Edition 10, August 29th - 2007

Berge Racing Takes on the Milwaukee Mile

One of the highlights of the racing year for Hankscraft Inc. is our annual customer appreciation get together in the Governors Cup weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. With our success in fast time and winning this same race last year, we approached this year with much anticipation that we had a legitimate chance of repeating our success.

We filled our hospitality room with over 50 energized fans. Good food, drink, door prizes and we were ready to introduce the team. The Berge race team arrived on time, with the good news that they had set fast time at 32.048. The guests were happy to meet the team, ask questions, get pictures taken, and receive autographs. Life was good, but I remember thinking, maybe it would be nice to finish higher and not start in the middle of the pack due to our qualifying position. Of course I did not know then that my thoughts were going to come home to roost.

We started 18 th in the race. The car looked good with new paint, and our hopes were high. After the green flag flew, we held our own for a while, with James trying to pick his way through the field, but from the onset, it was obvious to some of us that the car was not handling well through the corners. We could gain positions down the straights, but lost most of our efforts in the corners. We did move up to tenth briefly but we were not going to be a challenge for the lead. Mark looked over at me and shouted, “Way too tight”; and that was very evident.

We continued to try to keep up with the lead pack, but during a caution period we ran over a drive shaft from a wrecked car, and now the steering geometry was messed up. The pit crew met to decide what to do. They could park the car and not lose any points, but they decided to race for the fans that were there, so the car was called in to check that nothing was rubbing on the front tires, as they did not want to risk a tire detonating at 120mph. It was the right decision to check the e quipment, but it meant we would start in the back, which was not good.

We were now with some fast cars that had to go to the back and some e quipment that was bruised up like ours was. Lap 36 saw the Danny Powell and Kyle Shear incident that relegated Powell to the back with the spun out Shear car. Lap 37 was when our day came to an end as we, along with four other cars, got caught up in the Schultz engine failure in turn one, and ended up against the wall with a bent rear stub. We finished 20th.

More late night hours working on the car, and as of this writing, the frame has been corrected, and the other components are being installed. We look forward with some apprehension to the Francis Creek race. As I said, to Adam and Don, with all that has happened we have to get some better luck soon, so why not start at 141 Speedway?

One more time, thanks to all other racers who offered help and equipment, as this is what makes the series great. We will not give up, we are in the points hunt, and we have the people to make this happen. Congratulations to Bobby Gutknecht on a well deserved win, and good luck to everyone for the rest of the racing season.

Racing to the Checkers

Jim