Springfield Mile, here I come!

[Guzzistajohn]

Watch Shayna Texter at work!
https://www.facebook.com/FlatTrackLive/videos/vb.125895807481766/10151829153825498/?type=2&theater

[oldbike54]

 Sure would be fun to see her return to form . Maybe next year .

  Dusty

[LowRyter]

Next year?  Won't she be running on Labor Day?

[Spuddy]

Have fun attendees. It's been 12 years since I could attend!

Spud

[oldbike54]

Next year?  Won't she be running on Labor Day?

 She will be there , but the speed won't be .

  Dusty

[LowRyter]

I think that big heavy Triumph is a stone.  I see her brother is on a Kaw. 

[oldbike54]

I think that big heavy Triumph is a stone.  I see her brother is on a Kaw.

 She has been on a Kawasaki all year . The Triumphs are actually getting competitive , they apparently moved the engine back just a smidge to balance the bike . Flat trackers are the only race bikes to run a slight static rear wheel weight bias .

  Dusty

[Guzzistajohn]

I think that big heavy Triumph is a stone.  I see her brother is on a Kaw.

You've been saying that for a couple of years, I'm gonna find out what the weight difference is @ the track.

[Daniel Kalal]

I think that big heavy Triumph is a stone.

She's not riding the Triumph his year.

In any event, this year's Triumph is a real powerhouse.  The team has been revamped top to bottom, but mainly Brent Armbruster is now wrenching for them; he's one of the best.

Big heavy?  Not likely.

[oldbike54]

She's not riding the Triumph his year.

In any event, this year's Triumph is a real powerhouse.  The team has been revamped top to bottom, but mainly Brent Armbruster is now wrenching for them; he's one of the best.

Big heavy?  Not likely.

 Yeah , doubt if the Triumph is any heavier than an XR 750 . Yo Low , are you convinced now that Shayna ain't riding the Limey any more ?

  Dusty

[Guzzistajohn]

No, Daniel's right. She's team green baby!

[Daniel Kalal]

Yeah , doubt if the Triumph is any heavier than an XR 750.

The Ducati keeps the starter on the bike as otherwise they'd need to add more weight to just keep above the post-race minimum, anyway.  I doubt any team is running around over weight and the minimum-weight rule keeps somebody from sticking 100 hp in a bicycle frame.

[oldbike54]

No, Daniel's right. She's team green baby!

 Yeah , read my earlier post , heck , I've been telling John this for several months , he seems to have Triumph stuck in his
head 

  Dusty

[Guzzistajohn]

Yeah , read my earlier post , heck , I've been telling John this for several months , he seems to have Triumph stuck in his
head 

  Dusty

No, he's got 'Zuki Bandito stuck in his head. I think he needs a neti pot!

[HarveyMushman]

I don't know about weights, but the Triumph engine looks big enough to be found in a Peterbuilt, not a flat-tracker. 

[Guzzistajohn]

I don't know about weights, but the Triumph engine looks big enough to be found in a Peterbuilt, not a flat-tracker.


I think Daniel explained it pretty well above

[Daniel Kalal]

...the Triumph engine looks big enough to be found in a Peterbuilt, not a flat-tracker.

Here's the Triumph over the weekend in Charlotte.  That's Brent doing what he does best.  Perhaps the engine looks heavy to you since it's the only air-cooled parallel twin in the field, and those fins give it more width than the water-cooled Kawasaki--certainly much wider than the XR.

This is the bike that came in fourth, behind Smith (Kawasaki), Coolbeth (Harley-Davidson) and Halbert (Harley-Davidson).

[LowRyter]

looks like a lump to me.

[Crusty]

looks like a lump to me.

It's a lump that will propel that bike to somewhere close to 135 MPH on a 1 mile long horse track.

[LowRyter]

yeah, 135 in a straight line is the easy part, then you gotta turn left.   

[Guzzistajohn]

Johnny, are you trying to be a pain in the keister?  Keep it up and I'll overlook your tri-tip!!!

You know I'm a triumph rider too right?

[Crusty]

yeah, 135 in a straight line is the easy part, then you gotta turn left.   

If it finished fourth at Charlotte, I'd say it turns pretty well, too.

[LowRyter]

we'll see how it runs in Springfield.  I think Deek is probably right that all those fins make it look bigger.  But compared to an old Triumph or Yamaha 650, it looks heavy. 

[Crusty]

95 F


I'm in Springfield. I arrived a few hours ago, and the first thing I did was to proceed directly to the Fairgrounds. I was going to head straight for the campground, but I couldn't resist riding over to the Mile track and checking out how it's looking. I parked my Sportster over near the turn four track entrance and walked up to the outside edge of the track. The dirt is looking good; there were crews stacking hay bales at the turns, and the bundles of air fence were sitting in the middle of the turns. The water truck was out watering the track, and when he pulled off the track to take on another load of water, the driver motioned me over and asked if I wanted to take a lap as a passenger in the truck. He didn't have to ask me twice. I was in the passenger seat as fast as I could hop in. I had talked with him in May when I came, and he remembered me. I found out that they'd been putting down water for days, and even though the sun dried off the top, the dirt held most of the moisture beneath the surface, and the driver figured that the track was going to hold up and be racy come Sunday. He said that for the Sprint Car races during the State Fair, they'd put down 80,000 gallons of water on the morning before the race.  The truck held 2400 gallons, and that was just enough for one lap around the track. Pretty impressive stuff.

I thanked him, then rode over to the campground and got my tent site. I'm camped just outside the fence by the Arena where the short track races are being held tomorrow evening. I like the campground better than Riverside park, even if all the tent spaces are on hillsides. The spot I chose is under a big tree for shade, and almost level. I decided to put the desert tan side of the rain fly out. Last night, I had the camo side out. I think the tan side might repel a little more of the Sun. (Yeah, right! In my dreams, maybe.) The weather here is supposed to be hot all weekend.I hope it cools down enough that I can sleep comfortably at night. Supposedly, the lows are going to be 70, so if it does cool down that much, I'll sleep like a baby. Last night in Vincennes, it was supposed to cool down to 70, but when I broke camp and hit the road, it was 76. Still, I slept well enough in spite of hearing train horns all night long. I heard a train while I was setting my tent up here at the Fairgrounds, but it was a ways off, and not really loud. I hope that's the norm. I keep thinking of the line from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers by the Firesign Theater, "...the endless plains of Iowa, the Lonesome Trains of Illinois...". Although I heard trains at nearly every City Park in the midwest, Columbus, Nebraska had the loudest and most frequent, by far. I really doubt that anyplace I camp will exceed that AG park for annoyingly loud trains passing by often.

Gas prices have dropped as I approached Springfield. Gas here is running around 2.28/gal. Last Memorial day, gas prices were higher than average here; but now, the lowest prices I've seen in Illinois are in Springfield. Go figure. I can't make heads or tails out of it.

The Mile should be pretty interesting. I hope that some of the teams have found enough horsepower to give Brian Smith a real run for the win. Jared Mees has a fast bike; he was closing on Smith last week at the Charlotte !/2 Mile when his engine blew on the last lap. I hope he has both the speed and reliability to challenge for the win. I'd also like to see Kenny Coolbeth up in the mix. He won here last year. Jake Johnson is riding Brad Baker's bike. Baker broke his leg, and Johnson's filling in for him. Baker won the Indy Mile, so the bike is fast enough; I just hope Johnson can get it dialed in for his riding style. And I read that Danny Eslick is going to be riding a Bill Werner Kawasaki here. It would be nice if the same synergy that existed between Springer and Werner and Parker and Werner could exist between Eslick and Werner. I'd love to see Danny win a Mile, and to see it this weekend would be particularly sweet. There are a lot of other racers that I'd enjoy seeing win, but to be honest, I think it's going to be one of the people I mentioned. Probably Smith, but I can hope.

The Short Track is also looking really nice, but I'll save that for another Snippet.

.

[oldbike54]

 Doug's  Dad is coming with him , pretty cool huh .

  Dusty

[Crusty]

Waiting For The Mile


In a couple of hours, I’ll be in the grandstands at the Illinois State Fairgrounds sweating my butt off and waiting for Practice to begin. Right now though, I’m sitting in a McBuffoon’s eating a Sausage McMuffin and drinking a  Senior coffee.

Yesterday, I spent something like 11 hours in the stands watching something like 40 different Amateur and Pro races at the Short Track. My personal feeling is that the Promoters (the IMDA) have sacrificed quality for quantity. By the time the night ended, I was burnt out; and I love racing. I have to admit, though that for the first time, when they called up a local to sing the Star Spangled Banner, they had somebody who could actually sing. The girl had a wonderful voice, and she hit every note. It’s the first time in years that I haven’t been grimacing inside or grumbling at sour notes. Prior to this pleasant young woman, there was a “singer” who did a classic job of butchering, God Bless The USA. I don’t think I was the only person in the stands who felt like they had just experienced the Aural equivalent of having to chug a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup.

Some of the racing was really good. The Bultaco Astro Cup race was a classic with Joe Kopp and Chris Carr having a real dogfight for the win. First one would lead, then the other would pass him, then there was a re-pass and so on. Joe Kopp won, but it could just as easily have been Chris Carr. There were a number of “retired” racers there. Steve Morehead was also racing in the Bultaco series and ex-World Champion John Kosinski showed he still has the skills to win races. Ronnie Jones was there, and he was putting in some laps on a Kawasaki Twin. I guess that for next year, The AMA is considering making a rules change mandating that all motorcycles must have two cylinders for all four forms of Dirt Track; Short Track, TT, 1/2 Mile and Mile. Jones was doing some “Demo” laps to showcase the idea for the crowd. I walked through the pits during the break between the “qualifying” races and the “Main Event” races and I took a bunch of pictures of the assorted Short Track bikes there . One of these days, I need to download my camera and share some of them.

I went to a “States Visited website and filled in a map of the states I’ve been to this summer. I’ll try to attach it, but if it doesn’t work, then just use your imagination. As of right now, I’ve been in 39 different states (and the District of Columbia). I don’t know if I’ll hit any new states before I get back to Taxachusetts, but still, 39 ain’t bad for one summer. I’ve put 21,000 miles on my bike since I set out, and there will be at least 2,000 more before I get back to the shop. I’m keeping an eye on my tires; I’m 99% positive that they won’t last as long as the previous Dunlops, but I’m hoping that they’ll last 10,000 miles.

Time to go.

[LowRyter]

We met  Bob last night.  Haven't met Crusty.  That's Darren, John, Doug, Chuck  and me.  I went to Lincoln tomb.  Gonna meet up at the track

[oldbike54]

 Bryan Smith is one of the greatest milers ever , WOW ! Shayna even passed a few riders to finish 11th . The Triumph is getting more competitive .

  Dusty

[Crusty]

Labor Day


Another Mile is in the books. Brian Smith won it, even though I was hoping he wouldn’t. Oh, well; it was still a great race that came down to a three wide group of riders crossing the finish line at the end with only inches separating first from third. There were a lot of highlights from the races. Nichole Mees won her heat race after a pretty good battle with Jake Johnson. Shayna Texter also made the Main, though she had to come through a Semi to get there. The Main was a record setter in that it was the first time that any National had two women in the Main Event. Also, there were a married couple (Jared and Nichole Mees) and a brother/sister (Cory and Shayna Texter) in the main. The weather was extremely hot, officially, it was 96º F but it felt a lot hotter, especially in the sun. I paid ten bucks and got to ride a “Parade” lap of the track. I didn’t go quite as fast as I did on my “Parade” lap of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but my Sportster did get into fifth gear on the back straight. I didn’t look at the speedometer, but I know I was well past 70. It wasn’t my fault; after that dude blew by me on a 450 dirt tracker, I just wanted to see what kind of engine it had in it so I tried to catch him. The Parade lap turned out to be two laps long, and I loved riding every inch of it. In my younger days, I used to road race, but I never got into dirt tracking. I kind of wish I had; then again, I think I’ve had a pretty interesting life in spite of that.

After the race, I just went back to my tent.  Yesterday morning, I saw some folks breaking camp, so after asking if they were leaving and getting a yes, I had moved to a more level location. I set my tent up so that the annoyingly bright night lighting would be blocked by a tree. That was a good idea, and it worked. I kicked back and drank a quart of Powerade and ate a bag of “Louisiana” Kitchen Cooked BBQ chips. They weren’t bad, but they were a little too salty for my taste. I’ve tried BBQ chips all over the country, and of them all, by two favorites are Ute’s Kettle Cooked Sweet Heat BBQ and Grippo’s BBQ chips. Both have very different flavors, but both are really good. After that sumptuous repast, I called Melia in Australia. Ron’s gone back to work on some obscure South Pacific island, so I didn’t get to talk to him. Melia and I shot the bull for nearly 40 minutes, though. We were kicking around some of the places she, Ron and I could go when I get over there. Now, all I have to do is figure out how to come up with the air fare. I have a couple of ideas; It will happen. When I first started thinking about traveling this summer, I had no idea if I could do it, yet it happened. I’ll be in Australia before winter hits the Northern Hemisphere.

This morning, I’m going to break camp then hit a Laundromat. I’ve been sweating so much that I can only wear a set of jeans for two days, then they start to smell and my T-shirts hall have streaks of salt on them from sweat. I won’t discuss my socks and shorts.  After that, I’m heading west and north towards Carhenge.