Girls Go Karting

(Val) Yes, the weather is growing cooler and the Cards are one step away from another trip to the World Series but for my pal Spring and I, this weekend means one last chance to hit the road and go racing.

When we first came up with the concept for Girls Gone Racin’ one of our goals was to experience new kinds of racing, and we did that right out of the gate by checking out drag races at Gateway back in May. This weekend will be a different experience entirely as we head to the small town of Hartville, Missouri for the 4th Annual got milk? Outlaw Kart Fall Nationals at the Hartville Saddle Club Speedway.

Hartville is about 35 miles south of Lebanon and the other 51 weekends of the year when the Saddle Club is not being used as a Speedway, it is actually a horse arena. I stopped there on my way back from Springfield last month just to check out the place, and it was hard to picture cars racing there, but the more I hear about it, the more excited I am to see how this place transforms into an actual speedway. To say the least, I am intrigued.

I had never heard of the got milk? Fall Nationals before we met up with Dustin Arnall down at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri back in September. We were there doing some work for Weld Racing and Dustin told us about the event and invited us to come down to take some pictures. In the three years the Nationals have been in existence, they have never had a professional photographer in to shoot the races, so Spring will be the first.

So far, the weather looks good for Friday and our plan is to head out bright and early in the morning so we have time to set up shop when we get there. We will be printing some photos on site, which has proved to be a bit of a challenge to set up, but I think we finally have it figured out. Spring has done little league team pictures for years, and we thought it might also work well to offer this kind of service to race car drivers. Who wouldn’t want a nice shot of them with their car? We have no idea the kind of response we will get, but we figure it’s worth a shot and we really have nothing to lose, so why not?

Anyway, we’ll be out and about one last time for 2006, watching Outlaw Karts, meeting new people and just doing what we love to do. As for me, I’m just excited to see how this place transforms from a horse arena into a racing venue! There are drivers coming from as far away as California, and some full-sized Sprint Car guys will be in attendance too, so that ought to really liven things up.

However things turn out, I know we will have a good time. It’s been a while since Spring and I have hung out together, and we’ve both had a busy couple of weeks. It will be nice to get away for a while and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Check back here on Saturday (or sooner if the hotel has wireless) and we will share all the details of this latest adventure.

Hartville or bust!