Here’s last week’s race report in total. This week (the week of Aug 10) has been a challenge, we’ll go into that next week.
Last week was a blur for the EBR team. Four races in eight days sounds fun and it is. It’s also a challenge and a lot of work. Fortunately, Eric kept the car in good shape, so the week wasn’t as hectic it was in years past. The end result were finishes of 11th, 2nd, 1st and 7th. The important thing is the 6E was rolled onto the Dog Guard of Wisconsin trailer every night.
A Precarious Start
The first race, Saturday, Aug. 1 at Beaver Dam Raceway, garnered an 11th place finish. Eric started 10th, got up to about 6th, but faded in the waning laps. The real story was the banter that occurred Monday evening at the famed Maynard Drive Facility.
We alluded to the following, in our initial report on this race. What was said first was missed by the writer, but what was heard went something like this re Saturday’s 11th place performance:
“So you’re saying the car sucks?” Justin asked.
“So you’re saying I suck?” Eric came back with.
“So you’re saying the car sucks,” Justin now made it a statement.
“So you’re saying I suck,” Eric stated back.
Greg pretended not to notice the exchange and was doing some busy work around the engine. The refrain went back and forth a couple of more times until the pair separated, each to a different corner of the garage, to sulk. After about a half-hour they were back on speaking terms. Fortunately, conversations like this don’t happen often at EBR. It’s one of those moments 30 years from now when we’re at the BDR Old Timer’s Reunion, we’ll be able to laugh about.
A Better Second Night
The next night, we got our act together and Eric charged to a runner up run from his 9th starting spot. It was a great run and a bit of a relief. Jared Eckes led every lap from the pole. Eric was within a bumper of the leader, but couldn’t find a way around him at the checkers.
The Win
We covered the win at Chilton. It was awesome on so many levels. Please read that race report if you haven’t.
A Slight Step Backward To Finish The Run
Our latest race and the last in the four race streak was again at BDR. Eric started 10th and finished 7th. He was up to 4th or so, at one point. There were very few cautions. Jordan Miklas won from the pole. Postscript to this paragraph... This Tuesday we found some issues with the car.
PERSPECTIVE
Out of the 11 races Eric has run this year, there have been eight different feature winners. The average car count is around 30. This shows you how tough this class is.
The Points
As of Aug. 12, without considering “drops,” Eric stands:
1st in the Wisconsin Legends Dirt Racing Series points.
3rd in Beaver Dam Raceway standings.
And (for entertainment purposes only) 10th out of over 120 scored, in the INEX world rankings for the Semi-Pro Dirt class.
Thanks To Our Hometown Newspaper And Others
A special thanks goes out to the “Sun Prairie Star,” our hometown newspaper for giving Eric some ink after his first win earlier in the season and for the publishing of a story on his latest win. Any hack can pound out a story on the internet. It actually costs a paper money to put that hack’s words into print.
“The Star,” has been willing to run stories on Eric since his karting days. Please consider picking up a copy or better yet, subscribing. The last time they ran a story on Eric, we had about ten people reach out to us one way or another to congratulate Eric and the team, base on the story they read in the paper. Print media is important!
Thanks to the crew at Diane Mech Photography for supplying us photos for current article in the paper.
Thanks to Walter and Cheryl Lehnhoff and Bob and Bill Kastorff for paying us a visit in the pits.
Thanks to the Piepenburg family for stopping down twice, once at BDR and at their home track of Chilton.
A special thanks to Bob Ropke from Northern Air Systems for spending a day with us at the track and for sponsoring Eric!
Thanks to the tracks we are racing at and the fans who pay to watch us!
Please Support Those Who Put Eric On The Track
These are the businesses and folks who are helping to keep Eric on the track through their generous support in 2020: Dog Guard of Wisconsin; BRS Radiator, Machine & Fabrication; Northern Air Systems, Inc.; Phil Espenes; Storage & Handling Systems; Club LaMark; Bullseye Games; Ground Up Lifts; Sieg Law Office; OWL Graphics and Lettering; Grandpa Blumer, Bulltown Legends and Casey Bollig Photography.
Here are the people who go hands on the 6E to get it in top shape every week: Justin Hoium, Greg Leatherbeary, Big Dumb Guy, Joe Wipperfurth, Bill Tefft, Brian Benisch, Cody Weisensel and Stephanie Blumer.
A salute to our troops: Owen Leatherberry (U.S. Navy), Andrew Upperman (U.S. Marine Corps.)
Thanks to you all for your part in Eric Blumer Racing!
Up Next
This Saturday, we’ll be at our home away from home as the Dog Guard trailer will once again roll into Beaver Dam Raceway. Please check their site for full details: www.wismotorsports.net