January 2010 - Getting ready for ice racing

Big scramble to get my new ice racer ready for the season !  I bought car #26 (the Crown Royal ice racer).  It has a dead engine and I've got to put in the engine from my written off car (r.i.p. car #77).  With any luck, Craig Ball will pilot my other ice racer (car #17) to many "SECOND" place finishes after me !  As my race program grows, many rookie drivers are begging me for a ride, but don't tell Fred and Kevin that I called them "Rookies" :) 

 

December 2009 - New AMSOIL Dealer

I signed up to become an AMSOIL dealer. Dealer #1798056.  Check out some of my links to the AMSOIL product on my home page.

 

July 2009 - Indy Race

I had a great time at Indy 2009.  We broke the rear axle on Friday, the Edmonton Journal came out to see the car in action but they had to settle for a picture of the car up on jack stands. The Journal wrote an article about me, NASCC and the club's involvement with the race.

 

July 18 2009 – Getting ready for Indy

I’m busy loading up the trailer with gear for the Indy race. I’m very excited, the stands hold 60,000 people I think. I believe there are 56 cars entered into the NASCC race, that is a lot ! I’ve been handing out coupons for The Ranch ( tickets for Indy weekend ) and for Gateway. I will be at the Royal Glenora for a breakfast event for CGI ( that’s where I work ) with the car. Then its off to the track to setup for Indy.

 

June 22 2009 – Lost brakes at 200kph

I got to race at CFB on the weekend, we used an Air Force Airstrip. I'm still wrestling with braking issues and the brakes almost killed me this weekend. I had a hard time braking after the changes I made, it ended up causing the brakes to fail at 180kph down the front straight. It was real scary knowing how fast I was going when the brake pedal hit the floor. I used the engine brakes and used the corner to scrub off some speed but I was too fast to stay on the track, I didn’t wreck the car ( lucky ). I did manage to kill a small tree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64YeQ5_JyiU < this is when I lost my brakes, thank god for engine braking………it could have been worse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xniH8rfTF0  < first lap at CFB

 

July 16 2009 – Capitol Ex Parade

I had the 944 in the parade today. Tanks, soldiers, zombies, cars, marching bands, it was lots of fun.

 

<< video of spectators at parade >>

 

June 16 2009 – Sponsor stuff coming along.

The car has been painted white and I started put sponsors logos onto the car. I have to put the logos onto the trailer next.
The car goes into a speed shop tonight to deal with a brake issue, then I’m racing on an army airstrip on the weekend;  CFB Edmonton as its called. I’ve never been on this track, but it should be lots of fun. Details about the race can be found at
www.nascc.ab.ca and follow the link to the CFB race.

The Indy race and the club info can be found at http://edmontongtrace.com/ , this link is for the Edmonton Indy race.

 

June 1 2009 – First Blog

Well, here goes, my first 'blog'.

As my kids get a bit older I decided to get into racing. I've been doing stuff for years but nothing serious. So I started Ice Racing Chevettes a few years back. What a hoot ! Cheap, not really dangerous, competitive, great bunch of people. Watch my video of my screwing up big time ice racing, I couldn't see, I started last for the championship race due to a full inversion. That means I was gunning for the championship and they started me last because I had the most points. Visibility was poor and resulted in my crash. Maybe I wont screw up next year !

I've been preparing for summer road racing for 2 years now. I built a second garage, bought an enclosed trailer, welders, tools, it takes a lot of money and desire to build up all the things you need to go racing. In hindsight, I could pay someone who has all the tools to do it for me and in the short term that might have cost less. But know I am set.

I have soooo many cars.
2 Chevette Ice racers, I crashed one this winter so I’m going to build another
1 Chevette 1977 Porsche 911 - future Ice racer
1972 Porsche 911 - future road racer - display car for now
1983 Porsche 944 with a chevy LS1 engine
1984 Porsche 930 - street car

I’m road racing the 944 this year. The big race is the Edmonton Indy, my kids are pumped that their dad is in such a big event ( 180,000 tickets to be sold ). Ive got them team uniforms and they are going to help at the autograph and display events leading up to the event. The 944 has suspension\brake and engine upgrades. Ive got about 390hp out of the chevy engine inside the Porsche, yes it does fit.

Road racing is very expensive compared to ice racing. So I am doing what a lot of people try, sponsorships. Its not as easy as people think. Its hard to measure value of the sponsorship. I cant just go around and ask for money, there has to be value back to the sponsors. I have friends who have very large race budgets ( Canada Nascar type stuff ). I’ve learnt a lot from them over the years about what I need to do for sponsors. I'm still building my marketing package and next year I will have a lot of pictures of the race team, the car and trailer at events and even of myself in my race suit.

My current sponsors are Z Master Lawns, CarsGone.com, Canar Rocks Product, Kal Tire, Bridgestone Blizzack, CGI, Strathcom Media, Gateway Entertainment Center, Cowan graphics, Zam Bros Auto, The Ranch Nightclub. They have all helped me in some form to get onto the track, in exchange I’m doing what I can to promote their companies by making the cars available at events. promoting their businesses to friends and families and even getting my sponsors to work with each other to meet the needs that they may have.