[Shotimes] OK...OK.....was: convention news

[George Fourchy]

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:12:16 -0500, alfitz@alfitz.com wrote:

>Surely someone brought a lap top to the convention and can give us an update
>of what's going on.

OK, OK....I don't want any static about how many pages this is.....usually I'm the
one with all the updates, but this year I didn't bring a SHO, so I don't have as
much to say.

We left Ca on Wednesday, at about noon, and arrived in LaCrosse on Saturday evening,
late, after driving from Bismarck, ND. We took the north route (I-90 and I-94) so I
could say I've been to North Dakota, and now I don't have to go back.  North Dakota
and eastern Montana are sort of like Oregon to me....in the way, sitting between
where I am and where I want to be.  (No offense to my Oregonian friends.....there's
NOTHING in the way for you when you come to California next year.....I would be a
little less nagging about it, except the stupid speed limit on I-5 is 65 mph (used
to be a loose 70), and there are lots of trucks that block it.....but that's another
story!!)   So anyway, Joseph Van Oss met us at the hotel, after we had been checking
in with him by cel phone regarding our progress.  We spent some of the day with him
the next day, agreeing to drive his second SHO to Madison for him...Eva can drive
our/my car since it is an automatic.  We checked in on Monday, and are staying at a
pretty impressive Marriott hotel, with 10 stories, and an inner courtyard, with the
rooms all around the perimeter, sorta like the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas.  Monday
afternoon I changed the two rear struts on Kris (what a sweetheart!!) Angermeier's
(KICKINSHO) SHO plus (a Minnesota car), with blown rear struts....I brought some
Tokiko/CC combos for her.  While we were doing that, I discovered that stuff called
RUST.....pretty disgusting stuff, actually.....on its trailing arms/tension struts. 
We snapped the right one trying to get the knuckle nut off of it.  We got another at
Performance Plus, and got it together that night.  Tuesday we had the car SHO, and
there were some snazzy cars there.  There is a SHO pickup, a green gen 2, with a
Ranger Splash bed on it, and a couple of converted SLOs, one an '86 (!) and one an
'89.  There was also a bright orange Gen 2 wagon....I didn't see it during the SHO,
because I was judging Gen 2 cars....the special ones were parked somewhere else. 
There should be pictures soon.  Best of SHO will be an interesting choice...a VERY
nice car ....I don't want to spill it now.   In the afternoon we went on a drive,
and ate at a 100 plus year old mill converted to a restaurant.  

Today we had our track day at Blackhawk Farms, and we didn't blow up any cars that I
know of.  Sergio's wife, Angela, had a problem with a leaking gas cap, and was
spraying gas all over the place out of their '89.  That got fixed at noon.  Several
folks had some interesting non-planned driving maneuvers, with a couple spinning out
off the track.  Blackhawk is fairly small, and there were some traffic jams at some
of the corners.  But there were no dead cars, and no disagreements that I was aware
of.   Josh had his straight piped Gen 2.....LOUD!!!!....and Mark Nunnally and he
raised a lot of dust in the back chicanes in the advanced class.   Several folks got
out of shape once or twice, including me, but I had a rear driver this year, and I
just used my old Mustang techniques with it, and we were fine.  Driving an automatic
(with paddle shifters on the wheel) was new to me, so I started out in the touring
class....I got it figured out and made it to intermediate in the afternoon...that's
as far as I'll ever go in these events.   I now know what REALLY PERFECT brakes act
and feel like on a road course....too bad SHOs have such a hard time getting them. 
On the way home, Kris Angermeier's plus, with the new Tokikos, had another episode
(it has a history of this problem) of locking front brakes on the freeway, and I let
her drive my car, with Eva, and I drove hers back with just the emergency brake,
after wedging the calipers apart so they wouldn't catch fire.  All was well until
someone jumped in front of me in rush hour traffic, and I had to pump the pedal a
bunch of times to get it slowed down....almost hit him....shades of deja vue!  Then
I had to pull over to re-wedge the calipers apart, and we made it the rest of the
way home.  I told her I'd give her $450 for it to take it off her hands.....she's
considering it!!  ;-)  J/K  She and Eva have become close friends!!

Tonight we had a pretty darn good steak dinner at Fitzgerald's, in Middleton, (where
we actually are staying) and it's now time to hit the rack....we got up at 4:30 this
morning.  Tomorrow there will be drags, two hours away, to which I am not going....I
don't drag, and it's pretty hot to just go all the way to Milwaukee to sit in the
sun.  We'll do some shopping around here, and prepare notes to counter Joseph's jabs
at me at the banquet.  I'll show some slides I've taken of San Francisco,  Napa
Valley, and Thunderhill raceway for next year, then we're on our way home Friday,
via I-90 and Highway 20 in Washington state.  This year the LDA award, if it is
presented, SHOULD go to one or the other of two cars from Los Angeles.  From what
I've been told (promised), next year's LDA might go to a car from New Hampshire, or
possibly to one from Florida, if any show up.  The NH driver has said he will be
there.

Gas is $1.55-1.60 a gallon, this hotel is $79 and would be $125 EASY, even at a
convention rate, in California.  Things are nice and cheap.  I like Wisconsin and
Minnesota (my first time here) in the summer.....but I know what I'd think of them
in the winter.  Thank goodness it's summer!!

I have the feeling tomorrow's banquet will be like a Dean Martin Roast from the
'60s.  It ought to be pretty good!!

Later...

George

Yes, I know I haven't said what kind of car I am driving.......it's not a Taurus,
It's not a Ford, it's not an American brand, and it's not made on this continent. 
It has a straight 6, 5 speed automatic with tiptronic, is RWD, and is not German. 
It has pretty much the same power specs as a SHO (but has AWESOME brakes), but is
one size smaller.