As the weather man predicted we were rained out Friday night. That one I can understand but Saturday morning the sun was shinning and the wind was blowing. I can hardly understand why we didn’t get to race Saturday night. Since when did a little standing water make that big of a difference? After all, we have big tires. Surely the track could have been packed in. I know this sounds a little desperate but I was trapped at the shop with three guys that really needed to go racing. In the end, Bubba headed for home while I sent Jason and Jeremy to the golf course. I thought about heading to the spa but a little shopping was just as satisfying. Sorry guys, you’ll have to wait for new tires.

Finally, Sunday morning arrived and all was a go for heading to Dubuque. The guys, Sari and I made the three hour trip. Jeremy was off to a good start in his heat race. He finished third making the redraw. Pulling out a nine (the Outlaw said it wasn’t his fault) was not great but not bad either. The thing I did really like about the Dubuque track was that as wide as it was there was plenty of room for three wide racing and lots of passing. The down side was it sits on a hill that you have to hike up to actually see the race track. (Sari wants to borrow Sydney’s wagon next time we go there.)

The field of 24 cars lined up with Jeremy moving up to the number eight spot to start the 35 lap feature. The cars rolled off to a quick start and the Outlaw started working his was around the track looking for the best line to run. In the first ten laps Jeremy dropped back as far as 15th. In the next ten laps Jeremy seemed to find his groove and started picking cars off. One by one and yellow flag after yellow flag Jeremy worked his way up to eighth. The next 15 laps were a series of two steps forward and one step back. Grady just couldn’t catch a break with the yellow flags. Jeremy was knocking on the door of 5th at one point and you guessed it, a yellow flag came out. The Outlaw was working on the 6th place spot when the checked flag flew and left him to finish in the 7th place position. For me, the night was a good one. We had gotten to race at a new track, made the redraw out of the heat race and finished the feature with a strong showing and no new dents. I do want to congratulate friend Brian Harris on pulling off a last minute win for the night. No one can say there isn’t plenty of excitement in dirt track racing.

Now we all get to look forward to a short week of work. All the families, kids and some friends are all headed to Wheatland, Missouri for the Diamond Nationals on Thursday. As Grady put it, “This will be the biggest race of my career.” And I can’t wait!!!

Is there anywhere in the country where a guy could find a race track that isn’t water logged? If anyone out there has a magic formula for getting rid of the rain I need it. BAD!!! I’ve got three guys at the race shop and none of them are in a good mood. I’m sure there are plenty of other racing wives out there that know exactly what I mean. It’s like some kind of bad with draw problem and I can’t get them a fix. The only way to improve their mood is to get them racing. Hopefully we will get something in this weekend. Otherwise I’m seriously considering packing up and heading to a spa for the next week.

I’d like to thank Barry Johnson for the photos from Davenport. (A reminder of what racing is.) It’s great to have a contact that can get us photos for our driver cards and the web site. We hope to get some more as the season goes on.

Not much for any other news this week. The guys had a day long training session on the new shock dyno and seemed to learn a lot from the fellow that can from North Carolina. Of course there were plenty of racing stories exchanged during the day. Bubba and Jeremy also made a trip to Davenport to help Al Johnson and Charlie McKenna at the Deery race this week. I guess if we can’t race the next best thing is helping out the other guys. I’m also glad to report no injuries this week. It’s been relatively calm and everyone is ready for a little excitement. I hope I get to give everyone a race report soon.

Yes, I needed the weekend to rake the yard, pick up sticks and pack up some clothes for Goodwill but the excitement just didn’t match the heart stopping action you can get at the race track. Yet another weekend of racing was rained out and I can report that my chores are done and I’m good for going racing for the next month. I know the guys were worried that I might have to stay home but now they can breath a sigh of relief. (At least I keep telling myself they want me along.) Sounds like we are going to make a full weekend of it next week racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When I get the memo on exactly where I will pass it along. Since there isn’t much racing news I’ll have to give a little family news. Danielle had an accident this last week involving a TV, a coffee table and her head. She scared us all to death and has now realized that listening is a good skill to have. We were all relieved that she came through the ordeal OK. Ammi is in her busy season at work and trying to keep her kid in one piece so she hasn’t made any social visits lately. Traci and Sydney are doing there usual work, day care and Grandma visits. The only thing I’ve heard about from their family is Bubba’s visit to daycare for lunch. We hope they will all be going racing soon. I’ve definitely felt out numbered lately. Cassandra and Cleo are also doing well. Cassandra can’t wait for school to out and her dad has started planning her summer work projects for her already. She and the dog are going to be busy, no sleeping in until 10:00 a.m. everyday for them(that is what she thinks-Cassandra). Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the sun stays out and we can get some racing in.

Just a quick update to let everyone know that I’m still here and kicking. Grady has head slapped me a few times this last week but just like the energizer bunny I keep on coming back. We had a WDRL race in Davenport on Wednesday that did not treat us well. Jeremy started on the pole for his heat race but just never got the car under him. Grady started the B Main mid pack and about six laps in another car turned right into him on the front straight away and left him with bent sheet metal and a flat tire. That was the end of the night for Team 43 and a long ride home.

We were rained out Saturday and are off to East Moline this morning. I hope to have a more exciting report for everyone tomorrow. The only other news is that Grandma Sari has become not only Jeremy’s number one fan but has become an official part on Team 43 and has started traveling to all the races with us. The guys love it!!! Can you say banana bread, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and for me, another five pounds. (I thought taking one, or five for the team was the right thing to do here.) We’re all ready to hit the race track and are hoping that the rain will stay gone for a while.