Welcome to my National Championships Blogsite!  This site was started on a whim from the passenger seat of a Land Rover on Highway 58.

Email address: alw@dolby.com

Driver Profiles
Name: Rick Grefsrud Autocross Class: Street Modified 2 From: Torrance, CA Occupation: Program Manager Past cars owned: '72 Super Beetle, '86 Mazda 323, '87 Corolla FX16, '89 MX-6 GT, '94 Geo Prism, '96 Dodge Caravan, '87 Mazda RX-7 SE, '97 Mitsubishi Mirage LS, '95 Mazda RX-7 R2, '93 Chevy K2500, '86 Mazda RX-7 Sport, '03.5 Mazda Protege 5 Favorite car owned: '95 RX-7 R2 Daily Driver: "My two feet" Age: 41 Profile: Has-been SFR autocrosser/RX-7 Owner who moved down to LA in 2004. Greatest autocross accomplishment was years ago at the San Diego National Tour where his shiny red '95 RX-7 beat almost the entire field of Vettes by 4s. The only catch is that it was raining cats and dogs that day. He forgets to mention that he got beat by 3s the next day in the dry.... Going to Nationals to fulfill his dream of stomping on the SM2 competition in an ASP car. Apparently he can do this after only practicing at 2 autocrosses the entire 2005 season (Atwater and San Diego Tours). Let's hope he stops "Driving Miss Daisy" in Topeka and can starting turning it up a couple notches!	Name: Reza Kertadjaja Autocross Class: ASP From: Sunnyvale, CA Occupation: IT Support Past cars owned: '92 Toyota Camry, '93 Mazda RX-7, '93 Lexus SC300 Favorite car owned: '93 Mazda RX-7 Daily Driver: '93 Lexus SC300 Age: 29 Profile: Self-proclaimed drift master who claims he only autocrosses to increase his drifiting skill. Complains that there is no fame in excelling at autocross... but only thinks this because he secretly wishes there were hot umbrella girls to keep him cool at autocross events. His driving style is a mix of all out aggressiveness, braking late, a touch of chaos theory, and a couple cuss words thrown in here and there. He's still a relative newbie with only 3 years of autocrossing experience but wouldn't know it by the long list of big events he's been seen at. Has been known to make many unconventional tweaks to his car...many of which work well...and most of which i don't like that much :) In any case, this guy always make me laugh whether it's at an event or in the garage putting a new engine in his car.	Name: Alex Wan Autocross Class: ASP 7 From: San Francisco, CA Occupation: Engineer Past cars owned: '87 RX-7, '93 Mazda RX-7 (x3), '94 Mazda RX-7, '00 Honda Civic Favorite car owned: '94 Mazda RX-7 Daily Driver: '00 Civic EX Coupe Age: 27 Profile: Click here for my new profile... Old and Lame: Avid autocrosser who has been steadily getting better the last 2 years after dedicating more time and effort to racing. Going to Topeka for the first time in 2005 to see where he stands in the autocross universe. Has been known to be ultra-anal about car preparation by his co-drivers--like not allowing Reza or Rick to polish the car or place decals on first in the morning. For fun has a side hobby of fixing up broken 3rd Gen RX-7's back to their original state and then selling them.

Course Maps (9/12/05)
North Course	South Course

Friday September 16, 2005 9:12pm

Today was definitely better than yesterday but I still didn't drive as well as I had hoped. The weather was foggy in the morning but cleared up by 8:30am when they started the fog delayed event. I finished today with the 7th fastest run of the day but definitely did not drive up to my potential or even close to that of the car. My first run was 59.9 plus 2 cones. I knew I had made multiple mistakes out there and there was plenty of time left to be gained. The fastest first runs were all in the low 58 range with the exception of one car which was within reach. I psyched myself up for the second run knowing I just needed to be more aggressive to go faster. My goal from the start of the day based on finished results was to reach a 57 which I knew would be tough. I flew through the first 2/3 of the course way faster than my first run and was getting more aggressive when I made the mistake of being overly confident in a left hand kink into the longest straight of the day. The video shows my car getting loose swinging the rear end out to the passenger side, me overcorrecting, back to the left, and then finally catching some grip. However, by that time I had basically "parked" it and lost all momentum and lost a huge amount of time. With the final run I was aiming to keep the aggressiveness I had on the previous run but just eliminate that one mistake. I prepped for my last run by doing all the usual things....drinking some water, adjusting the seat and racing harness, and mentally preparing myself for the chaos that lay ahead. My pit crew (Rick and Reza) finished checking the tires, spraying the intercooler, and turning on the camera and I was waved to the start line by Navid who just happened to be running our grid. I sped through the first couple slaloms but not quite at the same pace as the second run. I knew I needed a clean run and I think that was making me hold back slightly relative to my last two runs. Unfortunately I didn't try to go by the mantra "spin or win"! I went through the rest of the course and cleaned up my mistake without anything crazy happening. Too bad I wasn't crazy enough because when I rolled in my time was a 59.2. This was the 7th fastest time of the day for ASP which bumped me up to 12th place for the event. Better but still not what I had in mind. I rolled back into the pits partly relieved to have the event over with but also mad at myself for not driving faster even if I knew a trophy was basically out of reach.

I'm writing this last update from the Land Rover from deep in the heart of Oklahoma on I-40. We are driving back to LA right now...we've scrubbed our plans to stop in New Mexico for the night and scheduled out driving plan to get us back to LA by tomorrow afternoon. I just drove for 6 hours straight and Reza is on his 5 hour shift after which Rick will pick it up until daylight! Craziest bit of driving I've ever done. We'll drop Rick off in LA on Saturday night then leave on Sunday morning for Bay Area. We hope to be back by Sunday afternoon. We will have driven about 4000 miles and used $1000 worth of gas by then! Who said autocross was cheap?

Closing Thoughts:

Alex: I hope you enjoyed my little blog. I've actually never really done one like this. If you've looked at my website I've done write-ups about specific RX-7 events but never something as hardcore bloglike as this. If you've like to autocross and have never been to a national tour or national championships before I would encourage you to go. These are the types of events that teach you how hard you really need to drive to be competitive on a national basis. Many drivers are quite unbelievable in how fast they can make a car go around cones. Below I've posted a large number of Friday photos because it's my last post. I've received quite a few e-mails from people in the San Francisco region who are liking this blog. I just wanted to say thanks for dropping me a message and I hope you enjoyed the stories and pictures. It looks like I need more practice racing so hopefully I'll be at the first round of the SFR Winter Slush series next Sunday. See you there!

Rick: First I'd like to thank my wife Melinda. A weekend to San Diego, a couple of weekends to Atwater, and a week to Topeka consumed non-family oriented vacation and a sizeable chuck of cash. Thanks to Alex for the opportunity to drive his well prepared ASP car in SM2 this season. It's been challenging keeping up with Alex and Reza. They've certainly improved their driving since I stopped autocrossing in June 2004. The drive out to Topeka was exciting. I hadn't been on a cross-country trip of this magnitude since moving to San Jose from Dallas 16 years ago. While the I-40 signs look familiar, little else does. The stay in Topeka was fine with a decent hotel stay, fun engaging conversation with these "Y" generation guys, and good tough competition. The jury is still out on the drive back to LA. I'm comfortable here in the back seat with my down pillow, but these guys are expecting me to pull an all-nighter to get us into Winslow, AZ by daybreak. "Take It Easy" by the Eagles comes to mind. I've got a couple of packs of Bublicious, some mints, and an MP3 player packed with my favorite heavy-metal to keep me company when these two starting dreaming of what could have been. Will I do this again? My autocrossing opportunities in LA are limited. Seat time only at tours and a test and tune are not enough to be competitive. We'll see what Alex has up his sleeve for 2006 and then I'll decide.

Reza: You can never get enough autocross practice. Even though I've practiced looking ahead a great deal this season, it still wasn't enough for a nationals course which is much more technically challenging. The overall experience at Nationals was a good. The Kansas weather sucks though so you'd better prepare for every possible condition. One moment it was sunny, the next cold, with rain and fog also mixed in.

Thursday September 15, 2005 9:01pm

Finally back at the hotel after the most tiring day of the trip so far and that's saying a lot. We worked the 4th run group which turned into a nightmare considering it was cold, windy, wet, and there was a 30-40 min stop for oil on the track. I ended up sweeping up the oil absorbant for about 30 min which was horrible because the oil had been mixed with the standing water on the ground getting spread everywhere on the track. Apparently the D Modified Super Seven which broke right in front of our corner had blown something up and caused the spill. The run group lasted for about 2 1/2 hours! We did watch the ESP cars in run group three which was fun with the all-wheel drive rally cars battling the camaros and mustangs. I believe the rally cars came out on top with the top three spots today. It could be different tomorrow in the dry although the gap is pretty sizable. Below are the pictures Rick took during the 3rd run group. I gotta rest more tonight to prepare for my redemption tomorrow morning and the long drive home....

Thursday September 15, 2005 10:42am

Rain, rain, and more rain...it started raining about halfway through the first runs of our group giving a huge advantage to those who had already run. This included all of the first drivers in ASP. James Gunn-Wilkinson came out hard and ran a 58.8 for his first run. Reza was able to pull a 62.7 but hit a cone along the way. Not sure what the other dry times were but needless to say those people are all in the top 10 of the final standings. By the time second drivers pulled up to the line the course was generously wetted down in every single area. Hoosier rain tires came onto the cars who had prepared for this situation. This included the silver porsche 77/177 and the popp vette. Even those tires weren't enough to take the dry 58.8 by Gunn but did get within a couple of seconds. I went out for my driest run (which was still a rain soaked course) and ran a 65.6. The second run was a wash because I kept giving the car too much gas and getting sideways and came through the lights with a 69s. The last run was run w/o any rain but still had a nice layer of water on the concrete which let me run a 66. Tom Berry was in the same boat (we felt like we were driving boats!) as myself and ended up with a 64 flat. The trophies start in the 61.7 range. Reza is in 13th place and I'm in 15th place!...so depressing but I've learned my lesson. Don't ever come to Topeka without rain tires because the weather is as unpredictable as they come. Pictures below...

	alex at the line
	reza at the line
	porsche 911 with super sticky hoosier wet radials for the rain. this car had the top two fastest wet times
	rob boynton ready to go out
	popp car running hoosier wet radials
	'66 lotus elan
	no grip on kumho v710's in the rain
	serious pit crew action
	the top 9 spots either had a dry run, hoosier rain tires, or both! sportscar favorite tom berry had a tough day coming in 10th too
	talk about far far back!

Wednesday September 14, 2005 10:00pm

Sorry only one update today! I started off the day walking the south course with Rick a couple times which is an extremely interesting and challenging design. It starts off with tons of slalom and gates and then transitions into some real fast sections. Watching super stock run this morning to decide the winner was fun with the battle brewing between the top drivers. The weather was nice and sunny but just a little bit breezy and cold. The GT3 was up by a couple tenths from day one with Strelnieks and a couple of other super fast drivers right behind. The orange lotus elise was nowhere to be seen when the first drivers began. It was on the north course running in FP. For some reason the first driver never showed up or drove today. It was only number 195 driving the Elise. First and second runs weren't going to decide it so let's just move to third runs...Strelnieks put down the run of the day with a 57.000 which was more than 1/2s faster than any run to that point. That put him in the lead by about almost a second as the GT3 was still running about 1s behind after the second run. When the GT3 came through the lights it was only able to put down a 57.5 which was only good for 2nd place. Strelnieks took the title just like Sportscar had predicted it. What Sportscar hadn't predicted happened next...the "pumpkin" came into the finish and the lights flashed a smokin' 56.439! He put down the fastest time of the day which vaulted him into the 4th spot. If he hadn't had cone trouble the first day he would have taken the title away. It still is nice to see both an elise and a gt3 in the top three though.

Rick finished up today driving better but still not up to his full potential. He was generous enough to do a write-up of his first nationals experience which is below.

Ok Rick, what really happened? I came here with the expectation to do decent and not embarass myself. Nationals seems to bring out the best and worst in people. It seems to depend on how you handle the pressure and the intensity of the event. Entering an ASP car in SM2 against the likes of Andy McKee and Gary Thomason is like bringing a knife to a gun fight as quoted by several people. The car had a top 10 SM2 finish in it, but the driver didn't. Two tours and a test-n-tune weren't enough seat time to get comfortable driving Alex's car at the limit. I found myself untrusting of the tires and tentative in my execution. While praying for rain brought the falling heavens for Tuesday's first run group, the timing was all off. Just as well as we didn't have rain tires. The North course had wet spots and the first runs showed it. The first run felt OK, but a combination of cold tires, damp surface, and lame driving resulted in a 56.504 scratch time plus 3. I botched the first right turn after the lights when I short shifted before the turn. I worked that corner and knew my shift point was after the right hander--brain fade. The slalom felt good, but I hit the fourth and fifth slalom cones. I thought I DNF'd the "Decision Point" passing both cones to the left, but apparently not. The car was bump steering entering the "Split-S" and the suspension was still set pretty hard after the Atwater test-n-tune. As bumpy as the North course is, I should have asked Alex and Reza to soften the rear end. The "Showtime" showcase turn required a steady wheel and foot as smooth driving paid dividends leading into "Tunnel Vision" where I battled bump steer. The fast right turn "Over-G" required staying right on exit to setup the fast entry into "Mach 1 Mayhem". The redesign of the course eliminated "Hammer Head" and added a short three cone offset slalom connecting to the "Final Approach". Giving it up at the right turn at "Mach 1 Mayhem" was necessary to keep from plowing into the wall of cones. A short straight leading into the slalom and then entry to the "Final Approach" where Ben Martinez recommended braking early and power through the turn for the lights. The second run was worse than the first. A cone in the first slalom and aggressive driving didn't do me any favors. Apologies to the course worker at "Over-G" when I exited the right turn with a "little" too much throttle. I wasn't going to lift and induce snap oversteer so I "throttled" through it--56.854 scratch plus 1... enough said. Keep in mind Andy and Gary are running 51's by now. The third run was far from perfect, but much better and clean at 56.297. It was one of those runs where you came in thought you'd gone a lot faster--oh well. So after day 1 I was sitting in 23rd out of 27--not what I expected, but certainly what I deserved. The South course was a night and day difference with the North course. It was free of significant bumps and had a grippy surface in comparison. I worked the first corner chasing after the first apex cone from the start. One of the BSP Corvettes (1970's vintage) took a dirt nap in the straight between "DOT's Right" and "Swing Left Sweet Chariot" letting out a large cloud of smoke and oil on the course. The course workers and race officials made quick work of the spill and got the action back on track. My first run was loose (61.504 +1) and I knew we needed a change. The car would not grip under accelleration. Alex dialed the shocks down a setting and we stayed with the previous tire pressures. The car hooked up after the change. The second run was dirty again at 59.131 +1. The third run had to be clean. The front "Trip's" section was difficult to manage. I couldn't charge too hard out of the start chute into the right turn or I'd enter the slalom at the wrong angle. Accellerating through "Trip's" and the fast right turn into "Fixin' to Keep Left" felt good. A steady hand and throttle in "Fixin' to Keep Left" was the key. I'm sure I left time on that section of the course. Exiting "Fixin' to Keep Left" into "Sweep This" was another fast corner where I needed to maintain momentum. I did what I could to charge hard into the left turn "Sweep That" and setup for the showcase turn "DOT's Right"; then the short straight leading to "Swing Left Sweet Chariot". The most fun on course was exiting "Swing Left Sweet Chariot" into "What? A Straight?" where full throttle is the only answer. Pulling it in to setup for the "Mom, Watch Me Slalom" was key and then charge hard through the slalom. Finally exit the slalom and turn left to the finish. Certainly a fun flowing course that I will remember for a very long time. The third run was again, far from perfect, but it felt good and was clean at 59.036. That propped me up to 18th position out of 27--not even mid-pack, but it was fun. I'm counting on Alex and Reza to do the car proud in ASP. It certainly has it in it.

Tomorrow is the start of the ASP competition runs. We'll be running in the first group at 8am sharp. The weather forecast is for scattered showers with a 30% change of rain. This midwestern weather is unpredictable...a down pour can happen at any time just like on monday. We don't have any rain tires so hopefully there won't be too much standing water if that's the case. I've walked it about a total of 10x since 2 days ago so I hope I'm ready by now. It's now just a questions of execution. Time to get some rest for tomorrow's runs....

Thank Reza for all of our pictures!!! He's busy all day getting good pictures.
	SS 2nd place 911 GT3
	Lotus Elise doing SS fastest run of the day
	dot's right turn
	coming into the left hander before the finish
	dot's right again...
	serious
	20s to go
	another rx-7 in sm2 from michigan
	ss grid
	ss grid again
	partial sm2 grid
	adjustments being made to the sm2 winning corvette
	cooling down the car
	night time

Tuesday September 13, 2005 7:30pm

Long day does not even begin to describe what we just went through.  The entire event was delayed multiple times today by sudden rainstorms and course changes / concrete fixes.  In between the 2nd and 3rd run groups there was a long delay added to the rain delay that consisted of the course officials pouring new concrete and trying to dry it in time for the next run group.  They are quite ingenious in their drying methods....they parked a car's hot catalytic converter over the spot and surrounded the car with tire warmers.  Unfortunately this was not enough and they decided to make a huge course change to bypass this section.  The entire hammer head section of the course was eliminated.  Instead, from about cone 412 to cone 440 they made into a straight line and changed the final straight section (final approach) to a 2 or 3 cone slalom.  The 4th run group finished just before 7pm and we are exhausted.

SM2 Recap:  The bottom line is Andy in the RX-7 is leading Gary Thomason by ~0.2s.  Andy made a mistake on his first run and spun out making Gary's 53 flat the time to beat.  Rick's first run was a 56.4 which was respectable in the context of the first run but was unfortunately unable to go much faster than that.  He's looking to redeem himself tomorrow.  Andy was able to knock off a fast 51.8 his second run which sparked a wave of enthusiasm.  The vette once again took over the lead with a 51.5 on his 2nd run.  It was a close back and forth battle.  With his last run Andy took another 1/2 second off and ended up with a 51.3.  All eyes were on the black vette as he took his last run...fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, both cars on course were red flagged.  5 minutes of tense waiting ensued for SM2 competitors until they resumed their last runs.  Things were looking fast and smooth until he overshot the last right turn before the new slalom near the end.  The car actually nudged a cone but I don't think it knocked it out of the box (don't have the results yet) but it didn't matter anyway because the final time was a 51.7.

That's it for today...we've been here more than 12 hours and I'm ready to head back but we've gotta wait for Rick to walk the South course who knows how many times.....

	lifting the left front wheel...
	super drifter ben martinez
	315's in the front and 335's in the back...enuff said
	serious tire warming action
	my first thought was "no way!"
	335's all around
	formula sae
	waiting forever and ever...
	dsp grid in the 3rd run group
	mmmmm.....bierock (hamburger and cabbage inside)

Tuesday September 13, 2005 1:05pm

The super stock battle ended about an hour ago and boy did it live up to its name. First runs were all in the wet with tons plenty of sideways action by Vettes and Loti alike. It was a bit messy with most cars getting in the high 60s range. About 10 to 15 of the ~55 entries were running Hoosier Dirt stockers while the rest ran a mix of V710 and Hoosier A3S05 with a street tire scattered here and there. Mike Johnson Jr. in the orange lotus elise (affectionately called the "pumpkin") put the smack down on first runs with a jaw-dropping 64.079. That was 1.3s faster than anyone else. Pat Salerno and Erik Strelnieks both received reruns on their first runs but weren't able to capitalize and take the top spot in the wet conditions. By the time second runs rolled around the course had dried considerably and the drivers had a better idea of the course too. Third runs were run in an almost dry course with only a few areas of puddled water. By this time everyone had swapped back their rain tires for normal dry tires. All the drivers were making considerable reductions in their time. Near the end of the run group Matthew Braun from Michigan ran a 62.092 which was more than 1s faster than the low 63's set to that point. However, you still had quite a few national champions eagerly awaiting to take their last run. The pressure was on but Erik Strelnieks handled it beautifully pulling off at 61.297 in his yellow Z06. Most fans were eagerly awaiting the orange lotus elise to strut its stuff and see if it could retake the top spot. He hauled ass off the line and was really taking the first slalom smoothly until he nicked the 3rd or 4th cone and it fell down. I think half the crowd let off sounds of disappointment when that cone fell over. That disappointment was short-lived by the shock and awe on peoples faces when Ian Stewart in the Porsche GT3 came in with a 61.026 to take the top spot!!! The crazy thing is that most people were not expecting that as he had not taken his 2nd run because he was still swapping tires when his time came up. He effectively took the day's top spot in Super Stock with only two runs the first one being in the rain on dirt stockers. Awesome driving! The crowd again became excited when Mike Johnson came in with a scratch time of 61.071. That would have put him right there in contention.

Things are pretty dry now and we just put up our EZ-UP and cleaned up the RX-7 for its impending competition runs. There is the possibility of more rain but the shine is currently sunny out. I will most likely post a report about the SM2 results later this evening. Stay tuned!

	very fast lotus elise
	sfr's own mike wood
	pit crew = navid
	almost 60 cars in ss
	silver c6 z06 from michigan

Tuesday September 13, 2005 9:30am

The storm is supposedly starting to pass us by and it shouldn't be too much longer before things get started again. New pictures of the wetness are below. For a while there we were in the eye of the storm. By the way, I want to thank everyone who has e-mailed me regarding the blog site with their positive comments. It's nice to know all this work isn't going to waste!

Tuesday September 13, 2005 8:47am

Light rain sprinkles, lightning, and thunder. That pretty much describes the weather right now. Just as the Superstock competitors were ready to start running the bad weather moved in and all the course workers were called back in. Hopefully this stretch of bad weather won't last too long. It didn't look too large on the radar on tv this morning but the storm seems to have parked itself above forbes field. We are keeping busy reading the newspaper, surfing the net, and listening to some music. We were able to get one course walk in before the bad weather struck. It looks like the course is getting reasonably wet (not soaked) now and the competitors with rain tires are getting happy. I wouldn't be complaining if I was driving a lower HP car either (ie. Lotus Elise) as the wet course will definitely negate some of the HP advantage that the Vettes and Porsches have. Uh oh, it's starting to rain harder and the thunder is getting louder! Definitely wet conditions for the first run group now. Rick keeps hoping for another "gully washer" storm like in San Diego...the only problem is that we don't have rain tires either.

Monday September 12, 2005 10:11pm

A great start to the week at Nationals. In fact, it's exciting just to be here...Forbes Field in September truly is the mecca of autocrossing every September. We pulled into "Solo City" this afternoon and were immediately struck by how awesomely big the event really is. All 600 of the paddock spots were already reserved by the time we arrived...thanks to Bryan Nemy we were able to get a great spot on the 6th row in the paddock. Many folks have already been in Topeka since Tuesday or Wednesday of last week for a couple of practice events and the preceding weekends ProSolo finals. Now I know what many peoples' 2 weeks vacation are dedicated to :) This afternoon was a busy time registering, teching the car, settling in, and walking the North Course quite a few times. I think I ended up walking 5 times and Rick did it 9 times...crazy. Reza was busy with one of his phone calls so he only did it 4 times. I think we'll probably end up walking it 2 more times tomorrow and 4 to 5 more before our own runs. This might be a little bit of overkill combined with the first two days in car video!

It looks like tomorrow will be another early start as we need to get to Forbes Field early enough to walk the course at 7am. We're then going to watch the Super Stock battle between the Corvettes, Elises, and GT3's. I'm hoping one of the latter two can knock off the reigning American Iron champ but it will definitely be tough. I'm sure many are praying for rain!

	cleaned up and ready for tech
	really nice lotus elise from missouri parked next to us (sport pack, no touring)
	7 cone slalom!
	super fast kink in back of the north course

Monday September 12, 2005 12:44pm
I just got some feedback on my own profile (which I wrote myself no thanks to Rick and Reza) which basically consisted of "yours is really boring and short". So now I've got a written profile from my girlfriend who did a great job. I'm not so sure I agree with everything that's been said though...read it below.

New and much and improved by my friend: For this dedicated driver, autocrossing is all business and no play; a fact that many can attest to. With every event, Alex has been progressing towards being one of the top ranked drivers in his class in the SFR; an obvious sign that it was time to make the glorious journey back to the “homeland” for the Topeka Nationals to test his skill against the best drivers in the nation. Alex can attribute his success not only to his innate skill but also to, what we will generously and rather kindly refer to as his “perfectionism.” The meticulous preparation and planning (often viewed as extreme, or maybe the correct quote is "anal" by his co-drivers Rick and Reza) that goes into each event is a trademark characteristic of his that he cannot deny. Alex's love for autocrossing is obvious on the track, but also manifests itself at his home, where visitors find RX-7 car seats as a staple apartment furnishing and more than 4 sets of racing tires crammed into his small garage. With a passion for all cars fast and shiny (e.g. Porsche GT3 or the much talked about “Loti”), Alex’s appreciation for cars extends far beyond his own love of the sport.

We are only about 25 miles from Topeka.  We should arrive at Forbes Field by the time I am done uploading this thing.  Our plan is to have Rick register between 1 and 3, get our paddock spot, prep the car, and get it teched between 3 and 4:30pm.  We will be walking the North Course quite a few times today since SM2 is running that course tomorrow.  We'll probably walk the South Course a couple times for good measure too.  Rick's goal is to memorize the course before he even gets on it...hahaha...based on past experience he suffers from short term memory loss!

It looks like I won't be able to update this page until tonight.  I'll probably clean it up a little bit before I get a large number of pictures on the site.  It's going to take some re-formatting because I know it is a pain in the ass to load so many pictures on one page via a slow connection.  This connection is supposed to be 214.6 kbps but it acts like a flaky 19.6k modem!

Monday September 12, 2005 8:17am


We all woke up refreshed today!  We spent the night in Norman, OK with some of my old family friend's.  A huge thanks to Fred and Binro Lee for feeding us (twice!) and letting us crash at their house.  We were able to catch up on some sleep, relax, and even play with their cool dog Dorothy.  For those that don't know Norman is a college town (Oklahoma University) about 18 miles south of Oklahoma City.  Traveling on I-35 as I type this...these Oklahomans are hardcore about their OU.  Huge flags hanging from houses, customized license plates, customized "OU" curb addresses!...we are impressed.  Apparently Rick is a fan of OU.  Too bad USC stomped them last year in the Orange Bowl.  Go PAC-10!!!  Rick was born in Oklahoma....that's where his allegiance comes from.

I woke up early this morning to weird sounds emanating from Reza's direction....he said later he was dreaming but can't remember or does not want to say.  What a weird guy....some day this dude's going to get me back...bad.

Ok time to get some more rest before we get to Topeka early this afternoon.

	two of these are going on the car...the redneck one was a joke for rick....
	windmill in OK
	huge ass cross in the bible belt, supposedly the biggest within a large radius
	storm clouds on the horizon, lately it's been a wet drive
	driving by the ford center in downtown oklahoma city
	thanks to the lee family we are ready to hit topeka with energy!
	another nice house in norman, just makes you realize how much you could afford if you lived out here....

	6am and the sun is rising
	same time just me driving
	taking a nap in the back seat
	crazy name i decided to get a shot of
	new mexico highway
	new mexico scenery