Introduction
Here are a few photos and the entire race on 1080p video from the Run What You Brung Memorial Dirt Track Racing Event for Brittney Pence on June 30, 2012 at Siskiyou Motor Speedway in Yreka, CA. It turned out to be a very wet night with rain for a good chunk of the evening with most regularly scheduled events canceled. However, the track was perfect for the class that I participate in: Run What You Brung! You will also witness water balloons being thrown at the cars (special for this particular race) by the fans in the grandstands as well as… the flagman.
It probably should also be noted (or ignored) that I drove this car home after putting the plates back on. 🙂
Dirt Plus Water Equals Fun
It was very slick out there, but I managed to pull off a third place finish out of nine starting cars. #33 (Ron Pence) received first place and #96 came in a close second. Several very near misses (and a hit) occurred during the race. Four times, I almost slid into the front straight wall (K-rails) coming out of turn four… the third time I did (04:00, 05:30, 06:30, 12:10), but managed to not have the fans see the underside of the car. I did run into the #2 blue Camaro (03:00) as they spun out right in front of me, however, I believe I avoided catastrophic failure many more times than that (03:20, 03:50, 04:23, 06:00, 11:55, 12:45). Slight damage to the front passenger side, but this time, I succeeded in keeping the headlight intact. Unfortunately, the paint is starting to come off. Looking on the bright side of things, I am happy the paint job I did lasted for so long!
Eight Eyes Better Than Two
Riding along with me was Trevor T., Colt B. and Ryder B. They were my eyes ‘n’ ears in all directions out on the track as I focused forward and had the front wheels spinning over 70 MPH at times. I like keeping my foot on the floor, so we were actually not moving at that speed on the track, but it sure does feel like those turns come up fast. Even though all three of my passengers are actually Mini Stock Car drivers (in other words, real race car drivers), they have a good time riding along with me as it gives them a chance to panic with the inability to take corrective driving action in the face of certain fender-bending inevitability with rookies behind the wheel.
Enough Chitchat
Check out the 15 minute video (generally centered around my car) on YouTube with light commentary (and slight fear) by my wife who recorded the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88l6iKL80pY
