In Billings, OK Tyler got a Daniel Boone coon skin cap.

The Red River that runs along the Texas Oklahoma border. Not much of a river in the summer.

Driving by Texas Motor Speedway. When I went to the race back in '99 I have an exact picture of the one Tyler took in our scrapbook. Great minds sure do think alike.

The Ford Center is where the Oklahoma City AFL team and the New Orleans Hornets play.

A water tower near NebraskaCity. Notice it's in the shape of a coffee pot? All Sapp Bros. truck stops call their restaurants The Coffeepot.

Tyler's trip in the truck started on Tuesday morning with a load of oil headed for Ft. Worth, Texas to be unloaded on Wednesday a.m. Then back to Sioux City on Thursday afternoon. Before the trip Tyler had anticipated spending a WHOLE week in the truck with grandpa. Well like any other 10 year old hyped up on adrenaline and anticipation he lasted 48 hours. He enjoyed seeing the countryside, answering grampa's trivia questions, and showering in a truck stop. Unfortunately the excitement ended when he got back to the house. In grampa's words he was like a "caged wild animal" and was so excited to play outside in the backyard that another trip seemed like a punishment more than an adventure. Maybe next year he'll make it a week.

Brandon and Tyler with their 1st and 2nd place trophies, respectively.

Sponsors, Old Skool Racing, aka Grandma and Grandpa come to Jamaica to enjoy a day at the race track.

As the sun was shining, the sunscreen being applied and the track getting hotter we headed out for the first heat race. Tyler started on the pole. After 8 laps of being tight and 2 drivers passing him on the inside he would have to settle for 3rd. Back to the pits for a few adjustments.

The second heat race they invert so he would start last (4th). After pit crews help of loosening the kart, 2 good inside passes, and good lines Tyler would come away with a 2nd place finish. That would give Tyler an outside front row start for the feature. After 3 restarts the feature was finally underway. He had his fastest time of the year with a lap time of 15.65 sec. on the 1/5 mile oval. Where he started would be where he finished, 2nd. He had a good day of learning lines, passing, and kart handling. Tyler has next weekend off from racing. He will be heading out on the open road with grampa for a trip in the truck. Have fun and we all can't wait to see the pictures.

Tyler and Jiri getting ready to do a drill.
Jiri Hubaleck 6' 10" Tyler DeVos 4' 8"
Eric Crawford is a UNI transfer that came with McDermott. Here the boys are doing free throws for a contest.
Swish!!! Tyler making his free throws.

ISU Basketball Camp

On July 14th and 15th Tyler attended the camp in Urbandale. He saved his birthday money to pay for the camp himself.He enjoyed drills, contests, and pick up games with 40 other ISU enthusiasts. His favorite part of camp was when he got to take a picture and get an autograph with Jiri. He also got a T-shirt, basketball, and practice booklet at the end of camp. He plans on already attending next year.

Tyler, Eric, Colin, and Dylan holding up their trophies and cash. Congratulation boys on a great day of racing!!!

Tyler receiving his First place Midseason Championship trophy and his $45.00 money prize from track owner, Randy Perkins.

The Mid-Season championship race at Jamaica July 8th got off to a slow start. It sprinkled on and off for half an hour after practice sessions were complete. The rain stoppped and we were set for heat races. Tyler would start on the pole for the first heat race and lead all 8 laps. The racing was very tight, nose to tail the entire race so one slip up and you could go from 1st to last in about 5 seconds. We started last in the second heat race. It was a battle to make it up to 2nd, but we ran out of laps trying to catch Kordell and we had to settle for a second place finish. Since this was a special mid season championship and money race, they would run 20 lap main events. Tyler led until a caution came out about mid way through the race. On the restart, his buddy Colin got by him on the restart and was leading by about 4 kart lengths going into turn 3. Eric #81 had a super run going into 3 and he and Tyler got together to bring out another caution. Since they did not complete a lap, Tyler restarted first on the next restart. Tyler got out to a nice lead down the front stretch, but Eric and Colin were close on his tail. Eric would get a nose under Tyler in 1, but Tyler would pull away slightly out of turn 2. Eric would again get his nose under Tyler out of turn 4, but Tyler had a good run to pull a few inches ahead. Yes I said inches, these kids were running over 50 mph, an inch off the ground, only a few inches from each other. The racing was that tight, one slight bobble in a turn and instead of leading the race, you will find yourself trying to play catch up. Tyler was able to hold Eric and Colin off to take the checkered flag, his 3rd feature win. Eric finished second with Colin in a close 3rd. Dylan, a new driver from Marshalltown finished 4th and Kordell rounded out the top 5. We have a week off and will tackle the 1/5th mile high banked aspahlt oval again July 22nd. Hope to see you there.

We have hit the big time! Before the features, they had all the drivers line up on the front stretch for driver introductions. They announced the drivers name, city they are from, their kart # and how many points they have on the season. Tyler is leading points, so he got to start on the pole for the 20 lap main event.

Colin Smith and Tyler hanging out after their practice session. This is a nice viewing platform for pit crews and drivers. The race promoter/director also stands up here for the races, so you get to hear alot of interesting conversations between him and the head flag man as they talk on their radios. This is also where pit crew mom takes all her photos.

Tyler during practice July 8th at MidSeason championship race going into turn 3.

Saturday July 1st brought a big "Kneifl crowd" to Jamaica Raceway. Hollie was home from Denver, Rich and Andrea from Ankeny, and grandma and grandpa from Sioux City. After last week we had a few "bumps and bruises" so pit crew had the body redone just in time for the next race. For the first heat race Tyler started on the pole and that's where he'd finish. For the second heat race he started 3rd. After a good battle and pass on Colin he ended up 2nd. For the feature he started outside front row. Tyler had a couple of wide turns which let Colin get ahead of him.Then Colin had a good run and passed Eric for the feature win. His first of the season. Tyler couldn't battle back enough and would have to settle for 3rd. It was good clean racing but Tyler needed some practice running his lines. So, on Wednesday we loaded up again and headed to Jamaica to practice "our lines". After 4 hours and 110 practice laps he's got his line down. Tomorrow is a midseason points and money race. Wish us luck!!!

Last Friday June 30th, Villager's coaches had a "celebrate our baseball season" picnic. The kids swam, buried each other in sand, and even tried there luck at eating clams. It was a nice end to a wonderful year. Thanks to Steve Brashears, Wayne Kies, and Todd Lange for coaching and giving the kids a memorable minor league season.

On another note: Stanton Electric, the major league team Tyler filled in for, won the championship.

Tyler's baseball team ended the season as runner ups to Aurelia in tournament play. They played phenomenal. Villager was ahead 1-0 until the bottom of the 5th. Aurelia then won the game with 2 runs. What a great season to watch from the bleachers. Thanks to mom for making it to almost all the games and treating us to Dairy Queen after each and every one. (A tradition she's been doing since Tyler played T-ball when he was 5.)

Tyler's team won gold medals in their league for the regular season going undefeated in league play this year. This week started tournament play. They lost their first game to MetaBank. They would have to play Newel Fonda in the losers bracket in this double elimination tournament. Tyler pitched a great 3 innings and struck out 5 batters in the victory over Newell Fonda. I wonder if the buck a strike motivated him at all :) So now he is $15 richer. Since MetaBank got beat by Paxton's in the winners bracket, Villager and Metabank would meet again in yesterday's game. Tyler was again throwing some heat and struck out the first 3 batters. He struck out 2 more in the second inning before walking one batter who eventually scored making the game 0 to 1 going into the 3rd inning. Tyler did strike out one more before MetaBank was able to put a bat on the ball to score another run making it 2 to 0 in the 3rd. Going into the 4th inning Villager came out swinging, scoring 5 runs in the 4th inning to take the lead in the game. Metabank would score one more run in the 5th but it wasnt enough as Villager got revenge and eliminated Metabank from the tournament. Next game is Thursday at 530p in Aurelia against Paxton's. If Villager beats Paxtons, they will eliminate them from the tournament and face Aurelia in the championship game at 730, however, if Villager wins the first game, they would play on Friday again for the tournament title. So as you can see this week is very busy, after baseball this week, we travel to Jamaica Iowa where Tyler hopes to extend his current point lead in the JR 1 Gas class in kart racing.

Tyler during a practice session down the back stretch.

The day was a bit cloudy and wet, but the track was dry so we unloaded for some practice before racing began. We made no changes from last week. Tyler was a bit off the pace, so we dropped a tooth on the rear gear and went with a 58 gear hoping to get some more speed down the straights. Although we ran some fast laps, I thought we could still get some more speed, so we dropped one more tooth on the rear to a 57 and sent him out again. He ran about 3 tenths slower, then it started to rain and practice was over. For the heat races, I put the 58 gear back on. He lined up to start second, however, pit crew and driver had some miscommunication about the start and we got moved to the back. Tyler passed 2 karts after a few laps, but ran out of laps trying to catch Eric who already had a sizeable lead. Tyler finished second. Tyler started third in the second heat race and made it to second where he finished. After a short rain delay, Tyler would again start on the front row for the feature, next to Eric, who had the pole after winning both heat races. The feature was action packed as Kordell and Tyler were banging on each other bringing out the first caution, both karts were sent to the back. After a good restart, Tyler and Kordell would again meet in the middle of turn 3 and 4, bringing out another caution, again both karts were sent to the rear. On the restart, Tyler got a huge start and passed 3 karts down the front stretch to be leading with 4 to go going into turn 1. Kordell took the lead by getting by Tyler on the back stretch of the same lap. Kordell led the last 3 laps to take the checkered, Tyler would finish second.

Tyler stole second base, here he is getting a good lead before stealing third.

Here is Tyler making it to the "Major's" with Stanton Electric. The major league is made up of 5th and 6th graders. Although he is in 4th grade, Tyler has played 3 games with them. He has done a good job and is learning quite alot about the game. He plays left field and in this league they can lead off base and steal home.

Games 2 days in a row. Tuesday they played the second place team Paxton's Jewelry. Tyler played first base most of the game and played catcher the last inning. They were down 4 to 5 at the top of the last inning, if they didnt score, the game was over. However, they scored 3 runs to go up 7 to 5. Paxton's had one more chance to win. Hunter Schmidt was in at pitcher for the first time in the game. He was throwing pitches right down the pipe, 3 up, 3 down and the game was over, with Tyler's team having another victory. Tyler was asked to play with the Major League (5th and 6th grade team) on Wednesday night. He will join the 5th and 6th grade team for a 3rd game in 3 days. Since he is subbing on the team, he will have to bat last and play the outfield, but he is very excited.

Tyler was throwing some heat from the mound on Monday night. He struck out out 4 batters in 3 innings. ...(he did hit 2 batters, one on the helmet and one in the back) Keeps them off the plate that way :) Score was tied 2 to 2 after 3 of 5 innings. His team would end up losing 9-3, not with out some controversy regarding some questionable calls. It was later determined after the game that the umpire was using Tournament Rules instead of the League Rules. Fortunately, this game was not a league game, therefore, the team is still undefeated in league play. Their overall record is 7-2, 4-0 in league play.

Here comes the pitch...........

Tyler watching the pitch all the way in the catchers glove. This pitch was just a bit high and was called a ball.