Sun Burns and Mile Markers

Sun burns are pesky problems you know it? They never show up right away as you are soaking up the rays outside. However, when you take a quick shower after that fun filled afternoon (or morning) you realize that stingy pain that will continue to bug you over the next few days or even week. It’s a small price to pay while you’re having fun though. As the summer road tour continues for me, I can’t believe the ground we have covered so far. I flew into Minneapolis, MN on July 7 and since then have traversed through Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

First up in the next leg on our journey was the Kings Royal weekend. I had been to Eldora Speedway once in 2009 for the Royal as a part of a documentary crew so I knew what to expect. Eldora gets transformed into miles and miles of campground filled with RV’s and tents of every shape and size. As you begin to get near the track, the rows and rows of white and yellow camper tops are visible over the track. Eldora is one of my favorite tracks by far and it’s not just the racing surface that gets me. The atmosphere is second only to the Knoxville Nationals in my opinion. People make this the focal point of their vacations. They come to camp and stay here on their time away from the grind of their jobs.

The Knight Before the Royal presented an awesome opportunity to see high speed shootout. Tim Shaffer and Jason Meyers dueled throughout the feature that night in one of the more impressive driving displays I’ve seen in awhile. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for my T-shirt cannon firing abilities. Plagued by wheel packing push trucks and a rookie driver, (Boss Man Chris Dolack was behind the wheel of the golf kart) a few of the white cotton walking billboards ended up well short of making it over the steel catch fence. Arriving early the next day, Tech Man Steve Mahannah, Justin Reimers and I solved the mystery of the cannon and had it firing like a Howitzer. Sadly, the jam packed Kings Royal schedule prevented us from firing the shirts and testing our new shooting range.

The 28^th edition of the Kings Royal had all of the makings of an epic race. The night started out with the news that track founder Earl Baltes would crown the king himself at the end of the night. Into the heat races we went with drivers accusing each other of this and that. With the cameras from SPEED rolling for a tape delay broadcast, all of the drama was captured on tape (or Hard Drive.)

Several cars missed the A-main including Jac Haudenschild. The “Wild Child,” sustained damage early but had nearly every free driver and crewman near his #6M hauler there helping to put a new front end on the car. The efforts were futile and eventually Haud just climbed out to watch his son, Sheldon, race.

In the A-main, it was all Sammy Swindell until the final corner of the last lap. A shredded right rear tire on Swindell’s machine was his downfall and opened the door for Tyler Walker to blast by for the biggest win of his career. Walker made it a Victory Lane to remember as he stopped right after the scales, high fiving and hugging everyone in sight. Eventually, I heard a call over the Outlaws official radio to get the winner to the stage. So I grabbed the winner by the shoulder and took off with him through the sea of race fans, drivers and teams. Eventually we made it to the stage and the rest of the pageantry took off from there.

From Eldora, we took off for Pennsylvania on Sunday. Pittsburgh was our port of call as we checked in to a Quality Inn. The next morning, I set off on an adventure to find a gym. Being out on the road is great but the lack of regular workout facilities forces you to get creative. I’ve caught many awkward glances as I have taken to jogging around motel parking lot. As crazy as it is, the running actually helps with stress levels. Drivers and crews obviously work long and strenuous days but so do the officials and being in shape helps keep you going during this record high heat we are experiencing. Anytime I can get a run or weight lifting session in is a plus.

I decided that I would find a gym nearby and take off on a hike. According to Map Quest, it was only a mile south west of my then current local. Needless to say, two and half miles later, I had found nothing and ended up in an area of town that wasn’t exactly “family friendly.” A quick exit and a trip to the motel’s weight room allowed me to get my fix. Some people enjoy wine, some enjoy good foods or cigars. For me, it’s working up a sweat and feeling a sense of accomplishment. My fellow blogger, Rick Eshelman, also wrote an article about fitness on the road. You can check it out here.

My first trip to Lernerville Speedway was truly spectacular. With help from fellow PR man, Eric Westendorf, I sampled the track’s excellent Italian dishes (Pizza and Pepperoni rolls.) This is possibly some of the best food I have ever had period. I still am on my quest for the ultimate track food and this certainly ranked high. The racing action was fast and torrid at the four-tenths mile oval. Dave Blaney and Tim Shaffer emerged as the victors with Shaffer claiming the overall Silver Cup. What a winner for a standing room only crowd! We packed up our gear and set off on a four and half hour drive to Carlise, Penn. which will be our base camp until Saturday morning when we check out before the final night of the Williams Grove Summer Nationals. It’s a 5 hour driver over night to Lebanon Valley Speedway in New York for a race Sunday night and then onto Canada! You never know where we might turn up next so stay tuned!

-Gump

Epic Road Trip

24 days. Almost three and a half weeks. Living literally out of a suitcase. Going from town to town like a circus act. When you space it out like that, it begins to sound more and more exciting. When I originally signed on for this job, I knew that travel would be a huge part of it. Until now, most of my journeys out across this vast country have been short. When making travel plans for the month of July, the prospect of staying out on the road sounded awesome.

With a large duffel bag in the back seat and the stereo cranked up, I drove the Jeep to the airport in Charlotte, parked, put the top up and took off for my month long excursion. Destinations? Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada. An incredible swing of 12 races in 22 days (I needed the other two days to travel.) The first two stops were in the rolling hills of Wisconsin. There you will find Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond and Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam.

Cedar Lake was up first and the day was already off to a weird start for Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Candidate Bill Rose. He and crewman Rodger Knapp ended up heading for Cedar Lake, Wis. instead of Cedar Lake Speedway. Needless to say, the #6R rig was a tad late and was unloaded in time for his heat race. The racing action was great all around but the night belonged to Jason Meyers. It was ironic that the 2010 Champ led the entire race and the song playing over the track’s public address was the theme to Richard Donner’s Superman from 1978. To hear John Williams epic score blare through the speakers as Meyers #14 sprinter headed for victory lane was truly awesome. Meyers was very excited to return to Victory Lane as he had his family there. There was no shortage of smiles in Victory Lane as the win snapped a 26 race winless streak.

Smiles were also in abundance the following night at Beaver Dam Raceway when Joey Saldana took the checkers. As I have gotten to know the guys and be around them, you learn that personalities and types of each. Joey is rather quiet but has a passion and intensity that rarely comes out. You can see in his eyes how badly he wants a championship. As strong as that desire is, Joey is more committed to his family. You’ll find a big, gorgeous tandem axle RV out on the road these days with the tour. It’s the Saldana traveling home. Joey and his family tour up and down the road and you can tell that having his family near (a wife and two boys) makes him much happier. Saldana hadn’t won since Eldora in May and had a rough June. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for the #9 Kasey Kahne Racing bunch.

From Wisconsin, we made our way east to the state of Ohio to camp out until our next race. After finishing up our regular duties and then some, Johnny Gibson in I decided to take in some amusement part fun at Cedar Point.

Known as one of the best theme parks anywhere, Cedar Point boasts more roller coasters than just about anywhere in the world. A heavy afternoon rain shower soaked our plans a bit so we chose to remain in the hotel. When the skies cleared, we made our way over to the park and were lucky enough to score the twilight admission price of $30. For five hours, we set a torrid pace as we attempted to cover every major ride before the park closed at ten. First up was the Blue Streak, a solid yet rickety wooden rollercoaster that served as our warm up. First off some background on my roller coaster history: I enjoy the rides but I hadn’t been on one since the 8^th grade. With a loosely attached seat belt and lap bar, we began the slow, chain driven ride to the top. The drop wasn’t that long or steep but took my breath away. I’m normally a person who relishes in being a control freak. I’ll admit that. So to be flung around at high speeds with no control is an extremely scary concept. Needless to say, I made it through although Johnny got an earful of screams.

We proceeded to take on more rides and stopped for a snack (I got the funnel cake because what would a visit to an amusement park be without a fried piece of dough and powdered sugar.) We made our way to Gemini, Mean Streak, Magnum and more. Throughout our time there, we noticed a large ride that pierced the sky over the lake. It stands 420 feet tall, corkscrews you on the way up and down and fires you from 0 to 120 M.P.H. in 3.8 seconds.

Top Thrill Dragster is one of those rides that will intimidate even the most hardened of iron stomachs. We stood in line for about an hour, watching many people rocket to the heavens. When we finally made our way to the head of the line, seated ourselves in the open style cars and waiting to be rolled out for the launch. Since the ride was dragster themed, the start of our ride coincided with a triple tree (a.k.a. a Christmas tree with all the red, yellow and green lights) when the lights went green off we went. I was pretty sure that we took off so fast that my underwear would arrive back at the unloading area in the next car. It literally was like having your ears pinned back from the speed. We shot up the track and were eventually perpendicular to the ground. When we reached the crest, we were at the highest point in the park and things got very quiet. Then the longest, fastest and steepest drop in the park began. I was out of my seat literally while gravity forced my body down with only the seat belt and lap bar holding me. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. The total ride lasts less than 30 seconds but was well worth the wait. Take a look at this video:

After Top Thrill Dragster, we made our way to the last big coaster on our list, Millennium Force. The towering blue and silver coaster has been ranked either number one or two in the nation for steel coasters since its inception in 2000 and it was then that I saw a TV special about the ride. Another long wait marred our plans for a quick trip to the loading dock but we made good time. We settled into the cars and were cable pulled to the top of the 310 foot first drop. Since the coaster is situated right near the shores of the lake and with the impending sunset, the view was spectacular. Then we dropped 300 feet. I’ve included the video below to describe the ride:

After the Millennium Force, we made our way back to the other side of the park to get one last ride on the wooden giant known as Mean Streak, which ended up being our favorite coaster overall (hence we rode it twice.) I can describe it best by saying it was a lot like the sprint car test driver I took earlier this year. It was big, loud, fast and beats the heck out of you but you always have a smile on your face when you are done.

With the park closing in 10 minutes, we took off for the parking lot. A brisk walk through a laser light show kept the long walk interesting and we finally made it to our vehicle in row 19E. A quick stop on the way for Steak and Shake (They can keep the fries but the Mint Cookies and Cream shake is heaven) was the only thing that stood between us and bed after a great evening at the park.

All in all we took about seven coasters with one repeat ride, ate walking tacos and funnel cakes and left with a renewed dare devil streak…… not too bad for a day that started out with buckets full of rain, eh?

-Gump