Driving through Texas is like walking up hill to school in the snow barefoot both ways. Till you get past Dallas the country side just sucks. To this day I wonder why Mexico wanted to fight a war over it.

We were greeted by rain and thunder storms on Friday. They cleared out by mid-day but for the folks racing the cross-country the damage was done. It took the better part of the after-noon the get all the stuck bikes out of the swamp. Diamonds race track and property are located in and around a swamp. At the highest point it’s only about 10 inch’s above normal water flow.

Saturday was vintage day and I intended to race the Maico. I got one lap into practice and the shift lever spun on the shift shaft. I spent the rest of the day trying to fix it with the help of buddy Maico James and relatives from Sharon’s family. In the end all attempts to cure the trouble failed. The only bright spot to the day was late in the afternoon we got to take the sidecars out on the course for a few laps. One of the workers was my planned passenger (Jeff) as Rick could not make the event. Jeff is a really cool dude and had been looking forward to this since last year. After a few instruction out on the track we went the one thing he been told was watch the team in front of you and do the same thing.

This is good unless you’re on a right rig and they are on a left hand rig. First lap around he made that mistake and over we went. He now knows what it is like to get flung off a sidecar, he landed about 10 feet away and of course I went over the bars.

Everything was ok and we restarted and finished off a few laps, lesson learned!

I get fuck heads e mailing me ad’s and crap all the time so until I put someone on my accept list you get blocked. So Ed after talking with a number of folks who know you they agree your and egotistical goof ball, ok, no worries big boy your off my contact list.

AHRMA’s the national organization we race with (www.ahrma.org ) and it has had to deal with many issues in 07. One of which was an attempt to hi-jack the first national of 08 by an ego driven group of 3 or 4 people.

The attempt to use AHRMA’s name to fill the entries and then declare the event a non-AHRMA event was really a new low. It shows a lack of morality and what a bunch of money grubbing low life’s they are. For them it is about money not preserving history and the machines.

AHRMA has over many years designed a rule structure and a coast to coast national series under the AMA banner that none can equal. Covering MX, Cross Country, Dirt Track, Road Racing and Trials. What will the other group offer? MX mixed with modern, quads, mini bikes and no AMA affiliation. I’ll give them two years before they break down, the egos involved could not agree on what beer to drink at a one beer convention.

For 08 the 71 Maico will be back on the track chasing a 50+ title. There will be a change to a left hand sidecar from the right hander in the sidecar GP class. That is until the vintage sidecar is finished. Then we will change to the vintage sidecar class full time.

Some really great events are planned by AHRMA with some new venues. You can view the calendar on the AHRMA web site.

His forecast for slower economic growth may have meant weaker demand as firms reined in spending, analysts said.

But disruption to oil output in the North Sea from BP and ConocoPhillips rigs helped to support crude prices.

'Tight market'

Platforms pumping more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day in the North Sea were closed due to bad weather, exacerbating concerns about the availability of crude.

Prices hit a record high above $98 a barrel of Wednesday, leading many analysts to speculate that it was only a matter of time before the $100 mark was breached.

But prices then fell back sharply after US crude inventory figures showed a smaller than expected weekly fall.

Analysts still expect oil to break $100 a barrel

The weaker dollar has been driving up oil prices as investors have been using the commodity as an alternative to holding dollars.

"Markets have probably rethought how tight the market is and might be in the near term and that has caused an upward adjustment," David Moore, a commodity strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said of Friday's price jump.

Oil prices have now risen by 60% this year but prices have still not reached a record high if inflation is taken into account.

Adjusting for inflation, US light crude's record peak of $101.70 came in 1980 against a backdrop of war between Iraq and Iran.

The dollar's current weakness has also seen prices of other commodities rise sharply, most notably gold, which is continuing near 27-year highs.

I went to the event without a passenger and with a loaner sidecar. Dan our buddy from Tucson said he or his brother would hang on to the chair. When I got there Dan really wanted his brother to give it a try. After all he had been riding sidecars for years and had never been on a motocross rig, hell how hard could it be? He was game but in two laps of practice he was done. We limped back to the pits and he started thinking this might not be so easy or a good idea.

Enter the scene his 21 year old son, why yes he would love to try it. Cool, I grabbed him and headed for the far end of the parking lot for a quick lesson. He seemed to pick it up right away. Moto 1 was a touchy feely thing, I increased the speed each lap after starting last, and he seemed ok so I passed up to 4^th without getting too carried away. He did good and wanted to go faster so I pegged it off the line in moto 2. We were in 2^nd into the first turn and lost one position by the 4^th turn, this was good and he was working the chair very well. About half way around the first lap the 2^nd place team crashed and blocked the line I was on, by the time we got going we were dead last again. I started passing people as quick as I could and we worked up to 2^nd, in the last lap one team passed giving us a 3^rd. Not bad for his first race, he enjoyed himself and I was very impressed, he is a natural.

Later that afternoon all the mx sidecars got a call to bring our rigs to the road race course. We did a few parade laps with the road race sidecars and waved at the crowd. Then all the dirt guys got on as passengers on the road racers for a few quick laps around the oval.

The kid looked at me as if to say, should I? Hell yes, so off he ran for another first time deal. You know high speed with your shoulder about 3 inch’s off the pavement and that concrete wall on the outside of the turn made me think. That is, I’ll stick to the dirt, road race sidecars takes a unique mind set.

My efforts to construct a vintage mx sidecar continue. Spent a weekend at Al’s fabrication shop (thanks Al) and now the motor is firmly mounted. I have a long way to go but my goal is firm in my mind. Once the vintage sidecar is up and running the modern sidecars will go away. I have no interest in modern solo or sidecars the current crop on new bikes are killing a sport. I see the results every weekend out here in the desert. Groups of geeks with quads and modern 4 strokes running amok, they no regard for anyone. If you ask them if they work on their bikes they look at you like your kidding.

The cost of these technical wonders are another issue, turning what was any man’s sport into the sport of the rich, might I add the dumb.

The days of a race bike and your tent in an old pick up truck are now reserved for the vintage racers, thank god!