Calumet County Racing Association (Chilton) 06.29.2007

It's good to be home. I went to the track where it all began. I fondly remember my first local stockcar races in 1989. I was absolutely amazed at what I was watching. Seeing all the cool cars with horrible paint jobs going around in circles. And to think that I was amazed with the cars packing the track before the races! It was even better when they were actually racing! They were doing it all just for me and all the other fans in the stands. No television cameras, just some people going in circles because they love to show-off and RACE! That season there was a car that started on fire almost every night. My parents took me because they thought that I should get out more. Now they complain that I go to races too much! I'm nowhere near the guy who was voted "Shyest Guy" in high school - I was nominated for student of the year this year at my local community college.

It's good to sit with friends at the races - I met my friends Sharon and Roger. I updated them on my racing tour and what's going on in my life.

I see that the street stock racecar that I used to pit for in 2003 and 2004 is still being raced. The driver sold the car to his cousin who was also on the pit crew. The car still has problems. The motor was occasionally skipping. The car still doesn't handle well. That's a bad combination. The car was by far the worst car in the division. He left the paint job alone for the most part. I see my uncle's sticker is still on the car. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that he's sponsoring a racecar but not being charged!

The street stock division has changed a lot over the past two years. Many of the top drivers from 2005 aren't around, and some of the new drivers from 2005 are the top drivers now. It still is a highly competitive division. The points leader passed most of the field for the win.

The Grand National division is the highest division at the track. These cars have evolved from the cars that I saw in 1989. They are now used at 5 tracks in the area. The Grand National cars also evolved into the Mid American Stock Cars, a series that tours the upper Midwest.

Chilton still has a series of essentially untouched 8 cylinder cars called Chilton Challenger cars. It's getting hard to find cars for the series.

Chilton has a relatively small class of 4 cylinder cars. I think having two series of entry-level cars has stunted its growth.