To all,
Cathy and I would like to thank everyone that
participated in Sunday's Marina autocross event. We
sincerely hope all participants enjoyed the day's
activities.
We could not have begun to attempt such a feat without
the help of so many people, especially Bryan Nemy, who
seems to always be there when help is needed. In fact,
Bryan and I designed the course together. Tony Tobacco
and Charlie Davis assisted in tuning the course on
paper which was later smoothed on concrete by Chris
and Pila Cox.
We began the course setup on Saturday afternoon with
Chris & Pila, Bryan, Don Ebaugh, and Tony, who came up
to help and then drove home that evening. On Sunday
morning, more workers arrived and by 8:30 everything
was ready to go.
It became overwhelmingly apparent to us that the
present SF Region club structure is one well tuned
machine. Like magic, registration and tech people just
appear and get their operations set up. The equipment
is removed from the motor home and before you know it,
music is coming out of the loud speakers (Irish music
this time). Cathy and I had not seen this before in
our long 5 month experience in autocrossing. If we can
do it, anyone can! We made it quite clear that we
required the advice of experienced workers and not one
let us down. With each run group, a new crew was
dispatched to the field and to the motor home. No one
complained; everyone did their job well. It should
also be mentioned that Marina Motorsports made the
area available as promised and easily fulfilled their
obligations.
All drivers should at least once take the time to
quietly peak into the motor home when the announcer
and timing staff perform their duties. It is poetry
in motion, especially when the announcer tosses a
'sympathetic comment' to a friend at the finish, who
had 'time of day' in the bag and then knocked a cone
down 'after' the timing lights. Nothing is more
pleasing then to announce the addition of Fun Runs. It
is everyone's last chance to wear down that last bit
of rubber in hopes of shaving down a few tenths of a
second.
The high points of the day included knowing the answer
to a question posed by someone kind enough to ask us a
question. For me, it was when I asked John Kelly in
the motor home to make an announcement over the
loudspeaker. He executed the request with calm
professionalism and then added that what he had said
came from the 'leader'. It was an experience like
having the pope tell you that the next time he speaks
to you, it will be in heaven!
Thanks for reading,
Tim & Cathy Dolan
Marina Chairs
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