A guy named John Scalzi has a blog (
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/). He came up with the idea of listing 10 things he has done that no one else has done. More than 100 people have responded with their own lists. I just killed a couple of hours reading them. Very interesting.
While things are quiet here, I thought some of us might have interesting lists. I also thought we should restrict our lists to racing (I now know way more than I ever wanted to know about some of the people that responded to Scalzi's list). Here's mine.
1. Clumsily ran smack into a very famous race driver exiting an elevator in a hotel with a lady not his wife. It's less relevant, but I also clumsily ran smack into Tony Bennett while running for an airplane. My lack of coordination is one of the reasons I have done almost everying in racing except drive a car.
2. Helped Rich Vogler learn about the original bead lock (the one that was like a small inner tube) by spending a couple of hours one hot afternoon at Eldora inserting the damned things.
3. Helped build a sprint car from scratch; i.e., we read the rule book, chalked the dimensions on the garage floor, and started cutting and welding. We also learned about fibreglass from a boat repair shop, built the molds and then the body. It was quite successful.
4. Managed to graduate from a top engineering school on time with a BS degree while attending what I suspect was a record low number of classes. I had a job, a fiance, and was helping to build a sprint car; I had no time for classes.
5. Designed and implemented software that you have used if you've ever ridden the Muni Metro in San Francisco. It's relevant here because that project got me to sprint car races at 7 tracks in California and a few in Texas (usually flew via DFW).
6. Announced over 300 midget races.
7. Was at a meeting of a racing club when its president had a heart attack at the podium.
8. Became President of a racing club when the President said he was slugged by a driver and the Board refused to take any action. He quit, giving the job to the Vice President, which was me.
9. Been named VP Marketing for a manufacturing company in spite of the fact I had no experience in that field and was not even an employee of the company. It is relevant here, because it enabled me to plan trips that got me free travel to every one of the 9 Silver Crown races that year (and a few sprint and midget shows).
10. Wrote the sprint car chapter of an annual Goodyear Racing Report.
11. Arrived at Chico with three others on the first day of the Gold Cup with terrible seats. Made two signs: "Need 4 tickets" and "4 tickets for sale". Bought tickets every time they were better than we had in hand. Sold tickets when possible. At one point, held nine sets of four. The result was 4 seats directly under the press box, and a loss of nine dollars when my wife gave a discount to two high-school kids who didn't have enough money.
12. After a rainout at Williams Grove, went to the horse races with a large party that included Larry Rice. While others were "scientifically" rating horses, I noticed there was a jockey named Wayne Rice and pointed it out to Larry. He and I decided to bet on everything he rode. We won; the ones who "knew what they were doing" lost.
13. Proved that you could get through all those damned traffic lights on the old Berlin (CT) Turnpike without stopping at just over 80 mph (sometime after 2am, returning from a champ car race at Trenton).
14. Spent three days at a racing promoters meeting talking to the guy at the next table during the quiet periods. He was Benny Koske, who made his living by blowing himself up with dynamite.
15. Have seen open-wheeled races at 140 different tracks. I have also seen races at 4 other tracks. Three of them were Cup races at which I was working in air-conditioned press boxes (I am not likely to ever sit for 6 hours in the sun watching taxicabs go round and round). Finally, when on one of the work trips mentioned above, I got bored enough to go to an ARCA race on a Tuesday night in Illinois.
16. Listed 16 things in a 10 thing list.