04/23/2026
Another eventful weekend at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit is in the books! After getting maybe 3 hours of sleep Wednesday from preparing/ loading the trailer the previous night, I set out on my journey to Oklahoma for the first time driving across the state line myself. A slight detour to DFW to pick up Chase, and then another four hours to get to the track.
We stopped at Wal-Mart in Ada for supplies and picked up a couple of kick-scooters. After 4 previous visits, I knew from experience that walking gets old quickly. The scooters came in super handy for quick trips up and down the paddock, as well as keeping Chase entertained. We pitched the tent behind our pit area and settled in for the night, anticipating a busy day of practice the following day.
The infamous âHallett Chicken Songâ rang out precisely at 7AM (as is tradition), and Steven Craig and company rolled into the track shortly after. We unloaded the trailer, set tire pressure and went to the driverâs meeting to see how the schedule for the K.A.R.T. Test & Tune day was to go. Shortly after, Spence and I were heading out for our first laps since our previous visit in August of 2024.
It took until our third practice session for both of us to complete a whole session together. Spence spun at the bottom of the hill in the âCoyoteâ turn on the first lap of our first session. I looked back, saw him in the grass and knew I couldnât wait for him as I still needed to keep momentum up to climb the hill after the corner without burning up my clutch for the day. I completed the rest of the session solo. In the second session, I got into Coyote a little too hot, and when I hit the brakes and let off the gas simultaneously, the kart died. I pulled off to the side for the rest of the session and watched from the tire stack for what seemed like an eternity. The only fortunate thing from that event was that I got to see who else was practicing and waved at a few that I recognized from previous events.
We made several other runs throughout the day, trying to work in tandem to perfect our drafting technique. This was severely hampered due to the fact that the wind seemed to be blowing 5MPH faster every time we went out (pretty sure we were fighting 40MPH gusts by the end of the day). We started packing up before the last session due to the weather rolling in.
Chase and I drove to the nearest Wal-Mart in Cleveland, OK to pick up a few more supplies for the weekend and headed to a local pizza joint after. While waiting for our food, we got to watch the local news live coverage of the tornado warning going on about thirty minutes north of our location. I kept checking the radar on my phone to see what the future held for the track that night. We were definitely going to get hit by a portion of the cell, but the most severe weather was staying to the north. We left the restaurant just as it started to rain.
I made sure the tent was battened down, and we attempted to turn in for the night around 8:45. Those efforts were short-lived however, as the first round of the monsoon rolled in quickly around 9:15 that night. Iâm not sure how high the winds were, but it was blowing a fine mist up under our rain fly. Chase bundled up in his sleeping bag and eventually fell asleep as I kept one eye on the radar. I drifted off to sleep after several waves, but the storm lasted until around 2AM or so I was told.
We woke up cold and slightly soggy the next morning, the Chicken Song washing away the uneasy feeling Chase had falling asleep the night before. We waited for the driverâs meeting in the car with the heater on, as it was in the 40âs that morning with a crisp wind (though thankfully not as severe as the previous day). The original plan was to get all of our maintenance for the race done after practice the previous day, but the incoming storms postponed all of it until that morning. Spence and I spent the morning practice sessions prepping our karts for the race, and we didnât get any practice that day.
The race lineup was randomly generated by the scoring system. Before rolling down to the grid, we agreed that it didnât matter where either of us started, we were going to link up as quickly as possible and begin drafting. The 206 class begins from a âLemansâ style start, with all karts lined up at a 45 degree angle on the side of the track. I was to start the race from the third position, and Spence was⌠weâll just say nowhere near the front. The green flag dropped and my kart launched off the line like it never had before. Before I knew it, I was in the lead and looking back over my shoulder at the field getting up to speed behind me.
As I selfishly contemplated pulling down in front of the pack and attempting to force them to push me along, I kept my word and stayed high through the first corner as I drifted back to link up with Spence. When we finally connected half a lap later, I believe we were in 12th and 13th position. We stayed together for the rest of the event, but all of the leaders were long gone. Our fastest time as a tandem was around 1 minute 44 seconds, but the leaders were drafting in trains around 4 seconds faster than us. We battled back to 7th and 8th, and I began to prepare for the next race. I cleaned up the kart, changed the oil and refreshed the clutch⌠And then went down the hill to attempt to build an alliance in an effort to improve our results the next day.
Going back to that time in practice the previous day that I spent watching the field drive by after my kart died, two of the drivers I noticed were the #14 of Logan Sheafer and the #41 of Nate Jacobs. They werenât committed to working with anyone else for the weekend, and I asked if they would be interested in practicing with Spence and I the following morning. I was relieved when they agreed to stop by our pit before practice and we all went down to the track together to try to establish a 4 kart train.
Unfortunately for Spence, he was separated from us by another kart leaving the pit road, and he never got the opportunity to feel the speed of the draft that we got rolling in that practice session. I initially rolled off behind Nate and Logan, but Logan swapped positions with me and put me in the center of the âSlothâ sandwich. It took me a few laps to adjust to Nateâs braking points and the slight differences in his lines, but by the second half of that session, I could tell we were turning monster laps. There were several laps that we came up on traffic in somewhat precarious corners and abandoned the lap. But as we took the checkered for what would turn out to be our only practice session, our MyChron showed a lap faster than any lap turned the previous day. I debriefed with them after the session as we tried to anticipate what gear to run for the final race that afternoon. It was still a rather chilly morning session, but by the time our race went green, it would be a lovely forecast in the seventies.
I changed to the gear we agreed to run, filled my fuel tank, parked my kart and began the pit/camp tear-down process as the KA 100s kicked off the day before lunch. Steve had taken the win the previous day in the heavy class and was looking to double down on his hardware. In this event, he came up just 0.007 seconds short and had to settle on P2. After getting the pit area packed away and all of our camping gear sorted and âTetrisâ-ed into my car, I took Chase to the area where he would soon be watching my final race of the weekend and got some photos in Victory Circle.
Before I knew it, the final call for my race was being announced over the PA system, and we were gridding up for the start. To my astonishment; Nate, myself and Logan were lined up in the same sequence we had just practiced and starting around the 5th position. Spence got the short end of the draw once more and started from the back. With the system giving us the advantage of not having to organize our train of 3, we could not afford to drop back and pick him up at the start. The green dropped for the final time, and we rolled off toward the first turn!
Our trio established the lead early, and as we came by the finish line to complete the first lap, it felt awesome to be the lead train in a 206 Senior race at Hallett. Our train held the lead for a few laps, but unfortunately it became apparent that we had chosen the wrong gear to race with. As we were linked up and pounding the rev limiter, another trio motored by and slowly began to drive away into the distance.
We did not give up after losing the lead, and our trio had a spirited battle with another 2-kart tandem that was working well together. Our trio and that duo would draft by each other several times during the race. At some point, Logan was separated from Nate and I, and the battle became 2 vs 2. Trailing them as we approached the line to begin our final lap, the other duo somehow became separated. I pushed Nate by them on the final lap. Coming off the last corner, our 2 teams raced back to the line. I ultimately ended the race in 5th, having experienced the most fun race Iâve been in at Hallett.
I had a 10 hour drive ahead of me to get home, and we still needed to load our karts in the trailer. I said a quick goodbye to my Kansas friends and thanked them for working with me. We loaded the last of the trailer, Chase and I hopped in the car and began to head back to DFW. I got him home a little after 9PM, and I arrived in Odessa that night just after 3AM.
A huge thank you to everyone that allowed this weekend to be possible! Every time I compete in a road race, I learn something new and canât wait to return! I really hope that I can run it back in September!
-Dakota
P.S. Since I know you wonât read this novel Rambo, just be sure to go with us next time bro! Youâll love it!
