It’s vastly approaching without doubt the most important time of the year for any racecar driver, crew chief or car owner. The time of year when you have to give sponsors and owners a yearly report and to prove that you are worth the money, time & heart ache they have invested in you to keep you around for another year. For some the bare facts and results will do for others they have to polish a turd to make it shine like a diamond which basically means they have to talk as much crap and dribble as Hannagan or send in the muscle, in his case that’s his mommy Margie as Randy’s a chicken legged momma’s boy. Before I go any further I want to send our thoughts and prayers out to Margie as she is having a tough go now but I also know that me picking in her turkey of a son will keep her fighting spirits up so she can kick my butt. I would hang some home truths about Old Gumpy Jim if it would fire up Margie but I also know that every bad thing I say about grumpy she’ll agree with me. Actually she would probably tell more insulting things about the old fella and steal my thunder.

 

Back to business of polishing a piece of coal. This season we have raced in 31  A mains for five different owners (TLC Racing, Ron and Marg Olson, Bobby Sparks, Loren Barstad and Guy Forbrook) for 7 wins with two being at the famed Knoxville Raceway along with Britt, IA. Jim Falls, WI. Beaver Dam, WI. Seymour, WI. and  Cedar Lake, WI. There was a couple of fish stories that got away but none hurt as bad as the Outlaw race at Knoxville which we had covered  until we broke a con rod with 5 or 6 to go             (remember, polish the turd till it sparkles). There was also the fish story that didn’t get away which had nothing to do with a racecar. I’ll set the scene for you like a Walt Disney movie, three Australians (myself, Brad & Kevy)  in a tiny (small aluminum boat) no fishing poles, no bait and as much as this may sound like a lie for an Aussie no beer. Brad thought he saw a 4ft fish so we circled over and pulled out the oars and started swinging at the fish. To on lookers we looked like the English cricket team trying to hit a cricket ball ( not real smooth) until we pulled it into the boat and took it to shore to show the natives. We had no idea what sort of fish it was but it looked cool and as the photo’s prove. I’m not lying about the size or the catch but I did forget to tell people it was dead when we first saw it.

 

Along the way to our seven wins we also claimed 13 top three finishes, 17 top five finishes, 27 top 10 finishes and two DNF. When asked which win I felt the car was more dominant? It was our second Knoxville win in the 11AU and it was the week before the nationals and every man and his dog were there but our most satisfying win came in Forbrooks car. Winning Amy’s Dad’s memorial race at Cedar Lake was something that meant the world to us as we had finished 2nd in this race before in Forbrooks car to T-Bag, T-Fag I mean T-Mac. The car was super fast and for those that say we were cherry picking and we weren't that fast, I believe that on the night we had a car that was with out doubt a top three outlaw placed car. Some people have asked why I jumped in the 5 car over the 11AU for that race and the answer was simple. On Monday after the nationals Barry told me he was done and leaving on Thursday to go back to Australia which left me with no ride for the rest of the year so I called Guy as I needed a ride especially for the memorial as this was the first time in 4 years that I wasn‘t in Chico for Gold Cup. On Wednesday,  Barry informed me that he changed his mind and was planning to stay for another month so we could continue to race. By this time I had already agreed to drive for Guy and I try hard to keep my word well,  as much as possible as Shirley Kears once told me that all racecar drivers and crew chief are just like hoers always looking for the next best thing. If that’s the case I just hope that I am a upper class high dollar one. Barry and the guys showed class and respect by still coming up to run Superior the night before which rained out and stayed to celebrate with the  Richert Family at Cedar Lake.

 

We had thought about trying to run the Missouri races with the Outlaws but a lack of funds cut those races short  and has ended our year at TLC Racing. I want to thank Barry & Vivian Lewis along with John Cooley for putting this team together at the 12th hour on a limited budget when it appeared we had nothing. I have definitely learned more this year about Baz than I had hoped to, I was happy to learn about his years racing the mini minor but I did not need to learn that Baz is proud to walk around the house butt ---- naked no matter who’s there and you definitely don’t want to walk in to the bath room after him unless you enjoy feeling sick to the stomach. As for David Craft,  I could never have made it through the year with out his hard work and all the effort he put into this year. I have mentioned before he showed more crack than a desperate street drug dealer and are please to say that by seasons end he actually found a pair of jeans that covered what no human should have to see and he figured out how to wear a belt. For Joe,  we learned to never go down the road on the Interstate with him unless you have bail money at your disposal. Bubba changed his name to “Thunder “not from down under after being mistaken for Bubba behind bars in previous stories. The only guy who didn’t get raged on was Dunk but that as a name it wouldn‘t be fair to say anymore. Speaking about learning things, this year  I realized that by having children I would also learn to speak Spanish by watching Dora the Explora & Handy Many as I can now count to ten in Spanish. The said thing is that Emma now speaks four languages (English, American, Australian and Spanish) and Randy still has a hard time speaking English. Yep, there are such languages as American & Australian just ask the girl that cut my hair and asked me how hard it was to learn to speak American after speaking Australian for all these years???? This just goes to show that the chemicals in hair products are not good for the brain.

 

I also wish to thank Bernie & Keri-Anne from Flamecrusher Race Products for all their support from the race suit, 2b cool fire proof underwear, the hauler and the Don Ott motor he gave us to use at the Nationals and yes there were two cars painted the same at the nationals. For all the people that asked Amy what the hell was I doing I was in the 11AU that ran on the Thursday night show. With economic times getting tougher each year I’m sure we will start to see more of Flamecrusher suits both here and in Australia because of the strength of the NZ dollar. It’s definitely worth jumping on the website or email us and Amy will get you hooked up. Thank you also to the following Cool Chassis, Wesmar Race Engines, Moyle Racing Engines, VRP Shocks, Boss Pumping, Leading Edge Repair and XYZ Machining because without each and everyone this year I would have had to move in and live with Hannagan.

 

So what happens from here??? The plans are to run Princeton with the outlaws, a 360 race in October and hopefully by then the American Immigration will have approved my green card so we can return to Australia to defend our World Series Championship and regain the Australian Championship as we can't be there to defend it in October. I am definitely on a mission to win this year to prove to everyone that we are worthy of a strong and competitive ride here in the US next year. The most frequently asked questions we get is why don't you and Forbrook race full time together?  and why don't you and Krikke Motorsports bring the Aussie team over here? Firstly,  Guy and I have had plans to race more together but we have run into insuffiant funds to make it work. So for us to race together we need to find a sponsor, plain and simple. As for Krikke Motorsports, over a beer or two we have all said that this would be cool but at the same time both Shane and Ryan have huge responsibilities in running their Toyota and Subaru dealership in Bunbury and to run an operation over here would take plenty of time, money and more important commitment. Who knows maybe one day it will happen.

 

What does this mean for next year in the USA? We either need to find a sponsor to run our own team, take a sponsor to an existing deal like Guys, beg at Beef Packers door step, win lotto or fill in my application at Wal-Mart as a meet and greet or trolley boy. So as you can see nothing is firm on the table for next year but we will keep plugging away and annoying car owners. For every one that has supported us whether it be financial or just with best wishes we really do appreciate it and to those that wish I would just go away, bad luck I may even just write another column next week especially for you.