Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

After doing a lot of soul searching and playing around with the numbers I decided to attend Cedar Lake on Saturday nights. I might be able to get out and travel a little depending on how the old Merc and my racing funds are looking.

I had a ball chasing the Sprint Cars last season and wish I could continue doing that but there's a lot of travel involved that would triple my costs. On the other hand, Cedar has the best weekly show in the area and it's only a half hour from home. The new St. Croix Valley might be a possibility but we'll have to see how much downtown parking access is disrupted by light rail construction and how much of an impact the 35E resurfacing poject has on my commute. I work in downtown St. Paul and take the bus to work so I don't have contract parking and right now it's a hassle in Lowertown on account of the light rail and Lafayette bridge projects.

A lot of the UMSS guys come onto this message board so I thought it might be good to post it here in case anybody is wondering where I've been this season. The change will allow me to attend races at a quality track and keep my racing budget within my means. My website is unsponsored and I haven't even been to a track with my camera yet so I don't really do much in photo sales. It's just me, the rusty ol' '89 Merc and my weekly allowance after the bills and groceries. No complaints, I actually kind of like it that way because money always brings obligations along with it so I prefer to do what I can when I can on my own terms. I might have had aspirations of grandious when I was younger but I know where I stand and I'm quite comfortable where I'm at.

There are several more Sprint shows on the CLS schedule and I've got two weeks off in July during the CLS WoO and Elko Nationals so if it ever dries up and the Merc stops sputtering and smooths out I'll get out on the road. Darned thing has been coughing and wheezing in this wet weather, there must be a bad plug wire or a problem with the distributor but it usually runs alright when the air is dry. I wouldn't know where to start as far as fixing it and I just put a big chunk of change into it last month so that's why I'm in this predicament in the first place.

Stan Meissner

P.S. I have replaced plugs, wires and distributor cap before and it's a 302 v8 so I will probably do that if it doesn't resolve itself when things dry up a little. Usually once it gets up to operating temp it will smooth out even when it's raining so the heat must dry out the engine compartment once it runs for a while. The only thing I haven't done is replaced the points and set the timing so that's the part I wouldn't know. When a car is that old all those plastic clips and stuff that hold the wires break off when you start digging into them as well.

Speaking of plastic clips one of the power windows isn't working so I should probably pull the door panel and see what I can do with that next time I pull it into the garage. I had to pull the panel on the driver side once already to reconnect the door handle. I'm going to be 60 years old in a couple months and I'm still goofing around with old cars like a high school kid with his first car. Maybe that along with the ittle kids living in my basement will keep me young.

Stan Meissner

Does that make you an IMCA guy or a ASCS guy or a WISSOTA guy or an IRA guy or maybe you're a gal or maybe you're a Como Modified series guy or maybe you're a Knoxville gal or perhaps you're a NOSA guy. Just what the #### are you anyways?

Stan Meissner

You're picking apart everything I post lately. What's up with that? Just a choice of words when I mentioned UMSS people, nothing mysterious intended.

I'm just letting people that are used to seeing me at the races know my plans. I'd like to think that I made a few friends following the UMSS but when I read your posts I'm not so sure. They're some real confidence killers.

We're not comparing ourselves to the people in North Minneapolis. Just hoping that maybe somebody can give me some advice on points and plugs. That's all.

Stan Meissner

LOL Don't worry about this guy Stan.....anytime there is a post that doesn't include the almighty Arlington Raceway he whines about it.....

Racerman123......you say you don't pick 1 sanction......how come all you post about on here is whether Arlington is racing that week or not.......OH THAT'S RIGHT BECAUSE PEOPLE (including you) CAN LIKE AND SUPPORT WHOEVER THEY WANT!!!!!

You say you support sprint car racing?? Why don't you give Stan the respect he deserves....He has played a KEY role in making sprint cars more popular around the cities.....all out of his own pocket.

I try not to get into battles with people on message boards who won't post their real name but I must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning....

Cody Hahn

Stan,

It's good to hear from you. All that matters is that you're happy. People can talk all they want but it doesn't matter what they say. I have visited your website for over ten years now. I love this site. I think you have done an awesome job with it. Your thankless efforts have not gone without notice. You have given us a central point to talk about racing.

CLS is a fine facility and the racing is always good. Life is too short so you have to do what you have to do. Live today just in case tomorrow doesn't come. Stop by the #15 car at CLS on July 30th so we can chat and I can thank you in person for all that you have done for racing in our area.

BTW, I am a guy that happens to love racing with the UMSS!

Chad Patterson

It's good therapy for me when guys like you give me doo doo about my posts racerman123. My wife always reminds me that nobody on the internet boards of Facebook gives a damn what I do but who listens to their wife? It's good for me when you verify what she has been telling me for forty years. I guess she's right.

If you're a fan of Arlington racing you'll like my column in the Midwest Racing Connection coming out this weekend where I gave a mention about Arlington and included a couple of photos from my archives. It's close to 100 miles through the Cities or I'd probably get down there more often.

I'll see you guys a half dozen or maybe more times Chad. It's kind of a shock to the system to not be making most of the shows this year after only missing one last year but from what I hear I you guys are covered. I need to reel things in for a while but if I can catch up later in the year I'll add a few more UMSS shows. I'm just doing what everyone else has to do, keep their racing addiction within their means. Also calling this season my "no obligations tour" and restricting my work load to MRC and sending out a few photos now and then. If some kind of inspiration hits me I might do a story or two but for the time being I need to kick back a little.

The air dried out and the ol' Merc is running smooth as a snake going through a jar of Vaseline so I should be good to go for the weekend.

Stan Meissner

I don't get riled up about it either. My life is an open book so I deserve the flack sometimes. My website is not sponsored but my Friday night message board posts are more often than not backed by Miller products.

Stan Meissner