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| March 05, 2009 News |
| On the Road: The Life of a Journeyman Mechanic - Day 5 |
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 | Maurini will be working with Tyler Thomas throughout the season, beginning with the upcoming Stars of Karting Ocala event
(Photo: Corby Concepts) |
Well I am pretty sure that I was the first person up in the state of Indiana this morning but it was well worth it to leave the low teen temperature to travel to Florida for the upper 70’s. I arrived at the airport just before 5am, yep, that’s right…5AM…and it was off to Southwest to check my bags. Upon my arrival to the check in counter, I was notified that there was no reservation for me. Obviously concerned, I quickly ruffled through my file folder of travel documents and realized that I was flying with Air Tran for this trip….Last trip and next trip is Southwest. Wonder why I was confused….
Over to Air Tran, drop my bag off and through security I went in time to grab a Starbucks coffee and board my plane for Orlando via a short layover in Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta is one of the biggest and busiest airports in North America and it showed on Wednesday morning. Thousands of people roamed the airport, sitting at gates and waiting for flights, several who had been there for a few days due to bad weather on the upper East coast. Me, I was only there for an hour and back on the road/in the air again to Orlando.
Arriving in Florida at 9:45am, I was on the same plane as John and Kyle Wiegand as we met Wesley Boswell and Tim Lobaugh at baggage claim. All landing within 15 minutes of each other, we made arrangements to all travel to the track together well the second car load housed Mike Tetreault, Tony Loniewski and Joey and Steven Barros.
Arriving at the track just after 11am, we moved and put the trailer in place for what was going to be a very busy and hectic day. Since the trailer had stayed in Florida from the previous rounds of the Florida Winter Tour, all kart prep would need to take place on Wednesday afternoon. After putting up the team’s 20 X 40 tent and securing lights for nighttime work, it was off to unload the karts and begin cleaning, disassembling, replacing and rebuilding to ensure quality track time on Thursday.
Working for junior driver Tyler Thomas, I would strip down his TaG kart. Having scored two top five outings at the second round of the Florida Winter Tour in Homestead, a completely different base line setup would be affixed to the chassis for the Ocala Gran Prix facility. Utilizing different tires on a completely different racing surface, I would rely on previous years information from my computer and knowledge to put something on that I think would work right out of the box.
After completing the kart build, I went proceeded to mount the practice motor on for Thursday’s unofficial test sessions. With no official timing taking place, I determined that we would get as close to gearing, jetting and chassis setup with the slowest of three motors before bolting the rocket ship on for Friday’s official test day. Ensuring that everything was in working order, I then focused my task on kart number two.
Having raced in the KF3 class two weeks prior, the Thomas family decided to focus on one class at the Snap-on Stars of Karting Series and that would be the Junior National division. With a spare kart ready and available, I figured I would set it up as a complete spare chassis with motor, radiator and all. With a chance of rain in the forecast, this kart can be checked in as a rain chassis and used if needed.
Finally, a 7pm track departure and it was off to our hotel. Staying at the Holiday Inn Suites and Conference Center five miles from the track, this hotel has to be one of the best and nicest hotels on the entire schedule. With an awesome Asian restaurant on the top floor with a bar (smile), a huge pool and workout room, once we arrived at the hotel there was no point in leaving. With big screen TV’s set up in the lobby with comfortable couches, a karters hang out was made where good times would take place. The restaurant upstairs must be fairly popular as last year we noticed it was always busy. This year, we were smart and made reservation for Friday and Saturday night to ensure we had a table.
Sharing a room with good friend Tony Loniewski it was off for a drink, or a few upstairs and then to the downstairs bar with Mike Tertreault, Mike Smith, Glen Araki, Curtis Fox, Kevin Loster and a late arriving David Cole before going to bed for what was sure to be a busy Thursday. Tony Loniewski and I met through karting and have been friends for a long time. Working on several different teams together, we have shared hotel rooms, laughs and experiences across the country. Before falling asleep, we organized a track departure time for the morning as wake up calls and back up wake up calls were set.
Stay tuned all this week for my, On the Road: The Life of a Journeyman Mechanic segment. |
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