February 5th, 2012
Auckland

To start with I’d like to thank all the people that came by sat. night at Springs Speedway after the races thanking us for sticking around and showing support to one of the NZ speedways that is actually trying to grow our sport in NZ.
To recap the races, we lowered our old track record from 11.77 to 11.69, then started 6th(last) in the feature and won. It’s a shame there weren’t more cars, but it appears several of the other teams elected to spend a lot of travel money to go down south and race for basically the same purse that was paid out at the Springs.

The NZ sprint car fraternity over the last few years basically has had 2 promoters doing their best to elevate open wheel racing in NZ. Bruce Robertson at Robertson Holden Speedway and Bill Buckley at Springs Speedway have done far more than anyone will ever know about behind the scenes to bring the NZ fans some of the top open wheel drivers in the world.

We as a team decided it would not be right for us to spend $8 to $10,000 to travel from Auckland to Christchurch and race for basically the same amount of money Springs Speedway was putting up on the same night. When the NZ title was held at Bay Park, Robertson Holden Speedway and Springs Speedway, the purse was substantially higher than what was offered at Christchurch. If we as drivers show these promoters we’ll tow all the way down south to race for such a small purse, why would the other race promoters continue to attempt to elevate open wheel purses so the teams can actually afford to race?

No disrespect was meant for the NZ title event, in contrary, we would hope the NZ title could be held at a much higher standard across NZ and if the tracks can’t afford to put up prize money a “title” race deserves, then maybe they should leave the top events to tracks that can pay out the deserved purses for such prestigious events.

Please don\'t forget about helping with any possible donations to my sister to help her rebuild her house!
Thanks,
Ricky Logan

January 24th, 2012
My Sister's house

Over the holidays something a bit more important than racing happened to a member of my direct family. While my sister, Lisa Logan, was working her night shift at a hospital, she’s a respiratory therapist; her house caught fire and burned to the ground. Lisa was literally left with only the work clothes on her back. She has subsequently lost all of her life’s processions, but thank God she was at work during this fire and escaped any possible injury. As most of you know I am half way around the world from my home state of Arkansas where Lisa lives, keeping me from physically being able to help my sister attempt to clean up her mess and start over. None the less though, I am doing all I can to help. For one I am asking all race fans that visit either my web site or the Facebook web fan page to donate any possible funds to help Lisa start her rebuilding process using the below account information. You can either deposit direct into her credit union account or simply make a small deposit in her paypal account. Any amount will be much appreciated! For my personal contribution, I will be donating to Lisa’s rebuilding fund half of all my race winnings from Jan. 1st 2012 until the day she completes her new house. We have already logged a 4th and 2nd place finish this year to help Lisa, but hopefully we’re able to pull of some wins in the near future!
I recently added a photo in the gallery of www.rickylogan.com to show what Lisa was left with after the fire.
Please keep Lisa in your prayers while she starts her journey of rebuilding.
Thanks from myself and my family to anyone that is able to help!
Ricky Logan

Paypal account - lmlogan13@yahoo.com
Bank transfer:
Catalyst credit union
Routing transfer # 311 990 511
Further credit to:
Combined Federal Credit Union
203 Nash St.
Hot Springs, AR 71913 USA
Routing # 282975018 acc# 0000912510
Lisa M. Logan
Use PO Box 148
Story, AR 71970

January 23rd, 2012
Stock Car Racing

Our stock car night didn't start off the best as we got tangled up with another car in the first race before we even completed a lap. In the next race we started 23rd out of 36 cars and finished 14th and followed that up by starting 26th in the last race, dropped back to last after the first corner, then worked our way up to mid pack again. The winner of these events are determined by an overall points system between the three races so we were pretty much out of it after the DNF in the first race.
We now go back to the sprint car this weekend racing at Bay Park Speedway.
Thanks,
Ricky Logan

January 16th, 2012
Rain

After a month or so of rain, it's finally looking like we might get a bit of sun and be able to do some racing the next few weeks. Right now I'm planning to race a Super Stock at the Global World Challenge on the 21st at the Robertson Holden International Speedway.
I'll let you know how the weekend goes, but I usually get beat up a bit at this event every year. A few years ago they even had to use a tractor to pluck me out of the fence after one of the local drivers escorted me out of the speedway with his "Tank". My goal this year is to just finish all 3 races without getting knocked out. For those of you outside of NZ that don't know what these "Super Stocks" are, do a youtube search for the "Teams Champs at Palmerston North in New Zealand" and enjoy!
Thanks,
Ricky Logan

January 3rd, 2012
Auckland

After about a week of steady rain we finally got a race in at Auckland but due to the weather conditions the track was very wet and rough. We finished 3rd in our first heat after starting 4th row, then started 2nd row of the next heat and won it which put us on the pole for the feature race next to another American driver. He got the jump on us and pulled away a little early as we were really struggling with the holes and ruts in the track because our car was a little too tight for the conditions. We ended up running him back down and with a few laps left and we were within striking distance to make a pass for the lead if he made a mistake. Unfortunately though we caught one of the big ruts wrong and just about turned over. By the time the car was back at speed and under control, we were in 3rd position then in the last corner we caught another rut causing us to slide up the track a little and another car got a run on us off turn four and just prior to crossing the finish line he slid his right rear up into our car to make sure we didn't beat him across the line. At a convenient time we'll return the favor so there will probably be more on that at a later date.
We're now off to Tauranga to race tonight but it looks like rain again?!
Thanks,
Ricky Logan

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