Farming, "The Greatest Challenge"
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Every day I tell myself I'm the luckiest man in the world and you know what? I'm right! Not only do I have the greatest family in the world but every day I get to go to work for farmers. What could be better than that? Farming is the greatest challenge on this planet and growing potatoes is at the very top of the list. Two of the best potato growers I get to work for are from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. Dan Verbrigghe and Tony Van Damme from Rock are on the job 24-7 producing some of the best Russet potatoes grown in this country. It would take a day to explain everything they go through from growing their crops to harvest and storage, grading, packaging and loading the trucks that come in the middle of the night. They do it all from start to finish and trust me to sell their crop at a good return so that they can do it all over again the next year.
When you see Matt Kenseth racing, you'll see the name DeWalt on his car and I'm sure he feels pretty lucky about that. When you see the #1 Biggins car you'll see the names Verbrigghe Potato Farms and T & J Van Damme Farms on the side. That's two of the reasons I feel that I'm the luckiest man in the world.
Posted byJoel Schulz at 9:23 PM 0 comments
Daytona
Monday, February 19, 2007
Stock car racing is a year 'round activity. Even running the local short tracks the clock is always ticking and there is a regular list of "Things To Do", but after Daytona the reality hits me that in 8 weeks or less we've better be ready for some on-track testing. NASCAR goes through it's annual ritual, just off the beach on the "Space Coast" side of Florida, and now the clock is ticking louder. The car is going back together now. We've narrowed down our options and now it's time to put our best combination of "stuff" together to make our car the best it's going to be. We've replaced the broken and worn out parts and even come up with some new "trick" parts to make our car go faster. It's a time of optimism and hope. That's what keeps us all vibrant and alive and pressing on. Hope. It's the most powerful tool we have. Well, that and a 500 hp "Boomer" engine.
Posted byJoel Schulz at 9:45 PM 0 comments
The Biggins Name
Friday, February 16, 2007
During the year I want to give a special mention to all the great sponsors that make it possible for us to race the Biggins stock car. But, first of all I want to explain where the Biggins name comes from. Large baking potatoes were always boxed up and sold to food service distributors and ended up in restaurants. Grocery stores would buy a few and place them on a produce table and sell them at a premium price because you would buy them one at a time. This is still true today but along the way Russell Wysocki thought it'd be a good idea to bag up some of those big bakers and make them available to everyone at a reasonable price. They name he came up with was Biggins "Big Bakin' Taters" and that's where the Biggins family of great potato products started from.
Posted byJoel Schulz at 8:21 PM 0 comments
Warmer Days Are Coming...
Thursday, February 15, 2007
In Wisconsin we don't get used to the cold but we carry on in spite of it. I currently spend most of my free time starting a fire in the shop wood stove and then seeing how fast I can get it to a steady roar. The faster I get the fire up to speed the more time we can work on the car. On a good day you don't even need a jacket by 11am. Good days are Saturdays and Sundays. On week days the fire doesn't get going good 'til around 8pm because of a work conflict and that doesn't leave too much time to work on the stock car. But, we do what we can because warmer days are coming.
Posted byJoel Schulz at 10:15 PM 0 comments
