Damage Control

2:10 PM EST 02/25/06 – My time to sulk around is officially over as of this moment, and it’s time to get started repairing the bike.

Ok, I haven’t really sulked around at all, but I have avoided the task of removing all of the bunged-up parts on the R6 in preparation for repair. As it turns out, the damage to the bike was relatively light considering the speed I was going when I ejected (maybe 80) and how hard the bike and I went down (hard). Here’s a quick list of the damage:

NOTE: When I find my camera, there will be pics of all this stuff here, if you care…

Left rearset: This part has been bent into modern art. The main ‘V’ shaped piece that the peg and shifter attach to is even curled around quite a bit. This is a little surprising because that’s a pretty stout piece of kit, and I guess I figured that any bending force that extreme would break the mounting tabs off the frame, but alas, the frame tabs are in-tact. Also, even though they bent, they did a superb job of absorbing the damage to the side of the bike, a lot like frame sliders do. Cudos to Woodcraft for building some heavy-duty stuff.

Left frame slider: This little hero did its job admirably, and completely saved the frame and the fairing lower from damage. All I need is a replacement plastic puck, just as the designer intended. Yay Vortex!

Left clipon: The bar itself is bent, and the left-side switchgear is toast. Once again, Woodcraft to the rescue…a replacement for the bar is on the way for under $20, shipped.

Tank: One big dent. I’ll be bringing it to a local sympathetic body shop for repair and black paint this week. It’s a pretty big dent, but not huge, and easily fixable by a pro.

Bodywork: The upper is toast, the tail is rashed a lot but fixable, and the aforementioned lower is unharmed, apart from a few light scratches that don’t even go through the paint. The fairing stay is bent a bit, but usable for sure. Of course, by beautiful graphics job done by Fasttrack Motorsports is trashed, but in true Mark Peterson style (he owns the place) that will all be a distant memory as soon as my replacement stuff arrives.

I’d like to take a moment here to thank Mark once again. He doesn’t know me from Adam, and he has gone above and beyond…way beyond, in his support of my racing program this year. I was absolutely stunned when I discovered how much effort he put into the truck and bike with the graphics. But, apparently he was just warming up. I talked to him the day after my crash, and I apologized for smashing up his hard work almost immediately upon his having finished it, and his response was, “your job is to heal, and my job is your bodywork. Just get me the bike and it will be back and better than before in time for your next race.”

Mark is a Good Guy.

Ok, so that covers the bike, what about me? I’m getting better every day. My broken left big toe is healing, but is still pretty sore. My left ankle sprain is coming along slowly. I’m sure the fact that my broken toe stops me from using the ankle much isn’t helping, but whacha gonna do. My left shoulder sprain/bone bruise is coming along nicely. I’ve got maybe 60% of my range of motion back, and it gets a little better every day. Oh, and if anyone tries to tell you how we don’t bounce back like we used to 20 years ago or whatever, well, they’re right. At 22 these injuries probably would have been a memory by now. Whacha gonna do?

So, what’s next? I’m planning on being ready to ride (me and the bike) by the beginning of April. There is a track day at Putnam Park around the 5th or so, and I’m going to try to be there to see where I’m at physically, and to make sure the bike is all up to snuff. The next race on the WERA mid-central schedule isn’t until the last weekend of April, so I should be all set to go by then.

Added Perspective

The following is actually a post from my other, non-race-specific blog, but it occurred to me that in light of recent events, it had a sort of added relevance, or something…so I added it here.

“It’s better to burn out than fade away.”

That’s what Neil Young told us, wasn’t it? Live fast, die young, etc. While the sentiment is well-placed, and resonates with most everyone at one time or another, it’s, well…not for everyone. The flame that burns twice as brightly may very well burn half as long, but there’s something to be said for burning twice as long, albeit with reduced intensity.

Then again, as the great Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “Being shot from a cannon will always be better than being squeezed from a tube.”

He was right. Fast is better.

A Mind Troubled By Doubt...

It was cold. Well, if you live where the average winter temperatures are in the teens, then maybe it wouldn’t have seemed cold to you. But, sitting on the C-Superstock Novice grid at Talladega GP Raceway it was about 39f with a stiff breeze, and it was cold to me. I was on the inside of the 5th row, in the first wave. My good friend Jason was gridded just two spots to my right, on the outside of the same row. We’d been wanting to race together for over a year, and now was our chance, temperature not withstanding.

The one-minute board was up, signaling that the green flag was imminent. I was already in 1st gear, holding the motor at a steady 8,000 RPM, ready with the clutch. It felt like forever waiting for the flag, but it was really just a few seconds. In the next instant, the one-minute board went sideways, then the green flag flew, and we were off. Jason got a better start than I did, my wheelie the result of too much clutch too soon

Even as he pulled away, I knew that the traffic jam that would be turn one in about three seconds would be my salvation, and I was right. Jason had pulled out maybe ten bike lengths on me at the launch, and two other bikes had passed me from behind. Leaving me maybe 14th or so. However, when everyone checked up for the inevitable turn one morass, I went wide there, then deep into two, making up all of the ground I’d lost and putting a wheel under Jason as I reached the apex. I knew it wouldn’t be safe to try to pass here, as he had no idea I was there, and he’d be tightening up his line. So, I was patient, and got a strong drive at the exit.

I was gaining on him slightly as we approached the 90’s. This left turn is called ‘the 90’s’ because in a previous configuration, there were two distinct 90 deg. turns in succession. As I was now on the right side of the track, and Jason had traffic in front of him, I knew I’d be able to pass in the braking zone, and go by on the outside. I did this, and managed to get by two other riders as I dove left, one to each side of me. I exited the 90’s and could hear a screaming motor right behind me. Jason had passed the same two riders, and was in hot pursuit. It was on, as they say.

As I exited the 90’s, I gained on another rider, and immediately decided to pass him on his left. This can be a tight place to pass, but I judged that he had left plenty of space (perhaps 6 feet at that moment), and also that my speed was sufficient that I’d be past him well before the braking zone for the next turn, a right-hander called The Bowl.

I quickly closed the gap between myself and this rider, and as I did so, he moved to his left, reducing the amount of space I had to work with. I shaded to the left, and he kept coming. I had a split second to decide…I can check up and risk causing Jason and maybe others to plow into me from behind, or I can continue to the left, leave the track for a bit, re-enter just ahead (the shape of the track at this spot facilitates this), probably blow the next turn and lose a bunch of places.

It’s hard to explain to a non-racer how you can so quickly come to such a conclusion, that it’s a good idea to ride off the road at 80 MPH, but I assure you that at that specific moment it was a great plan. But, the rider continued to drift left to the very edge of the pavement, and just as I approached the pavement again, he hit the brakes.




I didn’t know I was at all claustrophobic until the MRI table moved me into the barely-larger-than-me tube. The tech had given me headphones, through which a local classic rock station was just finishing up a Journey hit from the 80’s. It occurred to me that perhaps they thought the torture of listening to awful music would distract the subject from the torture of being stuck into a tiny tube. It then occurred to me that I really hoped that this strategy was proven effective, because I did not like being stuck in that tube.

Why was I getting an MRI? Well, that’s what you do when you drill yourself shoulder-first into the ground at 80+ MPH. See, when that other rider hit the brakes as I approached, I was still about .5 seconds away from being in the clear, and my brake lever met his leg, and down I went…for the first time since 1992 I might add.

Newsflash: Crashing still sucks.

Jason tells me that the rider moved way too far to the left and left me no place to go, but this is not the whole story. In racing, it is the overtaking rider’s responsibility to pass safely, and I failed to do that. I still don’t know who the other guy is, but I’m told that he wasn’t hurt badly, and I’m thankful for that. I am very sorry that the whole thing happened, and I hope he is able to get back in the saddle soon.

The weekend wasn’t all bad. I finally got to ride the R6, and wow, it is an awesome machine. I rode all day on Friday in the Ed Bargy track day, and the bike was magic. It’s ultra fast, handles great, and looked fantastic thanks to Mark and his crew at Fasttrack Motorsports Promotions (see the pic in my previous post). I was really taking it easy, as I hadn’t ridden any bike in almost 5 months, and I’d never ridden this bike ever. But, even with caution at the top of my list I easily did a series of laps in the 1:06 range.

Saturday dawned even colder than Friday’s high 40’s, and I went out for one practice. I only did a few laps, and decided I’d had enough. My race on Saturday was the Solo 20, which is a 20 lap race with cash prizes. My plan was to simply ride at whatever pace I was comfortable given the extremely cold track temperatures and their limiting affect on traction. If that pace was enough to get me into the money, great…if not, that’s life.

It turned out that 1:07’s was about all I was good for, and that was good enough for 7th place and $70. It was almost $20, until Jeff (the super cool track announcer dude) called me back up to the trophy table to give me the fifty dollar bill I’d left in the envelope.

Sunday morning…wow it’s cold. The thermometer on my truck reported that it was 34f when I woke up at 7:30 am. Practice started at 8:00 sharp, and Group #1 was, of course, 600cc novices. There was absolutely no chance I was going to ride that session, so I went back to sleep for a while, and then went out in practice 2, in preparation for Race #4, C Superstock Novice. It was going to be my first chance to race against Jason heads-up, and I couldn’t wait to get out there. Some mornings, it pays to stay in bed.

One positive side-effect of my crash was that I got lots of reminders of how great the people I race with really are. From the moment I crashed and lay prone on the ground, all the way to a few hours ago when one of my racing buddies called to ask how I was feeling and could he do anything for me, I've been the recipient of amazing kindness. Ya, the speed and the bikes are cool, but it's the people who make racing so fun and satisfying.

Arthur Golden wrote that "a mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory." I'm sure he's right, which is why I'll do my best to move past this experience by learning from it, and being a better rider for it. Of course 'victory' doesn't have the same definition for everyone, but I will be spending the coming weeks repairing the bike, healing physically, and preparing mentally for my return to the track in April at Nashville. Come visit me at the track. Look at my face after the first practice session and you'll know if I'm victorious or not.



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*pictures from the weekend are incoming…thanks Vicki at VHS! Come back soon to check ‘em out. Here's one quickie that Lane took at the track...

Life on the Wire

It’s Thursday, February 9th. Tomorrow I will be driving to Talladega for the WERA Sportsman Series opener. After months of anticipation, I’ll finally get to ride my R6, so I’m very excited about that. I wanted to get a little seat time on it before now, but that never did work out. No matter. The race season is about to get under way, and this weekend will kick it off regardless of my level of preparedness. Actually, my 2006 season started last week.

I spent the off-season courting sponsors, and I was very very fortunate to have hooked up with an amazing cast of supporters, about whom you’ll be hearing right here. Mark Peterson of Fasttrack Motorsports Productions had agreed to make the sponsor decals for my truck and bike, if I agreed to display his logo as well, in a ‘title sponsor’ kind of way. I already knew Mark to be a good guy, and even though I had a multitude of companies battling to be the title sponsor of my ‘team’ (not), I agreed. I figured, ‘what the heck? I get some free stickers, so that’s nice of him…why not?’

So, Friday afternoon I got the truck all packed up with my gear and my good friend Jason Coleman’s two bikes, and I headed for Fasttrack Motorsports in Atlanta. The drive down was largely uneventful, which is a good thing because it was my first trip in my new truck. The drive wasn’t entirely without drama, as I saw this off and on the whole time. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I’ll have it checked out when I get home. The truck is driving fine, makes no banging noises in the engine compartment, doesn’t leak any vital fluids, etc. so it can wait…I’m hoping it’s just a bad sensor of some sort.

I did encounter some traffic, so I decided to stop for the night about 100 miles out from Mark’s shop. In the AM, I headed out to cover the remaining distance, and met up with Mark at 9:00, just as we’d planned. After squeezing the truck through the door to get inside the Fasttrack shop (it was raining outside), we all went to work. “We all?” you ask? Ya, you’d think it would really only take one guy an hour or so to cut some decals for you. Little did I know that Mark had far greater plans. 18 hours later, Mark and his 2 partners applied the finishing touches to my stuff.



Yikes, that is cool, and totally not what I expected. If you come out to any WERA events this season (I’ll be posting my schedule shortly), come by and check out Mark’s handiwork. I’ll have info for you on how you can jazz up the appearance of your stuff. Yikes, that is cool.

Saturday night I stayed with Keith (one of Mark’s partners) who very graciously offered his guest room to me so I didn’t need to get a hotel room. In the AM; I headed for Barber, where my pals Jimmy V., Dan Carr, Gil Cutchen and Jim McDowell were all participating in a NESBA track day. I wasn’t planning to ride, but Dan, Jimmy, and I (along with Jason Coleman, and a few others) had rented out Talladega for a private track day for Monday.

Well, to make a long story a little shorter, Monday was a complete washout. It was about 35f and pouring rain all day. We gave up on the idea of riding, and everyone split. I headed for Gil’s house, where I was very lucky (again) to be invited to stay during the coming week, so as to avoid driving the truck back and forth to Louisville two extra times. I’m not going to go into great detail about how many cool toys Gil has, but here is a frame of reference for you…

Today I watched “Serenity” on DVD. I watched it on a 60" LCD projection TV and listened through a Yamaha-powered 7.1 surround sound system featuring powered Infinity Reference Series speakers (built-in subs) and matching Infinity satellites. It was awesome. Gil has an amazing home theater setup. This isn’t it.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank Gil and Tammy for their wonderful hospitality. I really only met Gil a couple of times at the track, and he invited me into his home for 4 days, just to save me hotel money. Listen to anyone who tells you that the people are the real reason we race, as people who say that know of what they speak.

So, here I am. It’s 1:30 in the morning, and tomorrow I’ll be heading to the track. I have yet to ride my R6, and the time for pre-season testing has come and gone. I’ll be able to practice on Friday, and Saturday, I race. I have no idea what to expect. Will the new bike be a joy to ride, instantly elevating my performance threshold to new levels? Will it scare me into riding like a wimp? Will it be un-freaking-believably cold all weekend? Will I be able to hang with the young guns of the C classes? I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.

Papa Wallenda, of the Flying Wallenda Brothers once said, “Life is on the wire. Everything else is just waiting.” The waiting is over.