I started writing this on Sunday from home and a big blank is all I came up with. I know that’s kind of unusual for me to go blank about having something to say, but none the less it happened. You know when your not racing there isn’t much to report. There is no racing here we didn’t go to Florida and the Colts didn’t make the Super Bowl (but I am rooting for the NY Giants, after all they do have a Manning for a quarterback) so what else can be reported? I know I can always talk about Hayden and that I do a lot of because he is the angel in my life sometimes with a little red pointed tail but none the less an angel. After the terrible tragedy this weekend to the Doug Herbert family I will keep that little angel as close to me and my heart as possible.

I don’t know if many of you know Doug Herbert but he is the owner of Doug Herbert Performance Parts in Lincolnton, North Carolina. Bob and I have been friends and colleagues of Doug Herbert and his ex-wife Sonnie for many years. Doug’s company carries our spring line and he drives his Top Fuel car with the K-Motion Valve Spring decal on it and has for many years. Bob and Doug raced in IHRA drag racing at the same time. Tragedy struck the Herbert family on Saturday January 26th when both of their sons were killed in an automobile accident near their home in North Carolina. Jon, 17, and James, 12, were killed instantly. The Herbert’s also have a younger child , a daughter Jessie at home. We want to send our deepest sympathy and prayers out to the Herbert family on this terrible loss.

On a brighter note our daughter Michelle and I witnessed the miracle of birth this morning January 29, 2008. Dori Jones, who works the pit concession stand, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 8:31 a.m. Dailyn Grace Jones weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and was twenty inches long (I swear her fingers are at least ten, just kidding, but they are long). Dori’s mother passed away a year ago and Bob and I have kind of been surrogate parents to her (she is Michelle’s best friend) and she asked Michelle and I to be with her. It was a wonderful experience and both mother and daughter are doing fine.

The coffee chat room we have been putting together at K-Motion is almost complete. I have painted racing stripes on the walls in Tony Stewart orange. It started out to have red stripes but the chairs we picked up at the Purdue surplus outlet are definitely “ORANGE” so the red idea went out the door. Jim Westfall of Westfall Automotive, who also does woodworking is building a table for the lounge. I really appreciate his contribution to this project. This will be a place for drivers to come and shoot the breeze, watch past race videos, drink coffee or a soda, maybe snack on a cookie and finish the time spent here shopping in the K-Motion retail store. It should be complete within the week (the table may not be done but we can improvise until it is).

We will be at the 4th annual Racer’s Trade Show and Swap Meet on Saturday the 23rd of February. The trade show is at the Jasper County Fair Grounds in Rensselaer, Indiana. Show hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (CST). For more show information contact Scott Madison @ 219-285-6932 or Stan Larson @ 219-394-2188.

In closing I would again ask you to keep our armed forces in your thoughts and prayers as they fight the war in Iraq to keep us safe from terrorism. I would also ask you to keep the Doug Herbert family in your thoughts and prayers as they battle the loss of their children.

With all that said until next time be happy and be safe.

Gayle

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This weekend we attended the UMP Awards Banquet that was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Illinois. The banquet had a great turnout of drivers, crews and their families. We attended a promoter’s luncheon earlier in the day and then made a trip to the fairgrounds for the Expo that was going on over there. The Expo also had a great turn out this year. While at the Expo we talked to a lot of people and of course I purchased die cast racecars for my grandson.

We did have some excitement before the banquet, it seems our hotel room got rented out twice. We checked in on Saturday morning and while I was doing a quick repair on my hair another racer and his wife used a key to access our room. We made a quick call downstairs and the problem was taken care of and we were issued a new set of keys and they were issued a different room. I was just glad I was dressed and Bob was there. It could have been a little embarrassing had Bob been out of the room and I was still in the shower. OOPS!!!!

The banquet was very orderly this year and the awards were done quite efficiently as there were a lot of classes to get through. The track of the year went to Fairbury Speedway again this year and Oakshade Speedway was presented promoter’s of the year. To say the least I was somewhat disappointed but I am not going to cry over spilt milk. I will say this though what Jerrad Krick and Jim Ransom said in their speech meant more to me than any award; because even though we didn’t get the award those two drivers recognized Bob and I as being the best track and promoters. No other drivers said that about their home tracks. We really appreciated those words. As I have always said Kamp Motor Speedway does have the best drivers and fans of any other speedway.

I would also again like to congratulate all the champions of UMP this year as well as the KMS champions and drivers who received awards at the banquet. They all did a great job. I would especially like to congratulate Heather Lyne who is the crew chief for Dennis Erb Jr. on her award of Crew Chief of the Year. She works very hard and she was most deserving of the award.

After the banquet we headed to the party upstairs for a few cocktails and dancing. Yours truly here had a few cocktails to many but I still had a good time. I really don’t care if I ever see another Chocolate Martini again. Don’t ask just be careful of the the chocolate milk tasting cocktail, it has a powerful kick to it.

We had a lot of drivers who suffered flooding this past week especially in the town of Watseka, Illinois. I know a few who lost a lot of things and some that jacked their racecars as far in the air as possible to save them from the flood waters. I read on the message board that the Vaughn’s had their car jacked up on beer kegs to get them up out of the water. It was a good thing they have had a few parties along the way and those empty kegs were in the shop.These drivers are going to have a lot of clean up to do before the racing season starts. If you have the time you might want to lend a helping hand to them.

We are very close on the schedule a hopefully we will be able to post it either by the end of this week or the first of next week.

In closing I would again ask you to please continue to keep our armed forces in your thoughts and prayers as they wage the war against terrorism. They do their job to keep you free to do yours. I would also continue to ask you to keep the flood victims in this area in your thoughts and prayers as they battle to save their belongings. With all that said until next time be happy and be safe.

Gayle

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Goodbye 2007! Hellooo 2008! If there is anybody ready to begin a new year, it’s me. Like most human beings , I look at January as a fresh start and twelve months of endless opportunities-not only on a personal level, but also for the entire operation of Kamp Motor Speedway. I have had my brain storming the past week on what kind of things I, or should I say “we” can do to bring attendance up for Kamp Motor Speedway in 2008. I have also included some of my brainpower into ways to up the business at K-Motion Racing. The two businesses go hand in hand with each other and it takes support for both to make each other survive.

In my brainstorming ideas I have put into plan a racers coffee area at K-Motion. This will be a place to sit around and drink coffee, have a snack and give your input on how to save the world from global warming or even your thoughts on racing ideas. You might even want to do some shopping while your here; after all we are a race shop with products for racing on hand.

I have done some brainstorming on how to get families to attend the races at Kamp Motor Speedway. In this brainstorm I have come up with things for your kids to do. If we can keep your little ones entertained while you have a night out to enjoy the spectacular racing at Kamp Motor Speedway with no babysitting charge, wouldn’t that be a great night out. I have plans for the kids that involve a Christmas party, a Valentines party, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Halloween costume party and driver interaction. These are just a few of the things we will have in store for the little ones. With gas prices threatening to raise to record prices this would be a great place close to home to entertain the whole family at a reasonable price.

Speaking of prices, if you have explored the website at all you will notice the front gate prices have risen a bit. This is a necessary evil to make ends meet, but if you do some exploring there are ways to get a discount on weekly programs. Such as factory discounts, Triple AAA discounts and special fan nights such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and a few other brainstorming plans that’s been going through what has now become a tornado aftermath inside my head. If you have reasonable ideas to make things better please give me a shout and we can at least talk about it.

In all this brainstorming we have also been working on the schedule and some things are done but it is not finished. Hopefully we can nail that job down within the next week.

This weekend we will be attending the UMP banquet along with a promoters luncheon in Springfield, Illinois. We are looking forward to seeing a lot of you there and seeing the drivers being honored for their racing accomplishments in 2007. A lot of those drivers and champions are from our speedway and we are proud of each and every one of you that race with us. Not only the ones being honored but all of you. Don’t forget the racing Expo is also going on at the fairgrounds in Springfield. You won’t want to miss that. There are usually some great bargains going on that weekend. Oh and don’t forget you only have a couple of days to get your award votes in.

The holidays weren’t so pleasant for everyone in our racing family. We would like to send our thoughts, prayers and condolences out to Modified driver Jammie Wilson and his family on the loss of Jammie’s Mother. Jammie’s Mother lost her battle against cancer on December 27th she was 53. Our thoughts are with the Wilson family.

In closing I hope the holidays were good for you and that the new year will prove to be prosperous. It is time to put 2007 behind us and focus on making 2008 a year to remember. I would also ask everyone to keep our armed forces in your thoughts and prayers as they wage the war against terrorism. They do their job to keep us safe to do our jobs. I would also like ask you to please keep the flood victims in this area in your thoughts as they fight the raging waters from the area creeks and rivers. With all that said until next time be happy and be safe.

Gayle

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