On June 13 we had our first Junior training day for 2010, giving us an opportunity to spend some time with a few Junior members and to test the "new to us" 1989 Honda CRX donated by Howard Crossman and Cindy Moleski. The car was already built to Mini Stock specs, so some air was put in the tires and the car was tested by Todd Jalbert, with the car performing flawlessly (except for some blue smoke from the tail pipe).

In attendance were Bob Kirton, Craig Heintz and Todd Jalbert, with Junior Members Kenny Heintz, Danny Heintz, Brennan Kirton and Zachery Jalbert. Also present was the #11 mini stock of Craig Heintz. All the attendees got to feel out the track and earn some driving experience on our track. Smiles were plentiful.

June 27th brought our 2nd official Junior training day. The "Junior Car" now has a second seat , harness and window net allowing a person to conduct training safely from inside the car. Juniors attending the event were as follows:

Justin Hall, Nicole Sheetka, Kelsey Sheetka, Sara Pogoda, Kenny Heintz(a junior only in age as he has already beat me in a race), Danny Heintz, Joshua Robb, Nick Kuliasa, Layton Senger, Brett Ross, Brennan Kirton and Zachery Jalbert. Mickey Pogoda brought her #49 Thunderstock, and Craig Heintz his #11 Ministock. Adults attending were Dave and Brenda Sheetka, Bob Kirton and daughter Madison, Todd Pluhator and his Daughter, Corey and Cindy Robb and Todd Jalbert Junior Race director.
The Junior car is a 5 speed standard, so first on the agenda was training the juniors how to operate a standard transmission. A few tire spins and stalls later the juniors caught onto the Honda quickly. Now time to get onto the track. Under the direction of Todd Jalbert , the juniors got do do some laps on an empty track and get a feel for the car and the corners. Again all caught onto this concept quickly and successfully completed clean laps on our track. Now with an empty track mastered (at least in their eyes) , it was time to throw some obstacles into the formula, with pylons placed on the track and as the day progressed, the challenges of moving through the ever changing pylon layouts got more and more difficult. Trying to challenge the talent of these juniors seemed more challenging for us , as they all skillfully maneuvered through pylons and obstacles , with them adapting quickly to the ever changing paths on our track.
The results were amazing, these kids can all handle a car well. The youth also got to go for drives in Mickeys #49 thunder and Craigs #11 Mini and by the end of the day all we could see was a pit full of smiling faces, and not just from the kids, but also from us with what I would call a very successful junior day, with more planned through the year.
I would like to thank the parents involoved, Mickey Pogoda, Craig Heintz, and Bob Kirton for uses of their cars. I would like to thank Todd Pluhator for his incredibly creative ideas that truly challenged and tested the kids abilities. I would especially like to thank the Juniors involved for their amazing discipline and mature conduct in making this day a joy for all involved.
Also thanks for not scaring me in that passenger seat, I truly appreciate that.

Todd Jalbert
Director for Junior Racing

Junior in victory lane           obstacles blocking lane             pylon got hit                  getting ready to go        Joshua Robb gets ready         Mickey's car

The Saskatoon Stock Car Racing Association welcomes youth into its membership and racing program. Youth between the ages of 12 to 18 qualify for this program. The purpose of the program is to give all youth an opportunity to be involved in racing with a minimal membership fee being the only cost.

Junior members can be part of a pit crew or in certain race official positions starting at 12 years of age, with driving an actual race car starting at 14 years of age (Yes, 14!!!).

Many race teams are looking to add junior members to their pit crew. The intention in the 2010 race year is to build a training car with dual seats and controls to give the youth an opportunity to experience our race facility in a controlled, training environment. Members of the junior race program will be expected to participate in the building of this training car.

Parental involvement is strongly encouraged as we always promote family-friendly entertainment. Anyone interested in the junior program may contact Todd Jalbert at acms.junior@hotmail.com or phone (306) 249-5678 or (306) 493-7642

Auto Clearing Motor Speedway’s Junior Racing program got into full swing on Thursday July 17, 2008 with 4 Junior Racers participating. After a detailed explanation of the rules and regulations by Todd Jalbert, the Junior Racers took to the track. Olivia Lee, Katlyn Jalbert, Kirk Senger, and Kenny Heintz , took turns running their cars on the oval, each junior driver showing marked improvement throughout the evening. The guests of Bayer Crop Science got a bit of a show watching the future racers take to the track, with a couple of the them pushing it a bit too hard and looping their cars directly in front of the stands. Overall the evening was a success and we soon hope to see some of these youngsters racing in the near future. The drivers were placed on the track with another car, and requested to do some passing maneuvers to become familiar with driving with other traffic, with all drivers showing good response to the requested actions.

Thursday July 24th saw our second junior training night, with the drivers previously experiencing track time , it was now time to have our junior drivers learn to drive on different locations on the track. With pylons set up , drivers were forced to maintain a low line on the track, and once this was completed with satisfactory results, then pylons were placed to force drivers to run high on the track. A couple of the junior racers proved to handle these tasks with minimal problems, and were then approved to actually compete in a race event.

The night of July 25th brought 2 of our Junior racers , Kirk Senger , 14 years old, and Kenny Heintz , 15 years old to the track to compete with the rest of the ministock racers. The juniors got a friendly reminder after hot laps to implement what they learned in the training sessions when actually driving in full traffic. As the race night progressed, the drivers became more comfortable with the racing, and proved very respectable results, with some very clean and fast racing. Upon race night completion, I complimented the drivers on the great job they did, and as a witness to the ear to ear smiles on Kirks and Kennys faces , they seemed “EXTREMELY” pleased with the results. This , to my knowledge, is the first time a 14 year old member of our club has competed in a regular race event with the “BIG BOYS”. Kirk Senger also competed in the Ministock invitational, while Kenny Heintz has completed 1 complete night of racing on Aug 22nd in the #62 Ministock.

Todd Jalbert Director- Junior Racing, Ethics and Club Displays Auto Clearing Motor Speedway phone 249-5678 cel 493-7642 home 945-2284 acms.junior@hotmail.com

Auto Clearing Motor Speedway is looking for Junior involvement/membership. Junior Pit Crew members are accepted at 12 years of age and juniors can drive starting at 14 years of age (Yes that is 14 years!!). Many existing race teams accept junior crew members.

Anyone interested in becoming a part of a race team or the Junior Racing Program (ages 12-18) please contact either:

Todd Jalbert, by email, or telephone at home (945.2284), at work (249.5678), or by cell (493.7642)
Jordan Hill, by email or telephone at work (955.0111) or cell (227.8557).

Don Pogoda and Jim Barnsley	Cliff Yelland and students
Raichelle Wagner	Jim Barnsley
Don Pogoda	Don Pogoda\