The New Season Starts!
The 2011 ProKart Challenge Season
S4 Stock Honda Class Heats Up

The new kart season starts?  Who will be the ProKart Challenge S4 Champ this year?

Okay, I'm making an effort to catchup and do a brief summary of the first first PKC races.  Unfortunately, I've been slacking, so I don't have a lot of pictures.

Here's how I remember the season so far:

We aren't practicing as much as we used to.  We used to practice maybe once a week, then it went down to once every two weeks.  Now we are down to maybe only going on the PKC Friday practice day right before the race.  This is due to cost, shuttling the kids around everywhere to their activities, and because I've become too dependent on having Jason Hettervick tune for me.  Karting is so much easier when you have a person to help work on your kart, and more importantly, work on making the kart fast on the track, and yelling at the driver when he is screwing up.  I figure if I just go to the track without Hettervick, I'll pick up bad habits, I won't work on figuring out what make the kart work best (More or less camber? What about caster?  Which axle? Wide front or wide back? Which hubs?  Ride height for front and rear? Seat position?  How many seat struts?).   So now I figure if I only practice on the PKC practice day with Hettervick, the money I save by not going to other practices can pay for Hettervick's help on PKC weekends. 

PKC SOUTH RACE #1 - Adams Motorsports Park, February 4-5, 2011
We kicked off the season at the Adams Kart Track.  Jeff, Wayne and I have practiced here before, but we haven't raced here before.  There were a lot of complaints about racing at Adams, because many people thought the track was too tight and too narrow to have shifter karts there, including myself.  Many people thought there would be a lot of carnage at this race in the shifter class.  As it turns out, Adams was a great choice.  There was some exciting racing going on, and despite people thinking that there was nowhere to make a pass in a shifter kart, it is possible to pass each other in a safe manner.  Team Visalia struck first, with Jimmy McNeil (ex-S1/S3 driver) and Father-in-Law Robert Marks (ex-G1 driver) deciding to run in the S4 Stock Honda class this year, with McNeil putting it on pole in qualifying.  As it turns out, the PKC South S4 Class is one of the biggest classes that PKC has at the moment.  For the first race, at a track where some people refused to show up because of "possible carnage", there were 21 S4 drivers.  In this economy, that is a great turnout.  Even in a good economy, that is a great turnout.  I was originally going to share Jason Hettervick as my tuner/mechanic with Erik Jackson, but Erik decided to run LAKC instead of PKC this year.  So Hettervick ends up helping the Pulp guys with their kart setup. 

Qualifying
The Pulp guys are slotted right behind Marks with Randy McKee taking the 4th position.

Heat Race 1
Wayne has a motor problem, is a DNF in Heat race 1.  Marks and McNeil switch places, with Marks winning the race.  Randy McKee is 4 seconds behind Team Visalia, and the rest of us are behind McKee.

Heat 2:
Raceaflais comes out to play, McNeil has mechanical problem, and Jeff has air filter fall off, so they are both DNS.  Marks holds on for the win. I'm thinking I'm good for a podium spot in the main race, thus starting the season out on a good note.

The Main Race
McNeil is mowing down people from the back of the pack, makes it to 2nd.  Marks wins.  Jeff can't fight his way to the podium.  My kart seemed like it was bogging a bit on the slower turns, so I turned into a defensive driver and was slowing down the rest of the pack.  I have a train of about 7 karts behind me.  Until I knock the spark plug cap off with my big elbow pad.  I pull over, and I see that my fuel pump mount broke.  I thought it was another fueling problem, so I didn't restart the kart, but after I get trailered in I realize that the pump was probably still working, so I should have just put the damn plug wire back on so I could finish the race.  So I start the year again with a DNF.....some things never change.

My dad won the PKC South S4 Championship in 2010.  What has your daddy done lately?

PKC SOUTH RACE #2 - Willow Springs, March 11-12, 2011
Race #2 is at Willow Springs Kart track, which is a small, 6/10ths of a mile track.  I suck at this track.  But my ace in the hole is Hettervick, who seems pretty good at dialing in my kart so it whips around the corners at a high rate of speed.  He spends a lot of time trying to fix my driving style (meaning he's yelling at me not to drive like an idiot drifter going around the track), trying to make me be smoother, get on the gas early, don't burn the tires, don't throw the kart, etc.  In other words, trying to have me drive the exact opposite like I normally drive.  But the results are good!  I am on the front row, right behind McNeil, out of 25 drivers!  Perhaps this could be my year.......

Wayne, McKee, and Jeff are right behind me, all of us separated by .04 seconds, with Dunford and Marks only .02 behind Jeff.  Yes, it's a tough field.  McNeil is on a roll, he has ALL OF US covered by more than 3/10ths.  Damn!

Heat Race 1
McNeil bogs off the line, and I get a great start, and heh heh, I'm in the lead of a ProKart race for the first time in ages, with a field of 25 people!  It only takes McNeil a couple of laps to blow by me, and then he is off in the distance.   I end up second, with the usual suspects behind me, except Jeff has an altercation on the track and is a DNF.   Jeff is having a horrendous bad luck streak, dating back to last year at Buttonwillow.  More on that later.  McNeil wins Heat 1 by an embarrassing 4.5 seconds in a 12 lap race. 

Heat Race 2:
My competitors get dialed in a little better than me, I start driving erratic, and I end up 5th.  Jeff has more altercations in the back, finishes 17th.  McNeil wins by a more embarrassing 4.8 seconds in this race.

The Main:
I just can't get it together.  Wayne passes me, so he takes 5th.  McNeil cruises to another 5 second victory, with PP Mastro, Marks, and McKee in front of Wayne.  Crap, that two ex-G1 guys and an ex-S1 guy whupping on the field.  McNeil beats me by uh....15 seconds in the main.  Now that's really embarrassing.....  &^%$#@!

PKC SOUTH RACE #3 - Buttonwillow Raceway, April 8-9, 2011
Buttonwillow is a really fun track.  It's fast, it flows, it has a couple of tricky turns, lots of room to pass.  In qualifying McNeil is still 3/10ths faster than anyone else in the field.  We got nothing for him.  Wayne decides to sit this race out.  Jeff and I take our usual spots around 4th or 5th on the grid.

Heat Race 1:
McNeil wins again, with father-in-law Marks behind him, and me a long ways back in 3rd.  My kart is running good, it launches down the main straight like a rocket.  But McNeil is killing me in corner speed.

Heat Race 2:
McNeil wins again, and no one has anything for him.  Me and Jeff slot in 3rd and 4th.  Hummmm...maybe a podium here today for us?  I'm thinking if McNeil stayed in S1, and Marks stayed in G1, I'd be whupping ass locally.   McNeil whups me by 5 seconds again in the race.

Buttonwillow PKC Heat 2 April 9 2011 S4 Stock Honda from Doug Hayashi on Vimeo

The Main
McNeil wins the main by an embarrassing 15 seconds in a 20 lap race.  Ouch!  Jeff's bad luck continues, he has altercation on the track is a DNF.  I am in second for what seems like most of the race, and on the VERY LAST FFING TURN,  Mastro throws it inside me, we bump, and he gets by me.  Crap!  I knew he was coming up, so I was in blocking mode (I uh..mean defensive driving mode), and I thought I shut down all the corners without any room for him to get inside me, but looks like I miscalculated.  But hey, at least I made it to the podium!  PP Mastro and I are an embarrassing 15 seconds behind McNeil.

Honda Racing/HPD SKUSA SpringNationals, Musselman Kart Circuit, Arizona,  April 30, 2011
The Wayne and I don't attend this event, but Jeff figures he'll go to Arizona and try to get his mojo back.  I am watching the results closely, as there a a bunch of people from the western half of the US at this event.  In qualifying, McNeil and Marks again pop to the top of the charts, with McNeil winning by half a second over the rest of this highly esteemed S4 field.  I don't feel so bad about him consistently whupping on me by 3-4 tenths of a second in qualifying at our local PKC races.   McNeil ends up qualifying on pole for both SpringNationals races, and winning both races in Arizona.  Jeff has another round of bad luck, missing some practice sessions due to a broken motor mount.  He gets in some altercations/contact on the track, his rear bumper breaks off so he's a DNF in one of the heat races, etc.  He still can't Break the Spell.  He needs to start sacrificing live creatures to Raceaflaius to get out of the rut.  He's now had a year of horrible racing luck, going from Buttonwillow, to Santa Maria, to Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix, to Supernats, to Adams, to Willow, to Buttowillow again, and now to SpringNationals.   

Qualifying Results, Race 1, SpringNationals

My daughter's softball team, enroute to the 8U Tournament Championship

PKC SOUTH Race #4 - Streets of Willow Springs
I figure this is my best chance to beat McNeil.  I spend a lot of time getting my motor rebuilt, making sure everything is in tip top condition.  But then the unexpected happen. My daughter's 8U (8 years old and under) fastpitch softball team starts jelling into a powerhouse team in their post season tournament.  I'm an assistant coach (more like the assistant to the assistant coach, as we have four coaches to help out).  My main responsibility was to help out during the practices and pitch batting practice. I pitched a couple of years of JV high school ball at Long Beach Poly High (known to be a big sports powerhouse, but uhh...not in baseball when I was going there), so I have really good control.  The two main coaches saw that I'm a pretty good batting practice pitcher, so after a few regular games they promoted me to be the team's "coach pitcher".  A coach pitcher in the 8U league means that if the opposing team walks one of your batters by throwing four balls, instead of the batter taking 1st base automatically, you can bring in your own "coach pitcher" to pitch to your batter.  This is because most 8U pitchers don't have good control yet, and you don't want to have a pitcher walk 10 people in a row, which would make for an unbearably frustrating game.  Since I pitched batting practice, the girls got used to me pitching, and I got used to how they swing the bat.  Some of the girls like the pitches low around the knees, other girls hit better when the pitch was around the waist, and other girls couldn't hit a ball unless it was around their shoulders.  8U pitchers of course try to throw 35+ mph, but a coach pitcher can go up there and throw a 20 mph meat ball to their own team.   During batting practice, I would pitch fast to the girls for about 20 pitches each, then I would throw 10 "coach pitches" which were half speed pitches. In the game, when I would have to "coach pitch" to them, I would say stuff like, "Remember, this is coming low and slow at your knees, then slam it", or "this is coming high at your shoulders, so slam it".  Coach pitches on the other team seemed like they were concentrating on just not hitting their own batter or not to throw it in the dirt.  The girls on our team would hit bombs when I coach pitched to them, since I knew exactly where they were going to swing at the ball, and then I would pitch the ball right into their bat.  After the regular season, we went into the post season double elimination tournament, and they won the first four games, thus getting us into the championship game undefeated.  We only had to win one game to be crowned the 8U champs, whereas the other team had to beat us twice to become champs.  Unfortunately, the championship game was the same day as the Streets of Willow Springs PKC race.  fs

So I hemmed and hawed about what which event to attend, the Championship 8U game, or the 102 mph Streets of Willow Springs race.  If I don't go to the Streets of Willow Springs race, I'll miss my best chance of putting my kart on pole and having a chance to beat McNeil.  But if I go to the race, my daughter's team could lose two in a row and take 2nd instead of 1st place, especially since they'll be hitting off a different coach pitcher.  If I miss the Willow Springs race, I'll have to take that race as my "drop race", as PKC tallys up points for 5 of 6 races to crown their PKC South S4 overall champion for the 2011 racing season.  I need to drop my first race at Adams where I DNFed, or else I will have no chance whatsoever of catching McNeil in overall points.  CRAP.  If I don't go to the Championship softball game, the parents on the team will probably say, "WTF, where is our coach pitcher?  Whattaya mean he's out racing some stupid little kart? Our kids are playing for the Championship, and this doesn't happen very often!"

But then I catch a small break.  Apparently, for the final championship game, there is NO COACH PITCHING allowed, the girl pitchers have to fend for themselves.  I guess the league figured out that by the end of the season, if you can make it to the championship game, you probably have a couple of girls that can pitch and throw strikes.  Hey now, so now my daughter's team doesn't really need me to coach pitch.  So I could go to Willow Springs and race, and not feel too guilty.  But then again I won't be there to cheer them on and pitch the pre-game batting practice, and but then again they won't get to hit off me during the game anyways, and if my daughter wins the championship, I won't be there on that special day.  But then I think....you know....it would be a perfect day if I won the Streets off Willow Springs race, AND my daughter's team won the Championship of 8U, and we both brought home first place trophies.   Yeah.....that would be cool.  So after thinking about it for an entire week, I elect to go to the kart race. Yeah, I'm a selfish, self-centered bastard (but what do you expect from a person that has his own racing website)....but those of you on the Go-Fast CrackPipe can understand the decision.....if it is your best chance to possibly win a race for the first time in a long while, you can't walk away from that chance..... 

My son, pretending to walk to the on deck circle at Angels Stadium

On the PKC Friday practice day, I take the kart on the track for my first practice session, and it feels rip roaring fast.  Yes......maybe I can at least beat McNeil in qualifying.  I may not be able to race him for the win in the main, but let's at least try to get within striking distance.  Three laps into the practice session, the motor starts slowing down, the carb gets loose and completely falls out of its slot into the intake while I'm going 100 mph.  Which means not enough gas was coming in, and that the carb was probably loose for a few laps before it finally became disconnected.  Which means the piston was getting hotter and hotter.  Which means the cylinder is now scored, so now the motor is broken.  Doh! %$#&*@!  Raceaflais is obviously not too pleased that I walked away from attending the Championship 8U game....

We put the backup motor on, and get back to work.  Hettervick keeps a stopwatch on McNeil and Marks, and I think their tuner is keeping a stopwatch on me.  We seem to be running about dead even, but we think I have a slight advantage, as I haven't thrown on good tires yet.  Hettervick keeps forcing me to run on old tires, and to learn to manage tire wear, instead of using another set of good rubber on a PKC practice day.  In order to get my throttle control better, Hettervick has put 3 big ass return springs on the throttle, so it is like I am leg pressing 100 lbs when I put on the throttle.  He figures that will keep me from lighting up the tires around the turns like I normally do.

My glove collection.  Four Rawlings "Heart of the Hide" gloves, the first one from when I was a kid.  One SSK glove.

Lap times at Streets of Willow: (video of Ferrari 458 vs. Ducati) (go to halfway mark)
1.  Motor Trend production car record at Streets of Willow: Ferrari 458 with Pro driver = 1:22
2.  Ducati 1198S with pro driver = 1:19
3.  S4 Kart with an S4 driver = 1:18 from the 2009 Streets of Willow Race (we run opposite direction though)

Yes, it's true.  A stock Honda S4 driver would whup on a Ferrari 458 or a Ducati motorcycle at the Streets of Willow.  That's because the Streets of Willow is a small 1.2 mile car track, with lots of turns.  If it was on the Big Willow 2.5 mile car track, the Ferrari and Ducati would whup on us by 10+ seconds, because we don't have enough power for the longer straights on the big car track.

Qualifying
My first lap out, I have a decent lap of 1:17.36, but I figure in my next two laps I'll be in the 1:16's.  (Note: track was slightly changed at this race, trying to avoid a bump in one of the turns, so the laptimes are about 8/10ths faster this year)  For some reason, I got a bit slower after lap 1.  Damn! McNeil almost crashes into me into a turn, Logan is trying to figure out why I'm going so damn slow, as they weren't anticipating that I was slowing down.  Meanwhile, Hettervick is jumping up and down in the pit area trying to get me to come in, as he thinks I have tire that is going flat.  Normally you can tell if a tire is going flat, but at 100 mph, the tire seems like there is enough air in it, and when I go around the turn, it seems a little slow, but I figure it was because the new rubber was gripping really good.  When I come in, Hettervick looks at the tire in disgust.  Looking at the rim, it appears that at one time I marked on it "could be flat", meaning that I thought the rim was defective at one time, but then apparently it worked in a practice session, but now there appears to be something wrong with it.  I am a moron.  Luckily, with only 1 lap in qualifying, we are good for 3rd place in a field with S4, S3, and S5 drivers.  Marks throws it on pole, with McNeil close behind after I botched his fast lap. I can't ffing believe it.  A flat tire after one qualifying lap.  This is gonna be one of those days where everything goes wrong.  I shoulda when to the 8U game.    I call my wife, my daughter's team loses the first game by one run.  Damn!  Now they play one more game, and the winner is crowned the 8U Champs.

Heat Race 1
I fall back to 5th, with McKee and Logan getting by me.

Heat Race 2:
We make some changes, and we turn fastest lap in the race.  We think we are set to make a legitimate challenge for the podium in the main race.  Ha!  This is going to be a good day after all!

Main Race
Something goes horribly wrong.  Not sure if was my driving or what, but suddenly we are a full second off the pace of McNeil.  CRAP.  I fall back to around 7th or so.  I try to make a  pass on Steve Donia, and I get on the inside of him going down the 100 mph straight into the braking zone, but under braking my kart gets a little loose and bumps his rear wheel, sending him flying off track.  A few laps later, my stupid ass new PKC required rear "safety bumper" snaps a bolt (probably because of contact with Donia), and is dragging on the ground.  So I get flagged for DNF.   ARRRGGH!  After this weekend, screwing up my new motor, having a flat tire in qualifying, breaking a rear bumper bolt and DNFing, also seeing that my seat has a hole in it, the steering column got bent, the tire rods are bent......I think I'm going to quit karting.  This SUCKS! Karing is a stupid ffing sport.  I call my wife, and my daughter's team loses in the final tournament game in extra innings by one run.  ARRRGGH!  I rolled the dice and it came up snake eyes.  Twice.  What a disaster.  I need a Ground Hog Day so I can restart this entire day, and just go to the softball game instead of racing.

ZOMBIES! After the 8U Championship game, there is a shaving cream fight for all 6U/8U/10U/12U teams

McNeil wins again by his standard 4+ seconds over the rest of the pack, with McKee holding off Logan for 3rd.

I don't look at my kart for 3 weeks after the Willow Springs race, I'm so disgusted.  I talk to Hettervick, and I agree to have him come to the shop and him help me put my damaged kart back together, and give it another try at Qualcomm.  I hate Qualcomm.  Last time I raced there was a couple of years ago, and the surface was so abrasive, I had NO TIRE left on my kart, and I couldn't keep the kart on the track.  I had to pull off and DNF because I was a danger to people around me, I was going to cause a huge wreck since my kart was on the verge of spinning out on every turn.  It was like driving on ice.  I wasn't the only driver to complain about tire wear at Qualcomm, other people had the same problem.   Hettervick says not to worry, he thinks he has me driving better now so that I won't burn off rear tires like I did before, and he said he'll monitor tire wear to make sure we don't screw it up, and he'll set chassis up to be fast and smooth.  I agree to give it another try.

Streets of Willow Springs May 2011 PKC from Doug Hayashi on Vimeo.

PKC SOUTH RACE #5 - Qualcomm Stadium, Jun 17-18, 2011
PKC practice day.  We seem decently fast, but tire wear is taking a toll on our lap time.  We started with used tires, and we were fast for a session or two until they started to go bald.  I swapped on some older tires that look a little better, just so we have some decent rubber to practice on.  Hettervick is monitoring tire wear, is dicking around with camber/caster/etc, trying to get the kart to work good with the parking lot surface.  Near the end of the day,  I want to put on some new tires to see how fast I can go, and Hettervick says that is idiotic.  I stay on the old tires.

PKC Race Day
After arguing with Hettervick most of the morning, we come to an agreement.

1. In qualifying, I only get ONE hot lap, and then I must park the kart, in order to preserve tire wear.  Hettervick says that he'll position me so there is lot of room, so we'll wait until the end of qualifying, and then he'll signal me out to do my ONE hot lap.  He's thinking we need to save tires for the main.

2. In the morning practice session, we agree that I will do the one practice session on a set of new practice tires (that I have had for a few races since Hettervick won't let me run them), just so I can get the feel of how the kart will handle when I go out for my one hot lap on new race tires.  That way, I'll know exactly how to drive the kart for my one hot lap, how much farther I can go into the turn before braking, how much speed I can try to carry around various turns, etc.

In the morning practice session, the kart is handling great, I'm modulating throttle around turns, and I feel like I am really fast.  Things looking good!  Jason said that there is one small problem, Willy Musgrave is here today, he wasn't at practice yesterday, and he runs fast at this track.  Willy blazed a fast lap this morning (his only practice session for the race), and that was on crappy tires.

Qualcomm parking lot track map for PKC.  We got a 95 mph straight!

Qualifying:
I wait for Jason's signal to go out on the track, and as soon as he gives it to me, I drop the clutch to barrel out of the pit, but I am stopped by the PKC starter/flag guy, who wants me to wait before I go out!  Ack!  After the starter sends me out on the grid, I try to position myself to get one good hot lap.  Once I have enough space between me and the kart in front of me, I floor it and and get moving.  I have one tiny bobble around a turn that I hate, but other than that the lap feels pretty good.  I come in, and Hettervick says we finally out qualified McNeil!  I'm on pole! 10 minutes later, we look at the results, and uh....Musgrave puts it on pole, with McKee second, and me third.  That one little bobble I had on my hot lap cost me my first pole of the year.  Damn!  We thought since we beat McNeil, we were on pole.

Wayne is a little off, had problems in qualifying, finishes 12th.  Jeff decided not to come to this event. He went to the Pro Tour event last month at Arizona, he had his motor mount break, his rear bumper break off, had contact with our drivers, there was sand storm in the pits covering everything with dust and dirt, and had a fairly miserable four days in Arizona.  He's feeling like I did after the Streets of Willow Race, but remember, his bad streak is approaching epic proportions.  But, you have to remember, Jeff had a four year hot streak where he could do no wrong, accumulating 3 SuperNats titles, many race wins and pole positions, and doing it with virtually nothing breaking or DNFing.  I mean, he would win races with cracked pipes, stuff just about to break or fall off his kart, and it would always workout for him.  But now, he is driving around with a black cloud hovering over him.

Heat Race 1:
Our race plan is to try to maintain position.  Don't over drive the kart.  Save tires for the main race, and then we will go for the kill.  Four people get by me, but I don't challenge them.  "Save tires" is the mantra in my brain.  I don't try to fight back, trying to save it for the main.

Heat Race 2:
Same mantra.  Save tires.  I run second fastest lap in the race.  In the tech area, Hettervick is checking other people's tires. Our tires looks the best out of everyone in our class in terms of tire wear.  Perhaps we'll get on the podium in the main.

The Main Race:
Okay, we got a race now!  In the early parts of the race, the three front leaders break away after the rest of us catch up to back marker in what I think is an 80cc kart in about lap 4, and slows up for a turn.  Crap!  I'm duking it out with Kellen (S3 driver) and McKee.  I got more tire than them, so eventually I get by.  Unfortunately, the front three of McNeil, Musgrave, and Donia are too far head to catch.  McNeil and Musgrave are doing a Hagler/Hearns fighting match for first place, with multiple passes back and forth, a little contact here and there, but give the crowd a great show.  I end up 4th, and I still have a ton of tire left.  So in retrospect, I could have driven harder in heat race 2 to try to move up so I could have started better than 7th. Oh well.  My fast lap is only .08 behind McNeil (but then again he was racing for every corner with Musgrave).  Anyways, karting is fun again!

So in terms of the overall PKC South S4 class, I am 4th in points, with a very slight chance of moving up to 3rd or maybe even 2nd in the series.  McNeil has first pretty much locked up.  He's having a dominating year, similar to when Nick Halen came in like Kaiser Soze a few years ago and crushed us by winning 8 of 9 races S3 races, and the only race Halen lost was due to a controversial DQ.  Marks is second place overall, with  McKee third.  We have one race left, the PKC North/South shootout, which means we should have a pretty big field for the Aug 19/20th race at Santa Maria.  Most of the Norcal guys will probably come down and see how they measure up in terms of getting ready for the SuperNats in November, so maybe we will have 25-30 S4 drivers for the last PKC race of the season.  After the Santa Maria race, we'll have one more big race at the Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix, and then we'll do our plotting for the 2011 SuperNationals XV. 

PKC S4 Main Heat Qualcomm June 18, 2011 from Doug Hayashi on Vimeo.

PKC S4 QualComm June 18, 2011 Main Heat from Doug Hayashi on Vimeo.

Softball
The Coed-Softball team has been getting crushed the past few seasons.  We last won a championship in 2007, figure 3 seasons a year, it's so it's been 12 long seasons.  We used to be in the 2nd highest division, then we got dropped down to the 3rd highest, then the 4th highest, then the 5th highest, now we are down to the C7 league, which is the 6th highest league.  Two seasons ago, I had to relinquish my shortstop position that I have held for 26 years to a guy that wasn't even born when I started playing softball.  He came in and hit four home runs in his first game, and hit something like 8 home runs in his first 12 at bats, and has a howitzer for a right arm.  I put him at shortstop and moved myself to third base.  Damn, I thought I would play shortstop forever. Getting old sucks!

Cheating Bastard Redline SC500 bats. Grandfathered in to be legal, no longer made.  I esniped these on Ebay.

Clarence Clemons dies at age 69
I thought the Big Man would outlive all of us. Getting old sucks.  Bummer, there was rumor of a possible tour in the next year or so.

RIP Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons

Excerpt from Bruce Springsteen's Eulogy at Clarence's Funeral:

As a young child my son Sam became enchanted with the Big Man.... no surprise.  To a child Clarence was a towering fairy tale figure, out of some very exotic storybook.  He was a dreadlocked giant, with great hands and a deep mellifluous voice sugared with kindness and regard.  And....to Sammy, who was just a little white boy, he was deeply and mysteriously black.  In Sammy's eyes, "C" must have appeared as all of the African continent, shot through with American cool, rolled into one welcoming and loving figure.  So......Sammy decided to pass on my work shirts and became fascinated by Clarence's suits and his royal robes.  He declined a seat in dad's van and opted for "C's" stretch limousine, sitting by his side on the slow cruise to the show.  He decided dinner in front of the hometown locker just wouldn't do, and he'd saunter up the hall and disappear into the Temple of Soul. 

 Of course, also enchanted was Sam's dad, from the first time I saw my pal striding out of the shadows of a half empty bar in Asbury Park, a path opening up before him; here comes my brother, here comes my sax man, my inspiration, my partner, my lifelong friend.  Standing next to Clarence was like standing next to the baddest ass on the planet.  You were proud, you were strong, you were excited and laughing with what might happen, with what together, you might be able to do.  You felt like no matter what the day or the night brought, nothing was going to touch you.   Clarence could be fragile but he also emanated power and safety,  and in some funny way we became each other's protectors; I think perhaps I protected "C" from a world where it still wasn't so easy to be big and black.  Racism was ever present and over the years together, we saw it.  Clarence's celebrity and size did not make him immune.  I think perhaps "C" protected me from a world where it wasn't always so easy to be an insecure, weird and skinny white boy either.  But, standing together we were badass, on any given night, on our turf, some of the baddest asses on the planet.  We were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself.  And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I'd written in my songs and in my music.  Clarence carried it in his heart.  It was a story where the Scooter and the Big Man not only busted the city in half, but we kicked ass and remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly. And that....that's what I'm gonna miss.  The chance to renew that vow and double down on that story on a nightly basis, because that is something, that is the thing that we did together...the two of us.  Clarence was big, and he made me feel, and think, and love, and dream big. How big was the Big Man?  Too fucking big to die.  And that's just the facts.  You can put it on his grave stone, you can tattoo it over your heart. Accept it....it's the New World. 

Damn!  I  knew I shoulda went to see those last E Street band shows last November 2009 on the east coast, but it was right around the time of the SuperNats.  Not sure how they are going to replace Clarence, or how they are going to redo the presentation of their live shows.

Workout/Training Regimen
Jeff has been doing some triathlons lately.  Wayne and I have been hitting the gym more frequently lately.  Earlier this year, I felt I was getting weaker, as I couldn't bench press as much as I used to.  After hitting the gym 3 to 4 days a week for a few months, I was finally able to bench press over 200 lbs again.  Wayne wasn't working out until he heard I was benching over 200 lbs, so once he started going again, I was kicking his ass in terms of max weight on the bench press.  He's usually a little stronger than me on the bench.  It took a few weeks, but now we are about even in terms of what we can bench press one time, which is 225 lbs (that is 50 lbs over our body weight) occasionally.  I say occasionally because we can usually only do one rep at that weight, and frequently we uhhh...do get pinned.   As long as I go to the gym every other day, I can keep my max above 210 lbs without to much of a problem.  I know if I don't lift frequently, my max will drop below 175 lbs again, and it will take months to build it back up.  I'm on a mission....if I can get to 235 lbs, that will the most that I have ever lifted in my life.  Not sure if I can get there, but as long as I can keep it above 205 lbs, I'll be happy.  Working out has other benefits.....I am able to win back my shortstop position, and moving the new guy back to 3rd base.  I'm making less errors than him, and I can still make the diving play deep into the hole at short, and throwing people out from my knees at first base.  I put the new guy at third, unless we are playing a team that hits 300 footers, in which case we put the new guy in the outfield where he covers more ground that just about anyone else in the league....and he refuses to wear cleats.  He's using tennis shoes.  This season, we are 4-2, tied for first place, with four games left in the season.  This could be the season we win our first place championship t-shirts so we can strut down Main Street by the Huntington Beach pier like we own the place.  So what if it is a C7 league, the shirts don't say "C7" on it.

We aren't benching this much yet.  And no, we don't wear blue tights to the gym

Next Race:  ProKart Challenge Race #6 - Santa Maria Raceway
I'm looking forward to the final PKC race of the season.  We are having the PKC North/South shootout, which last year had about 25 S4 drivers, and yours truly took pole at this event.  (was a DNF in the main, but that is beside the point).  This year should have an even bigger S4 field, as people are now seeing how they could stack up against other drivers prior to the SuperNats.  Update: July 7, 2011.  Apparently there is some sort of problem between the Santa Maria Karting Association and the Santa Maria Airport.  The airport has been threatening to take over the track for years, but something happened that made PKC cancel the race at Santa Maria.  Crap!  So the final race will instead be at Buttonwillow....which unfortunately is McNeil's and Marks's home track....DAMN!

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