To all:
Like a lot of folks, I've left a whole bunch of stuff, including good
wheels/tires, un-attended and on the ground at events over many years.
Fortunately I've never had anything (attactive enough to be) stolen. After
Don Lew lost his nice wheels/tires at Stockton a few years ago, in
recognition of the fact I didn't want to loose ANY of even my least
expensive wheels/tires, I changed my personal security plan.
Other BA Autocross net comments have spoken to the thefts of wheels
(stockton), SUV/trailer/Corvette (Stockton) and this weekend's Candlestick
wheel heist. In addition to these 'heists", last year at McClellan, on two
different dates, a nice mountain bike and some driving gloves were stolen.
When we, originally, ran at McClellan with it's military guard gates, before
it became a civilian site, we had the "comfort" of the military presence.
Not any more, now at McClellan and a lot of other sites located in,
relatively, low-income residential areas such as Stockton, Oakland,
Candlestick AND Marina (yes Marina) you have to "watch your back" or, at
least watch your stuff.
Admitedly, I have a luxury many of you don't, I trailer my ride. On many
occasions, when doing testing we'll change wheels/tires during the day.
Although it's a pain at the time, the removed wheels/tires either go back on
the locked trailer rack or inside the (locked) Tahoe. Just did this last
event at Candlestick.
This week's "BA net" comments are not the first time someone has said they
EVEN leave their wallet on the ground with their stuff. Not very wise (sorry
Tony) unless you don't give-a-rip if it's stolen
Ok, here's the reality check:
Don't leave ANY SIGNIFICANT item(s), temptingly loose, outside a locked
venicle unless you don't care if it "walks off" during the day. This blank
statement should be tempered by evaluating the probability of anyone WANTING
what you leave out as well as the cost/inconvience of replacing it. I doubt
any one wants your floor mats, trunk carpet, factory jack or sweater. But,
the low-life (mostly-kid-types) who are most likely responsible for thefts
will take anything of flash or value. They don't even need to know what
they've taken if it's a set of flashy 20" rims. To think that someone
planned to look for just this booty on our lot is really incredulous,
"they'll" take anything that looks expensive. And a wallet?, guess what? Put
anything, of value/size that doesn't lend itself to being cable-locked,
somewhere in your car (glove box, console, trunk tire well, etc.), even
while you run.
And, unfortunately, even nine thousand security guards (I admit that's a bit
of an exageration cause, 9K worth of guards would probably solve the problem
but then, we wouldn't have a place to park, let-alone a place to run-on at
most lots) won't stop ALL thefts!
So the bottom line is:
Evaluate what you can't "afford" to loose and devise a technique for
securing those "tempting" items that you don't want to part with. Consider
cable locks through wheels, tool box (padlocked) handles, expensive jacks,
etc when you're away from your stuff.
BTW, at Candlestick, I saw several of those light-weight Harbor-Freight
"Nascar" jacks just ready for the "plucking" sitting loose, un-attended, out
in the lot. But, what the hell, they only cost $200. Oh yeh, that's 8
entries!
Don, (Your old, and I do mean old, "reality-checker")
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