Back to the drawing, er, writing board

Whoooo, wheee, has it been a long time since a meaningful blog post was written. And as I can’t stand reading blog posts about how or why a blog is inactive, I’ll just jump right in with current events. We will get to the past, race wrap-ups, things like that … eventually. But for now, lest the trend in non-blogging continues, we must simply write what must be written.

The biggest news for the Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys for the upcoming “Goin’ for Broken” Thunderhill race is the change in team dynamics. You may have heard (from other sources, as we’ve been neglectful) that many of our team members also serve duty on the Autosport Labrats team that was originally put together for a ChumpCar race at Portland Raceway. Captain Brent is continuing the Labrat build with a new car which should be ready to debut at Goin’ for Broken. (follow their details at http://www.autosportlabs.org/blog/) Several team members may do double duty driving and wrenching for both teams. If all goes well, it should be easy to do, but come on, this is LeMons, the whole concept of which is how well you can deal with random monkey wrenches. We knew we had to assemble a core backbone for each team in case both cars are in the pit at the same time. So, team captain Sean is putting together a new batting order.

Bret, the perennial family man, will not be able to join us in May; the joys of having a college-age daughter returning home from far across the mountains outweigh the opportunity to swill wine with his friends. C’est la vie. (Kidding, Bret, I’m sure most folks would rather spend a weekend with Kate than with just about anyone else, and who can blame them?) Alan will be back, and we look forward to the return of Monkey Rick from California, who filled in at our last visit to Thunderhill. The newest Monkey on the team is our buddy Drew, a fellow autocrosser who discovered the joy of road racing on that first LabRat ChumpCar team last Halloween. Welcome to the team! Drew got to spend some time getting to know Pujo! this past weekend at the penultimate wrenching party. We’ll write about what’s going on with the car soon.

Another interesting development is the absence (from the strictly Monkey perspective) of supporting women for this race. Neither Drew’s wife, Kim, nor I will be able to attend this race. Much to the disappointment of fans everywhere, this does NOT necessarily mean that Alan and Drew will be dressing up as burlesque dancers or French maids for this race. Sorry. I’m sure the gang will be able to juggle all the myriad things the women usually do at the event, like … like … well, I’m sure there’s something we do besides hold down valuable folding chairs.

Aunt Bea lives on!

So we got a call on our answering machine last week.

"Hi, this is Russell from Spokane, I think you're the previous owner of my truck, I found some... well, it's financial information in it, would you please give me a call back? I have a few questions about the truck"

Yikes. We thought we got every last scrap of paper out of it before signing over the title to the insurance company. Whatever did he find? What questions does he have on the truck? Is this possibly a scam? Well, after several attempts, we finally made contact the other day.

Aunt Bea definitely lives on with a salvage title, she is not being parted out. She's *sniff* living on a farm in her dotage! No really, this guy's brother found Aunt Bea at a local auto auction for apparently a good enough deal that he bought the truck sight unseen. He wanted to know the mechanical details, what had been worked on recently and so on. Sean was able to make this Spokane farmer a very happy man by telling him what a new truck it was under that poor smashed body, new engine at 60,000 miles, new tranny at 70,000, how strict we were at taking care of that truck because we relied on it to tow us over many mountain passes. So, that Silverado is now a "plow truck" ... sounds like a nice good working life. :) We even told him that we'd named the truck, and he felt it was a good name, told Sean he'd keep using it, LOL.

So, our anthropomorphized truck lives on, and has not been parted out for mechanical bits. That makes us happy. :) We even gave him the web address to this blog, so if you're reading this, hello!

(oh, and the financial thing was apparently a life insurance policy statement, and not a paystub or anything tooooo personal)

Dramatis Personae

There has been a change in the driving roster. Ron "As Seen On TV" Bauer has had to back out due to work related schedule confliction. Bret "The Artful" Dodson has moved in to take Ron's place in the drivers seat. I believe I saw Bret smearing Crazy Glue on the seat of his pants before climbing in so it'll take explosives to remove him.

This is going to make for some messy driver changes at the track.

We have also lost our chief mechanic. She has moved on to other projects (pictured) and will only be available for French muffler bearing tightening as her schedule permits. Doug is now the official Chief Mechanic and engineer. :-)

The Team

Sean put together the team from friends from our local autocross community. Mostly, he wanted members he knew would get along well together, drive well, and wrench well. Turns out, everyone brings unique strengths that we believe will combine to create a "perfect storm."

Sean Green: Team Captain. British Car enthusiast, general wrencher, and owner of aerospace machine shop brings access to lots of mills, lathes, power tools, and scrap metal.

Scott Miller: "The Negotiator" Mad wrenching skillz, nice guy, can get into small places, and don't ever sell him something without counting your fingernails afterwards.

Alan Dahl: Rules Lawyer and internet scout- Mr Linky, finder of all things Peugeot-y.

Doug Chase: Owner of Chase Race, specializing in fabricating, roll cages, exhausts, and general wrenching. Fiero Enthusiast, Rally guy, and host of the best annual housewarming party on the planet.

Brent Picasso: Self-appointed Chief of Useless Technology. Founder and Chief Engineer of Autosport Labs.

Ron Bauer: “As seen on TV,” probably our Stig, part-time professional driving instructor and another good wrencher.

Bret Dodson: Currently the driving understudy, ready to jump in if one of our 6 can't make the big show, resident wine snob, PR guy, and crafter best excuses why he has to miss “THIS” week's wrenching party but will surely make the next one.

And of course, Karina, Kelley, Alyson, Jenny, and myself, Cheerleaders and the gals without whom this team could not get off the ground. ;)