Your mom's experience and goals struck a chord with me too! My mom is
recovering
from a bout with cancer (totally cured after surgery, radiation and chemo) and
working on regaining her strength. I wish I could say her goal was to autocross
(she's not in favor of my participation because of the risky nature) but she is
finally enjoying her favorite activity, golf. I forwarded your message to her
because I know she will relate totally to your mom's situation. Thanks for
sharing
it with us...
Debbie (Tunces) Stohn
'87 Integra
Team SOL #99
Mike Bultemeier wrote:
> This is a truely great story. Glad to hear that she has recovered.
>
> You said she wanted what TLS# ?
>
> Mike B. TLS#1
>
> PaxsACR@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 5/11/99 9:57:46 AM Central Daylight Time, DSRGR writes:
> >
> > << Subj: Mothers Day Autocross
> > Date: 5/11/99 9:29:15 AM Central Daylight Time
> > From: Jouet4ever
> > To: eirish@us.hsanet.net, MIrish1431
> > To: AJDE@compuserve.com, Swese100, Jitters99, Beadin
> > To: TLStoffa, WTILV, jrsygrl@powernet.net
> > To: lindakiss27@earthlink.net, Cherkeechf, CrownEagle
> >
> > Today was a " double-dip" day for me. My mom is here visiting and
> > wants to drive in the autocross. She has 3 main goals in her life....to fly
>a
> > plane, have a story published and drive a race car. She has already
> > accomplished the first 2 goals. Now she was about to realize her final goal!
> >
> > She has spent the last year and a half fighting and recovering from cancer.
> > In 1998, she was diagnosed with a " highly aggressive glandular cancer"
>which
> > is not only treatable, but one of the very few cancers that is curable! She
> > went through months of chemotherapy (lost all her hair and was either sick
>to
> > her stomach or high from the drugs) then 5 weeks of radiation treatments.
>She
> > is now 100% AOK cured! However, the road to recovery is long and tedious as
> > she finds herself very weak and is working on building up her strength and
> > growing back her hair. In the last 2 years she has driven only twice in
>their
> > own car!
> >
> > Race Day: the course starts with a quick right hand turn into a
>straight
> > away 2 quick left hand turns, a gate slightly offset and then a 3 cone
> > slalom ending in another left hand turn where you go straight across the top
> > of the parking lot to make a 90 degree left turn, short burst and then
> > another left followed by a right leading to another long straight to a
>single
> > cone that you must make a u turn around. Then dash straight to the finish.
> >
> > Gene has brought 2 cars to the race. The " Sharkomatic" which all 3 of us
> > are going to share plus the road-race car that he drives on the roadraces in
> > CA and AZ (its actually not set up for autocrossing, wrong kind of tires
>and
> > set up for wide sweeping turns at much higher speeds) but mom wanted the
>full
> > experience of a shift-stick, full racing harness, and, of course, the roar
>of
> > the motor.
> >
> > Before each autocross you are supposed to walk the course, look for how you
> > are going to make your turns, where to apex, where to put on the speed, and
> > generally memorize the course. Gene and I walked the course, but it was too
> > long for mom to walk. The event Master let Gene drive her around it in the
> > car, which doesn't give the full effect of walking. You cannot memorize the
> > course while riding in the passenger seat, no matter how slow one goes.
> >
> > Mom practiced driving the road race car in the pit area, driving around,
> > shifting, getting in and out over the roll cage!
> >
> > During the morning session, Gene took his runs first, with mom in the car
>so
> > she could see the course and generally feel the action of the car, getting
> > very consistent times in the 48 second range, ending with a 46. Then mom
> > took her first 5 runs in the " Sharkomatic." her first time was a 69. Gene
> > rode with her to guide her. Her next 2 runs were off course, as she had
> > trouble all day finding the L shaped left turn at the top of the run. She
> > kept turning early. A couple times she didn't make a tight enough u turn and
> > plowed several of the cones down. All her runs were in the 60 second range.
>I
> > took my 5 runs starting at 51 seconds and worked slowly down to 46 seconds
>on
> > the last run. Then mom got 5 more runs in the "road race car". Again, her
> > times were in the 60-70s range. She had lots of trouble with the steering.
> > The road race car is very hard to steer at slower speeds and just not set up
> > for a curvy tight course. But she was all harnessed in getting the full
> > effect of a real race car. The announcer kept telling moms "story" over the
> > loud speaker, so she grew quite a cheering crowd, with lots of video cameras
> > on her. She was the highlight of the day!
> >
> > After the lunch break we had 5 more runs each. Mom opted to only drive the
> > "Sharkomatic" in the afternoon as she was wearing down, getting tired. But
> > still not ready to call it quits! Gene ran his runs, best run coming in the
> > 44 second range. Mom still rode with him to learn the course. Mom took her 5
> > runs, again coming in at the 60-70 range. My runs started at 48 range, did
> > one 46, then last run was a 47.
> >
> > Monday....mom is sore in her legs from getting in and out the road race car
> > window. Sore shoulders from the harness, but still beaming and exclaiming
> > over her day! She enjoyed the day, realized her dream, was awed by the
> > clubmembers that helped her by pointing the way for her on the course, told
> > her to finish her run, gave her "thumbs-up", and cheered her, even if she
>had
> > gone off course. She said she could see why they are our friends! She has
> > nicknamed herself "cone-killer," and is seriously thinking about another
> > race! >>
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