Well a tumultuous season has come to an end, plenty of highs and lows, but this past weekend Ben was still amped up about his 2 perfect lights in a row and Big Win from the prior weekend. So, he goes red in round 1 on Saturday to a girl who had an .097 light and doesn't drive the stripe (a tough way to lose for sure), and then on Sunday the air got better and we ran under by 17thou to the kid that won it all.
These cars are quite the learning curve, and after a late start due to baseball schedules, and then a new engine that didn't like the clutch, then a new clutch that didn't like the chassis setup, then the chassis setup that didn't like the clutch setup..... Mix in a very sad start with my Amanda and it made us want to rethink this whole initiative. But, as parents we are to set the example on how to break down the problems, analyze, hypothesize, test, and repeat those steps until resolution - all with an encouraging attitude, no matter how bleak it might appear! That approach eventually paid off with a few small wins at small tracks, a runner up finish at Englishtown and then a Big Win at Maple Grove.
Early this season Ben was doodling with a sharpie on a small section of 4x4 wood that we use to block the Dragster tires, and wrote his goals for the '13 Season: 1. Win a race at Maple Grove & 2. Place in the top 25 in points. He wrote these on his own which really impressed me, and drove me to upgrade his engine & clutch and change our setup so he had a better chance of beating the older kids in their 7.90 cars. Well, I saved that little piece of wood, and he got to write the date of his win on it - and he finished 26th in points. 'Close enough' I told him. Now he wants a brand new Jr Dragster from Half Scale! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img] Ah, the best laid plans. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]
So, in the midst of Fall Baseball we look forward to next year - hard to believe Ben will be 12 later this month, and has only 1 more year in the 8.90 class. Then we get to learn it all again in the 7.90 class!
Regardless as to how the last race day ended, this is how we choose to remember the '13 Season:
