[Robert Lawson]

Looking forward to it Tony.

I need to get that spare cylinder over to you for welding!!!

I found yet more lost video. This time its Grattan clips, 3 of them, 1 from Nov 09′ and 2 from Oct 10′. In the Fall of those years the track had its last repaving. Done in 2 phases, the first in 09′ and the remainder in 10′. We were asked to come out and turn some laps so they could check out the transitions and get our oppinion of the surface.

These are bonus outings that are just plain fun. Of course, I dragged a few friends out with their karts too. Afterall, what are friends for but to chase around the track!!! I’m posting the 09′ clip, you can see the others at the YT channel. READ the description for each…. they tell the story.

 

Enjoy!

[Robert Lawson]

Hey!

Just a quick note, I spoke with the boys at the track Sunday and after a bit of a consortium we all agreed to the later date of April 14-15.

No one has called about either of the open April weekend dates but I felt its time to nail down one and start moving toward working it out.

I should have Insurance & pricing detail this week.

 

Stay tuned!

[Robert Lawson]

Any idea if there will be a US supplier of Dunlop Tires to replace Russell?

 

[Robert Lawson]

Hey Y’all,

Met with the Doc, there are very few good ones out there but I really like this guy. After all the medical talk I had to ask about driving the kart. As I explained what exactly we do with these things he said what I though he would… “I suggest you DO NOT drive that thing while on this med.”

So, he’s telling me there’s a chance!!!!!  :)

I go back for a recheck and ultrasound April 2nd, if it looks good I stop the meds and can drive on either the 7-8 or 14-15!!!! If not, well, its another 3 months and another recheck/eval. (just in time for VIR!!)

Now, the April 2nd appointment took some doing. I duped the girl at the counter…. she wanted to set it up for the 16th….AFTER any opportunity to do the test day. “You wouldn’t happen to have an opening in the first week would you???” I told her why, after scheduling me for the 2nd, she smiled when I said…. “You can’t blame a guy for tryin, right!!”  She agreed!

I have looked in here but didn’t bother to post because Y’all were on a roll & started responding. I’m getting a bit creative and doing some shopping for a more appropriate policy that works FOR us instead of against us. Have not had a bunch of preference as to one weekend over the other, a few emails but not really related to the full weekend. As we start to come out of the deep freeze I expect things to pick up. The Doc cleared me to go back to daily life, the leg is still not 100% but I can get a good 1/2 day on it before needing to take it easy. So, I hope to be out in the garage tomorrow and over the next couple days shoot a short video.

Since the test in Oct I have had a hand in sourcing/purchasing 3 karts for new or returning drivers. In each sale these guys all got a good deal on both sides. Gotta do our part guys, no one will do it for us!

Need a bunch more feedback on a full weekend guys!!!

More coming, I’ll post up some video soon!

 

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

OK,

Lets get the leg out of the way first. I did not keep my Dr Appointment today. Reason? Went back to the ER Monday, back home Tuesday evening. Met with the Dr there, he rescheduled for next week.

I have DVT and PE. Why/How? No idea, just lucky I guess. So far so good, its early on so I have no expectations just yet. Take the meds and see where it goes. Piece of cake.

Spoke with Sam this morning. The cost of everything has gone up, EMT’s, Corners, Lease…. only thing that I have NOT gotten an inflation of yet is the Insurance. Still working from the estimate given to me last fall for 2018, but wouldn’t be surprised if that changed too.

Regardless, the ratio of literal track time to $ will STILL be better than any event could offer. I am still going to work first toward a 2 day gig and see how it goes. Will have to sit down with a sharp pencil and go over the figures, check with the Ins rep, cross the T’s and dot the I’s and come up with some numbers for Y’all to consider.

The dates are still April 7-8 OR 14-15, Please let me know if you have a preference or conflict with these dates.

Just getting started, much more to come!

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Man, that was a mess!

I watched hours of video and tried different cams with the same result. To stop distortion the cam has to be backed up from the TV, its like theatre mode with large black areas on either side of the video. Get any closer and the screen bulges from the fisheye lens and also gets some crazy graining.

Bottom line, it was just junk! I’ll have to work on getting up to a flat screen and try again.

So, VERY SOON its back to work on the April date!

Yeah, I have had a bit of a set back here. A couple of you have heard already, been nursing a sore leg for 10 days or so. What I thought was a sore muscle from shoveling snow turns out to be much more serious after a trip to the ER.  I have an appointment with the Dr. on Thursday.

I should have a date or 2 for y’all to chew on and some early details to consider early next week…. maybe sooner.

It will be April before you know it!

Talk soon!

 

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Well, they got the day “in” after cutting run time in all groups.

Just miserable “the air” today…. JW still ran a high 1:54 winning his shortened Unlimited race.

I appoligise for my impatients with the RM. I still would like someone official to post here so we do not need to guess whats happening.

This is Daytona, not M-O or Topeka….. Daytona. It IS a big deal.

PS: Congrats to Jason Lorang! 2X winner today (unofficial) and had entered 4X back-to-back-to-back-to back race #2-#5 Thats dedication!!!!

[Robert Lawson]

Larry tells me it sounds like it rained down there this AM.

He heard it on FB….. me no do FB!

So rain would explain things. Just a damn shame no one that “works” here could post info….. especially when the Sprint is up and running (rain tires).

[Robert Lawson]

PS: the 1st race Cadet 206 & Junior 206 has either not run or just not posted in the “results” yet.

[Robert Lawson]

WOW!

I tried getting JW on the horn but all he said was “I’m busy man” and hung up!!!! :)

[Robert Lawson]

NOW its running, but very far off the schedule?

Unless it was raining, or wet, there is no explaination why the 2nd race of the day scheduled for aprox 11 am would have just started over at RM.

Just looked at the weather for DB and can see no rain. Cloudy, heavey cloud cover but no rain?

SO, if this holds true the rest of the day, there is a 2 hour delay to the “live” timing and scoring at Race monitor! That may work out good for guys that work outdoors up North here, since were all freezing and sitting at a Computer!!!

Good Luck, what a headache!

[Robert Lawson]

Race Monitor is no help.

Is the RR on the listed schedule and it loads up, but thats all you get. As of 12:59 et, no live info, no practice times from the AM, no race results listed yet.

Last evening the RR coverage was extremely out of time, still running “live” well after 9pm and most of the drivers listed had no stats or laps.

Will have to call the guys at the track to find out whats happening!

Of course, the Sprint monitor is running just fine! (there have been more than 40 karts in the 3-4 classes I checked out!)

Nice job Race Monitor! (I hope WKA is not paying for that “service”)

[Robert Lawson]

OK…. I guess I’ll have to do it myself!

John West sent a pic (its on his on FB) of his MyChron with a lap time from practice today of 1:53.16 and a top speed of 147mph in his DEA/Anderson FE 250.

I’ll get more info about what is happening at the big track after Dinner.

edit: Had to get the make/model in there!!!!

PS: I stand corrected! Sometime between 10:30 am et and just now, there IS timing & scoring for the big track at Race Monitor. It’s not right but its there! At 7;47 pm et it sayes its “live” and is running????!!!!!

[Robert Lawson]

BRRRRR!!!!

With temps in the single digits, even with some heat out there, I just don’t operate in those conditions! The old gear doesn’t run too well either!!!

So, I’m indoors with the VHS stuff doing some test clips right off the bubble TV. Trying to get the best video I can without spending a fortune! It works best after dark, with the volume high enough to be recorded the wife will have to get used to wearing ear plugs in the house for a few days!!!!!

The task of previewing is arduous! I’ll just leave it at that!!!! ;)

[Robert Lawson]

HEY!!!

Why No coverage from the BIG track????

Race Monitor lists the Sprint event from 28th-31st but NOTHING about the road racing???????

[Robert Lawson]

Paul,

I’ll have to see what I have over the Holidays and pull it together. Mike is a nice guy, I remember meeting him for the first time. We were at Summit, the only year I ran Nationals for points. He won the Stock App. class title that year with a K71 on a fuel/gas mix…. which was legal. A tinkerer, kinda like Rick Gunther but with a bit better fab skills!!!! :) That K71 was super fast! I’ll be brutally honest, that 250 was rough looking! Fast… but a fashion show winner it was not. Johnny West bought that kart from Mark Croslyn ( <—– Im sure I butchered that spelling) at the ole Atlanta Superparts. This may hurt Mikes feelings, but, I cut that kart up for JW and built him a CBR 600 Superkart out of it. I still have some misc. bits from that kart, red anodized zeus pads and bodywork clamps in my shop tool box! I think I may still have the steering wheel, THAT is a whole other story!!!!!

I’m going to take the go pro out to the garage tomorrow and shoot a bit. I’ll try to get some of that Daytona race on it just to hold you over!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y’all!!!!!

[Robert Lawson]

Well, its suddenly Winter here!!!

We had a nice “snow day” today after a couple days of being in & out of the elements. The best part about dealing with snow & cold is comfort food!!! Trying to get all of that out of the system before the 1st when I start that attempt at getting back into my old Burris suit again!!!

Been working on Insurance with K&K, will have a phone meeting with Grattan’s policy Rep on Monday. Everything is looking good thus far. I will be bringing more info on dates & particulars very soon.  Kenny talked with some vintage guys at that shop party along with a few others we dont generally see at these test days. Hope to get a full weekend on the calendar this April.

Hang in there Y’all!!!

 

 

[Robert Lawson]

That Rad has still not shown up? Hmm, will have call and find out where its at.

Watching the old flicks was good fun, a few are in bad shape with unexposed film (?, bright blank spots) but they were always there just dont remember them being so long. Some of these are in really good shape, I have 1 thats 20 minutes long! There is good race between 3 karts at Mid-Ohio. My Pops in the old Hornet twin as the guy running the camera was literally right at the edge of the track and followed the course all through the infield. The track was sooooo narrow….. and I don’t know what the deal was back then but the grass is a mile high there too!!! Some of the Grattan shots were scary in todays standards. Not just the camera man on the edge of the track taking film but CARS! Yeah, cars! The scoring folks had cars parked on the outside of the monza and sat at tables between the cars and the track. Crazy! No wonder the insurance has gone off the deep end…. The street race film was interesting too, kids of all ages sitting right on the Blvd (grass between sidewalk and street) as karts went flying by! Straw bales were only at the turns, apex and exit. Obviously back then lawsuits were not all the rage!!!! :)

Rich did his first race at Marine City Kart Track back in 72 or 73. He had a Big J Lancer sidewinder (yeah, it was purple!) with a 49E and an overhead pipe! There was just 1 other kid for him to race with but Richie put the bums rush on um and whooped um by 1/2 a lap!!!! He held on to that trophy for years!!!! Too funny!

Not sure if I’m going to attend tomorrow or not but an old Karter has a Christmas party each year at his shop. Jeff Brown sends out invites and many kart guys hang around and talk about how fast they are or how slow everyone else is! There is usually food and all, the shop maintains vintage race cars so all of those are there to look at too. My bro Kenny wants to take some flicks and the projector and share some old movies. I may just stick around here, hang out in the garage and go back to the miles of VHS tape I have from the 80’s to about 03′.

One thing I did start doing, I save a voice mail from Family and close friends. Can’t tell you how I wish I kept a message from my Mom or Dad now that they are gone.

Peace Y’all!!!

[Robert Lawson]

Thats quite a slick rig you have there!

I should just sent them to you Todd!!! :)

[Robert Lawson]

Todd,

I’m familiar with the videos! I’ve watched them a few times looking in the background to see if our brood may have got caught in your film! How exactly did you do it? I can hear the projector on the video, nice touch!!! :)

The old “beer can” hats were popular in your group too I noticed!!!!

IRP was not very good to my Pops. He always had very fast stuff but never the results to match. One year he ran 3 races in the same day, 1 hour races!!! The last of the 3 was B Reed, he had a brand new Lancer straight from Walt Meyers motors and all. Super fast, won the race easily…. but lost so much weight after 3 races in that heat covered in those Bates leathers…. he weighed lite and was DQ’d.

We have some film from The Glen, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, MIS, Grattan, some local street race footage, a bunch of Sprint stuff from Lexington OH, and lots of local Sprint stuff too. Even a bit of action from the ice out on Anchor Bay 1965!

I was going to try to record it with my Go Pro right off the wall. Gonna have to set it all up and try it out, if it the first one turns out ok I’ll post them on the YT channel.

RPM

PS: I have a radiator coming, time to get back to the kart!!! :)

[Robert Lawson]

Amazing! The weather this coming week (11/27-29) is going to be better than what we had for the track day a month ago in October!!!

Commercialism has ruined the Holidays (they should call it Black-Eye Friday) but this time of year conjures up old traditions. When we were little dudes Dad would bust out the Family 8mm movies and projector and show them on the front room wall. I’m going to show my age here but, Mom would put oil and popcorn in the popper and we had a fancy night “in” watching the flicks.

Kenny asked me about that old projector the other day. I actually found the old movies and the extra cooling fan for the projector and now I’m hopped up to watch VERY old karting flicks from the 60’s and early 70’s. As I was rearranging the garage for the off season, storing stuff in the attack and piling it up in the trailer I decided to plug-in a bubble set with VCR and see if it worked. Spent the afternoon watching Daytona videos from the mid 90’s…. man that brought back some memories. Some of the guys I talked with in those videos are no longer walking this Earth with us. Got a great B-Stk & 250 race grouping with Speedway announcing from the infield stands. Johnny Howard won the B-Stk race by a nose at the flag (in the infield!) and Mike Cima won a good 250 race over Don Bootes with Jr. Neal just back a few seconds. Those were good times, and good numbers of entries in those classes. Can’t believe how many 250 single laydowns there were back then, JW ran a Gibson (4th or 5th place) that week!!!! The Rotax reed was just becoming popular in that 250 class and there were 20 of um!

Ah, good stuff! I even threw in the Grand Prix movie and watched James Garner steal the girl, then steal the Title too!!! Love it!

Now, the full weekend gig in April has to happen…. I’ll bring the projector for entertainment after we all have dinner!!! We have some pretty amazing old clips from Grattan back in the mid 60’s that you just won’t believe. Drag Strip complete with Christmas tree, old Tower at begining of the front straight, 55gl drums filled with sand tied & together ON the front straight making a “pit wall”, the “scoring” chicane in the monza….. and the knee high grass!!!! The best part was the karts, there are very few full laydowns as they were literally just coming out at that time. Rupp’s & Chaperrall karts were all the rage and they HAD to have at least 2 engines!!!! :)

Found a very exciting prospect here when I found that old junk. The camera Dad used to shoot that old 8mm film is here too. I picked it up and accidently hit the “go” button and it started clicking away!!! It doesn’t have batteries, it actually winds up for power, like an old stop watch (got them too!!!) Anyway, I was curious and opened the camera and there was still undeveloped film in it!!!! I can only imagine what may be on it.

So, while we are full-on into the Holiday Season now, remember your “old times” with joy. We are so fortunate just to be born here, and, we sometimes forget how hard this world is on the majority of its inhabitants outside of the mainland US.

GOD bless Y’all!

[Robert Lawson]

Hey Y’all!!

I’m having a great Thanksgiving Day!!!

Sent out well wishes in text to liteally everyone I had a number for….current or not! This is really fun, a good number of them have no idea who it is that sent the message!!! Some actually respond with a “You too!” or “Back at ya!” which is a dead give away….. others will include “who is this?” OR “I got a new phone so…. who am I speaking to???”

Trust me, it is GOOD fun playing around by send more cryptic notes before unmasking yourself!!!! I have been laughing my rear off since early this morning!!!! Best part is, there is NO politics involved!!!!!

So, Happy Thanksgiving! And…. have fun with that “phone” today!!!!

GOD bless Y’all! BE well!!!!!

Robert :)

[Robert Lawson]

Wow, we still have the same weather as a couple weeks ago at the track!

I don’t enjoy riding in the cold weather buy I might just get the bike out a couple times next week and scratch the ole itch!

Still finishing up these projects, and got more junk coming in, so getting more video up/work done to the kart is on hold a bit longer.

Anyone going to Daytona? Looking forward to sitting here and watching it all unfold on Race Monitor. Let us know what class and day so we can follow your progress!

Talk soon!

 

RPM

[Robert Lawson]

Very sad to hear about the Russell Family shop closing.

Best of luck with whatever you do Jim. You, your Dad, and all the guys that have raced under the RUSSELL name have been an inspiration.

You are one of the “good guys!

[Robert Lawson]

H,

You’ve been a busy boy in here!!! Thats good, get all the info you can find.

I have someone working on that Delortto set-up so I can send it to you. You’ll enjoy playing with it! If nothing else it will give you a real time look at the characteristics of different componants when compared to others, what your carb is doing, how, and when!

That new guy I spoke of bought a laydown simply from looking at pictures over text! His name is Dan, he’s from Indiana and he is the proud new owner of Ron Taylors Emmick Enduro. A very nice kart I may add, tried getting Tony C to look at it at MIS!!!!

I actually gave Dan a few different contacts on available enduros, rollers and packaged set-ups. Taylor Everhart has a kart to offer as well. Someone needs to pick that up, check it out: https://new.ekartingnews.com/forums/topic/lots-of-enduro-equipment-for-sale/ lots of options with this deal. The Leopard kit on that kart sounds fun!
Up to my elbows in clay and fiberglass so I better get back to work!!!!

RPM

[Author]

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