[Fot] Side Glances (JAN 2009)

[Bill Babcock]

I too am a Peter Egan fan. Hard to understand the use of Entropy in  
this case, but I'm probably being too literal since I'm fighting the  
IQ-sapping nature of Maui by reading books on intercellular  
information exchange. Lots of entropy tossed around to balance those  
equations, and it throws me for a loop. Slow going and it makes me  
testy.

I do think I'm losing my marbles. I spent the non-surfing parts of the  
last few days building a trailer to drag a 12 foot stand up paddle  
surfboard behind my motorcycle ( http://www.kenalu.com/). You might  
ask why, and the answer is "I have no idea". What I really need here  
is Susan's flame job Isetta with a big surfboard rack. The board would  
be much, much bigger than the car.

Walter sounds like a real treasure. What issue is the article in? I'd  
like to read it.

On Dec 1, 2008, at 7:03 AM, BillDentin at aol.com wrote:

> Amici...
>
> I am sure we have more than a few Peter Egan fans on the FOT List.   
> Peter was
> the Honorary Grand Marshall and Featured Banquet Speaker at the  
> Elkhart Lake
> Vintage Festival at ROAD AMERICA a couple of months back.  Austin  
> Healey
> Sprite was the featured marque, and Mr. Egan has owned and raced  
> more than his fair
> share.  Team Thicko Flounder and premier Sprite owner Wm. Severin  
> Thompson
> provided a Sprite named WALTER for Peter and wife Barb to use all  
> week end.  It
> was a really special car (UN-restored original racer from the Hey  
> Day) still
> sporting tech stickers for the 50s and 60s.  Peter's article  
> embraces the car's
> innocence, purity, and the ton of memories it stirs in his heart.
>
> I like everything Peter Egan writes.  At the end of the article he  
> says, "
> Maybe in our constant club-racer quest to make our cars faster,  
> safer, and 'more
> reliable' we pushed for changes that simply accelerated the rate of  
> entropy.
> Every class of production racing does this, of course, until it  
> finally brings
> on its own demise.  Or metamorphoses into some generic, tube-framed  
> parody of
> its form self, as "stock cars" have done."   And, of course, I loved  
> the
> classic Egan ending that reads, "So it was fun to drive WALTER just  
> for the pure
> innocence of the thing; my first drive in a steroid free competition  
> sports
> car.  We were a little slower than the other vintage race cars, but  
> we drove all
> weekend on the same head gasket.  Something I've never tried before."
>
> Bill Dentinger