It seems like a short month since I sat down and wrote the last set of lies. This month only the truth! I was surprised to see Patrick Lundin was the column title winner. I told him a couple of weeks ago while tire bolting I was surprised he could read, let alone read a classic such as Catch 22.
Isn’t it nice we almost have a new race track in Colorado as it appears we may have lost Pueblo? Well, two new tracks if you count the rebirth of PPIR. Now we know why the CDR folks were so anxious to get tires from HPR to PPIR. Remember when we had seven tracks in the state? How can the council members and county commissioners of Pueblo allow this mess to happen? I guess they’re no different than politicians everywhere. Our new president has promised change and Animal and I saw a change on the way to HPR Saturday morning. We saw a large flock of geese flying in formation with several sea gulls right in the middle keeping pace. Change !!
Last Saturday we finally did finish the tarp stands at HPR, and tires are being placed in front of the bunkers. Well, finished except for painting and spreading some recycled asphalt. If you have a small dump truck or a dump trailer, we would welcome a chance to borrow it for a day. You can even drive! Come to the Crash and Burn School on March 14th in Byers and we’ll show you the bunkers/tarp stands/track up close and personal. There is NO C & B School in Colorado Springs this year. Don’t go to Randy’s on March 21st for a school, maybe to pick up your wrecked car, but not a school. The school in Byers is a one day event at the rodeo grounds with talking in the morning and burning and cutting up a car in the afternoon. This is a must school for you rookie corner workers and recommended for everyone else. If you have never used a fire extinguisher, we will train you how to safely put off a fire in a car. Bring your household extinguisher if you want to see how it works. We’ll be having breakfast Saturday morning at the Country Burger just south of I-70 at 7:30. Animal says the biscuits and gravy are the best around. Come join us!
Christine should have attached to this column some photos I took during building of the tarp stands. Builders are Dave Hegeman, Animal, and Animal’s nephew, Nick Reeves. I think the one photo of them leaning on the shovels explains why it took so long to complete the stands. Good thing I was there with the whip!
While at HPR last Friday I experienced one of the classic high plains dust storms. Winds were at 70+mph and I couldn’t see more than 10 feet for about 10 minutes. Glad I was in my truck parked in the Turn 11 bunker. When the winds subsided a bit, I drove back to pit lane and found pit out blocked with tumbleweeds about 5 feet high and 30 feet deep. The ground looked like the ocean with waves of weeds rolling over the track. Well, a brown ocean.
I’ve heard talk of a general clean up of the new HPR before our first weekend there in April. For you non-tire bolters this would be a great opportunity to get out there and then you can claim you helped build the track. Stay tuned.
Last fall I was a F & C sector chief at the Indy MotoGP. Now I’m not a bigger scooter fan, not even a rider, but I went to the race to help some friends organize the corner workers. Turns out I had a blast. Completely different crowd than a car race. Lots of young guys with piercings and caps on sideways with nasty girl friends or old guys in leathers walking with a limp. We had a corner station at the end of the pit wall, both drivers right and left, staffed with some of my old F1 crew, so I spent a fair amount of time on pit lane. Every time Rossi came in off track he stepped off the bike and let someone else catch it, then went directly to a chair halfway into the garage and sat down. Immediately seven (!) guys surrounded him with one guy talking to him and the other six writing down everything he said. I guess they don’t have onboard telemetry on MotoGP bikes. Much like F1, they rebuild the bikes after each session. This year we had to share the USAC office with the Red Bull trophy queens. It was such tough duty I’m going back this year.
Next month news from C & B, future plans for more paving and curbs at HPR, and who knows.
