The 2008 DK Promotions banquet was held last night for the USAC Kenyon Midgets, Ford Focus, and Regional Midgets.  I enjoyed seeing everyone again and took home some nice hardware.  

My dad and I each got fourth place trophies, an improvement from 10th place a year ago.  Dad's trophy was for owner points and mine for driver points.  We also each got a check which was nice.  

I was also awarded the "2008 Kenyon Midget Most Improved Driver" trophy. I definitely felt like I had improved this year, and what's amazing is that I felt like we were actually better than our results indicated.  It made me feel good that my improvement was recognized by others. 

The biggest surprise of the night for me was being named winner of the inagural "P.A.S.S." award.   This award was presented by George and

It is officially offseason for me now and while I'm not racing again until possibly December, I still have plenty to do.   I am writing from my grandparents house because I'm on Fall Break!  Unfortunately, it is raining right now so I probably won't get to ride 4-wheelers today like I had planned, but yesterday was a great day so I got lots of riding in.  I also tore down the 4-wheeler with my grandpa because it wasn't starting, and then I put it back together all by myself, which was fun.   

I have also been playing bass guitar in the church band and I am really enjoying it.  It's been a unique experience playing in front of an audience.  

Also, I am honored to say that my old quarter-midget club, Mini Indy, is inducting me into their Hall of Fame this year, so I'll be attending their

Unfortunately, the offseason has begun! The Kenyon cars ran for the final time of 2008 this past weekend at Anderson Speedway.    I qualified second fastest, just three-hundredths behind Jeff Wimmenauer.  I finished 3rd in my Heat race, but the car felt good so I was encouraged about our chances in the Feature.   For the Feature, due to the 6-car invert, our team was handed a 5th place starting position which is not a good spot for a track like Anderson  where it is very difficult to pass.  That's one thing that I think USAC should reconsider for next year.  Because our cars are so similar, passing is very difficult, which almost makes it punishment to qualify fast and have to start so deep in the field.   If we're going to do qualifying, there should be some reward for being fast. 

I had a great weekend with a cool combination of racing.  First, it was my race Saturday night, and then I went to the Moto GP on Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

We ran our second-to-last race at Anderson on Saturday night, along with the USAC National midgets.    I qualified fast time, at a 12.629.  My car was pushing on the bottom of the track in practice and qualifying, so I adjusted my line and it paid off.  Mel decided to put a new right front tire on for the feature, just to help that push a little bit.  The car was absolutely incredible.  I started fourth in the feature and moved up to second after a first lap yellow.  Trying to pass for the lead on the re-start I scraped the wall on the backstretch.  Fortunately, the car was not damaged but I lost about 3 spots. 

I am suffering miserably... I want to get back racing!    The K-cars have been off for about a month.  We run at Anderson next Saturday (13th) and then we're off for another 3 weeks before we run our last race and wrap up my sophomore season in the Kenyon.   I still haven't gotten that first "on track" win yet.  I big-time want the win, but if I don't get it I know that it's still been a good season and I've learned alot.  It just hasn't all fallen in place for us on a particular night.  As they say, "That's racing." I have had a lot of fun racing this year though, and we still have two more races left plus the RUMBLE!!!!!!  

There has been enough other stuff going on to keep me busy.  I started high school a few weeks ago and continue to be shocked at the amount of homework I'm getting. 

Last week was pretty full.  On Sunday I went to Cedar Point.  I went with my friend Chris, my sisters Kelcy and Halle, and one of Kelcy's friends.  My mom and dad took us.  We all had a blast riding the roller coasters.  The Top Thrill Dragster was my favorite.  We came home on Monday and then the next day started school.  It's hard to believe summer is over.   Then on Wednesday I raced at Anderson, finishing sixth in the Feature. I ran the race with a bent right front shock after making contact with someone when the field checked up on the start.  I ran again at Anderson on Friday. I won the Heat race, and then finished fourth in the Feature. So all in all, it was a pretty exciting week.  Unfortunately we don't race again until September. It's hard to believe we only have two more races

If you don't like Anderson Speedway, you're not going to be having much fun in the Kenyon Midget Series.  The last five races on the Kenyon schedule are all at the "world's fastest quarter-mile". 

"Anderson is a tough track," said Dillon Welch.  "But I enjoy it, even though we haven't seemed to have much go right for us there lately."  

Friday night Welch started on the pole in the Feature, but an awkward start left him third heading into turn one.

"USAC has been on us so much about getting even starts that I was worried more about the driver next to me instead of myself, " Welch said.  "I won't make that mistake again."

Eventually Welch ended up finishing sixth, and remained fourth in the season point standings.

"Very frustrating and very disappointing," Welch summized afterwards.

Fortunately

I've got to admit I'm kinda bored with summer more often than I wish I was, but that's why I love racing during the week. I'm excited for this week's racing schedule. I race tomorrow night (Wed.) at Anderson, and the national midgets run at Raceway Park on Thursday. The trucks race at IRP (ORP) Friday, the Nationwide Series runs Saturday, and then it's the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. I'm not sure how much of it I'll make in person, but I'm definitely going to the Brickyard on Sunday.

Tomorrow, before my race at Anderson, I'm going to watch my dad in "The Race for Riley" celebrity go-kart race at New Castle Motorsports Park. It's an annual event hosted by John Andretti. Tony Stewart will be there tomorrow too.

Oh, our t-shirts have been finalized, along with the hero cards and they should be

Hi everyone! Sorry the blog updates have been so scarce... but here is the beginning of what I'm calling the "summer dish series". I'm planning to update this every day... so keep checkin' in.

I'm so glad that it's summer because this is when the racing season goes full swing. I'm pumped about running tomorrow at Mt. Lawn and Friday at Anderson. I've also really enjoyed the summer off the track. It's been great sleeping-in as much as possible, relaxing by our pool and hanging out with my friend Erik before he moves to Wisconsin in August, and helping out at our church with Vacation Bible School, which I've enjoyed. And, I'm always working out at St. Vincent Sports Performance Center, one of our main sponsors. It's definitely been a good summer so far!

We'll that's about it for

We ran at Anderson on a historic Wednesday night--June 11--and had a strong run. Never before had USAC run 6 features in one night! The K-cars, Ford Focus, and regional midgets all ran 2 features each.

Because of time, there was no qualifying and we just ran heat and feature races. In the first round of heat races, I started 5th and finished fourth right on the bumper of Sammy Imel, the 2006 Kenyon midget runner up who was also running a regional midget that night.

Starting eigth in the the first feature, I wound up finishing 6th with a very loose race car. It was a disappointment for sure. Not that sixth is bad in the feature, but I think we're better than that.

After a short intermission, we were back to racing. This round, again due to the lack of time, we only ran the feature. USAC