A Great Ending To An Awesome Weekend

The Father's Day Nascar race at Infineon this Sunday was as awesome a day at the race track as I have ever had even though my favorite driver didn't win. After all, how often do you get to spend a day at the races with one of the biggest race legends of all time? But not only did I get to enjoy Hershel McGriff's company and watch one hell of a race but in fact one of the best NASCAR races I have ever seen.

During the race we took a break to do an interview with Hershel to be used in our new HD DVD that will debut at the Monterey Historics. Trust me when I say, if you enjoy La Carrera Panamericana you're going to LOVE this interview.



One reason the race was so exciting is because NASCAR literally copied and implemented a double-file rule change which NASA (National Auto Sports Association) has used for sarting races for as many years as I can remember. I am proud to say every race I ever ran with NASA was using a double-file starts which makes for exciting racing. On many of the talk shows I listened too for the week prior to this race there was lot of speculation as to how good or bad double-file restarts would be or if it would show a popular result but I am here to tell you... The NASCAR fans LOVED double-file restarts! Nascar showed what a class act they were by listening to their fans suggestions with regards to double-file restarts but they should have hired Jerry Kunzman a long time ago and they could have learned a lot more.

After the race I overheard several drivers including winner Kasey Kahne talk openly about how much they enjoyed double-file restarts and how much more exciting the race was as a result.

Kasey Kahne with Tony Stewart hot on his tail in turn 2 on the final double-file restart.



Anyone who has ever been to a NASCAR race will tell you there is never a dull moment as you can see from some of these pre-race photos.

Now before anyone writes me just let me say, this first photo is NOT upside down. The Redbull stunt helicopter was performing loop-d-loops one right after another, something that not so many years ago was said to be impossible.













As for those who think I'm pulling your leg, just watch.



Speaking of helicoptors, Nascar and Infineon, never let it be said that we do things half-arsed here in California. Just check out how the winner's trophy for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was delivered to Infineon Raceway prior to the race via an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, from Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco. Be sure to take note of the white gloves used to receive it. Talk about Pomp and Circumstance!



Here is another fly-by during the opening ceremonies.






Fighter jets performed numerous stunts as well as an awesome fly-by during the National Anthem.


The start of the race turn 2 behind the pace car.


This is where Will spent the day with friends in some of the party tents.


The Oakland Police Department was in attendance for the event and they asking for donations for the families of four Oakland Police officers who were recently killed in the line of duty and from what I was told the NASCAR fans really came through in a substantial way.


One of several fly-by's this one being the United States Coast Guard.




Jeff and Jimmy going at it early on.


One of Robby Gordon's trailers parked by Hershel's rig. Notice the air conditioned pop up viewing area on top for spotters.



These last two photos of turn 7 were for fun just to show the difference in attendance between Saturday race and Sunday.

Saturday's Race.


Sunday's race

Weekends with the family

The definition of "Spending quality time with the family" seems to vary from house to house but what's important is that everyone must enjoy themselves. While Jon is building his newest ride, that being a BMW Spec E30 which is quickly becoming one of the hottest new spec classes with what will most certainly be a huge success my wife and I took the time to go spend the weekend with our son Will at his place of work... Thunderhill Raceway. Naturally, as long as we were going to a track we decided we might as well take along a race car so why not take Lucky?

On the way home Mari Chris and I stopped by the Pleasanton Car Show and swap meet to look around and while . We had some lunch and looked at lots of great rides and while there I found a new Shelby GT350R model car that I just had to add to my collection.




The weather was awesome and as usual the NASA crowd is always fun and exciting to hang out with. Besides getting to visit with Will and see his new office located in the top of the main building overlooking the track which by the way was just repaved I spent most of my time either racing Lucky or visiting with friends old and new.




Lucky is always a blast to drive and thruout the day Will and I enjoyed spending time together tweaking on Lucky until he was faster and faster. Getting a car to handle and perform better is great but doing it with your son is the best part of all.





Lucky dives inside a Cobra to make the pass in turn 10.


In between races we had time to sit with other friends and spectators in the stands which sit in the shade of some trees overlooking the new modifications made leading onto the straightaway. For the first time Will was trying out someones BMW in the new Spec E30 class and it was one hell of a race too. Will and Jon wanted to learn as much as they can about the characteristics of these cars to help in the building of Jon's new car. As usual Will catches on pretty fast (No pun intended) and even though Will was driving a car with a LOT of miles on the engine against his good friend Donny Edwards in a car with a fresh motor they both set new lap records on the fast new surface and in the process left the entire rest of the field so far behind it looked like they had left. From what I saw this is going to make for some awesome racing.

Donny Edwards telling his mechanic what he needs changed.

One of the cars I enjoyed watching run this weekend that run at the same time Will's race took place was this beautiful new version of Factory Five's Super Unlimited car which by the way, whipped all the high dollar whale-tale Porsches and there was a bunch.





Mari Chris always has fun where ever she is but both of us enjoy riding our bikes in the paddock which helps work off some of those calories from the free NASA barbeque on Saturday nights.

NASA events are always a lot of fun not to mention anytime I get behind the wheel I am smiling but this weekend was made even more rewarding for me when I looked up and saw my buddy Tom Dragoun of 7's Only Racing setting up next to me. Even though I have known the guys at 7's Only for years, Tom and I became good friends last year when he used his tractor trailer rig to haul cars down to Mexico to run in La Carrera Panamericana. Since Tom and I were in the Coyote Convoy all the way to the bottom of Mexico we had lots of time to form a great friendship. Tom will be hauling about 11 cars again this year and being their team support as well one of which is our friend Carson Scheller and his Original Panam Ford.



Man, seeing Tom and his truck sure brought back some wonderful memories.

One of the guys I got to meet is Gregory Clough, president of FUN CUP INC. I had the opportunity to spend time with Gregory and learn about this new racing venture that is quickly taking over in Europe and America. Don't be fooled, like the old saying says, do not judge a book by it's cover. These awesome little "VW Bugs" are anything but slow. Will's boss, Dave Vodden recently went to Europe to drive these little creatures on steroids and has nothing but great things to say about them.

Norm Cabana.... Memories From A Dream Catcher

For auto racers memories come in all sorts of packages. Some are nothing more than a plastic or marble trophy or plaque while others may be in the form of something akin to a Christmas present or a gift certificate and sometimes even a cash reward is earned. For many of us the best memories are nothing more than exactly that... remembering an exact day or weekend or even just a split second when the excitement was overwhelming. Then again some of my fondest memories of racing are those that can be framed and hung on the wall or shared with friends and family and don't forget those sponsors. There are even some events when a photo can really make someones day as in those times when we are lucky enough to be asked for an autograph on a hero card or 8X10.

If you are like me, I can't begin to tell you how many times that I wished I had a photo of one of my old cars or how about wishing we had one from that time we went all the way to.... Well, you get the drift. Like most racers, our time is so limited while at the track the last thing on our agenda is finding time to walk around the course shooting cars let alone getting premium shots of our own dirty work on the track and even if we did, most of us do not have the permission to get to parts of the track where the cool shots are to be had let alone have the high end camera equipment necessary to get them.

Taking all this into consideration many of us in Northern California now have a void in our sport, one that will most certainly be missed since his untimely passing this week. Of course I am talking about a man that over the years many of us have called our friend, Norm Cabana of Head-On Photos. As the official NASA photographer Norm was the best we have ever had. As anyone that knew Norm will tell you, he always had time to smile, shake your hand or share a story. And if that wasn't good enough his love of his work which also included his family and friends was as good as it gets. I consider myself fortunate to have numerous photos that Norm and his crew made into some of my most precious memories. Thanks to Norm those memories will remain as exciting in the years to come as they were the split second they took place.

Norm loved what he did and together with his family he built his business into something all of us recognizes for nothing short of passion. I remember one day as I walked into his trailer Norm yelled, "Hey come over here and check this out!" One of the guys had taken a photo of a car in a fast turn at Thunderhill and it was so detailed that you could see a lug nut coming off the car. If that wasn't cool enough he had it in sequence. This was the kind of passion guys like us would not capture in a million years had it not been for the likes of Norm and what he will long be remembered for.

I am sure I am not alone when I say that if there is one thing that would really make me smile it would be to see that yellow trailer parked at it's usual spot the next time I come to the track. Hopefully Norm's sons will continue on in their father's footsteps. Norm was always so proud of his boys and he talked about them all the time. Just another quality of Norm you just have to admire.

God's Speed Norm. We all miss you but you will never be forgotten.

Tyler's Day at Sears Point

What does any self respecting racer do the weekend after the NASCAR guys have raced on one of the local tracks? You get there as fast as you can so you can take advantage of several millions of dollars worth of fresh rubber that was laid down last weekend that's what. This weekend, my son Will, is race director while NASA is running at Sears Point so my wife and grandson Tyler dropped in to have some fun.


Now Tyler has grown up around race cars it seems but he was ether busy growing in his mommy's tummy or being pushed around in his stroller so today was his first time to really check out some cars. Funny but he told his Nana "These race cars noisy."

It turned out that it was the perfect day for Tyler since it seemed like we saw our fair share of "Small" cars. Just as we came thru the gates we saw a line of smart cars and later in the day as we drove by one of our friend's shops at the track we noticed someone was having a smart car get together. Wow, was there a lot of them. The truth is I didn't know there were that many in existence. Tyler seemed to like the one that was painted like a cow.


While we walked thru the paddock visiting with old friends Tyler seemed to take a liking to numerous cars but he really enjoyed one of the Mustangs that was painted like many of my race cars were, red with two white racing strips. Hey, the kids got taste.


He also liked the Legends race cars since they seemed to be almost the right size for him to drive. Why do I have the feeling we will be building a car in the very near future?


One car that pleased me to see was a green Volvo that raced with us last year in the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana which is owned by none other than Che and Cairenn Voigt. Even better, we got to spend a few minutes visiting with them. Gerie Bledso was also at the event but when I stopped to visit with him he must have been out on the track with a student but that's ok because we will get to spend some quality time with Gerie at the upcoming get together at Laguna Seca in a few weeks.

Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kickin contest

Where in the hell does the time go? Jon and I had so many plans to do what we love the most after last years La Carrera Panamericana... race cars. Nothing new. After all it's what we have done for years. The truth is, a break from racing is relaxing and rewarding especially when we get to spend quality time with our loved ones. (Even if it is only once every 10 years or so.) Jon and his wife have their daughter and My wife and I are having the adventure of a lifetime spending time with our two year old grandson Tyler. Like Jon says, "Sometimes you're the bug... Sometimes you're the windshield."

It seems like every time I have thoughts for a race Jon has something pressing at work and on the flip side of that same coin when he thinks of something good I am busy with something pressing at work. God knows it's good to be busy but dieing from work related stress is not my idea of a great way to check out.

Jon and I have been signed up since the beginning of the year to run the seasons endurance series but family and work have seen to it that was just a whim. Not long ago I was invited to compete in the very prestigious Monterey Historics, an honor not taken lightly by anyone. God willing I will be in attendance at the La Carrera get-together that same weekend. Check out the GT350 cutting thru the morning fog as it enters the famous corkscrew of Laguna Seca. This corner holds the distintion of being the single most photographed corner of any racetrack in the world. A track Jon, Will and I know all too well and have won many races on.


Since I am a member of the North American Eagle which is a challenge of the world speed record, I was asked to attend some 400 plus miles per hour test runs next week at El Mirage Dry Lake, east of Palmdale, California. The bad news is that since it is during the week I cannot make it because of some corporate duties not to mention some of my key team members will be out of town. Serious bummer indeed. What a great bunch of people to hang out with not to mention the growing excitement of getting ready to take the land speed record back from the Brits. Rest assured I will be at that.

In the mean time there has been some good come from all of this. First of all Jon sold one of his race cars and is in the process of doing something very exciting. More on that later but it's good... very good.

Then there is my son, Will. Regardless of what Will does I would be proud of him but he seems to not only have a good handle on life but he's quite the little businessman as well. One of the nicest race tracks in California and the U.S. is without a doubt Thunderhill Raceway in Willows California where Will has taken on his new job title of Marketing Director under the tutelage of CEO David Vodden. Not only is he working full time but he gets a great salary, is buying his first home not to mention he will be attending college as well. Not only is he working with some of the biggest names in racing but he is also allowed to continue his roll as race director and driver and instructor for NASA. On top of this he races full time driving cars and motorcycles with plans of running some motorcycle endurance races later this season.

If that isn't load enough for any young guy who seriously loves racing then check this out. Will is now an official dealer for the awesome FUSION FRC-14. If you want a hair raising ride or would like more information about these one of the fastest growing classes of race cars on the track drop Will a note at will@thunderhill.com or give him a call at the track.





The good news is there is still lots of summer left, lots of racing to do and lots of friends to look forward to seeing and racing again. In the mean time, we still have a large reserve of stories to share so things aren't as bad as they seem.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads from Jon and Gary.