21st Annual Hot Wheels Convention
Sizzlerking takes command




Drove 19.5 hrs straight to get to my friend Mike Otte's house after a non-stop 2-week slam to get all of my work done at the amp shop. Got 3.5 hrs sleep before being woke up by Mike's birds. D'OH! I should know better. Got to the convention on Tuesday afternoon, more tired than I have EVER been at a convention. Seems the hotel had us grouped much better than last year. I didn't even want to be there the first couple of days.

Hooked up with a few "early birds" Tuesday. Actually got into the Japanese guys room on the first day, but no Sizzlers to be had. Drank a Mickeys 40 and called it a night.



Got a nice cubed Firebird, ripped a SRR from '75 and two Fireworks from Mike Otte.

Woke up Wednesday feeling tired, but a little better. Hooked up with a bunch more people. Craig had a couple of amps that needed minor repairs. Fixed one, and he will "handle" the repair on the other. Wanted to get those done EARLY so that I could do the convention thing.




First thing I got on Wednesday was a clear prototype from Danny Overby. Not a Redline, but still pretty sweet.

Got the room track setup on Wednesday as well. Did a lot of Sizzlers hunting. Wasn't coming up with much, but I was enjoying my time getting caught up with everyone. Mark Lewis and I discussed the "new" Ghetto Van for this year. Was also great seeing Redline Roger again. Been a couple of years. We had a mini "jam session" in Craig's room. Mark Lewis brought along a bass which I did a basic setup on. Craig got on the guitar and I on the bass. We jammed for a while. Security showed up later and said there were "noise complaints" heh heh heh. We were done playing by that time. A basically relaxing non-eventful day.

Thursday picked up the pace a bit. Started working on Sizzlers for the races. Mickey Stone dropped off a few, as did Bob Ireland. Worked on a couple more for another guy. I have scaled back the Sizzlers repair because I want to enjoy the con more with less work :P Drove out to TK Burgers at Huntington Beach for lunch with Wayne Medlin, Mark Fletcher, Mike Otte and his wife Rowina, Mark Lewis, Dave Lopez among a few others. Saw TKs owner BB Jim there too. Haven't talked to him since 2003. Was a great day to hang out and talk redlines. Went back to the hotel and started working on cars again. I realized there was a problem with the cars not retaining their charge. I put new batteries in the goose pump. Still was having problems. I began to realize that the batteries I had acquired through a friend from "up north" (you racers know what I am talking about) were basically junk, ESPECIALLY the long batteries. They were old, and really didn't work for squat. I wound up switching Goose Pumps, and that solved the major charging woes, but the batteries were still falling short.

I had to spend HOURS testing each battery to find the ones that would hold a charge the longest. Ridiculous. Mark Lewis and Bob Ireland helped too. I was pretty pissed at the poor quality of the batteries, combined with the age. Not a good mix. I would up using the batteries I got from Wayne Pritchett last year. They were head and shoulders above the others. Go figure. I will be ordering the batteries DIRECT from China for nesx year. I ran out of time to really get them for 2007. Wound up doing the BPLA Thursday night. I busted out a Sir Rodney Roadster in blue blister. I think that was the only BP FC car for this year. Was a childhood "rip" for me. Bought an old Whizzer Set from Mark Fletcher too. HOW COOL IS THAT?? Finished the night out working on cars.

Now for Friday! Big Sizzlers day for me. Got the Ghetto Van sorted out first. Spent more time on the GV than my cars (again).

Wound up having to "re-invent" my Ferrari. Motor housing had been apart so many times that the tabs broke on disassembly. I knew that was on borrowed time anyway. I set up a new motor for it. The car was not as fast as before, but was real steady. I raced an Angelino too. Had to reinvent that car as well. I had been losing in short battery for years, and started from scratch. I noticed that this year I could not build a real fast car. Real weird. Normally I really can knock 'em out. Not so for '07. Cars were quick, but not insane like usual. It was a good thing, because my main competitor Wayne Pritchett was not able to attend this year. If he was here, things would have been different I think. Anyway, was invited to the "prototype" party. Was a BLAST. I brought along a 4x resin, the Sideburn pre-production "rainbow" along with others. It was great seeing all those rare cars at one sitting. THANKS GUYS FOR THE INVITE!!!! I actually won a set of the special cars for the event.



"Fire sale" deals on Saturday night. CHEAP!.

Spent the evening still working on cars. I got everything done BEFORE HAND for the first time EVER! Nice! My old buddy James came down from Oxnard to do some partying. We dreank some beer, and went up to Jack Kaye's room for some prank calls. HEH HEH HEH too much fun!

Sizzlers races were on Saturday. See results below.



TROPHIES! My first place in both long and short battery, and Mark Lewis 2nd Place Ghetto Van!







After the races, went to Boca Di Beppo with Mike, Rowina, Mrk and James. In a stroke of luck, we got the "Table in the Kitchen". Freaking awesome! I had more fun that night in a restaurant than I ever had before! Was a blast! A great stress reliever after those Sizzlers races.

Wound up taking off Sunday back to Duarte. I then spent the next two days working on some very disused motorcycles at mymos place. Uh, so much for "vacation"!!! image But after two-LONG days of work we did get one of those old dogs running again. Talk about some seriously DIRTY carburetors! Man. It was agreat feeling to hear the bike fire up with no issues after all of taht work. Thing had been sitting for something like 10-years.



Mike on his now running Midnight Maxim.

Drove to El Paso Wednesday, spent time with friends, then rolled in to SA yesterday afternoon.

Man, I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!!!!

It was great seeing you all again, until next time, keep Sizzlin'!!!

- SK



RACE INFO:


Sizzlerking prepared cars placed in the following categories:

Long Battery: First, third
Short Battery: First, Second, Third
Kids Races: Second, Third

It was a crazy day. The new Sizzlrs races took FOREVER. I don't think anyone had planned for that. I am guessing close to three-hours to run all of the heats. Nuts. I didn't build any particularly insanely fast cars, but they were very reliable and quick.

If you want to win, you want a SIZZLERKING prepared car.




Me after the 5-hour racing ordeal. Tired was an understatement.

Other items of note:



Jim (Beach Bomb Jim TKs owner) and Mike Otte. Dave Lopez and Mark Fletcher organized a great time at TKs this year. It was a smaller crowd, but we still had a great time.




BPLA

I was thinking all week what would be a good car to get to rip. I decided on a Flying Colors car, since those were the ones I remember as a kid.I got a Sir Rodney Roadster from Mike Step, and ripped her good! I was the only one representing the FCs this year.


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