Oh man, what a day!

Avatar for dmm11730
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-06-2003
Oh man, what a day!
4
Sun, 05-30-2004 - 11:08pm
Its was some day for us. Bittersweet might sum it up. Lets say poor Rob had a horrible day. We arrived at the track at 8:30 this morning, set everything up. The kids cleaned their cars, we took them up to get teched in. At 10 we fired (started up) the cars. Both sounded great. Rob's is C class and Katie is B class. Rob was called up first. We start his car, Bill gets him into the staging lanes, and no power, the idle is low. They shut the car down, and push it back. He broke the motor thay put on last night. Blew a rod through the block. The kid was just distraught. He threw his gloves, he was crying, and he just walked, and walked, and walked. He quit!

Next comes Katie, she does her time shot and goes over 65 MPH. Great run.........happy as a clam but sad about her brother. Now she is crying she does not want Rob to quit because this is a family sport and if her big brother won't do it, neither will she. You can only imagine the tears going on in our trailer. I am very emotional.........!

Several of the "gus" we are friendly with rally around and talk Bill and Rob into not giving up and one of them offers us his extra motor to run for the day. They scramble to try and get the motor on but it was just too much work in such a short amount of time. But you should have seen these 5 dads all working together. And the kids all telling Rob its going to be alright. Plus both my folks and Bill's folks were there lending their support.

Well they took Robbie's car apart and gave the now broken motor to the guy to fix it. Bill see's the guy we bought the other motor from, which was the one we bought for Rob for Christmas and has been giving them nothing but trouble since they put it on the car 3 weeks ago. The guys starts with.......well maybe we can try this, or maybe its that. Bill said to the guy, listen Robbie wants to quit, we need to make this right. So the guys said to Bill you want another new motor and Bill said.....yes! So Bill and Rob will be driving back to NJ on Tuesday to switch motors.

Switch back to Katie, now she gets her second time run in and goes faster yet. We start the eliminations and Katie makes it to the semi finals. Unreal......you should have seen my boys. They were cheering their sister on, working on her car together, they would pick her up with the golf cart at the end of the track. Each time she went up to the starting line, there they are with me, sitting there holding my hand and keeping our fingers crossed. They were so excited for her, especially Robbie. He is such a sweetheart.

Billy, and Robbie followed Bill, Katie, and I home tonight and we all went out to dinner. It really made me proud to see my babies all together and working together. Now keeping our fingers crossed, we will get this new motor for Rob, get his car back together and next week head back to NJ for both Saturday and Sunday.

Now mind you if you followed any of my rambling and made it this far, thanks. I am sure I will keep you all posted as my week unfolds in the racing department. Now its time to let my dog in, and get myself to bed. The 3 kids have showered and are all in bed. Bill is in the shower now and I just got out. It was a long emotional day for the Madden Clan!

Debbie

Debbie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 05-30-2004 - 11:36pm

Deb, so sorry to hear what a heartbreaking day Robbie had, but very heartwarming to hear how many people pulled together to try to help him out. I'm so glad he'll be able to get the new motor this week. That should pump him up by giving him something to look forward to. Congratulations to Katie for doing so well! I was also happy to hear how her brothers all pulled for her. Know that had to mean a lot to her and to you and Bill.


Keep us posted!


Hugs,

Rhonda


Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time disapproving of others.

       ~~Rhonda~~


<

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-03-2001
Mon, 05-31-2004 - 6:01am
So sorry for Robbie.This post made me tear up!!What a beautiful post about family and friends pulling together.Congratulations to Katie and better luck to Robbie.

Miss P




 

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2000
Mon, 05-31-2004 - 9:51am

Sorry to hear about Rob's mechanical misfortunes at the races this weekend, but how wonderful that everyone rallied to encourage him and try to do something positive.


WTG Katie!












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Registered: 02-27-2001
Mon, 05-31-2004 - 10:33am
I'm so sorry to hear what a bad day Robbie had...but it was very heartwarming to hear how he pulled for his sister despite his disappointment.
Nancy

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