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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