ChasinRacinDL

  Ok.    Will we ALWAYS start in the back??  It's the luck of the draw, literally, nothing you can do about that. Lake Ozark Speedway, Eldon MO   8/21 We all traveled in the toter from Hermitage to Lake of the Ozarks for this race Friday night. Chauffeured by Casey, nice comfortable ride and very scenic going through the Lake district. Pleasantly surprised at how nice a facility this is.  Even has a high pressure wash bay in the pits,  handy when your car needs a little bath. Started the Heat in the back, of course.  In this race, which is 8 laps, Casey got the car from 7th to 4th in a very nice run.  Advanced us to the Main with  a  9th starting position.  Just a few laps in he was up to 4th, from 9th, in a strong run -  until we broke the left front shock mount late in the race, which killed handling.   He kept it going, finishing 7th.  Good run, and a second Top Ten finish  in two nights. ...

  So - How many times have we started dead last in an 8-car Heat race? Chalk us up for one more last night in Urbana at the Dallas County Speedway.   In Missouri (!)   The curse of the unlucky pill draw continues.  But Casey got it to 4th at the finish, so we avoided the B-Main. We started and finished 10th in the A-Main, out of 24 cars.  Good outcome all things considered, in a race that saw Joe Duvall lead the entire thing until a last lap pass by Tony Jackson Jr.   Joe had a good lead but was held up by lapped traffic at the end.  How do you spell disappointment?! This track is a blast from the past, small and old, but the show ran pretty well.  Except for a 45 break when the backstraight lights went out and had to be fixed.  Oops. The stands are not grand, in fact they are planks.  But they were PACKED last night with enthusiastic fans, many sitting in lawn chairs brought from home. Social Distancing of course, with maybe a...

  Yesterday was Moving Day.  Again.  About 200 yards this time, in the same campground - dodging new arrivals that have weekend reservations.   Now by the Woods.  Will be here 2 nights.   Racing tonight at Urbana just a few miles away, move one last time tomorrow morning before we ride in the rig to the Eldon race (just beyond Lake of the Ozarks).  Saves us a drive, as we will come right back here after that race, spend the night, then go on to the Salina High-banks track in Oklahoma. Can't say enough about this little campground.  Ouch! - did someone say "you've already said enough". OK.  But it is really nice.  Weather has been near perfect.  Good walking and bike riding, aside from the water activities. It's a quiet, peaceful park.  Even on weekends. Just a nice place to chill. That's all for today.   Hope all is well with everyone, and that Colorado is not burning! D & L

It has been a very enjoyable, relaxing week here at the Damsite Campground by the lake in SW Missouri.  Wonderful location, and the weather has been great.  It rained one night early in our visit, with considerable wind, then a day or 2 of heat with humidity (makes you appreciate electricity and A/C!) but has been ideal since - temps in the mid 80's and cooling at night.  Campfires most nights. This campground is full on the weekends, has now thinned out to about 20 percent of the sites occupied.  Grass everywhere, you can park your boat right on the shore within yards of your camper.  Handy.  Swimming, fishing, kayaking (the camp hosts offered their 2-man for our use), even a sailboat out yesterday. Dump station is busy, of course, on Sunday afternoon, but little wait time.  Lorna did get a kick out of this post she came across on a "Camping" website: Well...this is funny, now...being a newbie tt owner, but long time tent camper, I decided to get so...

We are following the USMTS modified racing series throughout the midwest with the Skyberg Motorsports team.  We travel in our 16 year old pickup, pulling our 16 year old Komfort camp trailer.     2,447 miles in July, according to Google.   Many more miles since we started in March.  So far no issues!!   Now camping at Lake Pomme De Terre just a few miles east of Wheatland Missouri where we last raced, and 12 miles north of our next event at Urbana, MO. The race originally scheduled for THIS weekend in Ogilvie, MN was cancelled, due to finances or something of the sort.  Yes, without the cancellation, we would have driven from here to Minnesota and raced, only to return a week later.  Not overly sad about missing that drive. Lake Pomme De Terre.  Fancy, huh!!      OK.  It means "potato".  Really? Seems like they could have saved a little on signage if they just called it Potato Lake.  And most of us can ...

  No pics today.  Busy last night here in Wheatland.  Started 9th (dead last) in the Heat race, due to unlucky pill draw.  Got bumped a little by another car which tore up a rear tire. 13th position to start the B-Main (maybe an omen);  advanced for awhile then got shuffled back and did not qualify for show. Took a "provisional" to start the A-Main in the 26th slot.  Car was great, Casey ran hard, getting us up to 16th in just a few laps.  Looking good!  Then a wreck in turns one and two above us, which looked to knock out about 4 cars as we escaped on the bottom.  At the last second got chopped from a spinning car and smacked in the back, tearing up a bunch of stuff and ending our night. Worked a while after the race just to get the car "loadable", then they are off to Rapid City.  We get to bed at 2:00 dead tired.  Ugh. Schedule a bit cloudy going forward, although it looks like we'll be at it again, here in Missouri, in a coupl...

  So last night here at Humboldt we won the 4th Heat race after starting on the front row.  Great drive by Casey, we were going away from the pack.  Nice.  Thus qualified for the show, no need to run in the B Mains. We'll start in one of the front 8 positions in the Main, having won the Heat, the exact spot is determined by a "Re-draw" where they draw numbered "pills" out of a bag.   No offense, Casey, but you SUCK at drawing.  We start the Main in the 8th slot. Heavy traffic, lots of action, several cars out by the end of the race, including us.  This after having a tire popped by contact with another car, replacing the wheel quickly in the "hot pit" and getting him back on the track early in the race. Turned out we also broke the "limit chain" which keeps the car from hopping around.  Done.  Races ended around 11:00 p.m.,  Lorna and Doug get to bed at 3:00 in the morning.  Ouch. Oh, btw, the Ogilvie MN race planned for next w...

  After a pretty good run at Deer Creek Speedway, we head west on I-90 Wednesday to the small town of Fairmont, MN.  Only 25 cars at this race, and of course a considerably lower payout.  But a good enough track, and it IS racing! We started dead last in our Heat Race, Casey made it from 8th to 3rd in the eight laps of the race.  No B-Mains so we went straight to the Main, starting in the 10th position made it all the way to 2nd.  Really good race, during which Casey clocked  the fastest lap of any car for any race the entire night.  A lot of fun for Casey and the team! Here is a link - keep an eye on the green/black # 6. https://www.facebook.com/speedshifttv/videos/369127514083291/?vh=e&d=n Left right after the races, headed for the 81 Speedway In Park City, KS .  Made it a few hours, parked the rig and our trailer in a parking lot in south Sioux City.  That was a little before 2:00 a.m.  Lorna and I were on the road by 8:15 and, af...

Yesterday (tuesday) we went to the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley to participate in the annual IMCA "Harris Clash".  This is a big race at one of the most popular tracks in the midwest. We dry camped at the track for a $20 fee, walking distance to the pits. The track is a nice 3/8 mile hi-bank oval, with a good, well-prepped racing surface.  While there might typically be 40 to 50 entrants in the A-modified  class at any given track, there were 87 registered for this race.  And 25 available positions in the A Main.  You can do the math.   To make the show, you had to WIN your heat race (of which there were 12 instead of a more common 4 or 5.)  Failing that, you needed to finish in the top 2 in one of the six B-Mains.   65 entries in those six races.   Casey ran 5th in his Heat race, so proceeded to the B-Main-#2, where he started in the 8th position.  Ran a really good race, made it to 3rd at one point, and finished ...

An interesting transformation from "wrenchers" to ranchers at the North Iowa Events facility seems to have peaked with the arrival of more horse trailers overnight.  It has morphed from some of the best modified racing in the country to a significant horse event, with around 100 horse trailers, some relatively small and others quite large and elaborate, mostly from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, but others from as far away as California and Tennessee.  Excited kids running around in boots and bow ties and belt buckles, leading very nice horses to activities and competitions. Real people, enthusiastic about what they are doing.  Fun to watch. The Weather:   Someone recently asked about the weather here.  Answer is:  we haven't been rained out in at least two months.  Here in Mason City it is just about perfect - highs in the low 80's each day with lows around 55.  Has been mostly sunny with some afternoon clouds.  Modest breeze, if any.  ...