First day of racing (8/07)

The races for Wed were canceled.  The new schedule is Wed race at 7 pm tonight, then clear the stands and prepare the track then do Thurs. show.  This will be one long night, hope I can handle it!!  But wait just got a message for the raceway, tonight will just be the Thursday show, Friday night will be the Wednesday show and Saturday afternoon will be the Friday show.  Saturday night show will stay the same.  Did you get all that?  LOL.  Very confusing but I am glad for the change.

We spend the morning finding a Barber for Joe and a chiropractor for me, then back to the park for lunch.  A little nap then walk over to the Hall of fame to see Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu (a up and coming star, he maybe 4 ft tall if that) he is so fun to watch race.  Shane Carson a sprint car driver from the early years and Bob Trostle a one time sprint car frame builder that everyone used in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
Going through the hall of fame brought back many fond memories of Manzanita Raceway in Phoenix.  We use to drive there from Albuquerque NM to watch the World of Outlaws race back in the 70's.  Seeing a picture or Buddy Taylor hanging there, I clearly remembered the night he lost his life racing at Manzanita Raceway in 1078, not a very happy memory but it is nice to see him remembered in the Sprint Car Hall of Fame.  He was very famous in Albuquerque NM where I grew up.

On a lighter note there were some of our other favorites, The Tempe Tornado Lealand McSpadden and Ron Shuman better known as the Shoe.  Both AZ drivers.  It was nice to see AZ drivers represented here.


We enjoyed ourselves touring the hall of fame.  Getting Kyle Larsen's autograph and Rico Abreu's.  We went in there gift shop in hopes of finding a Doug Wolfgang t-shirt.  We have seen several people wearing them this week.  He was another of our favorites in the World of Outlaws sprint cars.

On to the Raceway to see what other souvenirs they have to offer.  I was very pleased to find a booth selling Kyle Larson sprint car t-shirts, Joe and I both got one.  Now all I want is the Got Dirt shirt.

We went back to the park for dinner and to get ready for tonight's race.  It is still raining off and on but has been dry for a few hours now.  The race is still on.  We eat and walk back to the track.

As we arrive at the track it starts to mist a little and then a soft rain.  We were worried that the race would be canceled again.  After about a 30 min rain delay it has stopped raining and the hot laps begin again.  It is well after 8 pm when time trial start.  I usually dread these because it takes so long to time 52 cars.  But they are really fast with the timing one car after another with no delays between.  Once these are complete the first heat starts.  There are 5 heat races then the C, B, and A main.  The racing was superb and quick.  The night flew by and it was over.  I looked at the time and it was 12 am.   Now for the walk back to the park, it is only about a half mile.  This is how we find our park. They call this the sprint on a stick, and it is at the beginning of the park we are staying at.
We are off to bed, hopefully a good nights sleep.  Everyone is partying so again with the ear plugs.