With the cold weather over the weekend, I still did not get out to the shop to work on the race car. Due to training, I have not been home all week, but even if I had been, it would have been too cold to try to heat the garage. The weather in the next few days is starting to look a bit more promising.
Even though we’ve been in the deep freeze, I was able to get a racing fix over the weekend. The 2009 IMCA modified National Champion, Dylan Smith of Osceola, Nebraska, has been racing in the Winter Series at Canyon Speedway near Phoenix, Arizona. With today’s technology, I have been able to follow his progress and actually have listened to a couple of A Feature races. He won his first A Feature of the year on Sunday February 6th, leading the entire 25 lap race. For those who don’t know Dylan or his car owners, Mike & Lisa Gocke, their traveling companion and mascot is a Great Dane named Diesel. As the race was winding down Sunday afternoon, Dylan was in lap traffic and the 2nd place car was closing the gap. One of the announcers excitedly proclaimed “Somewhere in the pits a Great Dane is going wild!” I don’t think I’ve heard that sort of proclamation before.
Not long after the Arizona races were over, Dirt Knights came on Versus channel. This reality series chronicles the travels of several USMTS drivers at the end of the 2010 season and comes on at 5 PM Central time on Sundays. The episodes can also be viewed over the internet later in the week by going to dirt knights.com. There is some great race footage from in car cameras, as well as pit action. If you watch it over the internet, there are no commercials, either. I really enjoy watching the show, and have watched it a second time over the internet. I hope it continues to be aired.
There is now a new and, from the looks of it, greatly improved Beatrice Speedway website. It has been a long time in development and I’ve been told there will be a lot of information added to it. I’ve heard here may be some things on it later on that haven’t been tried before.
Just by the very nature of our chosen profession, law enforcement officers don’t always have the best hours, meet the nicest people, or have a stress free life. Some departments ask that their officers put in their vacation requests almost a year in advance. For many years, I have spent some of my vacation riding the Gold Wing to a Blue Knights function and this summer will be no different. My two main “stress relievers” are riding and racing. If I could somehow incorporate them, I would have the best of both worlds. Last summer I raced at Columbus, Nebraska a few times. However, with gas for the hauler currently 50 cents a gallon higher than it was last summer, I doubt that I will be making many of those 230 mile round trips at 8 miles to the gallon. Maybe I’ll be riding there to watch instead.
That’s not all bad. When I’m going to watch, our car isn’t on the track and we aren’t burning fuel to get to the track and we’re not burning fuel in the race car. When Jeremy was in High school, we rode to Eagle on Saturday night to watch the races, then rode to Columbus the next night. He thoroughly enjoyed doing that and at 30 years old, still talks about it. I hope that in a few years down the road there will still be races that he can take his son to. Maybe I’ll even be lucky enough to still be alive so I can go too.
It’s really a family effort to race in our case. One time in the pits after the races, somebody asked me how Jan puts up with my racing. I pointed out another place in the pits and told him, “That’s where we met.” That’s not to say she was a racer herself, but she was at least interested in racing. Our first date was going to watch the late models at Sunset Speedway. We would have ridden the motorcycle that night, but it was pretty windy and I didn’t want to scare her off on the first date. Now, she tells me that I do the things I do because “You have an understanding wife, no kids at home and two dogs that don’t care!” You can just bet that when we’re on a long trip on the Gold Wing, I’m looking for race tracks along the way that we may get to stop at and watch a race!
Last summer, we stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming on the way back from Blue Knights International in Billings, Montana. My then 13-yr old granddaughter was on her first motorcycle trip. We were at a downtown ice cream shop with some other Blue Knights when a couple of race cars went by on trailers. I told Kayla to hurry up and finish her ice cream because we were going to the races. She’s not as understanding as her grandmother……. That was a race we did not go to.
Once the weather warms up and we are able to take to the road on two wheels, I hope to be riding a bit more this summer. Unless you’ve taken a trip on a touring motorcycle, you don’t know what you’re missing. Late May and early June is great- the smell of spring is all around. Flowers, clover, feedlots….. well, there aren’t that many feedlots. We try to stop about every 100 miles to stretch, top off the fuel tank and grab a snack, then it’s back on the road. If we see something we want to stop and look at, we’ll stop.
We’ve never been to Nashville or Memphis. We want to spend a couple of nights in Nashville and hopefully take in the Grand Ole Opry. Another night in Memphis, then 2 days to get back home from there. Probably go across Arkansas and into Oklahoma to get back home. If there any Blue Knights from around Nashville or Memphis reading this, I would sure appreciate any information about the area I can get.
Showing posts with label Gold Wing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gold Wing. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Monday, October 26, 2009
2009 Cool McCool 100
We were able to get a decent weekend weather-wise after the snow storms the week before. Jeremy and I got the race cars loaded up early on Saturday and were on the road for McCool Junction and the Cool McCool 100 shortly before 10 AM. Pretty good considering I wanted to leave by 9:30.
Once the pit gates opened, we pulled in and parked on the north side of Brenden. Their enclosed trailer would serve as a good windbreak later on in the weekend. We got the cars unloaded and last minute checks done in preparation for hot laps.
Alex Humphrey pulled in with Al’s car and parked straight west of us. I talked to him a bit and learned that Al had planned to go to a race in Nevada, MO but found a potential problem with his engine, so stayed at home. Alex had some problems with his car at I-80’s Cornhusker Classic and didn’t have it ready to go, so he’d already planned to drive his dad’s car at JMS. Al came in a bit later and was around all weekend to get the car set up for Alex.
We got the call to draw our numbers for starting positions and transponders. Jeremy decided he wanted me to draw for him, too. I drew 23 for me and 36 for Jeremy. As it worked out, he would start out behind me in the same heat.
Jeremy had never even seen the track before, let alone raced on it. We looked over the track from the catwalk and I pointed out what I could to him, noting that he should be especially careful about coming out of turn 2. That corner has historically eaten up a lot of cars.
We finally got the call for hot laps. When we got on the track, it was already getting dry slick. I was still feeling my car out, and only got 1 ½ laps in when the engine quit and I dropped to the bottom of the track on the back chute. The way it sounded, I was sure I had a problem with the distributor. I had a spare on the trailer and knew it would be faster to just change it rather than try to trouble shoot it. Once back in the pits, we checked for spark and sure enough, there was none. We got the distributor changed and the timing set in a few minutes. Check tire pressures on both cars and top both fuel cells off and we’re ready for our heat race.
I lined up on the outside of the 2nd row, and Jeremy was no the inside of the 3rd row, At the drop of the green, the pack was off. Into 1 and the car on my inside didn’t turn, hitting me in the left front. Jeremy went by me on the bottom and that was pretty much the last I saw of him. My car felt OK as when I turned the wheel, the car turned and felt like I had all my tires under me. I kept it going and finished the heat race, passing Jeremy on the last lap when he spun out in front of me. That would be the only time all weekend I finished ahead of him.
When I slowed after taking the checkers, my front end felt funny. Once in the pits, I found that the contact on the first lap ruined my left front wheel and shredded the tire. Both were brand new when I got the car 6 weeks ago.
When the line-up came out for the B Feature, I found I was on the inside of the 5th row with Jeremy starting behind me because of his spin-out. Once again, we topped off the fuel and checked air pressures. Track was smooth so we dropped the air pressures by 2 lbs. There were 15 cars scheduled to start the B Feature; the top 10 would go to the night’s A Feature. The top 6 out of that would be locked in to Sunday’s A Feature. Everybody else would have to try to qualify all over again.
By the time we got back out, the track was pretty rubbered-down and it looked like the bottom was the fast way around. But, some cars were also working about half-way up the track in the corners. It had been pretty dusty earlier, but it looked like we would at least be able to see when we got onto the track.
Once again, when the green fell, Jeremy went by me almost immediately. A few laps later and the yellow came out for an incident on the back chute, just ahead of Jeremy. Under yellow, my car didn’t feel quite right. It took a lap to figure it out, but for some reason my brakes were dragging quite a bit. I managed to finish, however, neither of us were able to finish far enough forward to make the evening’s A Feature. When the checkers fell on the B Feature, racing was over for both of us.
Sunday morning dawned brisk and windy. We had a good spot in the motel lot where we could unload and work on the cars. I changed rear calipers as those were the ones that weren’t releasing. However, once everything was done, the brakes were still hanging up. Further checking found that a plastic brake line going to the rear brakes was pinched, making it act like a valve in the line and locking the rear brakes. Once that problem was taken care of, the brakes worked fine.
Once again, Jeremy had me draw for starting positions for both of. I didn’t do a very good job of things, drawing 83 for me and 86 for Jeremy. We were once again in the same heat and starting in the back. With the brakes working right, my car was better, but even though Jeremy started behind me, he took the bottom on the drop of the green and finished ahead of me. However, only the winner went to the A Feature and everybody else had to go to the B Feature. The top 12 from the B Feature would fall in at the back of the A Feature.
The weather had warmed up nicely; however, the wind picked up pretty good. Once again the track stayed smooth, but got dry slick in a hurry. It started out dusty, but by the time we hit the track for the B Feature, it wasn’t too bad. Even starting in the back, I could see fairly well.
At the drop of the green there was a mad scramble to get to the front. Jeremy started ahead of me and I was hoping to stay with him. However, he drove a great race and once again finished ahead of me, taking 7th. I got the final transfer spot - 12th. We were both in the A Feature!
We didn’t have a lot of time to get things ready. Set out a couple of tires in case of a flat. Jeremy said he’d had a miss in the engine the last few laps and we checked over all his spark plug wires, but didn’t find anything. We’d already changed a right rear on Jeremy’s car as that tire looked almost like a slick. The dry slick track was taking its toll on tires this weekend.
JMS tries to keep the show going and usually gets each race lined up in the staging area in plenty of time. They were already calling us to come to the staging area, so we got strapped in and waited for the other cars to start to line up. Sitting where we were, I didn’t know if there were a bunch of yellows, but it was a long wait. I’d decided to get out and go to the bathroom when cars finally started to go to the staging area. Once we were lined up, the official motioned us to go to the area where we would wait for the race ahead of us to get done.
Another long wait and I could see the lap counter on the infield at 20 laps. There was a lot of dust again so they watered the track and rolled it in. I couldn’t take it any longer - out of the car and made a dash for the restrooms about 200 yards away. I got back to my car in plenty of time, as the green was just coming out to start the hobby A Feature. NOTE: Petition the track for a port-a-pot on the northwest corner of the track.
Getting strapped back into the car, I still had plenty of time to relax and think about the upcoming race. I could see there was still some dust kicking up, but as the race went on it wasn’t as bad. As we pulled onto the track, it looked like a pretty good surface. In a couple of laps we’re lined up and the lights are flashing on the back chute. Out of 4 and we’re green. Let’s go racing!!
Jeremy started a couple of rows ahead of me and when the green flew, he went to the bottom of the track in 1. There was a big group of cars there but he got through the corner and onto the back chute, picking up a couple of spots in doing so. I’m still right on the back bumper of the 15s, who started on my inside.
A few laps in and there’s a big mix-up and spin on the back chute just ahead of Jeremy. We both miss it and when things are sorted out, a couple of the cars involved are out of the race. Another pits for a tire and is back on the track, picking up the back of the field.
I’d started 22nd and as I counted back while we were under yellow, I’m thinking I’m in 18th or 19th. Jeremy is about 5 or 6 spots ahead of me already. The green waves again and we’re back to racing. Once again there’s a bunch of cars just ahead of me all running fender to fender. A lot of rubbing going on. I pass a couple of cars and there are others dropping out. The 15s and another car rub pretty hard, and on the next lap, the 15s slows with a lot of smoke. He’s done for the night.
When the checkers fall, we’ve had a decent night. Jeremy took the white flag in 6th place, but the engine had developed a miss. On the last lap, the oil light started to flicker and he lost some spots, ending up in 9th place. Jeremy shut the engine down as he crossed the finish line. I finish 10th, but was so far behind Jeremy that I didn’t catch up to him until he rolled to a stop on the back chute.
Hopefully, the weekend helped work out some bugs in the new car. Once the cars got home and unloaded, we were able to better assess what direction we’ll be headed for 2010. We have the SCS car and our old trailer up for sale - I’m just too old to keep 2 cars going to race every week. I say this every year - and sometime I will actually follow up - I really want to spend more of 2010 taking some trips on the Gold Wing. The Blue Knights International Convention is at Billings, Montana in July and that is one trip we definitely want to make.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Racing season winds down
Where has the summer gone? The last points race of the season at Beatrice Speedway has been run. The points race came down to the last night as bad luck fell on Jeff Watts, who led the points battle since opening night. After being 30 points out front, going into the last night of the season he was tied with newcomer Jed Williams of Deshler.
In our own bid for a top 10 finish, we were in 7th place by 2 points. Jeremy drove as it was my week to work. I tried to work on the car as I worked around all the stuff piled up in the garage. We didn’t need any mechanical failures on the last night. Jeremy had to be aggressive, but still take care of the car and finish the race. With 20 cars going in circles for 20 laps, it takes a combination of skill and more than a little luck for things to come together.
I was able to stop in and watch the heat races and later on, the A Feature. John Meyer was behind us by 2 points, and we hoped to be able to either finish ahead of him or no more than 2 spots behind him. However, he made the invert and Jeremy didn’t. John started on the front row and Jeremy started deep in the pack.
At the drop of the green, Jeremy started moving up. Driving a steady race, he was soon within sight of the back bumper of the 29 of John Meyer. John had a lot of company up front with 3 and 4-wide racing at times. John had started to drop back a bit and at one time Jeremy was just 2 spots back. Tony Spunagle was about to make a pass on John, which would have put us one point into 7th, when a yellow came out, bunching up the field. Once the track was cleared and the field set, it was green flag again! This time, John pulled away from Tony, and it looked like the handle went away on our car as Jeremy struggled to make it turn the corner. At the end, John finished 8th and Jeremy finished 12th, giving us a final finish in season points at Beatrice Speedway of 8th place.
Nothing to be ashamed of considering we changed drivers every other week and Jeremy had two weeks in a row where he didn’t finish his heat race. His first week in the car, he had the clutch blow up and his second week in the car, he crashed out in the heat race.
I have two weeks left to race at McCool Junction hope to finish in the top 10 in points there. I’d planned to race on the 5th and attend a Blue Knights function on the weekend of the 12th. However, it’s Jan’s weekend to work, and she isn’t allowed to take time off on her weekend to work. Then, in looking at the points at McCool Junction, I found that if I don’t race the last two nights, I will be out of the top 10 in points. So, instead of riding the Gold Wing for the weekend, I will be racing on September 12th instead.
I was able to stop in and watch the heat races and later on, the A Feature. John Meyer was behind us by 2 points, and we hoped to be able to either finish ahead of him or no more than 2 spots behind him. However, he made the invert and Jeremy didn’t. John started on the front row and Jeremy started deep in the pack.
At the drop of the green, Jeremy started moving up. Driving a steady race, he was soon within sight of the back bumper of the 29 of John Meyer. John had a lot of company up front with 3 and 4-wide racing at times. John had started to drop back a bit and at one time Jeremy was just 2 spots back. Tony Spunagle was about to make a pass on John, which would have put us one point into 7th, when a yellow came out, bunching up the field. Once the track was cleared and the field set, it was green flag again! This time, John pulled away from Tony, and it looked like the handle went away on our car as Jeremy struggled to make it turn the corner. At the end, John finished 8th and Jeremy finished 12th, giving us a final finish in season points at Beatrice Speedway of 8th place.
Nothing to be ashamed of considering we changed drivers every other week and Jeremy had two weeks in a row where he didn’t finish his heat race. His first week in the car, he had the clutch blow up and his second week in the car, he crashed out in the heat race.
I have two weeks left to race at McCool Junction hope to finish in the top 10 in points there. I’d planned to race on the 5th and attend a Blue Knights function on the weekend of the 12th. However, it’s Jan’s weekend to work, and she isn’t allowed to take time off on her weekend to work. Then, in looking at the points at McCool Junction, I found that if I don’t race the last two nights, I will be out of the top 10 in points. So, instead of riding the Gold Wing for the weekend, I will be racing on September 12th instead.
Friday, August 14, 2009
All about me
Let me introduce myself. My name is Ernie Reiss. I live in Beatrice, Nebraska where I’ve been a Police Officer since November of 1989. Before that, I was a Police Officer in Grand Island, Nebraska for almost 5 years.
I was born and raised in Crete, which is about 35 miles northwest of Beatrice. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. My brother Dave and his wife Anita live just a few blocks away from Dad & Mom. He has two sons; Charlie, who is a career Marine based out of Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; and Dean, who manages a retail store in Kansas City. My sister Ann and her husband Randy also live in Crete. She has two sons; Aaron and Dale, and a daughter, Emily. Dale will graduate from high school in 2010.
I graduated from Crete High in 1970 and attended Technical School in Milford, studying automotive mechanics. I graduated from Milford in October 1973.
I have spent all of my life since graduating from high school wearing some kind of uniform. In February 1970 I joined the Nebraska National Guard. When I moved to Grand Island, I transferred to the U.S. Army Reserves where I remained until September 1988. I started working for the Hall County Sheriff’s Department as a Corrections Officer in May 1983 and in November 1983 I was hired by the Grand Island Police Department.
I have three daughters. Heather and her husband Dana live in Greeley, Colorado and are proud parents of Landon, who was born February 28th this year. Hollie and her husband live in Grand Island and have a daughter, Tatyana, and two sons, Talon and Hayden, who was born on my birthday two years ago. That’s one birthday I should never forget; of course, sometimes I miss my own birthday. Abby and her husband, Joey, also live in Grand Island, where Abby works in her mom’s flower shop and Joey works at a local implement dealership.
I am a dirt track racing enthusiast. When I lived in Grand Island, we went to stock car races at Mid Continent Raceway located near Doniphan, Nebraska. I met a late model driver, Al Humphrey, and started working on his pit crew in 1975. Back then, we raced 3 nights a week and sometimes more. On a normal weekend, we would race at either Hastings or Red Cloud on Friday, Doniphan on Saturday, and either Lexington or Midwest Speedway in Lincoln on Sunday. In 1976, Al started racing at Sunset Speedway in Omaha on Sundays. That made for a long Sunday night and a real early Monday morning. We were all young and foolish then. I’m now almost 58 years old and I know I could not race three nights a week like we did then.
I met my wife, Jan, at the Beatrice Speedway. I was on Peanuts Volesky’s pit crew and we raced at Beatrice on Saturday nights. Jan is a LPN and worked with Peanuts’ wife at Beatrice Community Hospital. One night after the races she came into the pits. A few weeks later we had our first date - we went to the late model races at Sunset Speedway.
At the time we met, I was riding a 1981 Honda Gold Wing and was (and still am) a member of Blue Knights, which is an International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. My chapter, Nebraska I, is chartered in Grand Island, having come into being in 1986. The Midwest Regional Conference, which Nebraska I belongs to, Has a Spring Conference in June and a Fall Conference in September. There is also an International Conference in July of each year. The 2010 International is at Billings, Montana and we are looking forward to making that trip on our 2006 Gold Wing.
Jan’s two sons, Jason and Jeremy Rosenthal, live in Beatrice. Jason is married to Emily and they have a son, Evan and a daughter, Ava. Jason also has a daughter, Mikayla, from a previous relationship. Jeremy is married to Carin, and they have a son, Isaak, who was born July 27th. Their lives have suddenly changed with the addition to their family.
Jan and I got married in June of 1996. We planned our honeymoon for several months. No, it wasn’t a romantic cruise to a foreign destination. We spent over two weeks on the motorcycle, which by then was a 1984 Honda Gold Wing Interstate. We got married at the Gage County Courthouse on a Friday afternoon with Jan’s parents, Jason and Jeremy, Heather, Hollie and Abby, Dave and Anita, Peanuts and his wife Kathy and several Blue Knights from Grand Island in attendance. We had an informal reception with a DJ in the park and later in the evening we took off for a Blue Knights gathering at Hiawatha, Kansas.
We got back home Sunday afternoon and did some laundry and packing and we left on Monday morning, taking a general southwest direction. Somebody made a “Just Married” sign at the courthouse and we put it on the back of the trailer we pulled with the motorcycle. As we traveled, we had a lot of people pass us and honk, giving the thumbs up. We stayed at Dodge City, KS Monday night, Albuquerque Tuesday night, Flagstaff Wednesday night, rode up to the Grand Canyon early on Thursday morning, and stayed at Blythe, CA on Thursday night. Hollie was living at Irvine, CA at the time and we got to her house just after noon on Friday. We spent the weekend with her, going to Santa Monica Pier on Friday night for Jan’s first-ever visit to the ocean, Universal Studios on Saturday and Disneyland on Sunday. On Monday we rode the Pacific Coast Highway from Huntington Beach to Camarillo, where we stayed the night with my uncle and aunt. On Tuesday we rode to Las Vegas, staying there until Friday morning. On Friday we rode from Las Vegas to Richfield, Utah and on Saturday we rode to Rifle, Colorado where we visited Jan’s uncle and aunt. Sunday was a long day as we rode all the way to Republican City, where we stayed over night. We then rode back to Beatrice, getting home Monday evening.
We plan to someday ride east. We want to visit Nashville, and I think the best way to travel is by the motorcycle. We got the 2006 Gold Wing new in July of 2006 and currently have 24,000 miles on it. The big 1832 CC six cylinder engine has all the power we need to occasionally go fast, but the electronic cruise control never lets the speed vary on road trips. Sirius satellite radio makes the rides even more enjoyable.
Towards the end of 1997, Jason and I bought a race car together. During the winter, we rebuilt it and for the next three seasons, 1998, 1999, and 2000, Jason drove the car every Saturday night at Beatrice Speedway. We sat out the 2001 season and put up a garage. That being done, we got a car ready to race for 2002. A week before the season started, Jason broke his leg. I thought about driving the car myself, while Jan suggested we sit out another season while Jason healed. I finally made a deal with her - I would drive the car myself. If, after the first night, my underwear was still clean, I would keep driving.
I admit, as each Saturday arrived, I was scared to death. I hoped it would rain. I prayed for rain! As the season went on, something happened. I got a bit more confident and started to feel more comfortable in the car, even though I sucked as a driver. When I was able to drive the car onto the trailer at the end of the night, I felt like I’d had a good night. By the end of the season, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable in the car, even though I still sucked as a driver. I stayed with it because I mostly enjoy doing it, and this year there are two stock cars in the garage. We’ve been racing both at Beatrice Speedway on Friday nights, with Jason and Jeremy splitting time in a 2004 Jet Phantom while I’ve been piloting an SCS chassis we bought at the end of last season and put together over the winter. On my weekends to work, Jeremy has been driving that car for me. Other weekends have seen Bruce Lang, our Police Chief, and Jay Murphy, who is a Sergeant with the Police Department, driving the Phantom. At the Gage County Fair this year, I finally got to race against Jason. He finished 11th and I finished 12th. I was practically glued to his back bumper the entire A Feature, but just couldn’t make a pass on him. I hope we can do that again.
On my Saturdays off, I’ve been pulling to McCool Junction, Nebraska to race on the track there. It’s a big, wide track and I like racing there. The last time I looked at the track points standings, we’re in 8th place in points at Beatrice and 10th in points at McCool Junction.
The summer has been pretty busy what with trying to keep two race cars running and ready to race every weekend. We always try to get a couple of weekends away on the motorcycle during the summer, too. We’d planned to go to Des Moines in June for the Blue Knights gathering, but Landon was baptized that weekend, so we didn’t make the ride. We will be going to the Fall Conference, even though it’s only in Omaha. Since Jan & I both work nights and a lot of times we work opposite nights, we really look forward to having a day or two off together.
I was able to take off on the Gold Wing for a few days the end of July. I rode out to Greeley and spent two days there before coming back to Beatrice. Talon was staying with Heather and Dana and we took a motorcycle ride around Greeley on Tuesday afternoon. The skies were pretty dark and I was sure it would start raining at any time, so we didn’t go very far. I’d have just LOVED to go up to Estes Park as Hwy 34 from Loveland to Estes Park is one of my favorite rides. However, I also HATE getting wet on the motorcycle!!
Talon seemed to always want me to make a right hand turn when I was already in the left turn or straight ahead lane. I’m not sure he really knew where he wanted to go, just that he wanted to go. He really enjoys riding and made the comment he wanted me to take him back to Grand Island when I went home. However, I had no room for his bags as well as mine.
The second day, we all piled into the SUV and took a trip to the Royal Gorge. When you look on the map, it’s not too far; just about 3 inches or so. But when you start looking at the miles, it’s about 150 miles each way. Even though we left shortly after 8 AM, it was well after dark when we got back.
I’d spent some time at Ft Carson in the early ‘70’s and had the opportunity to get out and do some sightseeing then. In the 30-plus years since, things have changed so much. Colorado Springs has gotten so much bigger. Even Hwy 115, which runs along the edge of Ft Carson to Penrose, didn’t look the same with all the housing along the road. One thing hasn’t changed, though. We ran into a heavy thunderstorm along the way. When I was at Ft Carson in the summer, there was always at least one thunderstorm daily. This was a typical gully-washer that made me REALLY happy that we were in the SUV instead of being on the Gold Wing.
Having satellite radio on the Gold Wing makes the riding even more enjoyable. I change back and forth between the NASCAR station, 50’s on 6, and some of the country stations. If I wanted, I could ride from coast to coast without having to change stations. Before our first trip was over after we got the Gold Wing, we’d decided to invest in a satellite radio. We rode to Minot, North Dakota and about 40 miles out of Grand Island, I had to start searching for a new radio station about every 15 miles or so. I swear that we’ve ridden through areas where there should have been signs posted that said “You are in the middle of Nowhere!”
On my way home from Greeley I had the Nascar channel tuned in. There is a morning program called “Trading Paint” which is hosted by Danny “Chocolate” Myers and Rock Benjamin. This is a call-in program that covers a wide variety of topics and there’s usually a lot of good discussion. Chocolate started telling about how he got a phone call from his 20-yr old college student daughter. She had been pulled over by a police officer and she told her dad she didn’t know why she’d been stopped, but the officer was pretty upset with her. When the traffic stop drew to a conclusion, she received a stern lecture from the officer and a written warning for aggressive driving. She told Chocolate what happened to initiate the traffic contact and said she didn’t feel she’d done anything wrong.
This started a serious discussion about the youth of today learning to drive. Here in Nebraska, there are so many different classes of Operator’s Licenses that it is confusing at times to know if the driver is legal. However, the entire discussion centered not just on the driver’s license itself, rather the training our children and grandchildren today get prior to obtaining their driver’s licenses.
Driver’s Education classes are still being taught in most places. When I took Driver’s Ed, it was during the summer and, if I remember correctly, my parents paid $20 or $25 for me to attend. During the course of the summer, we had textbook training as well as actual driving time. It’s been so long ago, I don’t remember how long the classes were, or even how many hours of actual driving time we got. One thing I do remember is that the driving was under very controlled conditions. We drove around town at or under the speed limit. Same thing with when we left town. We had the big “Student Driver” sign on the roof of the car. I don’t think our Driver’s Ed car even had a radio in it. The teacher had a brake pedal on his side in case we didn’t slow down soon enough to his liking.
We did slow speed maneuvers. We practiced parking using traffic cones at first. When we mastered that, we got to park between real cars. I don’t know how much the training has changed these days, but what I don’t remember is learning to do maneuvers at a higher speed. There was a lot of discussion of what to do if you had a blow-out or if you dropped a wheel off the edge of the road, but I don’t remember ever having a blow-out or dropping a wheel off the edge of the road in Driver’s Ed. I know we didn’t drive on snow or ice since it was summer. I’m thinking we may have driven on some gravel roads.
I was talking to a friend about this the other day. He said he has had two of his kids through Drivers’ Ed classes in the last couple of years. The cost now is very high, so I’m sure there are fewer students. It’s too bad, because these kids NEED to take Drivers’ Ed. But, they also need some realistic training.
Myers and Benjamin talked of driving schools in their neck of the woods that actually teach the kids high speed maneuvers under more realistic driving conditions. Given the news reports in Nebraska the last couple of weeks of young people being killed on the highways, I think we need to change the ways our youth are being taught to drive.
We all have opinions of events that happen in life. Some people in certain professions are not allowed to voice their opinions publicly on certain issues. Police officers are in that category. We may have a strong opinion on something controversial, but if we voice our opinion, we may get in hot water. Sometimes, I look forward to no longer being a member of the Law Enforcement community.
Jan & I have talked about what we would do when we retire. Each of my paychecks has money withheld and that money is put in a retirement fund. The city also matches what is taken out of my pay and puts that into the retirement fund, too. In the past, there have been peaks and valleys in this fund, but over the first 18 years, it earned modestly. However, since January 2008, it has lost money consistently. I am now concerned whether I will actually be able to EVER retire!! We said in the past that in order for that to happen, our house would have to be paid for and we would have to have all our other bills paid. We are slowly reaching these goals. However, with my being diabetic, what will I do for insurance? I have insurance through the city, and also am eligible for care through the V.A. In reading through the pros and cons of the “ObamaCare” package, I do not think that is the way that America wants to go. I certainly don’t want to be a Police Officer until I’m 70 years old.
I was born and raised in Crete, which is about 35 miles northwest of Beatrice. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. My brother Dave and his wife Anita live just a few blocks away from Dad & Mom. He has two sons; Charlie, who is a career Marine based out of Camp LeJeune, North Carolina; and Dean, who manages a retail store in Kansas City. My sister Ann and her husband Randy also live in Crete. She has two sons; Aaron and Dale, and a daughter, Emily. Dale will graduate from high school in 2010.
I graduated from Crete High in 1970 and attended Technical School in Milford, studying automotive mechanics. I graduated from Milford in October 1973.
I have spent all of my life since graduating from high school wearing some kind of uniform. In February 1970 I joined the Nebraska National Guard. When I moved to Grand Island, I transferred to the U.S. Army Reserves where I remained until September 1988. I started working for the Hall County Sheriff’s Department as a Corrections Officer in May 1983 and in November 1983 I was hired by the Grand Island Police Department.
I have three daughters. Heather and her husband Dana live in Greeley, Colorado and are proud parents of Landon, who was born February 28th this year. Hollie and her husband live in Grand Island and have a daughter, Tatyana, and two sons, Talon and Hayden, who was born on my birthday two years ago. That’s one birthday I should never forget; of course, sometimes I miss my own birthday. Abby and her husband, Joey, also live in Grand Island, where Abby works in her mom’s flower shop and Joey works at a local implement dealership.
I am a dirt track racing enthusiast. When I lived in Grand Island, we went to stock car races at Mid Continent Raceway located near Doniphan, Nebraska. I met a late model driver, Al Humphrey, and started working on his pit crew in 1975. Back then, we raced 3 nights a week and sometimes more. On a normal weekend, we would race at either Hastings or Red Cloud on Friday, Doniphan on Saturday, and either Lexington or Midwest Speedway in Lincoln on Sunday. In 1976, Al started racing at Sunset Speedway in Omaha on Sundays. That made for a long Sunday night and a real early Monday morning. We were all young and foolish then. I’m now almost 58 years old and I know I could not race three nights a week like we did then.
I met my wife, Jan, at the Beatrice Speedway. I was on Peanuts Volesky’s pit crew and we raced at Beatrice on Saturday nights. Jan is a LPN and worked with Peanuts’ wife at Beatrice Community Hospital. One night after the races she came into the pits. A few weeks later we had our first date - we went to the late model races at Sunset Speedway.
At the time we met, I was riding a 1981 Honda Gold Wing and was (and still am) a member of Blue Knights, which is an International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. My chapter, Nebraska I, is chartered in Grand Island, having come into being in 1986. The Midwest Regional Conference, which Nebraska I belongs to, Has a Spring Conference in June and a Fall Conference in September. There is also an International Conference in July of each year. The 2010 International is at Billings, Montana and we are looking forward to making that trip on our 2006 Gold Wing.
Jan’s two sons, Jason and Jeremy Rosenthal, live in Beatrice. Jason is married to Emily and they have a son, Evan and a daughter, Ava. Jason also has a daughter, Mikayla, from a previous relationship. Jeremy is married to Carin, and they have a son, Isaak, who was born July 27th. Their lives have suddenly changed with the addition to their family.
Jan and I got married in June of 1996. We planned our honeymoon for several months. No, it wasn’t a romantic cruise to a foreign destination. We spent over two weeks on the motorcycle, which by then was a 1984 Honda Gold Wing Interstate. We got married at the Gage County Courthouse on a Friday afternoon with Jan’s parents, Jason and Jeremy, Heather, Hollie and Abby, Dave and Anita, Peanuts and his wife Kathy and several Blue Knights from Grand Island in attendance. We had an informal reception with a DJ in the park and later in the evening we took off for a Blue Knights gathering at Hiawatha, Kansas.
We got back home Sunday afternoon and did some laundry and packing and we left on Monday morning, taking a general southwest direction. Somebody made a “Just Married” sign at the courthouse and we put it on the back of the trailer we pulled with the motorcycle. As we traveled, we had a lot of people pass us and honk, giving the thumbs up. We stayed at Dodge City, KS Monday night, Albuquerque Tuesday night, Flagstaff Wednesday night, rode up to the Grand Canyon early on Thursday morning, and stayed at Blythe, CA on Thursday night. Hollie was living at Irvine, CA at the time and we got to her house just after noon on Friday. We spent the weekend with her, going to Santa Monica Pier on Friday night for Jan’s first-ever visit to the ocean, Universal Studios on Saturday and Disneyland on Sunday. On Monday we rode the Pacific Coast Highway from Huntington Beach to Camarillo, where we stayed the night with my uncle and aunt. On Tuesday we rode to Las Vegas, staying there until Friday morning. On Friday we rode from Las Vegas to Richfield, Utah and on Saturday we rode to Rifle, Colorado where we visited Jan’s uncle and aunt. Sunday was a long day as we rode all the way to Republican City, where we stayed over night. We then rode back to Beatrice, getting home Monday evening.
We plan to someday ride east. We want to visit Nashville, and I think the best way to travel is by the motorcycle. We got the 2006 Gold Wing new in July of 2006 and currently have 24,000 miles on it. The big 1832 CC six cylinder engine has all the power we need to occasionally go fast, but the electronic cruise control never lets the speed vary on road trips. Sirius satellite radio makes the rides even more enjoyable.
Towards the end of 1997, Jason and I bought a race car together. During the winter, we rebuilt it and for the next three seasons, 1998, 1999, and 2000, Jason drove the car every Saturday night at Beatrice Speedway. We sat out the 2001 season and put up a garage. That being done, we got a car ready to race for 2002. A week before the season started, Jason broke his leg. I thought about driving the car myself, while Jan suggested we sit out another season while Jason healed. I finally made a deal with her - I would drive the car myself. If, after the first night, my underwear was still clean, I would keep driving.
I admit, as each Saturday arrived, I was scared to death. I hoped it would rain. I prayed for rain! As the season went on, something happened. I got a bit more confident and started to feel more comfortable in the car, even though I sucked as a driver. When I was able to drive the car onto the trailer at the end of the night, I felt like I’d had a good night. By the end of the season, I was starting to feel pretty comfortable in the car, even though I still sucked as a driver. I stayed with it because I mostly enjoy doing it, and this year there are two stock cars in the garage. We’ve been racing both at Beatrice Speedway on Friday nights, with Jason and Jeremy splitting time in a 2004 Jet Phantom while I’ve been piloting an SCS chassis we bought at the end of last season and put together over the winter. On my weekends to work, Jeremy has been driving that car for me. Other weekends have seen Bruce Lang, our Police Chief, and Jay Murphy, who is a Sergeant with the Police Department, driving the Phantom. At the Gage County Fair this year, I finally got to race against Jason. He finished 11th and I finished 12th. I was practically glued to his back bumper the entire A Feature, but just couldn’t make a pass on him. I hope we can do that again.
On my Saturdays off, I’ve been pulling to McCool Junction, Nebraska to race on the track there. It’s a big, wide track and I like racing there. The last time I looked at the track points standings, we’re in 8th place in points at Beatrice and 10th in points at McCool Junction.
The summer has been pretty busy what with trying to keep two race cars running and ready to race every weekend. We always try to get a couple of weekends away on the motorcycle during the summer, too. We’d planned to go to Des Moines in June for the Blue Knights gathering, but Landon was baptized that weekend, so we didn’t make the ride. We will be going to the Fall Conference, even though it’s only in Omaha. Since Jan & I both work nights and a lot of times we work opposite nights, we really look forward to having a day or two off together.
I was able to take off on the Gold Wing for a few days the end of July. I rode out to Greeley and spent two days there before coming back to Beatrice. Talon was staying with Heather and Dana and we took a motorcycle ride around Greeley on Tuesday afternoon. The skies were pretty dark and I was sure it would start raining at any time, so we didn’t go very far. I’d have just LOVED to go up to Estes Park as Hwy 34 from Loveland to Estes Park is one of my favorite rides. However, I also HATE getting wet on the motorcycle!!
Talon seemed to always want me to make a right hand turn when I was already in the left turn or straight ahead lane. I’m not sure he really knew where he wanted to go, just that he wanted to go. He really enjoys riding and made the comment he wanted me to take him back to Grand Island when I went home. However, I had no room for his bags as well as mine.
The second day, we all piled into the SUV and took a trip to the Royal Gorge. When you look on the map, it’s not too far; just about 3 inches or so. But when you start looking at the miles, it’s about 150 miles each way. Even though we left shortly after 8 AM, it was well after dark when we got back.
I’d spent some time at Ft Carson in the early ‘70’s and had the opportunity to get out and do some sightseeing then. In the 30-plus years since, things have changed so much. Colorado Springs has gotten so much bigger. Even Hwy 115, which runs along the edge of Ft Carson to Penrose, didn’t look the same with all the housing along the road. One thing hasn’t changed, though. We ran into a heavy thunderstorm along the way. When I was at Ft Carson in the summer, there was always at least one thunderstorm daily. This was a typical gully-washer that made me REALLY happy that we were in the SUV instead of being on the Gold Wing.
Having satellite radio on the Gold Wing makes the riding even more enjoyable. I change back and forth between the NASCAR station, 50’s on 6, and some of the country stations. If I wanted, I could ride from coast to coast without having to change stations. Before our first trip was over after we got the Gold Wing, we’d decided to invest in a satellite radio. We rode to Minot, North Dakota and about 40 miles out of Grand Island, I had to start searching for a new radio station about every 15 miles or so. I swear that we’ve ridden through areas where there should have been signs posted that said “You are in the middle of Nowhere!”
On my way home from Greeley I had the Nascar channel tuned in. There is a morning program called “Trading Paint” which is hosted by Danny “Chocolate” Myers and Rock Benjamin. This is a call-in program that covers a wide variety of topics and there’s usually a lot of good discussion. Chocolate started telling about how he got a phone call from his 20-yr old college student daughter. She had been pulled over by a police officer and she told her dad she didn’t know why she’d been stopped, but the officer was pretty upset with her. When the traffic stop drew to a conclusion, she received a stern lecture from the officer and a written warning for aggressive driving. She told Chocolate what happened to initiate the traffic contact and said she didn’t feel she’d done anything wrong.
This started a serious discussion about the youth of today learning to drive. Here in Nebraska, there are so many different classes of Operator’s Licenses that it is confusing at times to know if the driver is legal. However, the entire discussion centered not just on the driver’s license itself, rather the training our children and grandchildren today get prior to obtaining their driver’s licenses.
Driver’s Education classes are still being taught in most places. When I took Driver’s Ed, it was during the summer and, if I remember correctly, my parents paid $20 or $25 for me to attend. During the course of the summer, we had textbook training as well as actual driving time. It’s been so long ago, I don’t remember how long the classes were, or even how many hours of actual driving time we got. One thing I do remember is that the driving was under very controlled conditions. We drove around town at or under the speed limit. Same thing with when we left town. We had the big “Student Driver” sign on the roof of the car. I don’t think our Driver’s Ed car even had a radio in it. The teacher had a brake pedal on his side in case we didn’t slow down soon enough to his liking.
We did slow speed maneuvers. We practiced parking using traffic cones at first. When we mastered that, we got to park between real cars. I don’t know how much the training has changed these days, but what I don’t remember is learning to do maneuvers at a higher speed. There was a lot of discussion of what to do if you had a blow-out or if you dropped a wheel off the edge of the road, but I don’t remember ever having a blow-out or dropping a wheel off the edge of the road in Driver’s Ed. I know we didn’t drive on snow or ice since it was summer. I’m thinking we may have driven on some gravel roads.
I was talking to a friend about this the other day. He said he has had two of his kids through Drivers’ Ed classes in the last couple of years. The cost now is very high, so I’m sure there are fewer students. It’s too bad, because these kids NEED to take Drivers’ Ed. But, they also need some realistic training.
Myers and Benjamin talked of driving schools in their neck of the woods that actually teach the kids high speed maneuvers under more realistic driving conditions. Given the news reports in Nebraska the last couple of weeks of young people being killed on the highways, I think we need to change the ways our youth are being taught to drive.
We all have opinions of events that happen in life. Some people in certain professions are not allowed to voice their opinions publicly on certain issues. Police officers are in that category. We may have a strong opinion on something controversial, but if we voice our opinion, we may get in hot water. Sometimes, I look forward to no longer being a member of the Law Enforcement community.
Jan & I have talked about what we would do when we retire. Each of my paychecks has money withheld and that money is put in a retirement fund. The city also matches what is taken out of my pay and puts that into the retirement fund, too. In the past, there have been peaks and valleys in this fund, but over the first 18 years, it earned modestly. However, since January 2008, it has lost money consistently. I am now concerned whether I will actually be able to EVER retire!! We said in the past that in order for that to happen, our house would have to be paid for and we would have to have all our other bills paid. We are slowly reaching these goals. However, with my being diabetic, what will I do for insurance? I have insurance through the city, and also am eligible for care through the V.A. In reading through the pros and cons of the “ObamaCare” package, I do not think that is the way that America wants to go. I certainly don’t want to be a Police Officer until I’m 70 years old.
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