January 15, 16, 17 Firebird Main

February 12, 13, 14 Firebird West

March 6, 7 Arroyo Seco  with SWMS http://www.arroyosecoraceway.com/

March 26, 27, 28 Firebird East

April 30, May 1, 2 Firebird East

May 28, 29, 30 Inde Motorsports Ranch http://www.indemotorsports.com/

September 3, 4, 5 Inde Motorsports Ranch http://www.indemotorsports.com/

September 24, 25, 26 Bondurant Track

October 29, 30, 31 Firebird West

November 26, 27, 28 Firebird Main 60 minute Enduro

December 11 Firebird Appriciation Day Firebird West

January 10-11 Firebird Main track, Chandler, Az.

February 13-14-15 Firebird East track, Chandler, Az.

March 13-14-15 Firebird East track, Chandler, Az.

April 17-18-19 Firebird East track, Chandler, Az.

May 9-10 Firebird West track, Chandler, Az.

August 14-15-16 Sandia Motor Speedway, Albuquerque, New Mexico

September 25-26-27 West track, Chandler, Az.

October30-31-1 Firebird East track, Chandler, Az.

November 27-28-29 Firebird Main track, Chandler, Az.

December 12 West track, Chandler, Az.

When we got there for the practice only Friday sessions we did not change anything on our setup from our last race down here in the Valley.  First session was just to set a baseline, knowing that our carb jetting would be way rich and that our gearing would not be right either.

After the first practice we leaned out the main jet from 175 to 165 and went back out.  Engine ran better.

After the second session we changed the gearing.  Went from an 18/22 to an 18/24.  The third session seemed good.

Saturday morning we went out for first practice with the same setup we ended Friday on.  Tyler came back in and I asked him what I needed to change or adjust.  He said the kart was perfect.  I did not have a transponder on the kart for that session but our MyChron Data logger showed a best lap time of 55.36.

For the second practice session I just checked the air in the tires. Tyler came to a stop on track which made me worry that maybe the air had gone bad and we had burned a piston by going too lean on our jetting.  After the session I ran out with the stand to bring the kart in and he said it just quit on him.  Back in the paddock the problem was quickly apparent.  No gas.

For the qualifying session we thought we would not have any issues but as I was going over the kart one last time before putting it on the ground to get ready to head to grid I noted that the chain seemed “tight”.  I loosened up the motor mounts to bring the motor rearward to put some slack in the chain and as I was tightening down the mounts I could see the chain going tight again.

Seems that one of the cross bolts that holds the motor to the mount had come loose and partially backed out. Got that pushed back through and fixed.  Out he went for qualifying.

Tyler came back in complaining that the motor was jumping and the drive was really bad and that the kart had been bogging really bad coming out of the corners.

In my rush to get the chain issue fixed I had loosened up the bolts that held the rear sprocket together and they had worked loose and partially separated.  Damn.

Fixed the gear but Tyler’s time in qualifying was not very good putting him toward the back of the grid for the race.

When it was time to head to grid for the race we could see a storm blowing in and we were getting some rain drops.

As the karts headed out onto track the front edge of the storm hit.  Air temps dropped and there was a huge tailwind coming down the front straight just as the kart came through turns 3 & 4 of the oval onto the straight.

The air density went up 2,000 feet from when the karts rolled out onto track and by the time they came around to take the green.  Anybody with good jetting was know marginal and anybody that was marginal was dead in their tracks.

We were way off on jetting with a huge rich bog.  Tyler came in early it was so bad.

That night in the hotel room Benn and I reviewed the video from the race and from listening to the audio we decided that I needed to move our “Magic Can” (gravity fuel feed) further back on the seat and higher up.

Sunday morning I moved the Magic Can but the practice session was the same as the previous day.  Rich bog coming off the corners.  Showed the video to a few other guys and we decided that I should lean out the pilot jet. Did that (from a 52 to a 48) and went out for qualifying.

It was better but still not right.  We were still gridded toward the back and behind karts we normally are gridded well in front of.

We discussed with Tyler that he was just going to have to drive around the problem.  Like instead of being in 6th gear coming off the throttle into the oval he might want to be in 5th gear with the motor screaming so that the carb slide was open allowing in air so as to keep the carb from flooding.

As you can see in the video of that race as long as he did not have to come off the throttle he was able to run down karts with ease but as soon as he got into traffic and had to start playing with the throttle the engine would go into a bog.

Figure I will have to bite the bullet and invest in a pump around carb setup.

The parts arrived to put the 250 back together. Cleaned up the bore and put in the new piston, everything is looking good. Take the 125 off and switch things around on the kart. Decide to make a new water pump cover/inlet for the 250. Get that made and check the water pump while I’m getting ready to put the new cover on. Is it supposed to spin like that? Check the pump on our old parts motor. It doesn’t spin. Hmmm…Oh yeah, it’s only supposed to turn when the engine is running. That’s why the motor stuck at the March race – broken water pump drive gear! Glad I decided to make that cover. After a quick switch job on the side covers the kart is all put together and fired up on the stand. Everything seams to work. That’s good because tomorrow morning we leave.

Got going with same routine as last time. Waited a few minutes until George pulled up. Went and got gas at the Luvs station across the freeway from Firebird. Filled the truck and bought some race gas. Their race gas pump is over by the RV and Diesel pumps. I wouldn’t want to accidentally fill up my RV at the wrong pump!

The drive to Tucson was the usual deal. Lots of cars, lots of trucks. Lots of people that like to drive exactly in my blind spot and go exactly the same speed as me. Grrr..

We knew we were in Tucson because the road construction started. Got through most of the city and decided to stop for lunch. Found a Chinese fast food place and chowed down. The place also had the windiest path to the bathroom I’ve ever seen. Then back on the road. The drive to Benson was easy and traffic was light.

Then it was time for another stop. You know the one. The destination you’ve heard about your whole life. On every family vacation you saw the signs. Bright yellow and blue. Asking if you’ve seen it. Calling to you. It can only be one thing. And that one thing is, THE THING!

Exit 322 between Benson and Wilcox is where you get off. It’s in the Texas Canyon area. A strange formation of rocks that has had some interesting things happen around them. Missile silos, Prisoner of war camps, Indian stronghold. Fun stuff, it all happened around here.

We got gas. Then we went inside and had ice cream. Did I mention that they had a DQ there? While waiting I picked up a couple of  t-shirts from amongst the thousand of items they have there. If you ever feel the need to buy some obscure trinket or a cheap leather jacket, this is the place. While we were there we met the Mayor and then had a contest to decide who was cooler. We still haven’t decided.

After that it was back in the truck and on to Deming. Wilcox, Lordsburg, and the Continental Divide – all the neat places. It’s pretty flat through there and the wind can get rather “blowy”. On the plus side, they sell fireworks there. Do with that information what you will.

After arriving in Deming in the middle of a dust storm we pulled into the Holiday Inn and got some rooms. Rate was reasonable and the staff was friendly. After a few minutes relaxing we headed out to Si Senors for dinner.

SI SENOR
200 E. PINE STREET
DEMING, NM

Very family friendly and it seemed that everybody in town came in there. The prices were very reasonable and the red sauce is HOT, just ask my son. I had a nice pork steak, George had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a very nice potato soup. William had a chimichanga with red sauce. Whoa! Seriously, ask him about it.

Deming is an interesting town. You first think of it as just a gas stop on the freeway but there is much more to it. There is actually a lot of town around there. Lots of restaurants, a golf course, airport, a BMX track, a K-mart AND a Wal-Mart (right next to each other – huh?) a Ford dealership, and a nice courthouse. The town is over a hundred years old and has a fair bit of history. For example, the silver spike was driven here for the second complete transcontinental railroad. Betcha’ never learned that one in grade school!

Well, after dinner we went back to the hotel to rest up for the next day. A 6:00 AM wake up call is early no matter what state you’re in.

In the morning we had breakfast at the restaurant at the hotel. Pretty good eats. Then back on the road to drive the 15 miles to the track. We got there about 7:30 and that was plenty early. We met Roger Heemsbergen – the track owner – while he was emptying trashcans. Nice guy and he let us set up our pit in the NO SIT area by the base of the tower. It beat pitting in the gravel. If you come down to this track in the future be sure to bring a roll around kart stand with big wheels. There is enough pavement to get your kart started, but you can’t pit on it. Uhhh.. except that we did!

The track can be run in either direction and this day we ran it counter-clockwise. That put us right into the teeth of the wind on the longest straight. Not good for top end speed. Some other cars showed up, a couple of open wheel cars and an Arial Atom, plus a fair number of Japanese import cars. The split us up into three sessions of 20 minutes each with us going last in the rotation. While we were waiting to go out Brad “Cannonball” Peterson pulled up with Carlton. They got unloaded quickly and were ready to go.

Carlton was off first with a nice little burn out. Then George and then William. We watched the karts go around and after a couple of laps we were one short. William had half looped it while braking for the Bus Stop turn. While I got ready to take my truck out and fetch him at the end of the session, George had pulled up and asked him if he was ok. They decided they could push start William if he would pull the kart back on track. After restarting, everybody ran the rest of the session. Thanks George.

After everybody came back in they decided that the track was pretty dirty from the wind and had NO rubber down. Everybody changed jets and gears between sessions and got better. George had a former neighbor stop by and we had fun visiting with him. With as long as each session was, the “boys” were getting tired. The wind was picking up too. We made our last run about two o’clock and packed up to go to the room. Brad and Carlton cut it even shorter. They had to get back to Tucson Raceway Park to catch the end of the Legends race there. That’s why they call him Cannonball!

After we got back to the room and cleaned up, we headed out to dinner. No Mexican food tonight, we were looking for steak! We ended up at Ranchers Grill.

RANCHERS GRILL
316 E. CEDAR STREET
DEMING, NM

It was perfect. Great cold beer, nice salad bar, and an excellent steak. Price was good too. There was also a nice pair of Wranglers there – easy George! After we got out of there we stopped at the local Dairy Queen for desert (do you see a pattern here?). There was a local carnival in the parking lot. No, we didn’t do any of the rides.

With no need to be anywhere in the morning we didn’t put in a wake up call. Went down to the hotel restaurant about 8:30. Should have gone earlier, there was a bit of a crowd. After filling the trucks up we headed out. Caught a draft from a tanker truck all the way to Lordsburg, then up over the mountains to Wilcox.

As we passed through the Texas Canyon area the call was too strong, we had to visit the Thing again. As we pulled in a bunch of cool Hot Rods were pulling out so I snapped some pictures. Didn’t talk to the Mayor but I did see a Scary Clown. Picked up some road supplies and hit the trail.

Made it past Benson and started running into a little rain, nothing serious but it was fun to look at. While driving through Tucson we were impressed with roadside beauty of the place – if you like construction equipment and concrete plants! Lucky for us traffic was moving pretty good.

Our last gas stop was on Sunshine Boulevard. Lots of people getting gas. A couple of shuttle vans were parked in front of the pumps and were full of people. They were stopped there when we pulled up and hadn’t moved by the time we left. And we went in, sat down, and had a meal!

Another hour or so up the road and we were home. On that portion of the drive we followed a Nissan Tsuru. It looks just like the 1992 Nissan Sentra I used to have. Hope the heater controls work better than mine did. Pulled up in front of the house and unloaded the trailer. Had everything put away by 5:00. Took my wife out to diner.

By the way, we never did actually see the Thing.

(See more pictures from the event)

At the conclusion of the March 2^nd race, we had the opportunity to run at two more events. The first was with Southern California Karters and HSR West at Willow Springs International Raceway. The second was a track day at Arroyo Seco Motorplex near Deming New Mexico. This is the story of that journey and all the strange and wonderful things that happened at those events. I would have changed the names of the innocent, but none of them are innocent. Besides, you all know who these guys are anyway.

Part One

The Willow Springs Trip.

Got up early Friday morning, went to the bathroom and went back to bed. About three hours later I got up for real and started loading the trailer. Went to get the boy up. Finished loading the trailer. Went to get the boy up. Left the house at about ten. Got just outside of Phoenix and pulled over to trade drivers. I figure if he can go100 mph with a bunch of crazies around him, 80 mph with 8500 pounds of truck and trailer should be a piece of cake. I mean, what could go wrong?

Well, nothing went wrong and I got to take a nap. Stopped for gas and lunch in Quartzite. Not as busy as usual, maybe everybody already left. Crossed the border into California and he got his first brush with the law. He had to stop and tell them what was in the trailer. Whew! Then it was more nap time for Dad.

With the boring part of the trip out of the way, we got to the exciting bit – Windmills!

Then, another gas stop. We stopped at a lot of gas stations. A quick run over the mountain on Pearblossom Highway to Georges house and the party could begin.

After we checked into the hotel we met up with George at Don Cucos’ for dinner.

DON CUCO MEXICAN RESTARAUNT
1106 W AVENUE K
LANCASTER, CA 93534

Fajitas for me and the boy, and a Chimichanga for George that was as big as his head. Quick stop for ice cream and then back to the room. Man it gets cold when the sun goes down.

Drove out to the track on Saturday morning and paid the usual ten bucks at the gate (per person) to Willow Springs. Unloaded the kart and went down to registration. Got signed in and started visiting everybody. The day warmed up nicely. The wind wasn’t to bad in the morning. Kart ran ok but we could only get about a 100 mph out of it. As a side note, we had to put the 125 back on, the 250 wasn’t ready. Apparently some people’s version of two-day freight is not the same as mine.

While the first session is running, George has his kart go south on him. As in, no compression. He’s ready to go home but decides to pull the head off to look a the damage. There is a hole in the top of the (new) piston. Hmmm…  What kind of gas you running? 91 octane high test. Hmmm…  Do you have the old piston?  Yes. Well…. After draining the gas and putting the old piston back in, George and Tim get it fired back up just before the next session.

Didn’t I mention Tim? No? Well, Tim works for George and he’s pretty handy to have around. This was his first time at the track and he did fine. He’s the guy with the hair and SECURITY t-shirt in the pictures.

George’s kart runs fine in the session. It gets a little hot so he pulls in and takes some tape off the radiator. In the same session Dave Fultz lets my son drive his 250 sprinter. Nice kart, nice guy, kart is fast too. There were other karts running also. The laydowns were fast. The Rotax sit-ups were fast. Race Liberante was fast in his Junior Rotax. If we’re lucky we’ll get him over to some of our races.

Took a break for lunch and checked the data downloads on the computer. Found out that George needs to down shift sooner. That head wind is a bitch. The food was good though.

Everybody got ready to run the final session/race. Dave started his sprint 250 that William was going to drive to get a little heat in it. Felt some strange puffing around the exhaust pipe. A crack and there is no time to fix it. So after a small rush we gas the 125 up and got to line up.

Thirteen karts lined up with the gearbox karts in the front. The shifters rolled out first and about thirty seconds later the clutch karts went. After a pace lap, the green was dropped for a nice rolling start.

Dave Fultz jumped out to a good lead but after four laps he was passed by Herach Haroutunians for the lead. Then his axle broke. In the middle. Go figure.

George ran well – until his elbow bumped the primary wire off the coil. Dang! William went ok, just slow. We had the wrong gear for the head wind and after the start he was running by himself. Boring. He pulled in early. Everybody had a good time. The laydowns were flying. Maybe we can get more karts in October, if HSR West invites the SCK back. Maybe the wind won’t be blowing so hard too. Here is the finishing order.

After the race they passed out awards and took pictures. It was getting cold so we packed up and headed for dinner. We went to a semi-famous place in Lancaster –Barone’s Pizza!

BARONE’S PIZZA
1229  W AVENUE
LANCASTER, CA

I’ve been going to Barone’s on California race weekends since I started racing there. Great Italian food, comfortable atmosphere, and you can go there all grubby and straight from the race track. We did. George and I had spaghetti and William and Tim had Pizza. Then a quick run to Baskin-Robbins for desert and back to the room.  Shower. TV. Bed. It was a long day. The next morning we got up late, checked out and headed home. A pretty uneventful drive except that the head wind we had coming over didn’t turn into a tail wind going back. What are you going to do? Wait, there was an interesting moment just after we passed the weigh station past the Arizona border. Parked by the side of the road was a truck and trailer with a guy sitting on it. No big deal except that the trailer had karts on it! We stopped and found out his transmission had blown a seal. He had somebody coming so we gave him a bottle of water and a SWK business card. Maybe we can get a Road Race convert!The boy drove the rest of the way no problem. Caught the slow and go around Dysart road, then home and bed.

Time to get ready for Arroyo Seco next week.

Got that motor late Thursday night and I got it mostly mounted Friday evening. Had to instruct out at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday so it was a sprint Saturday night to complete mounting this motor to our kart. Got “done” just after midnight. The sky looked ominous so before heading to bed I checked the weather report and saw that the forecast was for rain all day long.

Alarm goes off at 6:30am and first practice is at 9:30. Decide to skip it since it will be cold and wet. Got dressed but took a nap for another two hours before heading to the track.

We know our kart runs (qualified third at the November race) and we know this motor runs (it qualified 10th and finished third at that same race) but the two have never run together so rather then go out for second practice I just took the time to go over the kart again and double check everything and finalize any issues.

Tyler test drove the kart in the paddock and everything seemed ok for the most part. Had to shorten the shift linkage to get the shifter working properly. Testing in the paddock Tyler could upshift fine. Downshifts were a problem. Got that issue fixed. Since our kart still had the same setup as the last race on this track and the last time this motor had been run was on this track we figured we would be fine for qualifying.

Got Tyler started and he drove to the grid for the qualifying session with no problem. On the grid I noticed that the chain did not seem to be lubed. Told Tyler to drive back to the paddock so we could get it oiled up.

Once the chain was lubed I tried to push start him but the kart would not start. While it was in gear I was able to push him like he was in neutral.

Checked the linkage, clutch and clutch cable and it all looked ok. Tried to push start him again and this time it started without any issue.

Kept the kart running on grid to get it warmed up and off he went when the track went green.

Got in four laps and then I did not see him again. Walked back to the paddock. Not there. Got in the truck to drive up to the carousal. He was off with another kart. They had not crashed, they were just parked broken down together.

While I was asking Tyler through the fence what the issue was he said it had just stopped running. While talking to him and his looking over the kart he noticed that the spark plug wire had come free from the solenoid. He pushed it back in and got the other racer that was off track with him to try and push. Same issue we had seen headed to the grid. Pushed like it was in neutral.

Tyler came in on a flat tow and we proceeded to try and figure out the issue.

Thought maybe the clutch was engaged and disconnect the clutch cable. Nope, that wasn’t it. Talked it over with eight other racers and nobody could figure the issue out. Thought maybe it was the piston ring and maybe we just weren’t getting enough compression.

Pulled the head and the cylinder. Piston and ring looked fine. The cylinder looked fine too. Put the motor back together and tried it. No dice. By this time we had five of use stripping down and rebuilding the motor trying to figure out the issue.

Finally discovered that when we turned the motor over we could hear two compression pops and then silence followed by two compression pops and then silence again. Almost like the clutch was slipping and not moving the crank. If we round a strap around the rear tire and pulled to rotate the tire there would be a little bit of resistance (due to compression) then the motor would turn over freely again like the clutch was slipping.

Crap. Put the kart and gear away and watch everyone else drive out to the grid for the race.

Even with no practice time and only three laps in qualifying Tyler would have qualified sixth for the race.

Oh, well… There’s next month if we get our motor back and figure out what is wrong with the motor were we using.

Got the kart back to the paddock after the session and made sure to get rid of the tension in the cable.  Gave the rest of the kart a once over and pronounced it ready .

Head out for Qualifying with some sticker tires mounted.  Not sure how many karts but it was a lot.  Not as many as last months 48 karts but certainly more than 30.

Qualifying went well except for a short black flag incident where another kart also had a stuck throttle and did not end as well as Tyler’s incident.  First reports we heard on grid was a “broken ankle”.  Turned out to be a broken axle. Big difference!  The kart did flip and the driver did play superman but other then some bruises he was ok.

I was blown away with Tyler’s qualifying effort.  No practice laps, just 7 full laps run in qualifying and he ended up third!

The really amazing thing however was seeing the times posted by the top four karts.

Pole:   1:06.507
2nd:    1:06.692
3rd:    1:06.865
4th:    1:06.870

Beat out fourth place by 5 one thousands of a second!  That’s close.

Feel good moment.  The top 6 places were all filled with karts running purpose built ICC motors other then us running our Honda moto 125.  Definitely hitting above his weight today.

The really warm fuzzy was the fact that the fourth placed kart and driver took 2nd in class at the SKUSA SuperNationals this past week in Las Vegas (over 400 kats!).

The race.  Not so much.

The only thing we changed was the plug.  Put in one that is a step hotter.  Were that close in qualifying I think that maybe that might help.  Don’t want to change too much.

Supposed to be a 45 minute endurance race which will require pit stops for a splash and dash of fuel to make the distance.

Got a bad start (yet again – need to have him work on that) and he dropped back to about 11th.  Started working his way back up and was making up places.  We could see him driving the wheels off the thing as he came around the Tower Turn.  Hugging the inside line to decrease the distance around the turn and fighting to catch the kart with handfuls of opposite lock as it skipped and bounced across the bumpy exit.  On lap 17 (about 18 minutes) into the race we don’t see him come back around.  We figure we missed him so we kept watching.  Nope.  The group he had been running with came back around and he wasn’t there.

Figure something is wrong and he his back at the paddock.  Lug the fuel jug and the water bottles back to find him he’s not there.  Walk over to the fence.  See three karts off in the dirt (nowhere near each other however) and we see a complete front spindle, wheel and brake rotor lying in the dirt.  He’s not there either.

Get in the truck to drive over to the “Looper” to se if he’s off over there.  Yep there he is.  See two other karts off in the area too.  Also not anywhere near each other.

Tyler said the kart bogged and sputtered on the start and took another lap before it started to feel ok.  The downloaded data from the kart bears that out.  Pace lap 2:02, Lap 1 1:22, Lap 2 1:10, Lap 3 1:08…

He pulled off with what sounds like a problem in the transmission with no power getting to the wheels.  Hope it’s not too bad.  It’s got compression, the plug looks good and it rolls in neutral without hearing anything that sounds like a “bag of marbles”.  We’ll clean up the kart this week and pull the motor to get it over to our engine builder.

Hope to fight another day.

               ¼/p>