Helio's car is HOT

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP)—A Team Penske transporter, carrying the primary cars for Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe to Infineon Raceway for this week’s IndyCar Series race, caught fire Wednesday on Interstate 80, west of Cheyenne, Wyo.

The two drivers escaped injury and were able to save the tractor, but the lower level of the transporter, containing crew member uniforms and a variety of equipment was destroyed. A team spokesman said the No. 3 and No. 6 Dallara-Hondas that were on the upper level of the transporter had extensive water, smoke and heat damage.

The fire began on the right side of the transporter, possibly from a wheel bearing failure. It was put out by a local fire department, but the transporter will remain in Wyoming for further inspection and assessment of the damage.

Team Penske will race at Infineon using the No. 6 Dallara-Honda that was used in an Aug. 14 test at that track, as well as a backup No. 3. Those cars, as well as the second Team Penske transporter, were left at the track for the week before the race.

The crew was scheduled to arrive Thursday to prepare those cars for the start of practice and qualifying on Friday. Two additional cars, plus additional equipment and team uniforms, left Penske Racing’s shops on Wednesday and are scheduled to arrive at the track Friday.

Here he is!

Exciting Weekend at Camp

Every year the Outdoor Trainers have a weekend retreat in a cabin unit at one of our council owned properties. This year we were scheduled for the Lakeside Cabins at Pine Acres but at the last minute were moved to Kingfisher Cove.

Friday night things were enjoyable but I was really tired so I went to bed early. Since I have bum knees, I get to sleep in the handicapped accessible cabin along with my fellow invalids.

Saturday morning we had a guest speaker from the Leave No Trace organization. It was very interesting and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After lunch we had a couple people from council give us updates (with the merger of our council and Pine Valley combined with the overhaul of the entire GS program, there are lots of updates at every gathering).

The fun really started while dinner was being prepared. I was still feeling worn out so I went to my handicapped accessible cabin to lay down. As I was dozing a storm rolled in. I love storms and the noise of thunder and rain helped me relax. I got up at the appointed time for dinner to discover that the power was out which meant the oven wasn't working so dinner had to be improvised. No problem. We're trainers. We improvise all the time. The ranger came by and said something like "be glad we moved you to Kingfisher Cove. Two cabins at Lakeside have a tree on them."

Well, naturally, we all grabbed our cameras and headed for Lakeside. I'll post more pictures on my Facebook page tonight, but here is one of my favorites.
For the record, the building on the left is Lakeside's handicapped accessible cabin.

In addition, the trail from Lakeside to the Dining Hall was completely blocked by several uprooted trees. There were more laying in Lake Alatoona. There was another across the road from the ranger's house into camp but the electric lines were holding it up. Another huge tree was on the lines by Bartow Carver Road and they had the whole road blocked for several hours.

Sunday morning we improvised for breakfast, after which it occurred to me that the ranger had a camp stove we use for classes that we could have used but, oh well. As I drove out of camp the power company truck was coming in so hopefully the power came on soon after.

Such fun! I'm glad storms don't scare me.