Up in Smoke...Those would be the words to best describe this past weekend.

Friday we left stormy Omaha and headed west for McCool Junction. Jack drew well and would start front row in the heat race, where he took the lead and never looked back, making that heat race # 9 win in 2008 ASCS competition. With the win, that would make him eligible for the redraw, where his luck in drawing well, was no longer, he drew the biggest pill….#8. So now he would start 4th row outside in the A feature. Jack was able to get up on the wheel for the start of the race, and moved forward quickly, by lap one he was up to fourth and started working on 3rd, as soon as they hit lap traffic, Jack went to work on the runner up position and was in desperate need of a yellow flag to close up the field, but that never happened. Shortly after Jack took over 2nd, we noticed smoke coming off his car, and was in hope it would go away, but instead it grew worse, and we just hoped that Jack could finish, which he did, and kept the runner up position, even though he had let up on the motor, for fear we had lost it. Once back in the pits, we had an oil covered motor, but was relieved to see that what was causing it, was a valve cover gasket that had been squeezed out. We needed to make a decision about what to do for Saturday, as we weren’t sure if we had hurt the motor or not, lucky for us we were offered another motor to use for Saturday in Huron. We loaded up and headed north to Huron, SD, we decided we would drive to Yankton, SD, which is about half way, this 150 mile trip made for a long night. We arrived to the south side of Yankton to discover the bridge was closed and we would have to take a 62 mile detour. We arrived in Yankton at 4:00 a.m. and went straight to bed.

9:00, Saturday morning came very fast, considering we went to bed at 4:00. The wind in Yankton was blowing about 30 mph, which made washing the cars and driving in it interesting.  We headed to the car wash, to start the oil clean up job and switch motors. We completed our work and was ready to make our final trek north to Huron. Jack gave me the duty of drawing on Saturday, and I think I did OK, drawing the # 29 pill, that would put Jack inside 2nd row, behind Jason Johnson. He finished 2nd behind Jason Johnson with another motor smoking. It was decided that we would need to switch motors again; we hoped that the motor that Mike let us borrow was not hurt too bad. We put in our motor from Friday night,  with hopes that it had not been hurt, and would run well again, Jack drew the # 4 pill on the redraw and was set to start 2nd row outside in the feature. It was obvious right away that the motor was just fine, as Jack was running 5th, after a questionable start. Jack was running well and was just getting ready to make the past for 4th when the yellow came out. On the restart Jack was running good and then all of the sudden he coasted to a stop on the back stretch, and I have to say we all feared the worse, but when we got to Jack he informed us that it was something in the driveline, so we were relieved to know that our motor was still healthy, and we hope the motor that Mike let us use, is OK, and we really appreciate everything they did for us….Thanks so much Mike!!!!!!!!! After further inspection it was discovered that Jack had actually lost the pin on the Jacobs ladder causing the rear end to move around. So, even though we definitely have repairs to make, it could have been much worse. Jack thinks the pin came out when he drove in hard in one of the corners. Thanks to Dustin who leant us a hand on Saturday night as well.

A very special thank you goes out to Paul Swanson, who was our only crew member for the trip north, and after changing 2 motors, he really had his work cut out for him. Thanks so much Paul, we really really appreciate all your help...but you MUST take a shower!!!!

It was a very long, tiring and disappointing week end, even though the results weren’t all that bad. Jack actually did move up in ASCS National points and we did collect a 2nd place finish on Friday night. But I must day, I have seen my share of motor’s smoking for the entire season.

Sunday morning we awoke at the Flying J in Sioux Falls, SD, and after some much needed showers and some breakfast we started our trip home, we did make a slight detour, and headed into the small town of Blencoe, Iowa to watch our good friend Jimmy Grasso race his go cart. What a cool little town and a great race track. We pulled in with our hauler and Kathryn’s and the crowd was amazed. Tom Grasso is the announcer there and you would have thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick had just pulled in after the good plugging Tom gave us. The crowd loved getting to see the cars and drivers up close and Kathryn sold a ton of shirts. It was fun to see the racers do what they do, just like we do. One of the racers there, offered his carts to Jack and Kathryn to race each other at intermission, and the crowd loved it, as the 2 “Winged sprint car drivers” suited up and took to the track……after a 5 lap shoot out, all I can say is…..”Girls rule!” If you get a chance head up to the Bobcat Speedway in Blencoe, Iowa, it is a great place with some really good go cart racing. A big thank you out to Tom and Jimmy Grasso for being so nice and making us feel so welcome. Thanks!!!

We arrived home about 6:00 Sunday night and we are all ready for some much needed rest and sleep, especially Jack as he appears to be getting a mid summer cold.

Monday morning Jack and  Kathryn headed back to the shop to prepare for another busy week of racing, as we head the other direction to Kansas City on Friday night for a ASCS national show and then on to the Lake Ozark speedway on Saturday.

It was nice to see and visit with some of our fans who we only see when we race at McCool and we are getting a good following of South Dakotans as well. It was great to have Tony and Karen in the pits with us on Friday night at McCool. Tony, I’m taking you up on that offer you made, before the season is over!  Thanks to all of you for coming out and supporting us and we’ll see you soon.

Hope you all have a safe and healthy 4th of July.