2009 PPIHC Vintage Class Winner Keith Davidson!

Keith Davidson took Vintage class top honors by beating out Doug Mockett by a full 6 seconds. Congratulations to Keith and all the other Vintage teams.

As incredible as it is to think about, when you realize that a vintage class car ran withing 2 minutes of a purpose built car like famous RS200 ran it's pretty amazing. Even more amazing is realizing some were within 4 minutes of the world record.

Unfortunately three cars failed to finish and I hope they are all safe. As soon as I get word I'll post it here. They are Douglas Allen's #358 1965 Ford Mustang, Chip Johns's #385 1964 Ford Rally Sprint and Michael Jones's #220 1966 Ford Mustang.

Keith Davidson 163 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint 06:14.808 09:30.070 13:56.066
Doug Mockett / Angelica Fuentes 133 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 06:12.685 09:32.658 14:16.499
Jess Neal 42 1971 Plymouth Barracuda 06:38.944 10:03.067 14:43.402
Robert Hill 68 1968 Ford Mustang 06:31.634 10:05.897 14:47.934
Jon Lecarner / Michael Sharp 390 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint 06:49.066 10:36.284 15:26.695
Chris Salyer / Wiley Carlile 203 1955 Chevy Corvette 06:40.886 10:34.582 15:29.108
Frank McKinnon / Dean Smith 33 1952 Desoto Firedome 8 07:45.153 12:29.426 18:32.799
Douglas Allen 358 1965 Ford Mustang DNF
CJ Johns / Mark Galione 385 1964 Ford Rally Sprint 12:04.986 DNF
Michael Jones / Raymond Wilson 220 1966 Ford Mustang 06:21.671 DNF

The Word "Timid" Is NOT In Hershel's vocabulary.

If you think for a second that this is just some old fart running a few races to full fill some sort of middle age crisis as if that's even possible at 81, then think again. Hershel McGriff has no intention of going 90 percent just to make a showing. However he does have every intention of winning the race and proved it by showing that he still knows how to push the edge of the envelope as can be seen in the following photo.



Funny isn't it... A lot of fans may see this photo and remark, "Oh my God, is Hershel all right!" while racers say, "Hot damn, that Hershel has no fear and is NOT afraid to use the pedal on the right!" Looks bad but the car only suffered some small cosmetic damage and will be ready for qualifying today.

Even funnier was Hershel's remark when he returned to the pits and laughingly said "Hey a row of tires jumped out in front of me." Not only is Hershel doing great but he's having a blast doing it and isn't that the way it should be?

The Calm Before The Storm

It is very quiet on the mountain the night before the fans head up the mountain in groves for the big race. It's the lull before the storm. In the brief calm before the storm, the drivers and teams prepare themselves for the opening of Hell's Gate and the wrath of what is to come.

Then suddenly they notice that everything goes quiet? The air seems still and calm and even the birds stop singing and quickly return to their nests. Then after a few minutes, you feel a change in the air, and suddenly a sound of raw horsepower comes from far below that tells you they aren't fooling around.

This storm happens every year at this time and the locals call it Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the thunder is loud and exciting. This is the storm we all want to be square in the middle of right where we can absorb the brunt of it.

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas in which the Count of Monte Christo held his glass high and said, “Life is a storm my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout, as you did in Rome, ‘Do your worst…for I will do mine.’”

Tomorrow, the storm better known as Pikes Peak will begin and some will be shattered on the rocks but join me as we hold our glass high like The Count of Monte Carlo did that day long ago in Rome and lets hope and pray that it will be Paul Dallenbach who is left basking in the sunlight tomorrow.

Awesome Day For Hershel McGriff !

Like I told a friend, I bet when Hershel got to Portland International Raceway he looked around at the track and said, "Honey, I'm home." This has simply got to be overwhelming for Hershel as well as his family and close friends not to mention his fans. With out a doubt it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Going Full Circle". Can you believe it; Hershel won the very first NASCAR race here before most (if not all) of the other drivers in this weekends event were even born.

As best I could I watched Hershel run his NASCAR West practice laps today at Portland International Raceway by watching it on http://www.pirlive.com/ and an awesome practice session it was. Hershel finished 16th overall and looked super doing it. Tomorrow Hershel will qualify for the BI-MART Salute to the Troops “125″ Race at 11:00am then his race will begin at 2:00pm. This event is one of three that Hershel will be running in the NASCAR Camping World Series.


GO HERSHEL DAMMIT GO!!!!!!

Word About Doug Mockett

For those concerned about Doug Mockett not making all the practice runs yesterday, not to worry. Doug told me there were no problems other than he had to leave early so he could go race omne of his formula cars at Elkhart and will be back today and rested up for tommorrows big race.

Random Footage Of 2009 Practice

Keep an eye out for when the Fiesta hood flies open.

Paul Dallenbach Getting His Morning Feeding