The weeks before BarkFun Track, More Bad Luck
Heading into Oshkosh my team and I finally thought we had everything figured out on the new car except the continual transaxle failures we were experiencing. We made a few suspension adjustments, put some new BFGoodrich tires on and changed the groove in preparation for some good night racing on a short and technical clay track.
Being 13th in the points and a two-by-two rolling start meant we would be deep in the pack when the green flag flew Friday night. With this type of track it is not such a great disadvantage as it is with the larger wide open tracks and the start was not as important, there are plenty of spots on the track and laps to make up positions. Also for the first time in our class they were going to attempt the competition yellow. Half way through the race they would throw the yellow and bunch the field back-up before finishing the race under green.
Friday night I quickly worked my way through the pack and after a few laps I found myself going from 12th all the way up to 4th with the 3rd position of the 121 car piloted by Brian Glime about 10 cars off in the distance. I was holding back just a little in preparation to get the completion yellow and make a run at the podium.
After the competition yellow and the green flag flew my plans were quickly foiled by the 173 car of Steve Oman. Before I even reached the flying green flag he was already on the inside me taking over my position. He almost spun in front of me taking the corner back into the infield and I had to check-up to avoid hitting him. This gave others behind me an opportunity I did not want to give them but it was the right choice. Coming out of the next corner Greg Stingle driving 172 forced his way on the inside of me and completely drove over the right side of my car. As I tried to accelerate out of the next left hander I did not have any transaxle connecting my right foot to the tires that were trying to propel me. Not again I thought, as I frantically grabbed the shifter again and again it was evident, I had lost second gear. I did the best I could finishing the race in third gear. Several times I thought of shifting into 1st gear as I was battling with Greighton King in the 177 car but not knowing the extent of the damage I was worried I may not either get it into 1st or even worse back into third. I rode the rest of the race out in third gear and quickly fell back to 10th where I finished.
After the races my wife Cori had signed up the DirtNewz.com Lemke Off-Road Racing Team up for a little competition that Traxxas was having special for the sportsman racers. My brother and I needed to launch a brand new 1/16 Slash VXL 4WD off a jump and catch it into a 5-gallon bucket half full of water. I though “what, an electric RC car dumped into a bucket of water, it will only do that once”. Nick was driving the car and I was manning the bucket. Not being able to see the truck approaching the jump made things a little tricky for me, but he piloted it straight in the middle of the jump and I was able to catch it time after time. For our efforts Traxxas gave us the car to keep and we were ecstatic. When my 7 year old son Jadin finally realized we got to keep the super fast truck his enthusiasm far exceeded anything that Nick and I had. Thank you Traxxas that was very gracious of you, my son cannot wait for the batteries to charge.
Since I was in the middle of making some changes to the transaxles in an attempt to prevent them from failing I did not have a spare one with me. Saturday I immediately went over to Matt Gerald’s pit and asked him if he had a spare one I could borrow for the night’s race. Without hesitations he stopped working on his car, grabbed a transmission and handed it to me. I took it back to my pit and realized that the one he had given me required a different pressure plate. Knowing that Beau Ambos ran that same style I headed over to his pit and asked him if he had a spare pressure plate I could borrow. Beau, as well, immediately hopped into his trailer and dug out a pressure plate for me to get my car back onto the track.
We put the borrowed parts into the car and were cautiously waiting for the evening races. Twice now and I was doing well and in contention for a podium finish and we had failures. Saturday night’s green flag finally flew, started 12th once again and I was pushing for a repeat of the previous first half of the race. I was not able to work my way all the way to 4th at the competition yellow but I was in 7th and was extremely focused on getting a better start when the green flag flew. Once again I got a bad start, before we crossed the flip of the green 173 was on my left and 172 was on my right. What had happened the night before had happened again.
I continued to battle back but the track was faster than it had been on Friday and my car was not handling well towards the end of the race. I was battling with the 100 car of Craig Paitl and the 114 car of Bill Kortens behind me. My spotter and brother-in-law Mark Hockers was telling me that they were pressing hard and coming, “Get going”, he said. The white flag was finally out and to this point I had successfully held off their charge.
On the last corner coming out of the infield, I am told, Bill pushed his way between Graig and I, t-boned me and FORCED Craig into a large tractor tire which caused him to roll. Well it worked for him because he did push me outside and made the pass on me. I tucked in behind him as we entered corner 3 on the stock car track, midway between corner 3 and 4 he drifted a little high and I shot down to the inside and made the pass back exiting corner 4 where I finished 8th.
We are going to make a transmission style change in preparation for Bark River on August 8th and 9th, one more little suspension tweak and a big change to the front end. I would like to thank the Speedzone Raceway for a great well ran track, Traxxas for the awesome RC truck, Beau and Matt for the borrowed parts and all my great sponsors.
- Todd Lemke
Name: Todd Lemke
Sport: 1600 Light Buggy
City, State you reside in: Sobieski, WI (20 miles North of Green Bay)
Single/Married: Married to Cori Lemke
Kids: Jadin and Laci
Age: 7 and 4
Age When First Started Competing: 30
Favorite Spot: Any place quiet and outside
Favorite Vacation Spot: Any place where I am away from the normal every day routine.
Inspiration: My family and a drive to suceed.
Career Honors, Awards and Highlights: 1st place finish my first year racing in an old 2 seater.
Took 3rd in the year end points in 2003. (I need to verify the year)
When I’m not competing I like to: Spend time with my family, hunt, fish and snowmobile.
Other interesting Info : My first off road race I rolled my car and broke my wrist but still finished the race. Served in the United States Air Force (1988-1991). I can't dance!
Quote: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail " - unkown
