TEXAS TRIP to Thunder Hill Raceway (27 Sept to 1 Oct )

10012007aRICK @ the RACES  TEXAS TRIP (27Sept to 1 Oct 2007)

Thunder Hill Raceway , Kyle , TEXAS

This week instead of indulging in my regular diet of North Eastern Dirt racing I went somewhere a little different. My destination was Austin Texas and my weekend excursion started after completing a full day of work on Thursday.

After a long thirteen and a half hour shift, I finished work at around 8-30 pm ( Sept 27) and jumped straight into my car and headed South for Syracuse NY. I arrived there just before mid-night and booked in to the Motel 6. I awoke early enough on Friday morning to grab a good breakfast at Denny’s before making the short drive to the Airport.

The first part of my journey took me from Syracuse to Chicago where I landed in time for a lunchtime burger at ‘McDonalds. From Chicago my joining flight took me to Austin, Texas where I arrived around 4-30 pm.

Why was I going to Texas ?  you must be asking.

Well, just under a year ago my daughter Carla, decided to leave her home in Los Angeles , California , for a new life in Austin ,Texas.

She’s settled in quite nicely now, and it was about time ‘Dad’ payed a visit. Of course when planning this visit I previously scanned the internet to look for some racing action while I was there, and decided the weekend ‘Stock Car Spectacular’ at the nearby Thunder Hill Raceway at Kyle would be worth a look.

Carla picked me up from the Airport in her aging Ford Taurus just at the right time for an evening meal at a superb Italian buffet restaurant.( the name escapes me)

087_87Carla’s Taurus has been well used, and is in desperate need of a replacement  , so the first part of our Saturday morning was spent looking at new cars and touring the city. 097_97We test drove a Hyundai Elantra that she was interested in before, meeting up with one of her friends and heading in the direction of Kyle.

We arrived early at the Thunder Hill Raceway which is located between Austin and San Antonio on I 35, just as the qualifying time trials were about to start. 034_34 (Medium)

Carla and her friend, took their seats in the stands while I wandered the pits.

10012007k031_31 (Medium)021_21 (Medium)10012007i029_29 019_19There were eight divisions racing which included , Late Models, Pro Late Models, Texas Trucks, Texas Pro Sedans, Texas Dwarfs, Super Stocks, Lone Star Legacies and Pro Modifieds. T. H. R is a tidy paved track about a quarter of a mile in length and is owned and promoted by Mary Ann Naumann. 10012007hI had the pleasure of meeting Mary Ann who was busy in the ‘tech’ garage.

047_47 (Medium)04 (Large) 049_49 (Medium)All the divisions time trialed except for the Legends which went straight into their qualifying heats. One great idea  they had for the Legends were individual cartoon characters painted on the rear as well as numbers . For example # 00 David Royal of Corpus Christi had ‘Superman’ .

After taking pics on the middle, I then rejoined Carla in the Grandstand.10012007jArden Vikre # 72  of San Marcos who won the feature had ‘Donald Duck’ . It’s a great way to get the younger fans interested in racing.10012007eThe Pro Late Models were the first to run their feature which was won by Kyle Sirizzoti.

056_56They were followed by the Texas Trucks which was clinched by Brian Meredith. 059_59This was quite a lively race with a few of the guys getting quite aggressive with each other.

10012007fThe Late Model 50 lap feature was next with a field of over 20 cars. This too was full of action where long time leader Joe Aramendia # 79 lost out to Bobby Joe New # 3 in the closing laps when his car suffered a rear end failure.071_71 (Large) 10012007d

The Late Model feature finished around 10-00pm , and because this trip was not a full blown ‘racing vacation’ and more of a time to spend with Carla, we decided to take off for the night life of Austin. The rest of Saturday night was spent at ‘The Ivory Cat’ which is a downtown night spot . It was a really great place for those of us that like ‘oldies’ music where a pianist and drummer banged out requests for the sing a long favorites of the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. We were there until ‘chucking out’ time at around 2-00am

Sunday was a relatively quiet day , spent swimming in one of the cities creeks followed by an evening at The Oasis restaurant at Lake Travis .103_103 10012007l 2007_1001Image0020 (2)

On Monday it was time to head home and it went something like this,

I woke in AUSTIN , TEXAS

I had breakfast in CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

I had lunch in PULASKI, NEW YORK

I had late afternoon coffee and Donut in OTTAWA , ONTARIO where  before heading for home I visited my fourth airport of the day , when I met my long-time friend Lynn who’d flown in from the UK