October 2018

October 6 weekend – the weekend really began on Friday night when we stayed up late while I used a tire grooving tool to cut up rally tires.  Nationals were a week away and we’re in a pickle as we knew there would likely be a lot of mud at the event and we wanted to get contingency if possible.  Only Hoosiers has contingency but they don’t have mud tires.  Thus I decided to convert a set of Hoosiers into mud tires using a tire grooving tool.  Friday evening I was able to cut up two of the tires before going to bed. 

Saturday started with coffee with the pups.  Then we found ourselves driving up to Greeley to purchase a spare Miata subframe.  By the time we were back in the Denver area we were starved and stopped at Illegal Pete’s for lunch before making a quick stop at Walmart on the way home.  I set about cutting up another tire while Susan busied herself installing a cat-activated heated bed in Slayer’s shed.  As Slayer has shown himself as a power cable-biter Susan hid the bed’s power cord behind some excess tow strap we had in the garage. 

After she finished and I had thoroughly scarred another tire we hopped in Flo to drive to the Tiedeman’s house for dinner and conversation.  It was great to see them again and talk about this and that.  Gregg BBQ’d burgers and we brought a homemade ranch dip and a bunch of veggies.  It was a nice time and we stayed until around 7:30 before making our way home again.  I did some cutting on the final rally tire before succumbing to my tired hands and retiring to the couch with Susan and the pups for the evening. 

Sunday we slept in late.  As usual I was up before Susan with coffee waiting until she rolled out of bed.  I felt lazy but eventually made my way into the garage to finish cutting up the last tire.  Slayer made his presence known by leaping on my lap for attention and generally being a sweetheart.  I was very happy to finally be finished cutting up the rally tires.  In the end I cut roughly seven pounds of rubber off via around 3,000 separate cuts.  Good times. 

We made a little trip out to replace Slayer’s newly heated bed that he had torn up the night before (ungrateful bastard).  Susan found some instructions on converting a cooler into a cat house so we picked a big cooler up at Walmart.  Then we fruitlessly searched Pet Smart for straw before driving to and finding some at Murdock’s.  Once home I cut a hole in the cooler and Susan taped the sharp edges and added straw.  Dinner was homemade chicken nugget thingies with Susan handling much of the cooking part while I mushed up raw chicken in spices and whatnot.  While the final results looked funny it tasted great.  Susan tried to coax Slayer into his new keep (I wrote “Slayer’s Keep” on the top of the cooler) but he wasn’t having any of it.  We may need to cut the entrance hole bigger.  More to come on this for sure. 

It was a cold weekend outside and the sky misted water for much of the evening so we called off further productivity for the weekend.  We settled on the couch with Bella and Pebbles for TV and internet videos and all was well. 

October 8^th – we picked up a fully-caged Scrappy after work.  The cage was finally done so once we were finished eating dinner we hopped in the suburban and headed up to Brad Ames’ place.  We found the car looking good although the seat wasn’t installed.  We talked about the process and Brad’s thinking with different aspects of the cage.  There was an issue with the door not allowing room for the seat so Brad cut out a hunk of the door which was nice as I believe he did a better job than I could have.  Then I helped Brad push his rally car out of the way and drove Scrappy into the back of our trailer.  Once home I backed the car into its permanent spot in the garage.  While it would have been fun to start installing the racing goodies I’d already bought it was late and we had other things on our mind. 

2018 RallyCross National Championships, October 11-15

Thursday – around 7:30 in the morning had us on the road to Iowa.  We’d gotten up early to pack up the last few items and the pups before we were on our way.  It was mostly an uneventful drive with only a little drama involving the dogs figuring out where they could and wanted to lie down.  Bella ended up on the center console and Pebbles spent most of the journey on the bed from her kennel which Susan had positioned behind the center console.  Pebbles obviously needed her space and seemed happy when she got it.  We did stop a lot as my general rule on road trips is that we stop whenever we feel the urge to do so. 

We arrived in Indianola around 8:30 and went straight to our hotel to unpack a bit.  The plan was to go to a restaurant for a drink with some of our nationals pals we only see once a year but on the way out of the parking lot a quick check of the establishment’s hours of operation had us turning around.  I found out shortly after that the place was still open but we’d already gone back to our room by then and I wasn’t willing to venture out again for the evening.  We tested leaving the pups in the hotel room while we were away but found that they had apparently barked the entire time we were gone.  Such is!  The parking lot of the hotel was interesting as there were several other rallycrossers who’d also booked rooms and there were at least six tow vehicles with trailers holding rallycross cars taking up many of the available spaces. 

Friday we woke up earlyish to take care of the dogs and catch some sweet Continental Breakfast.  The girls were attached to Susan while I fetched us food and coffee.  The few available tables were mostly staked out so we sat down with another guy who happened to be the person running the event we traveled to attend.  Another Coloradan, Keith Lightfoot, joined us and we chatted about racing while we noshed and sipped.  Soon Susan and I loaded the puppers into their kennel inside the suburban and drove to the rallycross site. 

We had several things scheduled for the day.  First we unloaded the evo and unhooked the trailer from the suburban.  I parked us next to some of the Utah contingent.  They had rented two large three-car trailers for the trip.  One competitor who drove had the master slave cylinder fail which made for an interesting story.  He couldn’t easily keep the car out of gear so had to stall the car to stop and use the starter to get going again.  I recently had the same part fail on Scrappy and sympathized though his situation was much worse as he was several hundred miles from home and the part was virtually impossible to fix on site.  He ended up competing with the car but struggled to keep up with the other drivers. 

We had some time to burn so walked to the designated building to check in and get our worker assignments.  Last year Susan was stuck shagging cones with the plebs and was relieved to find she had timing duties for this event.  I was to write for one of the run groups again. 

We had brought an extra set of rally tires so unloaded them from the evo and I drove over to the tech tent to wait in line for tech.  Once they got going the tech folks had us through in no time after giving the car and our helmets a looksee.  This year we were running Hoosier rally tires which had a contingency.  If either of us placed in the top three of our class we’d win a tire, two tires, or four tires.  Thus the tech person had to sign off on an extra two forms for us and Susan took pictures of the evo to prove we were running the correct tires.  Then it was on to the practice course. 

I wasn’t planning on us taking any runs on the practice course but after watching how the other drivers struggled with the muddy conditions I had a change of heart.  We went back to our trailer and swapped out the uncut tires for the tires I had cut up the weekend before.  Then we were back to the practice course and, after waiting in a long line, I got a chance to try out the tires.  The results weren’t exactly promising as the other drivers with actual mud tires were much quicker.  I wasn’t completely demoralized as the weather forecast called for zero precipitation for the remainder of the event (it had drizzled much of the day Friday).  In drying conditions I still felt confident we’d be ok.  We both took turns on the practice course with Susan beating my times pretty handedly. 

After flinging mud about we went back to our home base and drove the suburban to a nearby middle school to take care of the dogs.  Technically they weren’t allowed on site at all but we figured we’d probably be ok if they just stayed in the suburban the entire time and their paws never touched the ground.  This proved to be the case although I’m pretty sure none of the site folks knew Bella or Pebbles were there at all.  In any case the girls were happy to get dinner and walk around a bit before we had to lock them away again. 

At 5:00 there was the class inspection where we lined up the evo with the other modified competitors.  In the modified classes this is largely symbolic as most any modification is allowed.  Thus we spent the time checking out the other classes.  It’s always fun to see the large variety of cars at nationals and it gave us a chance to say “hi” to more folks we don’t interact with but once a year.  I volunteered to be on the protest committee (if someone protests the classing of a car then the protest committee decides its fate).  At the time there were no protests which had me thinking I was in the clear. 

Dinner was provided in the same building used to check-in and we were lucky to be some of the first folks to get in line for the food.  It was catered from a local grocery store and I’d rate the offerings on the right side of alright.  We chatted with those at our table until the planned Town Hall began. 

The Town Hall started with a raffle (we didn’t win anything) and then moved on to a question-answer session.  We asked questions and the RX committee tried to come up with answers.  This largely went alright although I think simply the act of talking in front of a crowd of people increases emotions.  I even asked a question of my own about ATVs and UTVs.  This mostly went over like a lead balloon but I was glad to start the discussion.  It was toward the end of the meeting when I was told there was a protest relating to the classing of a car. 

The deal was that a MR2 was missing its rocker panels.  The story was that they were rusted badly and had largely been ripped off at a local rallycross at some point in the recent past.  The car owner had cut off much of the remaining rust and then arrived at nationals to run in a class which doesn’t allow for the removal of any body panels.  While I completely understood and sympathized with his counter-protest that it wasn’t his fault the rules are clear in that they do not have allowances for body panels rusting away.  The other two in the protest committee shared the sentiment and we declared our verdict against the car.  I was relieved when I saw the car running in its original class the next day replete with rocker panels handcrafted from sheet metal from Walmart. 

Saturday was the first competition day and we were up early to eat breakfast and have some coffee before heading to the event site.  It was very cold outside and a constant cutting breeze really did no one in the elements any favors.  There was a delay in grid as the grid spots weren’t finalized for whatever reason but soon we had the evo parked where it needed to be.  As we were running last in the last run group (literally I was the last driver in the third and final run group) we had an abundance of time to get ready.  Susan had to go to the timing trailer but I was free to unload the spare uncut rally tires and load up our blue cart with various equipment which I parked next to the evo for the day. 

As my work assignment was to write up an article I watched the competitors in the other run groups and took notes.  I spent much of my time outside before retreating to the confines of the evo with its heat blasting on full.  The first class to drive was the prepared cars and the difference between those with and without mud tires was depressingly stark.  Those without mud tires struggled mightily while those with mud tires basically did what they wanted on course.  I was worried about our prospects but there wasn’t anything to do about it but hope the ground dried up a bit before we were to race. 

Susan finished her work assignment and we sat together to watch the second run group while I took more notes.  Technically I was only supposed to write for the second run group but I had taken notes on the first group just in case there was some sort of mix-up with worker assignments (this has happened before).  It’s amazing how much more nervous I get at nationals than at local events.  I could hardly think straight as our turn finally came to drive. 

First we had parade laps to tackle which I did with extra twitches of the steering wheel to get a feel for the surface conditions.  While we’re not allowed to drive at speed there are no rules about abrupt steering inputs while on the parade lap.  What I discovered was that the course actually had quite a bit of grip which dramatically raised my spirits. 

I drove well during our heat and finished slightly out of first place by the time our allotted three runs were complete.  On only one of the runs was I the fastest but I was pretty close on the other two.  Plus I hit no cones.  Susan struggled on her first run which was unfortunate as being aggressive right off the bat is key to being competitive at nationals.  While she did improve dramatically for the other two runs the damage was done.  After we finished driving our heat there was a brief break before the afternoon competition was to begin. 

We took advantage of the lull to grab lunch which a local grocery store (the same one that catered the night before) sold on site.  The food was yummy and soon Susan was back in the timing trailer and I was again taking notes.  The story with the prepared drivers was the same as the morning although I could see that everyone was much more aggressive in general.  The stock drivers in the second run group were the same as they did their thing. 

The afternoon course was very short with few actual features.  This can be both a good and bad thing.  Simplicity is nice but it doesn’t give drivers much room for error or ways to be quicker than their competition.  Susan absolutely did not like the course and it showed in her times.  The cone she picked up on her second run didn’t help either.  The top driver from the morning had a transmission issue which gave me the chance to slip into first place.  Again I was the fastest driver on only one run but was quick enough on the others to be in the lead at the end of the day.  The course conditions actually improved enough that before the last run Susan and I rushed to swap the cut tires for the uncut tires.  Did it help?  I don’t know but we both did improve on the final run. 

After the day’s racing was through we packed up our stuff and swapped back to the cut tires (the conditions would likely be slicker on Sunday).  We were hoping to take a group picture with the Colorado and Utah folks but found that several of the drivers had already left the site.  We decided to get dinner at the same Brickhouse Tavern we went to the last time we raced in Iowa.  There were at least two people who broke into song at the mention of the restaurant’s “Brickhouse” name.  Low-hanging fruit but we all still laughed. 

Susan and I arrived later due to our tire-swapping and taking care of the dogs and found ourselves standing with some other hapless rallycross drivers as the joint was packed.  A college football game was on the TV and many of the patrons were clearly invested in its outcome.  There was a line of tables already full of rallycrossers and we resigned ourselves to hang out until a table opened.  We didn’t have to wait long as luckily the line of tables directly next to the rallycross-table was one group and they left minutes after we took our places looming over them.  In hindsight said “looming” may have helped speed them along.  Soon enough we were all seated with tables and chairs to spare for later arrivals. 

We had a merry old time chatting about all things racing.  Most of those around Susan and myself were Colorado natives which was nice.  Soon enough the tables we’d procured were filled up.  I’d guess there were close to 40 rallycrossers occupying the restaurant when all was said and done.  Twas a good time. 

After eating more than our fill and imbibing on a couple of glasses of house wine Susan and I made our way back to the hotel to watch old episodes of American Ninja Warrior (which were weirdly crappy) before falling asleep. 

Sunday wasn’t quite as early as Saturday though it was still hard to get out of bed.  We packed up our hotel stuffs and the pups before grabbing some food and coffee on our way out.   Once back at the racing site we gathered up who we could find for our group photo.  The night before Susan had put a callout for it on Facebook but we still were missing a few folks when the camera finally did its thing.  Bummer but such is. 

The schedule of the morning was the same as the day before with Susan working timing while I took notes outside before eventually giving up and making my way to the evo’s warmth.  It was oh so cold.  I was also oh so nervous.  My lead wasn’t tiny but didn’t feel large enough to me.  I’ve done this enough to know that one bad run often shifts the outcome of these events and several awesome drivers were ready to pounce if I screwed up. 

When it was finally our turn to drive I about lost my mind when the course was dramatically changed from what the other run groups ran on.  This meant that we were driving over fresh grass and then the sloppy mud beneath.  The overcast sky began to mist and sporadically drop fat drops of rain on our windshield.  As I was in the top spot I was to drive first in our class. 

*flashback to watching the non-mud-tired prepared drivers struggling* 

I endeavored to be aggressive on my first run and, oh boy, was I aggressive.  I honestly thought I must have hit at least three cones when I finally crossed the finish line.  I was all over the place and didn’t feel great about the run at all.  Somehow I was clean and my time sufficient that I was still in the lead with a decent cushion.  The second run felt slightly less crazy and I was feeling good before my third and final run of the event. 

I was on the start line about to launch the evo when the safety folks decided it was a good time to change one of the first turns of the course.  I tried telling the starter that I promised I wouldn’t roll over if they left it alone but this did no good.  In the end this last run felt the best of all my runs by a large margin although I did hit my one and only cone of the event (in the corner where the course change was made as was proper).  I held onto my lead to claim my second national championship victory and knew it as soon as I got out of the car.  Our local star photographer caught Susan and my victory hug which was quite a moment. 

I should note that Susan drove quite spectacularly on Sunday.  Whether it was the course itself (designed by a Colorado driver), the lack of pressure (there was too much time to make up to trophy), or something else Susan put in a great performance.  Somehow we need to get this level of driving to begin on the first run and continue all the way to the last run at next year’s national event.  So much of this sport is on our heads and Susan is clearly capable of being competitive when she has the correct mindset for her, whatever mindset it may be. 

After our hopping about in celebration was through and we’d wiped some of the grins off our faces we packed up the spare tires again and loaded up the day’s equipment in the suburban.  There was time before trophies were awarded to attach the trailer to the suburban and load up the evo in the trailer so we did so. 

The trophies were preceded by another raffle drawing before the metal we were waiting for was handed out.  Having my name called out was something else.  Since I won my class my picture will show up in the SCCA magazine at some point in the future.  There are greater rewards but it is a cool thing nonetheless. 

After taking more pictures and shaking a few hands and saying a few goodbyes we slid into the suburban’s seats to begin our journey back to Colorado.  Our first stop was to get gas and our second was to buy food and snacks. 

While I pumped fuel Susan walked the pups around.  We fretted over the position of the evo in the trailer and ended up pushing it back a few inches before I realized the angle of the slope we were on was making everything look squirrely. 

We then stopped at Walmart to get our food stuffs and snacks when Susan noted how low one of the trailer tires was.  It turned out that it had picked up a nail at some point at was very low on air pressure.  Luckily we had a full-size spare tire we’d packed just in case which we swapped out right there in the parking lot.  The misting from the end of the event had turned into sleet and snow but the trailer helped block much of the moisture as we worked.  In no time we were on our way. 

I felt inexplicably tired shortly into the drive so we stopped to take a quick nap before continuing on.  This rest was a good investment as I then felt awake all the way until midnight when we stopped for the night at a Comfort Inn in North Platte, NE.  The drive was windy and it showed in our abysmal gas mileage. 

When I walked into the hotel I found the attendant asleep sitting up.  As I’m not a bad man I lightly tapped my wedding ring hand on the counter to cajole him out of sleep.  He did a fine job checking us in and we were soon in our room and on our way to sleeping ourselves. 

We set our alarm to go off early Monday morning and ate and drank the provided breakfast and coffee fast before falling into the suburban to finish our trip.  Susan slept for most of the drive and I contented myself to listening to my latest audio book.  We made great time in the daylight and Susan woke up right as we were about to enter Denver. 

Once home we spent time unpacking everything (uncharacteristic for us to do right away) and let Slayer out of his shed.  As is procedure we had locked him in there while we were out of town with a pile of food and plenty of water.  Slayer was happy to see us and meowed mightily when released.  He’d made quite the mess with straw from his new keep and pulled out the bedding from his kennel.  I somehow convinced Susan to clean his full litter box as I finished unloading the suburban. 

We ordered Chinese takeout for a late lunch/early dinner and Susan elected to take a nap shortly thereafter.  We finished out the long weekend sitting with Bella and Pebbles on the couch.  It should be noted that the dogs were very good on the trip and we were mildly surprised they still seemed to like us after being locked up together in their kennel in the suburban for much of the weekend. 

October 19 weekend – the weekend really began on Thursday night when I received a text from Alvin asking if I’d like to drive on their Lemons team.  He’s asked before but this time I had most of the necessary racing gear already and only had to pay to play.  Thus I reluctantly agreed. 

Friday I got off a bit early from work to take care of some Scrappy errands.  I was concerned the rear bars on Scrappy’s new cage weren’t legal for Lemons so I loaded up the car in the trailer and drove to High Plains Raceway to ask the tech people to take a look at it.  As there was a Lemons race on Saturday and Sunday, Friday was the tech and practice day.  John was there hanging out with Alvin’s team and we chatted while I waited around for the tech guy to check out Scrappy.  I also had my racing attire on hand to be tech’d but it failed as I didn’t yet have the proper neck restraint posts in my helmet.  I immediately texted Susan to make a quick trip to Wine Country Motorsports to pick up the proper parts which she did and I installed them later after I came home.  Eventually the main tech guy took a look at Scrappy and told me the rear bars had to be relocated.  This was a bummer but exactly what I expected.  I hung out for a few more minutes before making my way home. 

Saturday began very early in the morning.  Of course we arrived at the track earlier than necessary but it was nice to not be rushing around.  I was added as a driver on the team and had my racing gear tech’d successfully.  I had met most of the rest of the team the day before and spent a good amount of time talking with them about how the event would go.  The race car was a red 1990 Audi Coupe owed by a guy named Mark Friends.  There were three other drivers including Alvin, a guy named Chris, and an older fellow whose name eludes me.  All nice guys though it was obvious they were worried I’d be a poor driver.  Honestly this was my biggest concern too. 

Alvin was the first to race and almost immediately received a black penalty flag and had to come in to be berated by the event staff.  Yikes!  One of the other cars caught on fire and Susan and I watched it burn while the driver ran away (this caused a long delay).  Besides his earlier mistake Alvin drove very well during his 2.5 hour stint before I got my chance behind the wheel. 

I was nervous when I donned my racing gear.  It was literally the first I’d had it all on together and everything seemed to fit alright.  I had my marching orders for the driver switchover and levered myself in the car after the refueling was complete.  The belts were tightened more than I’d prefer and in a couple of minutes I was off. 

The experience was something I’ll never forget.  The engine was incredibly loud and I was shocked at the noise when I mashed the throttle to pull onto the track.  The windshield was some kind of plexiglass which was scratched up badly from an attempted cleaning the day before.  The interior of the car was stripped (of course) and in front of me was the original gauge cluster, zip-tied in place and mostly blocked by the smaller racing steering wheel.  I didn’t immediately know the shift points and quickly found the rev limiter.  The car was incredibly easy to drive and the brakes were amazing.  It had sticky tires and I was soon barreling around the track. 

I thought the steering wheel felt a little loose so on my second lap I gave it a good shake.  To my horror the wheel popped off from the steering column!  I was on the long straight and quickly slammed it back home and pummeled the wheel with my hands to make sure it was snuggly in place.  I was really sad I had left my action camera at home as I’m sure the scene would have been comical to witness.  The other team drivers were mortified when I later relayed this experience to them. 

I simply had a blast driving that little Audi.  I passed many slower cars and was passed by a handful of faster cars.  I skidded, slid, locked up the tires, and accelerated my way around.  There were a couple of close calls with other vehicles but generally the others on track were courteous and passing went without much incident. 

After an hour or so I noticed a vibration from the front left tire when turning hard right.  I figured I had flat-spotted the tire and just kept on keeping on.  What I should have done is come in to have both front tires swapped out as around the two-hour mark that tire blew out coming into the first turn of the track.  I kept control but was in a bad place as the rest of the track lay in front of me.  I limped almost halfway around before a corner worker waived me down and called for a tow truck.  This process seemed to take forever but eventually I was whisked back to our paddock spot where two fresh front tires were swapped in (the right side was also in bad shape).  I ended up finishing out my session after another 30 minutes finding the new tires oh so much grippier than the old tires. 

I was hot after hopping out of the car but felt like I could have driven another hour to two.  It was just so much dang fun.  Susan and I hung out for a time while Chris did his thing before I changed into my civilian clothes and we made our exit.  Susan and I had to attend a CDR meeting down in Colorado Springs later in the evening so we left the track around 4:00. 

We stopped at home to shower, eat, and take care of our animals and then jumped in Flo to drive down to Overdrive Racing which was about an hour away.  There we found around eight other CDR individuals drinking adult beverages and trying to lay down the quickest lap times on the kart track.  We weren’t interested in joining them in karting and instead hung out and chatted while sipping house wine. 

The schedule for the evening was karting followed by catered BBQ and then the Annual Meeting.  The Annual Meeting is required by the region’s bi-laws and, as I’m the RallyCross Director, I felt obligated to attend.  The food was alright and the meeting blessedly short.  I don’t blame the Regional Executive per se; there’s only so much excitement to be generated regarding stuff we’d already been talking about at our monthly meetings over the past year.  Shortly before 9:00 Susan and I were back on the road and bound for home where the pups and couch awaited. 

Sunday began a little later than Saturday but we still required alarms to get out of bed when we had to.  We threw what we needed into Flo along with Pebbles and pulled away.  We did have to stop at Chris’ house to pick up some spare wheels and tires as they were burning through the tires faster than normal.  The story was the team was trying new tires which were supposed to be really great.  While they were really grippy they also wore quickly which is why I got to enjoy the first flat tire the team had ever experienced. 

The day’s racing was already underway when I parked the car near the team paddock.  We hung out and chatted about how things were going and watched the older driver lay down his laps.  Over the course of the day I suited up three times to help out during the pit stops which was interesting for me.  The team did well but ended up outside the top spot.  We did stay to watch trophies awarded which was fun. 

Lemons does give trophies to the class winners but spends most of the time giving awards to teams that strike their fancy.  Teams that have make great fixes, drive the worst or most interesting cars, and have the most surprising results earn the greatest hoopla.  It’s an interesting culture for sure. 

On the way home Susan ordered Domino’s for dinner which arrived shortly after we unloaded our things and took care of the pets.  We were tired and spent the rest of the evening on the couch with the puppers as was proper. 

October 26 weekend – it began on Friday for us as I drove the rally bus while Susan followed in Flo to FRA to help set up the next day’s mega-course for the last RallyCross of the 2018 season.  Upon arrival we cruised around to find a decent path and then I sat down behind the wheel of the bus and Susan climbed into the back to throw cones.  It took some time to make the first pass as I wanted a very long course.  Susan did a good job chucking the cones.  It took a few times around but eventually we finished a decent rough draft and Susan took video which we posted to the group’s Facebook page of the result.  It was dark when we finally made our way back home and on the way we stopped for dinner and to pick up a few things at Walmart. 

Saturday began early but not the normal super-early of most events since the course was basically set up already.  We pulled onto the field around 7:15 and commenced doing our normal setup.  Almost immediately I caused a problem when the pull cord on the generator broke.  This was a major bummer as we have no spare and the bus was cold from sitting on site since the day before and refused to start.  Luckily Todd Briley had a generator with him that we used to plug in the bus’s block heater and the timing equipment so there weren’t any delays.  We eventually recruited a spectator to let us use his truck to jump the bus which did not immediately help.  We tried starting it periodically until right before the first car was about to drive when the bus finally started.  We were so relieved to be able to power the timing equipment via the bus! 

There was a large turnout which combined with the large course had me changing the basic structure for the event.  As we’ve done in the past with similar scenarios half the group drove all morning while the other half worked.  Then the two groups switched roles in the afternoon.  It’s not a perfect solution but eliminates downtime due to worker-driver switching.  I elected to have modified AWD run in the afternoon as most of the veterans are in the class so we could work the course first and take care of any initial bugs and delays.  This worked well and allowed the drivers six runs on the giant course before we broke for an hour lunch at 12:30. 

The afternoon group was purposely a bit smaller which was great as there were some delays from course changes that had to be addressed.  Susan and I had a blast driving the course in the evo and had several different folks take rides with us which is always fun. 

I had brought my newest GoPro camera which I was sticking on random cars in the morning.  This had been successful until Melissa finished her recorded run without the camera stuck to the back of her Forester.  Whoops!  I went to where I figured the camera likely fell off and after some walking around actually found the dang thing.  Well, first I found what was left of the mount and, despairing, I then stumbled over the camera itself which was remarkably still running.  Despite being hit by more than one car it was still functional! 

We wrapped up the event more-or-less on time and I read off the day’s trophy winners.  Susan had first place locked up before the last event so took it easy and landed in sixth place.  I actually tried but could only manage to be second in my class.  We had put together prizes for the best costumed car and driver with Halloween days away and the drivers who had made some effort received candy and toy cars.  We found the site gate locked when we tried to leave but Todd was able to get one of the lock combinations messaged to Susan so we could finally vacate the premises.

Normally the night would then simply end with Susan and I on the couch but when we got home, Josh, who drove the bus back, hadn’t yet left so we invited him to hang out and have pizza with us (Susan ordered on the way home).  We chatted in the garage and eventually (it was late) ate some yummy Domino’s.  After Josh left we did sit on the couch but not for long as we were tired.  We ended up in bed before 9:30 which hasn’t happened in a long time. 

I was up early on Sunday to feed the pups and work on editing the videos from the day before.  It took longer than I thought it would as the software I was using wasn’t the most stable and crashed my computer.  I was close to being done when Susan finally made her way out of the bedroom and started up some coffee. 

Once finished with the videos we decided to try uploading them from Panera Bread as it would surely be quicker than our horrid internet at home.  Schmaybe it was a tiny bit better but we called it quits after only two of the videos were online.  We ate lunch and drank more coffee before stopping by Walmart for Susan to get her flu shot. 

Back home we decided we should probably take advantage of the good weather and perform some maintenance on Scrappy and Tia.  Said maintenance was the exchanging of most of the vehicle’s fluids.  This did not go as swimmingly as I’d hoped as we both had to make separate trips to Lowes to buy tools which only partially helped.  By the end of the day I wasn’t able to do half of what I wanted which was a disappointment.  Susan was productive though and managed to apply 3M clear bra to Scrappy’s headlights and front markers (headlights, taillights, and sidemarker lights must be removed or taped over per Lemon’s rules). 

In a break from my frustration I heard a vehicle in our lower 40 and found our pal Dan Hipwood dropping off his car trailer.  I invited him up after he was done and Dan hung out with us talking about all things racecar.  It was fun as he’s an enthusiastic guy with good ideas.  Eventually Dan left and we finished up what we were working on before going inside to finish off the last weekend in October on the couch with the pups. 

October 30 – we went to a Goo Goo Dolls concert at the Paramount Theatre downtown.  Susan headed straight there after work as she lucked into a meet & greet with the band.  I came up on the light rail and met her in the lobby of the theatre after waiting outside for a few minutes.  It was cold and rainy but fortunately I spent much of the time in line under an awning.  We had middling seats and Susan came prepared with binoculars for better close-up action.  The show started late but there were no opening acts which I believe everyone appreciated.  The first half of the show was the band playing through their 1998 album from top to bottom.  I was really cool to hear the older songs.  The second half was a mix of some technological gimmicks and regular old-style Goo.  It was entertaining for sure and the spectacle went on for around two hours.  We both had a good time though Susan wished the meet & great went longer and we had closer seats.   

On Halloween Susan brought Bella and Pebbles to the office where all three dressed up for the occasion.  Susan was a race car driver, Bella was a pumpkin, and Pebbles was Wonder Woman.  All were adorable! 

Pet update – Bella, Pebbles, and Slayer are doing great!  Bella is her Bella-self and Pebbles continues to come out of her shell.  Pebbs (as we like to call her) barks at us when she wants something.  Often times we have no idea what it is that she is looking for us to do but we find it hilarious (for the most part).  Both pups were fun to bring along to Iowa and we love having them around.  Slayer has been a sweetie for the most part.  He likes to hang out in the garage when Susan and I are in there working on things and we have recently found he likes to sleep in Scrappy’s racing seat.  One night when Slayer didn’t come for dinner Susan found him in his shed when she went out again later.  This is the first time we have observational proof that he knows he can re-enter his shed which is a relief. 

October was such a busy month for our family.  It’s hard to believe so much went on.  I’m looking forward to having a little more free time over the winter though we will likely find plenty to do.  My family is visiting us for Thanksgiving week, we have a trophy presentation to prepare, a new RallyCross site to finalize, a Black Rhino gift exchange to schedule, our 20-year anniversary trip to Glenwood Springs, Christmas, New Year’s… Yeah, we’ll find stuff to keep us busy over the next few months.