, we said maybe we’d just take the rest of the season off. On Sunday, he was only going to take the rest of June off, and now he is saying he’s 85% sure he wants to race next Friday. If his back is better, he says he’ll be 100% sure.

One of the things we like best about karting is the way everyone treats you like you are their family. Mark Gorton from MRG Racing came along to help on our pit crew. I feel so bad for him being there on the worst night our team has had, but we couldn’t have survived the night without him. So many families pitched in to help Cody at the track and to help get everything loaded and ready to go—The Frenchs, Mihokos, Parkers, Hintzs, and Mecls jumped right in and took care of everything so I could focus on Cody. I’m sure there are others that I’m not even aware of.

Saturday night was a nightmare, but being around people like that certainly made it not as bad as it could have been.

May 29, 2007-by Jeff
A few more random thoughts I had last night:

—On Saturday I couldn’t figure out why I was so excited when Cody won, but last night I think I did. His confidence this season has been severely lacking at AKA. Losing to Tye race after race was really wearing on him. I also think I was so excited because he was able to come back from a bad crash and run so strong.
—Watching two of your kids get wrecked in one weekend is mentally exhausting.
—I’ve tried nearly every sport out there, and this is by far one of the hardest to consistently be competitive. There are so many variables to running up front.
—One of the variables is the confidence the driver has both in his ability and his car.
—Cody has been great for my confidence. He promised me that he would give me a kart capable of beating Thomas. He did that two weeks in a row. Having him telling me I could do it was enough to pull it off.
—I didn’t realize how much Cody contributed until he was hurt on Saturday and then sick all day on Sunday. Having to do both his jobs and my jobs to prepare the karts was a lot of work.
—I remember as a kid watching the Indy 500 and then going outside and trying to complete 200 laps around our cul-de-sac on my bike. I had pit stops and everything to put air in the tires and to get “fuel” (drinks). I think I “won” my imaginary Indy 500 as many times as my favorite driver Rick Mears did. :-) This weekend gave me a chance to sort of relive those fantasies. I must be getting old, because I think I had an easier time completing 200 laps on my bike then I did completing 80 laps in a kart—spread out over 2 days.

May 28, 2007-by Jeff
What a long weekend—-3 races in one weekend. You can read the official summary by clicking on the NEWS link to the left. Here are some random thoughts:

—Cody proved this weekend he is a true racer….he raced after a bad crash and a sore elbow and ended up winning. He backed that up by nearly winning the next night with the stomach bug. I wish I had that kind of composure when I was 11.
—The water shower Courtney & Tyler gave me after my win on Sunday was really cool. To see the excitement they had for me was certainly rewarding. The only disappointing part was the two people that knew how much I wanted to beat Thomas didn’t get to see it—Cody was asleep in the trailer and Brandi was in Indianapolis. :-(
—I was so worn out at the end of the main on Sunday. I’m not sure how the NASCAR drivers went 600 miles that same day.
—We didn’t make a single bad adjustment this weekend. I don’t know if it was luck, but that was probably the most rewarding part of the whole weekend.
—We got 5 hours sleep on Friday night, 3 hours on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday night. I’m not sure how we did it, but the 2 hour nap when I got home felt really good!
—My kid crew of Courtney and Tyler really stepped it up with Cody being sick. Our karts wouldn’t have been as good if it weren’t for them.
—Last year at this time we still hadn’t won a race and wouldn’t win a race for another 4 months. At this point a year ago, we thought we’d never win. To win 4 times in one weekend is pretty cool.
—I still think we have a lot of room for improvement. The trick will be to not go backwards like we did so many times last year.
—I hope we can get the sponsorship we need so we can get Cody in some national races at some point just to get him that kind of exposure.
—As good as Cody is, Tyler at this point is far ahead of where Cody was 6 races into his “career”. His lap times are 2 seconds ahead of where Cody’s were at that time and only 0.5 seconds behind where Cody is at now. The problem we’ll have is harnessing that natural talent and getting him to use his head on the track.
—I’m not looking forward to Cody and Tyler racing each other at the end of the year.

We only have one more Tucson/Phoenix double header this year, thank goodness!

May 14, 2007-by Jeff
After the pressure and difficulty of the state race, this was probably one of the more fun weekends we’ve had in a while. We were so tired from Havasu that we didn’t put the karts together until Wednesday night and then we ended up taking Courtney to dinner for her birthday on Thursday night. That meant we didn’t scale our karts until just before we went to the track.

You can read about the racing part of the night here. I was so proud of Cody and Tyler. Cody gave me great feedback all night long and we were able to give him an extremely fast kart. He ran very patiently and ran a smart race.

Tyler ran very fast, but continues to be the opposite of Cody…..he never wants us to change anything to his kart and just says, “it was good.” He also is very confident in himself, which will come back to haunt him soon. It almost did in the main event when he got passed on lap 5. He did a good job to catch back up after he realized there were people faster than him. I was proud of his determination to get the victory.

We owe our quasi-teammates from MRG Racing a big thank you for their help on Friday—-we wouldn’t have made the first heat race without their help.

It was another double duty weekend, with AKA coming up on Saturday night. We had to get up and clean Cody’s kart and put on his AKA set-up we’d been testing. After his victory on Friday, we thought he’d have another good night. He ran strong in the first heat race, but didn’t like how the kart handled so we made an adjustment. It was horrible in the second heat and he came in last. He couldn’t give me any feedback on what it was doing except, “it just wasn’t good, please make it faster.”

I threw a couple of things at it and it was better. It was REALLY good on the long runs...it took 5 laps to get going, but after that it was the fastest kart out there. The problem was, the longest run they had was 6 laps, and after that it was 2 laps, caution, 2 laps, another caution. He ended up 4th—still not bad.

My night was much better. After the last race at AKA a month ago, I had written down what I didn’t like about how my kart handled. With that information, Cody decided to make 2 pretty big adjustments on my set-up. It handled nearly perfectly all night long. I just needed one small air pressure adjustment at the track for the main. I’m not even sure what Cody did for the main, but it was a rocket ship. I would have had an easy victory except for the fact that Thomas Parker was there. For those of you that don’t know it, Thomas has won multiple championships in his career and probably more races than I’ve even raced in. His dad is a former racer and owns Pro Racing and his brothers also have multiple championships. In 25+ main events I’ve raced with Thomas I’ve never beaten him. He’s usually a straight away or more ahead of me at the checkered flag.

This time was completely different—-I was within striking distance the entire race and was trying to find the time to make my move. I just couldn’t get a good enough run on him to make a clean pass. I probably could have moved him, but he’s never done it to me, so I wasn’t about to do that to him. It was a lot of fun—-I wish we could have run for 50 laps. After the race I had to give Cody a big hug for the set-up. I don’t know of many 11 year olds that have the knowledge that he has on what it takes to make a kart work.

Sunday was Mother’s day. We didn’t get home until about 2 am. We still managed to make it to church, take Brandi out to breakfast, take care of the babies so she could take a nap, and watch the NASCAR race.

We’re off next weekend, before the dreaded triple header on Memorial Weekend.

April 30, 2007-by Jeff with help from Cody
This weekend was the first race in the first annual Arizona Speedway Kart State Championship Series. The first race was in Lake Havasu, a six hour drive for us. Brandi had already decided to not make the trip with the babies, which ended up being a smart choice. Tyler ended up being grounded from racing, so he was unable to participate, but he came along with Cody and I to watch.

We had never been to Havasu Kart Speedway, but had been warned about its football shape and traditionally muddy racing surface. The exit of the corners is very narrow and AKA racers who had visited there earlier had met the wall a few times. We decided to just run softer tires and to raise our gear ratio substantially, but left our AKA set-up on the karts as our baseline.

Cody got onto the track a little after 6:00 on Friday for practice. He was the first group out. After completing two laps, the track officials inexplicably opened the gate to allow another kart on the track. The driver of that kart slammed into the side of Cody as he exited turn 4 and he went spinning into the wall. He literally didn’t even know what hit him—he thought he had just lost control of the kart. We then spent the next hour and a half thrashing on his kart to get it ready again. By then, the other Jr 1 drivers had already completed 4 sessions. Cody and I were both very slow our first time out. The track is very tough to drive.

The next time out we were both 5 tenths of a second faster as we got into a rhythm and started to get comfortable with the track. We made a few minor adjustments the next time and ran our fastest laps of the day, but we were still slower than the other people in our classes. From there we had two more sessions, but the adjustments we made actually made us slower.

The highlight of the day for me was the last session. I got on the track with Charlie Eckman’s #74 kart (his karts are always fast). I had no idea who was driving it, but knew it wasn’t Charlie. I knew he usually has some pretty talented drivers in his kart so I was looking forward to chasing his kart around the track. I caught the 74 a couple of laps into the session, but it took 5-6 laps before I could finally get around him. Then for the next 10 or so laps we proceeded to pass each other back and forth nearly every corner. We went at least 20 laps that session. I was exhausted…..this was the first real side by side racing I had done since the Holiday Classic. When we got off the track, I saw that the driver was 15 year old Alex Valencia driving in the Super Jr 2 class. Now I know who will be the favorite to win most of the Animal races next year whenever he enters.

Cody was very happy with the way the kart handled, I wasn’t happy at all with mine. The next day, Tim Mihoko gave me an adjustment to try and with one more tweak, it finally was able to turn into the corners. We had actually been going the wrong way with our adjustments on my kart.

We started cleaning our karts around 10:30 pm and got them nearly ready for the race the next day. By the time we pulled out of the parking lot it was 12:30 am, and we didn’t get to bed until nearly 2:00.

Saturday morning I was awake by 6:30 (can’t seem to sleep much past sun-up), and the boys were awake by 7:30. We laid around awhile, went to breakfast, drove over London Bridge twice, and listened to Tyler and Cody argue about how it wasn’t the real London Bridge because Tyler said the real one fell down (sing the song—you’ll get it). We went back to the hotel and went swimming with Tye Mihoko, C.J. Hulsey, and Conner Turner (4 of the top 6 racers—must have been good luck to be in that water). After that we went back to our room, watched the Busch Series race and took a nap.

When the race was over, we went to Pizza Hut for a big pasta dinner and headed to the track. It was 108 degrees when we pulled into the pits a little after 4:00. By 5:00 it was 109 in the shade. Since our karts were nearly ready, we had a lot of time to kill. Pre-race tech took a lot longer than anybody thought, as did the drivers meeting. We didn’t head out to hot laps until a little after 8:00. Everybody in both of our classes were fairly equal. We were both happy with our karts. The problem was at Havasu, they love their water truck. We were constantly trying to guess what they were going to do to the track surface and then use that to adjust our karts. The guessing game was exhausting. They didn’t water the track between hot laps and the first heat race, and the track was hard and was starting to pick up some rubber.

My first heat race was very exciting. Thomas Parker, Tucson’s multi-year track champion and Sean Webber, Havasu’s multi-year track champion were on the front row. I started on the outside of the 2nd row and moved to 3rd on the start. The two of them spent the first few laps beating and banging on each other. Finally Thomas got underneath him cleanly and I dove down to take the spot as well. Thomas of course pulled away, but I stayed in 2nd the entire race.

While waiting for Cody’s race we were standing in turn 4 and had a close-up view of some of the scariest wrecks we’ve ever seen. Two drivers in the Masters class ended up flipping their karts. One had smacked the wall very hard right in front of us. Since we knew both of the drivers, Cody was very upset. When he climbed into his kart he was shaking and had tears in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong and he said he was scared of the track. I told him that he could either not race, or just make sure he concentrates and doesn’t drive it too hard. If he felt like the kart was pushing up the track, I told him to just let off the throttle. So what does an 11 year old do when he is that scared? He goes out and leads almost the whole way, dragging Tye Mihoko along as they check out from the rest of the field. Unfortunately, Tye got under him as they crossed the finish line.

With the track picking up so much rubber, we made some adjustments to free up our karts more. As we were pushing up to the starting grid, we noticed that they had FLOODED the track with water, creating a muddy mess. My group was the 2nd one out, so we rushed back and dropped the air pressures in the tires. We didn’t have a chance to put our softer tires back on. When we got on the track I quickly found myself back in 2nd place, closing in on Weber. I was gaining every lap and had him set-up to pass in turn 1. As I dove down, my kart bounced and the engine cut out. I went to get back on the throttle and it wouldn’t go. I ended up pulling off the track. It seems that the rough track had caused something to be amiss with my carburetor. The combined effort of the heat races still had me starting 4th for the main.

We kind of split the difference on Cody’s kart between tight and loose since he was one of the last groups to go out. He started in the back this time and worked his way up to 3rd, as Mihoko again led a break away. Havasu’s points leader, Kyle Niquette was in 2nd. Cody dove under him as they came to the checkered flag, but was about 1 foot too short. His qualifying efforts had him starting 3rd for the main.

It was anybody’s guess as to what they would do to the track before the features and also how the track would hold up. We guessed it would get hard and fast, but hedged our bet and split the difference. As I went to take the green flag, my engine again hesitated and I quickly fell back to 5th place. It wasn’t as bad as the first heat race and I soon discovered that if I didn’t let off the throttle all the way, the engine would hook up quicker coming off the corners. It still sputtered and wasn’t at full power, but I figured I could at least hang on. A kart behind me had already spun and killed the motor, so I was just trying to points race and survive until the end. The problem with not letting off the throttle is it was tough to slow down enough in the corners. I usually don’t use my brake at all through the corners, so I was trying to learn something new—-needless to say I was not very smooth.

As I got my rhythm down, I started to gain on 2nd place. I saw he was getting loose and rather than make a daring room, I sat back and waited for him to slide up the track. Finally he did and I got by him. By then Thomas was gone and I did all I could to hit my marks and learn how to trail brake in the corners. It was definitely not a fun race to drive and I was relieved to cross the finish line in 2nd.

Cody had a few divisions before he had to go out there and I warned him that the track had picked up a lot of grip by the end. We went back and forth on what changes to make and he decided he’d rather be a little tight than loose—he was still afraid of that wall. He started strong, moving into 2nd place by turn 1, but gave way to C.J. Hulsey by lap 5. Cody’s tires were already starting to squeal and I wished we would have loosened him up more. He still had a big lead over 4th place. C.J. started to pull away, but with 5 laps to go, Cody started reeling him back in. By the time the white flag came out, Cody was within striking distance of C.J.’s bumper, but ran out of time. We were both extremely happy with his 3rd place finish. Tye and C.J. have both competed on the national level and both have finished in the top 10 of those events. It is an accomplishment to even be on the same straight away as them when the checkered flag drops.

By the time post-race tech was completed and our trailer was loaded, it was 2:00 Sunday morning. We woke up around 7:30 and went swimming since it was already 86 degrees! The trip home was a long one, but the strong finishes made it easier to take.

Getting motivated to get back to local points racing will be difficult since we are both so drained from both the adrenaline of racing in this series and the amount of work it took. I’m sure we’ll be ready to go for the next two races two weekends from now. Hopefully my engine will be ready. :-)

April 15, 2007-by Jeff
It was a long weekend—our first double duty weekend of the year—Friday in Tucson, Saturday in Phoenix. Cody’s races were again very exciting to watch with Tye Mihoko, Carlos Martinez, and Cody again equally matched. Cody led all but the last 3 laps of the main when he got held up by a lapped kart and Carlos & Tye went around him on the outside. He didn’t seem too disappointed as it was a very good race. Tyler again looked much improved and led some more laps in the heat race before giving way to a more experienced 11 year old. He started on the outside pole, but going into turn 1 he misjudged his speed and hit the lead kart hard, tearing his side panel and nose off the kart. He was obviously disappointed.

Tyler decided that night that he didn’t want to race in Phoenix. He told everyone it was because he got wrecked, but the truth is, he didn’t want to wake up and clean his kart. While everyone else slept, Cody & I got his kart ready for the AKA race. It was a long day. They had changed the configuration at AKA, but whatever they did a small air pressure change was all it took to have Cody’s kart handle better than ever. The problem was, the faster, better handling kart gave him too much confidence and he had several spins in the heat races and main event as he tried to pass people in places he shouldn’t have.

My kart continued to not handle the way I would like, but with Thomas Parker testing the Havasu track for the state championship race in two weeks, it was still fast enough to lead every lap all night long. It was extremely tight and I was exhausted when my race was over.

Next up is the first race of the state championship series in Lake Havasu. It should be interesting.

March 31, 2007-by Jeff
I got to bring my animal kart to Tucson to race a couple of guys from Phoenix along with Thomas Parker. We thought it would be a fun way to spend my birthday. Unfortunately, the track was the roughest track I have ever been on. We really did get to do much adjustment wise except try to figure out how to keep our karts from bottoming out, which is pretty tough without any suspension.

Cody’s races all night were exciting to watch. Tye Mihoko, Carlos Martinez, and Cody were nose to tail all night long. Cody got second all 3 times as he couldn’t find a way around Tye. Tyler was 2nd in both heat races, but took the lead and was expanding it until a caution came out. He led a few more laps until lapped traffic caused him to be boxed in coming out of turn 4. He lost the lead as he struggled to find a way by. He also ended up 2nd.

I also finished 2nd behind Thomas Parker, but at least I was on the same straight away as him, which is always my goal when he is racing. The streak of never beating him in over 20 races is still alive!!! The highlight of my night was beating a kart from the “Star” division that also raced with us. Those motors are more powerful and the karts weigh less than ours. I was also “only” 2 tenths off of Thomas’ best lap time.

It’s funny….we were all kind of disappointed with the 2nd place finishes, but looking back, a year ago we would have been THRILLED to have all of our karts finish 2nd. It’s hard to remember that we are racing people that have A LOT more experience than us both in the drivers seat and sitting in the “pit box.”

The highlight of the weekend will be tonight when Brandi and I go out on a date for my birthday. It will be the first time at least one of us won’t be with the twins. Hopefully we can try and have fun.

March 24, 2007-by Jeff
Once again, weather prevented us from going racing—this time from all the rain. It was really disappointing because we had worked so hard to get the karts ready without Cody here to help. Brandi stepped up as interim crew chief and did all of Cody’s normal jobs and then some. Corryn weighs the same as Cody, so she sat in his seat while we scaled and set-up his kart. We worked frantically to get Ty’s kart put back together from his wreck last week. We found out is was cancelled shortly after closing the door on the trailer.

The most disappointing thing is we were going to try an all new set-up for AKA. Now we have to wait three more weeks to race there again.

Oh well! This gave us a chance to have a rare weekend off. We were able to go to church Saturday night and plan on switching our set-ups around and loading the trailer so we will be all ready for Tucson next Friday. Then we can settle in with our friends and watch the Cup race. I’d still rather be racing than watching.

I was starting to make plans to figure out a way to race in Tucson Friday night for my birthday, but Brandi told me “no” because it would be too much work. :-(

March 19, 2007-by Jeff
We were reminded yesterday of how much work it is to have a rookie driver. We hadn’t had a serious crash since the beginning of last year in my rookie season at AKA in the animal kart. Poor Tyler had his first crash yesterday. It wasn’t his fault and he was where you want him to be—at the front of the pack, but when a kart spins in front of you in the corner, there isn’t much you can do.

We had quite a few spare parts to try and replace all the damaged pieces. With the help of Paul French, Sr., we were able to get it back to about 90% competitive for the main event. The look on his face when he missed the 2nd heat race was devastating. I’m glad he at least got to get out on the track. You could tell he was very tentative out there, which I don’t blame him. It took me 3-4 races to go 100% after my last crash. I was proud of how he handled the disappointment.

The frustrating part was not being able to help or watch Cody much. Luckily, he can do most of the work himself, and Brandi was able to jump in as his crew chief to make sure everything got done on time. We were still able to do some testing of new things, but not as much as we would have liked. I was proud of how he handled a very dusty track and the feedback he gave to try and make the kart faster.

We already have a busy week—repairing Tyler’s kart and putting in a new set-up in my kart and Cody’s. Cody is off to Disneyland this week, so we have even more work to do. He said he’s like a real NASCAR driver this week. He left last night and said, “Thanks for a good kart. I’ll see you at the track on Saturday!”

March 12, 2007-by Jeff
Yesterday was probably one of the more frustrating days for all of us. Thomas Parker showed up with his new animal kart. Thomas was the multi-year track champion in Tucson and is the older brother of multi-year track champion Nick Parker. Their dad is the owner of ProRacing. I’ve never beaten Thomas in a main event in over 20 races with him. He showed just how much more speed I need to get if I want to be competitive at the Holiday Classic.

We continue to fight with Cody’s kart being the fastest for 5-6 laps and then getting caught. He once again let one kart get inside of him and instead of giving up the spot, tried to race side by side. This put him from 2nd place back to 5th.

Neither one of us handle not winning very well, so we were pretty frustrated. We keep forgetting that this is just the beginning of our 3rd year and most of the people we are racing with have decades of experience. It seems that we still have a lot to learn. We will begin doing some more set-up experiments next race to try and find more speed.

Finally, Tyler gave us multiple heart attacks. He nearly hit the wall many times and we couldn’t figure out why. Well, bless his little 8-year old heart…..we’ve been telling him to exit the corners higher up the track, which is what he was trying to do. The problem was he wasn’t turning enough in the middle of the corner. He is still doing amazingly well and it is fun watching him learn.

February 28, 2007-by Courtney
In Phoenix Tyler got 2nd and the race before he got 4th. He moved up 2 spots from the start. Tyler and Bailey (#20) lapped the # 09 car once. Tyler barely got 2nd. But he still did. It was a cool race for Tyler.

Cody got 3rd in Phoenix. Cody didn't like what he got in the main. It looked like Cody was going very fast to me. He probably got 3rd because he got loose. There is a bad part that happened in Cody’s group—there was a bad wreck at the end.

My dad (# 30) had an awesome race! He finished 1st place! You should of saw how much of a lead he had. He had a big lead! He went really fast like a person from NASCAR. That’s as fast as he went. Isn’t that cool? He had a great race.

February 26, 2007-by Tyler
I felt good on the track. I got 2nd place in Phoenix. My Dad was happy. I had to push both pedals down. I raced 5 people. 20 got 1st place, 34 got 2nd place, 6 got 3rd place, 75 got 4th place, 09 got last place but he did good.

February 26, 2007-by Jeff
Yesterday had to be one of the more frustrating days even though the results were pretty decent. The only time my kart handled like I wanted was in the first heat. We only made our normal air pressure adjustment, but the track picked up A LOT of grip and the 2nd heat it drove like a bulldozer. It was a fun heat to race though. I sat in 3rd place half the race after starting 4th and watched the 2nd place kart of Brady Labree try over and over to get by Mike Wright for the lead. I felt like I was much faster than both of them, but couldn’t figure out a way to get by since they were both hugging the bottom line. Finally I got a run on them and when Brady moved below Mike, I bump drafted him to the lead (a la Daytona). I also passed Mike, but since I hadn’t gotten by Mike before the start/finish line before the caution came out, I was put back to 3rd place. By the time I got by Mike again, I couldn’t get under Brady with my bulldozer, so I settled for 2nd, which was good enough for my 3rd consecutive pole.

For the main, Cody made a lot of adjustments on my kart to get rid of the push—too many adjustments. I was loose, but obviously fast. I was able to pull away the last 5 laps for the win. I’m still frustrated because we can’t seem to get the kart to handle well for the main event.

Cody’s first heat was also his best—winning by nearly half a lap. He said he was a little tight, so we made a small adjustment. However, just like my kart, it was HORRIBLE for the 2nd heat. He had to settle for 3rd, but that was good enough for the outside pole. His main was entertaining, but he was very loose. He went from 2nd to 3rd and back again before losing 2nd place on the white flag lap. He nearly had it back at the finish line, crossing half a kart length behind 2nd place. It was also frustrating to not get a handle on his kart.

By far the highlight of the day was Tyler. He ran a consistent race and continued to get faster. We aren’t making any adjustments from the baseline for him while he gets used to driving. He took that baseline to a 2nd place finish. He still needs to learn to handle lapped traffic, it nearly cost him 2nd and 3rd place TWICE as he struggled to find a way around the smaller karts.

We left Phoenix with 3 podiums, but with great frustration. Hopefully we can get it figured out soon.

February 20, 2007-by Tyler
On Saturday I had a Tucson race at the Tucson track. I got 1st place in Tucson. I had five spins. I started in second place in the first heat and I got first. I started in 2nd place again (in the 2nd heat) and I got 1st. In the main I spun #98 out at the end. The #98 spun out at the finish line and I got first place. My next race is on Saturday.

February 17, 2007-by Courtney
It was a great race for Tyler! He got first place in Tucson!!! He lapped the whole field two times. One time he spun out twice and he was still in the lead. Some times he passes people clean and some little bumps, and if he hits someone hard he slows down. He probably won because of the good tires that I cleaned for him. I got tired from all the hard work. I also had fun sitting in his kart waiting for the race.

It was also a great race for Cody! He got first place too. He even led every lap. Before his main event he got very muddy so we had to clean his kart AGAIN and then he went back out. For the main he started on the pole just like Tyler. Because they both won we went to TTT to celebrate. Even Tye Mihoko and Paul French went. It was a fun day, but now I’m tired and sunburned!

February 17, 2007-by Jeff
Today was a day I’m sure most racing dads dream of. To have both Tyler and Cody win in back to back races was a pretty neat feeling. We’re not sure what got into Tyler, but it was like night and day from the 1st practice 2 weeks ago. He lapped the other rookies multiple times on his way to his first feature win. He showed many times why he was a rookie—spinning out of the lead several times, trying to pass on the outside in the corner, hanging way back on a restart, and spinning out a slower kart in front of him. He certainly showed potential though and will get better at all of those things. We were so proud of how much speed he carried through the corners—he hit nearly every mark every lap and was very consistent. It was still nerve wracking watching him out there. It’s amazing how much Cody has learned the last two years. Watching Tyler has reminded us of that.

We were also very proud of Cody. He typically gets frustrated with Tucson’s single groove track. He had many chances to lose his patience in both heat races—getting shuffled to last place on the first lap of the first heat race before picking his way back through traffic to finish second. He never touched a kart in front of him. Last year he would have spun himself out or somebody else (or both) trying to force his way through traffic. The second heat also showed how much patience he can have. He again worked his way through traffic on his way to a 3rd place finish. The two leaders were blocking pretty bad, but he never made a mistake. His patience was rewarded as he ended up qualifying on the pole for the main. Every race he’s won (all 3) have been from the pole position—he once again built a big lead and then hung on for the win. We had him set-up for a wet track, but the track ended up being dry and his tires started going away at the half way point. We already have some ideas to get him faster for the next Tucson race.

It was hard for me to not be racing—this was the first race I didn’t participate in (Tyler is driving my Tucson kart now). It was kind of fun just being the crew chief and getting to enjoy watching the boys race.

Finally, the highlight of the weekend was our wedding anniversary on Friday. I am so lucky to be married to such a beautiful, caring, fun woman. Without her support, we couldn’t be racing. We took the twins out with us to dinner and a movie—we’re still not ready to leave them yet.

February 12, 2007-by Courtney
It was awesome Tyler’s first race ever! He did a great job at the AKA track. But the bad part is that Tyler had to race in the rain and wind. It was so bad that they had to cancel the race. But he still did good for his first race. He got forth place! The track looks harder then it looks.

It was a great race for my dad (#30!) he did not get to do practice but he still did good. He did not get to do the main because of the rain and wind. So the last heat was like the main. And in the last heat he got first place!!!!! Well for all the heats he got first. So if they had to cancel it before he would of still of gotten first. He had a great race!

Cody’s race was a regular old race. He got fifth place. It was because he did not get to do his main. Cody got mad because he was not allowed to do the main. They did that so everybody is safe. They were not able to do the main because they can get hurt.

February 12, 2007-by Tyler
On Saturday I went to Phoenix to practice. I spon three times when I raced. After practice, we stayed at Sleep Inn. I went swimming. I raced four people (on Sunday). The first race I passed number six. I got fourth place. The second race I hit number six. I got fourth place again. I couldn’t do the main because it rained. The next race is on Saturday.

February 12, 2007-by Corryn
That 1st Phoenix race was really cool. It was Tyler’s first race, my Dad’s 4th WIN and Cody’s first race of irritation from ME. Even cooler was that my cousin Dillyn came. The whole day was awesome except for the fact that I had to wake up at 6:30 and right before the mains it started pouring rain. All in all it was a good day.

February 12, 2007-by Jeff
Yesterday was a strange day. We were in Phoenix for the season opener. We had gone up the day before so Tyler could practice. He made a lot of improvements in the handful of sessions he was on the track. His lap times dropped from high 18 seconds down to 14.84 by the last session. (Cody’s first time at AKA his best lap was 15.69) We couldn’t tell if the kart was set-up quite right for him or if it was because he was new to driving, but he was really sawing at the wheel. Cody volunteered to take his kart out there for the last session. He looked ridiculous jamming himself in the seat but was able to get some good hard laps in. He determined what needed done to the kart and we made the adjustment for the next day.

I didn’t know how much work it would be to get all 3 karts ready for the race, but we pulled it off. Then getting ready to take my kart out for hot laps, we couldn’t get the starter to work. By the time we got the kart started, hot laps were over so we had no chance to shake down the kart or engine. With overcast skies and cooler temps, we read through the Holiday Classic notes and made our best guess for the first heat race. I started 3rd and was horribly tight, but somehow was able to win by half a straight away. We fixed the tight condition with a small adjustment for heat 2 and moved from 4th to 2nd rather quickly. I then couldn’t get around Brady Labree from El Paso who was driving very low on the track. With the damp track, I still tried 4 times to pass him on the outside, but couldn’t make it stick. Finally on the white flag lap I got under him and took the win to qualify on the pole for the feature.

Shortly after Ty’s second heat race, there was a 40 minute rain delay. We didn’t work much on my kart to get ready for the feature and then when we were told we were going racing quickly and the features would follow right after Cody’s last heat race, we scrambled to get the kart ready. The track had really changed from the weather and it didn’t handle as well as I would have liked. It’s a strange feeling being in the lead and not knowing how close everyone else was. I think I’m a lot faster when I’m chasing Rick. It turns out they were on my tail the entire race, so I really have my work cut out for me if I want to win again.

I was really proud of Tyler’s effort. With the adjustment Cody made on his kart, his driving got much smoother. He got better and better each time on the track and posted a 14.24 second lap during the 2nd heat race. (Cody hadn’t gone that fast until his 3rd trip there!) He has a lot of potential and will certainly get better as he gets more and more comfortable.

We struggled with Cody’s kart all day. We couldn’t keep up with the quickly changing weather conditions. It seemed that it would start to cool off and sprinkle, so we’d adjust for it and then just before he’d go out the sun would come out or vise-versa. Despite that, we were encouraged that he led most of the heat races and the only reason he didn’t win was a little bit of overdriving that got him loose. We still have a lot of work to do to get his consistency up and the kart faster.

February 7, 2007-by Tyler
At go kart practice I spun out six times. How I felt at the track—I felt excited. You had to put a body on it and we had to scale it to see how much it weighs (to get ready to race). I felt a little bit scared. I didn’t want to flip. I also went out with Cody (on the track). I also went with Jerry and #98. I WENT 50 LAPS! This Saturday I go to Phoenix.

February 5, 2007-by Jeff
Yesterday had to be one of the most memorable days in our team’s short history. Tyler had his first practice and he did better than we thought he would. For being 6 months younger than Cody when he started and having never driven anything with a motor before, he did very well. I don't’ think I took a breath his first time out there. It brought back a lot of memories of Cody’s first time on the track and highlighted how far Cody has come in two short years. He spun very few times, in fact, Cody spun nearly as often as Ty. Of course, Cody was trying to push his kart to the limit with a new set-up we were testing.

Ty’s lap times were very similar to Cody’s first ever practice and he showed one brilliant lap—matching Cody’s fastest lap of his first race two years ago. After that one lap, which was 2 seconds faster than any other lap he had ran that day, he slowed back down. When we asked him why, he said, “I thought I was going to wreck from going so fast.”

The highlight of the day came during the last practice session when our two boys took the track together. Cody easily passed Tyler, of course, and it was fun to see how much improvement lies ahead for Tyler. I’d venture to guess the next time they race each other (probably not until the Holiday Classic), Ty won’t be so easy to pass.

He did so well that we’re going to let him try and practice in Phoenix on Saturday. How he does that day will determine whether or not his first race is Sunday in Phoenix or the following Saturday in Tucson.

The day ended great as we watched the Colts win the Super Bowl!! It was great to see #18 win the MVP! I hope that’s a sign for the year ahead.

January 27, 2007-by Jeff
We’ve been working hard to get my old kart converted over for Tyler. We’ve gotten the seats switched, computers moved, engines exchanged, body repainted, and the seat mounted. We’re still waiting for some shorter pedal rods. We’ve also lowered Cody’s seat to try to get rid of the “too tight” problem he has been fighting. The first practice is in a week already….it will be tough to have everything ready. Plus Corryn has decided to do a science fair project on Cody’s kart. Fun, fun, fun.

All of that, plus the twins have been a lot of work lately. It’ll be strange if our life ever slows down. I’m not sure what we’ll do with ourselves!

January 14, 2007-by Jeff
Well our off-season has just gotten busier. The original plan was for only Cody to race in Tucson this season so we could work on set-ups, patience, and driving style. Tyler was going to be a full-time pit crew member to earn his ride for the 2008 season. He has helped with the karts since the 4th day of the Classic and helped tear them down and clean them. He has also been doing very well in school.

We asked Cody if he’d mind if Tyler raced in Tucson this season and he excitedly said “YES!” So now we have 3 weeks to get my old kart (Lightning) converted to a Jr 1-4 kart for Tyler. We’re excited and nervous at the same time. He is smart and competitive and loves to go fast, but it is sometimes difficult to reign in that competitiveness he has. It should be a memorable season.

January 1, 2007 - by Jeff
We couldn’t have asked for a better Holiday Classic. 6 Trophies in 7 races. It would have been 7 for 7 except for a scoring error that awarded the 7th place kart my 5th place trophy. We had to fight changing weather conditions, changing track conditions, and changing track configurations to stay near the front of the pack.

To be able to run with some of the top racers in the country is something we were proud of, but we still have some work to do. On the plus side, we were able to adjust our karts to get the faster each day. On the downside, we didn’t adjust far enough on the last day and lost a chance at another win.

By far the highlight of the week was on Saturday when Cody took home the victory. You can read about it on the news page. We were so proud of how he drove. Words can’t describe how we felt when he crossed the finish line. To me, it felt even better than his first win.

The other accomplishment I am most proud of came on Sunday. We weren’t going to race at all on Sunday because we were both going to have to add over 25 pounds to our karts and they had torn Cody’s good engine down to nearly nothing to make sure it was legal. Since it sometimes takes a while to get the karts to the right weight percentages, we didn’t want to hassle with it. We went out on Saturday night to celebrate and slept in (until 8:00) on Sunday.

Cody and I were in the hotel room watching TV when he said, “I want you to race today if you want to.” I replied, “I sort of do.” He said he’d be my crew chief for the day and I asked Brandi if we could go. She said it was ok. We had told Corryn she’d have the day off, but Courtney wanted to go. After we were dressed, Cody asked if he could race too.

We got to the track 15 minutes before the drivers meeting. We quickly mounted Cody’s old motor and got the tracks to pre-tech. We knew we’d miss hot laps (practice) as we got the karts set-up. We actually were able to get out there for the final practice session. My kart was still 5 pounds light and wasn’t handling right, but Cody’s was perfect. We got mine handling pretty good until the main and Cody was the 2nd fastest in both heat races.

It was kind of a fun drill to try to race like that. Normally we’re pretty prepared and organized and get to the track early. All in all, it was an unforgettable week and has us anxious for next year.

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Last modified: March 24, 2010