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March 2007 After almost a year I am finally
getting back to doing the Bear Motorsports
Newsletter. So much has happened in the
past year. We moved Bear Motorsports operations to We were very lucky to find a great three bedroom, two bath
home and 2500 sq. ft. shop on 2 ½ acres in the Ranchos section of Madera. We spent most of the year getting
settled in our new home and trying to organize the shop, which is still not
finished. We have spent time painting, decorating, taking care of 20 fruit
trees and my favorite job cutting the grass on 2 ½ acres with my new yard
tractor. We have had some exciting moments living in the country. Bear came face to face with an possum under the hood of the hauler at 3AM in the
morning, a King snake slithered past him in the shop while working on the
car. I ran over a very big snake with
the tractor and the snake lost. A very
large beehive appeared in the tree at the back door one day. There are all different sizes of frogs who make a loud chorus at night and the roosters and animals
wake up us in the morning. We have fallen in love with our little ranch in Now that we are settled we plan on
increasing our race schedule. Most of the year we will race at Kings Speedway and Bear had his first race of the season at Kings Speedway on Saturday, March 10th. Bear finished 5th in the heat and 9th in the main event. We learned that we needed to make some changes in the chassis set up. Both Bear and I needed to back in shape. I was so exhausted at the end of the evening I realized I was out of practice. When we aren’t racing we will be at the Quarter Midget track at Madera Speedway cheering on our 5 yr old grandson, Ryan Delisle as he races his Quarter Midget. His first race was March 2nd & 3rd of March. He received a big trophy for his first race and trophies for finishing finishing 6th on Saturday and fourth on Sunday. I guess racing is in our family blood, because I can’t believe this little guy is out there racing at 5 years old. We are busy working on our jobs during the week and working
on some changes to the car on the weekends.
Our next race is March 31st at
either Kings Speedway or SEE YOU AT THE RACES. We have had a very busy off-season so far. The car has a new body, thanks to Brian for all his help. We just need to get the graphics done. The nerfs and bumpers
are back from the powder coater, Component Finishing, and we are pretty close
to being ready. Now the next obstacle
will be finding a track to run. As you
are aware of now, I guess the biggest news of all is that we have moved the
Bear Motorsports shop to the Madera-Fresno area. We have bought a house, shop and 2 ½
acres. The biggest challenge has been
moving the shop. Bear has raced for 22
years and has been in the At the present time everything is moved and in the center of the new 2500 sq ft. shop and now the second challenge begins with getting the cabinets in place and organized and then putting everything away. It will be great when everything is done and Bear has a great shop to work in and it is just in back of the house so finally everything is in one place. We got a head start on organizing everything between Christmas and New Years. The house is also great, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room with a back door so anyone from the shop can enter the house without going through the rest of the house and one of the bathrooms is just off the laundry room. We have a big brick fireplace and the living room window has an awesome view of the sunset. We have about 20 different fruit and citrus trees in both the back of the house and the front. So you can see between moving, work, the racecar, setting up a new shop and house we have been pretty busy and I am sure we will continue to be for awhile. I apologize for not
getting the end of the year Newsletter out.
I simply ran out of time and I am hoping to get it done in the near
future. SEE YOU AT THE RACES-Where? We
aren’t sure, but we will let you know. Perris Auto With the closing of Kings Speedway we decided to make our
last race of the season an eventful experience.
We decided to pack up the hauler and trailer and head for We made a few mistakes, like not leaving Several years ago we were at Perris just to visit and see
what the track was like and we met one of the drivers, by the name of Dale
Underwood who lives in On Saturday we left Dale’s house around Bear was in the second row for the heat, but since he had never been on the track before he opted to start in the back. He finished 8th and came in and said the car was fine and we didn’t need to make any changes, which was great because it was just Bear and me. We shared the program with three different stock car classes and a sprint car class. The races were run efficiently and everything ran on time. We cleaned and fueled the car and Bear went out for the main event. We was supposed to start in the front row, but again opted to start in the back. He loved the track and the car was handling great and he went all out and passed cars on almost every lap and ended up in 5th place when the 20 lap main event was over. He came in after the race with a big smile on his face and said he had a great time and enjoyed every minute of the race. I was so happy to see him end the season with a good finish and having such a great time. Much better than last year when he crashed head on into the wall on the last race of the season. The weekend turned out to be a great weekend with the hospitality of the Underwood’s and having such a great time at the track it was well worth the very large fuel bill. This next season will bring all kinds of changes for Bear
Motorsports we are moving the race operations to our new home and shop in A huge “Thank You” to Brent and his son Kyle for all their help both in the shop and at the track. Brent was such a big help and I am not sure what I would have done with out his help this year, especially on the days it was 110 degrees at Kings. Thanks to all our Sponsors and fans for a great 2005 season without you we wouldn’t be racing. SEE YOU AT THE RACES IN 2006 We left We set up our pit area under some trees and before long it was time for the drivers meeting, mud packing and hot laps. We shared the evening with the Hot Stocks and a 100-lap enduro. The evening went by very fast since both the stock cars and the modified ran the heats and features before the enduro started. Bear did pretty well in the heat and finished 4th. He started 3rd row inside for the feature. He had a good start when the flag dropped and soon he was up in the front with about 5 other cars and then he dropped back a few spots and was in 8th place and stayed there for all of the feature except for the last 2 laps. For the entire race it was so close between all of the cars that Bear had to race hard and hold on to every inch of the track that he could. Finally on the 23rd lap another car hit Bear in the side and he started to spin, but was able to straighten it up and he saved it and kept going, but by that time 3 cars had passed both of them and when the flag dropped he was in 11th place. As far as I was concerned it didn’t matter where he finished because he had done the best job of driving that I had ever seen. Where he placed really didn’t matter it was a joy to see him having fun and driving like the champion he is. I am so proud of him. Little did we know that this was to be our last race at
Kings Speedway.
I am sure by now you have heard that as of August 24th the 2005
season has been cancelled and the Kings Speedway track has been closed. It was a shock to us, as we were getting
ready for this
following weekend, August 27th, the last point race. This has made us very sad since we have
called Next race: Where and when? We aren’t sure. I will keep you posted. August 6, 2005 Kings Speedway, Hanford, CA We left for Hanford earlier than normal on Saturday morning so we could get over the hill before it could too hot. At 9:30 AM it was 90 degrees in Gilroy. When we got to Hanford it was 107 degrees and about 10 degrees hotter in the pits. We signed in and set up our pits close to the trees. We were so grateful when Brent arrived to help us for the evening. We had the air going full blast in the hauler and fans in the trailer and it really didn’t do anything, but give a couple minutes of relief. I give all the credit in the world to all the drivers for getting into 2 and 3 layer fire suits and helmets and climbing in the cars in that kind of heat. It was racing and Bear seemed to thrive on it even in 107 degrees. Bear was in the first heat second row outside and was moving to the front when one of the cars moved up and they banged wheels, Bear pulled back to avoid an accident and in the process he moved back to 6th place. This is where he stayed for the remainder of the heat. When he came in we made a few adjustments and got the car ready for the feature. We shared the program with the Rebel Sprinters, and the Hot Stocks and we were second on the program all evening. Bear started the feature second to the last row and worked his way up to 8th place when he was hit in the quarter panel and it spun him around. Fortunately, he didn’t hit anything and restarted right way. After numerous yellows for spins, crashes and motor problems with different cars, Bear managed to steer clear and move back up to 7th place when, as luck would have it, he got a flat and had to come in on a green for a tire change. He lost two laps and at the end of the feature he had moved up to 9th place, but because he lost two laps they scored him as 11th place. When the evening’s racing was over and we packed up and loaded everything in the trailer it was after 11pm and it was still 85 degrees. Again, I have to say thank god for Brent and all his help, Bear and I would never have made by ourselves, or at least I wouldn’t have. I am convinced I would have melted before the evening was over with. Let hope the next race will be cooler and everything will go better. SEE YOU AT THE RACES. Next race August 20, 2005 We have had three weeks off from racing. The three weeks off has worked out pretty good for us since both of our regular jobs have been busy and we have had a lot of work. The rest of the time we spent working in the shop and doing our regular maintenance work on the car. One of the sad things that
happened in our area in the last few weeks is the horrible fire that gutted
Kaeding Performance. Like a Back to racing, we loaded the car
as usual on Friday night and left around Brent was unable to make the trip this time to help us, so it was just Bear and me for the night. We did enlist the Todd’s crew for the work area for the main, but other than that we managed pretty good. Bear went out for hot laps and said he thought the car was missing so we checked plugs, wires, and everything seemed fine. He went out for the heat race and started in the second row outside and within two laps he coasted off the track and headed for our pits without the motor running. My first thought was the motor. It wasn’t the motor was fine; we lost the cable to the battery which of course caused the car to quit. Bear jumped out of the car and between the two of us we got everything fixed, cleaned the car and fueled it for the main. Because of not finishing the heat, he started in the back for the main event. Little by little he moved up and finally finished 7th. The track was pretty dry and slick and there were lots of spinouts and motor problems, but we managed to escape the crashes and motor problems. When we finished packing up and leaving for the evening it
was still 80 degrees at We will spend this week making sure everything on the
ignition is fixed and secure and we will be ready to go next weekend. SEE YOU
AT THE RACES. Next race Saturday August
6th,
After several weeks of looking over everything on the car and completely rebuilding the front end we had high hopes that we had solved the problem with the way the car was handling. We managed to load the car early on Friday night. It had been a long week with working on the car and a very busy workweek on our jobs. We were glad to be able to go home early and relax, especially since Bear had found out he was going to have to work Sunday afternoon when we get home. We left town around 10:30 on Saturday and after stops for fuel for the truck and the fuel for the generators we got to Kings around 2:30. The Fair was going on at the Fairgrounds and the races were part of the Fair. It is always fun on Fair night. Bear tried out the car on hot laps and said it seems to be a lot better. Yeh!!!! Bear was in the first heat 3rd row outside and after lap 2 was in second place and was gaining on first place when the checkered flag came out. He finished second and when he came in to the pits the first thing he said was he had fun, the car no longer was pushing in the turns. As far as I was concerned that made it a winning night no matter what happens in the feature. We shared the evening with the Street Stocks and an enduro. Since they run the enduro as the last feature of the evening everything goes really fast. Bear started in the 3rd row outside for the feature. When the throttle dropped Bear was off and running. He was up with the first 5 or 6 for a number of laps when he spun in turn 4 and had to start at the back again. After several yellows for cars with blown motors and a couple of crashes, Bear worked his way back up to 5th place and he finished in 5th . Again he came into the pits, took off his helmet and I saw a big smile and he said he was having fun and he was happy with the way the car handled. Again, Yeh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. This is a kind of evening that makes racing fun. We are off for a couple of weeks so we will see you all at the next race on July 30, 2005 at Kings Speedway. SEE YOU AT THE RACES We did our usual routine of loading the car on Friday night
and leaving around We arrived at the track about We shared the evening’s program with the Bandits and Hot
Stocks. The Modified class was the main
attraction for the night. We had 22
cars, not a bad count since so many cars had gone to Bear went out for mud packing and hot laps and then, while the bandits and street stocks were qualifying Brent and I managed to get the mud off of the car and cleaned, fueled and ready to go for the heat races. The track was really hooked up and great for racing. Bear was in the 3rd heat and started 4th and we soon found out the car was handling better but still something wasn’t right and we still had a small push. He finished 5th. We debated about making some additional changes and decided we would try working with tire pressures and some minor adjustments. We thought the track would be on the dry side for the feature so we didn’t want to make too many changes. The beginning of the race the car was pretty good, but as the race went on the push began to be a problem again, especially in turns one and two. Bear managed to make the car work as best he could and we finished 6th. I film every one of Bear’s races and this week I brought the car to a closer view so that we can study how the car is reacting in the turns. Bear really feels the problem may be in the way we have the front end set up and hopefully the film will give us an idea as to the changes we need to make. We may have a spindle or caster/camber problem, or a bent or damaged part. So back to square one and see if we can solve the problem by next race. At this time our plans for our next race is SEE YOU AT THE RACES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After a last minute repair to the left side header to
correct a header leak, we loaded the car, packed the trailer and truck on
Friday night. We went home got some
sleep and headed out Saturday morning for The line up of trailers was already out to the road. It was truly a full house. We were sharing the program with the USAC’s Ford Focus Midgets and Non-Wing 410’s. There were 30 Non-Wing cars, 30 Ford Focus and 21 Modifieds. The Pits were packed and we had to park on the backside behind the tower. The weather was about 85-90 and the winds helped keep it from being too hot. Bear was in the second heat, second row inside. The race started and even though we thought we had made some improvements on the handling we still had the push in the car and several cars got under Bear and he was soon back to 6th place. It is very frustrating as we keep trying different changes and nothing seems to get the car to handle better. He came in and we made some more changes and hoped for the best in the feature. We were always first on the program and after the B features for the USCA cars, we were the first A feature. Because of the finish in his heat, Bear started in the last row. The changes seem to help a little and he worked his way up to 5th place with 5 laps to go and the car started to push up to the wall again and again they went under him and by the time the race was over Bear finished 10th. Needless to say he was not at all happy. When he got into the pits the steering wheel came flying out of the car with Bear not far behind. He was totally frustrated and discouraged. We have gone over all our notes in the last two years and done some more research and contacted some experts on what we can do to improve the handling on the car. We have been given a number of different things to do and in the next two weeks you can bet we will be making those changes. We have a top running car and there is no reason why we can’t solve this problem and finish as one of the top 5 cars. Before I finish the newsletter I do want to take the time to thank the 21 car and crew for helping us out during the evening. They were in the work area during the feature just in case Bear had a flat or needed a quick repair. Brent was unable to be with us on Saturday as he was busy moving his family, so it was just Bear and I and we were very appreciative of the help of the 21 crew. SEE YOU AT THE RACES ----Saturday June 18th, Kings Speedway, Hanford. We had a pretty good time racing this weekend. It didn’t start off very good, but it ended on a pretty good note. We started the weekend in our usual fashion by loading the car on Friday night. Brent, Julie and their son Kyle came over and helped us load up the car and get everything in the trailer. We left town about 10:30 Saturday morning and headed for Hanford. The weather was beautiful and we turned up the stereo and enjoyed the ride. We arrived a little after 3PM and signed in and set up the pits for the night. Brent drove down and arrived about 4PM. He helped finish setting up for the evening and got the car ready for mud packing and Hot laps. Bear was in the third heat and was doing very well, He was going for 1st place and he went into the turn to fast and spun the car. He had to restart in the back with only 2 or 3 laps to ago. He finished 6th and it put him in the “B” main. Thank God for Brent, he helped us make some quick changes on the car before the “B” main. We just made it and got Bear out on the track just before the cars were ready to roll out. The evening went really fast, we shared the program with the Rebels and Hot Stocks and we were second on the program all night. Bear started in the next to the last row in the “B” main. The flagged dropped and Bear shot forward immediately and when the race ended he was in 4th place going for 3rd. It was probably the best racing I have seen Bear do all season. He was right on and passed cars like they were standing still. He finished in 4th place and qualified for the “A” main. There were 22 cars in the “A” main and Bear started in the next to the last row. Again he drove a great race and worked his way up to 16 before he had a flat tire. He came in and Brent and Lonnie Lacy Sr and a couple of other crew members jumped in and got the tire changed and sent him back out. He continued his drive all the way up to 10th before the checkered flag came out. He did a great job of driving and the car went in the trailer without a scratch. We stayed over at the track and in the morning and we were able to join a couple other cars in practice. Bear tried different changes on the car to see how it would react and we felt he made some major changes that will hopefully help the car on dry tracks. When he was finished practicing he came in and decided to put someone else in the car. Guess who? Me. I put on Bears other driving suit, a little big for me, and I had to wear his shoes since all I had were sandals. I put on his helmet, again a little big for me. I climbed in the car, had a quick lesson on the gears shifting pattern and off I went on to the track. The only problem was the helmet kept sliding down over my eyes and I had to keep pushing it back. I slowly went around the track about 3 or 4 times and then I got a little speed in the straightaway, but shut off really quick because I was afraid I might not make the turn. I drove about 10 laps and had a great time. Now I am already to do it again. This time faster. Bear says I qualified for the “slo mo 100” and my son wanted to know why I couldn’t find the throttle. I don’t care what they said I had fun. Next Race June 4, 2005 Kings Speedway SEE YOU AT THE RACES "April 23 Race cancelled due to rain. Next race May 14, 2005 Hanford, Kings Speedway" See you at the Races. Friday night was our normal routine, loading the car and doing some last minute adjustments. Brent came over to help and we were able to get home at a reasonable time. We left for We waited at the Harris ranch for Brent. He had driven his wife and son to the Harris Ranch and for an overnight stay. Julie and Kyle decided to stay at the Harris Ranch and go in the pool and relax and Julie would bring Kyle out to the races later on. Brent rode with us out to the track. We arrived about During the week Brian, our helper, and Bear discussed what chassis changes to make on the car to improve it’s handling. Brian made a number of the changes during the week and then Bear and I scaled it and checked right heights, etc. And we thought we were on the right track. Bear went out for hot laps and the car would not handle at all, it kept wanting to come around. Bear brought the car in and we changed everything back to the way it was and then made a couple of minor changes and adjustments and finally we got the car handling pretty good. Best-laid plans, but unfortunately Bear was only able to get 6th in the heat and started 21st in the feature. He managed to get past 8 cars to finish 14th. This is not at all what he had wanted or hoped for, but at least we got the car to handle better and we know better now, not to use the first set up. I guess we will be back next week and try again. We are either really crazy or stubborn. I am
not sure which it is. Racing is so much
fun!!!!!!!! Well at least most of the
time and it is addicting, too. SEE
YOU AT THE RACES, KINGS April 9, 2005 Kings Speedway, Hanford, CA We were all set for our usual routine by loading the car on Friday night and getting everything packed up and ready to go early Saturday morning. However, this weekend our routine changed when Bear accepted a job to deliver rock and material to a job early Saturday morning. Since extra money helps pay for racing Bear said, “OK”. Friday night he brought home one of the big trucks from work, which barely fit in our carport. He got up early Saturday morning picked up the rock and material then delivered everything to Gilroy, and then return the truck back to the work yard in Fremont, picked up his truck and we met at the shop about 10:30AM. While he was doing this early morning job I had everything packed and loaded in the car. I got to the shop ahead of Bear and got everything loaded in the hauler and put away. When Bear arrived we pulled the truck and trailer out, drove our car and truck into the shop, closed the doors and headed out about 10:30 AM. We arrived in Hanford about 20 minutes later than our normal arrival time and signed up. The Lacy’s were not coming this weekend; Lonnie had hurt his arm and couldn’t drive. We parked next to a brand new Rebel Sprint driver from San Diego. My son, Joe was helping the new driver for the evening and soon we were all good friends and helping them as much as possible. The new driver did a very good job for the first time out. Bear was in the 3rd heat and he started in the front row and when the flag dropped he fell into second place and then half way through the race the car developed a push in the turn and he was passed and moved into 3rd place. He finished in 3rd place. The car looked pretty good and seemed to be running ok, except for the push in the turns. We shared the evening the Rebel Sprints, Bandits, and the Stock cars. Even though we ran four divisions the evening went pretty fast. We were the second main event for the evening and there were 21 cars in the main event. Because of the push and we weren’t certain if changes we made would be effective Bear opted to start in the back. The beginning of the race the car seemed sluggish but about mid way through the evening it started to run pretty good. Bear started moving up, but we still had the push coming out of the turns. After 25 laps he finished 12th place. Not bad for starting 21s t. He kept moving up until he got to 12th place and then the flag dropped and the race ended. We stayed the night at the track and our new neighbor from San Diego was going to come back on Sunday morning and test. The driver, and my son Joe, and a few other friends all arrived in the pit area. We stood around and talked and my daughter –in –Law made coffee to wake us up. Joe decided it would be a good idea to check out the motor and discovered two cylinders were low on compression. The opted not to test under the circumstances. So Joe Masara, the new driver headed back to San Diego to get the motor checked out and will be back on the 23rd and 24th to race and test again. The rest of us all headed for home. We got home washed the car and put it in the shop to get it ready for next week. We then went home and ate dinner and collapsed for the rest of the night. After the regular maintenance on the car and few minor
changes during the week we finished getting the car ready to go and loaded the
car (“Eleanor”) into the trailer on Friday evening. We went home and managed to get a good nights sleep and then left for the track about We shared the program with the Hot Stocks and Rebel Sprinters. Bear took the car out for mud packing and hot laps. He was in the 1st heat and started in the back. The heat was only 6 laps and he was unable to move up and he finished 6th. This put him in the back for the feature. At this point I have to give another big thank you to our
new crew member, Brent. Brent had spent
Friday at California Speedway and then jumped in his car about Back to Racing, Bear started the feature in 17th place and after battling his way to the front, he managed to end up 10th. The track was really tough. There were big ruts and bad spots on the track and not much opportunity to pass. The track was so rough that that Bear actually cracked a tooth and then we managed to somehow, to lose a valve cover breather. The race was suppose to be 30 laps but they shortened it by 5 laps to a 25 lap main event. The car set up is looking good and the motor seems to be fine and we have high hopes of moving up to the front for next race. We got home early, even with losing an hour for daylight
savings time, washed the car and managed to wash the bugs off of the front of
the truck and put everything away in the shop.
We went home, had dinner and relaxed and watch a little television
before it was time for bed and before it was time to get up and start a new
week. NEXT RACE
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