2011 Championship Getting Closer

Could there be a Kid Kart Championship in Tyler's near future?  Well, we came a little closer to getting there this weekend as Tyler took his Kid Kart to a strong second place finish.  Last years champion, Luke Howard, took the win this weekend and it's going to take a lot for us to catch him.  He's about 4 seconds quicker per lap than we are but considering the fact that he use to lap us we're making tremendous progress in the right direction.


Go Kart racing is an interesting sport because you have a qualifying session and then you run two races, the "Pre-Final" and "The Main".  I'm still learning how this all works but the "Pre-Final" sets up the race order for "The Main" and qualifying sets up the order for the "Pre-Final".  It can get to be a little confusing but just like anything else, it becomes more clear over time.  Tyler started off at practice on Saturday with a lap time of 1 minute 6 seconds (1:06) which was far slower than his competition.  We found ourselves nearly 6 seconds behind the leaders and in a 12 lap race, with the leaders running lap times of 1 minute, we were looking at the possibility of getting lapped in the race on Sunday.  We needed more speed and we needed it quick.  Air pressure adjustments and some tuning on the carburetor improved our lap times by 2.5 seconds but that's as much as we could do.  The rest of it was going to fall on Tyler's shoulders to run a good solid race.   

Tyler at the Starting Grid with Carissa and Wendy

Tyler did a fantastic job and his lap times were amazingly consistent.  We got our lap times down to 1:04 putting us 4 seconds behind that of the leaders.  That was enough that it would keep us on the lead lap but something else was going to have to happen in order for us to get close to the leaders.  The top two karts, Luke and Henry, battled for much of the race which allowed Tyler to close the gap on the leaders.  Henry was black flagged at the mid way point of the race and was sent to the pits and that allowed Tyler to move into the second position behind Luke Howard.  Despite the fact that Luke won the race and Tyler came in second on Sunday.  Tyler had a more consistent overall performance on Sunday and will end up with more points.  This should move us to within striking distance of the Championship.  We have our new parts on order for the race in July so if all goes well, we'll pick up those extra few seconds and we'll be in contention for the lead in July.


Tyler races a "Rocket" race chassis and It's been said that a "Rocket" will never win a Championship in Kid Karting because they're just too heavy but Tyler is trying to prove that it can be done.  We're up against a "Tornado" chassis with is widely regarded as the best of the best in Kid Karts so we certainly have our work cut out for us but despite the fact that we don't have the best kart I firmly believe we have the best driver!  Three more races left in the Championship battle.  No matter what the end result is, we'll still be winners in the end...

Hagan Racing at The Redline Cup!

WOW!  I'm tired today and I wasn't even the one racing in the 90+ degree heat this weekend.  Perhaps that's why I'm the crew chief and not the racer, and the fact that I'd look a little silly out there with a bunch of 8 year olds racing.  They'd likely beat me too which would even be worse.

This weekend was Tyler's first really big BMX race and he did a great job!  He finished in 2nd place at the end of the day but he was a little frustrated because he didn't win, which turned into a great teaching opportunity to reinforce some of the "Rules of Racing" that we developed.  I could understand Tyler's slight frustration because earlier in the day he beat the boy, who ultimately took first place.  Tyler was upset with himself because that boy passed him in the final race of the day and Tyler had been leading the race up until the final part of the race.

It was a full team effort on the day with Wendy and Carissa there as well.  The grandparents even stopped by to watch the race on Sunday.  It was a HUGE race and there were kids in from Springfield and St. Louis and even racers in from out of State from what I understand.  Just to give you an idea of how large this race was we typically have about 9 or 10 different classes, which are called "Motos" in BMX.  Each of those "Motos" have roughly 4 to 8 racers.  So there are typically 40 to 80 racers during an average race.  At the "Redline Cup" there are 51 Motos!!!  Each moto averaged 6 riders.  306 Racers on Sunday!!!!

Tyler is at the Center in the Black & White Bike Stop uniform with the Red Helmet.

It was a HUGE event and our first really big race.  Tyler now has a great plaque to hang on his wall at home showing that he got 2nd place in a big race.  I was great experience to be part of such a big event and Tyler learned a lot in the process.  Later in the day, after the race was over, we had a chance to talk about the race itself and why he thought he lost the lead late in the race.  Wendy and I noticed during the race that he kept turning his head to see where the other racers were and he never use to do that.  Each time he turned his head he would lose a little speed and it allowed the other rider the chance to catch him and ultimately pass him.  It was hard to watch him give up the lead in a race that he really should have won but it was a great learning experience for him as well.  I don't think he'll be turning his head in any of the upcoming races in the near future...

What's Next? Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin...

For those of you who are NASCAR fans out there perhaps you'll understand the title of this entry.  "What's Next? Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin..."   I came up with the title in reference to Tyler's last go kart race.  As you can tell by the previous entry he won the race and I was literally jumping up and down with excitement as he crossed the finish line in first place.  I honestly hadn't thought of what it would feel like if we won a race which tells me we were doing it right because we were focused on having fun and learning.  I told Tyler that as long as we were having a good time and working hard the rest would come in time.  Well, lucky for us, time came sooner than we expected and it was absolutely an amazing feeling.  I hope that happens for us again but we'll always cherish the first win!

Tyler Takes the WIN in the Kid Kart Class on 5-22-11

So back to the title of the blog entry...   Now that we have a win under our belts what's next?  Will our future in racing be like Jimmie Johnson with more wins and championships ahead of us?  Will Tyler have a future in racing and make his way up the ladder of racing to IndyCar or NASCAR?  Will he be like some of the other amazing drivers who all started in karting and worked their way up.  Have you seen that commercial for Chevy that says, "As long as Jimmie Johnson has been racing he's been racing Chevy's..."  He started in motocross back when he was a little kid, about the same age as Tyler.  Will Tyler get lucky and be like Jimmie Johnson and have multiple wins to his name on the way to multiple championships?

Or will his racing path follow the road that Mark Martin has gone down where he works remarkably hard and always seems to come up just a little bit short of victory lane and the championship?  Mark Martin has come so close so many times but has never been able to grab the championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Will Tyler's racing career be a series of "We almost got it" or "We were so close but we missed it by that much"...

Truthfully it really doesn't matter to me at this point because the smile on Tyler's face is a MILE WIDE!!!  Granted it would be fantastic to get more wins and a karting championship however the goal right now is to continue to help him learn and enjoy himself.  If he continues to excel in the sport then we'll start to look at what the future might hold in racing but for right now the single most important thing is that he's having fun and learning at the same time.  As a Dad I looked at racing as a tremendous opportunity to help Tyler learn many things so I came up with "The Five Rules of Racing".  The reason I came up with Five rules is because Tyler was really young when he started racing, 5 years old to be exact, so that worked well and it was easy to remember because he has 5 fingers...  Seems simple but it worked.  The rules are:  Safety, Sportsmanship, Smile, Set-up and Speed with the first three being the most important rules.  It's been great to see him excel and have fun with the sport so far.  I honestly think it's been more rewarding for me than for him so you see it really doesn't matter if his path is like that of Jimmie Johnson's or Mark Martin's, the most important thing is that he's having fun and learning.

 However, if you believe in what your fortune cookies say then Tyler may be headed for a life behind the wheel as his fortune cookie on his birthday said, 

"Your future is in the Driver's Seat!"