Post by NFRA Press Office on Jan 3, 2015 23:05:57 GMT -5
For immediate release (1/3/15)
January is normally a quiet time at the NFRA news desk, but today news staff were inundated by reports of a World Formula at Prairie City conducting what looked suspiciously like 'practice'. This is causing confusion in the NorCal karting community as everyone knows all running World Formulas are part of the NFRA, and no NFRA members ever test anything and are never sighted any earlier in the year than the traditional sacrifice of a members kart at the Syd White Enduro. So who could this lone World Formula driver be ?
The press office immediate dispatched an undercover reported to the track to try and solve the mystery and identify the driver. Staff members fully expected to see the dark and shadowy figure of the #19 who, between sips of a particularly rare micro brew, is recently known to have said "There's no way any of those other bastards are going to beat me for this year, I'm going for back to back championships .... I'M A F%$^&ING ONE MAN DYNASTY !". Apparently this outburst was met with a stony silence by the rest of the Sunday morning congregation.
The situation at Prairie City became even more confused when the reporter caught sight of number on the kart .... #47. That rightly aroused suspicion as you rarely see the #47 in his kart at race weekends, let alone at some random time before the season schedule has even been worked out. The reporter concluded that it was a fluke and clash of kart numbers and some new racer had invested in a World Formula and without checking local by-laws, chosen the number #47 rightfully owned by an S Whitworth.
The conclusion was further reinforced when the same driver was later seen laying down some lightning fast laps in an 80 shifter. At this point our reporter concluded there was no story of any relevance to the NFRA readership, this was a case of mistaken identity but decided to have one more walk around the paddock before heading home.
Just before the reporter left he saw the driver of #47 back in the paddock tending to his World Formula and while refueling his kart a massive fuel spillage occurred. This re-aroused suspicion. The NFRA trademark is indeed to release toxic materials into the environment, be that the legendary Wunder smoke screen of Dixon, the unforgettable (especially for the parents of that poor baby) Huston I-5 diesel van smoke screen, or his "It's only Atwater, I'll dump my gas here" incident. With this new gas spillage development, and indications that the NFRA might indeed be involved, the reporter hunkered down to see what other intelligence he could gather.
The driver in question, rather than getting in his World Formula, went to his associates pit (who appeared to be the owner of the shifter kart) and then proceeded to push start the shifter down the paddock toward the track. Unbeknown to our mysterious driver, some "cable maintenance" had just taken place on the shifter, so as the driver ran along side the kart, popped the clutch to start it, it started but did not settle down to a nice calm idle but instead the revs rose and consequently moved off down the paddock at a speed that caused the driver to lose grasp of the steering wheel and clutch and the kart was now under it's own power with no human in control. The driver then took a last, desperate, flying leap to try and grab the back of the seat ... but missed .... As he came crashing down face first on the tarmac he managed to get a finger grip on the rear bumper of the departing kart and after a short drag along the tarmac, bravely wrestled it to a stop. Our reporter was immediately reminded of the Terry incident some years ago in Reno.
Unfortunately our reporter was unable to positively identify the driver before having to get back to the news desk, clock off and get to the bar, so we will never know for sure who was in the #47, but the toxic chemical spills and runaway karts in the paddock certainly hinted at NFRA involvement. We'll be following this in the off season and provide updates as appropriate.
January is normally a quiet time at the NFRA news desk, but today news staff were inundated by reports of a World Formula at Prairie City conducting what looked suspiciously like 'practice'. This is causing confusion in the NorCal karting community as everyone knows all running World Formulas are part of the NFRA, and no NFRA members ever test anything and are never sighted any earlier in the year than the traditional sacrifice of a members kart at the Syd White Enduro. So who could this lone World Formula driver be ?
The press office immediate dispatched an undercover reported to the track to try and solve the mystery and identify the driver. Staff members fully expected to see the dark and shadowy figure of the #19 who, between sips of a particularly rare micro brew, is recently known to have said "There's no way any of those other bastards are going to beat me for this year, I'm going for back to back championships .... I'M A F%$^&ING ONE MAN DYNASTY !". Apparently this outburst was met with a stony silence by the rest of the Sunday morning congregation.
The situation at Prairie City became even more confused when the reporter caught sight of number on the kart .... #47. That rightly aroused suspicion as you rarely see the #47 in his kart at race weekends, let alone at some random time before the season schedule has even been worked out. The reporter concluded that it was a fluke and clash of kart numbers and some new racer had invested in a World Formula and without checking local by-laws, chosen the number #47 rightfully owned by an S Whitworth.
The conclusion was further reinforced when the same driver was later seen laying down some lightning fast laps in an 80 shifter. At this point our reporter concluded there was no story of any relevance to the NFRA readership, this was a case of mistaken identity but decided to have one more walk around the paddock before heading home.
Just before the reporter left he saw the driver of #47 back in the paddock tending to his World Formula and while refueling his kart a massive fuel spillage occurred. This re-aroused suspicion. The NFRA trademark is indeed to release toxic materials into the environment, be that the legendary Wunder smoke screen of Dixon, the unforgettable (especially for the parents of that poor baby) Huston I-5 diesel van smoke screen, or his "It's only Atwater, I'll dump my gas here" incident. With this new gas spillage development, and indications that the NFRA might indeed be involved, the reporter hunkered down to see what other intelligence he could gather.
The driver in question, rather than getting in his World Formula, went to his associates pit (who appeared to be the owner of the shifter kart) and then proceeded to push start the shifter down the paddock toward the track. Unbeknown to our mysterious driver, some "cable maintenance" had just taken place on the shifter, so as the driver ran along side the kart, popped the clutch to start it, it started but did not settle down to a nice calm idle but instead the revs rose and consequently moved off down the paddock at a speed that caused the driver to lose grasp of the steering wheel and clutch and the kart was now under it's own power with no human in control. The driver then took a last, desperate, flying leap to try and grab the back of the seat ... but missed .... As he came crashing down face first on the tarmac he managed to get a finger grip on the rear bumper of the departing kart and after a short drag along the tarmac, bravely wrestled it to a stop. Our reporter was immediately reminded of the Terry incident some years ago in Reno.
Unfortunately our reporter was unable to positively identify the driver before having to get back to the news desk, clock off and get to the bar, so we will never know for sure who was in the #47, but the toxic chemical spills and runaway karts in the paddock certainly hinted at NFRA involvement. We'll be following this in the off season and provide updates as appropriate.
