Pure Michigan: Big Speedway Racing

The penultimate race of the 2017 season was at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mi the weekend of September 16th and 17th. This track is home to several NASCAR races and in the past has hosted Indy cars and cart racing. The oval is steeply banked all the way around and 2 miles long. The road configuration is 1.9 miles long and the includes turn 4 and 3 by passing 2 and 1 as it winds through the infield and runs in the opposite direction from the oval events. This is one of the best facilities we have ever raced at.

The sprint kart ran great al weekend. We tuned it up very quickly and Jason out paced the field all weekend, winning on both days. The road kart was another matter., it had problems motor problems all weekend. It stumbled on the long front stretch taking away the precious rpm and speed needed to keep up with the well tuned 2 cycle karts he was racing. This is the same gremlin we chased a Gingerman last race. On top of the motor issues we did not get the gearing correct because we did not have belt gears of the right size. Saturday’s race was great fun, Jason got a pretty good start and was in the lead into turn one, but dropped to second as they drove through the big oval. Then he was caught out by slower traffic, the lead made the pass but Jason lost time searching for a clean pass. As the race progressed he would catch up and fallback as he drove well through the corners but dropped back in the straights lacking top speed. As they drove through the narrow infield he would look for an opening. He made a final attempt on the last lap sticking his nose up on the inside but did not have the room to complete the pass and backed off. We swapped back to the what we call the Murray motor to see if we could squeeze bit more speed for Sunday’s race, but it was not too be, he was slower and still was not running right. After nine laps he pulled off with another issue. A floor pan bolt had pulled through the pan and was being noisy, an easy fix, and the motor mystery still remains.

We had lots of help this weekend with folks lending us gears and providing racing advice. Thanks to Jack Reall, who has been rescuing people from hurricane flooded cities between race weekends. Stay safe.

Remembering Joe Pribyl, without whom this would have never been possible.
Oct 29, 1940 – July 2, 2017

Supervising work on Kid Kart at Badger Kart Club

Thanks Dad and Grandpa

The last race of the season will be at Pittsburgh International Race Complex north of Pittsburg, Pa. The karts will be racing the combined track for 2.8 miles of roller coaster. This will be the furthest we have ever traveled for a race. The 4 cycle junior class is locked up, but he still has to do some work to win the Sprint Junior class.