Riding out the storms

I had this wonderful blog written out about my week, the challenges, and the things I forgot to write about last week.  The blogging program deleted the entire thing and I was so freaking proud of it.  I had tons of pictures and lots of heartfelt words.  Sigh.   I don't feel like writing it all again so here is a shortened version:

3 runs, no work outs thanks to work

lots of storms

and lastly Andrew and his win from last week  

I will elaborate on that because I am so damn proud of him.  Here are the pictures.

We raced our Heavy 160 car with the correct motor.  We got three laps in practice and the shock came off and the car was dragging the track.  Andrew thought it was hilarious.  The class is small, only four cars, but all of the kids are older than him by at least 2 years or more.  In the heat race the first day, he wouldn't pass two of the cars and he got lapped by the leader even though he was clearly faster.  I thought, oh boy, here we go again.  Then the two cars ahead of him wrecked out and he hung with the leader for the rest of the race.  While he had been lapped and actually got last place even though he was ahead of the other two cars, he found his confidence in the feature and passed both cars multiple times.  For that, I am SUPER proud.

Then this happened.  His first checkered flag in a feature.  We were beyond excited for him because we knew he could do it.  He ran super awesome efficient lines and his car drove like a dream.  I think he is going to love the heavy classes because the cars hug the track.  Yes, there was only one other car in the class, but the kiddo is an amazing driver and 2 years older than Andrew.  Once the Marshall racing team gets their car dialed in, he will totally be a challenge to beat, but heck, I am going to enjoy this win for a bit anyway :)

We now have heat winner signs.  How cool is that????

These were the trophies they got for winning.  Super cool and he got spoiler alert, TWO!

First feature win.  He pretty much smiled the rest of the day and the rest of the weekend for that matter!

Funny how they are the same size!

The other two racers had left by the time we did podium pictures, but I am so freaking proud of him for this 2nd place.  

Another heat win and feature win in heavy Honda!  I was sweating on this one because they definitely had Noah's car dialed in more with some expert help from one of our track kids who is a whiz at setting up cars. 

 

Another second place for Andrew in Heavy 160, a class and a motor he has NEVER driven.  We promised him he would love driving 160 (more speed), so much better than driving an animal car (more torque), and boy did he ever.  Once he gets his passing down, I feel like he will catch Noah as their times were so close.  

And another podium for the ginger racer!

Afterwards, he got lots of shout outs from other racing teams, which increased that big ole smile even more.

That is what it is all about.  That is why we continue in this sport.  These kids will battle each other to the checkered flag and then get out of the cars and go play.  These families form a bond that is so special that even when we disagree, it's strong and it's always there.  We ALL knew he could do it.  Yes, it's only one car he beat and two cars in the other class, but it's a start towards using the skills we all know he has.  Every year I ask him, do you want to do this again this year and every year it's a big YES!  Every year he has highs and lows, but mostly lows because we are limited in our knowledge in what we are doing.  Yet he persists.  And for that I will end this blog before it gets deleted again on a big HELL YEAH ginger racer.  HELL YEAH.