Disclaimer: I’m writing this while sitting in our gazebo with a few nice Great Lakes Dortmunder Golds to help the words come. 
Boy, did they ever! Grab a beverage of your choice and here we go:
The 31st Clyde (OH) Grand Prix is in the books. A tip o’ the tam to Scott and Brad Smith of Fremont Raceway Park for putting on another enjoyable, well run event on a beautiful day that somehow seemed to stay pretty close to on schedule despite the best efforts of some of the classes to create chaos.
This is the second year my son Conor (24) and I (older than some dirt but not all of it) raced in the 206 Light and 206 Masters classes - the troublemaking money classes. Those two classes were responsible for three red flags… 
There were nine classes on the schedule - four trophy classes and five money classes. Last year our goal was just to race competitively and load the karts on the trailer in one piece. This year we had the same goal but wanted to go faster and be more competitive. Mission accomplished, mostly.
Me contemplating how to stay out of trouble before my heat race
Conor not aware of the excitement ahead…
The track at Clyde is 1/2 mile long and consists of a long front straight with a left kink that could be considered a corner but is taken flat. The kink is followed by a 90 left that leads onto the back straight.
That’s me in the drone shot going though the kink on the front straight.
At the end of the back straight is the infamous ‘Shitcane’ of song and story, where a collection of enthusiastic partiers wait for straw bales to be obliterated.
Conor (0) successfully navigating the ‘Shitcane’.
The exit of the ‘Shitcane’ led to a 90 left followed by a long flat out right hand sweeper. The rising 90 left led to a short straight that seems to cause all kinds of problems. When the street flattens out, the karts seem to want to drift to the right, where large bales of straw await those who try to go too fast on a green track with cold tires (not me, I just watched it happen ahead of me ). The last turn is a deceptively fast descending 90 left that done right gives you good momentum down the front straight.
Drone view of the Clyde Grand Prix track, complete with train. Thanks to the Tiffin University Drone Academy for the image.
206 Masters was the first heat race of the day following short practice sessions on a very green track. I expected the red mist to descend over the field as it approached the Shitcane but it unexpectedly moved a couple corners down the track where it caught ten of the twelve karts in a grand schlomozzle (h/t to sports car racer and broadcaster David Hobbs for the term). I saw the waving yellow and then the completely blocked track and stopped short of the collection of karts. The resulting red flag (not the only one for the day) reset the field with four (?) karts missing. After the restart I wound up ninth. It turns out I was geared a little too short and most of the field was able to pull away from me.
Conor’s 206 Light heat was the third race of the day. He was doing well and along with two other karts was following another kart when the kart ahead of him went wide and hit the big bales. When it was all said and done, everyone was OK although the Paramedics had a close look at the driver who flipped.
After all that, Conor was able to continue after a red flag. The red mist wasn’t done with the 206 Light field as on the last lap, another driver went wide and into a large bale which lifted them up. Conor went under the kart, flipping it over. Conor wound up with deep bruise on his arm but was otherwise OK. The other driver was checked out and sent for evaluation for a possible broken collarbone.
We checked over his kart an discovered that after all the drama, the most significant damage was a split steering shaft bushing, of all things. Amazingly, we were able to get one from our dealer/track owner and got the kart ready for the feature.
I started the 206 Masters final in ninth. I decided to drop two teeth on the axle sprocket which seemed to get me more speed on the front straight but that may have cost me a little through the Shitcane. I improved my best time to a 41.5 in the final from a 42.1 in the heat. The fast lap in class was around a 39.5. I seemed to be keeping the field in sight when the kart ahead of me pushed into the bales in turn 1. I did a half spin to avoid a collision which put me back quite a distance from the lead pack. However once the leaders passed me I was able to keep them in sight until the checker. I wound up finishing seventh of ten karts that started, which all things considered is a moral victory! Also, I won 20.00! I prefer to think of it as beer money since I spent about that much on gas driving to the race and back and beer is more fun.
After Conor and I were able to get the new steering column bushing installed we did a quick inspection of the kart. We didn’t find anything else seriously awry so he decided to send it and see what happened. After four or five laps, Conor retired; it turns out all the jostling and crashing had loosened the front weight on his kart and it was bouncing around on the floorpan between his feet. Not good. We also discovered he had lost a section of his back bumper somewhere on the track but had not yet been black flagged.
All in all, even though Conor had some dramatic moments not of his making, we had a good time and we’ll be back next year! 
The TL;DR version… We raced at Clyde, had fun and came back with both drivers and karts mostly intact.
Thanks to RC Sports Photography and Tiffin University Drone Academy for the images.
Fin.
