Dreams DO Come True!

First of all, thanks to all of you that have sent congratulatory e-mails and/or
phone calls.  Winning is always the goal, and a podium finish is nice, but given
that the car first turned a wheel on Sept. 11 (a test day at Kershaw) and I had
exactly 8 laps in the car at Mid-Ohio prior to the Runoffs, I felt that
finishing eighth after starting 16th of 24 starters and keeping all four corners
of the car intact was a significant accomplishment.  But I get ahead of myself:

= = = = = = = = =

In November of 1971, less than a week after Pete (my son) was born, Mike Eakin
and I attended the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta for the first time.  As
struggling college students we didn't have the money for paddock passes, so we'd
slide under the chain link fence at night and tour the pits to get a closer look
at what was going on.  Other than being extremely cold, I remember thinking to
myself that I wanted to do this - I wanted to run in a National Championship
event.  During the ensuing 29 years both Mike and I went down a variety of
(often separate) paths as we tried to find answers that worked, but there was
ALWAYS the focus in my life of competing at the Runoffs.  Mike and Janice
(Carraway) got married in Tallahassee on Saturday, Oct. 7 (congratulations
guys!), and we were unable to attend, but I knew that he was with me as my dream
finally came true the next day at Mid-Ohio.

At the urging of my wonderful, brilliant and gorgeous life partner Harriett, I
contacted Johnny Miller last December about building me a "no excuses" GT-1
Corvette for the 2000 Runoffs.  The car they delivered (MHG-001) is the
prototype for the cars Miller Racing will be running in next season's TransAm
series (with minor modifications to accomodate my "plus-sized" stature).   The
'H' stands for Tom Hoke, Johnny's team engineer that has an impressive list of
designs to his credit  while the 'G' is Mark Giles, a fabricator who spent 13
years with the #4 Winston Cup team.  Those of you that saw Mark's street Camaro
at Beech Mountain a couple of years ago are aware of the skill & craftsmanship
he brings to the table.  The car was NOT the limiting factor.

In a nutshell, I knocked a second off my time each day we ran (it rained on
Thursday so we didn't go out), ending up 16th on the grid with a 1:33.145.  It
rained (and sleeted!) Sunday (raceday) during the early races, but it looked
like it would be dry for our race and we bolted on the slicks (there was also a
minor moment when Johnny found a crack in the LR brake rotor, but he got that
changed with no problem).  At the green I got passed by a couple of cars but I
was going with a survival strategy rather than a "pass or crash" mentality.   The
TV coverage didn't show it, but around lap three or four I passed three cars in
one corner, then set sail for the #50 Pepsi/Budweiser car (Bruce Dewey - picked
by SportsCar as "one to watch") that got by me at the start.  With Johnny &
Harriett encouraging me over the radio, I took two seconds a lap off Dewey's
lead, then passed him under braking for Turn One (right in front of the pits).
We also got a LOT of TV time as the leaders came up to lap me (I moved over to
let them by), then as the third place car (Jack Busch in the #05 Oldsmobile)
came up behind me.  He was having engine problems so I repassed him on the
straight after letting him by in the "twisties" and maintained that until the
checkered flag came out.  He did nudge me once on the RR corner at Turn 8, but
there's no damage to the car (the same cannot be said for his car, however).
After passing four cars for position and with the attrition among the leaders, I
ended up 8th overall, the first car one lap down.  We had my best lap at a
1:32.77, but my official best lap was a  1:33.230 - still nothing to sneeze at.

Discussions with Johnny and watching the videotape indicate that I need to work
on driving the "transition" parts of the course better.  More time in the car,
using data acquisition to compare lap times and following faster drivers during
the 2001 season will certainly help with that.  Maybe next year we'll get
mentioned as "one to watch" as well.

I've said for years that Solo I serves a valuable function within the SCCA
community and nothing has happened to change that opinion.  There's absolutely
no way in hell I could have accomplished what I did had I not continued to run
Solo I all these years (and for the record, I have a "Solo Events" sticker on
the front of the car.  The tech inspector insisted it say "Club Racing", so now
there are TWO stickers on the front).  In addition, working corners has also
been a very strong part of my education as a driver and competitor.  Drivers can
put "Thanks Workers!" on their rear spoilers all they want, but the real message
should be "Be a Worker!"

No sponsors to thank, but a truckload (and yes, I cleaned that up) of people
have helped me accomplish this dream:  Harriett, first of all, then all the guys
at Miller Racing (Johnny, Tom, Mark, Quinn, Willie & A.J.), Mike & Janice Eakin,
Mike & Donna Hearn, Charlie Johnson, Eric Roberts & Eric Bartel (Gramps & Gimp)
plus the support from my Corvette buddies, the Solo I crowd and all my friends
in white.  And that also obviously doesn't include friends and family that have
provided support and encouragement prior to the 2000 season as well.  I couldn't
have done it without you, and I hope I didn't let you down.

Finally, the car is in Woodstock right now and we DO plan to run it at the
October 20-22 test day and Solo I at TGPRi before I take it back to Johnson City
to have the chassis powder coated (ran out of time before the Runoffs).  First
event for 2001 will probably be the National at Kershaw the end of February, but
we'll probably do some test days before then to get the driver up to speed with
the car.  If you're interested in our '01 schedule, let me know and I'll update
you as things firm up.

See y'all at the track...

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