Welcome to the newest section of the Corfield Woods Motorsport website - Corfield Woods Motorsport Team Blogs. This section of the website has been put together so that our fans can keep up to date with what the team is doing when they aren't racing at a speedway. The next few editions are going to come from the USA as team PR Manager, Ryan Corfield is going to be spending almost a month on the road visiting some old friends as well as attending some Speedway and Drag Racing events. Please stay tuned for the latest from Ryan's trip in the USA.

7/5/2008 – No World of Outlaws Racing – All Stars Instead – Eldora to Sydney

Hi Guys,

Sorry for not updating this blog for almost two weeks. I never really got the chance once we hit the road to go to Eldora.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to go to any World of Outlaws events as both Huesets and Knoxville got cancelled due to inclement weather. However, Eldora made up for it. When you get to go to arguably the best speedway track in the world and still get to see the likes of Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz and Joey Saldana race against the best of the All Stars you know that you got bang for your buck!

Now for those speedway fans that have never see Eldora it’s extremely different from what we have here in Sydney at Parramatta. Eldora is high banked and the sprinters like to run wide open (with no mufflers) around the fence. Absolutely amazing!

Please check out these shots – Sorry that they’re not the best (I’m not the world’s greatest photographer). Regardless, you can still see how fast the Sprinters are.

Joey Saldana was the eventual winner of the night while Steve Kinser and the #11 Quaker State team finished fourth after starting 11th and transferring out of the B Main.

On Sunday, the day after the races back at the Kinser household, I had a lazy one with a sleep in until almost mid-day. I finally got up and got all of my bags packed; now that was a task and a half with well over twenty t-shirts and nine pairs of Levi’s. With thanks to Dana I don’t think that I would have been able to get everything into my bags.

Later that night, Steve and I sat down and watched the NASCAR race at Talladega as well as the history making NHRA race at Atlanta with the Funny Car final between father and daughter, John and Ashley Force. Ashley was the eventual winner of the match-up and hence became the first female to have ever won an NHRA Funny Car event, should John have won he would have scored his 1000th round win in professional competition. Another milestone for his career.

This brought my time with the Kinser’s in Indiana to an end. Lights out and then up early in the morning for my trip back to California. 

Once I arrived back in Granite Bay, CA, I pulled everything out of my bag and showed Jim all of the goodies I had accumulated while I was in Texas and Indiana. I don’t know how I managed to get everything back, but somehow I did.

The next day (Tuesday, my final day in the USA) Jim, Maurice and myself spent the day doing some last minute shopping trying to find a pair of shoes that I wasn’t able to get hold of during the time that I was in Texas and Indiana. After this we headed back and scrammed everything into my two bags. Once again it only just barely fitted in.

How were we going to get on the plane? Well that’s not such a big deal, after sweet talking my way out of a $230US overweight baggage charge I managed to get on the flight with no dramas. Customs in Australia didn’t give me a hard time either, as a matter of fact they didn’t even  X-Ray my bags. Thankfully as I think I would have been paying money in duty.

Well now the fun is over and it’s back to work. Keep an eye on the website for more future updates as well as all the latest news and information about the Corfield Woods Motorsport team.

Ryan

25/04/2008 - Visiting the Motorsport Capital of the World – Indianapolis, IN

Well here we have it… I finally arrive in Indianapolis on Tuesday night and make it to Bloomington, the home town as the world’s greatest Sprintcar driver Steve ‘The King’ Kinser and I have the privilege to spend a few days with the Kinser family (Steve, Dana, Stevie Kraig and Kurt). But before I talk about what I have done since being here and trust me there’s lots of it – here’s what transpired to get here.

On Tuesday morning I arrive at Dallas Fortworth Texas (DFW) and find out that there’s a possibility that I might not be able to make the flight as I’m only on standby when flying internally and the flight is packed. Great! Just the thing we need when I have a tight schedule. Thankfully I got on the flight safe and sound and made it to Phoenix and got the connecting flight to Indianapolis. The same thing happened with the flights in Phoenix, but thankfully I made the flight to Indy.

Upon arrival into Indy I was greeted at the airport by Stevie (Kinser) and then we headed for the Kinser residence (Bloomington, IN). The Kinser’s have an absolutely fantastic house and raceshop facility here. See the photos below.

Steve and Dana kindly showed me around the raceshop and property and now I have a complete understanding of what it takes to compete full time at the most competitive level in Sprint Car racing in the world. Steve has two complete racecars in the shop as well as three spare rolling chassis as well as another two in the trailer. Now remember the aim of the game is to only use one of those for along as possible or in other words, not need any spares. But as you know Sprintcar racing is Sprintcar racing so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

After the tour was completed it was getting late for the night – so it was off to bed and then up in the morning to head into Indy and see some spectacular motor racing spectacles including Indianapolis Motor Speedway (home to the Indy 500), Indianapolis Raceway Park (the home of the world’s biggest, most prestigious Drag Race – the MAC Tools US Nationals) as well as numerous team shops in Brownsburg.

Although not having much to do with NASCAR during my time in Motorsport, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is a sight to see. Seeing this facility on television and in photographs just doesn’t do this facility any justice. The facility is simply mind blowing. Dana and I went on the bus tour and the museum tour. Check out the photos below to see the memorabilia inside.

After leaving here we headed to Brownsburg. I was amazed at the size of the facilities located here… but hey… you got to remember this is America and Americans like big things! The list of shops that I seen during my time here include: Tony Stewart Racing (which I was showed around by Mikey [Stevie’s boyfriend] this shop houses all of Tony’s short track teams, check the photos) Don Schumacher Racing, which was very impressive. Very clean and large, which it needs to be considering that it’s home to the biggest multi car Drag Racing team in the world, John Force Racing, where all of the Eric Medlen project is carried out (the research and development that is carried out to make cars safer after the tragic accident that took place at the beginning of 2007) and Don Prudhomme Racing. These facilities are all world class!

Once leaving Brownsburg, Dana and myself headed for Clermont. Home town to the oldest, most well known and prestigious Drag Race of all time – THE BIG GO! The MAC Tools US Nationals. This racetrack has an atmosphere like none other. You need to be there to realise what this single venue means to the world of Drag Racing. I can hardly imagine what it would be like during the actual race later in the year during the month of September. Hopefully I get to go for the race sometime.

Well, this brings to an end my tour of the ‘the Motorsport capital of the world’. This weekend I will be heading on the road with the Quaker State team to visit Huesets and Knoxville. So, having said that I may not get the chance to get a blog together until the beginning of next week, but be sure that it will happen. Steve and the team are pumped to go racing considering that it has rained out the last few weeks, which means no racing and no money coming in to pay the bills. Fingers crossed it will be a good weekend for both nights.

Look forward to updating you soon.

Take care, Ryan.

21/4/2008 - A Weekend Spent at the Texas Motorplex - Ennis, Texas

US Outlaw Nationals

Hi Guys and Gals. Welcome to the second blog on the Corfield Woods Motorsport website - an update of my trip in the USA. This past weekend I spent the weekend at the Texas Motorplex, which is in a little Town south of Dallas called Ennis for the first annual US Outlaw Pro Mod Nationals. The weekend went down well and I had the opportunity to see some of the most prettiest racecars within the world. If I was to judge a car based on best appearance and best appearing crew it would have to go to the Gaylen Smith, 73 Cuda Pro Mod team.

The crowd were very vocal of this car every time it hit the track and hence was definitely the favorite for the win of the weekend, however, Gaylen was defeated in the semi finals (second round as it was an eight car field), but none the less the entire LenMar Motorsports team were very happy with their achievements, which included three passes with under four second ET's. Should they have been running over the quarter mile, the car would have run deep in to the five second zone.

Take a look at the photos and you will see just what I mean about how pretty this car is. I have also added a photo of their transporter. They are nothing short of VERY PROFESSIONAL.

There were also two Pro Stock cars testing over the weekend in order for the next two weekends on the NHRA circuit (Atlanta and St. Louis). The white GTO is a brand new car, with the green and white car a few seasons old and is also an ex-Mike Edwards car. The car used to sport the Young Life livery.

The weekend was very long and exhausting. I was arriving at the track early in the morning and wasn't leaving there until late at night, but what the heck it doesn't matter. You're doing what you love to do most. GO RACING!!!

Last night (Sunday Night), we got out of the track before dark and stopped for dinner at Hooters. I hope you let me do this Mum! The food was excellent and the waiters were very friendly. I had never been to a Hooters before. We were meant to go to the one back in Sydney at the end of 07 but never made it as it was booked out. We might get the chance to go there when I return home. We'll see if it's as good as what they have here in the States.

Today (Monday), I went to Smileys Speed Shop and JC Penney's to get some gear to take back home with me. At Smiley's they have a very impressive showroom, it's absolutely packed with all of the essentials for the Speedway Racer. Smileys are also becoming involved in Drag Racing and build cars (turn key) within their Mesquite, TX facility. See the photos, this workshop is absolutely immaculate. JC Penney's is a department store similar to Myer or David Jones that we have back in Australia. I got three pairs of Levi Jeans for $94US. I don't even think you will get one pair for that price back home. What a bargain!

Well... This brings me to the conclusion of my second blog and my time here in Texas for this trip. Tonight I will be going to Speedzone an indoor Go-Karting and Drag Racing center. Tomorrow I will be flying back to Phoenix and then up to Indiana to spend six days with the Kinser's. We will be racing this weekend both Friday (Huesets) and Saturday (Knoxville) nights. The two most famous Sprint Car tracks in the world! Steve hasn't got a win on the 2008 World of Outlaws tour, but I got a funny feeling it might be a different story after this weekend. It would be neat to have it happen this weekend. After all they do call him 'THE KING!'

Until next time,

Ryno

17/4/2008 - A Ten Day Whirlwind

Well here we have it, who would have thought that two weeks ago I would have been spending by first set of TAFE Holidays all the way over in the USA attending some Motorsport events both Drag Racing and Speedway. It goes to show that life is unpredictable and anything can come your way at the most unexpected times, but what the heck at the end of the day I had wanted to always come back here and bang here we are.

I guess the thing that made this trip possible is having a very supportive family back home in Australia and a family that have always supported my love for motor racing and especially that has given me the freedom to travel to the other side of the world to have some fun. So thanks to Mum and Dad as well as my brother Grant for letting me go far, far away. I tend to wonder if Mum was really ready for it and something tells me that the look on her face says that she wasn't as I walked into Customs at Sydney Airport before I flew out to San Francisco. The flight was OK, but if you ask me flying's flying... not much to rant and rave about. Oh and by the way - we had a celebrity pilot (See the above photo). Don't know how good he would be though.

Once getting off the plane and clearing a random bag search in US Customs, I think that after they seen my passport photo, they must have thought I was a criminal! I finally met up with Jim and Jamie Pisciotta, long time friends of the Corfield Woods Motorsport team, and then we headed for Saucilito for a bite to eat. Man, no wonder Americans are well known for being obese, the hamburger was the biggest hamburger I had ever seen.

After returning to the Pisciotta household, which is located in the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, Jim guided me around the property and showed me the changes that have taken place since the last time I was there in 2003.

Before I went to bed for the night I got to see Jim's wife Janice for the first time in five years, which was pretty cool.

The next few days were spent around the Pisciotta household, watching Jim assemble some engines for his customers back home for the Australian Drag Racing fraternity. My time away from the house was spent at the local Sun Splash Amusement Park, which featured a Putt-Putt Golf course, Water Park (which won't be open until May, when I am back in Australia) and a really cool Go-Kart track. You all know which one was my favorite.

In total, I have been there three times in less than 48 hours, pretty amazing! Janice, Natalie (eldest daughter of Jim and Janice) and myself had a game of putt-putt. Natalie beat me in a very close and exciting match-up with the final score being 65 to 69.

How did I do in the Go-Karts??? I hear you ask! Well... alright Janice and another girl beat me the first heat, which isn't good considering I started out of position ONE... but, the second time around I actually won, but I think I had a much better Kart.

Currently, I am in Texas and will be here until Tuesday. The next few days will be spent at the Dallas Motorplex for the Outlaw Pro Mod Shootout - $100k total prize purse. It should be a real cracker. I will post more photos after the weekend of the event.

Take care and I'll update soon,

Ryan