the question has been expanded beyond my original scope. i was talking more 'trivial' things but no problem with that. yea you know that's probably the best answer to the question.what would i like to see return the most. the days when drivers went from one type of racing to the next. drivers used to drive anything they could get a ride in for a piece of the purse. a can-am car to a stock car to a b production to a....many times in the same week. so the best drivers? hell they could drive just about anything and win in them on any given weekend and they competed against each other in different series too. today you have to say best in this ,best in that, and then its what type of racing takes the most skill and and and. so it's all much more conjecture then it once was. ... View more

if that's your reality,and i have no reason to assume it's not, then you are truly a fortunate man.don't mean to bother you but....the esprit... details...i'd have a hard time picking one, if i could pick one. enjoy the trip. my favorite destinations were largely the result of detours along the way. ... View more

julie- remember to- change- that -air- filter. or wash out your k&n . bummer that portland has gotten such a bad reputation. people see one isolated spot in a city on the news and assume the whole place is overwhelmed by evil mobs of wrong doers. i lived in alphabet city on the lower east side when it 'was' alphabet city. i was fine.( actually liked it more than now since it's been "sterilized for your protection" and a beer costs $27.) a two minute walk and i was in gramercy park,nice pretty and.... kinda dull -have fun be well. ... View more

not at all, i asked the question. and elisa artoli kind of brings things full circle. 'what to bring when driving an old foreign car?'- the (other) answer i was looking for was european fashion model / actress. to those members of the fairer sex your favorite male sex pot is acceptable ( vapid bimbos included) and will be given due consideration. please choose by year make and model. for example: 75 lancia stratos -claudia cardinale. in the case of your lotus europa there is only one correct answer, diana rigg needless to say.   ... View more

see now i didn't know that. i guess you do learn something new every day.may i make a suggestion. since the europa is off location tell your wife you sold it. clean out the garage find a caterham 7 that someone hasn't finished for cheap - ' all the parts should be there' and soldier on with the mods you wouldn't do to an original (loose the big 7 grille please). the mrs's will be fine with it - "he's in the garage playing with that box of parts he bought. i don't care it keeps him happy' - then bring the europa back. if she's accepted 3 whats one more? on my end it sure is fun spending other peoples money. (ps) wasn't elise the name of colin chapmans daughter too? ... View more

while i too would like to see 'stock cars' be more stock to tell you the truth i don't much care so much anymore. i stopped seriously watching i don't know how many years ago. when they went to the c.o.t., common template, etc cars i lost interest. i remember seeing... (the director of nascar competition maybe) what 7-8 yrs ago talking about the switch to fuel injection and how it was, paraphrasing , nascars commitment in developing new technologies' huh? when were the last carbed production cars made? a decade earlier there were a handful maybe. if nascars on i might check in but a couple of weeks or so ago they were i can't remember where. at the same time t.c.m. was showing ' a touch of evil' ,the proposed  orson welles directors cut. put that on and never switched back. the unfortunate side of it is that if nascar is the 'premier american motorsport' it doesn't bode well for us. brad keslowski (sp?)  said nascar has the best drivers in the world. well i'm not saying there aren't good ones but the best in the world? a rather broad claim wouldn't you say? ever watched an f.i.a. world rally car race? those drivers are truly amazing. ... View more

to fess up. you know i was being facetious. the Europa is one of my favorite cars period.i just love them. give me a street legal go kart any day. just one question,big valve or twin cam? i'm guessing big valve. but since you're going to the scrap/junk yard,think you could then park a super 7 in there too? ... View more

true enough but that stuff next to your garage door looks likes it's propped up a little too precariously for my liking. next to that beautiful Lotus? you must have a big brass pair or amazing stacking skills. ... View more

yea it would be cool still...really as a safety issue it just wouldn't work. i don't know if it ever happened but what if a driver fell running over and wasn't seen lying on the track. plus the make sure all the belts are locked and tight. then you would have the start it and go melee. don't get me wrong i hear ya. thing is back when it was done that way,well to say driver safety was a secondary consideration would be an understatement. "this is a professional blood sport and it can happen to you..."  -steve m. ( micheal ) le mans -and that's when they had already stopped the run over,get in, start. ... View more

your answer ' matches' is slightly amusing. the addition of a disclaimer ( driver on closed closed course, do not attempt, not legal in any state, do not set your car on fire, do not commit insurance fraud ) adds that subtle bit of whit that 'makes it'. my compliments sir. ... View more

(ps) back to what i was saying. roadkill - we pulled a car out of a junkyard drove it 1000 miles, it overheated 3 times so we bolted a 6-71 blower on it and then did a burnout competition and it blew up! aren't we wacky crazy isn't that funny! ...no...fantom works- i gave a guy an estimate of thirty-five thousand to restore his car but when we put it up on the lift! .....really you gave a guy an estimate on his car and you didn't put it on the lift first? that you have...right there...that's all staged bulls**t. just so they could show ( dan ? ) marching around cursing. reality tv, the automotive version of ' jerry springer' . the upside is it's cheap to make, the downside -' do you think we're that stupid?'  ... View more

yea, and there's plenty out there that they could. love top gear (the original) which  i watched on bbc america. believe or not the cbs sports network shows some really good racing.  but hey you'll get to see le mans so look on the bright side right?... ... View more

well you probably want to see le mans and so you're in a bit of a panic. but other than that it 'aint' so good to tell you the the truth. unless you're into watching shops doing an infinite number of LS swaps and the like its pretty damn dull.  redundant defines that channel. i rarely even look to see what's on it anymore. it's not like the good ol days when the speed channel would show...formula ford or touring car from germany. you're not missing much to tell you the truth.   ... View more

i can't say i've met a lot of drivers mechs engineers but you might like this story. i was at the 6 hours at the glenn on a sat. they were having a see the cars meet the drivers on pit lane.walking in borris said & his ( chief mech. head eng. ) were banging heads and walking out straight at me and my friend. i kept stomping forward  until we were a couple feet  apart. borris!- he looked up semi-startled -pez?- he looked at me like i was from another planet- i reached into my breast pocket and pulled out a pez dispenser with the car from cars on top, cherry pez?-  borris said said... uh... um... no thanks- then i marched past him like a man on a mission. the funny thing is, or at least i think it is, that i then turned my head and 3-4 secs, later he turned his head shook it and smiled. the that was kinda different odd bizarre joke had hit him. ... View more

pearls of wisdom from our fathers and grandfathers. my father used to quote Twain ( you can't miss with clemens, will rodgers & groucho ) "when i was 14 i thought my father was a fool.when i was 17 i was amazed at how much he'd learned in just 3 years"  the best grandfather advice was from a friend of a friend. he was visiting his grandfather at the hospital. his grandfather knew he was riding off into the sunset. he said 'hey kid come here. you want to know the secret to life?- guy walks into a doctors office says doc it hurts when i do this doctor says well don't do that. " he thought crazy old man. flash ahead 2 yrs. coming home on a train, bad day, job he hates, crappy apartment, girlfriend and they're just making each other miserable-he thinks what am i gonna do? little voice in his head says "then don't do that"   ... View more

right as a real person. when i met him he had just gotten done glad handing, signing autographs etc. the nice part was he was by himself in the vip brunch tent. the only other people were cleaning up. i don't know why he  was there and i didn't ask. as tempting as it was to talk about the race the cars his career etc. he was taking a break from it all. it would have been like me saying ' ok your coffee breaks over back to work". we had a 'do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb'  conversation. i thoroughly  enjoyed it and i would like to think that he appreciated having a 'normal' conversation, after doing pr for whomever for who knows how long. he seemed too.  i think we both agree he just had that real nice guy thing and thats because he truly was. ... View more

they're just pace cars. putting together a big dollar program isn't required.there aren't any major engineering costs or anything of the sort. most of the pace cars are little more than production models fitted with lights and decals, that's about it. the cost would be less than a spit in the ocean to any mass production manufacturer, even the smallest. it's a question of nostalgia, what was traditional and has disappeared. thats what i was asking. as i said initially 'chances are between slim and none', but i'd like to see them go back and have different models be the pacecar as they had for so many years.  ( its sort of like singing 'back home again in indiana' before the race or the milk to the winner)  i think a lot of other people would think it's cool too. it would be a promotion for i.r.l and the 500. much the same way you see past winners and cars the history matters. and being that penske now owns both he kind of has a free hand. so what i was  asking people is what thing that had been done, had been tradition, and no longer is would you like to see brought back like...the race winner(s) getting a laurel wreath around their neck for instance. ... View more

no i'm pretty sure hal was from some weird space movie ... View more

i don't have a gurney for president sticker but i did make myself the shirt. met him at nazareth back when they were still running there. long story short i looked over and he was standing on my left. i nodded and looked away. 'you want something to eat' he said - i said 'thanks but i'm ok'- 'cmon there just going to throw this stuff away'  -we talked for a good while really about the usual things. one of the nicest guys you could hope to meet. ... View more

i was talking more about the indy 500 pace car only. remember back in the day a lot of the pace cars were from manufacturers who had no ties to indy what so ever.  as a matter of fact most of the cars had either ford or offy and later the ford cosworths were 90% of the field. still other makes were " the official pace car of.... publicity is always good. ford stock may be down but i'm sure  they have more than enough cake to put that car together. other makes too. you could expand todays version to include foreign cars. love trans-am but don't get the coverage. and i look for and watch imsa whenever it's on. quality racing and the 24 at daytona is the unofficial start of the season for me. ... View more

not really. selling a car can be a real pain in the...there's always someone who says something like 'well uh the headlight switch is kinda yellowed, there's a scratch in the rear taillight lens and it's gonna need an oil change in 1500 miles...would you take 600 bucks.  then the hot to trots ' i'll be there first thing saturday morning!' 3:30 in the afternoon and still...friend of mine recently went through the same thing with his saab 9.3 convertible, a "seasonal" car just like yours. he's still got it. too bad you can't find a way to advertise it on hagertys.  ohhhhh ... View more

i can't say i've read anything by him but still i'm going 'racer x' all the way ... View more

spring. i live in the northeast and after after the nasty cold salted roads winter being able to put down the window down hang your arm out and ride is a treat. however i will say that in a carbureted car there are those magic fall nights, on the right road, when the air is a bit cool, a touch of moisture, just right for the engine to sing out a sweet tune. so i guess it's a question of whether you're the driver or the machine. ... View more

'know your barbarians'    ... View more

(ps ) it might be bob. and my favorite tee shirt is ' dan gurney for president'  but we 'll have to change that to ' parnelli jones for president'  i don't think dan would mind.  ... View more

i'm tired and hungry and have nothing clever to say ( in reality i never do but keep it under your hat ) if you get a moment look up   the  farside " bummer of a birthmark bill"  better than anything i can think of now. ... View more

as the old expression goes "there are two things you shouldn't discuss at a bar, religion and politics." that's the point. many places had to stop showing the news  because fights ( sometimes literally fights ) broke out. there is a time and a place for everything. racing is not the place for politics. racing is entertainment after all, even when it's your bread and butter you must know that. it's also a showcase for technology.( me, i'm F-1,  I.R.L. ,love the tech). what's going on is counter to the 'spirit' of what these events are supposed to be, and it's become increasingly common in all sports , unfortunately. ... View more

hey spoom what happened to your sense of adventure? it's no fun unless someone gets hurt. ... View more