To my best friend and love of my life...Suze.
Simply......THANKS and I love you!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Co-Driver Extraordinaire
What can you say about Woody Hair? He is a wonderful person and another great mentor in the game of life. I am so glad that I was able to complete a One Lap of America with him.
He always keeps a cool head and puts a positive perspective on things. Last Tuesday afternoon when I vented my frustration at the car by chucking a water bottle at it while it sat idle in a garage with no fix in sight, Woody remained calm. He was obviously thinking about what our options were. For a fleeting moment, I was thinking one option was to pack up and head home as we are done. I can say that option never crossed Woody's mind.
Woody's cool temperament calmed me down and we walked through the options together. Borrow Rafael Garces' car and finish the event then drive back to Atlanta to pick up the 335i before returning to Arlington (talk about some road miles)? Drive home and pick up Woody's M Coupe and meet up with the One Lappers in Kershaw, SC? Not once did pulling out of the event come up. We had to finish....for our sponsors, for ZERO, for the tech's at United BMW, for men fighting prostate cancer everywhere, and for Tom Holcomb. We were not going to throw in the towel. Woody made sure I did not think of dropping out again.
Everyone knows the rest of the story! We absolutely made the right decision in every respect to carry on.
I am proud and honored to call Woody a friend and I will never forget the week we spent traveling together. We had our disappointments, but they were all overshadowed by the spirit of the event, the people and friends, the laughs (more than I could ever count), and our own feeling of self accomplishment for having stuck with it. If ever the opportunity arises to have Woody as a One Lap co-driver, you can bet I'll be calling him...hopefully he will join up. In the meantime, it will be more track weekends and occasional beers after work.....oh and that event called the Targa Newfoundland!
Woody.....THANKS!!!!
He always keeps a cool head and puts a positive perspective on things. Last Tuesday afternoon when I vented my frustration at the car by chucking a water bottle at it while it sat idle in a garage with no fix in sight, Woody remained calm. He was obviously thinking about what our options were. For a fleeting moment, I was thinking one option was to pack up and head home as we are done. I can say that option never crossed Woody's mind.
Woody's cool temperament calmed me down and we walked through the options together. Borrow Rafael Garces' car and finish the event then drive back to Atlanta to pick up the 335i before returning to Arlington (talk about some road miles)? Drive home and pick up Woody's M Coupe and meet up with the One Lappers in Kershaw, SC? Not once did pulling out of the event come up. We had to finish....for our sponsors, for ZERO, for the tech's at United BMW, for men fighting prostate cancer everywhere, and for Tom Holcomb. We were not going to throw in the towel. Woody made sure I did not think of dropping out again.
Everyone knows the rest of the story! We absolutely made the right decision in every respect to carry on.
I am proud and honored to call Woody a friend and I will never forget the week we spent traveling together. We had our disappointments, but they were all overshadowed by the spirit of the event, the people and friends, the laughs (more than I could ever count), and our own feeling of self accomplishment for having stuck with it. If ever the opportunity arises to have Woody as a One Lap co-driver, you can bet I'll be calling him...hopefully he will join up. In the meantime, it will be more track weekends and occasional beers after work.....oh and that event called the Targa Newfoundland!
Woody.....THANKS!!!!
Thanks United BMW of Roswell
This is a quick and HUGE thanks to all the folks (Steve, Dave, Cliff, Todd, and Ed) at United BMW of Roswell, GA for working on the 335i. The entire team was tireless in their effort to diagnose the problem and repair what they could.
This dealership can be very proud of their staff and the professional manner in which they conduct themselves. I will never hesitate to stop and look them up if ever in the Atlanta area.
Hope to see you all at O'fest in September!!!
This dealership can be very proud of their staff and the professional manner in which they conduct themselves. I will never hesitate to stop and look them up if ever in the Atlanta area.
Hope to see you all at O'fest in September!!!
Thanks Everyone!!!
I cannot thank everyone enough for all of their support. Especially all of the sponsors who donated so graciously to ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer. This includes all the folks who came to Mate to "Stick It to Prostate Cancer".
While on the road, we met several gentlemen that were either fighting prostate cancer or are survivors. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families. At the end of the day, this is why we do this event, to raise awareness of this disease that strikes so many men and hopefully one day in the near future, find a cure.
ZERO testing, ZERO pain, ZERO CANCER. We are making a difference!
While on the road, we met several gentlemen that were either fighting prostate cancer or are survivors. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families. At the end of the day, this is why we do this event, to raise awareness of this disease that strikes so many men and hopefully one day in the near future, find a cure.
ZERO testing, ZERO pain, ZERO CANCER. We are making a difference!
Success Stories - One and All
It is Sunday morning and it is great to be home after a little over a week on the road. Sleeping in my own bed last night felt terrific. Seeing Suze was even better as I missed her terribly. And although Woody and I did not finish as well as we had hoped, we did make it back to South Bend, which was luckier than a few other teams nor were we the only team with problems....
The team of Derek Whitis and Tom Long in a Nissan GTR missed the second half of the week due to limp home mode problems after their run at Daytona International. This team was running in the top three all week and even after their "DNF's - Did Not Finish" were able to carve out a 29th over all position. After Daytona, they motored home to Tallahassee, FL.
Mike Babcock and Norman Babcock in their Audi S4 Quattro had limp home issues and shock mount stress fractures appear in earnest on the last day at BeaveRun. They finished 8th over all though as they ran strong all week.
Rene von Richthofen and Huge Bate in a 911 Turbo had a small coolant leak most of the week which required constant vigilance and care and on the long night drive from the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, SC to Koppel, PA they (Huge) hit some small rodent that took out the condenser for the AC. Rene appeared more upset about no AC.
Reg Noble and Bill Unwin (our Canadian brethren) in a very hopped up VW GTI had motor problems during their run at the BMW Performance Center and in fact had a DNF in that event. They worked out the issues as best as possible, but drove straight to South Bend for the finish and missed both events at BeaveRun. They still finished 21st over all.
Matthew and Pete Zekauskas in a BMW 328i developed clutch problems after Sebring and Daytona. On the way to CMP in Kershaw, SC from Daytona, they had the clutch replaced at a shop near Charleston, SC and then drove until approximately 1:30 am before stopping an hour shy of Kershaw. They completed all the remaining events and became our competition the rest of the week. They finished 47th over all...sorry Matthew and Pete, our 44th place wins and the dry skid pad had to pull it out of the fire for us.
Phil Munschauer and Russell Vester in a super-charged Ford Mustang GT had an electrical issue that caused a fire in their car while at Sebring. The damage was not catastrophic, but did take out the car's ABS rear braking function. Apparently, it made for some frightful experiences coming down the front tri-oval straight at 160+ mph at Daytona in to turn one where speeds drop to 50 mph. The team kept going, but later developed an ignition/firing problem that kept the car from performing at its best. Limp mode you might as well say.....there seemed to be a lot of that going on.
There were many success stories, but none bigger in my opinion than our own local hot shoe team of Dick Clark and "Tucson" Jerry Clark driving a Z-06 Vette. Admittedly, Dick started very poorly at the wet skid pad event and at the autocross in Kentucky. Heading to Alabama, Dick had put the car in 39th place over all. At the same point in the competition and before we had our issues, we were in 15th place. That all changed once Dick saw the "tracks" and not a sea of orange cones. He drove very well in the wet in Alabama and then in Sebring which we unfortunately missed. In short, he never looked back and battled his way to a top 10 finish over all (9th to be exact). To finish in the top 10 of this event is a huge deal folks!
Congratulations Dick and Jerry....well done and well deserved!
The team of Derek Whitis and Tom Long in a Nissan GTR missed the second half of the week due to limp home mode problems after their run at Daytona International. This team was running in the top three all week and even after their "DNF's - Did Not Finish" were able to carve out a 29th over all position. After Daytona, they motored home to Tallahassee, FL.
Mike Babcock and Norman Babcock in their Audi S4 Quattro had limp home issues and shock mount stress fractures appear in earnest on the last day at BeaveRun. They finished 8th over all though as they ran strong all week.
Rene von Richthofen and Huge Bate in a 911 Turbo had a small coolant leak most of the week which required constant vigilance and care and on the long night drive from the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, SC to Koppel, PA they (Huge) hit some small rodent that took out the condenser for the AC. Rene appeared more upset about no AC.
Reg Noble and Bill Unwin (our Canadian brethren) in a very hopped up VW GTI had motor problems during their run at the BMW Performance Center and in fact had a DNF in that event. They worked out the issues as best as possible, but drove straight to South Bend for the finish and missed both events at BeaveRun. They still finished 21st over all.
Matthew and Pete Zekauskas in a BMW 328i developed clutch problems after Sebring and Daytona. On the way to CMP in Kershaw, SC from Daytona, they had the clutch replaced at a shop near Charleston, SC and then drove until approximately 1:30 am before stopping an hour shy of Kershaw. They completed all the remaining events and became our competition the rest of the week. They finished 47th over all...sorry Matthew and Pete, our 44th place wins and the dry skid pad had to pull it out of the fire for us.
Phil Munschauer and Russell Vester in a super-charged Ford Mustang GT had an electrical issue that caused a fire in their car while at Sebring. The damage was not catastrophic, but did take out the car's ABS rear braking function. Apparently, it made for some frightful experiences coming down the front tri-oval straight at 160+ mph at Daytona in to turn one where speeds drop to 50 mph. The team kept going, but later developed an ignition/firing problem that kept the car from performing at its best. Limp mode you might as well say.....there seemed to be a lot of that going on.
There were many success stories, but none bigger in my opinion than our own local hot shoe team of Dick Clark and "Tucson" Jerry Clark driving a Z-06 Vette. Admittedly, Dick started very poorly at the wet skid pad event and at the autocross in Kentucky. Heading to Alabama, Dick had put the car in 39th place over all. At the same point in the competition and before we had our issues, we were in 15th place. That all changed once Dick saw the "tracks" and not a sea of orange cones. He drove very well in the wet in Alabama and then in Sebring which we unfortunately missed. In short, he never looked back and battled his way to a top 10 finish over all (9th to be exact). To finish in the top 10 of this event is a huge deal folks!
Congratulations Dick and Jerry....well done and well deserved!
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