I'll catch everyone up, eventually, but since it's been almost a year since I last wrote, I'm going to use this post as a chance to tell you what my UPCOMING plans are.
This blog is going to change formats, again. It's going to be less about racing, and more about where my life evolves toward. DON'T PANIC: we're still going racing.
I hung up the crown this year, essentially. Victory lane is my favorite place to be, but this summer I wanted to run without representation and see where my legs take me. I'll be hopefully getting involved in a LOT of motorsports promotion. Will keep you posted.
Other than that, you're going to read the funny shit I think about. Because that's what I feel like writing. Hopefully I do it quite often.
Anyway. Welcome to the new blog.
Cancel your plans-- we're going laughing.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Friday, August 7, 2015
We Are Canceling A Lot Of Plans
There are a lot of things in the world and my life that I feel lucky and blessed about. For starters, we didn't end up living on East Main Street, for example (which, among other faults, has terrible parking and is a bitch in the winter). I'm not hungry -involuntarily anyway. I have the support and love of the racing community and I can pretty much go racing whenever I want. I have close friends who would give me the shirt off their back if they thought I needed it. I have the best family in the world.
But a part of it that family is dying. For all of the things I'm lucky about, and blessed with, this is an awful stain on the white-hot amazingness of my life.
It's becoming increasingly hard to accept that this beautiful ray of sunshine won't be with us forever, and likely not long at all. The love of my father's life, my second mother. I don't feel blessed that she's in pain and not long for our world. I don't feel blessed that we are suddenly making preparations for something that wasn't supposed to happen for decades to come. I don't feel lucky that as she struggles for breath, dad's heart breaks a little more each moment.
And I sit here next to her watching her sleep and I hope I never forget this. How hard this is and how amazing she is and I hope the reason why this is happening all becomes so clearly apparent and makes it less hard.
I don't know what to say other than sitting here in the dark, crying my eyes out silently while I rub her back, has been oddly calming somehow. And I hope none of you ever have to feel this way. Ever.
I love you, Arlene, and I am so lucky that we have had the years we did-- the beach trips, the concerts, the holidays, the milestones-- the highs were so good that I don't even remember the lows. I've learned a lot from the time we've spent in each other's lives and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And that's one thing I do feel blessed about.
No regrets. Fight on.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Winner Wednesday - Fab4 Lernerville July 17th
You guys, it’s Wednesday. That means I have some information to share with you about the most recent winners I posed with in victory lane. Who’s pumped?? Or, let’s don’t make this more than it really is… but at least admit that you’re a little curious, right?
Some of you (none of you) may be wondering how this post comes to pass? Well, first, I go to a race track (usually on a weekend) for an event. Then somebody wins, or if there are a few features, a couple of people win. And then comes the hard part…getting the interview with said winner(s). This is tough because the track or pits after victory lane is no place to try and get an interview. In my opinion there are a couple reasons for this:
1) The winner is tired, he (or she!) just worked his (or her!) butt off all night, and so did their team, to park it in VL. I just think they deserve to enjoy their victory.
2) They just got bombarded with photos and microphones in victory lane for the past 15 minutes. I don’t think they want me in their face as well.
3) I’m tired too! I just changed out of my heels so I could walk back across the track without falling in front of anyone who might still be around. And usually I need a beer (or vodka).
So anyway here’s the scenario at this point: somebody has won, and I have questions. Here’s how I usually try to resolve the situation: FACEBOOK AND TWITTER STALKING. Sometimes this works (Shane Clanton) and sometimes this doesn’t (ARE YOU READING THIS SHELDON HAUDENSCHILD???) and sometimes the people just don’t have social media accounts and I don’t have their address (Joe Kelley… I don’t know where you live. This is likely a good thing for all parties involved).
So the next step is basically shameless begging. In the event of my special edition of this post tomorrow, I’ll explain how sometimes this process can be easier from the get-go, but here’s the usual run-down: If I’m not already a Facebook friend, I usually (creepily) attempt to add the winner with a friend request. Then, I’ll make my case for them answering a few questions for me. I usually try to mention that it’s not going to hurt, it’s not going to be any hard questions. If the Facebook thing backfires, I’ll try a private message on Twitter, if they have it. If that doesn’t work, I HAVE resorted to calling them out publicly on Twitter. I’m not proud of it, but I’m basically a reporter here and I never wanna let down the public!! (Also I should note that I’m not delusional… I know I’m not a reporter and I know the public already probably knows some of the information I “report”… but writing my blog is fun for me and I want that interview, dammit!) So then after all that … I wait. Some people get back to me right away! But in some cases (ED LYNCH JR!) I’m still waiting. I understand, I know these guys are busy, so I don’t take it personally. But then, if they agree, as they say—we’re off to the races :)
So, now I’ve basically ruined the magic for this and you know all my secrets. Suppose we should get to the interviews from Friday night Fab 4 racing at Lernerville Speedway, from this past Friday July 17th. I got two feature winners to answer my questions, so that’s basically a 50% success rate for the process detailed above. In heart surgery, that’s bad odds, but if it was a baseball batting average it would be high… so it’s all relative. I’ll take what I can get. What more do you want from me? I’m a dirt track trophy queen for goodness sake.
Class: Super Late Model-- #H1 Jared Miley (67 career feature wins)
How old are you?
28
How long have you been racing?
10 years
Who are your sponsors?
Colussy Chevrolet, Rocket Chassis, Broughers Machine Shop, HoosierBob Mid-Atlantic, Sunoco Race Fuels, fullyinjected.com, Octane Graphix, Schaffers Racing Oil, Integra Shocks
What is your favorite color?
Carbon Fiber
Who is your favorite fictional character?
The Punisher
Who is your hero?
My wife – I have been with her for 13 years. We got married a year and a half ago. She is my biggest supporter and constantly pushes me to be best at everything I do and supports me 100% with racing, working on the cars, and the fact I am out of town 4 days a week working in West Vriginia away from her. She does everything for me and never asks for anything in return. I am blessed to have her, so she is my hero. And I’m know I’m hers.
What else do you want the public at large to know?
We’re really looking for an opportunity to be able to step up to a national touring series in the near future, after racing regionally for the past several seasons and picking up wins at many different tracks we feel like we’re more than ready and able to jump up to the next level. We’ve run very well against national competition when they come to our area and we would love to be able to travel and race at that level on a regular basis.
What’s your favorite racing memory?
1st career feature win in just my second start driving a race car! (Limited late model at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway)
Any advice or wisdom you want to impart?
Pursue your dreams and never give up!
Class: Modified-- #6 Mat Williamson (32 career modified wins? He’s not sure. “Someone else does the counting for me hahaha”-he says)
How old are you?
25
How long have you been racing?
Since I was 4, started in karts then modifieds when I was 14
Who are your sponsors?
FOX shocks, Bicknell Racing Products, and S and W service centre
What is your favorite color?
Red
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Jax from Sons of Anarchy
Who is your hero?
My hero would be my dad.
Words of advice?
Words of advice for anyone trying to make it in racing would be to just keep trying, a lot of people will tell you no along the way but you can’t give up.
So those are my Friday guys. Up next: my post from the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup at Lernerville. And for my next race? Cancel your plans-- I'm hoping to make it to Sportsman's Speedway in Knox sometime in the next month.
<3/ Miss Dirt Dog
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Winner Wednesday (Lernerville 6/25-6/26 2015)
Okay well look at this, you came back! The last race I went to before this, I caught up with some weekly program feature winners. I wanted to keep that going, so this week I caught up with this past weekend’s preliminary night A-Main winners: Shane Clanton (the Georgia bulldog himself) and Chase Junghans (whose last name literally sounds to me like “young gun”, and he is!).
I didn’t know how this was going to go, because when you’re traveling with the WoO and winning features, I don’t know if you have time for some girl to be facebook messaging you begging for the answers to some questions. But I got lucky.. because racecar drivers are people too. :)
OKAY. Let’s dive in.
Class: Super Late Model-- #25 Shane Clanton (over 300 career feature wins)
How old are you?
39
How long have you been racing?
21 years
Who are your sponsors?
WeldBank Energy, Super K Express, PennGold, Hornburg Drilling, Keyser Manufacturing, Capital Race Cars, Clements Automotive, Hoosier Tire, GW Performance.
What is your favorite color?
Yellow
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Don’t have one!
Who is your hero?
My dad
What else do you want the public at large to know?
Never give up, follow your dreams
Class: Super Late Model-- #18 Chase Junghans (9 career feature wins)
How old are you?
22
How long have you been racing?
Been around it since I can remember, been racing for about 6 years
Who are your sponsors?
ShopQuick Convenience stores, Sunoco race fuels, Capital Race Cars, Keyser Manufacturing, GW performance, Integra shocks, Hooker harness.
What is your favorite color?
Probably blue
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Joe Dirt for sure
Who is your hero?
Probably my brother
If you want to add anything else, I’d be happy to put it in!
Uh we should get married!
So, spoiler alert, I didn't get married to Chase (surely you would have seen that on Twitter by now) but I do have a sense of accomplishment for keeping up my idea and interviewing winners. And you read this so, technically even though this isn't a game, I think I win. :)
I love you guys. And I can't wait to write to you all again. My TDD sash is packed for Sharon Speedway on July 11th, so cancel your plans-- we're going to the Lou Blaney memorial. :)
<3/
Miss Dirt Dog
Fast Firecracker
Morning, Amigos. Last we spoke, I had just gone to Bedford with my mom on mother’s day weekend in my Youth Racing Solutions sash. Since then, some things have changed. And it’s all positive!!
In June I signed on with Team Dirt Dog!! If you’ve never heard of DIRT DOG GEAR, then kindly crawl out of your cave and get a social media account or visit DirtDogGear.com. Actually, I’m going to highly recommend the social media account anyway—and it should be twitter (@queenielainey is how you can follow along with my racing and non-racing shenanigans and @teamdirtdog is how you can follow theirs!). TDD is a media, merchandising, and marketing company based in Tennessee that ships merchandise, wait for it, GLOBALLY. It’s also a neat company to get involved with if you’re an actual car or team owner, because they will partner with drivers to raise money for your program. It’s win-win. Anyway, back to the meat and potatoes of it, I’m representing their brand for the remainder of the season as Miss Dirt Dog!! After a couple of lengthy emails and phone conversations, I fell in love with the philosophy and the values of the company and I’m happy to say I think I’ve found a fun place to stay for a while as a victory lane representative.
So I packed up my new sash and headed to Lernerville this past weekend for the World of Outlaw Late Model Firecracker 100 weekend. To say that the weather “did not look good” would have been akin to saying “no, no, go ahead… light that candle near the freshly poured gallon of gasoline, I think you’ll be able to avoid the fumes”… i’m not going to lie, people: I was NOT optimistic. But I got on the road Thursday after work all the same, and it rained on the way down. And it rained til I got there… and then it kinda stopped raining. And the sun came out. And I texted my friend in the next town over to find out when he was coming to the track and he said that he wasn’t in a hurry because of the pouring rain- and I told him it wasn’t pouring at the track, it was actually SUNNY. I was met with disbelief, but anyway. So then if you can believe it, it didn’t rain through the entire race program. Eric Westendorf and the entire Lernerville team kept the program moving at break-neck speed and nobody got wet! The group of people running the show in Sarver, PA, really know what they’re doing. In the end, Shane Clanton ended up parking it in victory lane with me, but let me tell you: Jared Miley was a contender and really showed his grit (both nights, actually).
I’m going to pause here and just say that I don’t understand why more girls don’t go dirt track racing. Even under the premise of running a SUPER fast-paced show to beat any rain that might have been on the way, the competition and the drama of it is amazing. Girls love drama, right?? Anyway. At some point, someone looked at me and asked if I came by myself. YES, sometimes you just really want to go racing and nobody else does, so you go alone. It’s not like I won’t know people when I get there, and it’s not like I can’t make friends (kinda the point)… anyway. So if any girls out there are reading this and want to go dirt racing with me, even if you’ve never been… I’ll take you. Stick with me, kid, we’ll go places.
For night two, I decided to bring a friend along—my mom! (There’s a trend here… she’s hopefully going to be racing with me a couple other times this summer!) She met me at the track after work and once again we had BEAUTIFUL weather. We bought ourselves a bag of beer and got cozy in turn 4 after a quick lap through the pits to make appearances. When I say we bought ourselves a bag of beer, I mean MOM WENT TO THE STAND AND ORDERED SO MUCH BEER… I don’t know what she was doing, I expected her to come back with a 6 pack but .. she just had so many cans. Anyway, night 2 was much much dustier than night 1—but just as fast-paced. Big E and the WoO team did not waste any time, and before I knew it (without any pageantry or fluff or time for me to get in the infield for the feature) Chase Junghans was taking the checkers. And good for him!! So we marched down to victory lane, and I even had a partner in crime! Gerald Netwon of GottaRace graciously loaned his daughter for the duty of Miss Firecracker and she’s so pretty. She handed Chase his hat, I handed him the trophy, and then it was all over… for racing anyway. And it still hadn’t rained! So I kept my dress on and decided to sign some autographs (some guy’s chest? Another guy’s suspenders?) and then party it up. Headed to the Froggy concert pavilion and danced a little!
Then, as all things must do, it came to an end for us and we called it a night. Sleepover at my house!!
Since you’re probably already a racefan and you probably don’t live in the cave I mentioned above, then you probably also already know that Lernerville didn’t run night 3 of the Firecracker with the 100-lap A-Main (among other scheduled sideshows like the Uncle Sam for non-qualifiers). The weather was a disaster on Saturday and there was just no way—so they rescheduled to September. If you’re wondering what I did, I capitalized: my friend had a bachelorette night and I attended. It was a lot less clay dust in my hair and nose, but it was equally as fun on a different level.
So what did we learn here? I love racing (by myself or with others), mom needs some guidance when it comes to how much beer to buy, and team dirt dog is newly well-represented in the northwestern Pennsylvania region.
Stay tuned for my next entry—Winner Wednesday. I interview Chase and Shane for fun, and to keep the new tradition going.
Where am I going next? Glad you asked. Cancel your plans, because we’re going to Sharon Speedway for the Lou Blaney memorial on July 11th.
<3/
Miss Dirt Dog
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Winner Wednesday (Bedford 5/8/15 edition)
Hi. You’re here. You made it. Welcome :)
I’m trying something new this summer. You people know I love racing, you know it’s in my blood—you know how pumped I get. Well, I’ve never driven a racecar (not for any length of time without stalling it in the pits or in someone’s yard or driveway, that is..) but my role models and champions every week are the drivers and their support systems. This summer, it’s my goal to interview as many feature winners as I can for the races I attend, and post the answers to my questions here on my blog.
This isn’t formal, we can’t all be famous, but I wanted to get to the heart and soul of who these guys (or girls!) are and what they are all about. So without further ado, I present to you: Winning Wednesdays (okay I’m going to try to make this on Wednesdays. If it doesn’t work out, what are you gonna do, take my birthday??)
Last week at Bedford, Joe Padula crammed 6 classes of cars across the finish line… and here is what I got from 3 feature winners.
Class: All-American Outlaws-- #40 Rick Hulson
How old are you?
50
How long have you been racing?
35 years
Who are your sponsors?
Coolweld, AMZ Material Handling, Tex’s Ladder Racks, A&A Bolt and Screw, Orems Garage, Bite Rite Racing Shocks, and Profab.
What is your favorite color?
Black
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Mighty Mouse lol
Who is your hero?
As for my hero, it would have to be anyone that would have my back no matter what
What else do you want the public at large to know?
I would like to add a special thanks to my car owner, Don Shipley, and my sponsors—without them, nothing would be possible.
Class: E-Mods-- #38 Steve Dixon
How old are you?
35
How long have you been racing?
14 years.
Who are your sponsors?
The car I was driving at Bedford is owned by Chuck LaSalle. I think LaSalle Engine’s is their main sponsor. I also typically drive for Tim Engles out of Franklin PA. Guess you could say the main sponsor for that ride is Close Racing Supply where I work, along with BMS racecars, Bob Harris shocks, and BSB manufacturing.
**at this point in the interview, I accidentally sent him a picture of a cartoon cat eating a piece of cake via facebook messenger. Technical difficulty ensued because we were both way too flustered to continue and had to take a hiatus. like i said.. this ain't fancy...After the break..**
What is your favorite color?
Red
Who is your favorite fictional character?
Batman
Who is your hero?
Hero is my mom. She loved racing more than me. Passed away about 10 years ago, but never missed a race and is a reason for a lot of my motivation to race still to this day.
Is there anything else you’d like the public at large to know?
It’s definitely a small world, especially when it comes to racing.
Class: Super Late Models – 66c Matt Cosner
24
How long have you been racing?
Since I was 7 (started in quarter midgets)
Who are your sponsors?
Nelson Auto Sales of Ridgeley, WV, Mighty Auto Parts, Royal Purple Oil, TC Race Cars of Frostburg, MD, Broadwater Auto Body of Cumberland, MD
What is your favorite color?
Orange
Who is your favorite fictional character?
I’m not really into anything to have a favorite character, so I can’t give an answer to for that one…
Who is your hero?
Dale Earnhardt would be my hero for sure!
How many feature wins do you have?
Friday was my first feature win in a late model.. it was exciting! I have over 40 feature wins in a QM and 2 in an E-mod.
Is there anything else you’d like the public at large to know?
As our spoiler reads this year, we are “more than a conqueror”—if God is for us, who can stand against us? Romans 8:31—Our team is striving to share with others that through the good and the bad, God is always on our side.
---
So there you have it, folks. Winner Wednesday. What do you think? If you liked it: awesome. If you don’t: keep your opinions to yourself, homeslice! (actually kidding-- feedback is always welcome).
Major "thank you" to the drivers who put up with my incessant facebook messaging :)
K, that's it. :) I love you!! I’m so glad you’re here on this adventure with me. And cancel your plans—(if the weather holds out) we’re going racing at Bridgeport this weekend.
<3/
Miss YRS
Fast Friday at Bedford! 5-8
Hey race peeps. Favorite trophy queen, Lainey here. And guess what? I’ve kicked off my race season, FINALLY!! For the beginning of this season at least, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to promote Youth Racing Solutions as a victory lane representative (i.e. TROPHY GIRL!) and this past weekend I visited PA’s oldest dirt racetrack, Bedford Speedway located in Bedford, PA.
I’ll start out by saying that I felt SO welcomed by the staff and fans there, it was a dream come true. Joe Padula and his team put on an outstanding show on a well-prepped track, and they did it with class. Actually, they did it with SIX classes—and still finished before curfew!
In the spirit of mother’s day weekend, and since my mom lives a mere 2 miles from the racetrack (how have I never been there before???), I dragged her along for the ride. Well let me just tell you: the team welcomed her as warmly as they did me. On the bright, sunny, warm Friday evening, my duties started with handing out carnations to all of the moms in attendance. A couple of drivers (Troy Swindell and Brian Lowery to name a couple) and some of the regular track staff gathered in the announcers booth with baskets of flowers and then we set out into the grandstands, handing them out! Cool moment of the night: handing a flower to my own mom. :)
Before the heat races got underway, I spent some time in the announcer’s booth with the track announcer Mike Sotosky. I got a chance to relay to the fans how I got involved in the sport and as a trophy queen, and to tell them about Youth Racing Solutions and the opportunities for children in racing to receive discounts on racing products from companies across North America. What’s fun about Bedford Speedway is that their race program is also broadcast on a local radio station, so I was on the airwaves too!
We watched the heats from the grandstands, which was great. THEN we watched the features from the FLAGSTAND. WHICH WAS AWESOME! And of course, victory lane duties after each race—this included handing a potted plant to the feature winner (for gifting to a mom in his life—keeping with the mother’s day theme) and smiling pretty for pictures. Got to meet some other influential Bedfordians (Bedford-ites?) and just generally enjoyed the warm, dusty night. I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome way to spend my Friday with momma bear. I really hope I have a chance to go back again soon, because it was one of the best track experiences I’ve ever had.
I stole a few thumbnails from Jason Walls, the track photographer, to stick in here. Jason is with WRT Speedwerx and he was phenomenal in capturing the action from the night. You can buy his photos on Zenfolio if you’re interested.
Stay tuned for the next blog post where I post some interview answers from Bedford’s 5/8/15 feature winners.
And cancel your plans-- cuz if it doesn't rain, we are going racing at Bridgeport this weekend :)
<3/
Miss Youth Racing Solutions
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