Today was a short day of racing!
Because of a Cross Country track meet, racing could not begin today until 12:30, and the pits opened at 10:00. This gave us a little extra sleep - we did not have to leave home until 8:00 - but we were worried about racing very late in the day. Upon arriving at the track, however, we soon realized that a long day of racing was not in our future. There were four Stock cars (Alex's division) and five Masters cars. Cullen Tucker showed up with his brand-new Super Stock that he had just completed the night before, but because he was the only Super in attendance, he had to go back home and get his old Stock (he was one of the four). This poor turnout is due to the fact that this race is sanctioned by the NDR, instead of AASBD. Basically, the points won in this race do not count for winning locally and going to the nationals in Akron, Ohio in July. This race was "just for the fun of it".
In addition to there being a slim field, it was very competetive. Cullen Tucker and Jarritt Youngers are the current point leaders in the Salem Local Club, and are dominating forces. They were both there. I've always considered them to be very equally matched (even though they have very different driving styles), but Cullen's dad, Dan, told me today that Cullen has NEVER beat Jarritt in a heat. He always comes close, but has never won. Along with Alex, Sierra Smith rounded out the field. Sierra is a good driver, but is more competetive with Alex. She seems to have good and bad days, and is the driver that Alex beat in his first Heat win, two weeks ago in Salem.
Alex's first heat was against Cullen Tucker. In both phases, Alex drove very straight, but, like always, did wobble side to side slightly near the end of the track. He was double-phased by Cullen . . . he lost the first Phase by about 0.1 second and the second Phase by about 0.4 seconds, for a total loss of 0.5 seconds.
Because of the small field, Alex's second heat came up as soon as his first was over. This time, he went up against Sierra Smith, who had lost her first round heat to Jarrit Youngers. Alex lost the first phase by an incredible 1.2 seconds. (Time differentials of more than 1 second are nearly UNHEARD OF on Salem's track). For the second phase, however, Alex beat Sierra by just over 1 second. Overall, he lost the heat by close to 0.2 seconds, and was eliminated. He took 4th place.
Alex's friend Aaron Thun had come to Salem with us this weekend. He brought his Razor scooter, and was planning on watching the race and playing in the park during the day, and swimming with Alex in the hotel pool in the evening. Racing finished about 2:30, and before packing up, we took Alex's car back to the top of the hill, gave Aaron a one-on-one safety lesson and brake trials, then let him take a solo run down the hill.
We nearly stopped him when he almost failed my one question oral quiz: "What do you do if your brakes fail?" The correct answer is to yell "NO BRAKES", steer the car directly at the cones in the runout, then hit the pile of tires head-on. Aaron's answer: "Wreck the car". Alex very quickly corrected him, and told him that he had better not "wreck" Alex's car!!!
Aaron later said that Soap Box Racing is a lot more fun than he ever thought . . . he says it was really fun watching the race, and letting him take the run down the hill was icing on the cake.
After the race, we went to the hotel, where Alex and Aaron have been swimming for about an hour now, with Tiffany lifeguarding. I'd better go join them.
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