Interesting. Recent list traffic certainly carries a different tone than what
I found awaiting me in my mailbox after I returned from the Las Vegas VARA
event. But email lists are like that, flames flickering to and fro, sometimes
heat, sometimes light. When I started doing this list stuff, one could count
on there being more light than heat. But that was some time ago. Did you
know that it takes only the fingers of one hand to count the number of sites
that were on the net before the U of Utah? And no, I myself have not been here
that long, some days it just seems that way.
Back in the days of Our Founder, Dale Cook, Keeper of the Flickering Flame,
there was a list, the British car list. It was in many respects a lot like
the current FOT list, a handful of folks from here and there that knew in
their hearts, their hands and their garages that some cars were more than just
mere transportation. The only other list, the autocross list, was pretty much
the same. We few, we happy few....
As they say, the only constant is change. In the decade or so I've been at the
helm things have certainly changed. These days, I spend too much of my time
cleaning up after folks who have no idea what to do if the first mouse click
doesn't provide immediate results. But that's the dozens of other lists. The
FOT list is indeed a treasure. Thank you, Joe, for getting this ball rolling.
I do on occasion fear that as more and more folks are added, this list will
take on some of the unpleasant characteristics that crop up on some of the
big lists which have a thousand subscribers or more. As I mentioned to Kent
and Joe when they passed through town on their way to Triumphest, hardly a day
goes by that I don't at some point feel like just walking down the hall to the
server and hitting the power switch.
Then again, the response to the current Team.Net fund drive has been amazing.
For the first couple of days after my initial plea, the PO box was empty. And
then one morning I went into the post office, turned the key, opened the little
door, and saw the slot stuffed with envelopes. Damn near cried on the spot.
Every day there are folks around the world who, like the tottering patriarch
easing into the Gloria at Graydon, get memories, past and yet to be, tickled
by what their list subscription pops up before their eyes. I *know* why I
do this.
Speaking of memories, I may have mentioned this before on the list, perhaps it
was another, I can't remember at the moment. Road & Track magazine, November
of 1995, a trio of Vipers on the cover. Within that issue is a story by Peter
Egan. You know, I bet he has an email address. He would, I surmise, not be
unwelcome here. Wonder if anyone on this list has *not* heard of him?
Anyway, the story I speak of, "The Mille Miglia and the Great Yellow Beast,"
is about how he and Gil Nickel, who probably has more money than any dozen FOT
folks put together, but spends it wisely, took Gil's Ferrari to a modern day
running of the Mille Miglia. I won't recount the story here, you simply
*must* read it for your selves. I will, however, quote the closing paragraph:
Those old men and women along the road remember. They weren't
waving to us. They were waving to the ghosts of those who once
drove our cars absolutely as fast as they knew how to go.
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