Slipstream - December 2001

More documents

Recommendations

Info

<strong>2001</strong> Mid US 914 Ramble by Charlie Davis The Mid US 914 Ramble (or MUSR) was born in 1999. It was the creation of Alan Barrilleaux from Austin. Alan and I jointly started the 914 SIG to have access to the PCA liability policy for the events we anticipated. Rich and Diane Johnson, who had organized a couple of similar 914 events (organized under the “914 Renegade Club” banner) were brought in to advise. Rich is the genius behind the sponsorship for the Rambles. The name "Ramble" was coined by John Dunkle (master of the Rennlist) and used with his blessings. It was abnormally busy because festivities started a little early this year. Normally, things start on Thursday night, but on Wednesday night a small group met at Joe T. Garcias Mexican restaurant to pull off a surprise for one of our favorite couples. Lawrence Bonkoski is a Warrant Officer in the Army and has been stationed in Egypt for the past 9 months. He came halfway around the world to attend the Ramble (and see his girlfriend). Meanwhile, that girlfriend, Pam Schneider, was in the dark about his plans, but had been tempted down from Des Moines to attend the event in hopes of finding a set of headers for Lawrence's latest project. With names like Lawrence Bonkoski and Pamela Schneider, is it any wonder that we avoid using them? It's a long story, but everybody calls them "RustBoy" and "ToolWench". These are terms of endearment, in case that is not obvious. So, RustBoy, Charlie Davis, Dave Darling, Joe Yoder, Clay Perrine, Rich Johnson and a few others were in cahoots keeping the truth from Pam, er, the ToolWench. RustBoy flew from Egypt to North Carolina, pulled his car out of storage, drove down to Raleigh, picked up Joe (who flew in from Dallas) and then drove to Dallas. RustBoy got in early and Wes Hildreth helped him work out a few things on his car so he wouldn’t be distracted later when Pam flew in. After nine months in storage, the carburetors needed adjustments and RustBoy had never adjusted the valves (quite a difficult job on a 914/6 for those of you uninformed Boxster guys. Heck, most of you have never even SEEN your engines, much less worked on them). RustBoy now knows how to do both of these. (You Boxster guys need to join the new Boxster SIG and start having fun like us teeners do. Contact Lorne Blackman at lorne.blackman@verizon.net. He might even show you what your engines look like.) When ToolWench arrived at Joe T’s, she found Charlie and Teri Davis, Clay and Betty Perrine, and Dave Darling waiting. Another introduction is necessary here. Dave Darling is the 914 guru who works for Pelican Parts The “surprise” dinner at Joe T Garcias. as their problem solver on the Rennlist. He also works for NASA in his spare time. He lives in Silicon Valley and is the only 914 guy in recent memory to beat Ed Mayo for overall in the Parade Tech Quiz. Dave is known as "Damp" Dave Darling (or DD). If you have to ask why the "Damp" preface, you’ve never driven a 914 in the rain with the top stowed. Meanwhile, RustBoy was inbound from Joe's house in East Dallas. Joe gave RustBoy directions to get to Ft. Worth and I handled the route instructions from Loop 820 to Joe T's. Must have been Joe's part, because RustBoy was lost, plus the batteries on his cell phone were dead and no one could find him. He was in the wrong part of town and no one he asked knew how to get to Joe T's (heathens!). Several margaritas later, people were getting worried, but hunger prevailed and just as dinner was served, in stumbled RustBoy, who crept up behind ToolWench and grabbed her in a bear hug. To say it was a happy reunion would be an understatement. The rest of the event went more normally. Thursday’s arrivals moseyed out past TMS and up the road to Ponder, TX for a load of big T-bone steaks and baked potatoes, done the way only Ranchman's can. Friday was time to sign in and get T-shirts and caps and goodie bags, then sit around and swap stories.After lunch, we spent several hours in the classroom, studying 914 stuff. We had Jon Lowe, the PCA 914 Tech guru in for a couple of sessions and DD did one too. Then we had a big panel discussion about autocrossing. These sessions were very well attended and everyone learned a lot. Afterwards, we had a tour/rally to dinner. Didn't A colorful ‘bouquet’ of 914’s in front of the hotel. 10
loose a single car. We ended at Lauderdale's on Eagle Mountain Lake for fajitas. Happy hour was still going and we got happy(er). Saturday was quite busy too. We got up early and unloaded our parts (junk?) and cleaned our cars. The cars were displayed in the reserved parking lot just west of the hotel. There were over 40 of them! The Swap Meet was in an adjacent patio area. After the formal pictures, we boogied over to Standridge for the Autocross. Cody Sears and James Shoffit had been up until 2 am setting up the course and marking the pylon locations! The course was a good one. Our Friday seminar on Autocrossing had encouraged several first timers to enter. Half of the entrants in our "Run Watcha Brung" Charity Autocross were MUSR 3 participants, most in their teeners. Everyone loved the AX, in spite of the high $25 fee and only getting 4 runs. Special thanks to the Shoffits, who didn't run, just worked all afternoon so that the event would be a success. It was! Even in spite of a 5:30 PM deadline, having 62 entrants (the biggest "Run Watcha Brung" event in YEARS!), and an adventurous Corvette, who tested the mettle (metal?) of a pole, we all got through early and headed back to the hotel. Prior to the meal, most people took DD's Tech Quiz. It was simpler this year, but still challenging. Rumor has it that Ed Mayo had been up all night studying. I guess it worked. He beat Jon Lowe for 1st place (just barely!), but he was so tired, Jan Mayo spanked him at the AX. Then, the banquet and trophies for all the winners, plus over $7500 in "door" prizes! The 3 big ones were entered in a silent auction and the proceeds (over $2,700!) were donated to a couple of NYC charities. As if that wasn't enough, we continued on Sunday morning. Clay Perrine continued DD's electrical seminar and then Mark Wellborn (a Dupont tech expert) covered about 6-months stuff about paint in an hour. Whew! He was good! Did I mention that the weather was fabulous all week? Did I forget to mention that the hotel (the Marriott Solana) was superb? How about the good food? Some people even liked the trophies I made(that were laser engraved by Karen Erz). This year's MUSR was a huge success. The numbers from this event are impressive: 86 entrants from all around the country (and Egypt!), 45 cars (and contrary to persistent rumor, all of them ran), $7500 in door prizes (everyone got something), and $3,400 donated to four charities. It was put together by a small group of people: Rich and Diane Johnson, Teri Davis, Cody Sears, Dave Darling, Troy Stansbury, Don Doumecq, Mike Shannon, Jon Lowe, Richard Fisher, Clay and Betty Perrine, and Alan Barrilleaux. I helped out a little. Thanks to everyone who helped and to the great sponsors! A lot of hard work went into preparing the cars for the show. Judging the best car from each category was tough. Who says a 914 can’t haul it’s own race tires to the track? Dave Darling, who was also on the AX Panel, practicing what he preaches. Richard Fisher’s Chevy V-8 powered 914 putting power to the ground! Jan Mayo took top overall honors as the fastest 914 driver of the day 11
Page 1 and 2: www.pca.org/mav
Page 3 and 4: www.pca.org/mav Volume 39, December
Page 5 and 6: 3
Page 7 and 8: Prez Says by James Shoffit, Maveric
Page 9 and 10: 7
Page 11: The Nissan’s screeching front whe
Page 15 and 16: Club Race By Dee Lersch Since I've
Page 17 and 18: Fashion Alert: Wearing White In The
Page 19 and 20: Wayne Brown, Mark and Keith all try
Page 21 and 22: Wade Kolody posing for a photo fini
Page 23 and 24: 21
Page 25 and 26: 214-965-6102 or 1-800-527-5746 100
Page 27 and 28: 25
Page 29 and 30: New Wheels If you have any changes
Page 32: Jan Mayo, Slipstream 2973 Timbercre

Slipstream - December 2001

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?