Slipstream - May 2011

Epic DE Weekend at MSR
By The “Bud” Family
The sun came up on Saturday morning with greatly
reduced winds. The 30-50 mph dust & smoke-laden
gusts from Friday were gone. Turnout was a bit sparse
due to the Club Race in Kansas. But, that meant all the more
fun to go around for those of us who attended. Session 1 was
a bit tricky. The track was cold & slick from a thin coating
of the remnants of the previous day’s dust storms. Session
2 was much
faster, that
is until
Young Bud
4 decided
to go offroading
at
Little Bend.
His excuse
to Joel was
that he got
confused
and thought he was driving his Jeep Wrangler at Gilmer
(wrong weekend!!)
The Charity Lap was a blast for Young Bud’s friend, Jeff.
Jeff drove the “Franken-Boxster,” i.e. a 1999 conversion
with a Carrera 3.4L. We may have a new Maverick signing
up soon. The highlight of Session 3 was the misfortune that
befell our fearless DE Chair, Mike Brodigan. His off-road
adventure (second black flag of the day) brought his day to
an early close & cost him most of his front air dam.
Our surrogate family member, Chris Alkier, shared the key
take-away from the Track Walk. Flush hard in the Toilet
Bowel!! Sunday morning started with bright sunshine but
the winds picked up from the south. The Park Place guys
were soon chasing their banners to the north. The “pit crew”
made a run to the Granbury Starbucks. Our friend & “white
(Run Group) guy,” Sanjeeva Balachandra, pulled off from a
aggressive Session 1 to be greeted by a grande mocha with
caramel drizzle. Next time you see him, you have to tease
him about his girlie drink.
The Blue Run Group classroom session on Sunday was
an interesting physics lesson on friction circles. When
the instructor, Dave Curtin, asked the question “What can
you do when you are at the point of critical braking, even
I (RoseBud) knew the answer... NOTHING!! For the 2
guys in the room who yelled out “Turn,” Dave soon set
them straight & hopefully saved them from an unexpected
tangent off the friction circle.
Jeff again made Sunday’s Charity Run. His hand was
shaking so badly at lunch that he drew zig-zags on his
chicken nuggets with the ketchup. Guessing he had a ripping
good time.
Photo by RoseBud (Rose)
The culmination of Sunday’s great driving & the weekend
overall was that both Bud’s got bumped to Blue Solo. Big
Bud 3’s instructor jumped out of the 911S after 3 laps. When
Young Bud 4’s instructor kept on riding, his fans got a bit
nervous & thought he might have messed up big time. But
we could tell he was keeping on his pace & turning some
pretty respectable lap times. Turns out Mike Langford was
having such a good
time in the Franken-
Boxster, he didn’t
want to get out!!
All in all, we are so
blessed to have a son
who is all growed up
and haired over who
not only wants to
spend time with his
Friends Jeff & Kim, Bud 4 (Rene’), RoseBud (Rose) & Bud 3 (Rene’) Beunier
parents, but shares
with us his
wonderful friends. We thank Mavericks and PCA for making
this possible.
May 17