Got the Hell out of Dodge

Welcome to my latest entry, it is Monday June 15th and right now I'm sitting at an RV dealer in Sioux Falls, SD watching Dateline NBC and Chris Hansen interview stupid criminals that are getting caught in undercover operations in Vegas. Really, how hard can it be to find pimps, prostitutes, car thieves, and counterfieters in Vegas.

Man am I glad to be the hell out of Dodge City, since my last blog (which I wrote last Wednesday) some crazy stuff happened. Friday morning around 2:30am I was awoken by a couple of pieces of hail bounce off the roof, after I realized it was hail and it quickly started hailing harder, I got up and got my satellite down, just as I started to open a window to put the window awnings up, the winds picked up to around 60mph and the hail sounded like an automatic weapon going off, thats when I figured it was safer to keep my head inside and just hope the awnings survive the storm. The high winds and quarter size hail continued for what seemed like 30 minutes (probably around 15 minutes), my daughters handled the storm better than me, they just rolled over at tried to go back to sleep. After the slowed down and stopped hailing, everyone came out of their RV's (Jim & Lucy, Bill & Linda, Tom, Eloy & Vince, and Gene & Starla) to survey the damage to eachothers RV's and to see if everyone else was OK. Luckly I didn't have any leaks in my RV, but Jim & Lucy weren't so lucky, their vents were destroyed and water poured in over their bed and living room. My RV sustained a bunch of damage on the roof, every vent & A/C unit covers were damaged along with the A/C units cooling fins are destroyed and my sky light dome cover above my shower was busted up. After I woke up later in the morning, I looked everything over a little better and I also had one of my side mirrors busted. Woody survived pretty good, there are a few dents on his wing and a lucky piece of hail actually busted a plastic "T" line that connects vacuum lines to Woody's computer, so after chasing a miss in the engine for about 2 1/2 hours, Randy Wolfe and I finally discovered the broken vacuum line and after a quick trip to the parts store, Woody was running smooth once again. As for Woody's trailer, it looks like my 10yr old daughter took a ball-pin hammer to town on all but one side of the trailer and the refrigerator vent also got busted up. So, the reason I'm here in Sioux Falls, SD at an RV dealership is to get written estimates for the damage so when I meet my insurance adjuster in Grand Forks, ND I will have everything he should need to write me a check to get everything fixed.

As for the racing at Dodge City, Friday night started out OK, but the track started to take rubber in the heats. The track crew worked on the track prior to the two stock car features and when we went out for our A-Main, the track actually looked pretty racey. Racey it was, whoever was brave enough to go up top early made big moves, it took Joey 7 laps to get around Meyers and then he was gone. The best part of the race was watching TK come from the back after getting spun out on the first lap down the backstraight and thru the thick mud. After getting him to the work area basically to remove all the mud from his cockpit, he went back out with a vengance. I think he made it all the way back to 7th.

After more torrential rains over night, Saturday turned out to be a very nice day. It took the 305's forever to run the track in prior to our hot laps. The track crew over compensated and over watered the track late in the day. So, we got a late start for qualifying (which played a factor later in the night). The track ended up being pretty good for the start of the A-Main, but with severe weather approaching fast (Bill said 45 minutes out and the Airport was calling for 1 1/2 hours) so the promoter made the decision to run his 305's before our A-Main. After giving them 15 minutes only (they completed 7 laps), it was time for our main event to start. With the weather approaching quickly, the decision was made to skip the 4 abreast (I understand why, but I still think we can take the extra one minute to give the fans the salute they deserve and paid for). Of course when you need a feature to go non-stop, it doesn't happen, on the 2nd lap Ben Gregg tumbled in turn 4. After quickly getting the car cleared, we got the race restarted and on lap 5, Jason Meyers had something break in the front end and he went dead straight off in turn 4 and plowed directly into the 55 gallon plastic barrels filled with water (wow, was it spectacular, I hope the TV camera's got it all on tape, it is gonna look awesome on SPEED TV. Maybe not so awesome for Jason). I am not a fan of water barrels used for safety barriers on dirt tracks, but in this case, they possibly saved Jason from far more serious injuries, but all the water that poured on the track caused us over 35 minutes of getting the track safe to race on (I almost made an ass out of myself when I drove Woody thru all the water to get to Jason and damn near spun Woody out right there infront of all the crowd to see). After getting the track ready to race on, we got the crews cleared and pushed off the cars, as the green flag flew the rain started to come down lightly, after two laps the rain started to pour down and the yellow & red flags flew. All the cars were able to drive off the track (barely) except for Joey, so I had to push him thru the thick mud down to the paved small track in the infield. I restarted him and he was able to drive off the track thru the infield.

After a what seemed like forever (3 hour rain delay) the rain finally stopped. With this race being taped for SPEED, and there being good chance of a 3 hour break between storms, the decision was made to wait out the rain and then work the track in and run the final 23 laps that night (Sun morning). Needless to say, while waiting in the rain, the teams were not very happy with the decision to wait it out. The only other option was to come back Sunday afternoon (with a 60% chance of rain) or come back later in the year. With the TV crew willing to wait it out, the decision was made to finish the race that night. Of course more controversy arouse when Joey blew up his engine hot lapping the track into racing conditions. Joey's crew did an amazing job changing the engine in less than 15 minutes and were able to present the car in the push lane within the allotted 8 minutes after the last hot lap session ended. So, Joey was able to start up front and was able to hold off Schatz for the win. The checkered flag flew some time around 2:00am. After getting everything packed up and a couple drinks afterwards, I got to bed at 5:30am.

Sunday I finally rolled out of bed around 11:00am, my daughters rolled out of bed around 12:30pm. I was looking to get on the road by 3:00pm, so I washed Woody parked him by his trailer, that is when I noticed that some ass hole stole Woody's backboard that goes on Woody when he is on the trailer. It just kinda pisses me off when some other racer would stoop so low as to steal from anyone else in the pit area. Who knows, maybe I will find it on Ebay, so I can get it back. As Tom and I were going to travel together to Salina, KS we took off around 3:00pm, well Tom didn't even make it off the facility before he noticed he had a flat tire on his RV. Luckily my Mom & Dad have good friends in Dodge City who own Maupin's Truck Service and I was able to get ahold of Todd and he came out to help, Tom drove his RV slowly to their shop (about 2 miles from the track) and Todd called in a couple of his employee's and they were able to get Tom rolling again around 5:00pm. Tom & I arrived in Salina at the WalMart around 8:00pm.

Today was a long 400 mile drive, but it was a nice peaceful drive (except argueing with my daughters and listening to them fight over who sits where). I don't like to drive on the interstates if I don't have to, so my intention was to drive up HWY 81 all the way up to South Dakota then over to Sioux Falls. After stopping in Geneva, NE to eat lunch, I ran into a detour at HWY 81 & HWY 92 (HWY 81 was closed up North) so I decided to take HWY 92 east to HWY 77 and head north to Sioux City, IA. I stopped in Wahoo, NE at the DQ for a Stawberry Cheese Quake Blizzard (yummy yummy in my tummy). HWY 77 runs right into Sioux City, IA and I-29, then it was on to Sioux Falls, SD, the worst part of the drive was on I-29 during a 10 mile stretch of construction and I got caught behind a car filled with blue hairs that drove 45 mph when the speed limit was posted at 60mph (painful driving). I arrived here in Sioux Falls around 8:00pm, were Selena and I cleaned off the bugs on the front of the motorhome and then ate dinner that consisted of those new Health Choice Pasta meals and Kraft Mac & Cheese.

Tomorrow after getting my insurance estimates, it will be off to Grand Forks, ND. I might stop in Madison, SD and visit Glen & Jill, they are friends of Bonzi's and the nicest people I have met doing this job the past few years. I should be in Grand Forks tomorrow evening or Wednesday afternoon. Now its time to start scowering Ebay for Woody's backboard.

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"