Apex Kart Racing at Lake Perris.
This past Sunday my friends and I made the trip out to Apex Kart Racing next to Lake Perris, about an hour away from Irvine. My good friend, partner in crime, and fellow racing addict had planned the event for weeks with the owner of the facility, Dave DiMond, who’s a great guy by the way. Guest stars included my other partner in crime, Brandon and former partner in crime, Fujita, as well as racing comrades Dusty Nabor and friend from NNI Racing.
It was a jolly good time despite the cold weather. We all struggled to get the karts to grip and brake and to be honest, not all the karts were well maintained. That didn’t stop us from having a great time though, making sure we all brought out our best game and forced us to adapt quickly to each very different kart (no two karts ever drove the same). Jon was pretty clever, passing up on seat time and other karts once he’d found one that drove the way he wanted.
That strategy really paid off for him once we got to the actual race at the end of the day. What’s interesting to know about karting at Apex is that anytime you drop a wheel, it’s going to cost you $25. Something to do with getting dirt everywhere and requiring extra maintenance; it gets even more expensive when you break something, like an axle. With that in mind, Dusty spun the first lap with the unbelievably cold tires and Jon plowed straight into him.
I was right behind and saw the whole thing; I swear I saw metal flying. We bent an axle in the first lap: pro racing here we come. If I wasn’t too busy thinking about dollar bill signs and was a little more gung ho about keeping pace, I probably would’ve smashed into them myself. Well anyway, we kept racing, more of our guys went off, the dollar bills kept adding up. Towards the end, I think we all agreed that Randy is king of karting.
The guy is a monster on a kart, just like in road racing. I like how he’ll take a terrible kart and make it look amazing. At the sweeper next to the pits, he’ll throw the front right wheel onto the curb to initiate the turn and kick the rear end out, and then throttle through with a hint of counter steer. We were all thoroughly amazed, it wasn’t a surprise we all got destroyed in the actual race. I think with handicap added he still was a full second or two faster than Jon, with Dusty coming into third place.
I don’t know how much we would’ve ended up paying with all the guys going off track, but Dave being the all around super guy that he is made us a deal: $10 a person with our 11 people and we’d be square, just to cover the broken axle. He’d overlook all the other stuff and cover half of the cost for the axle out of pocket. With that said, even though the karts weren’t all that well maintained, you still have a lot of fun and you won’t break the bank if you run out of talent.
I really wish I had a photo of Ferdie in the Captain America race suit he wore; maybe someone happened to snap a photo. Originally the suit was intended for me; the birthday always gets you in trouble. Fortunately I’m such a klutz, I didn’t notice the belt like tie in the middle and thought I was too fat for the suit. My ignorance dodged me a bullet, yayer! Ferdie’s a little sharper and it led to his demise, queue the sad music. Note: Ferdie was awfully eager to put the thing on for some reason.
Well anyway, I’m walking back to the parking and Brandon is standing next to the EVO with a funny look on his face. I was really puzzled, but I definitely knew something was up, something, I just didn’t know what. Before I could even realize my spider sense tingling, Jon and Randy jump out from the side of Brandon’s Range Rover and I’m getting sprayed with champagne, just like in real racing (a dream come true).
In my fantasies, I always pictured myself doing more drinking than spraying, but this will do. What little is leftover in Randy’s bottle, I chug and it’s pretty much given that Ferdie is driving me to lunch. I wondered what it might be like to get pulled over drenched in champagne, quickly ending those thoughts with a flash back to last year. While I’m certain I’d pass a sobriety test, I’d rather not. Our lunch takes us to Mission Inn Hotel, a decent buffet with endless champagne and orange juice.
The food was fine, the champagne was better because I had maybe 8 glasses in the span of an hour or less. I don’t really think anybody else was drinking, I can’t remember. As far as I was concerned, it was an all you can drink fiesta starring me, myself and I. Ferdie drove home with Amy passed out in the back, and me chatting away to keep Ferdie awake. By the time we got to Anaheim Hills, Ferdie was falling asleep and I had to flush my fluids.
I could actually see the black in Ferdie’s eyes getting smaller and smaller. Amy woke up at the gas station and drove us home. I have to admit, I was really sleepy by the time we got back; I went straight for my new bed and passed out for a few hours. When I woke up, we got our gym on to burn all those fresh calories. I guess that concludes my epic birthday celebration adventure, thanks for coming everyone and I hope we can outdo ourselves next year.
Thanks to Ferdie for taking the time to organize the activities and fronting the money to ensure that we were all properly accommodated. Making it happen for 11 people is no joke, and I’m lucky to have great friends to live my life with. Also thank you everyone for chipping in and paying for my karting fees, despite the times. Words are not enough. To everyone who couldn’t make it or wasn’t invited, blame Ferdie; I’m innocent!
