Wife's view from the pits - by Lynda Makinson (June 2019)
Disclaimer: This is my view and opinion, not the view or opinion of Bruce Makinson or anyone else.
June 21, 2019
Hi Everybody,
What can I say, we had a couple of our race buddies saying, “come to Can-Am, it’s really nice there, the track is great, the racing is great”, come to Can-Am they said. (Thanks Dean and Kyle!!)
They were right about one thing, it is nice there. The Makinson boys have quite a few fans and friends there. Bruce and Bobby have had people coming to see them to welcome them back to Can-Am and talk about the old days. It’s been very nice that way but as for the racin’…where should I begin?!?!
The track has been odd to say the least. During the Hot Laps Bruce found corners 3-4 odd. He said he was wondering what was wrong with him or the car. He just couldn’t seem find the right groove. Luckily, when he got into the pit area Bobby told him that everyone seemed to be having a problem with that area of the track. So, Bruce was relieved that it wasn’t only him.
Now for the Heat Race. Bruce was starting 8th out of 10 cars. The start wasn’t great for him, he got too high in one and lost a position, but he was able to eventually get low and he started to catch the front pack and finished in 8th. Not terrible, he’s still learning the track and the car started to look good. Like I said, the pack got away from him at first but then once he found his groove he was on the move forward but it only being an 8-lap race you can only go so far.
The Feature…yeah, the Feature (can you sense my forlorn tone). There were 29 cars in the Sportsman race, yeah 29 cars STARTED the race. Some of you that know my articles from different tracks will appreciate my track “Maroon”. BOS had a few, MIR didn’t really have many, but it seems Can-Am has at least one. The race started with a caution on lap 1, nothing serious but one full lap was in the books. Then the green came out, well, that’s when hell broke loose, and the maroon emerged. We haven’t been racing there long enough to know who’s who yet but we’re learning. As the pack was coming off turn 4 down the front stretch I heard yellow, yellow, yellow on the radio which turned to RED, RED, RED!!! very quickly. From what I could see from my seat I thought Bruce had cleared the problem and didn’t understand the red call but then I heard a car had flipped and it was mayhem. I had said to Bobby that I thought Bruce had cleared whatever was going on but when all the cars stopped on the back stretch we didn’t see Bruce there. Well, I started a brisk walk to the main grandstands and to see the front stretch by the flag stand. Thankfully, Bruce’s car was up by the wall and he was calmly taking his gloves off, but he had a flat tire and his back-quarter panel was ripped off. Bruce said he was sitting there and noticed someone’s body part in the tow truck, but after a second take realized it was HIS quarter panel and he kinda giggled and muttered a colourful word. Bruce limped his car back into the pits and was scored at only one lap completed so he finished with a 28th place finish (he started 23rd). Bruce also found humour in his circumstance because earlier he had spoken with the flagman and reminisced about old times and the flagman said he hoped Bruce would visit with him on the front stretch one day, Bruce chuckled to himself as he sat there with a flat tire and body damage thinking “this isn’t what I had it in mind”.
From what I’m told in the pit area there’s one car, in particular, in Sportsman that every time he’s in the front he sets off a chain of events that cause damage to one or more cars. Well, tonight he set off total mayhem. One car flipping, and many other cars damaged. The night was filled with cautions for the Sportsman class, in the end out of 29 cars I believe only 16 or so cars finished. That’s a lot of carnage.
The boys believe its only cosmetic damage and that the car is fine. I guess we’ll know for sure after it’s been checked over. The reason for our damage was some over zealous cars in the back that don’t understand the RED, RED, RED call on the radio. Bruce was almost to a complete stop when he got rear-ended which caused the body damage that put him out of the race. If your hearing is that bad, your reaction time is that slow and your vision that short sighted that you can’t stop your car fast enough or avoid someone ahead of you, maybe you shouldn’t be racing. There were a few cars that were almost stopped but then got rear-ended because of bad reaction times from other drivers.
There was so much carnage that they were towing cars into the in-field to just get the race restarted!
Well, that’s the news and my rant for the week.
This week and next week Can-Am is racing on Wednesday night, this is not do-able for us, so we will not be attending. As for Friday night, jury is out on that right now. Bobby is away on vacation and Bruce has to check over the car (and put it back together) before we can decide if we’re going somewhere to race. My vote is taking the week off, we don’t have a crew (yeah, Bobby is the crew) so it would be too much work for me. But if we “must” race, I would like to go back to MIR. I miss my MIR peeps and Bruce is still torn between the two tracks. But MIR, if you still read my article…. move that back wall and maybe we’ll be back on a full-time basis. You are down 3 cars that I know this year because of it; Brent, Junior and Bruce! Just sayin’…
Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
Have a great week everybody!
Lynda
See Gallery for pics from this past week.
What can I say, we had a couple of our race buddies saying, “come to Can-Am, it’s really nice there, the track is great, the racing is great”, come to Can-Am they said. (Thanks Dean and Kyle!!)
They were right about one thing, it is nice there. The Makinson boys have quite a few fans and friends there. Bruce and Bobby have had people coming to see them to welcome them back to Can-Am and talk about the old days. It’s been very nice that way but as for the racin’…where should I begin?!?!
The track has been odd to say the least. During the Hot Laps Bruce found corners 3-4 odd. He said he was wondering what was wrong with him or the car. He just couldn’t seem find the right groove. Luckily, when he got into the pit area Bobby told him that everyone seemed to be having a problem with that area of the track. So, Bruce was relieved that it wasn’t only him.
Now for the Heat Race. Bruce was starting 8th out of 10 cars. The start wasn’t great for him, he got too high in one and lost a position, but he was able to eventually get low and he started to catch the front pack and finished in 8th. Not terrible, he’s still learning the track and the car started to look good. Like I said, the pack got away from him at first but then once he found his groove he was on the move forward but it only being an 8-lap race you can only go so far.
The Feature…yeah, the Feature (can you sense my forlorn tone). There were 29 cars in the Sportsman race, yeah 29 cars STARTED the race. Some of you that know my articles from different tracks will appreciate my track “Maroon”. BOS had a few, MIR didn’t really have many, but it seems Can-Am has at least one. The race started with a caution on lap 1, nothing serious but one full lap was in the books. Then the green came out, well, that’s when hell broke loose, and the maroon emerged. We haven’t been racing there long enough to know who’s who yet but we’re learning. As the pack was coming off turn 4 down the front stretch I heard yellow, yellow, yellow on the radio which turned to RED, RED, RED!!! very quickly. From what I could see from my seat I thought Bruce had cleared the problem and didn’t understand the red call but then I heard a car had flipped and it was mayhem. I had said to Bobby that I thought Bruce had cleared whatever was going on but when all the cars stopped on the back stretch we didn’t see Bruce there. Well, I started a brisk walk to the main grandstands and to see the front stretch by the flag stand. Thankfully, Bruce’s car was up by the wall and he was calmly taking his gloves off, but he had a flat tire and his back-quarter panel was ripped off. Bruce said he was sitting there and noticed someone’s body part in the tow truck, but after a second take realized it was HIS quarter panel and he kinda giggled and muttered a colourful word. Bruce limped his car back into the pits and was scored at only one lap completed so he finished with a 28th place finish (he started 23rd). Bruce also found humour in his circumstance because earlier he had spoken with the flagman and reminisced about old times and the flagman said he hoped Bruce would visit with him on the front stretch one day, Bruce chuckled to himself as he sat there with a flat tire and body damage thinking “this isn’t what I had it in mind”.
From what I’m told in the pit area there’s one car, in particular, in Sportsman that every time he’s in the front he sets off a chain of events that cause damage to one or more cars. Well, tonight he set off total mayhem. One car flipping, and many other cars damaged. The night was filled with cautions for the Sportsman class, in the end out of 29 cars I believe only 16 or so cars finished. That’s a lot of carnage.
The boys believe its only cosmetic damage and that the car is fine. I guess we’ll know for sure after it’s been checked over. The reason for our damage was some over zealous cars in the back that don’t understand the RED, RED, RED call on the radio. Bruce was almost to a complete stop when he got rear-ended which caused the body damage that put him out of the race. If your hearing is that bad, your reaction time is that slow and your vision that short sighted that you can’t stop your car fast enough or avoid someone ahead of you, maybe you shouldn’t be racing. There were a few cars that were almost stopped but then got rear-ended because of bad reaction times from other drivers.
There was so much carnage that they were towing cars into the in-field to just get the race restarted!
Well, that’s the news and my rant for the week.
This week and next week Can-Am is racing on Wednesday night, this is not do-able for us, so we will not be attending. As for Friday night, jury is out on that right now. Bobby is away on vacation and Bruce has to check over the car (and put it back together) before we can decide if we’re going somewhere to race. My vote is taking the week off, we don’t have a crew (yeah, Bobby is the crew) so it would be too much work for me. But if we “must” race, I would like to go back to MIR. I miss my MIR peeps and Bruce is still torn between the two tracks. But MIR, if you still read my article…. move that back wall and maybe we’ll be back on a full-time basis. You are down 3 cars that I know this year because of it; Brent, Junior and Bruce! Just sayin’…
Thank you all for your support and encouragement.
Have a great week everybody!
Lynda
See Gallery for pics from this past week.
June 17, 2019
Hi Everybody,
As you may have guessed, we did not race this past Friday due to rain. All tracks in our area cancelled. But we are hopeful for this coming Friday as the weather forecast for Friday in the La Fargeville, NY area is calling for sunny and cloudy.
The car is ready, and Bruce is roaring to go…or is it the other way around?!?
So, this coming Friday we will be going back to Can-Am Speedway. Again, if you’re planning on coming out to see us race, please let me know so I can keep you up to date as to where we’ll be.
Have a great week,
Lynda
As you may have guessed, we did not race this past Friday due to rain. All tracks in our area cancelled. But we are hopeful for this coming Friday as the weather forecast for Friday in the La Fargeville, NY area is calling for sunny and cloudy.
The car is ready, and Bruce is roaring to go…or is it the other way around?!?
So, this coming Friday we will be going back to Can-Am Speedway. Again, if you’re planning on coming out to see us race, please let me know so I can keep you up to date as to where we’ll be.
Have a great week,
Lynda
June 7, 2019
Hi Everybody,
This past Friday night we went to Can-Am Speedway in Lafargeville, NY. This is a track with a lot of Makinson history. Roy (Bruce’s dad) and Bobby (Bruce’s OLDER brother) both raced there. So, it was nice that Roy was able to come out for the night and well, Bobby, he’s always there for Bruce as his crew chief.
Roy had a few visitors that remember him from back in the day. It was nice, I really think Roy enjoyed it and especially enjoyed it in an enclosed trailer. He never had the luxury of an enclosed trailer in his racing or Bobby’s racing careers. Well, now for the racing!
Of course, the guys have to learn the track and learn what set up works there. I think we’ve only been there twice so it’s going to be a learning curve for us. Bruce was in the first Heat race but starting 9th (last), he didn’t do to bad as he finished 6th. He looked good out there, but he did feel he had to learn the track more.
As for the Feature, he started 18th out of 25 cars. The track was good at first but then seemed to get slick, at least that was from my point of view, it started to get black and shiny. There were a few cautions that didn’t work to Bruce’s advantage. Every time he seemed to be making forward progress a caution would come out. In one caution we think he got screwed and 2 cars were put ahead of him which shouldn’t have been. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter when you’re so far back. Bruce ended up with having to settle with a 21st place finish. Because of the changing track conditions, it seemed the race turned into a parade.
A nice thing about Can-Am is the pay out. It’s more then other tracks. As most of you know, we don’t race for the money because there isn’t much but it’s nice when you get a decent payout…just sayin’.
The track officials were very nice and welcoming. The guy at registration knew who Bruce was and that he usually raced at MIR. The track steward came to visit us and gave us a nice welcome. He also knew who Roy was and talked to him about the old days.
Also, there was a mess up with the line up for the Features, but they were very quick to apologize for the mistake. And, they weren’t happy with the track condition and again, they seemed to apologize for that. You can never get angry with people that apologize for their mistakes. I respect that.
We also had a nice visit with Larry and Debbie (Bobby’s in-laws). It was a surprise visit for Bruce and me, and a nice one at that.
We parked next to a couple of our racing friends; Kyle Sharp and the Herbison’s. Which was nice to go to a different track and still have some comradery.
Overall, we had a good night. The racing will improve with more seat time on that track and getting to learn the set up more.
Now I’m torn between two tracks. I love going to MIR but Can-Am was very nice as well. Both have good staff and nice people. MIR has great stands and amazing lighting on and off track. Can-Am has AJ and a new owner that is trying to make it better, need I say more?!?!?
I know the guys are excited about the idea of going to Can-Am again. I believe we might be going there again this Friday (weather permitting, it isn’t looking too promising for this coming weekend but that may change by the end of the week).
If you are planning on coming out to see Bruce race, please contact me directly so I can let you know where we will be.
Have a great week everybody!
Cheers,
Lynda
This past Friday night we went to Can-Am Speedway in Lafargeville, NY. This is a track with a lot of Makinson history. Roy (Bruce’s dad) and Bobby (Bruce’s OLDER brother) both raced there. So, it was nice that Roy was able to come out for the night and well, Bobby, he’s always there for Bruce as his crew chief.
Roy had a few visitors that remember him from back in the day. It was nice, I really think Roy enjoyed it and especially enjoyed it in an enclosed trailer. He never had the luxury of an enclosed trailer in his racing or Bobby’s racing careers. Well, now for the racing!
Of course, the guys have to learn the track and learn what set up works there. I think we’ve only been there twice so it’s going to be a learning curve for us. Bruce was in the first Heat race but starting 9th (last), he didn’t do to bad as he finished 6th. He looked good out there, but he did feel he had to learn the track more.
As for the Feature, he started 18th out of 25 cars. The track was good at first but then seemed to get slick, at least that was from my point of view, it started to get black and shiny. There were a few cautions that didn’t work to Bruce’s advantage. Every time he seemed to be making forward progress a caution would come out. In one caution we think he got screwed and 2 cars were put ahead of him which shouldn’t have been. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter when you’re so far back. Bruce ended up with having to settle with a 21st place finish. Because of the changing track conditions, it seemed the race turned into a parade.
A nice thing about Can-Am is the pay out. It’s more then other tracks. As most of you know, we don’t race for the money because there isn’t much but it’s nice when you get a decent payout…just sayin’.
The track officials were very nice and welcoming. The guy at registration knew who Bruce was and that he usually raced at MIR. The track steward came to visit us and gave us a nice welcome. He also knew who Roy was and talked to him about the old days.
Also, there was a mess up with the line up for the Features, but they were very quick to apologize for the mistake. And, they weren’t happy with the track condition and again, they seemed to apologize for that. You can never get angry with people that apologize for their mistakes. I respect that.
We also had a nice visit with Larry and Debbie (Bobby’s in-laws). It was a surprise visit for Bruce and me, and a nice one at that.
We parked next to a couple of our racing friends; Kyle Sharp and the Herbison’s. Which was nice to go to a different track and still have some comradery.
Overall, we had a good night. The racing will improve with more seat time on that track and getting to learn the set up more.
Now I’m torn between two tracks. I love going to MIR but Can-Am was very nice as well. Both have good staff and nice people. MIR has great stands and amazing lighting on and off track. Can-Am has AJ and a new owner that is trying to make it better, need I say more?!?!?
I know the guys are excited about the idea of going to Can-Am again. I believe we might be going there again this Friday (weather permitting, it isn’t looking too promising for this coming weekend but that may change by the end of the week).
If you are planning on coming out to see Bruce race, please contact me directly so I can let you know where we will be.
Have a great week everybody!
Cheers,
Lynda
June 6, 2019
Hi Everybody,
It’s official, this Friday we are going to Can-Am!
This team decision was made for a couple of reasons:
Check back next week for my update to see how our excursion went.
Have a great weekend,
Lynda
It’s official, this Friday we are going to Can-Am!
This team decision was made for a couple of reasons:
- Sprint cars! Yeah, two classes of Sprint cars at MIR. They may be fun to watch but they aren’t fun to have in the pit area. They seem to take forever to get going and Sportsman is usually racing after them.
- Track conditions, they just haven’t been up to snuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love MIR but the track has to be in good racing form; the first night it was (minimal accidents) and the second night wasn’t (mayhem).
Check back next week for my update to see how our excursion went.
Have a great weekend,
Lynda