I was so pleased with how the graphics turned out. It definitely drew lots of attention on Saturday. I don't think Ethan or I either one slept very much Friday night. We were both excited and a bit nervous.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Houston early to block off the streets and help set up ramps for the race. The car breezed through the inspection, even though I was a little worried about the weight.

Friday we added a little over 100 lbs. to the car in the unpainted box you see slung under the car between the rear wheels. I didn't have a scale to weigh the car on, so I was really just guessing. With Ethan in the car, it weighed in at 276lbs., so we had plenty of room before we hit the 300lbs. maximum.

After the inspection, the course was opened for practice runs until the actual races began. On his first practice run, Ethan stopped in the middle of the hill. When he got back to the top I asked him why he stopped. He said, "I was going too fast". I checked the top speed logged on the speedometer that we'd put on friday. It read a top speed of a little over 18 mph. And he stopped in the middle! I'd imagine that's probably plenty fast for an 8-year-old.

The racers all drew numbers for what order they raced in. Ethan drew #1. It was a double- elimination race, which means everyone's still in until they've been beaten twice. So, on the first race he lined up against another pretty quick car. As they raced down the hill I could tell Ethan was ahead until the very end. It was a very close race though. First round, first loss. After that we stood and watched the others race. We picked out the cars we thought were the fastest. Some of the ones we thought wouldn't do so good surprised us.

Then It was Ethan's turn again. He lined up against another car, and won! He waited his turn again. A few races later, Ethan was lined up on the ramp against the car that dominated the club last year. He won that one too! He ran race after race and kept winning, until it was announced that the loser of the next race will win third place.

We couldn't believe it, we knew we hadn't been eliminated yet, but didn't think we'd made it all the way up to third place!Ethan lined up on the ramp next to the car that had beat him in the very first round. I walked up and gave him a pep talk. He looked at me and said, "Dad! I can't beleive I actually got at least third place!".

I realized it didn't really matter to either one of us if we won or lost, we were havin' a blast. That race went a lot like the first one. Ethan led all the way up till the end when the other car seemed to have all its speed.


Third place! We'll take it. Not bad for a couple rookies