Post by Slow Steve on Sept 13, 2008 21:36:11 GMT -6
On behalf of everyone who races at PWDR I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to Warren, Mrs. Warren (I apologize for not remembering your name), Wally and other brother guy (yes, lack of memory is a chronic problem for me!) and the rest of the Kalsow family for all of your hard work and patience for providing a venue for all of us to race our cars. Your efforts are VERY MUCH appreciated!
I would doubt that most of the PWDR racers have any idea of how much work goes into putting on the monthly race; I certainly had no concept of how much time and effort is involved. I know Warren was working on track components for several hours until late last night... I arrived at the church by 11:10 a.m. or so and virtually all of the gear (and there is a LOT of gear!) was already unloaded from the truck and positioned throughout the room. A dozen? or so 80+ pound tables had already been carried/moved into position and the track sections were set in place atop the tables. The car inspection/check-in area was set up as was the photography area. I would have to imagine Warren and company had arrived by 9:30 a.m.
I'm not sure of exactly what time the races started, but all five of us (not including Max) were working feverishly from the moment I arrived until the race started (3:00?) to get everything prepped for the race... setting up the track, unpacking, checking-in and inspecting cars, setting up the two laptops, troubleshooting the wireless internet signal (the church had put a new password on their WIFI network unbeknownst to Warren), troubleshooting the audio, setting up the video cam and capture device... the list goes on and on. We all know how much time it takes to pack up our cars for sending them... imagine unpacking all those cars (and no two people pack their cars the same, so every package is somewhat of a puzzle) and then when the race is over packing everything back up for shipment back to you (and again, trying to master everyone's unique packing methodologies)... there is really a LOT of stuff that has to be done. And the track setup has it's own challenges... making sure it's level from side to side... aligning for straightness with laser levels... making sure it's flat from end-to-end (no humps or dips) when setting up on a carpeted cement floor of questionable levelness. Track set up is truly and art and Warren seems to have a very good handle on how to do this well and does a great job especially given that he doesn't have a "full time" venue at which he can keep the track set up permanently (if anyone out there in the Minneapolis area has a location that could permanently house a track/races, please let Warren know as I'm sure he would be most appreciative!).
The racing is the easy part of the day... once that finished up, everything had to be taken apart, packed up, put away, cars re-packaged to ship back... I left around 7:45 p.m. and Warren and his family were still packing up the truck for their ride home. And once home they once again get to unpack everything...
I'd conservatively say there were a good 70+ man (and woman!) hours dedicated to making todays race happen, and that's before all of the video editing (which has to take hours), trips to the post office/UPS, etc.
The bottom line is that anybody who runs Proxy races doesn't do it for the money (plus Warren has literally thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars invested in race stuff), and putting on the races really is a lot of hard work.
So THANK YOU again on behalf of everyone for giving us a great place to race our cars and enjoy our hobby!!! It's a lot more fun racing against all these great builders than racing myself in my basement! (even if ProQuest still kicks my butt each month by ever increasing margins!) ;D
Steve B.
I would doubt that most of the PWDR racers have any idea of how much work goes into putting on the monthly race; I certainly had no concept of how much time and effort is involved. I know Warren was working on track components for several hours until late last night... I arrived at the church by 11:10 a.m. or so and virtually all of the gear (and there is a LOT of gear!) was already unloaded from the truck and positioned throughout the room. A dozen? or so 80+ pound tables had already been carried/moved into position and the track sections were set in place atop the tables. The car inspection/check-in area was set up as was the photography area. I would have to imagine Warren and company had arrived by 9:30 a.m.
I'm not sure of exactly what time the races started, but all five of us (not including Max) were working feverishly from the moment I arrived until the race started (3:00?) to get everything prepped for the race... setting up the track, unpacking, checking-in and inspecting cars, setting up the two laptops, troubleshooting the wireless internet signal (the church had put a new password on their WIFI network unbeknownst to Warren), troubleshooting the audio, setting up the video cam and capture device... the list goes on and on. We all know how much time it takes to pack up our cars for sending them... imagine unpacking all those cars (and no two people pack their cars the same, so every package is somewhat of a puzzle) and then when the race is over packing everything back up for shipment back to you (and again, trying to master everyone's unique packing methodologies)... there is really a LOT of stuff that has to be done. And the track setup has it's own challenges... making sure it's level from side to side... aligning for straightness with laser levels... making sure it's flat from end-to-end (no humps or dips) when setting up on a carpeted cement floor of questionable levelness. Track set up is truly and art and Warren seems to have a very good handle on how to do this well and does a great job especially given that he doesn't have a "full time" venue at which he can keep the track set up permanently (if anyone out there in the Minneapolis area has a location that could permanently house a track/races, please let Warren know as I'm sure he would be most appreciative!).
The racing is the easy part of the day... once that finished up, everything had to be taken apart, packed up, put away, cars re-packaged to ship back... I left around 7:45 p.m. and Warren and his family were still packing up the truck for their ride home. And once home they once again get to unpack everything...
I'd conservatively say there were a good 70+ man (and woman!) hours dedicated to making todays race happen, and that's before all of the video editing (which has to take hours), trips to the post office/UPS, etc.
The bottom line is that anybody who runs Proxy races doesn't do it for the money (plus Warren has literally thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars invested in race stuff), and putting on the races really is a lot of hard work.
So THANK YOU again on behalf of everyone for giving us a great place to race our cars and enjoy our hobby!!! It's a lot more fun racing against all these great builders than racing myself in my basement! (even if ProQuest still kicks my butt each month by ever increasing margins!) ;D
Steve B.