FRIDAY NIGHT ROCKS OUT AT IMS June 25, 2010

This watering method is unusual but works. Fred Facchini built the water trailer several years ago when we were running the track at Winchester. Last night we were discussing the entrepreneur enterprise of painting the golf ball size rocks that pop up from the track surface red and selling them as souvenirs similar to the pet rock craze of years past.

The 91 freeway through the Santa Ana Canyon has been a broken bottleneck for many years. There is some widening going on east of where the toll road dumps into it and if you leave early enough you can get through it without too many delays. 

Last night on the return trip back at the junction with the 15 night construction closed the trap down to one lane around Main Street making the journey through Corona a sea of red tail lights.

I got awarded a plaque for being Division 3 Track Champion for 2009. I can sit that on the shelf next to my trophy for being the track champion at Industry last year.

Billy Hamill brought two junior bikes out and had two First Division riders put on a demonstration. Not sure what the displacement is but the bike look very slick.

I am sure we will hear more about Billy Hamill Speedway Academy. Check out the video Andy made of Billy at IMS the other night by clicking on the underlined link.

There was a Last of the Mohican's race in which Buck Blair hit the wall in the first bend rather hard. I didn't see the actual crash but I was standing right by the wall where Buck was laying. He didn't look well and his lovely wife Venus was in the grandstand next to the corner but couldn't see Buck laying there as the wall was blocking her view. Well, after Bucky finished his evening nap in the shade of the crash wall he got up and proceeded to win the contest.

The reason I didn't see Buck crash is: I was fascinated by Wonder Woman Brandi McElroy wrenching on their sidecar inside the track gate and was going to get my camera when Buck hit the wall.

Fast Eddie Castro always gives his best and that was good enough to win the Scratch Main. It was his kinda of track. There were lots of crashed last night which makes the frame straightening a growth industry and I am sure Dale Facchini, Tyson Talkington, and Buck Blair are sore this morning. Jimmy Fishback also sent his bike flying but he is a lot tougher that his bike.

There was both Handicap and Scratch Mains plus the crazy sidecars. I am not sure where it is safe to watch the sidecars. During an earlier heat a golf ball size rock flew over the crash wall and hit the rider standing next to we as we were watching. So for the sidecar main I went to the center of the track as the flying rocks were out ward bound but sidecars don't always stay on the track and for some unknown reason they keep taking shortcuts through the middle of the track trying to get back in front.

Tim McGrath did a repeat of Wednesday's second division win at Industry and I had him stand next to the posted program clock to prove that we really can stay up that late. Best Bud T-Rod insisted that I shouldn't be out of my nursing home that late and I am probably AWOL.

No one has ever successfully explained to me why sidecars race in the opposite direction and for the record, no one have ever successfully explained the crazy phenomenon to me.

The handicap main had several restarts, several crashes, and was a battle between Fast Eddy and Tyson Burmeister with Tyson taking the checkered flag.

When there is a restart in handicap races the riders are restarted according to their position at the finish of the last lap. Tyson was flying with every restart with Fast Eddie in hot pursuit.

Industry Speedway June 23, 2010

Got to the track early as you can see by my first picture. The drive out was better than the traffic snarl of last week.

The track didn't look too hot but it was early and the ground crew was just starting to work on it.

Slowly the pit started to fill and I was able to have a nice tree near by for shade. As it is officially summer here you would think it would be warmer or plain hot but our June gloom is keeping the temperature down.

Some of the regulars I pit with were absent last night which gave me a break from the "old folks home jokes" I get from T-Rod. Not sure why he wasn't there.

Also missing was my daughter and grandson from the grandstands. I did get a text message from her and she was boarding a plane to go to Aspen. She was not going there to ski but set up an art show. Then I got another text message from my son with a picture of the bridge at Auburn where they were swimming in the river.

Funny it is a Wednesday night and my son is in Auburn. He doesn't race speedway anymore but he loves Auburn and he convinced his fellow riders (bicycles) to make a detour from their road trip to check out the trails, skate park and river there.

Last Saturday I spent the afternoon working on my Jawa and trying to get the clutch setup after changing the gearing on the primary and behind the clutch basket. The chain alignment was straight but the clutch play wasn't happening. So when I started in the first race the clutch was slipping badly. Then I increased the spring pressure for the second race and it still would not function.

The rest of the night was spent taking it apart and not getting it back together.

In my first race it wasn't a contest not because of my slipping clutch but the winner of the race should have been in another division. He easily won ever race going away and would have won the second division main if he was in it. My purpose it not to fault anyone as it is extremely difficult to put a program together with out enough riders. There are riders in each division that really belong in another but they are moved around to make the program work.

Three first division riders were missing from the printed program, one from second and one from third. So moving riders around in pretty normal but seven rider in a handicap race kinda sucks for those starting in the back. Geoff Herker took a toll on his bike last night and will probably have a hard time getting ready for Friday night at IMS and this can explain the missing riders on a program.

The track was changed last night with an exit gate added for leaving the track which made the entrance much nicer. For the side car main I ventured out to the center of the track to take pictures. It is really difficult to figure out where there is a safe place to stand and the crazy side cars some time take unplanned detours through the infield.

The winners of the night were:

Division 3 146 Aaron Fox

Division 2 186 Tim McGrath

Division 1 43 Charlie Venegas

and Side Cars were Jones and Olsen