you should be very PROUD !!!!!
To have a mother like this.
To belong to a club of these high standards..
To set up a mothers day ,where she is tired,sore,but still smileing monday.
KUDOS to you and you autoX friends for making her dreams REAL!!!
It sure puts racer roy and his sniveling wining for a I class where he can get a
win? and add to his trophy collection where it belongs
CONGRATS TO YOU,YOUR CLUB AND AND YOUR MOM!!
PaxsACR@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 5/11/99 9:57:46 AM Central Daylight Time, DSRGR writes:
>
> << Subj: Mothers Day Autocross
> Date: 5/11/99 9:29:15 AM Central Daylight Time
> From: Jouet4ever
> To: eirish@us.hsanet.net, MIrish1431
> To: AJDE@compuserve.com, Swese100, Jitters99, Beadin
> To: TLStoffa, WTILV, jrsygrl@powernet.net
> To: lindakiss27@earthlink.net, Cherkeechf, CrownEagle
>
> Today was a " double-dip" day for me. My mom is here visiting and
> wants to drive in the autocross. She has 3 main goals in her life....to fly a
> plane, have a story published and drive a race car. She has already
> accomplished the first 2 goals. Now she was about to realize her final goal!
>
> She has spent the last year and a half fighting and recovering from cancer.
> In 1998, she was diagnosed with a " highly aggressive glandular cancer" which
> is not only treatable, but one of the very few cancers that is curable! She
> went through months of chemotherapy (lost all her hair and was either sick to
> her stomach or high from the drugs) then 5 weeks of radiation treatments. She
> is now 100% AOK cured! However, the road to recovery is long and tedious as
> she finds herself very weak and is working on building up her strength and
> growing back her hair. In the last 2 years she has driven only twice in their
> own car!
>
> Race Day: the course starts with a quick right hand turn into a straight
> away 2 quick left hand turns, a gate slightly offset and then a 3 cone
> slalom ending in another left hand turn where you go straight across the top
> of the parking lot to make a 90 degree left turn, short burst and then
> another left followed by a right leading to another long straight to a single
> cone that you must make a u turn around. Then dash straight to the finish.
>
> Gene has brought 2 cars to the race. The " Sharkomatic" which all 3 of us
> are going to share plus the road-race car that he drives on the roadraces in
> CA and AZ (its actually not set up for autocrossing, wrong kind of tires and
> set up for wide sweeping turns at much higher speeds) but mom wanted the full
> experience of a shift-stick, full racing harness, and, of course, the roar of
> the motor.
>
> Before each autocross you are supposed to walk the course, look for how you
> are going to make your turns, where to apex, where to put on the speed, and
> generally memorize the course. Gene and I walked the course, but it was too
> long for mom to walk. The event Master let Gene drive her around it in the
> car, which doesn't give the full effect of walking. You cannot memorize the
> course while riding in the passenger seat, no matter how slow one goes.
>
> Mom practiced driving the road race car in the pit area, driving around,
> shifting, getting in and out over the roll cage!
>
> During the morning session, Gene took his runs first, with mom in the car so
> she could see the course and generally feel the action of the car, getting
> very consistent times in the 48 second range, ending with a 46. Then mom
> took her first 5 runs in the " Sharkomatic." her first time was a 69. Gene
> rode with her to guide her. Her next 2 runs were off course, as she had
> trouble all day finding the L shaped left turn at the top of the run. She
> kept turning early. A couple times she didn't make a tight enough u turn and
> plowed several of the cones down. All her runs were in the 60 second range. I
> took my 5 runs starting at 51 seconds and worked slowly down to 46 seconds on
> the last run. Then mom got 5 more runs in the "road race car". Again, her
> times were in the 60-70s range. She had lots of trouble with the steering.
> The road race car is very hard to steer at slower speeds and just not set up
> for a curvy tight course. But she was all harnessed in getting the full
> effect of a real race car. The announcer kept telling moms "story" over the
> loud speaker, so she grew quite a cheering crowd, with lots of video cameras
> on her. She was the highlight of the day!
>
> After the lunch break we had 5 more runs each. Mom opted to only drive the
> "Sharkomatic" in the afternoon as she was wearing down, getting tired. But
> still not ready to call it quits! Gene ran his runs, best run coming in the
> 44 second range. Mom still rode with him to learn the course. Mom took her 5
> runs, again coming in at the 60-70 range. My runs started at 48 range, did
> one 46, then last run was a 47.
>
> Monday....mom is sore in her legs from getting in and out the road race car
> window. Sore shoulders from the harness, but still beaming and exclaiming
> over her day! She enjoyed the day, realized her dream, was awed by the
> clubmembers that helped her by pointing the way for her on the course, told
> her to finish her run, gave her "thumbs-up", and cheered her, even if she had
> gone off course. She said she could see why they are our friends! She has
> nicknamed herself "cone-killer," and is seriously thinking about another
> race! >>
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