“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!”

Sebring, FL –

This year’s Mobil 1 Sebring 12 Hours brought with it two major dramatic themes. Both involve the closing of an age.

For nearly as long as the American Le Mans Series has run, one of its biggest attractions has been the super high-tech presence of Audi’s LMP team. Their drivers have always been among the world’s finest, often with Formula 1 pedigree (indeed, the years-old joke on the paddock is that F1 is the “feeder series” for Le Mans sports cars), nearly as diversified as the UN, or at least Angelina Jolie’s nursery.

Thus, with the FIA World Endurance Championship continuing to play to the more sterile but market-friendly circuits (its only US date for 2013 being COTA in Texas), and with the LMP1 class departing from the series after this year, the Audi team returned for a Swan Song run – a thank you and farewell to the fans and the series, and as always a tune-up for Le Mans 24. What’s remarkable about Audi’s run last Saturday was not that they won, but how they continue to make it look so easy. It isn’t. Just completing 12 Hours at Sebring is a conquest of its own; winning it, and winning so convincingly for so long, leaves Audi with an overall streak to rival the greatest ever.

Then, there’s the story of the Series itself.

“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!” 

The words of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters may have been intended as a joke, but no less hyperbole has been spent in recent months on next year’s integration of the American Le Mans Series and Grand Am into one combined program.

“This NASCAR thing? It’s gonna’ suck!”  – (echoed comments from any number of ALMS fans in the crowd and via the internet, on next year’s unified series)

We’ve had all Winter to grouse about it; to complain and prognosticate on what it all means to the future of racing, but with both series’ 2013 openers now in the books, it’s time to more seriously consider: What’s the United SportsCar Racing series going to mean?

Everything – the new name, the loss of LMP1 class, the inclusion of Daytona Prototypes, the mixing of various GT classes – everything has been under scrutiny, and not just from the fans. Team owners Rob Dyson and Greg Pickett, both longtime LMP1 competitors as well as great friends, held a joint conference with the motorsports press during the week, and both seemed to have more questions about 2014 than answers. How exactly will the specifications shake out? Where will the tires come from? Will P2 be competitive with DP? Right now, less than 11 months until the United SportsCar Racing series goes live in Daytona for 2014, there’s still a ton of scaffolding in place, lots of “we’re working on it,” and not too much else to go on.

However, there are several things we can count on:

The relationship with ACO will be preserved. This was pretty obvious, as ACO has benefited greatly from ALMS over the years, and had very little liability in the deal. It’s a win for ACO no matter what, so they’re in.

IMSA sanctioning is being kept in place, another obvious move. The “big reveal” ceremony showed a somewhat revised IMSA logo, which wasn’t broken to begin with, but someone’s market research must’ve concluded it was the way to go.

Manufacturers and sponsors will no longer need to hedge on which series will provide the best return. One top-level sports car series means we no longer have a split in that slice of the pie. It also means TV networks can present a more cohesive package – even though Speed channel is going away later in 2013, other networks are bound to take notice. Velocity, are you listening?

For the ALMS-faithful, the biggest complaint seems to be about NASCAR running everything. While that’s certainly valid on some fronts, the Walmart of racing in the US does do some things incredibly well. Turning racing into money is the France family specialty; it’s what they DO, before anything else. Also, as evidenced by the extreme makeover at Daytona International Speedway, they don’t mind spending real money on the fans’ experience at the track. As the USCR schedule forms, a few circuits are sure to lose out, obviously.  Those that remain, however, will stand to benefit in ways previously unimagined.

In Steve McQueen’s movie Le Mans, his character Michael Delaney famously said:  “When you’re racing… it’s life. Anything that happens before or after, is just waiting.”

It’s time to stop waiting, and go racing.

That’s it for now; I’ll see you at the next pit stop.

Sebring 2012: The Future is (still) Coming.

Sebring, FL – 

The closing lap of this year’s 60^th running of the Sebring 12 Hours was a showcase for some of the most exciting wheel to wheel racing ever seen on our shores. Sure, Audi’s legendary trio of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen, and Dindo Capello had already wrapped up the overall and LMP1 win with time to spare and little competition outside of their Joest Racing teammates, but the battle in GT was once again the knock-down street brawl we’ve come to expect from the production-based class. 

So, who won? 

The answer to that would seem to depend on where you’re counting from, how you score it, and possibly where you watched the race. The #16 Dyson Racing Lola B12/66-Mazda, which finished outside the top 3 overall, still took the ALMS P1 win. The American Le Mans Series GT win went to Joey Hand, piloting the #155 BMW Team RLL E92 M3, with the #03 Corvette Racing C6-ZR1 some six seconds back, followed by Olivier Beretta’s #71 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia in third. At least, that’s what we saw on our web browsers or internet-connected TVs, right? 

While the BMW team got the trophy for the ALMS GT win, top honors for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) went to Beretta, in a guest drive with the AF Corse team in LMGTE Pro class. So, third place overall can still be considered a win. If you’re feeling a bit lost in the esses, you’re not alone. 

Following last year’s successful run of the ACO’s Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, this year the ILMC was taken over by the FIA and turned into the WEC, ostensibly because the powers that be in motorsports prefer three letter series over those with four, and because the FIA is the be-all/end-all of motorsport sanctioning – at least, they think so. This involves, among other things, removing Petit Le Mans and Imola from the schedule and adding races at Sao Paulo, Mt. Fuji and Bahrain. The biggest downside of all in this is the loss of Petit Le Mans from the great big international series, a move I predicted in these pages last Fall to be unconscionably foolish but seemingly inevitable. 

Peugeot was among the manufacturers that had lobbied heavily for the formation of the WEC, before the company ran out of money and hastily dismantled its entire Le Mans racing team, even recalling the remaining 908-series LMP race cars from its factory team and privateers, and destroying them. 

Ah, don’t you love the smell of politics in the morning? 

I could spend a thousand words breaking down the reasoning put forth behind the FIA/WEC screwing the ALMS sideways to run a race in front of six camels and some rich men in the desert, but this sentence effectively accomplishes that in under 40. 

Since its inception at the end of the 20^th century, Don Panoz, Scott Atherton, and the rest of the American Le Mans Series have worked tirelessly to promote Le Mans-style racing in North America, occasionally benefiting from the direct tie-in to the Le Mans 24 Hours, but sometimes suffering for it. This raison d’etre was not lost on anyone, and the series highlighting of not just “Green Racing” but the transfer of technology from race car to passenger car has made it the high-tech rock star of the motorsports world. That the ALMS is habitually treated as the ACO (and now FIA)’s red-headed stepchild is a crime.

Sure, starting the season with a 64-car mega-race sounds cool. The racing all day into night was as great as ever, whether you call it LMGTE-Am, LMGTE-Pro, or just call it like it is and say that Joey Hand kicked everyone’s ass on the last lap and won GT. What the WEC means to ALMS audiences is 9 classes, 27 trophies, and, post-race champagne spraying that seemed to last half as long as the race itself. As someone who’s never been much for “March Madness,” the concept of 192 drivers in 64 cars (well, 62 actually started and 58 finished) divided into 9 classes isn’t racing, it’s a bracketing headache. 

But here’s the even bigger question: Did you see it? No, I don’t mean the 90-minute highlight reel hastily cobbled-together for ABC. That’s just a joke that nobody gets, or ever will. I mean the full 12 hours, as webcast by ESPN3.com. From the feedback we’ve been getting, the series second season of Brave New World internet-only delivery is off to no better a start than we saw one year ago. Back then, it was charitably called a limited success with lots of room for improvement. In March of 2012, however, the only great sports car race in America is still a fantastic event in search of a way to reach its fans. 

Complaints from fans on the ALMS official Facebook page during the race started early and never lifted – most of them from fans in the USA complaining, “why can’t I watch this race?” Indeed, technical difficulties abounded involving the internet feed and ability to log on, and the ALMS own website didn’t seem to provide much help to viewers who wanted to watch or otherwise needed help getting hooked up. Even watching a replay on ESPN3.com – a great idea in concept at least – is fraught with issues ranging from Internet provider licenses to browser caches to ESPN’s own web servers occasionally just being… slow. 

Is web streaming the future of TV? Of course it is. The key word however, as it was in March of 2011, is “future.” Online coverage of qualifying and the race itself is a great idea that should never be abandoned. Following the work ethic of the top racing teams, it is a work that needs to be continuously refined, sweated-out, and perfected. 

As shown by a full season and two Sebring 12 Hours, the future still has not arrived. 

That’s it for now – I’ll see you at the next pit stop. 

French Revolution and Digital Revulsion – The Sebring that took it to the Web.

Sebring, FL –

This past weekend, the 59th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring brought so many stories to life, an in-depth examination of them all would take more time and space than practicality allows. So, here in brief, was the low-down:

Team ORECA Matmut scored what was arguably the biggest surprise victory in recent years, thanks in part to drivers Loic Duval, Nicolas Lapierre, and Olivier Panis’ clever avoidance of the on-track incidents that put rivals Audi and factory Team Peugeot TOTAL out of contention and fighting to regain position in a crowded and brutal 56-car field that left virtually no car unscathed.

That a privateer team like ORECA could win at Sebring is impressive enough; but doing with last year’s 908 HDi FAP car? Stunning work. Team Principle Hughes de Chaunac had not tasted victory at Sebring since his Chrysler-backed Vipers swept the podium in GTS-class 11 years ago. “It’s a historic result for us… We finished just in front of the manufacturers,” he cheerfully claimed. “We avoided any mistakes. It was a perfect job from the team and these three drivers.”

During the week, I was able to meet with members of Team ORECA, who were unanimous in their enthusiasm for racing in America – “We love to come here, to race in America… the excitement, the people and the culture here, is like nothing else. We love America because there is so many (circuits) and no two are the same,” one team member told me. (He’s also apparently never been to a 1.5 mile NASCAR tri-oval.)

It is worth noting here that part of the reason for the car count reaching a fantastic 56 this year, and one reason de Chaunac brought Team ORECA to Sebring (and to Petit Le Mans) is the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series. Not many people outside the motorsports press paid much attention when the ILMC was announced at Sebring a year ago, but with two dates in the US (compared to one each in Belgium, France, Italy, China, and England), the ILMC plays into how the two biggest dates in the ALMS calendar will run – and if last year’s Petit Le Mans and this year’s Sebring are any indication, that’s a very good thing.

A couple of classes down in GT, the most competitive class in all of sports car racing saw no less excitement and fury. The BMW Motorsport team RLL – led by winning driver Joey Hand in the team’s #56 M3 GT and followed by teammate Dirk Werner in the #55 – ran a clean race through all 12 hours, and held off a hard charge in the late hours from the Corvette Racing C6.R-ZR1 of Tommy Milner. Milner was impressive in the #3 Corvette, his first with the factory Corvette team. A close look at the top teams in GT – BMW team RLL, Flying Lizard Porsche, Corvette Racing, Risi Ferrari and others indicates that, as we saw last year, there is no clear favorite for the title early on, and the battles in GT throughout this season absolutely cannot be missed.

One team making a fresh start with an all-new car was the Panoz Abruzzi “Spirit of Le Mans,” getting a shakedown before ostensibly going to Le Mans later this year. There are many words we heard used in reference to that car – it’s truly a love-it or hate-it design, but one word sums it up without a fight: Weird. At times it may be fast, at times it may spend a week in the pits getting its nails done, but that car is categorically weird – and any car that unusual is worth checking out, just because it dares to be so different.

A notable change to the track was Michelin’s eye-catching new Pilot Super Sport sponsorship of the walk-over bridge near turn 17 at the track. In a nighttime flash photo, Bibendum seems to leap right off the panel, a terrific effect. The new tire, as described to me by a Michelin rep, serves a purpose similar to the walk-over bridge, in that it connects the paddock to the infield. Clever.

Sebring did not just have the most loaded-up grid in years this time around, it also had a rather densely packed infield. Compared with the last few years, the crowd seemed to fill-in earlier and thicker, and by race day it was nearly impossible to find a place to park a pogo stick in the Green Park.

However, while ORECA was carrying out the French Revolution described above and the fans were enjoying the scene trackside, many racing fans outside the track in the US and worldwide were having trouble just trying to watch it. Having ended its deal with Speed Channel (which never gave Sports Car racing 1/10th the attention it gives NASCAR), the American Le Mans Series is taking it to the web with ESPN3.com – with very mixed results.

Some of the feedback I’ve gotten, both in the US and abroad, has been quite positive. I heard from people who don’t carry cable TV but have broadband internet, who were watching Sebring for the very first time and loved it. I heard from a friend in Europe who – though the feed was at times choppy and then disappeared for 40 minutes at a time – found the whole experience exciting. I also heard from huge numbers of fans all over who were aghast – why does ESPN3.com ask me for my provider, why doesn’t this video feed work, and why did the ALMS say at first that they were serving video on their website for this race alongside ESPN3, only to later change that to overseas-only? What overpaid lawyer screwed this up?

For those who logged-on Saturday, the 12 Hours of Sebring was a glimpse of the future – a very early, not-fully-sorted glimpse – but an idea of where our sports coverage and entertainment will be in years to come.

The American Le Mans series gets an B+ for ambition in its new webcast package, but a D for execution. The concept of moving coverage from TV to the Internet is certainly forward-thinking and ahead of its time – for the moment, perhaps a bit too ahead. All of the problems facing ALMS with its new takin’-it-to-the-web deal can certainly be worked-out – and this series has always done well with making itself open and accessible to fans – but the lesson of this year’s coverage is that there’s much work left to be done.

That's it for now, I'll see you at the next pit stop.

[Car notes, Sebring Wednesday, 2010]

Car notes: Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sebring, FL –

I arrived trackside at 7-something this morning, following a rather leisurely cruise down from Denver, NC. In years past, I’ve had everything from torrential downpours and tornado warnings to dense fog on the way down, but this time it wasn’t the elements making it an interesting ride.

This time, it was my dash gauges.

The gauge cluster in my green car has been a little flakey for a few months now, so I’m used to the spotty occasion when either the fuel gauge slowly drops down to E (and then slowly recovers, as if having popped a Viagra) or when the speedo will sometimes blink-out, but come back after a mile or two.

From Charlotte all the way down to Sebring, the speedometer was dead. Not a peep, not a twitch. For those of you who skipped class during Car Stuff 101, when the speedometer on a modern car dies, it stops counting miles on the odometer as well. I’m now missing over 630 miles that should otherwise be showing – and my celebration of turning over an indicated 196,000 miles will be somewhat delayed.

In other exciting news, while visiting my dad in Denver, I noticed my tires – what’s left of them, anyway – are now suitable for use on a playground swing set, but not on a passenger car. My Falkens have served me well, but with the alignment both front and rear being more than a little bit, er, "off," and with a LOT of negative camber at both ends, let's just say it's hell on a highway drive.

Since I had some time to kill, I decided “well, I’ve got at least an hour of free time, I’ve got tools, and I’ve got flat tarmac, why not...” so I set about the business of rotating the tires. The rears were in fairly better shape than the fronts, so I got out the jackstands and the lug wrench, and got to work.

Lug nuts on the driver’s front were torqued to approximately 5 silverback gorillas worth of force, which meant I not only pulled something in my right forearm breaking them loose (a minor but persistent nagging ouch), I also bent the lug wrench. The large black cross-style one I’ve used for 10 years, now has a noticeable twist at the ¾” head. Drat.

34 minutes later, I had better tread up front, and had also discovered that on the left rear where there are supposed to be brake pads, there is a rather nice gap with only air to fill it. It doesn't appear the pads have worn all the way down -- it just looks like there's nothing there. Oh cock.

With all of that committed to my notes for repair when I arrive home (new dash cluster, check. New brakes, check. New... er, some other stuff too, double-check), I made the trip just fine. Years of driving the same car teaches you that 2800 RPM in 5th gear equals 70 MPH, which is the speed limit for most of the trip. The math got a bit more fuzzy when I got to I-4 through Orlando, where it dropped to 50 (keep pace with traffic), and the constantly fluctuating 55-60-45 do-see-do on Rt. 27 (ibid), but in the end none of Florida’s Finest seemed too interested in making me late for work.

So at last, I’m at the track. It might be all of 54F and overcast here, but it beats a sunny day in DC any time. The only racecars in DC are in the Smithsonian. Down here, they LIVE!

More pointless nonsense (and possibly some interesting shit) as time, alertness, and dedication to my writing craft permit – in that order.

Sebring notes, Thursday, Part 1

Yesterday left little time to post, given the 13-hour drive down from NC the night before. That, and the fact that I was positively knackered by the time the sun rose over the historic 3.7-mile road course here in Sebring, FL. Along with my "crew" (that would be Tim and his wife), we were all wasted from the trip and desperately in need of showers and sleep. By early afternoon, we'd decided to use what little coherency we had left, and retreat to the hotel.

Before we got going, however, I was offered a lap at speed around the course in an Audi R8. This ride, for once, is not a race car but a proper road machine, and I totally agree with Clarkson, it is STUNNING!

The Red Carpet Inn on Rt 27 certainly isn't the worst place I've stayed, but when I have to call the front desk to have someone come up and plug in all of the electrical things (alarm clock, microwave, mini-fridge, hair drier, etc), well, that's just odd. I have my own room, though, so I can sleep. The shower is nice n' hot, the A/C works, and the TV... well, they have good wireless, at least.

Anyway, cleaned up and rested, we were off to the Sebring Gala. For some reason, I'm still among the few of us media types who knows this party exists -- which is amazing, considering "free open bar" usually attracts everyone in the room. I was self-appointed Designated Driver last night, not wanting to overdo it and have hell to pay on Thursday, so my company took advantage of the free booze. Patrón is entering racing in a big way this year, both as a series/race sponsor as well as full sponsor of David Brabham's P2 Highcroft Racing Acura. So, to underscore their commitment to the American Le Mans Series, they saw fit to have their own Tequila bar at the gala, and do their best to get everyone annihilated. I had one small "Le Mans-arita" and a couple sips of a "Brabham Bender," their term for a straight shot of their agave silver. Good stuff, even if tequila isn't usually my thing.

This time, they weren't serving Tilt, so I didn't get "tilted" like I did last year. And I'm not rooming near Aunt Nancy, so I'm not getting attacked by the Grey Goose, either.

Time for GT-class combined qualifying -- either Jan Magnussen or Max Papis should take the pole.

More stuff later, as time permits!

Getaway in Appalachia - Days 1-2 of Sebring 2008

Mopars DO love mountains!

I'm currently in Burnsville, NC, way up in the Blue Ridge mountains. I started out on the drive on Sunday down I-81, but the sheer number of speed traps (15 in less than 100 miles) and the traffic incidents seemingly caused by people slamming on the brakes to avoid cops...

Well, it all got to be too much, so I diverted off I-81 onto Blue Ridge Parkway. Now, I've driven some of the most amazing roads in North America, but there is absolutely nothing that compares to this. I now have a very clear understanding of the term "breath-taking." I had to remind myself to breathe, it was that impressive.

As luck would have it, after about 200 miles of heaven, I ran out of road -- Blue Ridge Parkway is closed right near Boone, NC... so I had to re-route my course. This is where the road atlas came in handy: In the time it would take to re-program a GPS to map out a new course, I was able to duck into a Quik Stop, get coffee, check the atlas, and find Route 221 which leads down down to where I was headed.

What I didn't expect was for Route 221 to be the tightest, twistiest, least-forgiving ribbon of asphalt I have ever seen! This was like the Nürburgring, in North Carolina! I left probably 1/3 of the tread from my Falkens on that road, over a span of about 150 miles.

Where I'm from, if you take a curve too fast, you might hit some guardrail, or maybe a tree. Up here, you either eat a boulder the size of a small house, or... you fly off the side of the mountain.

Back home in DC, you might have to dodge a raccoon, a possum, maybe a fox or even a coyote. Up in Appalachia, the skunks are the size of small bears. I don't know what they eat, but I damn sure wasn't gonna' stop and ask.

Anyway, I'm rested-up, and will be getting back on the road to Sebring in just a few short hours. I'll probably be in touch sometime tomorrow, with a dispatch from the front stretch.


--
"there's more to life than gears and horsepower
not much, admittedly, but you get the point..." -- Road Kill

Permanent Links for AE Sebring 2007 and pics...

This year's Sebring article for Autoextremist.com is now archived here, and my entire photo record of the event is right here. Shutterbug friends out there, you're invited to have a look at the collection and offer any criticism (hopefully of the constructive variety) you like.

Bear in mind that I didn't throw away the 550 or so "throw-away" shots, and there's really only about a dozen or so that I thought were any good.

Sebring notes, Part 4

We're now nearly 6:40 into the 55th annual 12 Hours of Sebring, and what a race so far. The Audis running practically unopposed in P1 are having starter issues (which sucks for them, since every pit stop requires that the engine be shut off, for safety's sake). So, as predicted, the front-running P2 car (currently the Andretti Green Racing/Acura ARX-01A) with Dario Franchitti at the wheel, is kicking ass and is only a single lap down from the overall lead.

The competition in P1 and GT1 is... dead. There's nothing there, really. Audi has two cars against... well, nothing! And in GT1 the Corvettes have only token competition in the form of the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR-9. The Aston team has some skilled drivers and talent throughout the team, no doubt, but they're still a privateer entry with too little budget and experience to compete with the all-dominating Corvette C6.Rs.

So, with P1 and GT1 dead, where's all the action? P2 and GT2, for once. Penske and Porsche ignited a storm in P2 last year, knocking both the Dyson and Intersport teams out for the championship haul -- and even taking an overall win once. But this year, other teams are running those very same Porsches (Dyson, for one) and there's also new blood in the form of Honda/Acura. (Yes, Acura is just a name we use in America for "expensive Honda," but let's be generous and let 'em off the hook for once)

The competition between Acura and Porsche, as I write this, is drop-dead FIERCE. At six and three-quarter hours now (5:12 remaining), it's actually a race.

Oops, the #6 Penske Porsche is back in the pits, getting some kind of work done... this helps to offset the lost time that the #9 Highcroft Racing Acura spent in the pits earlier, getting some kind of electrical work done. David Brabham was behind the wheel at the time, and his eyes were saying "get me the hell out of the pits and back onto the track already!"

The Spyker has a roof now. It still looks weird and still has those crazy scissor doors, but it's got a proper hardtop - or a bolt-on. I think it might make a better road car than race car, honestly.

Just prior to the start of today's race, when they let EVERYONE on the grid, I went to say hi to a few of the drivers and other people in the sport - I went to ask Brabs how he likes the new car (he's very happy with it - "it's good, I like it" he said), saw Tracy Krohn (who wished my dear M&mdash the best in her absence, and then I got to finally say hi to Bobby Rahal. I've only wanted to meet this guy since I saw him win the Indy 500 about 20 years ago, and this morning I just walked up to him - he knew who I was, already - but got to introduce myself and welcome him and Rahal Letterman Racing to the series.

Bobby has run here before as a driver, but not as a team owner. Rahal Letterman, like Andretti Green, has had plenty of success in open-wheel racing, but both are entirely new to sports cars.

Full course caution now, some debris on the track... I'm gonna' run down to shoot a few images, and come back to this later.

Sebring 2007, Part 1

The drive down from MD to Sebring, if I blast straight down I-95 til I hit Daytona, can take as little as 13h 26m. I've done the trip at that pace, stopping only for routine pit stop stuff. Cup of coffee here, smelly gas station bathroom there, and I get through it quickly.

But this year, for the second time, I agreed to take one of my best friends down to Sebring with me. This is, however, a best friend who no longer lives "about an hour" out of the way. As I found out on my way down, he now lives about FOUR extra hours off the beaten path. I left my house around 9 PM Monday night, and arrived in Sebring just before 9 AM today. Approx 1300 miles logged already.

The extra drive was nice, though, as it took me down I-81 to I-26, just brushing Tennessee and then back into NC through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The drive is one of the most scenic anywhere this side of the Mississippi, and I'm certain that at least one person reading this knows just how breathtaking the scenery can be.

But still, an additional four hours of mountain driving can really take its toll. And so, it did: MY CLUTCH IS GONE.

I can no longer shift using the clutch on my car. If I want to engage reverse, I have to shut the motor off, pop into reverse, restart the motor, back up, shut off, engage 1st gear again, and restart.

So, my second clutch, after barely 90k, is toast. My first clutch out-lasted the transmission itself, still working nicely when the gearbox blew out at 95k. This new clutch, Mopar's "High Torque" model taken from the PT Cruiser, is fried. Broke. Annihilated. And this, after my driving in the last few years has been an exercise in smoothness.

If I had a shop (and some skilled help), the damn thing could be done in a night, parts totaling $250 or so. Instead, the only shop in town that can touch it before next week wants over $600, and takes cash only.

Sorry, I'll drive the fuck outta' the car, and if it dies, I'll deal.

In the meantime, I'm having to drive the car like an old racer without synchros -- literally rev-matching and banging it into each successive gear. This probably isn't doing any real damage to the gearbox, or maybe it is, but I'm past the point of concern. When I get home, I'm finding a good shop and dropping off all of my cars for an extended stay. It's probably gonna' eat my savings whole, but fuck it. I'm gonna' go find an alligator tonight, and punch his fuckin' lights out - and have Tim get it all on video tape.

Oh yeah, I'm at the track and there's lots of cars and some hot chicks and it's fucking hot out.

That's my Wednesday update. Damn car.