Galletta's Go-Kart Club - August 25-27th, 2006 - Yard Kart Racing Club in Oswego, NY

I am Mary Stevens owner of Galletta's Greenhouse. First of all may I say you should practice what you preach, because you know nothing about what goes on here. The problems with the people mentioned go much deeper than childish sticks and stones. Two of the people banned from the track were banned for fighting and (alleged) illegal activity on my property. I am sure you would not want such activity on your property. They did have illegal motors, they wanted to beat my sons because frankly, they are very good drivers. If you want to talk about sportsmanship, My son spends all of his money on the upkeep of 9 carts. Why? Because he wants his friends to be able to have fun racing with them. I told him he should put all of his money into his own car, but he won't. Frankly, they are both very talented, in much more than racing foolish go-carts. The problem, as I see it is jealousy, pure and simple. If this is not so , then why does your son try so hard to humiliate them. Ganging up on people is cowardly. Do you want to know what the safety issues are ? Terrible drivers that my sons try to let gain experience by racing. Your son caused two bad accidents when he was here. You won't see my sons making foolish mistakes, they have had a lot of practice. By the way , I spoke with the sheriff (deputy), he said your son saw the alleged go-cart here, I told him it was a lie and in my opinion this was giving a false statement to police, your son has not been here in a month so how could he see a go-cart supposedly missing one week. By the way he believes you are lying. My father was a police officer for 25 years, he was also in charge of security at Oswego Speedway when our relatives owned it. We are not stupid people, we are not dishonest people, but mostly, we are not proud people. My sons honestly like these people who race here, and frankly I am disgusted by the shabby way they are treated by them. There is always two sides to every story, What is the mistake? The Bible says, "Do not cast pearls before swine, for they will trample them, and turn and attack you." This is what you get for extending hospitality to some people. Do you think my son made a mistake for defending himself? Prove these people did not cheat, steal money; money that only goes to keep the cars running for the people who stab them in the back. By the way I am the only one here who does not approve of the go-cart racing on my property, I allow it only for my two sons sake. I would appreciate it if you would keep your "flapping jaw" shut. I would wager the quality of either of my two sons characters against your son's any day. In closing if you spent more time forging your sons character , then none of these arguments would happen, because, your son started the whole thing along with the Pitsleys, who by the way have yet to demonstrate any moral fiber at all! Let this be the end of this stupidity, Your son chose to bad mouth us at Oswego and call us cheaters before the article of last week, and sending the police up here fueled Chris' anger (and Chris' website article, which he is free to do in America). The moral of this story: Don't slander Christians, They have more than men on their side.

Mary A. Stevens

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OK, now its my turn. I will copy the email and respond to it point by point. My responses will be in bold blue:

VERNON: Let me introduce myself. I am Vernon Woodworth ( Derek Woodworths father ) Owner and operator of Woodland Mobile Home Haven.
CHRIS: And I am Chris Stevens, cartoonist, florist, co-founder of Galletta's Speedway, co-owner/driver of Galletta's Go-Karts, and I am also responsible of all of this content on this website, including pictures, text, statistics, and maintenance of this website. I guess that means I'm also the editor too. Nice to meet you!

VERNON: First of all, I don't appreciate your use of words on your website directed toward my son..
CHRIS: Noted. I also don't appreciate your son slandering us behind our backs. And the dirty looks you gave me at the track. It hurt my feelings. :-(

VERNON: I have personally built the number 29 cart and can assure you that it is all ( STOCK ) with the exception of sanding the head and the two stage header. If you recall, the first race it had was at Oswego speedway and we didn't even finish. (Chain problems) and yes ! It was pure, off the rototiller STOCK.
CHRIS: Thank you for notifying us that it is 100% stock. We shave the heads on our karts and allow that. Although we do not have headers on any of our Galletta's-owned karts, we have no rule against them here - unless people complain about them (One of our visiting drivers used one for a short time but took it off on his own accord). Kris and Ken Pitsley, and Billy K. told us that Derek's kart had Raptor Racing parts, and begged us not to let Derek race at Galletta's. We don't like to ban anybody (and in fact we've never banned anybody - just banned bigger motors than ours racing against us on our own track) unless they are clearly causing problems such as cheating, fighting, or breaking laws. However, we still did not care for the reports out of several people that Derek was accusing us of "having work done" to our karts. The only "work" done to them is maintenance and tuning by Matt, to which anybody is welcome to come and watch him or ask him for help in tuning your own. Matt prefers it that way for even competition. I also remember that Derek requested his money back after breaking one of our karts, which Matt promptly gave him. Derek also said that he'd be back the following week to race and he never did. We instead heard all about him inviting everybody to race at our track. Except us. If Matt really wanted to "work on" karts, don't you think that he'd work on his and let us all drive stinkers? He works on all 9 of our karts. He's done probably 90-97% of all the work on them! And my brother is an extremely talented driver. But that wouldn't enter your mind, right? Just us cheating because we won races, and offending you on my website. Awww... need a hug?

UPDATE: OH! By the way, Matt saw some kind of a slanted racing head on there, so that isn't stock that he has ever seen. Caught you lying again. That isn't very nice. You lost a lot of credibility with that one. As stated in the rules, our class is 100% stock parts except for shaved heads and nylon safety oil dippers - allowed in our class. A few older motors were bored out because they were worn, but they are all slow and (if I remember correctly, though Matt knows for sure) I think that we took them all off our karts because we bought several motors on eBay in better condition. The three motors that I have had on my kart all year are all 100% stock with shaved heads. Yeah, even that one where I won at Oswego, passing four or five people, including my brother.

VERNON: The second race at Oswego Speedway. The track was unsuitable to run my cart ! Am I scared to run ? No ! I just have allot of valuable time and money invested in my cart to just go and beat it up. If you want to beat up your cart, then do it ! Its your time and money.
CHRIS: Noted. Actually, my kart had a bum coil the last two weeks at Oswego and I was forced to race a backup both times; tied for third two weeks ago (on that bumpy track) and completing zero laps in last Friday's race because visiting drivers bent the crap out of the drive-wheel system and the chain fell off of it before the green even flew (something that happens when you let inexperienced drivers rent your karts for $15-$17 a week because you extend hospitality to strangers and they backstab you!). But first of all, I am a cartoonist and I tongue-in-cheek poke fun at people; even my best friends and family members in my own comic. I poked fun at all of the racing karts because they wouldn't run, not just Derek's. Sure, the track was bumpy, but it wasn't too bad if you just avoided one giant bump in one of the turns (took me a few circuits to figure that one out myself, ha-ha!). But we at Galletta's own nine go-karts and all are armed with 100% stock 5hp Briggs motors; several purchased used. We didn't have any problem driving that race at all. The bumps weren't necessarily worse than anything that we've run through at Galletta's at one time or another. If you were insulted by that, then I'm sorry... but I personally thought that it was funny myself, because for all the thousands of dollars some of the racers spend on their one racing go-kart, we spend less than that combined on nine and each of them were timed less than one second faster on Oswego's track. I personally think that is a positive point about our racing class, don't you? And a reason why we don't allow racing parts in our class. This is why we ban racing parts on our track and don't like racing other kinds of motors at Oswego. We want everything equal, affordable, and fun! And, again, if they won't let us run our own class down there (like they already promised that they would - and lied), then we are done racing down there. They also told us they weren't racing down there for the rest of this year anyway. If they did, we have our own track to get ready for our own Classic.

VERNON: The third race at Oswego Speedway. The track was better and from where I was watching,
CHRIS: Better, but just in one spot from where I was watching too, but not too much.

VERNON: my cart was about to lap everyone ( Until we had more problems with the chain ) .
CHRIS: About to lap WHOM? Not me, my brother (Matt), not my dad (Wes). We were on the side of the track because the track officials threw the green when we were pulling up to to go onto the track and just saw him pulling off with a broken chain, But he wasn't going to lap anybody from my vantage point. Considering that you have an expensive racing drivewheel system, it is quite baffling that one could have chain problems so easily. Also, where did your kart finish? The heat was 10 laps, not 3 or 4. And the feature was 20 laps, not 2 or 3. Also, I didn't see Derek lapping anybody, and even if he did come up on one of the slower guys, he probably couldn't pass him and wreck. And Matt added that in the 2 or 3 Feature laps that he did complete... he wasn't all that fast; he was in the back and couldn't pass anybody - then his chain blew. Coming through tough traffic to win a feature race is the way to do it. Something that I, Matt, Wes, Ed, Brian, Mark and Mike all did down there. Starting in the front and breaking in the lead of your heat... well, I'll let the readers judge what that that is, but personally I wouldn't brag about it. Fact is, Matt pulled off the track in that last feature too. But not because he broke. But because the track officials were letting Raptor motors out there, and two or three nuts out there crashing and smashing everybody, and Matt, who has felt disrespected since day one (as the quasi-famous driver in charge down there lied to us and also runs away from us every time we try to talk with him). Matt wanted to save his kart for the real show at Galletta's. Where we do points! And equal motors! And kick out people who intentionally cause wrecks. And we also have fight night and watch Kris Pitsley fight everybody, including her own ill father! WAHOO!

VERNON: What did I do to make my cart faster ? Well ! I took in account of what problems we had before and worked with it. Tire size, cam configuration, lash configuration, timing configuration all of which are stock and are better suited for what the engine is used for. No cheating ! Just a better way to run the engine.
CHRIS: Um, excuse me? Oswego Speedway runs an open class; which is why we aren't racing there anymore. They don't have rules that I can see. They let some people wreck and don't even put them in the back... they run 6.5hps vs. 5hps and Raptors vs. all... so you wouldn't be cheating down there! Slap an 18hp on a tank and they'll wave you on! Run over somebody, hey, THAT'S RACING! Though from everybody else's vantage point, it appears as if you have a racing setup and therefore you should run your kart in the racing classes. We run a simple yard kart configuration, and that's the way we prefer it. All out in the open and nothing special. We have 9 of them set up the exact same way. Oh, and in case you didn't know, I won one feature down there (stock 5hp with a shaved head), Matt won two (stock 5hp with a shaved head tuned by Matt), Wes won one (stock 5hp with a shaved head tuned by Matt), Brian Bortel won one (stock 5hp with a shaved head tuned by Matt), Ed Meynes won one (stock 5hp tuned by Ed himself), Mark Miller won one (OHV engine, horsepower unknown - and we got him into racing on our track), and Mike Billion won one too (OHV engine, horsepower unknown). I don't see your kart winning any. In fact, I don't even remember it finishing any! But I was told that it look fast. I guess. I defy you to help almost all of your competition race against you. And buy 8 other equal karts for people to rent and race in addition to your son's! I don't know if that's ever happened on any racetrack in the world! Yet, your big boy badmouthed us. Thanks! That's mean. :-(

ALSO, Matt added that "cam configuration, timing configuration, and lash configuration" doesn't sound like stock to him. Sounds to him like your are making racing modifications.

VERNON: I ran Microds at the State Fair, one Junior Novice and one Novice, both with stock 3 horsepower Tecumseh engines. We have the experience and most important, the (SPORTSMANSHIP AND DISCIPLINE) which the editor of your website lacks.
CHRIS: Hold on there, jabronie. I've been racing go-karts for 11 years at Galletta's. I have won countless races, three Track championships, and three Classics. My brother, under the same period of time, has also won countless races, seven Track championships (leading potentially his 8th), and seven Classics. My father has also won countless races. My brother works tirelessly on all 9 karts all week, and visiting driver's karts... with little-to-no thanks. And, our class (5hp stock Galletta's regulars) won 6 out of 8 races held at Oswego, and the other two were won by guys who used to race with us but didn't want to race 5hp flatheads, so they don't race with us anymore. So, that makes 8 of 8 open-class features at Oswego were won by people who also raced and won at least one feature at Galletta's Go-karts Speedway. Your kart, for all of your sportsmanship and discipline, to which I apparently lack, has won none that I can see. In fact, several drivers here (not me) were mad at Derek for cutting them off of the track, to which one hit a greenhouse and another hit a tree because he slowed down too fast in traffic. So, maybe he needs more discipline. Oh, and he ran his mouth and accused us of "having work done" and seeing a stolen go-kart up here, to which is ridiculous because (1) he never sees Matt working on the karts and (2) he hasn't been here in WEEKS and the kart was stolen LAST WEEK! Maybe he needs more sportsmanship! So, either THEY are lying (which is entirely possible - and in fact, probable - because these same people have lied to us), or YOU are lying. And Derek is definitely lying about seeing the stolen kart up here, because he hasn't been here. In addition, we have been told by several of your tenants (or former tenants?), that Derek's motor has Raptor racing parts, and have been told by SEVERAL drivers that they were invited to race at Derek's track, and everybody was invited except Chris (me), Matt, Wes, and also Kris, and Ken Pitsley. So, does this means that he is a poor sportsman too? All I (the editor) did on this website is DEFEND MYSELF against false allegations sent in our direction, and I was fairly angry at the time. Maybe I was a little harsh? Well, partially it was tongue-in-cheek, partially I am angry over getting backstabbed countless times by people that we race with and help out every week! Your son was just one in a long line of people accusing us of "cheating" but the first that ever accused us of actually stealing a go-kart. A little kid's go-kart to boot! What I am more mad about is that people are taking things out of context and getting mad at me. That, I blame on the person who printed the pages up and secondly on the person showing them to everybody - again - out of context and not knowing the whole story. That isn't very good sportsmanship in my book.

VERNON: As far as the police coming to your place, it was not Derek that directed them to you, it was I that said ( you ought to check at the local tracks to see if you can find it ) No names where mentioned. Can you think of any better place to look ? They checked my place and found (TWO) carts. #29 and one that is being built. That's it ! I don't have a bunch of carts and don't plan on it. If I need one, I will simply buy a new one !
CHRIS: I thought you built them? Anyway, I will quote my mom...

MARY: "I spoke with the sheriff (deputy), he said you (or your son) saw the alleged go-cart here, I told him it was a lie and in my opinion this was giving a false statement to police, your son has not been here in a month so how could he see a go-cart supposedly missing one week. By the way he believes you (or your son) are lying."

CHRIS: He said, "the toothless man," so I'm not sure which one he's even referring to. How many toothless guys are running around there anyway? So, are you lying? Or is the Sheriff Deputy lying? Personally, I'll take his side. I dunno... you're more than welcome to believe yourself though. Free country.

VERNON: Racing at your track ! Well ! Go for it ! Myself, I feel that it has major safety issues
CHRIS: Yeah! Like letting inexperienced people race with us. Like Derek. We supplied him with a multi-time feature-winning go-kart and gave him a chance to win. What happened? He caused a few wrecks and then asked for his money back after he busted the kart. Then, he backstabbed us and called us cheats and said we stole a kart. So, I blew up here on this website and mocked him. Derek wasn't a bad driver... just inexperienced. Hundreds of people have driven on our track and have caused wrecks and broke karts based on inexperience. So, what is our fault? That we let ANYBODY rent a kart and race with us? Well... I personally think that is very kind of us! And what safety issues are there? We have tires against every obstacle near the track. Sure, the audience sits too close to the racetrack, but they aren't supposed to even be that close, nor do they pay to even be here. Again, I believe that this is very kind of us. We are just racing for fun and points and that's all! And yet, we have owned and raced go-karts for over 16 years and raced for points for over 11. And how many injuries have we had? only minor scrapes, bumps and bruises. Nothing severe... thank God! I pray every day and bless that track and every driver on it and give thanks to God that nobody ever gets hurt. And you know the way to prevent any chance of serious injury? Stop letting inexperienced drivers race on our track. So what are you saying? Tell people like your son to f***-off? No! We let him race and hoped that he kept racing and get better! Instead, he ran off, bitched about us, badmouthed us, and that is the thanks we got for letting him on our property and wrecking our go-karts. And putting my dad into a tree. Every good driver on this track started not so good. The best ones are the ones who don't accuse us of cheating and race every week. We love those guys and we have fun racing them all Summer and Fall.

VERNON: ...and decided to run at Oswego Raceway.
CHRIS: BWHAHAA!! SAFETY?! THERE?! Sorry for guffawing, but they let some 21x moron with a Raptor go out there and wreck five, six, or seven people up last Friday! Mike Billion almost blew a fuse and looked like he was going to deck the guy, and he probably should have! Eric Raponi was mad about the 21x too. The guy was a hazard, and it didn't look like he was doing it by accident. It looked on purpose. Either that or the guy is the worst driver in the history of the world. Maybe both!

And Waitamunite... isn't this your son fallen off of his kart and his kart is on top of another kart with the audience laughing their butts off at the strange man rolling around on the track chasing after his kart on top of another kart! How did it get there on top of someone else's? Maybe it's... SPORTSMANSHIP AND DISCIPLINE! YEAH! THAT'S IT!? Usually, racing is safe. Sometimes its bad equipment. And sometimes its bad... er... well, I won't say... that would be mean. And I'm not mean! >:-(

NOTE: Rolling around on a go-kart track is not safe, nor is a good way to keep your teeth in your head.

VERNON: Am I starting a track ? Yes ! A private one that anyone can use including the Galleta's crew. The rules will be by the book and it will be a standard clay oval.
CHRIS: By what book?! Like we aren't by the book? We have our rules and regulations too. And anybody is welcomed to read the rulebook or have Matt help them with their karts. In fact, almost everybody here has had Matt and Wes fix their karts for them at one time or another. Ask Gary Miller, Brian Bortel, Ed Maynes... they'll all tell you that we helped them set up their karts. And they are all FAST! Just as fast as I am and sometimes faster! I've been beat as has Matt. In our own karts many times! It is a little backyard racetrack for just us and our friends. It has gained a small tiny measure of popularity by word of mouth and a little more via exhibitions at Oswego Speedway. This website is also just for fun. Just like answering this email has been. Oh, by the way, it's Galletta's. Oh, and by the way... it took years to develop our track and good drivers. But knock yourself out there, Vernon! (I don't mean that seriously... it's a figure of speech. And not your teeth, either! You need them to chew!)

VERNON: Did Derek copy and distribute a copy of your website ? No ! He doesn't have a computer with a printer.
CHRIS: He doesn't?! It is 2006 you know?

VERNON: On my seat in my vehicle I found a printout of the junk you said about Derek on your website
CHRIS: Whoa! First off... someone BROKE INTO your car and put that on your seat? Dude, maybe you should lock it! Especially with people stealing go-karts on your street and people who I suspect put it there being accused of stealing from countless people. Not our business I guess. But thank you for showing everyone my website! It got a lot of hits! I love it! It makes me feel very popular! And, secondly, I think I know who put it there. I was told that allegedly the same people who printed that also ran over to everyone else and told them not to race here anymore. Then the same alleged people came here and kissed our butts. Then the same alleged people fought with with other people at our track! Then, the alleged people said they were never coming back again and then stormed off. Why does it seem like the people who storm off never pay back what they owe? Strange coincidence. Oh well.

VERNON: and thought it would be good to distribute the trash and the hearsay you are spreading about people.
CHRIS: Well... trash and hearsay?! What? Please point out every single bit of "trash" I said about someone and I'll gladly correct it! After all... I just do this for fun! All last year, nobody read this site! I am THRILLED that people are reading it! Thank you all! I'm glad that you're reading it and I'm glad that you sent me this email, Vern! Thanks! Oh, Mike Billion was mad about an old thing (from last year) about him on this website (that he read on the printed pages that were being passed around) and his wife said she was going to sue us and he told us to grow up. Well, I have no problem with Mike or his family, and he does have a point that I need to grow up (my wife and mom and dad say that all the time), but anything said on this website wasn't a lie so how can I be sued? I do not lie. Maybe I type too much, but I don't lie. Mark and Mike are very good racers whom we LOVED to race with. The problem is that they raced with bigger motors than us, and 100% of the visiting drivers hated the fact that they were allowed to run bigger motors. And we weren't thrilled about it either... especially when they were hooting and hollering after they won. We asked Mark and Mike to PLEASE get 5hp flathead motors and recommended lighter frames (because a few time their heavy karts put other karts off of the track - unintentionally) and want them to race with us. They refused, and so everybody joked around and called them "cheaters" after they didn't show any more! OK, it was childish... I admit. It was meant to be funny... and not meant to be harmful... just a little friendly joking. And I wasn't the one who said that word. I just put that there because that is what everybody else called them. I did not. But if they don't like it, that is fine, I'll remove it. But it isn't a lie. They didn't abide by our rules. But they ARE abiding by Oswego's rules, which is open class. And Mark and Mike each won a feature down there, so kudos to them! They're great drivers and we grieved when they didn't want to get stock 5hp engines and race with us anymore. I just don't like the dirty looks that we sometimes get from people that are with them. I don't even know those people and they give me dirty looks. How rude! {:-(

VERN: In my view, all you are doing is hurting yourself, your credibility and the sport in general.
CHRIS: Holy... what sport? Backyard go-kart racing? Dude... the REAL sport there is the big boys racing Supermodifieds on the track in back of us down at Oswego! Not $500 karts racing for fun and no money. Those guys are the real sport. We're just a bunch of guys who WISH we could afford to do what they are doing! Credibility? I never had any credibility! This website is meant to be fun! But I can get mad when people slander my name (and the name of the Greenhouse that my grandfather built and my family have run since he passed away)! And we've never had police coming up here accusing us of stealing go-karts until last year when your tenants were here gang-tackling and fighting people and when you accused us of stealing a little kid's go-kart!

VERN: Also you are creating a bad name for the Galleta's crew.
CHRIS: OK, first off... who is the Galletta's Crew? The Galletta's family is me (Chris), my wife, my brother Matt, my mom, and my dad (Who we lovingly call "Ogre")! The Galletta's go-kart class is everybody who races stock 5hp go-karts with us. However, we did get a bit of a black eye at Oswego earlier this year when someone didn't pay to get in, fought with people, got kicked out, and never paid the track back. She was called "Galletta's crew" but she is not a Galletta. OK? So lets get that straight. Second, bad name? I AM DEFENDING MYSELF FOR GETTING ACCUSED OF CHEATING AND STEALING A KID'S GO-KART! Duh! And whoever was the one who printed up old pages of the website and showing them to everybody hence creating a bad name showing people my website out of context! We've liked racing every single person that ever raced here unless they were a hazard or blatantly disobeyed the rules. The website, is by me, for fun. It is half blog/half-reporting.

VERN: So what is your goal here ?
CHRIS: My goal here is to have a ton of fun racing go-karts and try to get new people to race with us while having a fun website to laugh at and enjoy too. And I am defending our name when you (or your son) accuses us of having work done or having possession of stolen go-karts. Or is some other toothless guy in your trailer park accusing us? Dude... seriously... are there more than two? Sorry if I falsely accused you.

VERN: Toothless ! I haven't got a one in my head ! Lost them all in a car accident !
CHRIS: I'm sorry to hear that. :-(

VERN: Does that make me a bad person ? I don't think so !
CHRIS: I don't either. It makes you a toothless person. :-D

VERN: Does someone on social services offend you ?
CHRIS: You're on social services? I thought you owned a trailer park? Dual income?

VERN: Well maybe you are more fortunate than others,
CHRIS: I'm not exactly that fortunate. My cartooning business isn't exactly making me a millionaire, you know! If I was do you think I'd be racing $500 go-karts with you guys? I'd race a Super if I was really fortunate. I've loved them since I was a freakin' little kid! :-P So, want to buy one of my comic books? :-D

VERN: but I deal with people like that every day. I am fair and compassionate. Some appreciate it, some don't !
CHRIS: Yeah, you're telling me! They come over here and race, then ask for their money back when they wreck and break the parts... and then say we cheat too! You know how that makes me feel? Like I wanna' cry! Boo-hoo! :,(

VERN: The ones that don't, lose a place to live. The ones that do, have a decent place to stay and a friend they can count on.
CHRIS: That's great. God bless you, then!

VERN: As far as the Pitsley's, they came to me because they desperately needed a home. They signed a contract a made promises. Did they own up to the contract or any of their word ? No on all counts. End of story. Can they be trusted ? They proved to me they could not. Should you trust them ? Thats up to you.
CHRIS: Well, we trust them. We come up short on money that they are in charge of, but we trust them. We come up short on 50/50 money that they were in charge of, but we trust them. My uncle won and never knew nor got any money, but we trust them. Several others put lots of money into it and we never saw any of it, but we trust them.

VERN: To bring this to a close, dont trust hearsay ! If you want the truth, go to the source ! Dont flap your jaw on things that you have no facts to go on.
CHRIS: You're telling me! But who's flapping their jaw? I'm typing on my keyboard! And my fingers hurt. Ow!

VERN: I would also appreciate your posting this on your website if you have the nerve.
CHRIS: I appreciate this email, thank you! Oh, and some people call me senseless, so maybe you have a point there. But I assure you, I must have the nerve because here is your email posted on my website!! YAY! I HAVE THE NERVE!

VERN: Admit your mistake .
CHRIS: Point them out? Prove they are mistakes? I'll gladly correct them. Like how I added Derek rolling around on the Oswego Speedway's go-kart track? I made the mistake of not posting that before. You spending all of your money on 1 go-kart and it gets beat by everybody who spend a fraction? Corrected. Want me to find more? :-)

VERN: If not ! Thats what I expected out of a cowardly editor.
CHRIS: Cowardly! Now I take offense to that! At least two Supermodified drivers said we're crazy racing like we do. That means a lot considering the speeds that they race at! I don't think we're too cowardly. Then again, I do get scared when I'm racing next to Derek, so maybe I am cowardly. :-P

VERN: Respectfully
#29
CHRIS: Waitaminute! I thought you said your name was Vernon! Are you lying to me, #29? Is that like a Star trek name or something? Are you a Trekkie? Ah, I prefer Star Wars myself!

Sincerely,
R2-D2

*BOOP-BOOP-BEEP-BEEP!*
=================

----- Original Message -----
From: Vernon Woodworth
To: Galletta's Go-Karts
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:34 AM
Subject: Galletta's Go-Karts website email

VERNON: Hey chris !
CHRIS: Hi again, Vernon!

VERNON: I never did think you where a bad person, but now I know !
CHRIS: Thanks! I hope that means you don't think I'm a bad person, Ha-ha! But I think I know what you meant. I know I'm not a bad person either, though some people take my sense of humor the wrong way. My wife says I'm a good guy too; no criminal record, never use drugs (well, other than addiction to coffee), read the Bible every night, say my prayers and take my vitamins every day! She said if I wasn't such a nice guy, she wouldn't have left her family and great job and flown here from Thailand to marry me (she's a sweetheart beyond words!). Oh, and she adds that my cats love me too! LoL! And I am fairly sure that neither you nor Derek are bad guys ether. Obviously some miscommunication and misunderstanding. And... well... more below....

VERNON: Its all in fun !   Yes I know Derek has a few issues ( Who doesn't ) and he does say things at times that are not appropriate. Most people tend to misunderstand him, but deep down he is a good guy.
CHRIS: I know. I always thought he seemed like he was OK, but I also think he was unfair to us a few times too. Also, I believe that there are certain people who have been backstabbing all of us and reporting false information to everybody. I have a suspicion on who this (these) person (persons) is (are). And I have been a little rough on Derek on last week's page, but I assure you, our racing and this website is all in good fun, and although I was initially angered at hearing about all of these false allegations (and why I posted that rant last week), I am also posting this reconciliation here. You see, we always extend our hospitality to people by racing on our property and often times with our own backup karts, only to have the same people bicker and backstab us. All we ever want to do is race; race clean, race fair and race with equal motors. So, I think you can understand when we take offense to all of the accusations. And both Matt and I are quiet and somewhat shy people, so we don't go around and start screaming matches or threaten to fight with people when we hear about these things like some people do.

VERNON: As far as Derek and I saying that you are cheating, NO! that is not the case. You have allot more experience on your track and that is your edge ! The carts you race are really hooked up and bravo to the mechanic. He's done an outstanding job..
CHRIS: That is Matt, who bought most of the parts and maintains all nine of our go-karts tirelessly. He also helps out any and every visiting driver who asks, and we even store and maintain a few karts for some of our visiting drivers! As much as I want to beat my own brother on the race track, he deserves every win that he gets (which is many). And every time someone can beat him, it is a hard-fought won to be proud of.

VERNON: Our cart ! You have to understand that we work on ours MAYBE, four or five hours a week and that's it. We've raced it THREE TIMES ! We don't have a track in our back yard to try different things . So ! Its once a week for trial and error. BUT ! In time I believe we can catch up or even beat your fastest cart. ( If we can keep the stupid chain from breaking )
CHRIS: Derek stopped coming here on his own accord. He probably could have been trying his trail-and-error work here, though many people swear that they don't believe that Derek's engine is stock because it appears to have racing parts. Even Matt was concerned about this because he believes he saw a non-stock head on it. The only non-stock parts we have in our motors are vinyl oil dippers, because the metal stock ones were breaking and damaging the engines. We solved that problem with installing those. But those are for safety, not for speed.

VERNON: As far as racing with us at my track ! You are welcome to come down when it is finished. We will honor your rules but personally, I don't think having a Raptor or a Overhead valve engine matters too much. Your carts have proven that time and time again ! It depends on the driver mostly. But maybe a different class should be set up for those engine types. I hope we can discuss this later.
CHRIS: We have always wanted to stick to stock 5hp Briggs because all nine of our karts have them, and we even have more stock 5hp motors than karts themselves to put them on. They are affordable, easy to find, and Matt knows how to tune them. Plus, it takes Matt all week to maintain all 9 of our karts, and help visitors, and maintain a racetrack too. We've been racing in our back yard since 1990 and racing for points since 1995 with stock 5hps, so that's the way we like it. The Racing Raptors are expensive so we can't afford to update all of our karts to Raptor and ask all of our visiting drivers to do the same. The OHVs are difficult to work on, expensive to maintain & repair, and it is an entirely different beast inside and out. Also, in sports, you want everything to be as fair and equal as possible. We want everyone to have the same type of motor. We tried racing mixed class motors all last Summer, mainly for guys who weighed more than us, and it just caused a huge fight when every visitor (light or heavy) would bring heavy tank karts and bigger motors. We never had anything against people who raced with different motors, but we want to race with all the same. We know that stock 5hps are very fast, especially when you have an experienced driver at the helm, which is what we want all things equal. Someone could slap a 20hp motor on a big tank and run everybody off of the track, but that isn't racing. That's why we want small, sleek, and fast stock 5hps! :)

VERNON: The Cops !    Well ! They came to our place with a BIG attitude and was determined to find that stolen cart at our place . It turns out that they didn't find it here and proceeded to piss us off even more by treating me like a criminal.    Because we had a matching bungee cord hanging in my shop , that stood as evidence. Anyway, I told the officer that he should look at some local tracks to see if the cart shows up. At no time did I say that the Galletta's stole the kids cart ! Nor did I even think that you did ! Why should you ? You've got enough carts to deal with now . The cop was giving you a line of crap. Typical !
CHRIS: Well, I'm always very respectful of the police and I take it very seriously if a police officer is here. In fact, we've never had any problems with the police until last year when the Pitsleys brought up a domestic dispute to our property. The late Thomas Murray Jr. and his then girlfriend Tara Castiglione were fighting over possession of their go-kart, which we were rebuilding and storing for him to race with us, and the police had to come last year over that because they were actually physically fighting on our property. Then they were here this year over this stolen go-kart. The officer showed us a picture of it. It is a store-bought Yerf-Dog kart, and one could see how it would be easy to confuse because there are so many. In fact, it looks similar to not one, but two karts that visiting drivers have raced with us. But they owned them long before last week, so it couldn't possibly be either of theirs.

VERNON Me on social services !    I tried once to get help way back in the 70's, was living in my car, but made too much money the previous year. So ! I joined the Army and took a tour of Viet Nam :(
CHRIS: Ha, I was just kidding, of course. I figured that you didn't. Just me trying to be funny. And God bless you for serving this country, especially in a time of war. I'm not some pacifist hippie who would hold that against anybody... rather it is something that deserves honor and respect.

VERNON: To your Mom . You have my DEEPEST respect and I apologize for any problems this matter has caused.
CHRIS: She accepts your apology and is glad that nobody is disgruntled over us and our racing. She wishes more people were as respectful as you have been in this email. Some people will come here, wreck our karts, steal from us, and mock us or badmouth us as they left. It has happened before many times by many people. That's the thanks you get from some people, so I can understand how you feel if people do it in your trailer park when you are trying to help them.

VERNON: Racing at Oswego !     NO !    Don't stop racing there. I really enjoy the different engines and how a stock Briggs kicks butt.
CHRIS: Our problem isn't with any driver there (except the jackass in the 21x racing raptor who unapologetically wrecked up several karts). My problem is with the fact that they don't allow us to run our own class for points and money. That is all we ask for. Instead they ignore us and force us to race in an open class with all kinds of different motors. We know our stock 5hps are fast, but we also know that the OHV karts have a lot of power. But I think of it as like racing two or three different kinds of karts together. I want to see equal karts going at it, not mismatching ones. I'd want to watch Mark and Mike and their friends battling in their own class, or if they got stock 5hps, battling with us. That's just the way that everybody here at the Galletta's Racing Association feels... we decided that last August when a giant verbal war erupted on our property over the different types of motors and the rules, an event that was repeated at an earlier race at Oswego.

VERNON: Toothless ! Yep !   It has its drawbacks but I don't have any cavities. Toothless people in the park ! Yep ! Lots of them.
CHRIS: LOL!

VERNON: My cart !   Yes ! It was right behind the last place car # 28 which was about five lengths behind the others. My glasses are good and memory serves ! I was excited. Then the chain broke !
CHRIS: Yep... well I hope that your kart can win one sometime soon! We don't cheer against anybody out there. We just want all the engines equal - oh, and we'd like to have a more logical handicapping and starting order as well. Putting the heats in a random order and then Inverting the heat's final order for the feature doesn't make any sense, as some fast guys are in the rear and some are at the front and vice versa. And everybody here at Galletta's races for points and also our Classic in mid-to-late September, so racing for no points and no money and just beating up our karts at Oswego isn't as much fun as it was the 1st couple of weeks... especially when you have them allowing people to race Raptors or big heavy tanks and smashing into everybody within reach. It's supposed to be a go-kart race, not a demolition derby! Nobody wins when everybody gets mad!

VERNON: Ya know ! I really enjoy working on and racing carts. Talking to different people, getting idea's. If you don't mind, I would like to get on a different subject other than disputes and misunderstandings.
#29
CHRIS: Fair enough. My brother is the one who works on the karts most, and my dad is the welder and metal fabricator who works on the frames, so they are the ones to ask about the karts - especially Matt - the short muscle boy who always wins, LOL! I more do the paintjobs (that always get destroyed after one race, LoL!), the videotaping, DVDs, website, points and statistics. Together we get the whole show running. :)

-Chris "ChrusherComix"
(AKA Emperor Palpatine #8... maybe my go-kart should be "Order 66" heheh... ah, only RaYzor will get that one.)
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http://gallettasgreenhouse.com/gokarts/
http://Chrusher.comicgenesis.com
http://Towner.comicgenesis.com

And remember to anybody... you can email me if you have a problem with anything and we'll discuss it. I'm not someone who is going to be unfair, or lie or fight people... it goes against the integrity of us racing go-karts for fun and fellowship! I may try to install a message board if enough people would be interested.

Also, let me take this chance to thank everybody who races with us every week, and all for all of the people who help us (being flag people, lap counters, track maintenance, or helped us transport karts to Oswego when we raced there).