February 24th, 2011 
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By: Larry Robb
One of my favorite movies (and Sting Ray’s ) is Kung Fu Panda. Many of the lessons taught about life can be applied to Karting. Sting Ray and I have watched this fable many times in our travels to and from the tracks around the west and can apply one of those lessons directly the races we have attended since mid January, namely the Gatorz GoKart series in Phoenix and Calspeed, (Fontana, California).
Cookin Up Secret Ingredient In The Kitchen
Even though we were reasonably successful in MiniMax racing last year, we were not very close on a national level. We did very poorly in Indiana, Calspeed, and Phoenix last year and I felt that a lot of the reason was we did not hit “Turbo” on the race tracks with long straits where the Rotax engines on the fast kid’s karts revved to as much as 14,100 rpm. We hardly ever went over 12,500.
This year we signed up for the Phoenix race in hopes that a year of experience under our belts would provide us with a better performance. It was also clear we were getting killed on the straight by more than a few GoKart lengths. We finished 7th and 8th out of about 20 kids and went home with our tails between our legs.
While we were at the Gatorz race in Phoenix I asked Blake Choquer, our coach, if we should sign up with the Tony Kart West team for the next race at Calspeed and find out what the secret ingredient was, since they always had someone in the winner’s circle. It seemed that the top 3 finishers always hit Turbo. So I left them an engine, asked them to freshen it up, and plan on us coming to Calspeed, and working with them under their tent.
The great thing was the weekend before Calspeed Gatorz race was a club race with LAKC at the same track. We made arrangements to test and tune at that race and learn the track before the Gatorz race on the 19th of Feb. That way we could be really fast and for sure know what the secret ingredient was to hit Turbo.
To make a long story short, we didn’t hit Turbo but one time during that entire weekend. So back we went to the next weekend for the Gatorz more frustrated than before. I even heard one dad say he wasn’t going because THEY couldn’t hit Turbo either and it was a waste of money and time to even try.
Buddy Rice & Sting Ray
I was even more determined to get the job done so we tested all day Thursday. No Turbo. We must have changed 20 things. Friday….. no Turbo. Even with 20 more changes. Saturday was forecast for rain. Not much chance to hit Turbo with rain and rain tires, but Sting Ray was hopeful because he likes driving in the rain, besides; it takes Turbo out of the equation and leaves it up to the driver.
We still made a pot-full of changes though, and it did rain. Sting Ray Qualified 3rd out of 19 and ran 3rd in the pre final race. He was running 2nd in the final until a last lap spin out and the killed motor stuck resulting in a 4th place finish.
That night we made even more changes! In my estimation, we were not even driving the same kart we had a week earlier, but we would not give up. Sunday morning Sting Ray and I prayed over the kart and asked God to help us perform our best and promised we would give Him the Glory. I sat (stood mostly) between Auntie Kathie and Kyle Wyck’s mom as the grid emptied like a stirred up bee hive. Kyle’s mom had an I-Phone and knew how to get live lap times. It showed Sting Ray in first place. Conner Wyke was sitting next to me and with each progressive lap I squeezed him a little harder, but didn’t want to jinx it. I just knew someone was going to knock him out of the top spot. When the checkered flag flew we still didn’t know because the phone took a minute to update. Then it said the word FINAL on it.
Sting Ray must have hit Turbo. We must have found the SECRET INGREDIENT! YAHOO! The first thing I checked when we got the kart out of tech was the Mychron to make sure we had and be assured that our rpm range was over 13,500. It seems the Mychron has a limit to how much information it can store and It registered 5,000 rpm.
We raced the pre main but Sting Ray was so nervous with his new found fame that he drove very poorly, pulling himself forward on the steering wheel which shifted the weight forward and loosened the rear end on nearly every turn. This left the door open on several turns and Sting Ray eventually finished seventh. The good news was he was hitting Turbo.
In the Final Stng Ray got a poor start, fell to 9th and then started to relax. He was moving up through the field and through lap 10 was the fastest kid on the track. It was then that his throttle cable broke and he was done for the day.
He had made it to 6th before the cable broke during lap 12. KYLE Wick Recorded the fastest lap by a few hundredths. I thought Sting Ray would be really upset. But when he showed up on the rescue quad he was singing. No kidding. He knew we had found the “secret ingredient”.
What a great weekend.
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