Thursday, April 17, 2008

I'm a neophyte camper but here's a few tricks anyone can use.

I'm not much of a camper. In fact, I haven't camped at all since about 1982 or so. I'm just not into it, at least not as a lifestyle thing. My compulsion about hygiene and taking showers kinda keeps me in hotel rooms.

But with gas prices climbing to European levels, and the mileage in my old Dodge truck hovering just under the 10mpg mark, I can no longer afford to be so picky. If I'm going to make any vintage races this year I'm going to have to be able to camp at least one night because I just can't afford gas plus a hotel in my race budget. Over the winter I began collecting a little camping gear with the idea that I would camp all weekend at the 6th Annual Diamond Don's Riverport AHRMA National. What you see here is a picture of my campsite.

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Monday, February 11, 2008

Dakar Rally Moving to South America

Posted at ESPN.com, the Dakar Rally is moving to South America for 2009. After the 2008 Rally was canceled due to terrorist threats by stone-age towelheads, Race director Etienne Lavigne told ESPN today the event will run through Argentina and Chile in 2009:

Race director Etienne Lavigne detailed the route in a telephone interview Monday. He was already in Buenos Aires, scouting out the Argentine capital that will host the start and finish of next year's race.

"It's a very, very big adventure," Lavigne said.

This year marked the first time that the 30-year-old rally, one of the biggest competitions in automobile racing, was called off. Next year will mark the first time that it will not race in Africa.

According to Lavigne the race will return to Africa when it can. Seems to me they should stay out of that hellhole. It's hard to imagine it will be any different in the future. But that's just me. [found via RacerX Illustrated]

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

"No Limits" New Year's Eve

Here's an announcement on Cycle News about the Red Bull Experiment, live from Las Vegas (where else?) on New Year's Eve. Sounds like quite a party, but just maybe things are getting a little out of hand. Well-known 4-wheel racer Rhys Millen plans to backflip an offroad truck:

Then Robbie Madison plans to attempt a new motorcycle jump distance record of over 300 feet. Well, been there, done that.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Evel Knievel Dead at 69

Iconic '70s motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel died today at the age of 69.

I wasn't really an Evel fan, but you could not grow up in the '70s as a motorcycle nut and not be fascinated by the guy. I watched every jump that was shown on TV. The guy had balls the size of grapefruits. And while there was always huge risk in what he did, he was never stupid about it - unlike a lot of the follow-ons that came after.

He was, literally, larger than life. Godspeed, Evel.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

I'll be on PitPass Radio Tonight

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my letter to Scott Casbar at PitPass Radio. Looks like I'll be on tonight. Wish me luck. They seem like nice guys. Hope I don't get "Jerry Springer'd".