Calling it Quits

Well everyone I am sorry to say that I am thinking of calling it quits on the RC racing blog. I think it is time for a change. I have started Geocaching again with the wife. I dont know how much time I will have to dedicate to this blog who knows I might be back though or I might start another account under another name. Never really liked this one lol. Well I will keep everyone informed as to what is happing. Until then keep the rubber side down and have fun.

2009 Spektrum Off-Road Championships Friday Qualifier

Well every year in the first week of December S & N Trackside has there annual off road race. This year it was sponsored by Spektrum radios and Horizon hobbies. The first race day was held on Friday December 4th with one round of qualifying on Friday and 2 on Saturday and another one on Sunday with the finals on Sunday. I got there on wed to help set up and clean up the track and get things ready for racing. The expected turn out was first going to be 100 people coming but by Thursday the final number of pre registered people came in and it was around about 150 people, with more to come on Friday that haven’t signed up yet. So we had to take some of the sedan track apart and lay down some protective carpeting and put up some pit paces.

Some of the people who showed up to the track were Ryan Cavalieri Associated driver. We also had some big names from Losi Dakota Phend, Matt Chambers, and Dustin Evens. I got to pit next to them out on our carpet track. They showed up on Thursday during the day. By then end of the day most of the pro drivers were there and setting up there pits and working on there cars. The biggest thing I noticed was I haven’t raced or practiced with me off road stuff in almost like 7 months. And the couple times I got out on the track man did I notice I need a lot of practice. For the last couple of months I have been practicing sedan racing so my off road skills are way down. I also had to do a lot of work on my stuff my shocks were leaking (as do most associated shocks). And I also forgot what shock oil I currently had in them lol. So I spent most of Thursday rebuilding shocks and changing oil and helping around the track.

When Friday came I was ready to do something what I don’t know. I checked everything from ride height to balanced tires. I have never balanced tires before but I thought I would give it a shot. I went out and did some more practice and was remembering some of the stuff but I was still lacking what I used to have. Friday night we had our first qualifier. My first class was stock buggy I went out and ran the best I could. But when I grabbed my buggy to get in line for my qualifier I grabbed it by the front shock tower and felt something weird on the shock tower itself. When I was in line I looked a little closer and there was a hair line crack it was so clean that I couldn’t see it unless I moved the shock tower and saw that it was broken. I didn’t have time to fix it before I ran. I had to run how it was so I had to take it slow try not to push it too bad or hard. I ran and did ok but not as good as I would have liked. I next ran my truck I was running in the stock truck class. I didn’t do too well in this run I had to get used to the track and the tires I had on my truck. I was not running what everyone else was running I had pink tapper pins front and rear but everyone was running barcodes. I did what I could I got around the track but I was sliding in all the corners so I had to get used to it. Last year the track was watered during rounds and practice and we were using pink tapper pins ground down to slicks. The hook up was great. This year they didn’t water the track they just blew the dust off the track and then you run. This is a new driving style I had to get used too.

Well more about the weekend in my next post but like I always say always have fun and keep the rubber side down.

Gremlin torch has been passed!!!!!!

Well as you can see from my last post I am back to racing again. But Dave Jacko has now passed the gremlin torch over to me. In my last post I told you bout how Dave kept loosing the pin connecting his drive shaft together. Well the torch has been passed to me. He gave me gremlin problems I should up at the track set up my pit and got ready to race. That’s when I noticed the first gremlin. I went to sauce my tires and when I spun the right front tire none of the rest of the tires would spin. That’s when I noticed the same pin Dave kept breaking was now broken on my car too. I do blame Dave for this (just kidding Dave). So I fixed that problem and it seemed like everything was going great everything was perfect. I went out and practiced for awhile. I did good I was able to go around the track and make good lap times my average was 12.0 which is close to what the fast guys are running in 17.5 class.

Well it is now Tuesday and it is race day at Trackside the legendary Scotty is out of town announcing a race so Jamie Tennies was running the show, which makes it very entertaining. There were a lot of racers there I think there were about 43 racers there. It was a nice turn out. I did well in qualifying I did 23 laps my first qualifier and then did another 23 laps in my second qualifier. Which put me 4th in the C main, for me this is good I can’t complain. But then the GREMLINS snuck up on me I was doing well in the main when all of a sudden the gremlin bit me right in the butt. My car was going straight down the straight away when all of a sudden it just made a 90 degree right hand turn down the straightaway and put me right into the boards. The marshal came and got me off the boards and that’s when I noticed my car was not turning like I wanted it too. Actually I couldn’t turn at all when one of the marshals picked up my car and gave me the sign. You know the slash across the throat sign. I was done I was a little irritated that this makes 2 weeks in a row that I couldn’t finish a race. So I blame all these gremlins on to DAVE JACKO (kidding again). So my plan is to completely tear apart my car and check everything. I want to clean every part and put it back together and make sure everything is right. So my next blog post will be if I can put my car back together with out having extra screws or parts left over. Well like I leave all my posts keep the rubber side down and have fun. See ya next post.

I am back again for the millionth time

Well it has been a long time since I posted something. So I decided to finally post something. Lets get started well my new job ran out and had budget cuts and I ended up laid off again. Which sucks but hey what are you going to do. So I decided to not just sit around the house and pout I grab all my RC stuff and cleaned everything up and fixed what was broken from the last time I raced. Cleaned up all diffs and rebuilt them. This took some time but hey I got nothing but time right now. Don’t get me wrong I am looking for a job but times are tough for everyone, people are lucky to have a job right now. Ok off my soap box and back to RC racing. After I dusted off all my stuff I went to the track and started to set my pit back up. I practiced a lot of on road for some reason I didn’t want to play in the dirt I just wanted to run on the carpet. Which is weird for me because off road racing is what I started doing in the beginning. Well after about a week of practicing and running pack after pack, I noticed it was a Tuesday and it was racing night so I said what the heck paid my entry fee and raced. It wasn’t long before I noticed how much rust I had on my bones people were flying past me like I was standing still. This was kind of disturbing but hey I haven’t raced in about 6 months. Well after first round of qualifying I was doing ok. Nothing real important happened made it around the track and was only about 2 laps behind the leader I did 22 laps in 5 mins while the leader was doing about 25 laps. I figure not bad again since I haven’t raced in 6 months. My buddy Dave Jacko was doing good except he was having gremlin issues he told me he kept breaking the outdrive pins on his sedan. I gave him an extra one that I happen to have in my pit box. His car worked really well once he got rid of that gremlin. I think he ended up in the B main. The second qualifier I was on a 24 lap pace when BAMMM brain fart I lost concentration and ended up finishing with a 22 lap run.

I ended up in 6th in the C main with the 2 bump ups from the D main right behind me. We all lined up and got into position. Tone went off and BOOOOOOOOM almost everyone crashed at the end of the straight Scotty restarted the race to make it fair to everyone. So after we lined up again Scotty toned us off again and I went from 6th to 8th in the first lap. I was getting hit and was hitting everything but the pace car if there was one out there. But I stuck with it and started working my way up to 3rd after a couple of laps. Then it happened 1st through 4th were coming out of the straight and 2nd place car had to let up to make the turn I was able to pass him. I was able to carry more speed into the corner than he was able to do. The 4th place car hit the guy I just passed which launched him into me and my car flew into Dave Jackos leg and I landed on my roof. He grabbed me put me back on the track I started to drive and car wouldn’t move. I was pulled off the track and found that I broke a rear turn buckle ball joint. I think what happened was when I hit Dave in the leg I fell on the corner and that’s when it broke. Which sucks but what the heck it was fun to be back on the track after so long being gone. Well there is more to come. So everyone remember keep the rubber side down and have fun.

Monday practice with Dave!!

Well I went to the track yesterday being its Monday there was not a lot of people there but hey that means more track time for me. I didn’t get there until about 4 ish because I thought my sister-n-law (she and her husband live California) were coming over. But she ended up not coming so I went to the track. I called my buddy David Jacko to see if he is going to make it up there he said he was able to come up but not to practice just set up his pit. I volunteered my services to help him get his car set up he was having problems with it last week. After Dave got there I started working on his car he has an X-ray t2-007 (just like the one I have) and I noticed that his top links were on an angle they weren’t straight. So we looked into it a little better. We found out that he accidentally put his caster blocks on the wrong side. Meaning he put the right one on the left and vise versa. So after we changed that we put the car on the track and it drove (until the belt slipped off the pulley and twisted upside down. Very weird how that happened it just looked funny. Dave had to leave so I worked on his car a bit and I twisted it back to the way it is supposed to be. I then tightened the belt. I also put a 0.75 washer in the rear this will help with his traction issue and stuff I don’t know why it helps but it does. I went to drive it but it still didn’t drive right so I had the legendary Paul Lemieux drive it. He also said something was tweaked on his chassis or something. So we put the car down and we decided we will work on it today meaning Tuesday during the day. One of the things we are going to do is switch his one way to a spool. Paul thought that will really help his driving style and make him faster. I will let you know what else we do to make him faster and to un-tweak his car. Well that’s it for now so keep it rubber side down and grip it and rip it and remember to always have fun.

Getting back into racing!!!!!

Well if people didn’t know I got a new job. I am working for the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) the job started around June and I have been working ever since. The work is not hard (yes it is) it is a lot of bush whacking trail's and cleaning stuff up for campers. It is a lot of fun but it is only a summer job. So I will have to start looking for a full time job or find something for winter then go back to work next summer for the DNR. During this time I finally completed the hobby room in the basement. I should get pictures up so everyone can see why I can sit there for hours on end and not come up for air (lol); I also just got my house set up with wireless internet. I used to have all my internet all plugged in which is kind of stupid because I would sit and have my laptop and desk top right next to each other and only use one of them. Well that’s enough of the personal information and back to what this blog is about Racing.

Well I stop up at the track and saw some old friends working on there cars and stuff and I started getting the bug. I got the itch started out slowly but now it is getting worse. So I went into the basement and started to dust off my stuff. I couldn’t believe how much dust my stuff collected while doing all that work in the basement. I pulled out my sedan since the off road track is still in its oval stage. Only a couple more weeks before it turns back into off road. So as I got all my stuff together and started to look and organize it into piles, I started going through everything seeing what broken or worn out and started throwing stuff away (don’t know why I keep all that junk). After that I started to put stuff away into compartments and just plan organize and simplify.

After that I started to get my sedan ready looking at tires and trying to figure out if I am going to switch my sedan to LI-PO or keep running sub-c batteries. I decided it was time so I went to the track one night after work and talked with Paul Lemieux and we got my sedan all set up with a LI-PO. I got a weight plate and a battery and we got it all set up and balanced. I had to wait a week to get it on the track but I eventually got it on there. I had to do some changes to the car I had to raise the rear shocks up 2 holes for better traction. I had to add some weight to make the car legal. I also needed a lot of practice since I haven’t raced in about 3 months or even picked up a remote or anything. Other than that the car felt perfect. I did loose a little in my reflexes but hey after 3 months of nothing to coming back and playing around I still have it a little. Well like I always say keep the rubber to the ground and have fun. More will be coming later.

Still Alive I Think???

Well, it has been a long time since I have written anything in here but I now have the urge to write something. Here it goes, if you haven’t known I lost/was laid off from my job since December of last year. I have been looking for a new job, but as everyone knows someone is getting laid off or fired or something. Luckily my wife is still working but who knows for how long (she works for the same company I got laid off from). I am hoping it doesn’t come down to it but I might have to sell off some of my toys to keep making ends meet. I do have a new job starting June 22, 2009 so I am hoping I don’t have to do any of that selling BS that I just said. The new job is with the DNR (department of Natural Resources) here in Wisconsin. This sounds like a really good opportunity for me, bad part is it is only for the summer and not full time. But according to the guy who hired me it might be a full time job if everything goes right come this fall they might have a full time Maintenance person position opening up then. So keep your fingers crossed and lets all pray. A full time job with the DNR is a dream of mine, and one step closer to the dream job I would love to have (Park Ranger/ Game Warden). Other than that I have been doing the whole mister mom thing and cleaning the house cooking dinner (which means firing up the grill and throwing some meat on) and fixing up the hobby room I will be taking pictures of it when it is done I am basically taking old kitchen cabinets uppers and lowers and placing them all around the room. This room will be used by me and my wife. I do the plastic models and RC stuff and the wife does Stamping and card making stuff. I hope to have it finished this week so I can get everything in and straightened out before I go back to work. If you are wondering I got all the cabinets 18 in total form my previous employer he was going to throw them all away so I took them to put in the room. I think it worked out. Well got to go have a lot of work to do so have fun and I will keep everyone posted on what’s happing.