June 12 - Wow, how do I describe the races at Hays. Survival would be a good word. First lap, first turn, a guy slides up into Matthew knocking him off the track. The other guy was charged with the caution, so at least he wasn't - which made it a little better compared to the past. They tried to start that race four times due to cautions on first lap. The third time, on the fourth turn, a car spins out taking half the field. Matthew drove through the middle of it with his back end getting squished between cars spinning on both sides of him. It caused a tire to go down. So, he had to go to the back of the remaining cars which I believe was ten.

One thing that is for sure. When the wreck is in front of Matthew, you will see him do some amazing driving every time. That wasn't the last wreck of the night and Matthew really did a great job or the damage would have been far worse. Before the race ended, the lights in one and two went out. They stopped the race for a while - 15 or 30 minutes, I don't know. They shot fireworks. Matthew inspected his car. Anyway, eventually, this hour plus race did come to an end with Matthew moving up to 6th. At that point, I absolutely did feel very lucky and relief and glad the race was over!

If we finished before 9, Matthew was driving himself back to Wichita because he needed to take the A.C.T. on Saturday morning! Well, it was about 11:30 at this point. I drove so he could sleep. I was pretty good until 2 AM and it was darn tough after that. I just kept thinking of poor Steve pulling that long trailer at that time. I don't know how he does it. Rock Star doesn't work by the way at 2 AM - unless you are on a dance floor.

Saturday after a parts run, we meet up with the car and the pit crew in Dodge City. Tie rod is bent and shock has a big dent. Another rim is gone and tires adding up to ... well, let's just say I clearly won't ever retire.

In Dodge, we hang out in the trailer with Grandma and Grandpa Crowell, Uncle Rich and Rylee. Matthew and Jacob drive through the pits and see all the big time World of Outlaws drivers that they have admired over the years. The rain comes and goes and comes again. The clouds are nasty. We watch the Budweiser hauler get loaded up with cases of Bud!  The driver from Australia paced around looking at the clouds.  He seemed a bit nervous.

In the end, the weather won and they postponed until Sunday. Matthew was sure disappointed as he wanted to watch those boys run. Rylee, Matthew and I manage to get lost on our way back to LaCrosse. We did find Garfield though and Bob's road to weave back to the highway. Matthew didn't get to race that night, but we still had a small adventure! LOL...eventually.  

On Sunday, after a great Effie Cheesburger and a great visit with our family, we drive to WaKeeney only to watch it rain there. Different day, same story. We all discussed whether we try to run to Dodge and make the races there. Luckily, we decided to drive home because the storms fired back up and are worse than the night before.

Matthew is second in the state right now and the other guy has one more race on us now. Need to hit every race we can. A couple of boys up north have some big sponsors, so we are getting out-monied at the national level. Decided to reset our goals for state only.

Gee - only one race so I'm not sure why the blog is so long. Probably because I am home before 2 in the morning!

Next weekend, hopefully we'll get three races in at Hays, Goodland and Colby. Rain, rain, stay away... come again on a non-race day!

~CBR Mom