Since we missed Brownstown, the decision was made to stay close to home on Friday and attend the A.M.S.A. race at Moler Raceway Park. I’ve got a real mental block when it comes to Moler. We haven’t had the best luck there. It all started a few years ago when I lost a chain and destroyed a motor. Our next trip was on a night when they had exceptionally bad track conditions leading to the eventual cancellation of the race. We got to spend a little time with Kevin and Kim Moler last year when we rented the track so that my daughter, wife and A.M.S.A. rookie Brandon Longworth could get some track time. Former street stock driver Kim Moler and her daughter also took a few laps in our mini sprint. Kevin told me that he would not bring the mini sprints in until mid season this year to make sure he could deliver a smoothing racing surface. He was right as the track was in very nice shape.
My mental block came through in my heat race performance as I was excessively cautious, finishing in fifth position—one spot ahead of where I started. David Applegate deserves mention for his strong performance in the heat race. I think this was the youngsters first heat race win in 1000cc competition after spending his rookie season racing a 600cc upright at 35 Raceway. The win earned Applegate the pole for the feature. I started the feature inside the fifth row. I was happy with my start in the feature, unfortunately it was called off due to a spin. I wasn’t quite as successful on the restart, however started picking up positions a few laps in. The car was very good for the feature. There was a little bit of moisture left at the bottom of the track. If I could get the car down in it, it would leap off the corner. Unfortunately, I’m seldom consistent enough in my lines to hit such a small band on the track each time. When the checkered flag fell I was in fourth position. Given my history at Moler I was very happy with my finish and am looking forward to going back. Kudos go out to Ryan Broughton on his win at Moler. As I mentioned earlier the track was a bit of a challenge to get a hold of—and Ryan did a very nice job of pedaling the car around the track.
The M.M.S.A. was also in action Friday evening at Bloomington Speedway as part of Indiana Sprint Week. Mike Kiser’s trip from New York was paid off as he claimed the $1,000 prize. It wasn’t without a little work though, Garry Loney led fifteen laps of the race. Loney is in his first year in a 1000cc mini sprint after running a 600cc upright last season at Waynesfield. I’ve had the chance to run with Garry a few times now and have been impressed each time.
On Sunday I started a whirlwind tour of France to visit one of our customers at work. It was a lot of traveling in a short period of time, but this time I made it out of Paris and got to see some of the country side and the beaches. The customer visit was pretty cool as I got an up close look at one of the manufacturing facilities that builds aircraft engine for General Electric. It’s pretty amazing how large the components on those engines are. My train ride out to the coast also took me through Le Mans. If I would have had more time, I would have loved to make a trip out to the famous road course. After a long flight home, I am happy to be back on U.S. soil.
I continue to work on new product ideas for the shop and have a few new ones to report this go around. There are a couple of items that are specific to our new race car that have drawn comments over the past several weeks.
Wing wraps – On my past two racing cars I have employed wing wraps instead of traditional paint and vinyl. There are several benefits to wing wraps. They appear to be much more cost effective than traditional paint and vinyl. They provide greater flexibility in the quality and quantity of graphics that it allows you to place on the car. Finally as long as you use the right materials they are durable and fairly easy to apply. I recently have entered into a joint partnership with a leading provider of wraps that will allow us to provide wraps of all kinds, including a special deal on 16 square foot wings. For a limited time we will be able to offer the printing of wraps for both sides of the wing for $169.00. Unless significant design is required, there will not be a design charge. We can also apply the wing wraps to your wing for an additional charge. For more information give us a call at the shop 513.874.2034.
Dashboard decals – I designed and printed switch decals for the cowl of my new mini sprint. It’s kind of a small thing, but they have received much more attention than I would have ever expected. The one comment I got was that they really finish the car off and make it look professional. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, I’ve had them professionally printed and packaged for sale. We now offer a set of switch decals that can easily be applied over standard toggle and push button switches. The set sells for $12.95 and includes decals for; Power, Fuel Pump, Starter Button, Fan and Wing. I also have the capability of designing specialized decals upon request. These dashboard labels can be ordered through Speed Partz at http://www.speedpartz.com/panelpak.htm.
Tachometer – If you’ve read past blogs you probably remember me writing about the full featured $139.00 tachometer that I found. Unfortunately the original distributor that I was working with went bankrupt. After a little bit of detective work I have been able to reconnect with the tachometer. The tachometer provides a 20,000 RPM readout with recall of high RPM for the session. It also has a programmable shift light and water temperature read out. It is also backlit for easy viewing at night. The tachometer can be easily programmed for many different engine configurations. The first shipment of 10 units is due in sometime in the next two weeks. I probably won’t add them to our website until we get a larger shipment in. If you are interested in one of them just give my dad a call and get on our list. You can call him at the shop at 513.874.2034.
Adrenaline Outfitters – Since I’ve been in college one of my ambitions has been to design and market my own line of t-shirts. My idea was to develop a line that is aimed at the true racer. Not something that you could purchase at a retail store, but instead something that would have a bit of a cult following. While I had them up and going pretty well a few years ago, I got frustrated with the task of managing inventory. It seemed like whatever sizes I had on the shelf—it was not the size the customer was requesting. Recently I have entered into an agreement with a third party company that takes care of printing and fulfillment. So far the arrangement has been working very well, allowing me to concentrate on the design and marketing of the shirts, while greatly improving delivery and customer service. I hope to start featuring one design each blog. This week I am featuring one I call Loose Nut. It is one of my initial designs and has been a popular one. These shirts can be ordered online at http://www.adrenalinets.com/.
The good Lord willing, hope to be back out at Lawrenceburg Speedway next Saturday evening. That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.
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