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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (May 26 - 27, 2007)
My First...
Saturday, May 26, 2007 - by Stephanie Maciejewski (Guest)
T The weather finally caught up to us this season. We left at about 5:30 (EDT) and it was coming down pretty much the whole way there. We got in at about 8:00 (CDT), and it had slowed to a misty drizzle, and there was even a patch of sky visible at the edge of the horizon. We were the first ones there, and parked outside the gate until they opened. We didn’t bring the satellite this time, so we settled for a DVD after dinner and went to bed.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
It was cold and cloudy in the
morning, and street-sweepers and rollers were already trying to dry off the
tracks by 9:00. We parked in a different spot this time and Blaze was driving
around for half an hour confused because we weren’t there for him to know where
to park. The races were still scheduled to
run, but not until 3:00, so we had plenty of time to get ready and wait.
Everyone got only one time trial because of the late start, but by the time the
Pro ET class was up, the track was dry, along with pretty much the whole parking
lot.
The trial run went well, with a 9.690 run in the right-hand lane. Humidity had started out at 90 in the morning, but it was dropping like a rock and was down to 52 by that point, with a temp of about 72° F. The slight tail wind might have accounted for the time, which was expected to be 9.710. It was another couple of hours in between again, but things were running a bit more quickly due to the late start. The calculations on the computer log showed it should be 9.710, but we dialed in at 9.690. Unfortunately, we ran a 9.720 in first round, against Dawn’s 0.050 package including a 0.000 reaction. We packed up early and were gone by 4:30 (CDT), getting home about 8:30 (EDT). Donnie told us later that she ended up winning the race. Which is what’s been happening all season long: we lose early, but to the person we lose to, wins for the whole day.
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (May 18 - 19, 2007)
Back in the day...
Friday, May 18, 2007 - by Shelly Boruta (Owner)
Check-in time is
scheduled for 2pm-8pm at the track so we rolled out of the driveway at home at
9:30 am (EDT) to make sure we got to the track well before the 2pm check-in.
Arrived at the gate at 12:30 (CDT) and were the fifth to arrive. Ate lunch
and met some of the nostalgia car crews while we waited for the 2pm opening of
the gate. The guys
running
the show “Match Race Mania” were a little overzealous about marking out parking.
They were expecting about 150 cars but had mapped out most of the paved area of
the pits for specific groups of cars. (Our normal races draw about 275+
cars and we only use about 2/3s of the paved areas.)
It took about 15 minutes to park each and every trailer that came in the gate. Needless to say, it was slow-going to get parked. To the chagrin of the “Match Race Mania” organizer, although we were “only a bike”, we managed to grab a premo spot along the main walkway near the vendors at the request of the RTE 66 manager, Charlie. We spent the rest of the day watching the organizers try to figure out where to park each and every person who came in the gate. We got bored and watched a little TV and then went to bed about 8:30 (CDT) knowing it would be a long day on Saturday.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Woke up to a
pleasant morning – clear, sunny, warm, and only a moderate wind. First TT at
10am 73 degrees, 36% humidity. Ran a 9.62! We are in a perfect position to
spend the day people watching in between racing. This will be great since
it looks like we have about 3 hours between our runs. Several of the
usual Rte 66 bikes showed up to race – Dawn & Tom, Greg & Jonathon, Dan McC (on
Paul W’s bike), Donnie, and us. There were a couple Powerade prostock
competitors – Mike “Kavos” Kovacevich – a sometime T&Ter at RTE 66 – and Wesley
Wells. There are also 2 promod bikes – Tom Acres & Jeff Lindeman (a fellow
Michigander). There is also a nice car show with approximately 100 cars both
vintage and newer. In fact, all of the race vehicles are car show quality
too and some ground-shakers. We snapped a couple photos of some of
the standouts. Also heard a familiar voice over the PA – Roger – from our
old
US131 dragstrip days.
I expect he’s providing some good commentary to the crowd. A lot of people
are seeking us out in the pits – even the motorcycle stunt crew who were there
to entertain the crowd during track cleanup.
Second TT was at
1:25pm – 82 degrees, 24% humidty, wind still steady at about 12mph. Still
a good ET of 9.69 considering the air temperature. Tail wind and low
humidity is a big plus today. The promoters let our bike class run our own show
so we chose a gamblers race among ourselves. We drew cards to pair up and
we actually got the Bye. However, what we all thought was first
round turned out to be a third TT. After that run, the track drew up a
ladder based on reaction from that round giving Donnie B. the Bye. Since
we had the Bye, we didn’t dial in the delay box, (because were just going for a
good clean ET run), so we had a mid range reaction and ended up in the middle of
the new ladder. We had to then vote on whether to stick with our original
pairings (us with the Bye, Darm against Vickers). Everyone voted to go
with the ladder. Hey, we were just here to have fun so we weren’t too
upset in
having to work for first
round instead of a freebee as usual.
It’s a long wait between the last TT and first round but we are having a ball talking with the spectators and racers who drop by to get a closer look at the bike. Finally ran first round at 7:45pm (only a 4 1/2 hour wait from our last Time Trial). Was still very warm and low humidity but wind had diminished considerably (no tail wind). Dialed based on the TT, Bob was ahead at the end and got on breaks but TOO MUCH letting Tom F. by. We will be spectators the rest of the night.
The event hit the 11pm curfew mark so most of the classes didn’t get to finish up so the pot was somehow divvied up among the remaining competitors. For the bike finals, we split the pot evenly between the two remaining bikes. The jet cars made one final pass down the track at 11pm and there was a spectacular fireworks display to close the event. There was still a pretty substantial crowd around at that late, cool, hour.
Packed up and headed north at about 12:30 pm (EDT).
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (May 11 - 12, 2007)
Uphill we climb
Friday, May 11, 2007 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
Just a quick one: We left a little early today to get an early start so we are not out by the road staying the night behind all the Top Sportsman guys. But, it was great for me because, as everyone knows, I and a huge Red Wings fan and their game 1 of the Western Conference started tonight. I only had to miss a few minutes and I am happy to report that they got a late goal to win 2 - 1 after leading most of the game!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
OK, after last
nights win, I was ready to go. We have a bunch of points to make up and after
the good results last week, I don't see why we cant make a significant amount
back today. There is a whole 16 bike field today, so no bye runs all the way
through. I'm glad to see Dan McCarten's ride is back in one piece, hopefully
(but unlikely) it will stay that
way.
Good news/bad news. Good news: We had one of the best runs of the season in first round with a .006 light and a .85 on a .84 dial. The bad news is second round we got bit by the weather a little bit and lost for the second straight week to Tom Florey. Bob had another great light, a .005, but the wind shifted after we got into the lanes and the temperature started falling and even getting on the brakes, we broke out by the tiniest of margins. The "middle of the road" news is we did gain some points and even picked up a spot in the standing by beating Bill Homuth in first round and 1. Donnie and 2. Paul going out first round. We kept pace with Jonathan we he went out second round with us but as far as 5th goes, Greg was still in and running Tom Ewig in the semi's and I don't have any results for that yet. So bottom line, we moved up to 7th place and are only a round behind 6th, but there are a few round to go to catch 5th and get the last spot for Indy. It can be done, just watch us do it!
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (May 5 - 6, 2007)
Changes abounding
Saturday, May 5, 2007 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
Since this season
hasn't been going that well the decision to change a bunch of stuff was not too
hard. It seems like 
like
the bike just does not want to run consistently so big changes came for today. A
brand new set of wheelie bars are on, they are almost a foot longer, coupled
with a drastic change in the clutch hope to settle the bike down. With other
little changes we made here and there along the way, it all seemed to pay off.
With a little help from some red-lights the finals were our destination. But
once again, standing in our way was Tom Ewig. He has a 2-0 record against us in
finals and he made it 3-0. We just didn't have enough for him and he sent us
back to the trailer to discuss how everything we changed worked. PS. that is us
in the finals with Tom. And me in the background with my eyes closed because I
couldn't even bare to watch.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
We had a good night's sleep after our finals adventure and are ready for another long run at race #5. Normally I do not mention how windy it is, because as you may have guessed, Chicago is windy. They don't call it the windy city for nothing. But today the sustained winds were in the twenties and gusts into the thirties. With that kind of a cross wind, the track decided to run 1/8 mile instead of the usual 1/4. That normally lends us an advantage because the bike is always so consistent in the first 1/8 mile. And everything seemed to be going well until first round. Tom Florey gave us a round yesterday with his red-light so I guess we owed him one. Bob was right on the money with a .003 but it was just on the wrong side of the 0. That is so little of a difference that its hard to comprehend, but that's how most of the season is going for us. All the little brakes seem to be going against us and time is running out. This year Route 66 can only take 5 bikes to Indy for the division finals and we are back in 8th. It will be a very hard uphill climb, but the teams ready to make it.
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (April 28 - 29, 2007)
Not the greatest of weekends
Saturday, April 28, 2007 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
After last
weekend debacle, the track made some changes to the system for the bikes. We
will be qualifying by reaction time in our two time trials and then be laddered
with those positions. At least that was the idea. I guess the
computer couldn't comprehend how to do something so normal and fair so we went
back to the old system for now.
That was about the best news all day. The track crew had everything moving quickly, so that was good, but the bike just didn't want to make two runs the same. It would hop here and lag there, but never the same as the run before. SO with that being said, it makes for a short day. A one and out day! At the very least we got to watch Brina go all the way to the finals and red light by about .004 seconds. When you flirt with reaction times that are that quick, you are bound to be early now and then.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
A fairly warm morning turned into a sun filled afternoon. There was wind like there normally is, but it was a bit les sin magnitude as it had been the last couple of races. Once again, the day started better than it ended. Another first round exit and the bike has everyone scratching their heads. One person thinks is one thing, and the second thinks its something else, and the list goes on and on. I guess the plan is to make whole-sale changes and see if it responds. In the words of Bob "we lost our tune-up". Just like the professionals so, it seems to have eluded us when we believe we have made no changes. Personally its hard because of the strong finish we had last year in Stanton and Indy. But I guess the highest of hopes can be dashed in mere moments.
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