September 2 – Jacob, Steve and I travel to Hays while Rylee, Matthew and his pit crew travel to Salina to race.  This will be the first time Matthew has raced without us, but he could not make it to Hays after work and since he is not running for points, Salina is the closest option for him.  He has had a full week of college, work, and getting race ready on his own.  Rylee helped him out as well and the two of them just could not be any cuter together. Jacob and Steve had a full week putting in a new engine and repairing the right side after a major wreck at Wakeeney last Sunday.  Jacob was hit so hard from behind that it pushed his hans into him bruising his shoulders and it caused a tire to roll off the rim which in turn, caused him to lose control.  Then, he was hit full on so hard it broke the roll cage away.  So, the repairs were extensive and after school and homework, Jacob worked all evening on his car.  When I landed, the first job that I had was to make a new number sticker for his door.  I think it was fair to say everyone was exhausted going into the weekend.

The conditions at Hays were poor.  It rained off and on and sprinkled most of the evening.  The mist and the sprint cars is a bad combo and it made for a tough track to figure out.  Even veteran drivers said it was hard to setup their car.  Jacob looked perfect in the heat race, but by the feature, it was evident everything was wrong.  He just kept losing spots.  He was also getting bumped and hit constantly.  He finished 13^th out of 18 cars.  It is fair to say he was disappointed, mad and frustrated.  After all that work, it was not the finish he expected.  Steve and Jacob went to work the next morning on the car and found the upper trailing arm was bent and bearings pushed out so rubbing metal on metal.  This combined with wrong setup and likely the wrong gear as well was more than Jacob could overcome trying to figure out how to drive it.  Steve tries to look for that kind of stuff being bent, but there are an awful lot of parts on cars so no way to catch everything I think.

During the whole evening, I kept waiting on racing updates and getting more nervous by the minute when I had not heard anything.  But Rylee’s first text made us all laugh.  4^th in the heat race and there are only port-a-potties in the pits.  She is so cute!  Since it was Matthew’s first time there, he starts in the back and the feature sounded pretty exciting.  He made his way up to third and was passing for the lead when the car in front spun out putting Matthew and the other car into the wall.  Then, they put Matthew and the other car to the back as they could not tell who caused the wreck.  Matthew made his way back up to 6^th.  The car only had a bent tie rod.  Rylee said it was so exciting to watch him get to the front, then she was mad when he was wrecked, then excited again.  Overall, great night and I could not be prouder of all the kids.  His friends Clayton and Blake helped in the pits and Caitlyn cheered Matthew on. 

Saturday, we were all planning to meet up at Mayetta.  After changing gears and getting ready, the track announced it was rained out.  So, we had to change the gear again and Matthew had to do the same as we all decided to head to Minneapolis.  We were going to conquer the track.  No, we did not succeed. 

It started off great.  Jacob won his heat race.  But Matthew was the middle of a sandwich in his and took a bad hit that bent the frame.  Steve thinks his SportMod is totaled.  Frame is bent too far forward and does not think he can straighten the frame.  Matthew had the pole, so he went on out and ran, but just kept fading back.  Ended 9^th, but it is no fun to race if you cannot be competitive.  His season is probably over and we are not sure what we are going to do.  The car was supposed to last longer than that.

Matthew told Jacob to drive the bottom or the top as it was slime in the middle.  Jacob’s car was tight so when he got up top, he could not turn it and lost a lot of spots.  He found his line and then was looking pretty good until he made a mistake.  Then, he recovered and made another mistake and went off the back stretch.  He came back on and luckily there were no cars around him as he recovered control.  He finished 7^th.  I was so proud of his attitude.  He knew what mistakes he had made, so he talked it over with his Dad and it was all good.

Steve’s summary of the night really said it best, “The racing was crappy, but the evening was quite pleasant.”  We all worked together, everyone knew what the problems were and what mistakes they had made, and worked to try to fix it.  At one point, Matthew was coaching Jacob and Steve laughed telling me he sounded exactly like Randy.  I heard the advice and I can tell you with 100% certainty that I had heard Randy tell Matthew the exact same thing, but I never thought Matthew heard it.  Just goes to show, they really are listening!

So, it was a great evening being together as a family.  Great reminder of how lucky we are.  Remember the saying, “Making memories with every mile.”  My emotions were tangled being so disappointed and worried about how we are going to deal with the SportMod, but at the same time, being so happy to have all been together.  We have made a lot of sacrifices in order to race, but seeing how hard the boys work and how much they have learned makes it all worthwhile.  Oh, and I can’t forget to point out that Rylee ran the impact for the first time.  Her fingernails are messed up, but the toes still look great!  Orange with racing numbers.  LOL. 

Big thanks to Uncle Rich for always helping us out so much.  Grandma Effie and Grandpa Carl drove a long way to cheer us on and finally got some relief from the heat straight to coats and blankets!  Gotta love Kansas weather!  We actually have next weekend off.  Then, we return to Hays on Sept. 16, Mayetta on the 17^th, and back to Wakeeney on the 18^th.  Hope the weather will be more cooperative.  Only five races left for us in the points season for Jacob.  Last race at Hays and Wakeeney for the season, so hope we see you there!

~CBR Mom