Ring-a-Ling

As I listen to the live webcast of practice from Indianapolis (you can see it down below in a previous post or go to indy500.com and/or indycar.com and check it out), I thought I’d do a little catching up on here. It was grand central station here yesterday. I got calls from Anna, Bobby Haynes, Joanne. Rhonda Burch, AJ Russell, MO2(that’s Mike Ordway, Jr.), JYD(Jim Birges), pops, Terry Adams, and had to call out to John Nicotra to tell him how lucky he was to be hearing the Indy Cars SCREAM!

Rhonda and I had a good conversation, and even though there’s just nothing I can say to make anything better, from my end of the deal it sure was good to hear her voice. I’ll tell you all, she still needs our prayers. Randy is coming up this weekend to race at the O and hopefully the car will be ready. He’s been out to the Stout’s all week and they’ve all been putting in some wicked long hours. He told me he’s done a lot of changing around to the old Gibson chassis. I suggested a while back that he put it back to the way Todd originally designed it with the cross leaf spring as the car sure seemed to run great that way. Anyway, if they need help, Pat has offered up the garage and a place to get stuff done if need be.

AJ is still diggin and should find out today if he got the ride for the Freedom 100. I sure hope so. If he does, you can be your ass I’m going to find a way to get to Indianapolis on Carb Day to watch him. It will make it tough getting to Waterford, and with as little money as we have right now, very tight, but I made a commitment to ISMA 4 years ago and I’m stickin to it. Hell or High Water I’ll do both then come on back to Lancaster to do the MSA show on Sunday. I have to be honest, it will be tough staying focused on the supermodified race with the 500 going on but I’ll sure try.

MO2 called just to chat and I could sure tell how excited he is about the new John Colloca creation being finished up for him to debut at the Waterford Speedbowl.  Mikey want’s some redemption from his sophomore season and I think he’ll get it with this car. I dont’ think I’m at liberty to talk about what all John has done to the car so I’ll stop short of the details. Suffice it to say, anyone who tells me that the DIVISION isn’t still full of innovators just because we don’t allow rear engine cars and uprights isn’t around the same people I am. There’s innovation, it’s just harder to find. I think Mikey will do a great job in this car and I expect him to pick up the win he wants so bad in front of his hometown crowd in the N.E. I’m pretty excited that MO1 and Jess are coming in later tonight with MO2 and we’ll get to hang out this weekend some.

I finally got a chance to get a hold of Jim to find out how his surgery went.  I could tell that he was feeling a good deal better than the last time I talked to him. They had one problem during the procedure and that was they didnt’ get enough local into one of the spots and when they started drilling the hole he felt it. In fact he said it was like hitting a live wire. They juiced it up pretty quickly though and went on with the surgery. Believe it or not, it’s all day surgery. Pretty amazing I’d say. He said it’s common on older folks who’s vertebrae start to collapse. They basically drill the hole, inflate the vertebrae and then inject it with some kind of glue, cement, filler. Then it’s solid again. He’s hellbent on racing this weekend. I told him he’s foolish, but we’ll see. I told him too there was no way he’d be able to do it with the seat he has in the car and he agreed and said he really was more worried about his ankle being re-injured then joked that they could just helicoil it and fix it if that happened. I kinda just shook my head as I laughed and thought-”That’s JYD.”

Anna and I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone yesterday trying to come up with new advertising strategies. I told her my fear is that people will think that I’m using the DIVISION to get rich and that I want to go outside the supermodified network to find ways to pay for the website and radio show. She seemed to agree, yet I think she may be somewhat upset that I am not more aggressive with self promotion. I guess I feel that it will all come around and that it’s my job to help the guys out in the DIVISION and help the fans understand what it’s all about. We did come up with some pretty good trade outs that we could use and now I just have to get up the courage to go out and make the contact. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Oddly enough, it must have been ‘think about promotion’ day because then dad called to tell me he wants to do something to help both WSU and the supermod teams and wondered how we could tie it all together. We had a good talk, and I figure there’s gonna be some cool stuff comin down the pipe soon. It won’t be a lot of cash for the teams but I still believe every little bit helps. I sure do appreciate dad’s advice and his understanding of how important this venture is to me. I think we are at the best we’ve ever been in our relationship and I cherish each time we get to talk.

GQ-uhhh…Bobby Haynes, Jr, called just to see if we were going to the Coca-Cola Kickoff. I missed the call and tried to get back with him this morning but no answer. I’ll try again later. Joanne called too while I was on the phone with JYD and I forgot to ring her back.

I was able to get Lorain County promoter Terry Adams on board for Monday’s show. He seemed pretty interested in talking about The County and I think it will be good to have him chat it up. He also said he had no problem having a webcast of the race on HighSpeedRadio, so that was a relief. It costs me $50 each time I do one, but I feel like it’s worth it because it keeps people informed and excited about the supers and you just never know who may be listening that will want to become involved. I want to be sure we have enough time though too. It’s going to be a busy  show with weekend winners, and Joe and Chuck on.

The show is evolving and changing very rapidly and it’s really kind of seat of the pants. I just hope it goes off without any glitches this week, and the rest will just fall in line.  It basically consumes me and I suppose that it may seem to many that I am forsaking friendships and time out of the house to get this done. I suppose that’s true, but if I don’t stay on top of it, if I lose one hour out of the 19 I’m awake, I fall behind. I’m glad that Tom Netishen has come on board to help work on the G-Squad concept. He’s young and enthusiastic and I feel like he’s going to be a really good asset to the team. We spent a lot of time on YIM yesterday trying to conceptualize what we want the fan club to be and how it’s not just about WSU but more as a service to the DIVISION and all of the supermod sanctions. A way for fans to be more involved and be rewarded for their dedication. Tom seems to get it.

Buddy Cottom has really come to the rescue lately. He’s doing a lot of legwork finding songs for bump music(that’s the music that takes us to break), and working on putting together new ads for Drive In Web Design. He’s also doing some great logo and ad design. He’s banging it out pretty quick and it’s good looking stuff. I hope he’s able to continue on because it makes life a lot easier for Anna and Opie.

I guess it’s time to put this up on site and get my hind end out to the garage. The Jet will be in tonight and I hear there’s a Plum Krazy Yardigans Party. Don’t ask, it’s one of those-you gotta be there to understand-things. lol I also have to go get Danette a little something for her birthday. It won’t be much because we are broke as usual but I think she’ll like what I have in mind. Gotta go get my program at Garafolos and my tickets at Price Chopper. I’m glad I can get my Twitter updates from Indy on my cell phone. It’s hard to peel myself away from the sights and sounds of “The World’s Greatest Race Course.”

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