Katykarter Post

Greetings from your humble host, Katykarter

As The Racing World Turns

Nascar was at Pocono Raceway from Longpond, Pa and polesitter Joey Logano showed dominance all day in the Home Depot Toyota, winning for the second time this season by holding off furious charges from several cars including a late battle with Mark Martin who's second place finish is only the 7th time he's been runner up at the venerable Nascar track.

Mark's Dream Machine was strong in the late going, but faded for the final time after a short stint at the end of the race when Logano was able to pull away and take the win. It was a crucial win for Logano, one that was sorely needed to solidify his position as the full-time driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Home Depot Toyota. It was also a good day for Mark's #55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, he and his team mate Martin Truex Jr were strong, though Truex went a lap down because of repairs needed after he was caught up in an early accident.

Justin Wilson had a breakthrough day (er, night actually),  and won the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Though he has notched a victory on a road course, it was his first oval win and it was a sweet one. At one point, near the end of the race, Wilson described a four-wheel drift all the way through turns 3 and 4! After Graham Rahal brushed the wall, Wilson passed and held on in his Dale Coyne owned Sonny's BBQ indy car for the victory. Hinchcliffe and Briscoe followed in 3rd and 4th.

Formula 1 made it's yearly trek to Canada, eh? Ya, and Lewis Hamilton was hiding a Union Jack in his cockpit for just this occasion. The Brit won from the front row, battling with polesitter Sebastien Vettle and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa had a strong day but it was Romain Grosjean who took his Lotus Renault to second place and Sergio Perez in a Sauber to third to round out the unlikely podium.

US Grand Prix Update

Tickets went on sale and nearly all grandstand seats were snapped up in a matter of hours. Some general admission tickets were still available as of yesterday. Luckily, I purchased a pair of GA tickets on Friday in an advance sale to Circuit of the America's members. Impossible to imagine missing this historic race. I couldn't let it happen! Pack your bags, Griff!!

Texas Pro Kart Challenge

I visited the race meeting on June 3 held at Grand Sport Speedway in Hitchcock, Tx south of Houston. This event was organized by several companies including Gulf Coast Karting Inc. and 3G Karting in Katy, Tx.  I got there just in time to see the TaG and Rotax classes run. There were 8-10 entries in the TaG senior, 10 or so karts in the TaG masters(including my buddy Scott Boone from GCKI whos pictured below). These are the classes I'll have to choose from, and I'll be blunt: I can't afford the expensive motor they're using in the TaG karts. $4k for the motor and $1,500 to refresh it. Some teams are refreshing every race! Rotax is a little more manageable, but for now, I can't find a field of KT 100's. As an injury to the insult, after being told by the sponsoring body, 3G Karting, who are a great company outside Katy, that there were no KT100 entries expected for the event, two made a late entry and appearance. As I was walking away, I heard the announcer say the karts ontrack were KT100's. I was SO pissed. I could have dusted off the Birel and made some laps.  *sigh* Maybe next time!

-Katykarter