Lee,
I appreciate your words but honestly believe you have grossly
mis-characterized
the past few days bantering and especially the Team Thicko philosophy.
I would invite you, or anyone else, to join the Team Thicko mailing
list.
You'll get the whole story and feel of what we are all about there. I'd
be happy
to forward sign-up instructions to anyone interested. But be warned,
bring a
sense of humor or you won't last long.
We may make fun of ourselves, and our cars, but one thing is certain,
the
cars ARE properly maintained. Had there been any indication that WST's
suspension bolt was "going", you can bet he would have been advised of
it and there
would have been 10 hands there, helping him fix it. Camaraderie is a big
part of vintage racing and that is on the top of Team Thickos list. As
WST mentioned in one of his notes.... he hears the feet
of racers everywhere rushing to check their suspensions after this
incident. That's a good thing. Things like this remind us of the fact
that we are racing 40+ year old automobiles and things fail. Not always
due to poor or non-existent maintenance.
You are disturbed that we seem to sit around and make laughable jokes
about very serious situations. True, sometimes we do...we're not the
type that would sit around and cry in our soup and feel sorry for
ourselves. If you cant laugh when life hands you crap, .........
However, we all appreciate and respect the seriousness of our sport
when the green flag drops.
We generally race with the VSCDA organization. This organization has an
exemplary safety record and a serious drivers committee. Non "vintage
spirit" driving is not accepted, but that doesn't mean we have to tour
around the track as if in some exhibition race. We had the "what is
vintage racing"
discussion on this list several months ago, I don't want to revisit
that. There are as many opinions on that subject as there are surviving
Arnolt Bristols.
I appreciate the rarity and value of your cars and I am glad that you
have found a suitable organization that allows you to enjoy our sport in
a manner that suits your philosophy.
Regards,
Gary Speckman
Plover, WI
LMR356@aol.com wrote:
> 07-03-00 POST:
> From: Wm S. Thompson "...inspection showed failure of 2 bolts that
hold the spindle to the steering arm." "The Red Rat Bastard's days are
over...better to end this way rather than rusting away in someone's back
yard. I'm thankful I had no serious injuries and no one else was hurt."
>
> 07-04-00 POST: brian@uunet.ca ( Brian Evans) "Bad news all round
then.
Sorry about writing off the RRB ( Thompson's car) FWIW, Don Sobering
lunched a GT-3 Midget there about 10 years ago, and Mike Jennings
punched the wall there in his Bug-Eye. Mosport is not a forgiving
track...."
>
> 07-04-00 POST:
> From: Billd13@aol.com. To: wsthompson@thicko.com "If his fingers
weren't hurt, maybe we should consider an alternate nickname for the
Flounder..."Lucky Fuck II"
>
> MY RESPONSE:
> It's too bad whenever there is a serious incident in
motorsports...and especially for the future of vintage racing. Luckily,
Wm Thompson's injury wasn't life threatening. But it sure seems like
his accident at Mosport might have been caused by careless maintenance
or... just none at all!
>
> As to "Mosport is an unforgiving track" That is an easy excuse. A
track isn't really "unforgiving"..it's usually the driver and his lack
of understanding of what he's driving that makes it appear that way.
>
> I am bothered by the last few days' posts ...especially from Team
Thicko...which suggests that there is some kind of fraternal dialect
and dialogue among the Spidget group.....one that treats serious shunts
almost as a laughable joke.
>
> We all can talk trash, spit on the ground, drink beer, and piss it out
the same way...but this forum isn't for that purpose...at least not from
my "vintage" perspective. If you want to continue this bs...why not do
it between yourselves?
>
> Someone recently asked me why valuable vintage and historic cars don't
appear on the grid anymore? Why would I want to put my Arnolt-Bristol (
142 made....less than 60 have survived) onto the same grid as Thompson's
Sprite...knowing what I know today? It's a no brainer!
>
> So...like many other vintage racers, I too support the new VDCA's
philosophy for promoting a more diverse grid of preserved race cars
and...while recreating the vintage spirit of a bygone era....one which
welcomes and appreciates the original Arnolt-Bs and A-H Sprites as well.
>
> Vintage racing is and has to remain distinctive. It's too fragile to
treat casually like the above referenced posts. Vintage racing is a
matter of ....style. Don't most of you agree?
>
> Lee Raskin
> Brooklandville, MD
> Arnolt-B and 356er
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