Our drive from Louisville, Kentucky to our race destination of Shady Bowl Speedway in DeGraff, Ohio, was uneventful. But the scenery was gorgeous. In Ohio, they like their houses BIG and their churches even bigger! They also build their homes, whether on a farm or in a small town, right up against the highway. The state highways run 30 ft. in front of homes. And these are BIG homes!!
We loved the gentle, rolling countryside, lush with greenery. The track is located way out in farm land. We had to travel almost 20 miles on a narrow, rough, winding country road to get there. This track was built in the 50's, when guys drove their race cars to the track. Now, all the racers have 50 ft. rigs, and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested. So, 1950's pits were really small, and we were really crowded in by a couple of hundred noisy, speeding race cars. When we arrived at the track, the owner and his son showed us to the spot where they wanted us to set up. So, we did. But the whole place is on top of a hill, and slopes off rapidly. The first attempt to level the motorhome was not very successful. We ended up with our front wheels 3 ft. up in the air, and we were swaying violently in 20 mph winds. It was windy on top of that hill. Marlene was terrified that we were going to blow over. So, we repositioned our rig, and re-leveled it.
We spent a quiet country night there. I barbecued some sirloin steaks, accompanied by Caesar salad and baked potatoes. Of course, we had wine to go with our Sabbath dinner. This was the same wine we had been buying in Tucson for $2.97, but in Louisville, Kentucky it cost us $3.97. We had fresh strawberries and ice cream for desert. All in all, a great evening. It was lovely and quiet there in the countryside.
We walked the track with Ben, and mapped out our runs. Then we went to bed early, we were alone and no one around for miles. It was nice. In the morning, we arose early, had breakfast (oatmeal) and then got to work, prepping the car for the night's runs. While I fueled and charged batteries, Marlene shined and polished. We had picked up several pounds of rubber on the car from the track in Tucson and we had to remove it. Now we sat back, and waited. Some racers arrived early, around 1:00 p.m., but most of the racers arrived at 3:00. This was quite a crowd. They are serious about their racing, and deadly competitive. The first thing they did, was complain about where we were parked. They are not used to having anyone in that spot, and especially not a 65 ft. long rig. We were getting ready to relocate, when the track officials told us to stay put. They said that the racers can manage just fine, and they just don't like change.
The people here are friendly. In Tucson, no racers approached us until after we ran. Here there are 5 times as many racers, and they all wanted to talk to me about the car. Marlene was intimidated by the constant passing of loud, fast race cars. The guys managed just fine, but it seemed they were going to drive through our living room every time they passed.
I had reviewed our program with the track bosses, and they said everything would be looked after. But we had already learned to check everything ourselves. This time, for the car burn, we would position the cars ahead of time, and fire up the jet in front of the crowd. But first, we had an early run to plan. I would do 4 laps of the track, putting on our fire show. The run went well, and the crowd loved it. I saw a lot of flashes going off in the stands. I survived the experience, and got a real kick out of it. Unfortunately, Marlene suffered a minor injury when she was rushing to our pit to be by my side when I extricate myself from the car. She hit a large pothole with her one front wheel, and went sailing off to the side. Panicking a bit, she squeezed the throttle and froze, ramming her leg into our neighbour's jack. She was embarrassed, and wanted to hide. But, she bore up under the pressure, and got me out of the car. Then we examined her leg in the living room. It was red, and bruised, but nothing seemed broken. But, it sure hurt.
I had to prep the car for the next run, our big car burn. This time we were burning a Hyundai Sonata, and I thought it would be a real pleasure to burn this particular model of car! I was there when the auto wrecker delivered the car, and he said he would pick up the remains after the race. I laughed and told him he wouldn't be picking it up for a least a day. He did not believe me.
This time, we had the track tow me down onto the track with one of their crash trucks, and we carefully lined me up with the burn car. Marlene was hobbling around supervising, and things got set up quite quickly. Everyone then scattered, Marlene gave me the sign, and I fired up the engine. It always sounds neat when the engine starts up, and the crowd seemed to like it. I turned on the strobe lights, the track lights went out, and I decided to bluff the crowd a bit. I played with the throttle a bit, and looked at the crowd lined up along the front of the stands. They were looking a bit disappointed, so I woke them up with a huge fire pop, igniting the Hyundai. I went with alternately shooting fire, then fanning the flames with the 300 mph winds produced by the engine. I had a pretty good view in my little mirror. I also had a good view of the crowd, and they were loving it. Pieces were raining down around me, and Marlene signaled me forward a bit. I complied, and completed my burn of the car. Driving away with a few fire pops to finish up, I found the exit road blocked by the ambulance. These guys were so anxious to save me, they were almost on the track. Earlier, they had quizzed Marlene about how to open my escape hatch. They quickly backed out of my way, and I was able to reach the top of the hill before running out of fuel. I coasted back to our pit, and waited for Marlene to come back. She was supposed to ride back in the crash truck, but instead she toughed it out and walked all the way back on her bad leg.
After our first run, and all through the evening, people were coming up and asking questions about the car. These Ohio folks are really friendly. The little boys are very knowledgeable, and they ask better questions than their parents!
The owner of the track knocked on the door, and presented us with the cheque. We asked him how he liked it, and he said he'd never seen anything like it in his life. He said that the crowd loved our show.
When we finally unwound, had a light supper of chicken gumbo soup that Marlene had prepared, and went to bed, it was 1:30 am. The Hyundai was still burning. At 8:00 am today it was still smoldering. I did try to tell that auto wrecker fellow! We ate breakfast, packed up, and hit the road. The GPS took us on a lovely tour of rural Ohio, and we saw some beautiful places, before hitting the interstate again. We stopped at a Flying J truck stop to dump our holding tanks and fill up with gas and water, then headed northeast, skirting around Cleveland, passing through part of Pennsylvania, before reaching New York State. First thing you encounter in New York: Toll booths... welcome to New York. We'll stay at the Walmart in Hamburg, NY, tonight, then head to the border early in the morning. We are excited to visit my brother in Toronto. Stay tuned....
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