On my way to Vegas, via Deming, NM

Welcome back, quite a bit has happened since my last blog entry, 5 races scheduled in Volusia (2 All Stars & 3 WoO), 4 races completed (the opening night WoO race on Friday was rained out), Woody kinda gave me fits each night, but I know what the problem is and will get it fixed before Vegas. I'm on my way to Deming, NM to Mom & Dad's for about 4 days before I head to Vegas. Right now it is 9:40pm on Tuesday Feb 16th and I'm parked at a Sam's Club in Beaumont, TX for the night and I'm watching the Winter Olympics on TV. I left home in Navarre, FL this morning around 10am after I went with Donna to her doctor's appointment (everything was normal, that's great news). It was a nice drive, blue skies and cool temps, I turned West on I-10 set the cruise at 65mph and hung onto the steering wheel and made it to Beaumont around 5:30pm and ate dinner at Golden Corral before parking here at the Sam's Club. When I passed through Mobile, AL (the actual birthplace of Mardi Gras) all the floats were lined up for their big Mardi Gras parade on Fat Tuesday, I'm pretty sure no work is accomplished on Fat Tuesday on the Gulf Coast, man were there a ton of people waiting for the parade to begin. Well, enough of today's drive, let's catch you up on the past 10 days.

Wednesday night Feb 3rd, the first All Star race at Volusia, I brought Woody out to shake him down and I'm glad I did, because during the first heat, I started hearing a bad noise in the front of the engine while I was sitting in the infield at the backstetch opening. I was just hoping it wasn't anything realy bad and that Woody would get me back to the pits and then back to my motorhome. Well, the noise got worse eachtime I started him up, but I did make it back to my motorhome after the races were over. After the heats, I worked as an official/safety observer and man did I observe a vicious flip by TK in turn one (I thought he was headed for the million dollar Prevost RV that was parked behind the fence in the pits. TK was a victim of TMAC's aggressive driving, oh well, its not the first time and it won't be the last. Tim was pretty sore the next day, but gritted his teeth and was fast all night.

Thursday morning I woke up early around 8am after not sleeping very well thinking about what could be wrong with Woody, I was hoping it was going to be something simple, but I really thought I had a bad bearing on the fan pulley (I had replaced the bearings during the winter, they were over 15yrs old) and it was going to be a pain in the ass to find a new one and get it replaced in a town that I don't know where anything is at. The first thing I did was start Woody to see if the noise was still there (it was), so my next step was to remove the belt that drives the fan, I started him up and presto, the noise was gone, now I needed to troubleshoot more closely. It didn't take me long to find the problem, the nylon locknut that holds the pulley tight had backed off and the pulley was wobbling a bunch. I tightened the nut and fired Woody up and the noise was gone, problem fixed. It was All Star night 2 but I didn't want to run Woody (gas across the street was $3/gal) so I again worked as an official/safety observer on a 4-wheeler. The night went pretty smooth with Joey winning. TK put on an impressive drive from the last starting spot after he stopped on the parade lap, he ended up finishing 7th or 9th don't remember.

Friday night was supposed to be our 2010 season opener, well I hope it wasn't a sign of how our season is going to go, because we got rained out. After getting everything set up, it started raining around 2pm and didn't stop until after 10pm. Bill & Lynda and I drove into Ormond Beach for dinner and a trip to WalMart. We found a great resturaunt/pub in downtown Ormond Beach and had a great dinner, a little pricey, but good food and atmosphere. While we were waiting for our food, Dave Despain & Ken Squire were seated across from us. After licking my plate clean (for that price I was going to get my money's worth) and watching Bill completely destroy his new low carb diet (a whole baked potato and 1 1/2 baskets of sourdough bread by himself), I got to give Lynda a bunch of credit, she never nagged him about it during the dinner or drive home. If that had been my Mom & Dad, my Mom would have created a huge argument either at the table or after in the car. Lynda, you are a good woman and Bill deserves to break his diet every now and then.

Well, Saturday night became the 2010 WoO season opener, it was cold (but not as cold as last year) but managable. Everyone was excited and there definitely was tension in the air (especially after the driver/owner's meeting to discuss all the new rule changes for 2010). Then the bad news hit about Cody Darrah and his dad Joe were in a bad car accident when they were going to Daytona to watch the 500 qualifying and both were in the hospital. Rumors were floating around like crazy about their injuries, but thankfully the horrible rumors weren't true and neither of them were in critical condition. As you all know by now, Cody busted his leg pretty good and might be out for quite a while if not for the whole WoO season. Good luck on your speedy recovery Cody, I look forward to pushing you off during this season. Well, Schatz started the season the way a defending champion should, dominating the race. Tim Schaffer ran up front for about 10 laps then Donny blew by in traffic and never looked back. It was a good season opener, the Goodyears held up good and they looked good with the yellow lettering. The grand stands were almost sold out (only lower two rows empty), the pits grandstand were full, and the pits had a ton of fans walking around with their free pit passes, and the best thing of all, nobody got hurt and Woody ran good all night (I did have to tighten that nut a couple of times, but I know what the problem is).

Sunday was going to be a crap shoot to see how many fans showed up with it being against the Super Bowl. There was a little drop off from Saturday night, but the stands were over half full and the pits had a bunch more fans than the night before. The talk of the pits was still about the double file restarts, they aren't real popular with the old guard teams/drivers, but the ones bitching were the ones who lost spots and the ones thinking they weren't as bad as they thought were the ones who gained positions. So the jury is still out, I think the big test is going to be at Tulare on our first short track, the initial starts at Tulare are scary enough, but to do them every time will be a challenge. The one thing that has to be addressed is, drivers stopping intentionally during the heats because they are out of a transfer position (Doug Esh & Daryn Pittman) to get another restart, not sure how to police that. I don't think it will be a problem in the mains, because you loose way to many positions going to the rear. My suggestion during the heats would be, if you stop on the track without contact, you go directly to your trailer, no questions asked!!! The fans who braved the cold and DVR'd the Super Bowl (won by the cheating Saints, they cheated in their win over my Vikes) saw one hell of a great race, the battle between TK and Steve was awesome and then Joey got in the mix, it was crazy until Doug Esh stopped and ruined it, these drivers need to pull into the infield when they know the car is done, be respectful to the rest of your fellow drivers. Steve was able to hang on and get his first win driving for Tony Stewart, so the world can keep spinning in the right direction.

Monday I had a nice drive home to Navarre to spend a good week at home with Donna and the girls (and Alisha's boyfriend). Thursday Feb 11th was Alisha's 18th birthday and we celebrated it with a nice dinner at McGuire's Irish Pub/Steakhouse, it was really nice celebrating her big day with Justin (Alisha's boyfriend) and his dad Carlton. Over the weekend, I finally had a friend come over and I got rid of all the rubbish in the backyard and we took it to the dump, now the yard looks a lot better and thanks to Justin's help, I got all the furniture back into the house from the garage onto the new hardwood floors. I must say, Bellawood makes some damn good looking floors. Sunday was Valentine's Day, bad news for Donna, because it was aginst the Olympics, the 500, and my other favorite sport the USBC Masters Bowling tourny. I promissed Donna dinner & movie after the 500 was over, well thanks to the pot hole red flag, we went to the movies (Valentine's Day, it was pretty funny) and dinner and I didn't get to see the finish of the race, oh well, there will be more 500's.

Yesterday, Feb 15th was my 44th birthday (damn I'm getting old), Donna, Selena, and I celebrated it by going to a late breakfast and the early matenee movie (Piercy Jackson, it was a good action packed movie). My birthday present to myself was, I finally completed all the world's of the new Super Mario Bros for Wii, I had been working on it since after Xmas until I left for Deming in January and then when I got back home last Monday. I had to finish it before Selena.

Well, now you are caught up with what I've been up to, the next couple of days will be spent on the open road in Texas (earlier today I passed the most depressing road sign in America, Mile Marker 880 on I-10 as you enter Texas), no one should be forced to drive from tip to tip in Texas, unfortunately I get to do it about 6 times from November to March every year. I can't wait to get to Vegas, hopefully I will get to go to the strip and see that new City Centre Complex/Casino, I watched a Discovery Channel show about the building of it, that was some crazy stuff, I really want to see it with my own eye's. I will also get to see the progress they have made on the big bridge over the Hoover Dam, I hope it isn't completed and I become the first RV to cross it, yikes scarey!!!!

Again, I want to thank all the fans for supporting me and Work 'N Woody and the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. So, until my next blog, stay safe and keep all four wheels on the ground.
Work 'N Woody,
"Just Push'n Off"