Headed to Canada

First off, I apologize for the long break since my last blog, however the racing schedule and rain gods have not given me much time to sit down and write. Right now we (Alisha, Selena & Justin and I) are driving on the NY Thruway headed for Buffalo and the dreaded border crossing into Canada. If you hear me scream it is because Alisha is driving thru Syracuse right now and my asshole has sucked up the seat cushion as far as it will go. She is doing a great job driving but in a bigger city with big trucks doesn't exactly give me the most comfortable feeling.. Holy crap that was close, we almost ran a truck off the highway, but everything is ok and nobody got hurt. The trucker might be a little mad, but after he sped up and passed us and took one look at Alisha and everything was good. As it always happens, everytime you put the rookie in the seat, a major construction zone comes up, Alisha is doing a good job, but I'm not sure how I'm doing. Finally the end of contruction and we made it without any damage.

I believe my last blog ended right before the Kings Royal, I twas a good two days of racing, the track was typical Eldora, dusty and dry slick. The crowds were big and the racing was good. With Tony & Kasey racing in the 360's, I think that helped with the crowds being bigger. The Kings Royal was a good race and Donny did a great job and won it. I think if the race had gone green to checkers, maybe Sam Hefertepe might have had something for Donny, because he found the rubber first, but a good strong 3rd place for Sam is a great result. If you were at the races, you might of seen I had a passenger on Woody both nights, Her name is Joan and her and her husband Bill are the owners of Clean Seal, one of Woody best supporters. Bill & Joan are great people and they really enjoy the races.

Sunday it was off to Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, PA for the Don Martin Classic. Nothing like a 330 mile drive, but we made it there in the late afternoon. Monday I worked on the motorhome and fixed a bunch of little things and the girls cleaned the inside. I also had to order an exhuast gasket for Woody, since I blew the header gasket at Eldora. Tuesday started off as a beautiful day, I got the gasket in the morning and replaced it. It takes a bit to do, because you have to take Woodys fender & Side board off to get to it. With the help of some fans, I got it done. Woody sounded a lot better. Around 3pm the rain started to fall and just kept falling just enough to never be able to get anything on the track to run it in, so the plug was pulled around 5:30pm, wouldn't you know it, it stopped raining and never rained again until Wednesday afternoon. We all came back on Wednesday and did it again, this time it didn't rain (when it should have according to the radar) (Mr. Don Martin must have been helping from above). The racing was good and with the different format of two 30 lap features, it made for an interesting night of action. Lasoski won the first feature after Sides led the first 25 laps and Stevie Smith won the 2nd feature after Danny Smith led it for 28 laps. I was rooting for Danny Smith, it would have been cool for him to win another WoO feature.

Thursday it was off to Williams Grove, We got there around 6pm and just got parked and Woody off the trailer when the skies just opened up, I mean opened up hard, it rained 5 inches in a little over an hour, if you have ever been to the Grove and camped by the pit gate, there was a lake in the lower area. I have never seen that much water at the Grove ever. An old Navy buddy came by and picked us up and we went to his house for Dinner. I hadn't seen Dale & Kathy for over 13 years, we were stationed together back in Guam. We had a great dinner and told a lot of stories and caught up with each others lives.

Friday night was race night, it was typical Grove racing, with all the rain, the track was heavy all night and kinda one grooveish, not much passing and Hodnett drew the 1 pill for the dash and won the dash and the feature. It threatened to rain all night, but we got it in. Saturday was laundry day and the kindness of fans never seems to amaze me, Jim who camps across from us let me barrow his Suburbn and we went and did laundry in Dillsburg. After getting back around Noon, it was time to go over to the Benevolent Fund Luncheon & Auction, that was a good time and a great job was done by Diane Schatz, Julie Dollansky, Shannon Saldana, and Bill Klingbil. Everyone had a good time and left with a full belly and if they bid high enough, a good prize. The weather was great and it looked like it was going to be a great night of racing. Well, so much for that, the rain gods didn't want to cooperate and it would rain for 30 minutes and clear up long enough to run the track in and qualify, then it rained again and stopped, we ran the track in and ran the heats and B-main. After watching them try to run the track in again midnight came upon us, it was time to pull the plug and start getting the rigs & T-Shirt trailers out of the track before it started raining really hard. I almost got all the trailers moved, as I started to move the last two trailers, the skies opened up once again and by the time I finished moving the last trailer, and got Woody loaded, I was soaked down to my skivvies.

Sunday and another long drive to West Lebanon, NY to Howie Commanders race track, Lebanon Valley Speedway. We left Williams Grove around 7:30am and headed North on I-83 to I-81 to Scranton, PA then it was East on I-84. I planned my fuel perfectly, we arrived in Port Jarvis, NJ running on fumes, the diesel fuel prices in NJ are normally 20 to 30 cents cheaper than PA or NY. After putting 116 gallons in the RV (it holds 125 gallons) for a cost of $292.00. After filling up on fuel and peanut M&M’s, it was off to Lebanon Valley. We arrived at the track around 2:00pm and I immediately had to go to work getting the T-Shirt trailers in place. With bad weather surrounding us, we got on the go program and the checkers fell on Craig Dollansky (Finally he won) around 9:00pm and I had all the trailers back to their rightful owners by 10:30pm.

Today, another long drive (you just gotta love the WoO schedule in July), actuallyI do like the challenge of July’s schedule. The motorhome is running great and Woody is still doing good, he is starting to lose a bearing in his radiator fan, hopefully I can keep soaking it with WD-40 until I get a chance to replace the bearing (Hopefully between KC Raceway & I-55), so the fan bearing needs to make it 3 more races. Hopefully when I post this blog on the website, Woody is still running good. I won’t be able to post this blog until Thursday evening when I’m back in the USA. I am not going to pay 5 cents a kb to get on line and post it now. Right now I am at Ohsweken Speedway in Ohsweken, Ontario Canada, we made it here around 9:00pm after leaving Lebanon Valley around 10:30am. We had no issues crossing the Canadian Border, just had to answer a few questions. After last years complete washout, I sure hope for Glenn Styers and his staff at Ohsweken Speedway, that we have good weather and his great fans get to see some great WoO racing action. I will get this posted Thursday night for everyone’s reading enjoyment.

I was able to catch some WiFi here at Ohsweken Speedway, so I am able to post this blog entry earlier than expected. You will have to read my next entry for my trials & tribulations of our trip into Canada.

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"