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On a mission

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Remember this thing? >>>

Yea. THAT THING. My racecar. Almost forgot I drove one, huh?

Me too.

Well, its been ENTIRELY too long, and I’ve had enough. I’m on an unstoppable mission now to get this thing DONE and out there again. And I’m not letting even the crappy economy hold me back this time. Nope, I’ve got a PLAN.

The car will be done for the PRI Show this year. DONE. Complete. Ready-to-go. It might in fact, be IN the PRI show for Brisk too. (Waiting to see if they have the booth space to make it happen.) Its been soooo close for entirely too long. I just needed a little extra to make it happen, and life kept popping up in my way.

Well, I’ve been really busy lately. For once, I have a good excuse why I haven’t been posting as much. I’ve been working. Yes, 10 years later, I decide to make a 2nd comeback tour at my high school employer, Target, right back behind the Guest Services counter. I’ve been picking up every available shift after work and on the weekends. My social life? Gone. But the extra cash will be used to get BACK TO THE RACETRACK.

In the last few weeks, I’ve worked my normal 40hrs at my day job, and then another 35hours at Target. I’m tired, and I haven’t done a single thing but work in weeks, but those extra paychecks are starting to add up.

Racing a cop

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Sherry Heyl, writer of one of the blogs I read daily (So…What’s Next) wrote a post just for me that made me laugh. Its about her racing adventure one night, where she quickly found out that she had faced off against Miami’s finest in Blue.

It reminded me of all the hilarious stories I’ve heard from fellow racers (and a few of my own…) about their speedy run-ins with the police.

Here’s one of mine….

Back when gas was cheap in 2003, I made a weekend road trip from Orlando, FL to Cincinnati, OH in my turbocharged 93 coupe. That thing made about 600 horsepower to the rear wheels, and it was built with the purpose of outrunning Z06’s on the highway (not that its safe OR legal…. I was young and dumb!), which meant it would do well over the normal governed mph of 120, and it would do it QUICKLY.

I was making REALLY good time through Georgia and into Tennessee (*AHEM* which means I hadn’t been caught speeding yet) when I started to pull into the outskirts of Knoxville. The landscape was a little hilly, but the traffic was moving right along. I, of course, felt compelled to lead the pack, which had me doing about 90-95mph as I peaked over a hill, and right into the Radar of Mr. Nice Tennessee Highway Patrol man waiting at the bottom of the hill.

Before I could even get passed him, I see his lights flash, and a big cloud of dirt as he spins the car around in the median. I had the split-second Oh-Shit-WhatDoIDo hesistation, but being that I knew I was already in deep doo-doo, and traffic behind me was pretty heavy, I did a dumb thing…. I GOT BACK IN THE THROTTLE.

Now I am no Bo and Luke Duke, who always seem perfectly poised to outrun the local cops. I had no idea about the landscape, and I really didn’t want to end up ripped out of my car and splat on the aphault on the next episode of Why I Ran or Cops (cue cheesey music). But I also knew that he only had a Crown Vic, and my car outpowered him by about 400 horsepower and a few psi of boost pressure.

The hills in that area were rolling, so after a few up-and-downs, I lost sight of him behind me as the next exit presented itself. I quickly got off, and pulled past the gas station (they ALWAYS look there) into the next lot, a hotel. I immediately pulled around back and threw the thing in park, frantically thinking of what I would say when he rolled up behind me, guns drawn and ready to shoot.

I paced my way up to the front of the hotel, just in time to see him circling the gas station and heading further down the road still looking for his ellusive runner.

Shaking like a craps game, I ran back to my car and promptly returned to the highway, going about 5mph UNDER the speedlimit for the rest of my trip.

Talk about dumb!!!!

What dumb things did you do in your youth that got the attention of the blue flashing lights?

RIP Steve Engel

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This one hits close to home.

NHRA Pro Mod driver Steve Engel, who had a scary encounter with the wall during the US Nationals in Indy, has succumbed from his injuries.

Sept 15th, Indianapolis, IN — After showing significant signs of improvement in the past week, Pro Modified racer Steve Engel died suddenly at 5 p.m. Sunday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Engel was involved is a serious one-car racing accident during the recent 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. Engel’s Diamond Heavy Haul Corvette swerved wildly near the top end of the track and he impacted the retaining wall head-on. He was airlifted to Methodist Hospital where doctors discovered six broken vertebrae in his back. Two were fixed immediately, but then excess fluid developed in his lung doctors had to wait to fix the other four. That procedure was done Friday and physicians were diagnosing a long but full recovery.

The 49-year-old Engel is survived by his wife Tonya and his sons Stevie and Michael.
“The entire Pro Mod community is in a state of shock right now,” fellow racer and JEGS ProMod Challenge organizer Troy Coughlin said. “We were all so optimistic after Friday’s report and then we get this terrible news. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tonya and the boys.”

“Steve was a great racer — he won his first event with us earlier this year in Bristol — but he was an even better person. He was a big man with a big heart, always anxious to share a few laughs and toast with a cold beer. He loved to race, and he dearly loved his friends at the track. He will be missed.”

A resident of Shandon, Ohio, Engel competed in 31 JEGS ProMod Challenge events over the past few years. He had one win and two runner-up finishes on his resume. Overall, Engel had been drag racing for 21 years, and he listed John Force as the racer he admired most.

Services for Engel will be held at:
St. Aloysius Church of Shandon
3350 Chapel Road
Shandon, OH 45063
513-738-1014‎
Viewing: Thursday, 1-9
Funeral: 10 a.m. Friday

I didn’t know Steve well personally, having only met him a few times at the racetrack, but having a loss like this within the Pro Mod community just rocks you to the core.

Rest in peace Steve, you will be greatly missed.