I was so surprised when I saw my nomination, that I didn't even have the
information necessary to decide if I could accept or not. :-O Well, as of
today, I know that I can get time off work, which had worried me because I
do not have the necessary vacation days and I had a product release that has
fortunately been pushed off until November. So, I grateful accept my
nomination and offer a little bit of information about myself:
Born Philadelphia, PA in 1969; moved to Orlando, FL in 1984, received a
degree in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Florida
(Go Gators!), completed some graduate work in BioMedical Engineering; took
time off to work in industry. Moved to Boston in 1993 and worked for a
Pharmaceutical company doing drug discovery and medical device development.
Went into consulting in 1997 and moved to the Philadelphia area where I am
now doing a little bit of everything to do with pharmaceutical technology
and regulations.
I've always been into sports, segueing from BMX racing to motocross dirt
bike racing (man, I wish they had the Speed Freaks program back then),
dropping back into mountain bike racing during the lean years of college and
then graduating to my first "sports car" after college. When I was in
Boston I replaced my boring Explorer with a Mitsubishi Eclipse and I've been
boosting ever since. :-) Some of the local DSM tweakers invited me out to
a dragstrip and I quickly began to modify my car, eventually dropping my
quarter mile time down to 12.9 @ 106MPH. The straight line thing was fun,
but I craved something more and followed some of the DSM guys out to this
autocross thing I had been hearing about.
A couple autocrosses and a trip to the Diamond Star Shootout in Ohio and I
was hooked on autocrossing. I competed in my first season of autocross in
1999, unmodifying (reinstalling the stock boost controller, raising my 1/4
mile time to 13.9 @100 MPH, yikes!) my 1992 Eclipse GSX to compete in
Philly's ESP class. I found the Philly Region to be chock full of nice
folks willing to help a novice like myself learn the sport. I was so
impressed with the camaraderie and the quality of the novice program that I
started dragging every DSM and import racer that I knew to the local events.
In the spirit of wanting to give a little back to our club, I became a
safety steward and volunteered to assist a much more experienced
autocrossing with the job of Chief Solo II safety steward in the Philly
Region. At the end of the season I realized that my 130,000 mile DSM wasn't
going to make it through another season, so I purchased a fairly modified
1997 Eclipse GSX (12.0@114MPH) with the intention of competing in this
Street Touring Unlimited (now Street Modified) class that I had been hearing
about. I helped-out as best I could with the rules so as to not preclude
many of the local import and domestic drag racers and motorheads in general.
Hopefully, this class will continue to grow as more street prepared folks
install their subframe connectors and manual boost controllers.
Thanks again for the nomination and seconds to the nomination. Please feel
free to stop by and say hi to the tall guy in the white Eclipse at any
Philly event, Northern New Jersey event, or the Divisional in Rome, NY.
Best Regards,
Ian McFetridge
92GSX Philly ESP, retired to commuter duties
97GSX Philly Region's Street Modified!
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-autox@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of dg50@daimlerchrysler.com
> Sent: Monday, July 10, 2000 5:13 PM
> To: autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: DTN Nomination #1
>
>
> Given that 2000 appears to be the year of Street Modified, and given that
> we need 15 drivers in SM at Nationals to qualify for a jacket, I
> think it's
> only appropriate that the DTN be a Street Modified driver.
>
> However, I have someone who I think qualifies for consideration
> for DTN on
> his own merits.
>
> Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to nominate Ian McFetridge for
> DTN 2000.
>
> Ian is not from my Region, but I have known him for a couple of years now
> through his presence on the Talon Digest and here on Team.Net. I first met
> him at Harrisburg in 1999, where he ran in ESP, in an early Talon with
> nonfunctional shocks. (I took the car out for a spin, and it was like
> driving four pogo sticks in loose formation) He has also made it as far
> west as the annual DSM Shootout in Ohio, but he never seems to make it to
> Kansas.
>
> Ian did something really special this year: Not only did he jump into SM
> with both feet as one of the early adopters, he took my "go forth and
> recruit newbies to the sport - and then keep them there!" philosophy
> completely to heart, and then proceeded to do a much better job of putting
> that into practice than I could. Ian has been dragging new people into the
> sport of autocross at an alarming rate, and the people he brings
> in seem to
> stay in. If I had an Ian in every region, SM would rule the
> world. :) Ian's
> Region consistantly has the highest participation numbers in the country,
> and I suspect Ian is a large reason why.
>
> And he's also managed to develop into a first-class competitor,
> and is a an
> all-around nice guy to boot.
>
> Given the amazing amount of work he has personally put into the promotion
> of Street Modified and the sport as a whole, I can't think of a better way
> to reward this level of personal dedication than to make Ian DTN 2000.
>
> For your consideration, ladies and gentlemen.
>
> (Karl, Kent, and Karen, this is where you back me up :)
>
> DG
>
>
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