Katie Sullivan Blog 7/13/10

Sometimes it gets hard to stay positive when we struggle a lot. Last weekend started off as one of those weekends for me. I was so excited to ride our pro stock bike; I could hardly sleep the night before. Then, our first pass down the track, the bike ran terrible. We brought it back to the trailer and we were pretty baffled. My dad and Mike Fields Jr. made a couple of changes, and then we took it back out to try again. The bike left the line and it felt like I was on a touring bike, just laid down right out of the hole. I shut the bike down. Once we got it back to the trailer, we pulled the valve cover. My dad and I had worked so hard to get the motor out of the bike, to a shop to be freshened, and put back together before this race. Unfortunately the motor had not been done right, and that was the end of the weekend for the pro stock bike.

On Sunday, my Dad and I decided I should probably at least make some passes on my bracket bike. That way at least I could get a little seat time with Sonoma being so close. On Sunday, in our first qualifying pass, the bike shot right for the wall off the line. The bike made such a big move I had to abort the run. We brought the bike back and made some adjustments. The next qualifying pass the same exact thing happened. By then I was pretty frustrated. I am a pretty even tempered person though and I pride myself in keeping my cool. The other thing I keep in mind is when we struggle, we struggle as a team. If the bike doesn’t run well, I am not the only one who gets frustrated. My dad and Mike Fields work really hard to get me down the track, so I try and stay as positive as possible. Not just for my own sake, but to help the guys stay positive too.

We only had two qualifying passes, so we were shooting in the dark for eliminations. After all the bad luck we had been having, I tried to just block it out and go out and do my job. Our luck turned around and we went all the way to the finals! It felt great to go some rounds and I know my dad and Mike felt the same. It is easy to be a good team when you are doing well, but it is so much more of a challenge when you are struggling. Last weekend was a great reminder of how much I love racing with my dad and Mike. Even though we had a rough time, everyone worked together and we made a come back.

I was amped after our weekend and it made me ready to work hard for our up and coming return to pro stock motorcycle. We have been working so hard to get ready for Sonoma. Running our own team is a ton of work, but I love every minute of it. One thing that my dad has taught me ever since I was a little girl racing jr. dragsters is that you never take things to the race track dirty. With this in mind I spent all of Wednesday waxing and shinning our 48 foot trailer. It was a huge job and I was sore the next day, but I was so proud when I got done. Our trailer looks like new. I also changed my job title to rider/ trailer detailer (I am sure that my dad and Mike don’t mind.)

I feel like our team is really ready to be back to the pro stock motorcycle class and I can’t wait to be at the track. I also had promised a couple weeks ago that our bike was going to be “zebratastic” for its debut in the NHRA and I must say I think I delivered. I am so proud of our bike, I hand cut every piece of zebra print on the bike. It took many late nights and a lot of movies, but it was well worth it.

My dad and I have been preparing for Sonoma ever since I made the decision to pull out of the NHRA to regroup after Gainesville. I don’t think I ever realized how much work it was to run a professional team, but I know now. With Sonoma so close, I am already so proud of this team and what we have accomplished. A lot of people told us that we couldn’t do it, but with many great supporters we are well on our way. I really want to thank all the people who have supported our efforts. Also, to all the people who have wrote me emails and letters, your support is amazing and I truly appreciate it. I am ecstatic that Sonoma is finally almost here and I really hope that I can make everyone proud. I had better get back to work, we still have a lot to do to get ready. Take care and I hope to see everyone in Sonoma.

For more information on Katie, visit her team page.