***NEWS***
Posted 8-15-08
Greetings race fans. The various racing seasons have been underway for quite some time since my last post. I'll be addressing a few different areas as I go, so strap in I'll do my best to keep it off the literary wall.
First off, Congratulations to Ken Hering on his first ever feature win. Ken is a former Legends car driver from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is currently racing with the Northern Vintage Racers, driving a 1966, #13 Smokey Yunick replica, Chevelle. Ken and his wife Sue are two of the nicest people in racing, or anywhere for that matter, that you will meet. Great job Ken, and keep going fast and turning left. We hope to see you at Cedar Lake Speedway in September. If you would like to learn more about the Northern Vintage Racers, go to www.northernvintageracers.com
Second up is Dillon Boggess. Dillon is the driver of our former Legends car. His number is 96 and although we've missed seeing him each time we've been to Elko Speedway, I've kept track of his progress on the Elko website and also on www.mylaps.com . From what I've seen, Dillon has been getting plenty of seat time and making steady improvement. He has already notched 2 top 10 finishes as his lap times keep getting faster and with a couple of minor exceptions, has kept the car out of harms way. Way to go Dillon.
In the 3rd starting spot will be Skjerven Racing's West Coast Connection, Wilson Skjerven. Willie, pictured above, has been very busy over the summer with his local club racing, driving in the IKF series and attending the IKF Grand Nationals.
At the club level, Willie is keeping his #15 kart in 2nd place in points. In late June he recorded his first ever heat race win. Willie started the feature race from the pole position and did well, only to finish 2nd to the points leader. It is still valuable experience to start up front and do your best.
In the IKF series, of the 21 drivers on the points listing, Willie is holding down the 5th spot.
The IKF, International Kart Federation, Grand Nationals were held in Santa Maria, CA. from July 30th -August 3rd. Santa Maria is about 5 hours south of Willie's home in San Jose. There were kart teams from Europe, South America, Canada and the East Coast of the U.S. The first day of practice started well with Willie running lap times that were only .5 seconds off of the pole times of a Santa Maria track regular. The following day was a struggle to get within 3 seconds of the previous days fast time. With some adjustments made, the first practice session of race day went pretty well. At the start of the second session, trouble struck in the form of a cracked carburetor body. Willie's dad Paul was concerned that the spare carbs they had wouldn't be good enough for remaining as competitve as they wanted to be. In typical fashion, a fellow racer lent the Skjerven Racing team a very good carb to use. Starting the qualifying session in the back because he didn't complete a full lap in the previous practice, Willie still managed a very respectable 8th place position by turning in his fastest times of all 3 days. A 9th place finish in the Pre-Main, set his 5th row inside starting position for the Feature race. Willie slipped one spot at the start of the Main but held that throughout the rest of the race to finish 10th. That's a good finish and a job well done for his first ever national event. Way to go Willie.
www.norcalkarters.com www.kinsmenkartclub.net
Please visit our photo page to see various pictures of Willie, his family and friends at the track.
The 48th annual Knoxville Nationals, sprint car racing's Super Bowl, was won again this year by my favorite driver,North Dakota native, Donny Schatz. My daughter Allie and her boyfriend Geoff made the drive to Knoxville, Iowa for the 4 day event. They were able to spend time with my sister Laurel and her husband Scott. The three Nationals veterans made sure Geoff had a great time. I don't know if we'll be there next year or wait one more year for the Nationals 50th anniversary. Time will tell.
www.donnyschatzmotorsports.com
Lastly, a little info on the Blackout project I'm still putting money aside so that when things are in place I can get a bunch of stuff done. The basic concept is pretty much in place, but more research needs to be done to see exactly how far I can take it. I'll post a few pics on our photo page and leave the rest to your imagination.
Hope everyone is having a great summer and racing season. Visit us again for more updates and we'll see you at the track.
Take care, Mark
bluecarracing1@msn.com
Posted 4-29-08
Skjerven Racing's West Coast Connection has been doing fairly well already. Wilson Skjerven, of San Jose, CA, is driving the #15 IKF Series kart at various tracks in his area. He is currently in 4th place in the points as listed on the Norcal Karters website at www.norcalkarters.com . We here, at Skjerven Racing in Minnesota, hope to support him in some small way and to bring you updates on his progress throughout his racing season. Wilson's next race will be Sat. May 3rd. We have a few pictures from last year and early this year on our photo page. Please check them out and follow along as we cheer Wilson on to the finish line.
Boggess Racing, from Belle Plain,MN, purchased the racecar about 3 weeks ago. After making some changes to the car, doing some updates and getting in a little practice, 14 year old Dillon Boggess will be piloting the ex-56 car around local tracks. The car started out as 76, went to 56 and now is going to be 96. Hopefully they will have as much fun with it as we did. Watch for them and cheer them on. Good Luck guys.
Stay tuned.
Later, Mark
Posted 2-20-08
Greetings race fans. As some of you know already, we've decided to leave the ranks of Legends car racing. This wasn't an easy decision. As a driver, I had a great time. Well, except for the crashes. But even crashes show you the helpfulness and comraderie of most of your fellow drivers. Those drivers, track personel and especially the awesome fans were a pleasure for us to meet and interact with. We'll miss you, but I'm sure we'll see you at some track along the way. In the end, there were a number of small things that brought us to this point. Nothing big or bad happened, just some frustrating things and a desire to put our time, money and energy elsewhere.
I would like to thank all the people that helped sponsor our race effort. Your participation was very helpful and much appreciated. The friendships established are probably more important than the money given. Thanks again.
I will be maintaining this website to continue to bring you racing information and photos, and keep you updated on the BLACKOUT project.
Posted 12-26-07
With 15 races in the books, here are the final results. We ran 9 races at I-94 Raceway in Sauk Centre, MN and finished 14th out of 30 drivers. We ran 3 races at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN and finished 25th of 49 drivers. We ran 3 races at Raceway Park in Shakopee, MN and I'm not sure of our placing there because Legends cars are not included in their point system (?).
Overall it was a very good year. In 2006, we raced 29 times and only had 2 top 10 finishes, no top 5's. In 2007, we raced 15 times and had 9 top 10 finishes, with 2 of those being top 5's. We finished 7th in Masters division points locally and 91st out of 433 drivers nationally. A big plus for the year was not having a bunch of torn up equipment. The tally for the year was a bent RF spindle, a bent lower steering shaft and a cracked LR fender. Oh yeah, and numerous bent bumpers, both front and rear. Racing is a lot more fun when you're not fixing stuff during the week.
The highlight of the year was winning the Regional Qualifier in the Masters division at I-94 Raceway in July. I even got to be interviewed and didn't stand there like a deer in the headlights. : ) This qualified us for the Legends Nationals that were being held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. Unfortunately, we had a previously scheduled committment and weren't able to attend.
2008 looks to be a very busy time with lots of good things in store. Stop in during the year for updates and a glimpse into the BLACKOUT project.
Thanks for all your encouragement and support.
Mark and Denise
