Race car progress; swap meet; IMCA modifieds at Canyon Raceway in Arizona; Schlitz, Hamms, Storz, Colt 45, Falstaff, Carling Black Label beer

I was able to get a few hours worth of work on the race car Friday afternoon. The brakes are all done except for bleeding. I still have few small clamps to put on the front brake lines where they run across the firewall.

I made it to the Columbus swap meet on Saturday. With the weatherman threatening more winter weather, I get a fairly early start and was home by 4 PM. The drive there wasn’t bad; the roads were clear and the frost-covered trees were actually kind of pretty. Of course, they would have been a lot prettier if it had been about 70 degrees warmer. The trip ended up being worth the drive as I was able to buy a fire suit that was only worn one season for about 25% of what I would have had to pay for it new. I have been guilty of scrimping on fire resistant clothing since we’ve started racing. So far we’ve been lucky and I decided I do not want to push our luck any farther.

Both U.S. 30 Speedway and Junction Motor Speedway had schedules and rules available. Junction Motor Speedway was also accepting NASCAR license applications. On a related note, Beatrice Speedway still has not sent out information about car and driver registrations for 2011. There is a banner on the DirtDrivers.com website for the Beatrice Spring Nationals, but when you click on it for detailes, you get the Beatrice Speedway website that gasn’t been updated since August 24, 2010. Come on, Beatrice Speedway, GET WITH IT!

With the temperature on Sunday only being 8 degrees at noon, I decided to not even try to start a fire in the wood burner. I’m sure I could not have gotten the garage warm enough to work comfortably in. The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday looks better, so I should be able to get some serious work in on those days.

I checked on the races at Canyon Raceway in Peoria, Arizona this weekend. The track is hosting a winter series that covers 5 weekends - 10 races, the end of January and first part of February. IMCA modified driver Dylan Smith of Osceola, Nebraska, had moved into the top 5 during Saturday’s A Feature before getting caught up in a crash that happened ahead of him. He made a pit stop and got back o the track, hoping for a top 10 finish. However, he was involved in a 2nd crash and was done for the night.

Sunday’s races went better as he won his heat race and took home a 6th place A Feature finish. I plan to keep track of how he does during the rest of the series. Their latest post on Twitter says they are trying out a new car this week.

Monday warmed up enough that I was able to build a nice fire and heat the garage enough to work for about 3 hours before I had to stop and get ready for work. I think I have everything done on the brakes that needs to be done. Still have a little to do on the rear deck, then it’s on to straightening the doors so they can be mounted. I have Wednesday-Thursday off this week and the forecast looks like it will be nice enough to be able to keep the place heated so I can keep on working out there.

During a gathering the other evening, one of the guests walked in with a 12-pack of Schlitz beer! It was actually an inside joke, but it brought back memories. I hadn’t seen Schlitz around for quite a few years and only recently learned that it is still being made. I actually drank one for old times’ sake! I joked that the “born on” date was 1970.… The discussion turned to some of the “old” beers. Only three of us remembered the Hamm’s commercials with the Hamm’s bear. “From the land of sky blue waters.” It’s my understanding that Hamm’s is still sold in some parts of the country. Another beer that I remember was Storz. I almost forgot about that, but a few years ago, I saw a Storz sign hanging in a window in a bar in Falls City, Nebraska. We stopped for a burger there and when the waitress asked what we wanted to drink, I asked for a Storz. She had no idea what I was talking about, even though they had a sign in the window.

Around 1971 or 1972, Nebraska bars and liquor outlets started selling Olympia beer. It seemed popular at first, but died out quickly and I haven’t seen “Oly” for quite a few years. I also remember Colt 45 Malt Liquor and Falstaff, which was brewed in Omaha. For old time stock car racing fans in Nebraska, who remembers Bob Kosiski’s blue stock car sponsored by Falstaff? There was also a “plain label” Beer made by Falstaff. Yes, that’s what is was called, and it was in a white can with black letters that simply said “Beer.” Another one I remember is Carling Black Label, which I believe was also a malt liquor. There was a commercial that went like this “Mabel, Black Label, Carling Black Label Beer!” In the Saline County area of Nebraska, all of these beers, as well as Budweiser, were the popular ones. Of course, back then, there was no such thing as “Light” beer. We’ve sure come a long way in our “beer technology” since then. The most popular beer in the southeast Nebraska area now seems to be Bud Light and Busch Light.

While I’m mentioning Busch Light, I just have to tell about past experiences in Las Vegas. We went to Las Vegas several years in a row to go to the NASCAR weekend. When we started going, Busch was a huge NASCAR sponsor and the now Nationwide series was called the Busch series. We got into Vegas, checked into our hotel,, and the guys hit the 7-11 next door to get some beer. They had NO BUSCH BEER!! I don’t know if it’s still like that in Vegas, but at the time, we couldn’t believe that there was no Busch beer in a city that devoted an entire week to NASCAR.