Dollars Day Just Like Old Times At The Farm

What would the end of the year be....without the annual Farmington Dragway Dollars Day Flea Market and Race?  It's always been my favorite and it always was Norman Drouillard and Jerry Joyce's favorite when they started the event back in 1983. They would have been proud to see all the folks that braved the cold, cloudy and snowy day to sell and buy their wears. Yours truly was there and I was glad to see a lot of folks out and about. Thanks to all that bought up on the 5 for $10.00 shirts, hope you enjoy them in warmer weather. Chad was glad to sale a few things, but like most racers he ends up buying more than he sold...lol. Thanks to David Lambert for the hamburger it hit the spot and it was good to talk to Ray Williams for a while. He ended up buy some pistons and rods from Chad to make him a new 555 cu in motor for his Oldsmobile. Hud you'll be busy this winter....lol. Sorry Norman, Jr I didn't get back down to the guy with the "Sling Shot" Dragster frame for sale on our row. If anyone knows who he was or has a number let me know 336-480-8481.

 Getting back to the day.....yesterday brought back memories of racing in the snow at the Farm. (Don't get me wrong. Yesterday was NO day to try to race). Back ten years ago cars were a little slower, but we didn't put as much work in getting the track ready like Jason and John do now. Son....give me a little VHT and we was racing then and it didn't cost to much to do. So yesterday we would have been fighting a losing battle......IT SNOWED more than a flake.  BUT the good was in the flea market and the goods that was laid out in the Farm pit area and the PEOPLE we got to talk to and see. I was glad to see Jody and Corey Leazer of Mooresville Dragway out and about at the Farm's Market of Goods. Jody had a Mustang for sale and was wanting to buy that Dragster Rick Varner had for sale for son Corey. They were also in attendance at Farmington and Piedmont's big Foot Brake races with their Nova.
 Also...Congratulations to Mike Hutchens the now two time PTRA - Pro Tree Eliminator champion. He was in the house with his collection of drag toys. Got to say hello to Mike Hawks, a former Farm TOP Champion and his young son. Hope he gets to feeling batter and can join us next year for the 2011 Jerry and Norman's LEGENDS of the Farm event. Heard from "Big" Ernie Humes that they are putting a bigger tire and motor under the 2010 Farmington and Piedmont Dragway Foot Brake championship Dodge Demon of son Ernie for 2011. Big Ernie (in shorts now) told me that are looking for some 6.50's and more mile per hour with this already deadly combination. Sounds like the Foot Brake world better watch out for "Lil Ernie" again in 2011. Remember the Mopar ace also won the Div.1 IHRA Team Finals title in MOD ET back in September at Farmington for Team Farm.
Again ....had a great time just hanging out in the pit area and talking to folks. I just don't get to do that enough during the year from working the tower. So it was good do that and also listen to Ray Williams and James Overcash's war stories (drag racing wars that is). Glenn Ferguson, Jr came by also a said they've put new disc brakes on the families Ford, and they're getting new wheels for the three time IHRA Hot Rod world championship Fairlane. Glenn, Jr. says he plans to run some NHRA Division 2 Super Street (10.90) events this coming year along with regular IHRA Hot Rod.
 Look forward also to running the now twice rescheduled "Race of Champions" event for all 2009-2010 race winners at Farmington Dragway in TOP Eliminator, Foot Brake and Junior Dragster some time in March 2011. Hope that don't get snowed out...lol... anyway....
Don't forget my annual MJ's Function and Chicken Stew has been moved to the "Game Room" at Farmington and it will be Saturday, December 18th. Everyone is invited to come and enjoy the food, pictures and fellowship. Things get started around 5 PM and please bring any old pictures, papers and stories..also anyone wanting to bring a side dish or dessert you are more than welcome. Hope to see you there. MJ

F.I.M gala

I am back in Finland from Estoril, Portugal where F.I.M. had 2010 prize giving gala for it’s World Champions. All F.I.M. Champions from different disciplines were presented gold medals at the casino of Estoril where we all had also dinner together and the show was live on TV. Friday afternoon we had a press conference. F.I.M. had thought of everything by putting me there between Toni Bou and Tomasz Gollob. Me and Tomasz both had our 20th anniversary in our sports and on the other hand Toni Bou has won four consecutive world titles in Trial just like I have done in Enduro! In the evening red carpet, tuxedos, evening dresses and cava were the name of the game. For the dinner and the gala I was seated at the same table together with E3 Champion David Knight on my left but other riders of my table were track racers. Next to me on my right was Ice Speedway World Champion Nikolai Krasnikov from Russia, next to him Long Track World Champion Joonas Kylmäkorpi from Finland, next to him Speedway Junior World Champion Darcy Ward from Australia then Speedway World Champion Tomasz Gollob from Poland and Track Racing legend Ivan Mauger from England. I learned that Nikolai the Ice Speedway Champion won his 6th World Title in a row! That’s insane like the sport his doing. Check out this video from his racing to see what I mean! That kind of phenomenal performance deserves a lot more publicity than it gets. He must be a hero in his home city of Ufa in Russia some 2000km east of Finland but how many people outside Speedway world know about him? Road Racing and MotoGP more precisely is the discipline that gets the most media coverage and Jorge Lorenzo as a MotoGP champion a huge star so you would expect him to get chosen as a motorcyclist personality of a year at the F.I.M. gala. This nomination was decided by the people’s votes in internet. Everybody in the world with internet connection had a chance to vote. And the personality of the year was… Tomasz Gollob from Poland!!! Joonas told me about him and Speedway as a sport in Poland. He says Speedway is one of the most popular sports in Poland and in fact Speedway gets higher average attendances in Poland than any other sport so Tomasz Gollob is a well known personality all around Poland. There has been Polish Speedway World Champion only once before Tomasz back in 1973 so it was a big deal when Tomasz who has been after it for 20 years also himself finally won it! Everybody knows him in this country of 38 million people and everybody with internet must have voted. He is 39 years old and in his 20 years of Speedway he’s been close win the title but also had many injuries and once been hospitalized for almost a year so that kind of determination deserves to get rewarded! Check out a video from Tomasz's racing! Speedway was really the sport of the evening as Darcy Ward the Speedway Junior World Champion got the Rookie of the Year Award! After the gala we moved to the night club where cava was served and it was great to get to know these Speedway champions. Actually Joonas Kylmäkorpi is Long Track champion which is slightly different sport to Speedway. The tracks are longer and the speeds therefore higher and the bikes have a two-speed gearboxes and some tracks are on grass. Here’s a video of Joonas’s racing. It's the first time ever that Finnish rider wins World Title in Long Track! Here's also more photos and story about the gala at the F.I.M site.

If Nikolai from Russia had come a long way from his home to this gala so had Rocky Robinson from USA. He is the F.I.M. speed record holder. He has this rocket-looking bike of his that is capable of a speed of over 400mph! His machine is powered by two turbo charged Hayabusa engines and he tells so far he has run them on regular race fuel and haven’t needed nitro yet. I don’ know how they test these things safety wise? Flat tires or something starting to fall apart in such high speeds sounds terrifying! This summer Rocky set a new speed record of 376.363mp/h = 605km/h. Check out this video of his bullet ride!

Before the gala I had time to visit Lisbon with Marika on Thursday. First we took a train from Estoril to Lisbon, then we took a tram ride through the small hilly streets of old town. It felt like going back in time traveling with this ancient restored tram listening to Fado music from the earphones and looking out the window to this centuries old city. We had a wonderful lunch in beautiful Porta Do Sol district and walked around like tourists do: taking pictures. It was a nice to be in Portugal for something else than racing for a change!

Prize giving ceremonies

It’s December and there are no more races but only few celebrations and prize givings to wrap up 2010. Some time ago I was invited at Erkki Poutanen’s 60 year party. Erkki is the mastermind behind Endurospecial.com website and he’s the one who has followed the overall world championship since F.I.M. quit the official overall championship some years ago. Juha Salminen was the last rider to get the official F.I.M. overall world title back in 2006. So F.I.M. stopped giving the official title but it doesn’t mean nobody is following the overall. It’s like a reality check for winning riders in three different categories to check who really is the fastest. I do it all the time. If I win E2 I want to see how many riders in E1 and E3 were faster than me. Sometimes none and sometimes it’s surprising to see how fast some rider has been on a smaller or bigger bike. Erkki has a looong background as a sport journalist for newspaper Keski-Uusimaa and he understands the need for overall championship and sportive aspect of it. I received the Endurospecial.com overall world champion’s diploma from Erkki, his son Mika and their web master Toni for third time. I have been the best rider over all three classes in the world championship also in 2007 and 2009. Cheers Erkki and happy retirement days from full time journalist’s work!

Returning to Helsinki from Milan after indoor Genova I had to rush to another prize giving. The famous Finnish motorsport media Ruutulippu published an illustrated yearbook wrapping up the Finnish motorsport season and nominating the Finnish motorsport athlete of the 2010. I got honoured for the second time by Ruutulippu which is mostly concentrated in F1 and other four wheel motorsports like rally. I can tell you this is somekind of a big deal to get nominated by these people as a motorcyclist and more specificly enduro rider! I am truly touched by this nomination and the fact they chose me for the second time in a row means a lot to me and enduro as a motorsport in Finland! WRC silver medalist Jari-Matti Latvala got nominated as ”the fighter of the year” and it was quite a coincidence that we were on the same flight to Lisboa, Portugal the day after! Jari-Matti was traveling to south of Portugal with his co-pilot Miikka Anttila to test their new Ford Fiesta WRC while my business in Portugal is to attend to F.I.M. prize giving gala which takes place today in Estoril.

Couple of days ago also our Finnish motorcycle federation SML organised a ”cake&coffee” celebration and press conference to celebrate their champions and medalists at the Finnish sports federations building in Helsinki. Totally there were three world championships won. Mine in Enduro, Joonas Kylmäkorpi in Long Track and Pekka Päivärinta in Sidecar Road Racing. SML made history this year by claiming two new titles in sports they never won before. A world championship title won in Long Track by Joonas Kylmäkorpi who by the way knows hell of a lot more about power sliding than I and a European championship title in Drag Racing Top Fuel class won by Petri Paljakka. In Enduro at international level beside my world title there was Eero Remes’s bronze from E1 and Roni Nikander’s junior European championship title. It was nice to get together with other champions and the cake was good. It was also interesting to talk with the fastest motorcyclist in Finland! Petri the drag race champion lives in a totally different world than me! I mean whereas I put on my chest protector he puts on a bullet proof vest and a gas mask! The vest and the mask are safety features for they operate 1300cc supercharged engines with nitromethane and depending on percentage can produce 1200-1600hp!!! The engine on neutral revs from idle to top rpm in 0,01s (one hundreth of a second) and accelerates from 0 to 160kmh in one second. The pilot is basically laying on his belly above the engine hanging on the handlebars and bracing his foot horizontally on the footpegs with one meter long flames coming from the exhausts. Top speed in 400m is around 230mph/370kmh and he says the braking from that speed is the most complicated thing as the tracks are too short and never really have safety zones. You can imagine the risks involved in this kind of racing. If the engine brakes down from full gas it literally explodes and pieces of the wreckage can reach the velocity beyond an assault rifle’s bullets! Petri told me of a guy who had his arm shot through by a spark plug. In fact the spark plugs are critical piece of special parts and Petri uses something like 400 of them in a season for they can be used for one start only. Bike burns more than 30 liters of fuel in one start and the Makes me think about Mad Max which was one of my favourite movies back in 80’s.