Racerchick Robin Ailes of Stockton California gives us her thoughts in her very own racing diaries:

Howdy! For those of you who don't know me let me introduce myself. My name is Robin Ailes and this will be my first year of racing in the Mini-Super Truck Division. Actually, it will be my first time at racing anything. I will be writing  articles about my experiences as a rookie driver at the track, but first let me give you a little history about me. I've have always enjoyed going to the races whether it was at the oval track, drag strip or the local ORV park. The beginning of the 2000 race year at the Altamont was my first "hands on" view of car racing. I spent every weekend at the track helping out Todd and Tim Lewis. I was instantly addicted to the atmosphere of the pit. The people, noises, trucks, cars, and politics of the track gave me an adrenaline rush. At some point during the season I thought this would be a great hobby to take on. So at the end of the season I truck was put up for sale and I made one of those compulsive buys. Fortunately I haven't regretted it at all. But then the season hasn't started either. 

Robin's Turn #2 : 1/22/01

Well here we are nine weeks from racing and I'm already feeling anxiety. I'm the type of person who needs to be organized and in control of every situation and right now I'm neither organized or in control. The positive side to this however is the fact that I am learning. Learning by my errors, but I am learning.
Two weeks ago Doug (brother, mechanic, pit crew) came over to get some changes done on the truck so we could pass tech. One item on the list was to move the fuel switch from the inside of the cab to the outside of the cab behind the driver (we all know where this is). So on Saturday morning as I'm rushing out the door heading to work my brother says, "Now you want me to move these switches and put them over here, right?" I said yeah and went on my way. I came home about four hours later and the switches had been moved. It looked professional and I was very impressed with his work. As I stood staring at the changes something just didn't seem right. I couldn't put my finger on it but something wasn't right. A little time went by and Doug starts to ask me how I start the truck if I stall it out on the track? Does the pit crew come out and push the start button? I immediately swung around and looked at the fuel switch. It was sitting right next to the start button! I couldn't help but get a big grin on my face and start to laugh. So now the start switch has to go back in the cab, but we've gotten a great laugh out of the whole thing. 

Robin's Turn #3 1/4/01

Howdy, howdy, ho! Some of you may or may not have noticed that I did not write an article last week. The reason for this was simply due to laziness. Now however guilt has set in and I feel compelled to share with you my last two weeks of related race truck stuff.

To start I have a one-car garage that use to hold my washer, dryer, race truck, gardening equipment, sports equipment, and anything else I didn't want in the house. Prior to last weekend it was almost virtually impossible to see my truck because it had become an object to set everything on. Of course every time I set something on it I had the intention of putting things away, but after several months of this I had a mound of junk covering my truck. So finally last weekend I removed almost everything from the garage and placed it on my back porch. This brought some peace of mind because I was gaining control of my previously out of control garage. I now have enough room to work on my truck in the garage without cussing at the garden equipment. 

The clean up of my garage was step one of getting things in order for me to race. Having a race ready garage is important, at least to me. I feel like it is the operating room for my truck. It must be clean, organized, and well equipped in order to cure any emergency situation that may come along. Anyway, when I bought my truck I had no intention of painting it. It's currently yellow, which is not me at all, and it had black tire marks on the sides from previous racing rumbles. I have spent at least $30 and several hours trying to get the black marks and sticker adhesive off the paint to no avail. Finally this morning I couldn't take it anymore. I broke out my electric orbit sander and went to town. Five hours later my truck was clean of all marks and adhesives. But now it must be painted and this is a good thing. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders knowing that I can paint the damn thing any color I want. I've chosen red. Red screams Robin. It's me. It's my favorite color. What else is there to say? As for the color of my numbers, that's top secret. Let me just say that I'm going with an industrial look and my rivets won't be red either. 
The last thing I'd like to share is the insanity of racing. Because I want more room to work on my truck I'm planning on installing another garage door (this will allow me to drive right through my garage into the backyard) and pouring an additional 13 yards of concrete (I already have about 5) in my backyard. All this just for my truck. Everything is truck this, truck that. Hhmm! Guys name their anatomy I'll name my truck! I'll call it Roxy for now on. 

Ciao, Robin 
Ailes Racing
www.robinailes.com

Robin’s Turn #4

3/4/01
Four weeks until opening day, and I’m counting down the days. Last week my brother came over to finish up some little projects on the truck and wrap things up. We had to pull the head off to look for a missing spark plug electrode. It wasn’t there and the engine looked fine thank goodness. Next he rerouted the start button to the inside of the cab, where it had originally been. We had a communication break down a couple of weeks ago. Instead of just moving the fuel switch from inside the cab to the outside of the cab, he moved the ignition switch to. And lastly we removed the old seat, which was too big for me and installed a seat that fits me like a glove. That is something I hope to get use to fast. I’ve never been in something so restricting. Even the roller coasters at the amusement parks don’t fit as well as this thing. If or I should say, when I get in a crash I’m definitely not going anywhere. 

Now that we only have a few more weeks left until the start of the season I have been wondering how much I have spent to date. I keep track of all the expenses on a computer but just have been afraid to press that icon that creates the wonderful charts and graphs showing how much I’ve spent. Today I have looked and I have spent so far, $611.70. As a side note, my brother has spent several hundred dollars of his own (he says because he loves to wrench) and we have almost all of the tools necessary to perform automotive work. What this amount mainly consist of is my firesuit, boots, gloves, neck brace, helmet shield, seat, air tank, timing light, NASCAR license, number registration at the track, and I guess that’s it. I’m actually somewhat relieved now that I know the number. I thought it was much more. But then I guess the number is much higher if I count the race truck, trailer, and the truck I had to buy to tow the race truck. Ouch, that just hurt!

Robin Ailes 
Ailes Racing #00

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