This was going to be an epic week! Three days of running and then heading to Tulsa to watch some dirt racing indoors!!!! Yes, all the exclamation marks. I am not going to do a day by day plan since I kind of went off the rails with my plan this week.
I got one run in and because Stella wanted to come, we didn't do speedwork. She had a pretty painful chiro appointment on Monday with her being pretty ouchy even with less mileage. I honestly think she is like me, when I do lower mileages, that is when my body kind of falls apart. We have a plan moving forward including getting her back to 3 runs a week and some supplements. I hope this works, her mind is still wanting to go and I hate leaving her behind anyway.
Most of our week was spent in Tulsa Oklahoma at the Tulsa shoot out. I knew it was a big deal but I had no clue just how big. Three of the kiddos we sponsor were racing, plus several of our TKQMA drivers and several famous NASCAR drivers. Honestly, I know nothing of dirt racing. I have seen one dirt race in person in all of my existence and watched several of Micah's online.
Our plan was to leave Wednesday morning and head out for a 4-5 hour drive. Of course work kept piling up and we couldn't hit the road till much later in the day than we wanted but it is what it is. Owning a small business is NOT for the faint of heart, even with good workers to take care of things while you are gone. I googled local breweries close to where our hotel was and low and behold, there were two. One was more of a chain type place BUT they carried all local beers. This was a blueberry ale that was amazing and even had blueberries floating in it. I also tried a Dunkel and Tony tried a local Kolsch.
Thursday was all about heat races and passing points. All the boys drew good positions to get tons of passing points. There is a ton of hurry up and wait and these stands became my best friends for 3 days straight.
Two things, it's loud and the fuel they burn will burn your eyes. I thought it was a new fashion statement to wear ski googles until I sat there for a full day watching heat race after heat race.
Micah was a star all weekend and had an amazing heat race where he passed many cars and finished 3rd. Passing points are the name of the game so his passing points plus his finishing points put him in the qualifier. I am still trying to learn the structure of these races so I may get this totally wrong but you want to be in a qualifier to get straight to the A mains (the big show) instead of having to battle it out in the lower mains. If you land in the lower mains, you have to be top 2 to move up and then you are at the back of that upper main.
We had such a great education this week/weekend. We learned so much about the cars, the tracks, the engines, and the famous drivers. We were such rookies but we soaked it all in. Honestly, it is very different from pavement racing and I kind of like it! I like the fact that the tracks are much wider and you can pass on the inside or outside. You just have to find what line works best for you and go.
Evan, Cooper and Micah all raced in the heat races Thursday. Both Evan and Cooper finished last and had to go to the lower mains. Micah got into the qualifier. They all worked incredibly hard and we are proud of all of them.
Andrew had to facetime with his track buddies to show them the races. They are all big dirt racing fans so they probably know these drivers better than we do!
I was most amazed by the flagman who stands ON THE TRACK while these cars are speeding by you. Not sure how fast they go but I would be peeing in my pants. At some times he is only a few feet away from them!!!!
Here is Micah's heat race. I am so proud of how amazing he did!
Here is Cooper's big wreck. He was fine due to the very amazing safety gear our kids wear racing.
Post the races, the kids played, we watched some other crazy heat races, and then we headed back to the hotel to wait for line ups to be posted and to have some beer.
We had lots of late nights, laughs, food, friends, and fun.
Day 2 and qualifiers. Only Micah was driving so we had lots of watching and playing in the pits.
We met some famous drivers or stalked them anyways. Hailie Deegan is amazing and we will be following her NASCAR career and while we never went up to talk to Kyle Busch, we were pitted right across from him and took many photos of him from afar. He was driving and his son was driving so we didn't want to disturb him.
Micah needed a top 2 finish to advanced to the A mains and HE DID IT! I can't upload the video as it's too big but it was amazing driving.
We celebrated New years eve with chicken fingers, beer, and a New York countdown.
Saturday was Last chance qualifiers, lower mains, and A mains or the big show. Micah was our only driver to get in the A mains but everyone tried hard and that is all you can ask for. Last chance qualifiers were amazing to watch as drivers were putting it all out on the line to try to make it to the big show.
Right off the bat, there was a little on track incident that might have damaged Micah's car. Tony ran down to double check while they were on caution and couldn't see anything. Things got a little crazy from there. Micah had a car slow down in front of him and he tapped the bumper of the car which caused the car to spin. It was not intentional, Micah just had no where to go as he was boxed in. He was penalized and put to the back of the pack. Then that same car came down on him in turn one and caused Micah to flip very violently. It was very hard to stay in the stand and watch helplessly and they pulled out the back board and the jaws of life.
Luckily he passed all of his tests at the track by the EMT crew and was allowed to go to the pits and recover. Other than some soreness probably from his seat belts doing their job, he is okay. They had to use the jaws of life to cut the wing off as the supports were bent.
Later we celebrated the weekend with pizza and beers at the hotel and the boys had a sleep over that kept them up passed two am. Luckily Micah's mom is a night owl and Micah's dad can sleep through anything.
We had so much fun and I am so glad we went. My kiddo loved hanging out with his friends and watching racing. It was a new world to us and it was quite fun. We have a great group of friends and I wouldn't trade them for anything.
On a more somber note, I lost my dad on New Year's Day. My dad and mom divorced when I was 8 months old I believe and while he was around, he wasn't really "in" my life. I am happy that in his later years he came to know God and recommitted his life to Him. He had been sick, but was Covid negative until he was suddenly very sick and had to be rushed to the hospital and was Covid positive, plus pneumonia. I have not heard the full story of exactly how all of this took place, but I am assuming that his lungs were so damaged that he would never recover as a vent was never an option. We were not allowed to call, but I did sneak a few texts to let him know I loved him and his response was ditto. I am glad to know he is in heaven with my Grandma and Granddaddy Gordon, his sisters Doris, Kay, and Diane and my cousin Biff just to name a few. I still have an aunt Shirley and an Uncle Jerry still alive and my step mom Janice. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. The above picture was the last time we saw each other in person, a few years ago at the Memphis zoo. Very fitting since he use to take me to show me the glass jobs he did there (he worked in glass estimating/work). I still wish we had gotten to know each other better, I still feel like I barely know the man that contributed half of my genetics. I have heard he was super smart in math, something he didn't pass on to me. I was suppose to get his height but you can see I did not. While I didn't seem him much and especially in later years due to distance, I did grow up with some amazing grandparents that loved me so I am very glad they are together again. RIP Michael Wayne Gordon.
I think your family and my family need to get tickets to one of NASCAR races at the Kansas Speedway and go watch some racing!
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