Boise, Sacramento and Medford

 

Boise is like a second home track for us.  Now, you have to understand that most of the trips that we make to join up with Derek and Bryan consist of anywhere from 8 to 14 hours in a car on a Friday vacation day from work.  Race on Saturday until late at night or early in the morning.  Get back up at 5 or 6am and drive 8 to 14 hours back home on Sunday.  Unpack, go to work on Monday.  Boise is just 4 ½ hours travel time.  Piece of cake!

 

The New family makes it feel like home, too.  They have worked with Richard Smith and Derek Snelson for so long that the return to that track feels like a day with your friends, even if your friends are all working their tails off to make sure that everything comes off right for all the racers and fans. 

 

We had great runs there.  Ed “The Outlaw” and Wendy Jones were there too with their wheelstander and the Jelly Belly Gang.  Hey, have you checked out their new “team attire” this year?  VERY nice!  Again, being around Ed and Wendy is like spending time with your family.  Wait – make that the part of the family that you like J.   When Ed comes out before our jets and finishes his run while we are setting up, he always pantomimes throwing his Jelly Bellys up the tailpipe of the jet car.  One time, we were still waiting to pull out and he came by, did his pantomime and then came up to the tow rig and threw the bags IN the car!  I think we were finding little bags of Jelly Bellys for weeks.  Under the seats, next to the console, down the map pockets….great trip munchies, by the way. 

 

Jet cars usually are pretty simple between runs….cool the engine, pack chutes, fill tanks, check tires, bleed fuel system and not much else.  BUT – when you complete 3 full runs in less than 4 hours – we were moving!!  First run – Warhawk ran 211.76 mph and et of 6.746, Nitehawk ran 252.59 and et of 6.373.  Second run – Warhawk 241.87 and et of  6.575, Nitewawk ran 244.96 and et of 6.387.  Third run – Derek kept the time slip as a souvenir for beating Richard J

 

Sacramento – wow, okay – culture shock.  We drove across Nevada (tons of sand and sage and not exactly a ton of cars), then JUST as we crossed the state line….gridlock.  LOL  Okay, it was the fault of construction and not exactly rush hour but we did let loose with a few comments about how appropriate it was that we get to California and traffic is the first thing you see even when you are crossing some very, very pretty country.  (Did we mention the rock slide that closed half the road??)  And we did see some extremely pretty country as we made our way from the state line to Sacramento.

 

This is home track for Robbie and his wife Janice.  They had all of us out to dinner the first night we were there and it was just a fantastic time for all.  We all spend a lot of time at the tracks together, but this time we were able to kick off our shoes, eat some great food and just shoot the breeze under shady trees and not worry about schedules.  It was a definite tonic for all.

 

Which was a really good thing, because the next day when we headed out to the track, it was HOT!  The official temp for the day was 104 but one crewman caught it at the starting line at 139.  It was a good thing someone brought a pop-up awning because we were definitely hiding in the shade whenever possible.  And spending a little time recovering in the tow rig with the air conditioning when heat and dehydration made our heads feel just a little off-balance.  If you are ever looking for your favorite racer and they aren’t quite as friendly as you wish they could be, please be patient – 8 or more hours on the asphalt in the sun will wilt even the most hardy of heat lovers.  We don’t mean to be rude.  We may just be trying to catch our breath.  Racing wouldn’t be racing if we didn’t have a chance to talk to the fans and connect over the love for speed.  It is just really hard to hold a conversation when you are trying to down 2 pints of water to make up for the three pints of sweat.

 

We also had the pleasure and privilege to meet a very special gentleman – Ron Hoover – while we were there.  This man is a legend in Jet Car racing and we had a great time getting to know him, his daughter and her friend.

 

The show was a ton of fun too.  They were running a pro-mod class and a nostalgia funny car class.  Yes, even jet racers love a snoot-ful of nitro.  There was even a small stand of bleachers   where racers could take a quick peek at what was going down the track without being far from the pits.  You just gotta love watching these things stand up on their tires and go.

 

I could spend all day telling you about our drive to Medford and back.  And the worst part of it is that the part I love the most is the trip around Crater Lake area and the National Forest.

 

The trees are incredible – it is like being back in medieval woods or even Middle Earth.  It is very easy to picture Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin stepping out onto the side of the road from between these mammoth trees that grow so closely together. It is eternal twilight between them, the ground heavy with ferns and pine needle.  Treebeard would be right at home here and it would be no surprise to see Gandalf and Shadowfax peek out from a stray shaft of sunlight that finally penetrates to the forest floor.

 

Jim spoiled us this year in Medford, though.  He parked us on the tower side of the staging lanes – right under a big tree!  We had shade all afternoon.  Heaven!!

Barry Richter was there driving Darin Bay’s new Warped Speed dragster, and Dennis Murphy was licensing in his Detroit Dragon Jet Funny Car.  We also made some new friends on the Fire Crew at the track, as Julian and Dan made sure that we were safe at the end. 

 

Now – Any pictures that you see in our photo gallery and think “Wow, that’s a great shot.  How did they get that one?” You can thank Larry McFarland of Grandstand Photos.  He got us some great shots of the Warhawk and Derek!

I don’t even know where to start, the last couple of months have been such a roller coaster ride.

First, we began our season with a licensing session at Renegade Raceway in Wapato (Yakima), Washington. All the runs were not finished in that first session, but the management of Redding Dragstrip were able to allow us to finish and Bryan got his Jet Car License.

Off he and Derek went to Alaska with the Warhawk, Nitehawk and the nitro car in tow. They had a great time in Alaska – great reception, great runs, all before the home-town crowd.

Then, we were to head to Spokane County Raceway on May 16^th and 17^th. Early that week, we got a phone call. There has been an accident, the cars are in bad shape and there was also mention of a hospital. Our hearts just sank. The worst part was that the accident had taken place on a back road, no one was there except the people involved, there was no way to get there to see what had happened and Bryan’s phone was not exactly a survivor of the trip. As it turned out, Bryan suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs and there was heavy body damage to all the cars. The luckiest part was the fact that the truck stopped where it did – extremely close to going off a 100’ cliff. Thanks to the powers that be, that it was not worse than it was.

The cars were towed back to Bend, OR and the work began. At this point, you have to give a huge hand and kudos to Richard Smith, Kyle Skidgel, Harrison Ford (yes, his name is Harrison Ford but he is not THAT Harrison Ford lol), Bryan Ford, Derek Snelson, Robbie Crawford – and you better give a hand to his wife Janice because what was supposed to be a few days trip turned into a three week stretch and she is absolutely the best, most understanding wife about it! If there is anyone I missed, I apologize profusely (email me and let me know). To condense three weeks into a few sentences, these folks worked 10 to 18 hours days and nights just to get the cars repaired and in top shape. Did they work miracles? You better believe they did! We did not miss another date. On the next scheduled date – June 6^th at Renegade Raceway in Wapato (Yakima), Washington not ONLY did the cars appear and make every scheduled run but Richard Smith stood in for Bryan in Nitehawk with the new body (yes, true, the third body but hey, it is soooo sharp) and set a new track record for ET AND SPEED! And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is a thrash of the first order. We are so proud of these folks and so grateful for all their hard work!