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WHRRI held a special post-season race weekend. No points, no egos, just good racing. A club canceled thier rental of the track, but the emergency personel, etc. were already booked. So a small committee organized a 1 1/2 hour enduro race and a pursuit for WHRRI members. Simply put, the enduro allowed for a team to put 1 closed-wheel car out on the track for 90 minutes, with a mandatory 7-minute pit stop. There was no limit to stops, drivers, etc. The winner of the even was a 2-driver RX-7. EVeryone had fu, and more importantly, it went without incident.

The pursuit was pretty interesting as well. Based on the best time from a race on Saturday, all open wheel participants were put on the grid from slowest to fastest. They were then released onto the track staggered by time. For example, if the 10th place driver finished 1 second slower than the 9th place driver (on their best laps), then the 10th place driver would begin the 15 lap pursuit race 15 seconds ahead of the 9th place driver (1 second per lap). Glenn, my father-in-law, was driving his Spec Racer Ford against Formulas and Sports Racers (very fast cars). But was very consistent. He started second to last, but won the race by half a lap.

- Duane

Gina, Robyn, Mindy, Doug and I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival last weekend. The highlights include giant turkey legs, mead wine, lots of beer, jousting, Manolete, and Ded Bob (hint: “hey what”). There were some folks dressed to the nines there as well as some lost soul in a Star Trek uniform (sorry, picture didn’t turn out). I finally got a leather mug, too. I guess I can check off life goal #3.

- Duane

Last weekend I won an auction on ebay. I won several original Venture Brothers storyboards featuring my idol, Brock Samson. They’re all hand-drawn and signed by Jackson Publick. The proceeds from the auction will go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation for Cancer Research.

- Duane

Rock Financial/Quicken Loans took over Cleveland yesterday. They shipped us all out in buses (with our families), gave us passes to just about every attraction in Cleveland (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Science Museum, Zoo, etc.), and set us loose until 7:30. At 7:30 They opened the Quicken Loans Arena (formerly Gund Arena) and let us have any concessions we wanted (beer, booze, nachos, sandwiches, pizza, etc.). One part of the arena floor was open for anyone to play basketball that wanted. The other was set up for a mystery concert. The mystery performers turned out to be the “Black Eyed Peas.” They put on a hell of a show… no phoning in on this one. After they closed their set, Kid Rock came out and told us how cool the company was and performed an a cappella rendition of Cowboy. An after-hours party took place in the area formerly set up for basketball. DJ Skribble spun and Lebron James made an appearance. After that things started to blend together (I was enjoying the libations). I do remember getting on the bus back to the hotel… about a 2 minute ride. It was an amazing 20th Anniversary party. [Pictures Soon]

- Duane

Race Car Update! Well, the rear suspension is just about done on our Neon… excluding a single broken rear sway bar bolt. (Some bolt extractor love should fix that.) The rear drum brakes have been replaced with disks. The e-brake and dust shields are no more (all weight, no need). Chris “I do what the voices in my pants tell me to do” Childs hooked me up with a ton of parts (with urethane bushings already in place!) as well as using his connections to get my ECM re-flashed with the SOHC Mopar Performance maps.

Next on the list are:

• Cold Air Intake
• Front Suspension
• Safety Gear (seat, harness, net…)

Stay Tuned! Photos might make their way to this site eventually.

- Duane