Observations from the Mitty

Hey all, I just got back home. First I would like to say the Motorsport Marketing crew did a tremendous job of kicking this event off in fashion. Here are a few things I noticed, and learned over the course of the weekend.

1. Golf Carts are dangerously easy to roll.
2. North Georgia weather is unpredictable.
3. AussieSMG is ALWAYS buying more cars.
4. Pete Brock is a genuinely good guy, and fun to talk to.
5. Stock cars need to run at Road Atlanta!
6. Vintage race guys have way more money than me.
7. NOBODY parties like the Hongs.
8. I have a bruise the size of a football in the middle of my back, and I have no explanation for it.

If you learned something profound at the mitty this weekend, post it here.

1. Wes Cobb is a bad mother berkeleyer.
2. Winching a Jeep out of the infield during the MX5 Cup race >>> the MX5 Cup race
3. Boswell is now Jeep shopping.
4. Vespas don't do quick turns on gravel.
5. Strawberries still hurt.
6. While fun, pretending I'm a singer plays hell on my throat.

1. The AMG C-class is a lot more fun to drive than their version of the SL. In fact, I'm somewhat baffled about the purpose of the SL.
2. Tom Heath never forgot that I forgot my jacket last time.
3. Bring as many things to Road Atlanta to keep the sun off you as humanly possible.
4. The best seats at Road Atlanta do not have anything resembling actual seats.

The answer is almost Miata . . . The Kumho shod MX-5 was a delightful ride. Even Mrs. Zero tried her hand at it and almost fell in love.

That and the Dakota really liked the parade lap

1. Never knew Stock Cars were so loud.
2. Dave Marcus has a fan club.
3. Dolomites are awesome in person.
4. North Georgia humidity sucks.
5. Never seen so many 510s in my life.

1. Lotus is, does and always will be the the E36 M3 when it comes to driver's cars
2. Wayne is a freaking crazy man if he even smells alcohol
3. Wayne can smell alcohol at 500 meters
4. Greg Voth has more 1st gen RX7s than me
5. I have more Triumph Stags than any human
6. The GRM crew are awesome, seriously thanks to all

Scott just dropped me off at home a few minutes ago. That was a busy but fun couple of days.

A few things I learned (or relearned):

1. JG's minivan is an awesome highway cruiser.
2. I don't need to always overpack like a girl.
3. Not everyone has learned about sunblock.
4. I'm proud of our readers and they build cool cars.
5. I'm still allergic to something in Atlanta.
6. John McComb is a cool dude.

1) Brian Johnson is one cool and nice mother berkeleyer! 2) Datsun 510's are not rare. 3) Schnapps do not smell minty fresh on the way back up. 4) The Cheveron is one fast little machine. 5) Playboy bunnies are too skinny.

alleykat wrote: 5) Playboy bunnies are too skinny.

You're too picky

1. I missed out.

Powar wrote: 1. I missed out.

Me too.

1) Dean Case and the guys at Mazda look awesome in Speed Racer-worthy attire, and the BRE-liveried MX-5 with Morton at the wheel was wicked.

2) Wes does rock the tent.

3) Lyonel and Danielle Kent are some of the nicest people on earth, and Lyonel is a badass MX-5 Cup driver.

4) The Porsche Cayman Interseries has a bunch of really awesome looking cars, I hope it continues to grow.

5) Formula 5000s are awesome en masse.

6) David can sneeze more in a single burst than any human I've ever seen.

7) I think Per shaved a yeti in our shower on Sunday morning, and the slow drain didn't help matters.

Scott Lear wrote: 6) David can sneeze more in a single burst than any human I've ever seen.

I think I got that from my dad but, yeah, my allergies went nuts. Hope I didn't get snot on anyone at the Mitty.

Don't even start about the allergies. That may have been the worst four day period for allergies in my adult life. It was like I got up in the morning, washed my face, then dried it with a cat. Seriously, Georgia, what are you growing up there?

jg

P.S. +1 to pretty much everything else. I come back from the mitty every year wanting a tube-frame GT1 car more than anything in the world.

1. I want a Historic Stock Car so I can use up all my old Winston West stock car racing parts and make a lot of glorious noise.

2. David's sneezes are indeed epic.

3. No sunscreen at the Mitty is insane.

4. Brian Johnson's Bentley 4 1/2 is amazing.

5. I really want to buy a 240Z again.

The AMG SL63 works amazingly well if you set all of the electronic aids, except race start, to off. :)

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: 1. Never knew Stock Cars were so loud. 2. Dave Marcus has a fan club. 3. Dolomites are awesome in person. 4. North Georgia humidity sucks. 5. Never seen so many 510s in my life.

1. You forgot fiat shifters are made of rotten twigs!

96DXCivic wrote:

Powar wrote: 1. I missed out.

Me too.

Me three

Pffft you wussies, a little sun never hurt anybody, hey that black ugly mole on my neck is new.....

1.) Other older guys will check out your teenaged daughter just as much as you check out someone else's daughter.

2.) Vintage car races may be the best way to get your non-enthusiast friends to understand our sport a lil' better. My daughter's b/f (after I told him that ",,it's just a party, but watch the Pro Miatas-you'll see what real racing's like..") is now asking to borrow my copy of Bondurant's book.

3.) Bring the sunscreen, even if the NWS sez "RAIN ALL WEEKEND!"

4.) Don't be afraid of the Hongs. They rock.

5.) Scalectrix slot cars have much more "magnatraction" than my old Aurora AFX cars ever did.

6.) The "ban" on alcohol at Road Atlanta seems to be only for their insurance purposes.

7) Multiple tiki torches provide almost as much light as a real campfire, but don't draw the attention of track security folks.

8.) If you're camping, get to Road Atlanta about mid-week or so for one of the "big" events. The best spots to see the track fill up first. And bring one of those "solar shower" things...even after 40yrs, there's still no hot water in the infield.

9.) Everybody that can gotta come play with us next year..

10.) Kevin & Tom would have kicked my ass in that last touring session, if we hadn't had the TRs in front of us. I'm blaming the fact that I had three passengers, but I'll take that "loss" because I think I finally convinced the kids that motor racing is actually a real sport.

1.) I never should've introduced the Canexican to Mind Erasers. Sorry world.

2.) Maroon92, friedgreencorrado, all the other d00ds I met for the first time out there are teh awesome.

3.) I want a jeep...or maybe I just want a friend who owns a jeep.

4.) I thought I was a professional alcoholic. Apparently I've still got some training to do.

5.) Less talkin, more stalkin. I should've made a more serious effort to get Brian Johnson a "For Those About to Hong" T-shirt.

6.) I need a cell phone, ham radio, somethin', so that when I can't find my people, I don't ass-ume they've all gone to bed.

poopshovel wrote: 6.) I need a cell phone, ham radio, somethin', so that when I can't find my people, I don't ass-ume they've all gone to bed.

Yeah, you failed pretty hard Saturday night. Wish you had been in on the jam session with Wes and Co.

Next year I'm marking the Mitty dates off the band calendar as soon as they're released. If I didn't have to play a show Saturday I would have made the trip for sure. Sometimes being in a band sucks.

DILYSI Dave wrote:

poopshovel wrote: 6.) I need a cell phone, ham radio, somethin', so that when I can't find my people, I don't ass-ume they've all gone to bed.

Yeah, you failed pretty hard Saturday night. Wish you had been in on the jam session with Wes and Co.

srsly. I was not so berkeleyed up that I couldn't play some tunes with yee crackers.

Thanks for all that made it. I did make a more concerted effort to say hi to as many people as I could. Was kept pretty damned busy putting out fires, worrying about what fires would pop up next and showing celebrities around.

1. I did spend a bunch of time with Brian Johnson of AC/DC. Super nice, and I have met him several times, but I am not sure we know each other well enough to discuss nipple clamps in the first five minutes. He is a crazy dude, but a genuine car guy.

2. Adam Carolla is a pretty interesting guy as well. Wow, how completely opposite from me. His heart rate must be three.

3. If you missed this event, and yeah, I am biased, but I think you missed one of the coolest car events ever, there is so much to do and see and every year the forecast is way worse that the actual weather. In five days it sprinkled two or three times.

4. If I ever go on a rampage, and I might, it's not my dad or my wife I am coming for, it is weatherman... every last one of them.

5. Our program girls were at least as cute as the real Playboy bunnies.

6. There is something deeply, l deeply wrong with Wayne. Not many people scare me when they are drunk, but he does. I have never seen him not totally hammered.

7. Peter Brock is one of the nicest, most understated, kindest people I ever met. I don't know how such a mellow guy could run a race team and accomplish so much. He must have been a lot different back in the day.

8. Tony Adamowicz is another amazing guy. We have become good friends. Sit down to talk to him about his favorite race cars and he starts with telling about driving 917 and 512 ferrari for the factories and then says he loves Spitfires and E 36 M3s the best. Cool cover story coming in Sept. Classic Motorsports.

9. Peter Revson's, sister, Jennifer, was super cool and she brought Linda Vaughn (Ms. Hurst) with her. Nice down to earth people.

10. The Mitty is getting to be like Monterey or the Festival of Speed, the difference is nobody really knows it yet, so you can get complete access to everything and all these cool cars and people and the hotel rooms are still only $100 a night and there is nobody there who is stuck up. Heck, even the Hongs feel comfortable here. Mark your calendars now... first weekend in May is sacred. It's Mitty time!

11. And one more thing, my staff absolutely kicks ass.

Tim Suddard said: And one more thing, my staff absolutely kicks ass.

Quoted for Truthiness!