The other night after our TCO meeting I was talking to Denny about...Racing.

In particular I was asking him about what motivated guys like him and my Dad back in the old days. My interest in this is currently running pretty high as I move ahead with my plans for 2004.

When I was a kid racing motorcycles I was always moving ahead and moving up. I had goals and ambitions running in that one in a hundred, then one in a thousand, then one in a million range. As I've taken up racing cars in mid-life with about the same initial motivation - it looked like so much fun that I just HAD to do it - I've unconsciously brought along alot of the same underlying motives.

But in the quiet moments I find that I believe in no pot at the end of the rainbow. Racing is my sport, and my racing counts for me. Roger Penske isn't going to notice me. Peter Cunningham isn't going to call. Scott Zellner isn't going to offer me a GT ride in the new NSX.

Denny was telling me that they pretty much raced for pure enjoyment, and that he got a real eye opener when he ran some Trans-Am races with Joe. Joe kept a crew of three guys busy thrashing all weekend every weekend. We related that to Duane Davis' approach to racing nowadays. We don't talk to Duane at the races - he's too intense, focused, and busy. The prize just doesn't quite seem worth the cost - for me.

But, you still go racing. And when something comes up, you can have a simple impulse like "Do it."

So in 1967 they went to Daytona for the ARRC - when that meant The Runoff's. They did ok, and had a good time. Dad took 4th in E-Production, and Denny took 4th in D-Production. So you can imagine that the next year when the ARRC was at Riverside they were planning on going. But neither qualified. The competition all year was tough enough that they couldn't win enough points.

In E-Production the fast guy in the Northwest was Mike Eyerly in his Porsche 356 1600. Mike went faster than the rest of the Porsches and won everything in Region and Division that year. There was some grumbling heard.

Dad and Denny drove down to Riverside to watch, and watched Mike clean up. The grumbling reached the point where he was protested. The protester said something like "Now we'll see how he goes so fast". They watched the teardown, and when it was found that not only was Mike's motor Legal, it wasn't even a very good motor. It, like the rest of the car, was used hard and maintained minimally. At some point one or the other of them approached the protester, and told him that they had been looking at the wrong end of the car. They should have been looking at the front. The part right behind the steering wheel.

Mike had been kicking *** on them all year long, and they knew why - because Mike wasn't just a good driver, he was a great driver.

Scott, who thinks that you can cheat, and it doesn't even cost that much, and you can't even be caught - all you gotta do is get the most out of the ECU on the Driver/Unit.

 

scott, you're wrong. it's the car. nothing but the car. the driver is just oil that hasn't been put under enough pressure and heat.

nate

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">scott, you're wrong. it's the car. nothing but the car. the driver is just oil that hasn't been put under enough pressure and heat.

nate</TD></TR></TABLE>What pressure? What heat? It should be a Sunday drive in the park, not on 5th ave.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">scott, you're wrong. it's the car. nothing but the car. the driver is just oil that hasn't been put under enough pressure and heat.

nate</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe you could put that into a nice Haiku for me.

Scott, who has to believe in something besides money...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe you could put that into a nice Haiku for me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Never challenge me to a Haiku...

Winning is the car
The driver just turns the wheel
All winners must cheat

 

I like that about the driver makes a car fast it gives me more self confidence Thanks for sharing.

 

To be young again
And know what I was doing
The bliss of Ownage

Scott, who thinks confidence and speed are mutually reinforcing...the zenith of life is found on the edge of disaster - by which I mean something different than what Euclid alludes to.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
... by which I mean something different than what Euclid alludes to.</TD></TR></TABLE>

&lt;chuckles&gt; now that is funny! The hubris of the young is a wonderous thing...

Casey, who would only ever be caught cheating because of his own ignorance of the rules -- not ever deliberate -- and would rather never "not win" (notice I didn't say "lose") than cheat for a tainted win