Twist-Throttle.com

It’s a must see movie!! Dust To glory had me so pumped up to go racing, to give it my all & to ride with heart. I think that anybody who likes bikes, cars or trucks would really appreciate this movie about the Baja 1000 race. It’s pretty much a documentary, but the story & images really pull you like an action movie would. There are behind-the-scenes clips, plenty of interviews, very impressive images of Mexico & some very sweet on-board video action.

I rented it from my local Blockbuster store, so I know it’s easy to find.

Well its 9 days & counting now until my wedding day. Yep, a little nervous when I stop & think about it… but nothing overwhelming though. We’re still getting things dialed in for the wedding, such as making all the finally little things, paying for things & just arranging the details. Brandy has been stressing out by watching the weather forecast 10 day out… I keep telling her the weather is nothing that we can control, so don’t even think about it… but she’s worried. Like they can forecast the weather 10 days away…

I had my Bachelor Party last weekend. What a blast it was! My Best Man John, planned a great party… everybody had a great time. The day started out by meeting at my place @ 10:00 am… we then went & ate at Applebees around 11:00.
From there we went golfing. For the most part, all of us are not very good at golf. I took last, but that’s fine… I’ve only golfed 4 or 5 times in my life. I had a good time at the golf course, but my shoulder kept popping out on most of my drives… so that caused it to be a little achy.
So after our 9 holes of golf, we then headed out to Sugar River Raceway for some go-kart racing! I believe that this was the highlight of the party for everybody… it was awesome! So we’re not talking about the governed amusement park go-karts here… these are 9HP 4-stroke full on Karts. The racing consisted of about 15 minutes of practice, then we had 3 separate, 10 lap races. The track is about a half mile long & our lap times where about 42-43 seconds. It was cool, they posted lap times after each race… I could see that I was 1 second a lap off the pace of the fastest guys in our group… that being a little frustrating, but still such a blast that it was quickly forgotten. All of us were surprised with the physicalness of the karts. I know that a couple of us admitted to still being sore a couple of days later. The coolest parts of the karting are the; corner speeds, g-forces, sliding the kart in the corners & coming into the corners 2 & 3 wide… it was pretty intense! We estimate that on the straightaway we where doing about 40 mph… the karts are supposedly able to do at least 50, but the track didn’t have a long enough straightaway. I bet we where quite the site… since we all had shorts on, we had to wear these little black jump suits… ‘er I mean racing suits… and we also brought our moto helmets, goggles & gloves. I think our personal helmets that we brought sure looked cooler then the solid color full face street bike helmets that they issue out. In the end of the night, the final race winner takes all. After a major spin & collision by most of us on the first lap… things got sorted out & the winner was John, Heath in 2nd, Me taking 3rd, Brandon in 4th & Tim in 5th. I was lucky to get third because Brandon actually consistently had faster lap times then me. Top three did receive medals… which I’m pretty stoked about having my medal as a souvenir!!
By this time, it’s about 8:30, we’re dripping in sweat, hungry & bench racing with the best of them. So we head back to my place again to clean up & change clothes. Next we head over to Hooters for some food, drink & intellectual conversation with our Hooters girl She was hot, but she didn’t seem on the sharpest tool in the shed… but a “tool” none the less.
Next we head out to a strip club… it’s a bachelor party after all!! I had not been to this one before… it was pretty cool. They had 3 or 4 stages. Of course I had a few lap dances, which where nice! Well one kind of sucked… the 2 chicks actually stopped in the middle for about 20-30 seconds to bitch about some money & somebody working the front door! But I avoided the whole bachelor up on stage with all of the dancers jumping up & down on me thing… I was a little nervous about that one… from other bachelor party’s I witnessed… the guy usually gets his chest bashed in with a few girls bouncing on him, his shirt ripped open (buttons or not) & his underwear ripped out of his pants… needless to say, I didn’t wear my favorite pair that night.
So now for the last couple of hours before “bar-time”, we headed downtown Janesville to Main Street… where there is a strip of about 4 bars. We had a few drinks there & closed them… then went back to my place to talk shit a little more & I finally crashed about 3:30 I believe. Man was I wore out after that full day! I’m old…
I want to again thank every body that made it to my party, helped pitched in money to pay my way & to share the good times with me!

Otherwise… right now it’s all about the wedding… I’m looking forward to the honeymoon in Vegas!!! We’re leaving Monday right after the wedding. We’ll be gone Monday - Friday. I’ve never been to Vegas, Brandy has twice. Once for work & once with her family… so this trip with just her & I will be a different vibe then her previous trips there. Everybody asks if we’re going to gamble a bunch… but we only will a little. We are not big gamblers… only a couple of times I have walked out of a casino ahead. We want to go to some of the “shows” see the sites, walk the strip, go into the big hotels & browse, check out some Vegas strip clubs & etc. I also want to take 1 day & get out of town… I want to see what the land is like out in the desert & that area… plus I want to go on the “Dam Tour” of the Hoover Dam. Lately we’ve been watching this TV show called Inked… it’’s on A&E. It’’s a reality show about this tattoo shop in the Palm Casino Resort. Freestyle Motocross rider Carey Hart is part owner of it. Oh yea, the shop is called Hart & Huntington Tattoo Company. We want to go there & check it out after watching it on TV… hopefully we’ll spot the same people we’ve been seeing on the show, as well as Carey in particular.

Hobbies… they have been suffering as of lately. So after we get back from the honeymoon, I hope to start spending a little time with them again. Obviously this site has so much more that I can do with it. But besides that, I’ve been kind of itching to get a skateboard. I used to skate as a kid all the time. Then it was just on the street near my house… but now I know of a couple of skate parks not too far from me. Brandy’s youngest son Colton has been showing interest in skateboards some too. So either this fall or by next spring, I might be buying myself a board & giving it a try again. Also, a few of you know, I bought an electric guitar about a year ago. I took lessons for about 2 months back then… but I pretty much gave it up for a number of months. Well this last few days, I started picking that up again. Man, I really can’t do anything with it at this point… but I’m also itching to learn how to play that thing. But getting to the point where I can play something that I enjoy on the radio… that seems like it is soo far away, that it’s not even approachable. But I hope to stick to it a little more this time. So yea, I guess it’s obvious I enjoy having my own hobbies… maybe more then Brandy would like… but that’s just me Oh yea, we’ve also been talking that we NEED to start going back to the gym after our honeymoon! We’ve pretty much have totally quit exercising in these last 2 months… well you could even say this last year…

Well that’s about all I have for now… Looking forward to many more Good Times to come!!

Bill

What a night! Brandy & I drove down to Sycamore, Illinois for the Spectator Racing night at the speedway. The night mainly involves the “Regular Joe’’s” who buy an old beater of a car & race that on the dirt oval… contrary to the more specially built race cars like the Late Models. Brandy’s brother Tim & some other family members (Jen, Dan, Rick & Jason) have been doing this racing for a little while now. So since Brandy wanted to get in on the fun, Tim let Brandy borrow his car & enter a couple races in the womens class… called Powder Puff. Understandably, she was a little nervous with never entering a motorized race before & never driven this car before & or any car on a race track before. Tim’s race car is a full-size station wagon with a 5.0 liter V8 in it.

Brandy’s night started out with test driving the car around the pits to get a feel for the car. Then her & Tim went out on the track to do a couple of laps during what they call “packing the track”, to get rid a little of the mud on the track. Then next up was “time trials” where Brandy had her first time on the track at speed. She was given one lap to put in her best lap time to qualify for grid position at the start of her Heat race. With no experience for her to gauge on corner speed or technique… her time didn’t seem to be real fast. But when they posted everybody’s starting position, she was the 3rd fastest one in her Heat, putting her on the inside of the 2nd row of two cars! So when the time for her first race to come up, the butterflies where setting in pretty good for Brandy. OK… for the race, the cars get started with a rolling start & Brandy sort of starts to drop back a little from 3rd to almost 5th during the first lap. The 4th place car is putting some pressure on her now & 1st & 2nd are slightly pulling away… I don’t know if she was more nervous or I was watching her. But over the next couple of laps, that 4th place car actually started to fall back as Brandy slowly pulled away from her & was actually pulling in the battle between 1st & 2nd. I was impressed with how smooth Brandy looked. I know so much more about bikes then cars… so I’m not going to try & talk like I know what’s up. But with Brandy not having any experience for her to gauge against, I had expected her to be sliding the ass-end around more & particularly pushing the front-end in the corners… all the while running more in the back of the pack. So as the last couple of laps go down, Brandy is running smooth & close (like about 8 - 10 feet) on the rear end of the two battleing for 1st, with 4th back like 5 car lengths. coming into the final corner, in my mind I’m thinking holy crap, she’s going to get 3rd in her first race!!. Again coming into the last corner of the race, the 2nd place car pushes up inside of the leader trying for the win, they are bumping… and all of a sudden they take each other out!!! So in my mind again as I’m watching Brandy, as this all is happening… it plays out like this. They’re spinning, they’re tasking each other out…Brandy, get around them… will she make it past them… I think she’s going to hit them, it’s tight… they’re close. She’s getting around them… she’s getting around them. She got by them! Holy shit! She just won the race… she just won the race!!. I almost couldn’t believe it, she won her first time out ever in a race! Of course I’m totally excited for her. So then I run back to the pits to congratulate her & hoping to catch a few photo’s of her getting out of the car & all the excitement. But little did I know, with be being a newbie to this as well, she was actually being guided into the middle of the track so she can get out of her car, receive her huge trophy, wave the flag & jump up & down in front of the whole grandstand. What a moment for Brandy… I think especially because her personality is the type that normally doesn’t stand out in the crowd, doesn’t draw attention to herself & always puts everybody else before herself. This was her moment to shine, Brandy’s time for recognition.

OK, it was only the first Heat race… she was now qualified for the Powder Puff Feature race. This likely will have tougher competition. Brandy said that she was actually more nervous at the start of her 2nd race… now she sort of had some pressure to perform after her Heat race win. From her Heat 1 race win, she was on the front row, but on the outside this time. Again, she’s under some pressure from the other ladies around her. Halfway around the first lap, I believe she’s running 2nd with 3rd place getting underneath her rear quarter panel (do station wagons have quarter panels?)… and 3rd place gives her a nudge, causing her back-end to swing out & Brandy starts to spin. So unfortunately she goes from 2nd to last place just like that with all of the cars still bunched up from it being the first lap. I was recording some video of the race, so I couldn’t see it real great… but I know I was worried that she was going to get slammed by one of the cars that were all on the gas behind her. Fortunately, they all missed her & she got herself going again… but a straightaway behind the last place car. I didn’t know if she was all flustered, but I fond out later she was pretty much just pissed! That makes me laugh now. OK, so back to the race… she’s on the gas & looking smooth again. Slowly she’s gaining on the other ladies. Pretty soon she’s picked off a few of them… next thing I know, she’s mid pack & putting pressure on the car ahead of her. Oh yea… there were about 10 cars in the race & I believe it was a 10 lap race. Well in the end, she got herself all the way back up to 4th place, from being spun out & in last! It seems she was still pretty proud of herself & her performance. Of course she feels another win would of been sweet, but she’s not greedy & totally is pumped for her Heat race win, her overall speed out there & that she didn’t back down & went for it! I too am very proud of her & pumped for her excitement that she had at the races.
Brandy’’s family members did not have as strong of a night as she did. Unfortunately they all had some car problems in various ways that held them back. But needless to say, I think we all had a fun night & Brandy definitely gained a new chapter in her life.

I hope to have images up shortly & a video or two from the races in a couple of days. So check back on Monday or Tuesday for the video…

Last night Brandy & I went to check out the local go-kart track. This is not the restricted or governed karts at an amusement park, this is a racetrack for karts. Last night we only watched, but plan to give it a try at some point. The venues web site is Sugar River Raceway.

We went to watch what they call Turn-Key Thursday Night. You pay $75 per person and you get to race their karts & wear their safety gear. This gets you 10 laps of practice & 3 separate races of 10 laps each. This takes around an hour & a half. So a little bit of cash to do it, but it’s got to be a blast. The karts have 9hp and get up to about 45 mph on this track… but it sounds & looks like the corners are where the real fun is. Inside of the Race Shop, they had used & new karts for sale. On the weekends, they have races where people who own their own karts bring them & they battle it out. What we saw last night was just the rookies who have no or little experience & were just renting to try it out. I hear that a few times a year they have bike races on the kart track, supermoto style.