BC Children's Hospital & A&W Cruisin' for a Cause Promotion at Walmart

Yesterday I had a great time meeting with fans, signing autographs and most importantly collecting donations for my charity BC Children's Hospital. We spent most of the week getting our car ready for the two day Gordie Mannes race weekend but were able to put some time aside to make this appearance.
It was a bit of a logistical nightmare to make it happen because we had only one trailer for two cars and were on the other side of town from the shop. Its the long weekend here too so there was an awful lot of traffic and two accidents we had to detour around. Luckily my dad and crew member Jason were able to get the other car across town while I entertained fans and promoted the races this weekend.




Racing starts tonight at 8 and we should have the car up at the track by 12:00 for pre-race tech and practice. This is the single event at my home track this year so hopefully we can finish well for the hometown crowd.
Tomorrows race is also at 8
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Charity Event + Gordie Mannes Memorial Weekend

This Friday I will be at Walmart in Penticton, BC with my BC Children's Hospital car and the A&W "Cruisin' for a Cause" car to raise awareness for both charities and collect donations for the Children's Hospital. We will have the hood we took to the Hospital there for the general public to sign for a donation. We hope to have the hood filled with signatures for the race event at Penticton Speedway on Saturday.

I have never raced my late model at Penticton Speedway before but in 2010 I finished 2nd both nights in my Streetstock. I am optimistic about the weekend for the racing and my charity efforts if we keep the car clean we should be able to bring it home with an awesome finish. 

My family is all in town because we are having quite a few birthday celebrations this weekend and I will have to find time to squeeze in a visit with them amongst everything else I am trying to make fall into place. With the Nascar Canadian Tire Series debut over with that takes a lot off my plate and doing as well as we did makes all the hard work worth it. 

Special Thanks to Jason White for making that dream a reality and all the people who helped make it happen. 

Hopefully we get everything else worked out and then I get a week off to reflect on everything we have done recently, it all seems very surreal. 

Successful Nascar Debut for Sarah Cornett-Ching in the A&W "Cruisin' for a Cause" Chevrolet

July 23rd 2011- Motoplex Speedway Vernon BC,  The Nascar Canadian Tire Series rolled into Vernon, BC with an eager young rookie ready to take to the track; Sarah Cornett-Ching was set for her Nascar debut in the A&W 300 at Motoplex.
The deal with Jason White Racing had fallen into place just weeks before the event and Sarah hadn't been in the car more than 20 minutes to fit the seat. With such a huge opportunity at hand Sarah and her team prepared themselves as best as they could in the days leading up to the event and even acquired last minute sponsors to make it all possible
When Saturday finally rolled around the team had already been through pre-race inspection and had a safety check completed. Racing in a more structured series proved more involved than expected as the team had never been through such a rigorous tech inspection.
The cars hit the race track at 1:30 sharp for practice, her first time ever behind the wheel of a Nascar style car and there were many changes that needed to be made for more driveability. At the end of practice the #25 "Cruisin' for a Cause" Chevrolet was 16th of 21 cars.
Starting at the back of the field and staying out of trouble was the plan for this youngster, which she did with ease. Everything was going to plan running as high as 9th and managing to stay on the lead lap until lap 286 when contact with a lapped car would cut down the right front tire sending her car into the back straightaway wall.
Visual damage sustained included two flat tires so the crew went to work and had the car back out for the lap 290 restart. Unfortunately the handling would be ill after the contact with the wall and eventually the car would spin out of control due to a broken trailing arm mount.
Despite not taking the checkered flag Sarah finished 14th of 21 cars and definitely had a successful debut, Sarah looks forward to more races in this Series and more competitive finishes to come.

Special Thanks: Snap-On Tools, ANJ Automotive, RPR Heating and Air Conditioning, Boilermakers Union #359, Canadian Tire, Underwriters Insurance, Stef Fratino, RaceCom, and Lordco. Crew: Joe Cornett-Ching, Jason Anderson, Korbin Thomas, Kendall Thomas, Nevada Turner, Dan Ursel, Cory McGiverin, Freddy, Tyler, Jason & Jim White, Ken, Jessica, and Earl. Anyone else who helped I really appreciate it too!

Follow Sarah at www.sccracing.com and on her faebook page Sarah Cornett-Ching Racing to stay up to date with where she races next.

Friday Afternoon Day 4

Had a course today for training at work it was fun we used lego to learn about lean flow and kan ban. It was interesting and the best part was we got off at 2 so now I am grabbing a few last minute things from the house and we are headed to Quesnel.
Apparently there is a parade tomorrow at 1130 in Quesnel for the Billy Barker Days weekend so I think we will enter the car in it, should be a good photo op. Then practice will be starting at the race track and I will be able to  spend some laps feeling out the track. We had a chance to run a few laps there on our way back from Prince George 4 weeks ago hopefully it comes back to me when I get out there.
We are stopping in Kamloops to check out the car I will be running in the Nascar A&W 300 next weekend and to have a chat with Jason White on the way. I have a few interviews set up for Monday to announce my appearance in the event, but for now we are about to hit the road. Ciao

Day 3 ~ Successful Day

I had a meeting with our union at work, Lodge 359 Boiler Makers Union and they are interested in coming on board for the race. I also had a meeting with Neil Jamieson from Underwriters Insurance in Penticton, BC he was impressed with all the work we have been putting in and at what I am doing at such a young age. He is also going to be on the car for the race.
I then headed to the race shop so we could button up a few last minute things on the Arca car because we are leaving tomorrow at 3:00 for Quesnel. As I jumped on the computer I noticed I had a message from my Snap-On rep and he was it said; "Good news call me asap" After getting off the phone with him I was ecstatic Snap-On really came on board for us for this event.
Tomorrow on our way to Quesnel we will be stopping by the shop where the Nascar Canadian Tire Series car is to finalize a few details and fit me in the race car. Everything seems to be coming together and hopefully I can clear my mind of all this we can have a good run in Quesnel this weekend in the Arca West Ok Tire Series.

Wednesday July 13th Day 2

This had been a lot more work than I anticipated! We have barely had a wink of sleep so far this week between trying to prepare my Arca West car and get this all organized for my Nascar Canadian Tire Series debut.
I got in touch with Dan Ursel from Lordco today he is going to lend me his trailer, pitcart, air guns, over the wall equipment and give me some tires to run on for the event. This should make getting there and keeping everything organized easier than with the trailer we have.
Tonight we are going to focus on the Arca series car to get it prepared for our first race at Gold Pan Speedway during the Billy Barker Days in Quesnel, BC. We have a ton of work to do to get this car ready.
I have three meetings set up for tomorrow in regards to the upcoming Nascar race.

Day 1 of Nascar Canadian Tire Series Race Preparations

Last night after I hung up with Jason I made a few phone calls to get a crew in place and try to make arrangements to talk to some companies about sponsorship for the event the next day.
I was able to make a meeting with my local Canadian Tire in Penticton, BC for after work on Tuesday, and a good friend of mine who works as a mechanic at Canadian Tire made the commitment to double whatever the store could do. That was a start towards what we needed for the race.
Then I had to start figuring out how I would get the equipment needed for my over the wall crew, I know someone who raced the series quite a few years ago and was able to give me some of the stuff I would need. I was also trying to track down a set of used tires which I never did acquire.
 We are racing in Quesnel this weekend so during this time my race car was all torn apart while we put in the new clutch added the lead back in from the Superlate race, changed carbs, and got tires sorted out.
I made a list of people I thought would be interested in helping out and getting some exposure for their companies one of which was my own work. I also contacted all the people I wanted to have on my crew for the event and tried to get confirmations from them.
Tomorrow I will be mainly focused on getting sponsorship for the event

Received a Game Changing Phone Call Today

It was Monday July 11th and we were working on the race car when my phone rang, it was Jason White a Canadian Tire Nascar Series driver and someone I look up to who also mentors me with my PR program. He had some ground breaking news that at first I was tentative to believe because it seemed so surreal. He wanted to put me in his Nascar Canadian Tire Series car for the A&W 300 at Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, BC.
Despite the fact that he had worked feverishly to make this happen for me there is still a lot of work to be done, I have to come up with sponsors for the event and as many of you may not know there is an extensive amount of planning that goes into racing a weekend in this series. I was told that some of the equipment we needed would be available to us but there were things I would need to find for the weekend
Being that we were only going to have a week and a half to get this organized, I started making phone calls that night. I was going to need SFI fire proof suits, shoes, and helmets for my over the wall crew, fuel aprons and balaclavas for my fuel guys. I will also have to find air guns and other tools for tire changes, all while getting my other car ready for our upcoming race in Quesnel and finding sponsorship for the event.
Stay tuned as I update this blog throughout my week and a half of preparations for this event. It will be a great opportunity and I have to give a huge thank you to Jason White and his crew for making this all come together for me!

My Visit to the BC Children's Hospital July 9th 2011

We had an absolutely awesome trip down to Vancouver this weekend the only way it would have been better is if when I left I could taken all the sickness away from the kids.
My sister and I left home at 7am for the drive down to Vancouver, and got there in time to have lunch at The Eatery downtown.We had to take the truck so we could bring the hood down with us which made driving stressful. The streets are very skinny and you can be driving along and all of a sudden there are parked cars in your lane. All I could do was trust the GPS because I had no idea where we were and there was a ton of traffic!
We got to the Hospital with plenty of time to spare and then had a hard time getting in touch with the Child Life Specialist who was supposed to meet me there.
When we met up with her we started unloading all my race gear, raffle prizes and props I had brought with us to entertain the kids. We set up the hood for the kids to sign and draw on and it was a huge hit, I showed them all the safety gear I have to wear in the race car and we played some racing videos I had brought along.
We did a raffle for a die cast car, Darrell Waltrip signed hat and some Aarons hats aswell, I signed drivers cards for all the kids, their parents and siblings. It was worth every kilometer we had to drive to see the kids having a new experience and not being cooped up in their rooms. We were unable to take any pictures unless the kids signed release forms due to Hospital rules but they took pictures with me for their own memories.

Our next fundraising effort will be on July 29th at Walmart in Penticton, BC right before the two day Gordie Mannes racing weekend at Penticton Speedway, BC

Sarah Cornett-Ching to Visit British Columbia Children’s Hospital This Saturday; Donations Accepted for Hospital Charity

 

The BC Children’s hospital is close to the heart for Sarah Cornett-Ching and her family.  With her brother spending some time at the hospital several years ago as a patient, the Cornett-Ching family has a lot of gratitude for the hospital and what they do.  She has supported the hospital with donations that were accumulated the past two seasons, and is excited to step up and do even more to help out.  With her past experience with the hospital, she knows their capabilities, and what they are in need of, and hopes that she can help out even more.

"Our family is grateful for everything the Children's Hospital did for us and now that I have the opportunity I want to be able to give back. I know that these kids are sick and can't leave the hospital, so why not bring some smiles to them" remarked the young driver.

Sarah will be visiting the hospital this Saturday from 2pm to 3:30pm.  She will have the hood from the racecar with her, and the young children will be able to sign their names on the hood.  The same hood may also be signed by the general public for a donation to the hospital.  Sarah will be racing with the hood during the Gordie Mannes Memorial Weekend at Penticton Speedway on July 30^th and 31 to raise awareness for the hospital, and will also be collecting donations during that racing weekend.

BC Children’s Hospital provides expert care for the province’s most seriously ill or injured children, including newborns and adolescents. Based in Vancouver, BC Children’s Hospital reaches across the province with vital health services that may not be available anywhere else in B.C. They provide specialized training in pediatric health care and work with renowned researchers to achieve better health for children and youth. As an academic health centre, BC Children's Hospital is affiliated with the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Child & Family Research Institute, and other education and research institutions.

Two Great Finishes Racing Double Duty ~ July 2nd Motoplex Speedway 2011

Tires, tires, tires, they were the item of the weekend. We were mounting different tires all day to get the sets we wanted to race in the two different series. Our car was completely different from one set to the other it would stick like glue with the Hoosier tires and slide all over the place on the Goodyears with the same setup.

We had to be on our game all day making changes between races to be legal to race in both series and we were able to pull it off successfully. We battled adversity all day due to a faulty new fuel pump, brake bias issues, and a late race miss fire. Despite these issues we pushed through and made the car work.

In the West Coast Sportsman Series race our car was loose on entry which made it difficult to drive but I was able to hold on for a 6th place run out of 14 cars. During the intermission we had to swap tires, change from a 2bbl to a 4bbl carburetor, change the battery and make a few chassis adjustments. Everything went smoothly during the changeover and we started 3rd row outside. Starting on the outside was difficult and I lost a few spots off the start. With a car that was handling well I was able to pick off cars and work my way forward. With 5 laps to go I was knocking on the door of the third place car, gaining through the corners and losing time on the straightaways with an inferior motor and a miss fire. As the checkered flag flew I came across the line 3 tenths behind the 3rd place Superlate model. 

I would like to thank all my crew that made the weekend possible; Dad, Jason, Cory, and others who pitched in when we needed it. 

I would also like to thank my sponsors for this year; Snap-On Tools, Aarons, Lordco Auto Parts, Racecom, ANJ Automotive, and Ken Brown Welding and Machine.

Our next race is on July 16th at Gold Pan Speedway in Quesnel BC, and it will be my first appearance at the Speedway. Check out my newly updated website for everything Sarah Cornett-Ching Racing.

www.sccracing.com