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8 years ago today I was sleeping in my hotel room in Topeka Kansas, getting ready to wake up and drive to the Kansas Speedway to meet Dale Jr. A good friend of mine was working for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) at the time doing engineer stuff (that’s what he is) and the team was at Kansas Speedway doing testing for upcoming races.

I was in Topeka Kansas for the SCCA Solo Nationals (which are now held in Lincoln Nebraska, this week, I’m sad I am not there), and had an off day, one in which I wasn’t racing or working. So I was excited to get to the opportunity to go up to the raceway and meet Dale Earnhardt Jr. I had just left my gig at The Sporting News a few months earlier, and I was still into NASCAR at the time, I had even been writing a column with my good buddy Roger Kuznia where we went head 2 head on a Nascar topic each week (don’t judge me based on what you read!).

Unfortunately, that morning I woke up with the TV on and it ended up being September 11th, 2001. It was a rough morning for our nation, and the world. I ended up staying at the hotel for a few hours, watching all the coverage, internally thinking to myself, what if we’re at war, what is going to happen next. Eventually I got myself out of the hotel and headed off to the speedway to try to meet up with Dale Jr., but as I was just about to get on the highway I got a call from James, my buddy, saying that they were headed home, because the airlines were all shut down they packed up the semi trucks and all hit the road back to North Carolina.

So I headed down to Forbes Field in Topeka where the Solo Nationals were held, and hung out there until we were all kicked off the base for a couple of days. Gas prices in Topeka skyrocketed, above 4 dollars a gallon at some places, grocery stores were flooded, I remember I went to the liquor store that day to get some whiskey. A couple days later the Solo Nationals continued, in a much shortened version.

8 Years later, the Solo Nationals are still going on, the world is still reeling from the impact of 9/11, and I’m married to a beautiful lady living in Colorado. Things have changed!

Here's a photo of my car at Nationals in 2001

My old Camaro by you.

So, the 2007 Solo Nationals are halfway complete. Natalie and I took another hour of video today, more stuff to go through next week!  A quick summary of the day. Bud finally got a clean run today, so that made 1 out of his 6 runs in CS cone free. I ran what I thought was well but not well enough. I was in 9th at the beginning of the day, 11th at the end of the day. Lynn Collins got 2nd in CSL, a few tenths out of 1st I believe. Time for bed, it's been a long week so far! posted from...
Today was an interesting day. It started out dark, cold and wet, finished up bright sunny and almost hot. It rained last night a bit, so the course was wet this morning when we were walking first thing. I ran in CS today, the 5th car or so out in the 2nd heat on the West course. It started drizzling just as I was getting ready. Every run I took was a different surface, the rain came, went, came and went, multiple times throughout the heat. I ended up sitting in 9th, there are 7 trophy positions so I've got some work to do tomorrow! I took a LOT of video today, I'll try to get it posted next week when I get back in town. posted from...
The warmup was great yesterday, we got to scrub in the Hoosiers for Tues/Wed. Also figured out that it is possible to spin a solstice! I took video yesterday but am having issues getting it transferred off my camera so it may have to wait till next week. For up to the minute photos today check out my Flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/chammond/   posted from...
The trip to Topeka went great today. I'm tired, it's late! So here's a quick review Met for breakfast around 7am. Hit the road around 8am, stopped three times, got to the hotel around 1:30pm. A quick word about ValuePlace hotels, weird, but cheap, and clean Headed to Heartland Park, parked the trailer, unloaded the car. Got tires mounted from the great Ron Vermulm. Got the car teched, loaded the car into the trailer, locked up and headed back to the hotel. Played in the Poker tournament, lost. Went to Walmart to Stock up on supplies. Got back to the hotel and realized I didn't bring my phone charger, great. So if anyone has a automotive phone charger for a Blackjack can I borrow it for a few hours on Sunday? Tomorrow: Register for the warmup, get the car cleaned up, run the warm up. Take lots of pics and video. Time for bed, a quick pick from today. Lots more pictures tomorrow, and video.     posted from...
Well I'll be on the road in just over 8 hours. I still have to finish packing! I'm meeting a few guys for breakfast at 7am and then we're hitting I70 and heading west towards Topeka. I hope to get there between 12 and 1 so I can get checked into my hotel and then head to Heartland Park to get my paddock spot and tires mounted on the Solstice. Sunday Joyce Ruth and I are driving the Solstice at the warmup, on Monday the Collins should arrive from Massachusetts. Pictures and High Def video will be coming all next week! Stay tuned. Here's the first pick for the week of Solo Nationals, the truck and trailer loaded up tonight!   posted from...
So, I'm very fortunate this year for the Solo nationals, Bud Collins asked me to be his tire warmer in his 2007 Pontiac Solstice, something I am very thrilled to do. I've already told my wife, that if, by some fluke of luck, I were to win CS at the 2007 Solo Nationals in Bud's Solstice I'm going to buy myself a Solstice. I don't expect to win CS, hell I'll be glad to get my first Nationals trophy if I can perform well enough. I would love to have a Solstice to autocross every event, but at the same time I don't want one for my daily driver, and right now i can't justify having a daily driver with a car payment, and an autocross car with a car payment. Now, if I were to win CS at Nationals, I'd get rid of the daily driver and suck it up and drive a convertible around without air conditioning (Solstice Z0k) I made mention of this goal/reward to my good buddy Jeff Krekeler from Krekeler Jewelers in Farmington Missouri today on instant messenger. He proceeded to tell me that I owed him a new monitor to replace the one he was sitting in front of because of the soda I caused him to hurl out of his mouth and nose. Then, and this is the best part, he told me "you win nationals i'll buy you a solstice". So, now I need to get myself some cash, bribe all the CS competitors into letting me win the class and claim my car! Granted that bribery probably won't work, but I'll be doing my damndest to see if I can't perform well in Topeka next week. Thanks Krek, you're the best! And this just in, right before I go to submit this blog post, my good friend Dave Whitworth from Solo Performance Specialties has said that he'll split the Solstice with Jeff if I win! posted from...
Good news for me! After taking a year off of Nationals in 2006 I'm once again headed to Topeka for a week in September! I registered this morning in CStock in a 2007 Pontiac Solstice! The Collins have asked me to codrive this year in Topeka, a great honor for me to be asked. Bud was also mentioned as a contender for the CS National Championship so I'm doublely honored to get the opportunity to assist him in doing so. I booked my hotel for the week in Topeka this morning and registered for #63 CS as well! More on my Nationals adventure coming up here online! Also, I want to thank Nick Jackson for also offering me a ride in his STS Civic at Nationals. While I had looked forward to trying my hand at a FWD car at Nationals again (my first two tries I think left me with DFL both times) I couldn't turn down the opportunity to drive a RWD stock car, one that has a great chance at winning to boot! See you all at Nationals, and look for reports from our crack reporting staff this year in Topeka! posted from...
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Chris Hammond

Chris Hammond is a father, husband, leader, software developer, photographer and car guy. Chris focuses on the latest in technology including artificial intelligence (AI) and has spent decades becoming an expert in ASP.NET and DotNetNuke (DNN) development. You will find a variety of posts relating to those topics here on the website. For more information check out the about Chris Hammond page.

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