RICK @ the RACES (26/27 Nov 2011)
This past week end was the Thanksgiving Holiday for my American friends south of the border.
My daughter Carla, who lives in Ft Lauderdale , Florida was spending her vacation with her boyfriend Alex in his native country of Peru, while ‘yours truly’ was spending a quiet ‘race free’ weekend in Cornwall, Ontario. Back in 2005, Carla was living in Los Angeles, California, and I have fond memories of spending Thanksgiving that year with her. During the visit, I attended the annual ‘Turkey night’ races at the Irwindale Speedway. I gained two tracks that night for my ‘TrackChasing’ totals, because they were racing on both the inner and outer ovals. It was a great night which I’ll always remember.
As for this year, there were two other high profile races taking place that caught my interest but alas , I had to follow them from a distance. In Brazil it was the final race of the F1 Grand Prix season, where Australia’s Mark Webber got a win for the Red Bull Team. Closer to home, but still out of my reach was the annual Turkey Derby at the Wall Stadium NJ. It’s a paved oval that I’d like to visit some day and is located in Wall Township, close to the New Jersey shore. I followed the progress of this one via the internet reports from my friend Mike Petrucci. It was good to hear that the ‘dirt’ Modified section of the program ( which interests me most) was won by Ontario, Canada’s Stewart Friesen. It’s been quite a year for Stewart, and it will be a major crime, if he isn’t crowned as Canada’s Stock Car Driver of the year.
My weekend didn’t turn out to be as lazy as you’d think ! It gave me a chance to get my ‘RETRO REPORT’ , Episode # 24 , that covers 1990, finished off and posted to the ‘new look’ www.rickattheraces.com
The report quickly provided feed back from three different sources. David Kipling, from Gibson , British Columbia, recalled his visit to the Lindisfarne Castle that I mentioned. Charlie Speak an old friend I worked with at ICELAND in the UK gave me an up date on what’s new with my old company and sent a pic of his truck . The report also mentioned a trip I made to the long gone Cross in Hand track in Sussex, and this prompted Geoff Goddard # 294 , the former Superstox World Champion , now residing in South Africa, to send the attached photo of him on that track in the 1970’s.
Yes you heard that right ! , a new look web site.. Craig Revelle of www.finishlinewebdesign.ca has been busy too and given the website a complete makeover. As you will see, we still have some vacant sponsor spaces available on the front page. Details on how you can direct your company’s name to the attention of our viewers can be got by contacting Craig.
Like most race drivers compete as a hobby, I do the same thing with my website. It’s my hobby and just like a race car, a little bit of sponsorship helps to keep things ‘on track’. My trusty ‘Pentax Camera’ (like a race car’s engine) is starting to get ‘tired’ and will soon need replacing. We’d be pleased to hear from any interested sponsors.