 |
|
| What's up,
January 30, 2012 |
|
| CHANGE OF
PLANS |
| I did take the Canyon Speedway Park
and Yuma Speedway events from the schedule. Some other events
have been placed on the schedule, a link has been added to the sidebar.
|
|
| OFFICIALLY
REGISTERED! |
| I have officially registered
for both the Wild West Modified and Ironman Challenge Series tours this
season. If things go according to plan, we hope to make the
complete schedule of at least one, if not both tours.
|
|
| OWN WORST
ENEMY |
| I've spent some time fighting my own
insecurities lately and it has caused me some grief. Most people
expect me to win every time I drive onto the track. That's
certainly getting less and less probable as the competition increases, the
quality of cars improves, and my age increases. The pressure
makes me absolutely miserable and dulls the excitement normally associated
with racing. |
|
| ROUGH FEW
YEARS |
| It seems like 2006 was the pinnacle of all
seasons for me. Since then, it's been a downward spiral of
sorts. My father quit traveling to the races in 2007, he passed
away in 2008 and I destroyed a car later that season. I
struggled with an ill handling car most of 2009. In 2010 and
2011 some close friends moved on and I was left wondering what was next.
Hopefully 2012 can get things going in a positive direction.
Time will tell. |
|
| WORE OUT! |
| The track in Victorville a few Saturday's
ago was brutal on me. I am partly to blame for not making a
shock change or two, but damn did that track wear me out. By
half way my forearm was rock solid and my hand started to go to sleep.
Soon after I was physically struggling to keep up with the car.
I may not be the toughest person in the world but often my stubbornness
makes up for it and I make it through. Not this time.
|
|
| EAST, NOT
WEST! |
| It had been several years since I race in
California and I certainly forgot about what I refer to as the California
surface, bumpy and fast. Since most of the tracks I've been on
lately are either smooth and fast or smooth and slick, I struggled.
It takes a whole different mentality to be good on that type of surface.
But all things considered, I think I prefer to race on tracks east of Las
Vegas rather than west. |
|
| RETRO
SCHEME! |
| The next time the 87N hits the track, it
might do so with a retro scheme. Stay tuned! |
|
| What's up,
January 2, 2012! |
|
| HAPPY NEW
YEAR! |
| Happy New Year. Best wishes to
you, your family, and your race team or favorite driver in the coming year.
2012 marks out 18 full season of circle track racing, 16th in the IMCA
modified. The hope is to compete on a more "Dan-like" busier
schedule in '12. See you at the track. |
|
| MILESTONE
APPROACHES! |
| The 87N is just 32 starts away from 700
starts. If the schedule holds true, I will be there by sometime
this summer or a little after. That's close to 40 races a
year for 18 years on average. |
|
| NEW
CONTACT! |
| When I got upgraded to a SMART phone, I got
a gmail address and I will be using that more often now. You can
update your contact to
danfitz87@gmail.com for email. Thanks. |
|
| WASHED UP? |
| Was recently told that I was past my prime
as a driver and wouldn't be able to keep up with the younger generation of
racers out there. I thought about it for a bit and replied, "you
might be right, but you still cannot have my ride." To each his
own, I'll give it my best. If I don't win, I still have many wins to
fall back on for memories. |
|
| EXACTLY
HOW MUCH? |
| Someone recently asked me how much money I
thought I had spent through the years racing cars. After
thinking about it, I am now trying to block that thought from my mind.
Everything I 'own' could have been paid off many times, and I would probably
have a bigger, nicer home. But I'd be lonely as I wouldn't have
all the friends and memories the years racing have brought to me.
If you leave behind money people will just fight over it. |
|
| SURVIVOR! |
| The NASCAR fantasy game sponsored by
87racing.com is taking entries for the 2012 game. To enter,
SIGN UP>>>
Last year 30 people competed with "Racegirl" taking home the overall win.
Players from 10 states represented the field. Wanna play along?
Email today. |
|
| What's up, December 21,
2011 |
|
| THE LOOK! |
 |
Of course it has changed several times over the last
couple of weeks and I am not 100% liking it, but I never do anyway.
So this is how we'll start the 2012 race season. From the
inside, it looks great to me! Certainly a different look for
us with a little retro star component added in for good measure.
Hoping it looks good on the track and possibly in Victory Lane in 2012!
|
|
|
| JOB COMPLETED! |
David Jones from the Phoenix area trusted us with the
vinyl scheme for his X-mod.
The design came out looking pretty good. Hopefully everyone
down there agrees.
Good luck to David and everyone associated with the 33y.
|
 |
|
|
| TESTING, TESTING! |
 |
After my performance at the Duel in the Desert, Jerry
suggested a test to get things sorted out. Thanks to Chad at
Pahrump Valley Speedway offering up his track, we spent about 5 hours
there on a Saturday afternoon doing just that. About 15
sessions and 200 laps later, the car felt great! It was so
much fun getting to try so many things we don't normally get to try
while in the heat of battle at the track. Thanks again to
Jerry, Chad, Blake, and mom for helping make it happen. |
|
|
| TESTING FIRST! |
| I normally shy away from test-n-tunes and hot lap
sessions for one main reason, I usually wreck. LOL!
Fortunately I made it through this one free of carnage. Although
the track was a little wet early which had me riding the high line, I
managed to keep it off of and out of the fence. |
|
| STIRRING THE TOWN! |
| The test arrangement was for it to be private, just us.
However in the small town, it becomes very obvious when someone is going
around the track. Especially in a modified. So it wasn't
long before people were driving along the road above the track and knocking
on the gate to get in. Several was hoping to run home and get
their own cars. LOL! Chad explained it was a private
test and they went on their way. Thanks again! |
|
| WELCOME BACK!
|
We're pleased to welcome back several sponsors for 2012!
PHAT Chassis & Jerry's Extreme Machine of Pahrump, NV.
EISELE Motorsports of Grinnell, IA.
O'HANLEY'S rear ends of Las Vegas, NV.
More information to follow, but wanted to send a big thank you to these
people. |
|
| JET STREAK SMILEY? |
I've seen some interesting circles and scribbles for
jet streaks above the Las Vegas area which made me wonder what was going
on up there, but this one got my attention for sure. It
looks like a smiley!
Neat.
|
 |
|
|
| JANUARY SCHEDULING! |
| While nothing has been 100% finalized, we are currently
looking into events at Victorville Auto Raceway and Canyon Speedway Park
during January. Stay tuned for details. |
|
| FUTURE RACING! |
| Local or global? That is the question.
We'll see where the team ends up. |
| |
