1st day of the Solo Nationals Part 2

Nice weather dominated the 1st day of the 2nd leg of the Solo Nationals. Rain is in the forecast tomorrow, but we were treated with a beautiful day. The results were a little less than ideal, however.

Let's start with our region members first:

Clyde Caplan - 30th, celebrated by eating a whole bunch of ice cream after dinner.

Brendon Bengermino - 18th. Got stuck eating ice cream with Clyde, but he did make Clyde cleaning up a bunch of OPR (Other People's Rubber).

Eric Kriemelmeyer - 13th. Eric is the trophy spot, even though I thought he was going to be in the top three.

Shawn Roberts - 21st. Probably something wrong with the car.

Chike Dellimore - 19th. Ditto, Chike also should be faster.

Katie Orgler - Katie is hiding somewhere in Lincoln. I have seen her all week but Shawn told me she is here. Where is Katie?

Learic Cramer - Don't know where Learic finished today, but saw her walking the West course with determination so she must be in contention.

Brian Burdette - 5th so far. Brian cut me a break by not giving me a parking ticket due to a quick tire change. More on that later.

Pat Griffith - 18th. I saw Pat interviewed Julian for Sportscar, but he didn't interview Julian's agent (me). Doesn't Pat know the agent always get interviewed first and take 10% of all Julian's winnings?

Lisa Garfield (2nd), Brian Garfield (4th), Mike Kline (8th), Justin Neal (10th), Danny Kao (13th), Edwin Liu (16th), Frank Weichold (18th ). More on this motley crew later.

Ian Baker - I think Ian is in 6th.

Jim Sykes - I think Jim is somewhere between 15th to 20th.

Mike Neary - 12th and Craig Garfield is in 46th. More on that later.

John Willemin - 28th, Shane Chinonn-Rhoden - 13th. Both know who uncle Frank is and Shane is officially the nicest Irish guy in Nebraska - the title I am have held for almost a week given by Jason Becker.

This is what I saw today:

Both Neary and Eric were amazed that I poured sausage gravy over a bagel and eat it for breakfast; good thing they weren't here last Saturday where I poured gravy over chocolate scones, and gravy over chocolate danish last Sunday.

This is the 10th day in the row that I got up before 7am. Haven't done that since high school.

I missed Brian Burdette's group and Chike's group. Figuring out what jet to use in Nebraska is a pure guessing game.

F125 race was a lot of fun, and it went by really fast. I wasn't able to shoot Justin's stomach in time and he is in 10th place and .5 second ahead of me. Frank wasn't able to keep up with Edwin either so the old guys have to buy the young bucks dinner. Before you know it, all the 20-year olds from DC and Finger Lakes region were expecting us old losers to pay. So Uncle Frank treat them a very nice meal at Laslos. Laslos is a great restaurant and the food is delicious. I am definitely going back there again next year.

BTW, you should see how fast John and Shane can move after they find out they are getting free dinner from uncle Frank. If they keep that up tomorrow they will both be National Champions.

All the hard manual labor that Brian made Kline do finally showed some signs that it's working. Brian is finally on top again over Kline by over a second, and loosen the rear track bar between runs to make Kline spins also worked.

Lisa is within striking distance of the National Championship and is 0.8 second back. In fact, I will be leading in the F125 ladies group with my excellent performance. I will be one ugly lady though.

Here is what happened in the STU race:

Neary put the left front tire to the rear right and vise versa, resulted in two directional tires point at the wrong direction. I thought that was a Steve Yang only special, but I think Neary is finally showing the sign of old age.

Here is a conversation between Craig and I:

(After Craig's first run, 63.xxx plus one cone)

Craig: I got to keep it clean, Brian told me to keep it clean.

Me: Don't worry about it Craig, just drive hard.

(After Craig's 2nd run, 63.xxx plus two cones)

Craig: I got to keep it clean, Brian told me to keep it clean.

Me: Don't worry about it Craig, just drive hard.

(After Craig's 3rd run, 65xxx clean but slower than the 1st run with penalty)

Craig: I got a clean run!

Me: But you forgot to drive hard.

Another conversation between Craig and Neary:

Neary: Did you know there hasn't been a single time that the co-drivers finished in first and last place at the Nationals? We will make history his weekend.

Craig: (After the STU race) Well Neary, I kept my end of the bargain...

It might rain tomorrow so that whole STU could be shuffled upside down. I have seen Craig driving in the rain and his rain time is faster than his dry time, so we will see....

Here is a conversation between me, Julian, and Sam during my course walk and Julian is giving me pointers:

Sam: We all should be getting tips from Julian.

Julian: Not really, you are still "a little" faster.

Me: But I get advice from Julian because he will still do it for Ice Cream.

Sam: What do you think I have been getting for my advice all these years?

Last but not least. Now I am officially boycutting all Bridgestone tires. As some of you know I have been scamming to get a free t-shirt from Bridgestone but not successful, and here is what happen today:

Neary said to Bridgestone guy: Dude, can I get some air for my tires.

Bridgestone guy: Sure, but you should be running Bridgestones instead of Dunlaps.

Neary: But the car owner wouldn't let me because you are not giving him a free t-shirt.

Bridgestone guy: We give free t-shirts to everybody. Take a couple, just don't give to the car owner.

So that did it! I am officially boycutting all Bridgestone products for EVER!!!!

Unless if it rains tomorrow, then my boycutt is over because I need my Bridgestone rains.

I am sure we will collectively post lots of National pictures soon. Signing off...

Can you believe it will be 11 days in the row that I got up before 7am? It's cramping my style...