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Getting Ready for 2007
By the end of the 2006 racing season, both of the R & R Racing/Shew Towing/Blue Knights Monte Carlos were in need of body work. The factory stock still had much of the same body on it as when I got it toward the end of the 2002 season.

In the middle of the 2006 season, it was announced that 2006 would be the last year for the factory stock class at the Beatrice Speedway. However, some of the drivers rounded up sponsors for the class and convinced the Fair Board to keep the factory stock class. In the meantime, the IMCA Stock Car class was dropped due to low car counts.

After looking for a parts car to re-skin the factory stock with, all I could come up with for a reasonable price was a '79 Malibu that my cousin had in Crete. It was collecting dust in his back yard and he made me a great deal on it!

When the season was over, we took the Malibu to the Shew Towing shop where Jeff and another racer, Greg Crannell, stripped the car and cut the body off. We then loaded the body on Jeff's rollback and brought it back to my shop.

Not having ever taken on anything like this, and not being a body man by any means, I was now faced with the monumental task of taking the old body off the factory stock and figuring out how to put the new body on.

A lot more trimming and I thought the body was ready to go on. One Sunday afternoon, I was able to get Jeremy and Tyler both over as well as Tom Vanover, who has re-shinned a lot of cars over the years. By the time the dust settled, the Malibu body was pretty much on.

The, hood, doors and fenders slowly went on, and I was hoping to get the car painted before we left for the NASCAR weekend in Las Vegas. However, things didn't quite work out. I finally had the car sanded down and ready to paint on March 30th.

Ready to be painted, March 30, 2007
I had enough blue paint left from last year to do the car in the same color. However, one of the guys on my shift, Wes Henning, drives the department's car 6, which is painted in the traditional black and white. We ended up making a deal that if he paid for the paint, I'd have the car painted black and white. Wes talked the rest of the shift into going in with him on the paint.

The black part is done, March 31, 2007
Painting the car in two colors meant doing it on two different days. The weather turned cold and the paint would not dry quite as fast as it would have had it been warm. Jeff's partner at Homestead Auto in Beatrice, Andy Hubka, painted the car. The black part - the hood, front fenders, rear quarterpanels and deck lid, was painted on March 31st.

The hood has been lettered, April 4, 2007
We were pushing to have the car ready for the WFR Car Show and Test & Tune on Saturday, April 7th. However, Mother Nature had other ideas. Due to cold, wet weather, these activities were postponed until April 14th, which was to be the season opener for Beatice Speedway.

The white part is done, April 5, 2007

The lettering is all done, April 10, 2007

The "red lights" were also added April 10, 2007
Due to a continued forecast of rain, snow and cold weather, the season oppener for Beatrice Speedway has now been scheduled for April 28, 2007. That will give me the time to get some other things taken care of on the car that I'd have had to rush on if we'd have opened the season on April 14th.

Pic taken on April 15, 2007 - Jan said something about "TOYS"
We were able to get in a practice session on Wednesday evening, April 18th. The track was in pretty good shape and when we got to speed, the car handled fine. I moved my line around a bit, and didn't get to a point where I felt uncomfortable. However, halfway through the 2nd set of hot laps, my oil warning light came on. The oil pressure gage showed nothing so I shut it down and coasted in. We winched it on the trailer and headed for the shop. The next day was spent trying to find the problem, and hopefully it's been fixed. I had it running in the shop several times for 10-15 minutes at a time and everything looked good. I'll do the same over the next few days to be sure the problem has been taken care of.

Due to me going back to a regular shift on uniformed patrol, I will now be working every other Saturday. I will be splitting seat time with Tyler this season (unless he shows me up too bad - then he'll be driving all the time.) Here is the schedule for us as it stands right now:

April 28th - Car show at the Fairgrounds 1PM - 3 PM; First Night of Racing; Hot laps at 5, racing at 6
May 12th - My night off - I'll be driving
May 28th (Memorial Day) - I took the night off to race - We are scheduled to run as a support class for a Super Late Model special

June 2nd - My night to work; Tyler will be driving
June 9th - Blue Knights MidWest Regional Conference in Grand Island - Tyler will be driving (Starting on June 9th, hot laps at 6 PM and races at 7 PM)
June 16th - My night to work; Tyler will be driving
June 30th - My night to work; Tyler will be driving

July 7th - My night off
July 14th - My Night to work; Tyler will be driving
July 22nd (Gage County Fair - Sunday) My night off
July 28th - My night to work; Tyler will be driving

August 4th - My night off
August 8th - Wednesday - United States Modified Touring Series - We may be support class for them but nothing definite yet. If we are, it should be my night off so I'd be racing.
August 18th - My night off
August 25th - My night to work; Tyler will be driving

September 1st - My night off - Season Championship
Sept 14-15th (Friday-Saturday) Fall Nationals - My weekend off

Front Page

Opening Night 2007
Results from May 12, 2007
Results from May 28, 2007
Results from June 2, 2007
Results from June 9, 2007
Results from June 16, 2007
Results from June 30, 2007
Results from July 7, 2007
Results from July 14, 2007
Results from July 22, 2007 (Gage County Fair)
Results from July 28, 2007
Results from August 4, 2007

Email: blueknightne1@charter.net