Greg's Horrible Waste of Internet Bandwidth

Greg's and Rick's Excellent One Lap of America Adventure, 1997 Editorial note: this was written soon after completing the 1997 One Lap of America, as a series of emails to an audience of National Motorists Association members, state chapter coordinators, and activists. Recall that this is very shortly after the repeal of the 55 mph National Mandatory Highway Speed Limit, so not only was I relating my experiences of the event but also my impressions of how the country "was dealing with" the prospect of "thousands of deaths" that many opponents predicted (incorrectly, history records). Regardless, enjoy the write-up, it was fun do pass along! - Greg Well, having just returned from running the 1997 One Lap of America (and finally recovering) I can speak to the attitudes towards speed limits in at least 15 states. Most are pretty cool. The One Lap was designed to (ostensibly) run at legal speeds; our route book had specific routes and times. Even though this was

Someone recently asked me, "what's the fastest race car you've ever driven?" I had to think about that one for a minute. I tend to favor slower cars ("smarter to make a slow car go fast, than vice versa") but the STL and STU cars were pretty speedy. As was some Mustangs and such. But no, I'd have to say that "the fastest race car that I have ever driven" was a Porsche 962. Of course there's a story! San Antonio..I love that town. It's one of my fav bigger cities: beautiful geography (I love the Texas Hill Country), southwest culture, the Riverwalk (and its associated civil engineering...ever wonder why the San Antonio River doesn't ever flood the Riverwalk ...?), architecture, and of course the food.  I think my first time there was during high school when our symphonic band took a tour down there, fell in love with the place immediately. IMSA kinda liked the town, too. In 1985, the City of San Antonio approved the IMSA Nissan Grand

At the 1992 SCCA Runoffs I was poised to take home a National Championship. Instead, I took home a third-place podium finish...and a 6-race driving probation. You can read JJ Gertler's write-up of the event itself here: https://kakashiracing.com/1992_runoffs_wrap.htm While many would be ecstatic at a Runoffs podium finish, 1992 was a burr under my saddle as this was my race to lose -- and I did. That event, and its ignominous conclusion, pretty much ended my racing "career" and I stepped away from SCCA and motorsports (for a while). After the accolades, photos, wine, and post-race impound was done I got "invited" to join the Chief Steward, Sue Rothel, for "a talk" about that collision two laps from the end. I don't remember the details of the conversation but I came away with surrendering my license in exchange for a probation letter requiring me to appear before subsequent chief stewards for six National races (later adjusted to include Regionals)

Welcome to 2023! Someone posted on social media about "The Threes". You know, 1953, 1963, 1973 and so forth. I think the context was "what were you doing during...?" kinda stuff. I ignored it. But then I started thinking...what was I doing? I was kinda surprised at the casual thought. Primarily, I noticed that "The Threes" seemed to see years of significant transition. For example... January 1, 1953 I didn't exist. My mom was 11 years old and dad was 14? I'm pretty sure they had absolutely no idea what their life was going to be like 10 years from there...  January 1, 1963  I wasn't yet around yet (born March '64) but life events were shaping up for launch. Though I'd be born in Irving TX while mom and dad were there temporally for work, the 1960s ended with our family living in my parents' hometown of Opelousas LA. January 1, 1973  We had just moved from Opelousas to New Orleans (Algiers on the West Bank). I attended third and fou

Greg Note: "Tales From the Road" are some short stories that my father wrote, that I found on his computer when he passed away in 2012. I found them quite interesting and entertaining and wanted to share them here. Tales From the Road - Tight Ass By Bud Amy Now, I heard this tale at the same truck stop west of Houston where I heard the story about Whitey and the dock lock. This one was about a old time trucker that was so tight with a penny that they called him Tight Wad, which was soon changed to Tight Ass. It was said that he was so tight that he kept his money up his...(you know the drill). Anyway from the story, it seems that the description was pretty close. Enough...the story... Old TA had been a trucker for all of his life and had gone through the depression where each penny was precious...hard to come by. Money wasn't a convenience, it was life or death. There was so little of it, that it was used only when desperate measures dictated it's use. TA was known to

Greg Note: "Tales From the Road" are some short stories that my father wrote, that I found on his computer when he passed away in 2012. I found them quite interesting and entertaining and wanted to share them here. Tales from the Road - 7AM Appointments It looks like I can go four or five loads and all of the appointments seem to be at 0700. Now I can count on a 7AM appointment every Monday and the delivery is usually at least 250 miles away and most of the time, in the 400-500 mile range. That means that I have to leave Sunday morning or early afternoon to make the appointment time. No problem, I don't mind driving Sunday afternoons and evenings, so it works out OK. I don't like leaving at midnight or 0100 cuz I am at the end of my limit by noon. I've driven for 14 hours and still alert, but to start out the week with a day like that, means that I could have one of those miserable weeks when everything is out of kilter if I get some crossways loads with pickups i