Well, quite a bit has happened since the last time you’ve all heard from me. Since February I have managed to marry the woman of my dreams, travel with said dream woman to London and Paris, move to Roanoke, VA, again with that pretty lady crazy enough to actually marry me, and I’ve actually made progress on this whole driving a go kart for 24 hours to raise money for charity thing. I will try to bring you back up to speed on everything, but if I leave something out, which I probably will, I sincerely apologize.
Needless to say, the event planning took a backseat during wedding/honeymoon time, but once I returned from Paris, where everybody is extremely nice and they actually like Americans much more than most Americans think, I was back at it trying to get everything put together so I can eventually sit on my butt and go really fast for one whole Earth’s rotation. By this point, the Guinness World Record organization had already accepted my application for the attempt (woohoo!), but there were some stipulations I did not anticipate having to deal with.
My original plan was to make my 24 hour attempt somewhat close to home. It turns out though, that the world record guidelines require that the track be between 0.75 and 1.25 miles in length, and be in regular use for karting events. Well, believe it or not, there is not a single track within 300 miles that fits that criteria, and has lights. So off I was in search of a track that was 0.75 – 1.25 miles, not too bumpy, not too twisty, capable of being lit, and oh yeah, had owners willing to let me parade around on their asphalt wonderland for 24 straight hours. Surprisingly, the search did not last long. I considered a few options, got a recommendation from a helpful supporter, made a phone call to Mark Dismore at New Castle Motorsports Park, and voila, venue, check. Mark talked to their track director Mike Adams about my little idea, they hashed out some of the details, and we came up with a date that would work well for everybody. At this point in this super awesome, totally radical, somewhat boring, completely overly wordy and full of run-on sentences but still super awesome blog, I am happy to announce that my world record attempt, the 24 Hours for TSA, will take place at New Castle Motorsports Park on October 25, 2011. There is also an article in eKartingNews.com announcing the event. Check it out, I’m in the news! New Castle, IN is a bit far from Roanoke, but the track is one of the best in the country, Mike and the Dismores have been really helpful and supportive in allowing me to do this, and we were able to conveniently place it two days after the Robopong 200. I’ve never been to that race before, so I’m looking forward to checking out my first Robopong.
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| New Castle Motorsports Park from overhead I-70 |
Other than finding a track and setting the date, most of my work on this has been keeping up with my training, and attempting to talk with teams about supporting the attempt. Hopefully that is something I can make an announcement about real soon, but for now I’ll have to leave you hanging on the edge of your seat in anticipation. As far as the training is concerned, Tim is keeping me very busy with constantly evolving workouts that definitely catch a few eyes at the Gold’s Gym down here in Roanoke. It’s really funny to see some of the strange looks I get when I put my head harness on to do my neck exercises. The neck muscles are crucial when driving a go kart. With a helmet on, your head weighs over 12 pounds. Now, multiply that by 2, 3, sometimes 4 G’s in the corners and that’s what I’ll have to hold up, 14 times a lap, for up to 1000 laps. I guess the best way to describe it is to imagine you’re lying on your side on a bench with your head hanging off the edge. Place a couple bowling balls on your temple, and try to hold your head level and not let it sag toward the ground. It’s about like that. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? The good thing is, people are curious and ask questions, and when I tell them what I’m training for, it only helps to get the word out even more. Exercise ropes are the same story. Although, with the ropes, I even got one of the trainers to come in on Saturdays and workout with me, just because he thought the ropes were awesome, which they are.
I have heard from a few people recently that they are planning on traveling out to Indiana to watch me drive around in circles trying not to fall asleep. To everybody who is planning on coming out, you have no idea how much that would mean to me. I figured I’d be out there like a tumble weed in the middle of the desert (If a go kart driver sets a world record and nobody’s there to see it, does it still count?), but the more of you I have there cheering me on the better! As for the this often neglected, periodically interesting blog, I should have some testing days over the summer that I’m sure you will all be so eager to hear about, as well as hopefully announcing the team I am working with and what our chassis and engine package will be for the attempt.
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| The Infamous Ropes! |
Thank you everybody for your support, and hopefully I’ll have some more for you real soon!