It's been a great couple months since my last blog, and since then I've had six kart races and won four of them. The biggest race was the SuperKartsUSA SpringNats in Tucson, Ariz. It was cool because there were a lot of IndyCar people at the race. Martin Plowman was there racing, along with Arie Luyendyk Jr. Arie Sr. was there too, watching, and so were Buddy Rice and Buddy Lazier. I actually raced against Buddy Lazier's son Flynn, and it felt like a mini-IndyCar race with everyone in the paddock.
The track was super-fast. I actually felt a little sick at the end of the first day from the g-forces, but I loved it. The faster the better for me.
The weekend went almost perfectly. It was a double race weekend, so one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday I won both heat races and the main; Sunday I qualified on the pole and won both heats and the main again!
My next race was a ProKart South race at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Calif. This was on the "Streets of Willow" track, which is really big for karts; they normally race cars on it. It was the longest straight I've ever been on. Me, dad and our mechanic Troy McCall made special bodywork and a bellypan because the track was so fast, and it really helped because I won the race by 18 seconds in the main. My dad and Troy even made wheel covers like the F1 cars, but they wouldn't let us race with them, so we just used them in practice. They looked so cool!
Then, I went to the Indy 500 with my mom to watch Dad's driver Dan Wheldon race. This was the first year I was allowed in the garages, so I got to hang out a lot around Dan and the team and the car. I really liked watching everyone getting the car ready for the race. I also got to watch the Monaco F1 race from the garage on race morning.
Dan qualified sixth, which I thought was really good…but the race was even better! I watched the race from our team's suite and Dan was doing really well. I thought he would probably finish in the top five. On the last lap, it looked like JR Hildebrand was going to win. Even when JR crashed in Turn Four, I thought he was going to make it to the finish – with two wheels on his car! But when Dan passed him for the win, everyone in our suite went crazy, screaming and jumping around. My mom and I and Steve Newey's family went running out of the suite for the elevator. We actually made it to victory lane before my dad. We ran the whole way and were all out of breath, but I felt so happy I didn't care. My dad handed me the milk bottle after he and Dan drank out of it; there was only a little milk left but I drank it all! It was the best milk I ever tasted.
I was supposed to go home the next morning because I had school, but my parents decided to let me stay to go to the awards banquet with them. We had a big party Sunday night with all the team guys and sponsors. Everyone was really happy, it was fun to be there. But I was a little mad when my mom and dad made me go back to the hotel with my grandpa Tom so they could stay out really late.
The next morning I went to the track to take pictures with the car and the Borg-Warner Trophy. My dad let me be in the team photo. He gave me a shirt to wear in it so I looked like one of the crew guys. (In the picture, I'm standing by the rear wing). Then we went to the mall to buy a coat and tie for me to wear to the banquet. Every time one of the drivers gave their speech, they would congratulate my dad's team and then the camera would show him on TV. I was actually sitting next to him the whole time but I would dive out of the way every time they pointed the camera at him! I did go up on the stage, though, with the whole team for their speeches. I loved when Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti drenched my dad with a huge bucket of water. I was talking to TK on stage trying to get him to get Dan with a pie and I offered to help, but I guess they couldn't find a pie.
The very next week I had an IKF Regional Race at Willow Springs. We kinda struggled with the kart because the track was really hot and our setup was not working. My dad said he was still trying to catch up after winning Indy and didn't do a good enough job on the setup, but I think we just missed it. In the end I finished fourth and sixth in my two races.
A couple weeks after that we made it back into the winner's circle at the ProKart South race in San Diego. It was a really short temporary track in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium. I usually like temp tracks because they are different and nobody gets to practice before the race weekend, but this one was pretty short and tight so it wasn't my favorite because it only had a few turns and was bumpy.
It's summer vacation from school now, so I have more time to go practice during the week. I am going to start testing to get ready for the IKF Grand Nationals, which is at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., this year. I won two National Championships last year in IKF, so I want to try to beat that if I can. I'm going to race in five different classes so I will have lots of chances. Then I am also racing in Grand Junction, Colo., at the SKUSA SummerNats, so lots of big races coming up soon.
I am really happy to win four of my last six races. My dad, my crew chief Troy, my sponsors William Rast, Gatorz, Sparco, Bridgestone, Pitts Performance and Bell all helped me a lot for these victories and I really want to thank them for helping me throughout the year.
I look forward to talking to you again soon.
Colton