A few loose ends

Now that we are back home and have real internet, I wanted to post some other pictures from the trip.

One of Mom's favorite things to do at the Nationals is walk around and look at the cars. And since I like walks, well... It seems like a perfect match - Mom gets to look at cars and I get a walk.

And any ear flappage is a bonus!

So, more pictures of cars...
I think this car goes about as fast when it is on jack stands as it does when it is on the ground... (GP is also called "Grandpa Prepared"...)

Now this car... X Prepared. Fast AND pretty.


And Mom took this picture because she thought it was pretty funny that these people had brought a tent for their tires!


And I think Mom is doing a pictorial Christmas Wish List with this next one... (Because Mom is nothing if not subtle. And yes, I get all my subtlety from her. Heehee!)


Whew! All this walking around and looking at cars in the heat and humidity is tough work!


So I had to snoozle for a while.


Here's Mom in our car (before it was retired). Note the rather complicated dash! Heehee!

I think Mom has her name on the back of her helmet so people know who just knocked down all the cones!

And here we are, on the way home! Last year I fit in Mom's lap. This year? I only partially fit in her lap! But I was quite comfy, thankyouverymuch. (And yes, this picture was taken from the driver's seat. While driving.... And if Dad and Uncle Charlie could 'hot swap' drivers in the House With Wheels, taking a picture is NOTHING! And if you don't know what a hot swap is, I'm not going to tell you, because it would probably only worry you!)


And the scenery on the way home was pretty much the same as the scenery on the way out. Since we took the same road and all....


I had a great time, and I'm very proud to be able to say that I have been at every Solo Nationals that I have been alive for, and I would like to continue this trend (hint, hint, Mom). I had a great time, and can't wait for next year. But I'm also happy to be home. Fall is hitting the Wasatch Mountains, and I can't wait to go on a hike tomorrow. And, no Mom, that wasn't a hint. That was an order; I spent 4 days out of the last 9 motoring across 2 Really Boring states, and then back again. The least I deserve is a hike. Because I need to scrub my brain of all of those mental images of eleventy billion acres of corn. I swear, if I see an ear of corn in the near future, I may, well, bark a lot.

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Pee Ess: Mom says that the awards for correctly identifying the "Flames! There are flames on my car!" quote contest have been awarded. Congratulations to Khyra who answered first! Her prize is going to The Last Resort Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. And the Southern California Vizsla Rescue is also getting a donation, even though Dennis' Dad had to cheat! ;-) Thanks for playing! And for those of you who didn't know, the quote comes from the original (1979) version of the movie "The In-Laws" with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Mom's seen the movie about as many times as I saw cornfields in the last 9 days, and she aspires to have a car with flames on it.

The 2nd and Final Day of Racing

OMD!!! What an exciting day yesterday!!! It was pretty tough to get it all photographed, because well, of that whole lack of opposable thumbs thing. But I did the best I could.

The day before yesterday, Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie were concerned that The Grenade the Miata needed some repairs that couldn’t be done before racing today because of time and parts availability issues. So, they were debating whether to even race or not (because you don’t want to take a race car and drive it if you think it might break – it’s always better to fix something BEFORE it breaks, rather than AFTER). But Uncle Charlie waved his magic wand and shook some beads, and got the car so that it wouldn’t break. And Dad and Uncle Charlie got ready to race. To explain, there are 5 “heats” of different “classes” – all cars in one class race in the same “heat” so you all get the same conditions. Sort of. Dad and Uncle Charlie were in Heat 2.

So they got the car out and got all ready to run. And when their heat came, there were some clouds building, but it didn’t look horrific. And Dad got ready to take his first run. And it started to rain.

And Rain = BAD. See, our car (and everyone else’s in this class) runs on ‘slicks’ – rubber tires that don’t have any tread, but when they warm up get sticky and hold really well. Especially on this rough concrete. When it is warm. When it is raining? It’s like wearing tennis shoes on an ice skating rink. Not Pretty.

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, the car Doesn’t Have A Roof. Remember the picture from the first day where Mom is holding an umbrella to keep the sun off her? Yeah, well, that no roof thing is also not so much fun when it is raining.

And by the time Uncle Charlie ran, it was still raining, and the course was getting wet.

So Uncle Charlie tells Mom to take the rental car (poor rental car!) back to the trailer (because where the races were was Really Far Away from where the House With Wheels and trailer were) and get the “rain tires” (which are special tires with special tread for, you guessed it, racing in the rain). Now, I don’t know how well you know Mom, but, uh, changing tires is Not Something Mom Does. She says she knows how to do it (in theory at least), but I’ve never seen her change a tire. Not even once. But she’s got a whole list of things that she’s got to run back and get. By herself. Personally, I think Uncle Charlie was taking a Really Big Risk in entrusting this job to Mom, but he and Dad were supposed to be racing, and there is a certain amount of time between runs… So, Mom comes dashing back, and has to get help from the neighbors to get the jack out, and then she gets the tires and all the tire-putting-on stuff, and races back.

And so there is a mid-race tire change.

Luckily, Mom brought all the right stuff over, and this was like a NASCAR pit crew!!! Super fast tire change!!!

But racing in the rain is still pretty tough.

But all you could do is laugh. At least that’s what Dad did!

And when it was all said and done, the rain made some people go Really Slow. Because Dad got to run when it was only sort of slippery, he ended up in 8th, while Uncle Charlie (who started the day in 6th) ended up 13th! And the guy who was leading on the first day? 10th. But, as Mom and Dad say, it’s an outdoor sport, and sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t!

Dad and Uncle Charlie decided that running the car in the rain when it Wasn’t Right put enough stress on the car for one day, and told Mom to see if the offer from her co-competitor was still open to drive her car.

Now just to make this clear: there were two people in Mom’s class – Mom and this other woman named Kim. Kim has been the National Champion in the class for years straight. And yet out of the blue, she offers to let Mom drive her car. The only other time she has seen Mom is last year at the Nationals. It’s not like these two know each other or anything. So she is essentially letting a total stranger drive her car. At the National Championships!!! If you ask me, I think that is the ultimate in good sportsmanship. I think it was Really Cool of Kim to let Mom drive her car. Especially not knowing Mom.

So Mom drove a mid-engine MR-2. She had never been in this car before. And heehee discovered that she liked it So Much More that our car. Mostly, I think, because it had a ‘normal’ clutch and not a race clutch like ours, and the seat was more adjustable, and the gas pedal responded to more subtle inputs than our car does – in our car you jump on the gas, in the other car, you squeeze the gas pedal. Since that is what you do in the Big Yellow Corvette, Mom found it a bit more to her liking.

See? Mom’s numbers on a totally different car! It looks sort of funny, but Mom apparently had a Really Good Time!

Note from Fi’s Mom: Yes. I was completely blown away that someone who didn’t know me would offer to let me drive her car. At the National Championships. And if it weren’t for her, I am not sure whether I would have run or not on the second day. I am actually still pretty speechless at how COOL it was for her to offer to let me drive her car. And WOW. Oh. Wow. That car was FUN. Really fun. Easier (for me) to drive than our car, it handled great, and frankly could go a lot faster than I could! (FYI, Kim won the women’s class while her husband won the men’s class in the same car.) But I had a ball driving the car. It was So. Much. Fun!!!

And, Kim and her husband and father were REALLY nice about letting me drive the car, and actually didn’t even charge me (most people would ask, or at least would accept an offer for some money to cover the cost of wear and tear on tires – not them, despite me offering several times). I was super impressed. And extremely grateful. And giddy. Boy, oh boy did I have fun!!!! And that is what this sport is all about: FUN!!!



Fi back. Mom drove very well on the second day, in a strange car, and while she was second (or last, depending on how you look at it), she was closer to Kim than she was last year, and was Quite Pleased with being able to get in a strange car and do well. She was only a couple of seconds off Dad, and BEAT Uncle Charlie. (Of course, they had to deal with the rain, but still!!!)

So now we are just waiting for Uncle Charlie to drop off the rental car so we can hook up the trailer and head home. *yawn* Nebraska *yawn*. And then Wyoming. *major yawn*.

Wake me up when we get to Park City, okay?

Kissey face.
-Fiona

Day 1 of Racing

Well, today was the first day of racing for Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie, and well, The Grenade may (or may not) be living up to its name. It’s hard to tell without all the proper tools, but I think Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie are going to run the car and hope for the best. And actually Mom’s competitor (yes, that would be singular) offered to let her co-drive – which is just totally cool – and what a sportswoman to offer her own car to her competitor! Mom hasn’t decided what to do yet. I think it depends on what Dad and Uncle Charlie want to do.

It would really be a bummer if we came all this way and Mom and Dad could only race half the event, but on the other hand, it would be a super bummer if something bad happened to the car.

But, all that aside, here are some pictures from today.

Here is Dad in one of the first gates from the start.


And Uncle Charlie getting ready to run:



And Mom.


That’s so the course workers can see who just knocked down all those cones! Heehee!

Here she is, in grid, waiting to run:

The umbrella is to keep the sun off her – because it gets quite toasty out there!

And here is Mom at the start:


At the end of the day? Mom is second (out of two, but is closer to the National Champion – her competitor – than she was last year), Dad is 11th (but VERY close to the 3 people ahead of him) and Uncle Charlie is 6th (due to the car not operating to its full potential). But, Mom and Dad are having fun, and I’m have a great time looking at the cars! (And playing football; and yes, thank you, my tootsies are all recovered now – I just play football in the grass now, and not on the concrete….) So while everything isn’t optimal on the car side, Mom and Dad are having fun!

More later. It’s time for my late night walkie, and then to bed (because Mom gets up at 6am!!!).

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Lincoln, NE, Day 3

Just a little morning update because Mom has some ‘down’ time; Uncle Charlie is doing something to the car (personally, I don’t think he’s happy unless he’s doing something to the car – this is why some people like prepared cars, and other people like Mom want a stock car where they can do ‘warranty racing’ (i.e. if something breaks, it’s probably under warranty)) and Dad is watching tennis.

Yesterday afternoon Mom and Dad and Uncle Charlie took “The Grenade” (as they affectionately call the car) out for zoomies. And since no one got pictures of Mom, here are some pictures of Dad and Uncle Charlie.

And Mom took pictures of other cars, as well.

This one in particular (below). She LOVES this car. Even though she is swearing off prepared cars, she would make an exception. Note from Fi’s Mom: actually, I still wouldn’t make an exception. This is a COOL car, and it is wicked fast, but, NO. No. No. No. Seriously. Look a few pictures down. They’ve got 3 sets of springs for this thing. Three!!! And they were swapping them out to find the best set. No thanks. But it is still A Way Cool Car. And FAST.

Later that same day…

Mom took dictation in the morning, and then went off to do her afternoon zoomies with Dad and Uncle Charlie, and all three came back smiling, so I gather it went well.

Anyway, back to yesterday. Yesterday evening, there was a very pretty sunset. And I think Mom makes a good frontispiece for the sunset.

And Dad decided to play football with me. Which was great!!!

Except that that surface here is pretty rough. Good for cars and ‘grippage’, but not so good on us ‘tenderfeet’ who prefer nice soft grass. So while I got airborne a few times, I also got sore paws. So I’ve been kicking back today. Mom says she is going to go to the Hoosier tire people and explain that I am a P Mod (I am a modified poodle, and ‘modified’ is a certain type of cars raced…), and that I need some new rubber. She’s hoping to get me a new set of tires for my paws! Her argument is that while I don’t have a lot of “horse power” (absolutely NO horses here, BTW… I haven’t figured out this horsepower thing yet), I got A LOT of torque, and I corner like no one’s business. The only downside is that I would have to wear Hoosier stickers on me….

I’m going airborne here so my delicate foot pads don’t get roughed up!

Now I’m resting my tootsies!

So before Mom’s zoomies today she went walking around to get some pictures of all the different cars. And WOW. There are so many different kinds of cars.

And so many doggies! I guess I’m not the only autocross doggie. But I get the sense from Mom, who has talked to other doggie parents that I’m the only one who attended Nationals at 9 weeks old! So I’m a veteran!

Some look like cars.

And some look like race cars.

Flames! There are FLAMES on my car! (Dennis, I challenge you on that quote. I will donate $25 to the charity of your choice if you correctly identify the movie. And I’ll even give you a hint. Ed Begley, Jr. was in it. Many years ago. Actually, if Dennis doesn’t want to play or someone else comes up with the answer first I’ll give $25 to your charity, as well. So $50 up for grabs, kids ($25 to Dennis’ charity and $25 to someone else if they get there first)! And no, Granny and Grandpa – you aren’t allowed to play. Because you KNOW the answer.)

And speaking of flames. Heh.

Normal C Prepared. Especially since it is on jack stands. Pretty much typical for a CP…. But look at those jack stands!!!!

Mom talked to these people just based on their jack stands. With flames!!!! Turns out they have a Bichon (who, apparently, is rather vicious – I don’t want to tangle with little dogs, so I won’t find out if he lives up to his reputation), and came out of the Utah Region a million years ago. And, the car that is pictured above was once owned by Mom’s first instructor when she was learning to autocross (before she had a driver’s license). So yes, it IS a small world.

And some look. Well, I’m not sure what this is, except that it looks FAST. Note from Fi’s Mom: this is an A Mod car – they are (theoretically) the fastest “cars” on the course. If I understand it correctly (and I probably don’t as I’m really not a car person), they’ve got snowmobile engines in them and weigh next to nothing. They’ve got all the wings on them so they don’t take off. Or explode.

And then there are other cars. These are “G Prepared”. Don’t ask me (or Mom) for the technical explanation of what makes a prepared car versus a modified car. All I know is that any car that isn’t stock probably has all of its guts ripped out and things done to it. Some are street legal, but most aren’t. G Prepared seems to be the class for people who want to pour a lot of money into an old car that was pretty slow to begin with and not make it much faster but have it break more. Last year at Nationals these G Prepared cars ran in the same run group as Dad and Uncle Charlie, and more than one car spilled its guts (literally, with fluids and parts and things ending up on the ground, which, in autocross speak is Not Good) while they were trying to race. Anyway, they seem to have a small but die-hard following. (Which you’d have to be if your car was breaking all the time. Oh wait. So does ours…. But at least ours Goes Fast!!!)

And then there was this car. Mom couldn’t stop laughing. They’ve got this one perfect, down to the seats, headlights, and required stickers!

And no, Mom isn’t the least bit subtle in her desire for a Shelby Mustang…

Before they ran today Uncle Charlie did some work on the car today because he was concerned about the condition of the timing belt. Problem? What problem? I thought they were supposed to be see-through!

Mom was worried that Uncle Charlie had given up in frustration and stabbed the engine with a screw driver, sort of like a stake through Dracula’s heart! Apparently he was just using the screw driver to measure something. Or so he says.

Heh.

And here’s Dad doing getting ready to do his zoomies!

Now it’s time to eat dinner and go to bed. Because I’m tired!

More from Lincoln tomorrow!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the Autocross Dog!