I just talked to George at Uptite Husqvarna.  He says the computer is telling him the magneto is in shipping.  He's as skeptical as I am about how much to belive what a computer says, but if it really is on it's way, the Husqvarna might be running again soon.  It would make me very, very happy, since it would also mean I can start thinking about motard racing and dirt riding again.  It's the perfect Swiss Army knife of bikes, although it's hardly perfect for anything.  I sure hope I haven't lost anything critical in the long wait.

On an unrelated note, I spend about half the day yesterday reprepping the SV's paint where it wrinkled up badly.  It's still misbehaving in spots, but I don't know why.  I guess it has to be sanded down once again, reprimed once again, and then shot.  One of these days, I'm going to be an outstanding rattlecan bodyman.  For the time being, it's not happening yet.  I have decided rattle can cheapness is preferable to spending money, especially if I can get it to eventually turn out OK.  There was some pretty awful looking paint at the track last weekend, so I'm not going to have the ugliest bike in the paddock, no matter how ratty it is.  It's not going to be ratty at all if I can help it.  Rattiness is my leather's job now.

One last thing I have come to understand.  The reason I didn't get along with the Gixxer was most likely a tweaked swingarm.  It would fall into left handers but resist right handers.  Once I dropped the front down far enough to get it to turn right, the front got really sketchy turning left.  It felt like riding on a bucket of greased ball bearings to me, and another (really fast and slightly nuts) guy rode it and said he noticed it's resistance to right turns as well.  He's crashed everything he ever touched, so nothing bothers him somehow.  It treated him OK, but he could understand why I had problems with it.  It's kind of nice to find out the problems I had all season last year weren't entirely due to bone-headedness!

This isn't exactly about racing, but it's what's going on.  I have spent the last few weeks working on getting the company started.  I now have a company website, and I'm signed up for all kinds of lists with local governments who use construction management services.  Being a pathological optimist, I'm convinced the economy has hit bottom and there will be work again soon.  The website, chipman-martin.com, is still in the development stages, and it's probably going to evolve quite a bit over the next few days.  It's probably going to change again completely soon enough.  But, for now, it's what I do and the kind of work I'm pursuing.  I haven't figured out how to work motorcycle racing into it, but I'm open to ideas.  Risk management, perhaps?

I'm really happy with the logo, too.  A friend who is a graphic designer did it for me, an did some really great business cards, too.  I don't see a way to put it here, so if you want to see it, you'll have to look at the website.  And, if I can start generating work, it's a built in sponsor.  Can't beat a built in sponsor!

I expect to miss the first half of the season getting off the ground.  If I manage to pick up some billable work, I may be able to salvage at least part of the WMRRA season.  Endurance racing is absolutely going to happen, although it's all in Oregon at PIR.  I like the track.  It's not ideal for an SV650, but racing against other SVs evens things out.  There aren't too many endurance teams who are serious about it anyway.  Hooptie Corsa will be using my bike, since Jason's is still in multiple pieces and Jerome's season is a bit sketchy due to outside obligations.  His bike is the pink Hello Kitty bike, and I'm not convinced Jason would ride it anyway.

Being a technical inspector means I'll be at the track flying the flag for sponsors, one way or another.  I'll take the bike to the track as a display, if nothing else, and my van is well decorated.  Motard racing is still a possibility, assuming I can ever get a magneto for it.  I picked up some wiring diagrams, so I'll be able to repair the butchered up harness over time.  None of it ever saw the inside of a Husqvarna factory, at least not as it is now.  It's another adventure, and I love it.