R.I.P. Louis Parker

 

 

-Feb. 25, 2010-
BIG WEBSITE CHANGES COMING SOON!

5:22 PM Mountain Standard Time

    In celebration of the 2009 Championship season, Hale Racing is making some major website changes.  You will soon see a new website format here at HaleRacing.com with more on demand videos, and new photos of Hale Racing's brand new Shaw Dirt Racing Modified.  Updated schedule will also become available, and plenty of news on what Hale Racing plans to do for 2010.  One thing you can likely expect is a lot of FUN, less stress and plenty more dirt to clean off.  Racing season is only 2 months away, and the goal is to have the new website launched by mid March.  When it first launches, there will be some things missing and under construction, but the goal is to have EVERY piece of video footage from 2009 available on demand.  I will not launch the new website until that is complete.  I'm 3/4 of the way through it, so it shouldn't be much longer.  Stay tuned to HaleRacing.com!


-Oct. 9, 2009-
A Bridesmaid No More, 01 is #1
1:38 PM Mountain Standard Time

-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE SEP. 7, 2009 MAIN EVENT COMING SOON-

    Wow, is the 2009 race season really over?  It sure seemed to come and go pretty quick huh?  Well it couldn't have come and gone any better for Hale Racing.  With both success on the dirt and the asphalt, the 01 asphalt modified driven by our very own Michael Hale scored it's very first season championship this year and proved that consistency is huge in one of the west coasts most competitive classes. (Full Story)


-Aug. 20, 2009-
A Little More Distance, But Still 2 Races Remain
2:56 PM Mountain Standard Time

-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE AUG. 15, 2009 MAIN EVENT NOW AVAILABLE-

    Well the points lead was slightly increased over this past weekend, but now the driver in 3rd place has a shot at stealing the championship.  With 2 races left, just 79 points separate first and third in the chase for the 2009 modified championship.  77 points separate first and second.  Hale Racing continues to hold that lead, but will definitely have to stay out of trouble in order to finish things off.  The team brought out the Left Hander chassis on Wednesday, August 19th, for testing purposes and the car is pretty close to being dialed in.  You'll be seeing that racecar back in action next Saturday night, so don't you dare miss it.


-Aug. 10, 2009-
Slight Distance Created, But Points Race Still Tight
7:28 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Aug. 13, 2009 @ 4:13 AM MST - UPDATE
-FULL STORY NOW AVAILABLE-

-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE AUG. 8, 2009 MAIN EVENT NOW AVAILABLE-
-720P HD VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE AUG. 8, 2009 MAIN EVENT COMING SOON!

    Saturday night was definitely a wild one on the high banked oval of Rocky Mountain Raceways.  Trouble could be found around every corner it would seem, but fortunately enough, none of it seemed to find Hale Racing.  The team did manage to increase the margin from 1st to 2nd in the points standings, but, like any other night, it was no easy task. (Full Story)


-Aug. 7, 2009-
July 25th, 2009 Main Event Video Now Available
5:14 PM Mountain Standard Time
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE JUL. 25, 2009 MAIN EVENT NOW AVAILABLE-

    Yes it's late, but at least it's available.  Working as quickly as I can on this stuff.  Thanks for being patient.


-Aug. 6, 2009-
Dirt Racing Video Footage Now Available
2:58 PM Mountain Standard Time
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE DIRT RACE MAIN EVENT (AUG. 1, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-

    Well I was finally able to get some free time to make this update.  I apologize for taking so long in doing so.  Video footage from the 2nd night of dirt racing in Price, Utah is now available.  The main event is the only footage currently posted, but I plan to make more footage available soon.  I still have some past video footage I need to get posted as well.  Thank you for your patience.


-Jul. 28, 2009-
Website Goals For This Week
11:43 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jul. 29, 2009 @ 2:52 AM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 18TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-720P HD VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 18TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" THE LINK ABOVE (FILE IS VERY LARGE!)
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE DIRT RACE HEAT (JUL. 11TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF THE DIRT RACE MAIN EVENT (JUL. 11TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-

    Well I certainly didn't reach my goals last week for the website, but hopefully I can accomplish a little more this week.  The dirt race videos are now available.  I am trying as hard as possible to get up more footage from both July 4th and July 18th as well.  I also have video from the July 25th race, so stay tuned to HaleRacing.com for that as the week progresses.  Things are definitely busy around here.  We at Hale Racing appreciate your patience.  Thanks for stopping by.

-Jul. 20, 2009-
Website Goals For This Week
5:56 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Just wanted to make a quick update to let everyone know what I hope to have in store for everyone at HaleRacing.com this week.  First and foremost I want to get video footage from the 07/18/2009 event uploaded including a race recap of the two main events.  The High Quality version of Main #2 is now encoding and should be uploaded before the end of the night.  I also want to get video footage from Hale Racing's visit to Rock Springs back on the 11th of July uploaded.  Those are the main goals as of right now for this week, so stay tuned to HaleRacing.com all week long.


-Jul. 11, 2009-
Bad Luck Strikes, But Very Marginal Points Lead Remains
4:14 AM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jul. 20, 2009 @ 3:11 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 4TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 4TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-720P HD VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 4TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
RIGHT CLICK AND "SAVE TARGET AS" THE LINK ABOVE (FILE IS VERY LARGE!)

    July 4th of 2009 definitely had some ups & downs for Hale Racing.  It began with a middle, then an up, then a down, and the nation's birthday ended with another up.  The middle... practice.  Practice began with Michael and gang running off top 5-like lap times.  They were close, so minor adjustments were made to try and get the car just right for qualifying.  The event was scheduled to have 2 main events, so qualifying fast on both laps was definitely key.  Michael did just that.  Hale Racing put together a great racecar for Michael's qualifying session, and ended up with the pole position for both main events.  This was the evening's first up... then came the down. (Full Story)


-Jul. 7, 2009-
Very First Hale Racing HIGH DEFINITION Video NOW AVAILABLE!
6:32 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jul. 20, 2009 @ 3:11 PM MST - UPDATE
-720P HD VIDEO FROM THE STANDS OF MAIN #2 (JUL. 4TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-

    That's right, Saturday night I put the HD capabilities of my camcorder to use, and recorded both main events in Sony High Definition.  Encoding is going to take a while longer with these videos, but I plan to make both main events available in 720 and 1080i.  These versions will require a very high speed internet connection if you plan on streaming the videos.  I recommend you download them first and then watch them.  If you are a quality nut like myself, and a fan of Hale Racing or just a good old Modified race, then you won't be disappointed in the download.  Thanks for stopping by!


-Jul. 7, 2009-
Official Race Results & Standings Now Available
6:22 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Well the official results and standings have been made available at RMRRacing.com.  Unfortunately my results and standings do not match theirs.  I plan to figure out why.  I'll make the links active later during the week.


-Jul. 5, 2009-
UNOFFICIAL Race Results & Points Standings
From 07/04/2009 Now Available

-UPDATE-
4:12 PM Mountain Standard Time -UPDATE-

    Alright, this should hopefully be my final post regarding unofficial points and results.  I found a few little issues that have been fixed.  First, in the points, I left off a complete week of racing, so the totals were incorrect... they are now correct (UNOFFICIALLY!).  Second, in the 2nd lap of qualifying (qualifying for Main #2) the #50 of Roger Wilson and the #20 of Dan McCoy recorded identical lap times (15.922).  I confirmed that the car that records the time first, gets the position.  In this case, Roger qualified before Dan, so the position was given to him.  I had it reflected differently in my original results.  That has been fixed and the results should be correct (UNOFFICIALLY!).  Thank you for your patience.

    Wow, I'm up late... or early, whatever.  Last post before I finally go to sleep.  I posted breakdowns of each main event and how I believe they should be scored based on Rocky Mountain Raceways scoring system.  These can be accessed by clicking on the "Results" link above and then clicking on the "Breakdown of Results" link in the "Results" window that opens.  21 drivers qualified for Main 2, but only 19 started.  Those two drivers are not displayed in the breakdown of Main 2, but note that Billy Osoro earned 4 points for qualifying 7th for the 2nd main.  This is reflected on the overall results page.  Hopefully these make sense to everyone.  Any questions?  Feel free to email me by clicking here.  Thanks!

    Adding a quick post to note that results and standings have been posted at SpeednetDirect for this event.  Keep in mind that after the last race that featured two main events, the results and points were very wrong.  Those results and standings were later corrected Sunday afternoon.  I'm leaving my results and standings posted until Monday morning to see if any changes are made during Sunday.

    I've calculated points for the night and the results should be close to what's official... unless RMR has a different way of calculating double main events.  Remember, these results and standings are UNOFFICIAL!  Please do not contact Rocky Mountain Raceways or Hale Racing regarding these postings.  Race recap and video footage will be available soon.  Thanks for stopping by.


-Jun. 28, 2009-
Race On the 4th, Will The Rain Stay Away?
11:57 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Hale Racing is scheduled to return to Rocky Mountain Raceways this Saturday, but will the weather cooperate?  After two straight rainouts and a weekend off, Hale Racing is excited to get back to the track and pick up where they left off.  Michael and the crew placed 2nd overall in the last event, and still maintain a small points lead in the race for the 2009 championship.  It's likely July 4th will provide fireworks on the track as well as off as it appears it's going to be a night with two main events to make up for one of the previous rain outs.  That means, as fans, that you better cheer twice as hard!  We hope to see you all this Saturday loud and proud to be a Hale Racing fan.  Thanks for dropping by HaleRacing.com.  Now let's all do an anti-rain dance.


-Jun. 17, 2009-
Rain Rain Go Away
7:05 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Well I guess one rained out event this season wasn't enough for mother nature.  She had her way with RMR again this last Saturday and after just one practice session, the racecars were tucked back into their trailers and sent home.  This was the second rain-out of the year, and with the strange weather, who knows what's going to happen throughout the rest of the 2009 season?  There is a race this Saturday though, June 20th, so don't miss it.  I'm still working on getting the "Onboard" Video Gallery active so stay tuned to HaleRacing.com throughout the week.  Thanks for your patience, and thanks for stopping by!


-Jun. 10, 2009-
Video Gallery Being Updated
5:17 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jun 17, 2009 @ 7:02 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY 16TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY. 16TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-

    Just a quick update to notify our visitors that I am updating our Video Gallery.  I'm hoping to have the "Onboard" section active and running by this weekend, and just a heads up that the footage I filmed from the 05-16-2009 race is now available.  With the wreck and everything that happened back on the 30th, the race from the 16th got put on hold.  Check back soon.  Thanks for stopping by!


-Jun. 8, 2009-
Points Standings & 06/06/2009 Results Made Official
9:22 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Well it looks like the spreadsheet I built was spot-on this week.  The results and standings I posted unofficially last night were exactly the same as what RMR made official today.

    I was unable to attend the June 6th race, so a race recap will not be available.  What I can tell you is that Michael qualified #1 for the event... finished his heat in 8th, and after starting way in the back for the main event; Michael made his way up to 6th place.  This earned him a tie for second overall, just one point behind the event winner, Bryan Wordelman.  Hale Racing remains in 1st place for the 2009 points standings, but the margin is only 20 points.  Michael and the team take to the track again this Saturday, June 13th, so don't miss out on another exciting race.  Thanks for stopping by HaleRacing.com.


-Jun. 7, 2009-
UNOFFICIAL Points Standings
& 06/06/2009 Results Posted

10:13 PM Mountain Standard Time

    I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know I have posted UNOFFICIAL Modified Points Standings and UNOFFICIAL race results as of the June 6th, 2009 race.  I built a spreadsheet sometime back and it's quite accurate so the standings & results should not be far off.  I plan to make this information available moments after each race.  Remember, these are UNOFFICIAL, so please do not call Rocky Mountain Raceways or Hale Racing regarding these postings.  The official points & results will be posted as soon as they become available.


-Jun. 1, 2009-
Next Time Pray For More Rain
4:30 AM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jul 19, 2009 @ 2:27 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY ONBOARD VIDEO FROM MAY 30TH, 2009 B-MAIN NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY ONBOARD VIDEO FROM MAY 30TH, 2009 B-MAIN NOW AVAILABLE-
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY 30TH, 2009 B-MAIN) NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY 30TH, 2009 B-MAIN) NOW AVAILABLE-
-MORE VIDEO FOOTAGE COMING SOON-

    Mark down May 30th of 2009 as THE race to forget for the 2009 race season.  What could be the teams final race at RMR for 2009 (more on this as the week progresses) was certainly a disaster.  I'll write a full article later this afternoon, but the goal right now is to let everyone know that video footage is now available from the awful accident on Saturday night that sent Michael airborne for a few moments and then blasting the wall.  HIGH SPEED CONNECTION IS REQUIRED FOR VIEWING.  The low speed version will be made available afterwards.  For now, enjoy the video.  Stop back later this afternoon for a full recap on Saturday's event.  I will try to get the video footage from the stands that I took and more onboard footage from the A-Main uploaded as well.  Thanks for stopping by HaleRacing.com.


-May. 27, 2009-
Team Enjoys Week Off After Wild Race
12:53 AM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -Jun 10, 2009 @ 7:26 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY 16TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM THE STANDS (MAY. 16TH, 2009) NOW AVAILABLE-

    Hale Racing enjoyed their Memorial Day Weekend... there was no race to worry about.  Instead the team's focus was making sure everything was ready to go for this weekend's event.  2 days after the May 16th event, the car was back on the scales and under the microscope for a good "check-up."  The May 16th event wasn't the prettiest of races, but Hale Racing still scored a first overall finish.  "Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good" said Michael Hale after the race.  That was no lie. (Full Story)


-May. 16, 2009-
Team Places 2nd Overall, Still 1st In Points
12:56 AM Mountain Standard Time
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM MAY. 9, 2009 NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM MAY. 9, 2009 NOW AVAILABLE-

    My update is quite late for last week's race, and I apologize for that.  Because of my tardiness, I am just making both the high speed and low speed connection videos of the race available and leaving it up to the video to show what happened.  To summarize for those unable to view the videos, Hale Racing was quite successful in the 2nd race of the year with Michael qualifying 2nd overall and coming home 7th in the main event.  It looked like a top 5 finish, but some trouble arose near the end the event that made the finish slightly worse.  However, with the good qualifying spot, and another top 10 finish, the team still scored 2nd overall and Michael continues to hold the points lead.  It's just a 4 point lead, so the team will definitely have to be on their game later tonight for the 3rd race of the year.  We'd like to give a quick thanks to all our sponsors and fans that supported us last Saturday.  We hope to see you again later tonight.  Thanks for stopping by!


-May. 5, 2009-
Race #2 Cancelled Due To Weather
10:12 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Well the weather did not cooperate with plans of racing on Saturday, May 2nd at Rocky Mountain Raceways.  The 2nd scheduled event of the 2009 season was cancelled due to rain.  I am not sure on when the cancelled event will be made up, but it is possible that this Saturday's event could involve a second main event.  This has been the case in previous seasons when a race was cancelled.  The track would make up the event by running two main events in one night of racing.  When this is the case, usually the first lap of qualifying determines your starting position for the 1st main event, while the second lap of qualifying determines your starting position for the 2nd main event.  If this is the case for this upcoming Saturday, I will be sure to notify everyone right here on the website.  Thanks for stopping by.  We'll see you Saturday.


-May 1, 2009-
Adding A Past Video To Video Gallery
5:51 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -May 4, 2009 @ 2:02 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO FROM JUL. 4, 2005 NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO FROM JUL. 4, 2005 NOW AVAILABLE-

    I was going through some videos on my hard drive today, and came across a classic from 2005: The July 4th, 2005 race at Rocky Mountain Raceways.  You'll definitely want to watch the whole race as things get VERY interesting within the last 7 laps.  The article is here if you feel like reading about it.  It was definitely an exciting race, and Michael scored victory so be sure to check out the video as soon as it becomes available.  I've posted a little information below on how the video process works to give you a bit of an idea on what it takes to get these videos online.
 

Step 1:  Record video from the stands using a Sony HDR-SR5 HD/AVCHD Camcorder

Each time I press the record button, a new video file is created.  This camcorder, when using standard quality recording, creates a .MPG file for each segment recorded.  So when the green flag flies up until a caution, that is one segment or .MPG file.
Step 2:  Importing video files into Corel VideoStudio 12 and combining them into one video.
A race with a lot of cautions can end up taking a lot of time because I have to manually create the "fade in/fade out" effect for each video as the camcorder does not do this automatically.  So combining the videos into one single video, or "race video" as you might call it, can be very time consuming.
Step 3:  Saving the combined videos, or "race video" to a new .MPG file.
This process usually takes about 10 minutes and once it's finished I can now work with my single "race video" and work on compressing it to be more user-friendly for the web.
Step 4:  Encoding the "race video" TWICE.  1 for high speed connections.  1 for low speed.
This is by far the lengthiest process.  The high speed connection version usually takes between 2 and 3 hours depending on the length of the race.  The low speed connection version takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Keep in mind this is with a quad core processor at 2.9GHz.  Your basic dual core processors would probably take close to 5 or 6 hours for the high speed version.
Step 5:  Uploading the video to the web and updating the video gallery website.
Uploading the high speed connection version takes between 45 minutes and a hour.  The low speed is usually 30 minutes.  Updating the website can take some time if I have to create a new section (i.e.: whenever a new month begins), but I can usually have it together in about an hour.  If I don't have to create a new section, I can have it updated in about 20 minutes.

    Hopefully this information gives you a better idea of what it takes to get our videos online.  It is a lengthy process, so I appreciate your patience as I try to get them online as quickly as possible.


-Apr. 28, 2009-
Consistent and Cautious Scores 1st Overall
9:50 PM Mountain Standard Time

UPDATE -May 1, 2009 @ 3:24 PM MST - UPDATE
-HIGH QUALITY VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE-
-LOW QUALITY VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE-

    Rain held off just long enough for racing to take place on Saturday night.  Although the skies weren't stormy, the mayhem on the race track certainly was.  After 19 laps of clean side by side racing, it was nothing but a wreck fest for the next 31.  Knowing it was the first night of competition, Michael knew good and well there'd be plenty of accidents to avoid, and his consistency and cautiousness once again proved successful... scoring Hale Racing a first place overall finish and an early lead in the point standings. (Full Story)


-Apr. 22, 2009-
Photos from April 18, 2009 Added
4:52 PM Mountain Standard Time

    Today I added the photos I took from the April 18th, 2009 practice session at Rocky Mountain Raceways.  Be sure to check them out. (Still-Shot Photo Gallery)


-Apr. 18, 2009-
Second Practice Session As Good As The First
7:21 PM Mountain Standard Time

    After last weekend's successful practice session, confidence was high in the Hale Racing camp for another successful weekend of practice this Saturday.  Was it?  Absolutely.  Being successful one weekend is always a good thing.  Doing it two weeks in a row shows consistency, and that was the goal for this weekend's session.  Once again, Hale Racing was one of the weekend's most competitive teams. (Full Story)


-Apr. 14, 2009-
First Practice of 2009 a Success
5:43 PM Mountain Standard Time

    2009 is officially upon us, and now that we've reached the 4th month of the year, it's time to buckle up and go racing again.  Saturday, April 11th marked the first day of practice for the 2009 season, and Hale Racing was on hand with not one but two racecars for testing.  The results... both cars were quite a success. (Full Story)


-News Archives-


Visits As Of Jan. 1, 2004

Copyright © 2003 - 2009 HALERACING.COM
All Rights Reserved

Best Viewed @ 1024 x 768