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This being the second day of the Race & Performance Expo, I was going to make it a little shorter day. I did want to make the 10:00 a.m. Motorsports Marketing-"Digital Marketing Overdrive" presented by Jeanette DesJardins. Prior to the seminar, I went by the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow booth for the engine building contest, as witnessed by the above video and below images. While not being a contest, the Hot Rodders also had the Juniors working on engines. Up next was the seminar. Since I only use social media and digital content, I was very interested in this topic. In addition to Car Chix, Jeanette is president of Crank It Media, a professional Internet Marketing Services company. She focused this seminar, primarily, on Facebook and Instagram, since Facebook had recently purchased Instagram. I was surprised to the learn the capabilities of the business pages of Facebook. I would definitely recommend Jeanette to anyone attempting digital marketing. The rest of the day was spent networking and taking general Expo images. Quick Hits
On both days I spoke with Scott Hoffman. who drives the Nostalgia Pro Stock Camaro "Showhoff". This year, the only change to the car was freshening the motor. I ran into Joe and Herman Zehnder. Joe is ready to run the Mustang again this year, but is in the market for an early generation Chevrolet Camaro. He has previously owned 6-7 Camaros. I spoke with Sam Martin, Route 66 Operations Manager, who stated they are looking forward to testing the new top end, shut down area. As those that frequently run Route 66 know, there was a major problem with "weepers" last year. At the conclusion of the season, the shut down area was completely repaved. The other big change was the schedule. Click here to see this year's schedule. Spoke with Bruce Boyle, who will be driving a red Chevrolet Camaro this season. Bruce picked up this car last year and has yet to decide whether he will run in Super Pro or Pro. Also spoke with John Hixon. John was in Florida for business and stopped to see Morgan at College. He has both cars teched (his and Morgan's) and ready to start the season. Nichole Medeisis will be staying in Iowa for the summer, but will be coming in for the weekend's to race. Mike Pryka hopes to have his car out by mid-season, but in the meantime he will be out with his camera to capture all the action. I spoke with Bob King, drives the '55 Black Gasser King's Ransom that was built on Velocity Channel's Garage Squad. Bob stated the car is ready to go, but after the season the may freshen the motor. Both Bobby Churchill and Kamryn Schubbe will have Junior Dragsters specifically for the Midwest Junior Super Series.
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 Solid Rock Driven by Rocky Ausec Today was day one of the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow 11th Annual Race & Performance Expo. I heard a great analogy that this is the spring training for racing in our area! First up today for me was the Women in Race & Performance seminar. It was moderated by Car Chix' Jeannette DesJardins and consisted of a panel with Marina Anderson, driver/owner/builder of the Anderson Family A-Fuel Dragster, Heather Dorethy, Technical Sales Representative at Precision Turbo & Engine and Natalie Decker driver of the Venturini Motorsports #25 Toyota in the ARCA Series. Natalie won the pole and finshed fifth at Daytona this past week.  Jeanette DesJardins, Marina Anderson, Heather Dorethy, Natalie Decker The seminar hit on all facets of motorsports from social media, personal life/work balance, sponsorhips, etc. It was interesting to hear from both sides of the sponsorship topic. Heather's company awards sponsorships and Marina and Natalie, being drivers are looking for sponsors. All told it was an excellent seminar. Another interesting part of the seminar was that Natalie was accompanied by her owner Bill Venturini Sr. and their Pr rep Tom Venturini. I have followed Bill's career for a long time and Tom always visits with us in the Media Center when ARCA races at Chicagoland.  Bill Venturini Sr. A few more images from the seminar. After the seminar I went looking for the Byron Dragway booth. Late last year a shockwave was sent through the local drag racing community when it was announced that the Vangsness family putting the Dragway on the market for sale. There is nothing new on that front to announce, but Byron is moving forward with an entire season schedule to include an enhanced Firecracker Bracket Nationals with a Saturday, $100,000 to win race! The general manager, Randy Simpson explained the slots are nearly complete. On Friday and Sunday the "to win" purse is $30,000/$50,000 respectively.  Randy Simpson and fan I next ran into Brian Nolte from Grundy County Speedway. This year Grundy County is going to add the POWERI Midget Series to their schedule. He stated it will be a mixture of Friday and Saturday night shows. There was also a large contingent of Junior Dragsters on display. I learned that Kamryn Schubbe has a new car this year designed specifically to run in the Midwest Junior Series. During the day there were two autograph sessions. One included many of the top local racers, including current part-time Top Fuel Driver TJ Zizzo, Dale Creasy, Rocky Ausec, Kim Harris Panozzo, Cody Mediesis, Joe Malfeo, Garage Squad's Joe Zolper, Tom Motry, amongst many. The other, was the Car Chix Calendar "Girls". Amongst those signing, were Jenny Zolper and her daughter Ruby. Jenny drives her Plymouth Duster Pro Mod and Ruby is a Junior Dragster. Here are some more images from the day. I had many conversations with friends that will continue tomorrow. It was a fun day seeing all the good friends and racers. Until tomorrow.  Bob (with Becky behind Bob's right shoulder) and Bobby Churchill Today was one of my most favorites events of the year! The 4th Annual IPAC Practice Tree Nationals benefiting the Route 66 Raceway Junior Dragster Program. I want to thank Bob and Becky Churchill for hosting this event. Second, I want to thank the following sponsors for contributing to the success of this event: Midwest Junior Super Series Precision Turbo & Engine Hoosier Tire Midwest Sontag Speed Supply Winner's Circle J & P Racing Route 66 Raceway Shep's Tavern Car Chix Core & Main Waterworks Sub Trailer Hitch Head First Fabrication It was an excellent turnout of racers and families to enjoy the day. Jeanette Desjardins was on hand representing Car Chix. If you are going to the Race & Performance Expo next weekend, Jeanette will be hosting the "Women in Race & Performance " seminar Saturday morning with speakers Marina Anderson. Heather Dorethy and Natalie Decker. Natalie just completed the Daytona ARCA race where she won the pole starting position and finished fifth in the race. After some good food, the competition began. There are three classes in which to run, Pro, Sportsman and Junior and you are not limited to one class. The racing started like most ET Bracket races with qualifications followed by round robin eliminations. The competition was hot and heavy with friends and family competing against each other. Here are some images from the competition: After many rounds of hot competition it came down to Don Edelston vs Rich Reichenberger in Pro. In Sportsman it was Joe Rivecco vs. Connor Lawson and in the Junior class it was Bobby Churchill vs Ryan Elberts. And the winners were..Pro-Rich Reichenberger, Sportsman-Joe Rivecco and Junior-Ryan Elberts. It was a fun day to get together with friends, relatives and fellow competitors for a day good competition, food, door prizes, and camaraderie. Again, I want to thank the Churchill family and all of those who helped and contributed for having this event to support the Route 66 Junior Dragsters.
To see all the photos from today's fun, please click here. To see all our images, please click here. If you see something you would like to order, please click here or on the "Ordering" link at the top of the page. |
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