Race Weekend

 The Southwest Motorsports (SWMS) club that Stephen belongs to has been traveling this season instead of racing here in Albuquerque.  Stephen had been working on the Camaro all summer to get it ready for High Plains Raceway in Deer Trail, Colorado.  He had the truck and trailer ready to go so we could leave early on Friday morning.

We had planned to convoy with another family.  They were in two vehicles; their truck and trailer, and a passenger car. As we approached Raton, NM where we planned to stop for a snack, our friend had a flat tire on his trailer and had to stop on the side of the road to change it.  Stephen and I made a pit stop at a gas station featuring this sign:

I was impressed at the proper use of an apostrophe in the word, "you're."

After fueling the truck, I used my phone to search for a place to get another spare trailer tire and found one right around the corner.  Stephen talked to the owner then relayed the information to his buddy who soon met us there.

 While we waited, I checked out the other attractions at the site.  Unfortunately, once I said hello to this charming fellow, all his friends got the idea that I had food for them, and about 20 more goats ran over to greet me.  I felt pretty guilty that I had nothing for them!

We quickly got back on the road, only to encounter major traffic tie-ups for an accident, construction, and heavy volume around Colorado Spring.  The goal was to get to the track in time to park the trailer, get the car out and get it through tech inspection.  We just barely made it!  The car passed inspection and Stephen received his OK to race.  Then we headed to our hotel. 





When Stephen said we were going to Colorado, I mistakenly thought, "John Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountain High!"  What I actually saw, however, was a lot of this:

 Corn, oil rigs, amber waves of grain, a few cows.  It looked a lot more like my idea of Kansas than my (obviously mistaken) idea of Colorado.  The closest general store to the track was 20 miles away and our hotel was 50 miles away.  The landscape between Denver and the track was so featureless I had to look at the odometer to tell where we were, even after several trips back and forth.
We had a nice dinner with our traveling companions and retired to the hotel.  We were up bright and early the next morning (before the hotel started serving breakfast, sadly) because the drivers' meeting was at 7:30 AM. 
Stephen got ready for his first session on the track -- combined practice and qualifying.

 The trailer became our hang-out place.

 Here he is in his fire suit getting ready to go.

 I walked over to the stands to watch.

 The starting grid.  Stephen's is the second car back in the short line.

 And here he goes!

 There was no way to get a good picture of the Camaro on the track from where I was standing.

No matter where you stand, you can't see the whole track at a road course.  At best, you can see a couple of corners and a straightaway or two.  A few laps into the session, I realized Stephen's car hadn't gone past with the rest of the field.  I went back to our pit area, and he was driving to the trailer.  It seems that the oil pressure had taken a sudden dive.  He got out, changed out of his fire suit, and started trying to diagnose the problem.  This was the start of what turned out to be a very long, hot, frustrating day of working on the car and not solving the problem.  Various other drivers stopped by throughout the day to look at the car and give advice, but the oil pressure issue remained a mystery even after Stephen removed and took apart the pump, blasted compressed air through the lines, and tried several other interventions.  Finally, he decided he had tried everything he could do outdoors with limited tools, and his friends helped push the car back into the trailer. 
The help I could give was minimal.  Mostly I read my book, practiced Spanish, and played my bass. I thought I would go for a long walk but it was very hot and as you can see from the photo below, there was no shade and really not much to look at. 
On Sunday, Stephen and I returned to the track to watch some racing.  It was fun for me because I had Stephen there to explain what I was looking at.  We watched some of Stephen's SWMS friends have good runs. 
Here is the track from the West:

 Another view above, and below, some actual racing.

Stephen had me tape a track map to the wall of the trailer so he could memorize the turns.

Here is the pit area of another SWMS team. 

 This is what Stephen called the "high rent district."  Covered pits!

There was a concession stand at the track, but it offered nothing even remotely vegan.  Fortunately, I had anticipated that and packed a big cooler full of snacks.  Almost everywhere I go these days there are plenty of vegan or "vegan-ize-able" options, but this part of Colorado was not super vegan-friendly. 
Everyone at the race was very friendly, and they all went around checking out the other cars and stopping to talk about cars and racing.  The atmosphere was much more cooperative than competitive.  I kept thinking we needed to lock the trailer and truck every time we walked away from our pit area, but Stephen said, "The track is self-policing.  I bet most of these trucks have keys in the ignition."  Well, OK then!  We had a fairly modest set-up compared to many people who came in motor homes pulling car trailers.  Some of the trailers had lifts in them so you could put one car in, lift it, and put a second car underneath the first.  People also had a variety of ways to get around the paddock area including bicycles (with and without motors), scooters (with and without motors), skateboards, and golf carts. 
I had anticipated that the track would be noisy but I hadn't considered that many folks would be running generators.  That's a constant, annoying noise, unlike the revs of race cars.  Also, the smell of exhaust from the cars, trucks, and generators was a little overwhelming.  Basically, it was hot, smelly, noisy, and dirty.  Stephen loved it!!!

After loading the Camaro, Stephen had to clean up and put away the tools he had been using and get everything strapped down and stowed properly for the drive home.

All this fits in the trailer in front of the race car!























The original plan had been for Stephen to race on Sunday and for us to drive all the way home on Monday.  Instead, we left Sunday afternoon intending to drive until we were tired then find a hotel room.  A lot of the scenery was like this.

 Then we came across an abandoned store and stopped to take some pictures.  There were old adobe walls underneath the brick, and a corral out back.  We think it may have been a stop on the Santa Fe trail.

 Finally, after many hours of driving, a mountain appeared in the distance!  We stayed overnight in Trinidad, Colorado and drove the rest of the way home on Monday.

Hopefully our next race weekend will have a little more racing in it, but we enjoyed spending time together and got to see a new part of the country.