Progress

Notice that the shoplights are up - two flourescent strips with an incandescent globe between them should give me good combination lighting. The color is pretty good. Also, the pegboard is up, with the outlets positioned properly this time (that was a good two hour setback). Most importantly, the workbench is built. It turned out great - sturdier than I expected even without being bolted to the wall - although I may decide to drop the height just a little.

Mandinavia before the Great Reformation

Here is the garage with the gravel floor, mostly cleared out, but still plenty of debris. The place was a warzone, really. It took half a day to clear it out, and most of the boxes and totes are still in my mudroom, being organized for the migration back.

Mandinavia - a small country in Tiffin Ohio. (Population: 1; Primary Exports: sawdust, empty Fresca cans.)

I'm making the necessary preparations for the 2006 Daytona 500 - just 17 more days.
I had the new cement floor poured in the garage, installed shop lights and electric outlets (SIX on one wall!) and the pegboard went up earlier this week. But when I went to put the covers on I realized I need to move the boxes out about 1/4" to get a good fit for the faceplate. I cut out my workbench and will begin assembling it this weekend if I can make time. I picked up the bigger size Mr. Heater at TSC, and it works great. I connected it to my grill tank, which I placed outside and connected to the heater with a hose through the wall. On a cold night it warms the garage up nicely at medium setting. High is too hot - after about 3 hours, I had to turn it down from Med to Lo.

I decided to make the bench 8 feet long and 33" deep. I think it will be 40" tall. Also, I will have a sitting bench that will be shorter and only 5' feet long, but also 33" deep. After that I plan to add an assembly table. I'm still waffling on a finish. I don't care for the plastic-ness of polyurethane, and I'm thinking of Danish Oil or something like that. . . any ideas?

Once the workbench is up, then I'll have a place for the coffee maker and the TV so I can watch the race in the garage. . .

Here we go again.

Here are my picks for today's Checker's 500. I predict Tony will win, but I couldn't afford him and still keep some of the others who are likely to be top finishers. So I am playing for points - maybe this strategy will pan out.

Jimmie Johnson, #48 24.4
Kurt Busch, #97 23.3
Jeff Gordon, #24 20.4
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #8 18.9
Robby Gordon, #7 11.4

Total Rating 98.4
Available Rating 100.0

Difference 1.6

53 Laps on One Tank of Gas - Mayfield Wins Smart

Jeremy Mayfield's crew chief (Slugger) should be real proud of himself - he strategized a good car and good driver past better cars and better drivers, right into victory lane. . .

I don't know what happened to Michael Waltrip - but it must have been a fuel deal because he was in the top 5 in the 195th lap. . .
Here's my numbers this week.

Tony Stewart 155
Jimmie Johnson 134
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 119
Jeff Gordon 118
Michael Waltrip 82
Total 608

Tony Stewart is on a tear!

In the 29 days since my last blog entry, Tony Stewart kissed the bricks in Indianapolis, making a childhood dream come true, and dominated the Watkins Glen road course this past Sunday from beginning to end.

I hear Tony and some others will be at Eldora on Wednesday night, but I won't know if I can get there until late tomorrow. Maybe at the last minute I will head out - if anybody is interested in a last minute road trip from Tiffin, drop me a line.

Tony Stewart Climbs the Fence

Tony Stewart 190
Jimmie Johnson 124
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 138
Jeff Gordon 88
Sterling Marlin 61
Total 601

Tony stayed out front the whole time. Jeff Gordon ran strong until the end - even his crew chief thought he was going to get a top ten finish after his brakes went out. Junior was tired and sore when it ended from driving a brand new car. Jimmie Johnson slipped back at the end, and Sterling Martin hung in there.

This week's picks.

The roadrunner problem was weirder than I thought. Lightning traveled up the cable and blew the cable modem, the wireless router, and the 10/100 PCI card in my desktop. Fortunately it stopped there and the desktop still lives. Diagnosis was more difficult because I kept getting a wireless signal to my laptop which made me think I had fixed it when I was actually picking up my neighbor's wi-fi.

I can't blame roadrunner for the lightning . . .

So here are my picks:

Jimmie Johnson, #48 22.8
Tony Stewart, #20 21.9
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., #8 20.3
Jeff Gordon, #24 19.8
Sterling Marlin, #40 14.6

Total 99.4

Death by Roadrunner

On Friday I decided to put Junior back in the lineup and ditch Boris Said, along with some other changes I can't recall. After a week of problems with my Roadrunner connection, I realized today before the race that my changes never got in.

Needless to say, my numbers this week stink. But I was glad to see Junior in victory lane.

Picks for Daytona - Dark Horse Boris Said

Jimmie Johnson, #48 22.8
Tony Stewart, #20 21.9
Jeff Gordon, #24 20.2
Michael Waltrip, #15 19.9
Boris Said, #136 13.6

Total 98.4

I was about to dump Boris Said until I noticed he's running after all- and he qualified 4th! So I kept him in.

I wanted a DEI driver in, but as much as I love to root for Junior, I just couldn't bring myself to put him in, so I picked up Mike. I may regret dumping Mark Martin; he will surely run hard to get one win at Daytona.

Racing under the lights. . . .

Dream Team Dismantled in Sonoma.

Lots of bad tidings from Sonoma. So much for the dream team.

Jimmie Johnson 55
Tony Stewart 190
Jeff Gordon 69
Mark Martin 118
Boris Said 112

Total 544 - Ouch!

Next week: Daytona for the Pepsi 400 - Night racing.

Two in a Row for Paul Weaver.

Victory Lane this week at Attica was a great place to be. Paul Weaver was there last week and this week in the Coors Light 305 Sprints, also winning the Area Business Challenge. Way to go Paul.  

Road Course Dream Team

I made some changes in the lineup for the road course, and pulled in Tony Stewart and Boris Said to replace Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip. Boris was so cheap that it gave me some spare change to get Tony into my roster even though he was high priced.

Jimmie Johnson, #48 23.2
Tony Stewart, #20 21.9
Jeff Gordon, #24 20.8
Mark Martin, #6 19.9
Boris Said, #136 12.8

Picks Rocked Pocono 500

Without making any changes to my Dover lineup, my picks rocked last week at Pocono Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson 150
Jeff Gordon 138
Mark Martin 146
Michael Waltrip 160
Kyle Busch 160

Total 754

(Best overall score last week at ESPN.com was 818, so I was in the 92nd percentile . . )

I didn't pick the top 3, but I did get 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th. With all the tire problems last week, I'm not complaining.

I'm keeping the same lineup this week for the Batman Begins 400 at MIS, even though I'd like to add Kasey Kahne or Dale Jarrett. . . I don't want to give away any of the guys I have.

Biffle Wins Dover.

I picked the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places, but Gordon hit the wall early and was out of the race, placing 39th. Michael Waltrip ran a respectable race, but never led a lap, which would have earned him (and me) some much needed bonus points.

4th Johnson 165 Point Leader
39th Gordon 46 11th
3rd Martin 165 6th
13th Waltrip 124 17th
2nd Kyle Busch 175 19th

Total 675

Dover Picks

Here are my picks for Dover:

Jimmie Johnson locked in at 23.2
Jeff Gordon 22.4
Mark Martin 19.9
Michael Waltrip 18
Kyle Busch 16.0

Chillin' With the Bug

 

Herbie on Tour

We met Herbie in Perrsyburg last Monday. Ethan had a good time, even though it was pouring rain.  

Sunday at Mid-Ohio

We spent the day watching THREE great races. First off was the American LeMans Series Race, which was televised by Speed TV, so we could watch the coverage on the big screen nearby, listen to it on 89.5 and watch the cars tear by us on the hairpin turn. Next up was the Porsche GT race and finally the Cooper Tire Mazda Open wheel cars. We had a spot of rain in the middle, but not too bad. All three races were fun to watch and the rain made things interesting, but not too dangerous. I posted some photos below of our day at the track. I left my camera in the car during the LeMans race though, so I have no photos of that one. The Sony Playstation truck was on the scene, so we chilled out during the worst of the downpour by chilling with Crash Bandicoot and testing out the new PSP handheld.

Cooper Tire Open Wheel Racing

Open wheel racing at the hairpin turn.