July 24 - Weekend really started off perfect.  We had Friday night off from racing, so the boys, Matthew's posse and I headed to Greensburg to participate in an ATV rodeo.  I got first in the women's division and Matthew got first in his.  The starter went out on Jacob's ATV, so during one event, it died which hurt his overall time.  But, we all had a lot of fun which was the whole point and Jacob and I got to stay and hang out with Kim.  It was good to goof off!  Well, mostly goof off.  Helped Kim prepare food for 300 people, but that is another story!

On to Dodge City on Saturday where the weather looked sure to rain us out.  Never, ever try to predict the weather as we were all poured on coming from all directions to the track, but no rain at the track.  Matthew won his heat race, but had missed two races at that track, so he still had to go to the back on the feature.  He quickly made it up to 3rd place, but the two in front were Southern SportMods and did an incredible job blocking for each other.  There was no way Matthew could get around them.  More than a little frustrating since the two classes shouldn't be mixed together in the first place.

Sunday on to Osborne for a two-day fair show.  First heat race, cut a tire.  Race went caution free of course, but he didn't give up.  Matthew still beat one car even with a flat tire!  Had to start in the back of the feature and when the big one started, Matthew had no where to go. 

Wreck started out of turn 4 and started collecting cars down the entire front stretch, but there was so much dust, Matthew couldn't see.  He saw the car in front of him check up, so he checked up, but the car behind him didn't and that turned Matthew into it.  Before it was over, I think he got the worst of the whole thing.  At the time though, we didn't think so!  We were ready to change a tire and get him back out.  Osborne is a half-mile track, so they were going over 100 mph.  At that speed, things sure do get tore up.  But a big thanks to more guys than I can list.  Lagroons pit crew, Petersilie's pit crew, and a whole bunch of other guys jumped in to try to get Matthew back out.  We sure did appreciate that!

Matthew had to return to Wichita for his college class on Monday, so Rylee and him took off.  Steve, Jacob and I headed to LaCrosse and started repairs Monday morning.  Everything was bent on both sides!  Steve really had his work cut out for him.  Aunt Dorothy jumped in and helped pound out the sheet metal.  Grandpa Brandt went on a parts run.  When Matthew got out of college, he went on a parts run in Wichita and then we all met up at the track to complete the repairs.  I was so proud of how hard Matthew had worked these two days on both the car and being responsible on getting to class with very little sleep, then back to the track and jumping right in to work on the car.  He never complained, he never gave up and he worked so hard to get ready to race.

Matthew went out and won his heat race which was a great way to come back from what is one tore up race car!  He was the first to redraw and darn if he didn't draw the last number!  If you are new to racing, the top 5 of each heat did a redraw for position.  This is because they only race the two fair races on that track, so there are no track points to use to line them up.  Last year, Matthew was so consistent with drawing the last numbers that even the promoters started to joke about it.  On short track racing, position is everything.  This redraw put him in the fifth row in 10th place.  Bummer.  One second, you are flying high from a feature win and then with just a little bad luck, you are starting at the back again!  I wanted him to win so bad, Steve just wanted to end up in tech, and Matthew just wanted to finish the race.  In the end, none of us got what we wanted.

In the feature, another car went off the track going in to turn 3 and instead of staying off or coming on after the field had went by, the idiot came back on and spun out between turns 3 and 4 collecting Matthew in the process.  If he had apologized after the race, I wouldn't call him an idiot as everyone makes mistakes. But, when he can't even walk a few feet to say sorry, then he is an idiot.  I was so mad.  And with us points racing right now, this was so frustrating.  Plus, with everything the boys went through to get it back together, you want them to have a good finish so badly. 

I can't ever remember going through so many parts in one weekend.  Five a-arms, 4 ball joints, 3 wheels, two tires, two tierods, a shock and a bumper just to list a few things!  Talk about a very expensive, very disappointing couple of days!

Well, this is now in the past.  So, the boys have a lot of work to do this week to get her race ready again for next weekend.  Dodge on Saturday, then Norton on Sunday and WaKeeney on Monday night for their fair.  The next few weeks will be pretty intense.  A lot of fair races, so an opportunity to get some good points if we can have some good luck.  Also, our last push before schools starts and then everything gets more complicated schedule-wise! Be sure to check out the latest schedule on http://www.crowellracing.com.