This weekend we tried pulling the trailer and jeep with the Alpine; I could rarely feel back there. I expect it will pull the tour jeep well also (when the time comes).

We spent part of this Labor Day weekend at the OverBored race, which is always a fun time. Unfortunately, the poor cell reception meant I couldn’t do updates while there, hence the delay in them.

While the jeep performed well, especially the power steering, thanks to the modifications I made to the pump, my deteriorating eye sight proved to be an insurmountable obstacle to success.

A year ago I had the detached retina. Prior to surgery in late August of 2023 I was warned that the surgery could cause the quick onset of a cataract. Following the surgery, everything seemed fine, but by Feb 2024 my left eye’s vision changed (cloudier with poor vision clarity) enough that I needed a new prescription. By May of 2024, the cataract rose to a 3 on a scale of 1-4, necessitating a new prescription, again. By late July, my eye sight declined further, so the eye-doc set me up with a Cataract clinic consult, but that won’t be until the end of October.

Nonetheless, I decided to try racing this weekend, as the jeep (and the Alpine coach) needed another shakedown, even though I figured the poor sight in the left eye might play into slow times. Sure enough, during my obstacle course run, while the jeep was raring to go, I hesitated quite a bit, as my glasses, which fit snuggly in my helmet, still vibrated slightly, leading me a few times to momentarily be unable to see where the course led. Though I completed the first race without making a mistake, I also knew I didn’t go as fast as I thought the jeep was capable of going.

For the second run, this time on the Cross Country course, I decided to be more aggressive. For example, I wanted to see how well the rear end kicked out around barrels, so I was more liberal with my sharp turns and gunning it, which, indeed, caused the jeep to spin nicely around the curves at time. Unfortunately, the speed caused me to make two mistakes. The first time I started to turn where there wasn’t a turn, but that time I just backed up, then got back on course. The second time I rocketed out into the open, only to lose track of which direction to go (it wasn’t well marked, but it’s still my fault). As a result, I ended up going around the outside of the course for about 50ft rather than staying in the correct lane. Basically, I guessed wrong.

For those times I could see, I was having a blast. I could feel what Leftovers was capable of doing and that felt great.

Rob Stafford and I talking while I waited my turn at the Cross Country course.

So, for me, that’s the end of the racing season this year. Hopefully, the cataract surgery occurs without issue (lots of folks report that it’s the best thing they’ve had done) and I can return next May with more success and more aggressive runs.

Anyway, here are some photos from this past weekend, thanks to Ann. We’ll start with a few valve-cover racing photos. Overbored runs this event each year. As the name implies, you build a rolling car from a valve cover. The valve car weight limit is 10lbs. The kids run their cars first, followed later by the adults. Here are some of the kid photos. The first shows Rob and Diana Stafford setting up the track.

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