Positive Challenge Thread

Ok, there are 350 posts on the challenge, many dealing with some negative behavior. That sucks. For those that competed in any challenge, let's hear a good story about some experience you had.
I'll start it off with the biggest memory I have from my lame efforts to be a race-car driver.
I was flat-towing my GLH from MI to FL. I was in northern OH passing a semi. You know how semi drivers will usually flash their lights to let you know it's safe to come back over when you are towing? Well, he flashed at me but I was WAAAAY ahead of him. I was thinking "uh, yeah. I know I can get over. You're three counties behind me." I just waved out my window and kept going. Fast forward a state and I'm in Kentucky getting gas. As I'm getting in the Jeep I notice ONE OF THE REAR TIRES IS GONE!! The tire shredded, only the beads were left. I touched them and they were stone cold. It was obvious that my tire had been gone for a while and the wheel never touched the road. I think that semi driver was telling me my tire was shredding!
I think I drove nearly 300 miles on three tires, and because the suspension was soo stiff I think I could have gone the rest of the way and been fine. Though my auto-x times would have sucked even worse.

Thanks guys and girls for putting on such a great event and know that we appreciate it.

Great idea.

The Dorsey brothers Toyuick "TIC" was awesome, spent a lot of time with the guys, they sold a car to make the trip and the mid engined truck ran great.

A shoestring operation but done with skill and they just love the Challenge.

During the weekend they corded a tire, located a pair of spares that were holding down tent guy ropes, these worn old spares improved their autocross times by 5 seconds.

Congrats Aaron and Stan on a great effort.

I got to meet lots of cool people. OMGWTFBBQ are some of the coolest guys I have got to hang out with. We won the longest drive (I am still amazed about that). I got to run my first ever autocross. Also I got to see a lot of amazing cars.

More pics.

oh and for the first time, I didn't break anything woo hoo

you need to be more specific

Snowdoggie wrote: More pics.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105144711517507449576/GRM2011Challenge

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/2011-GRM-Challenge/19404689_M4HZSP#1517634785_d3PBmv4

http://www.alsoranracing.com/?p=184

Not mine but lots of good pics here.

The challenge is really really cool. Please keep it coming and please keep it in a similar format and location .

aussiesmg wrote: Great idea. The Dorsey brothers Toyuick "TIC" was awesome, spent a lot of time with the guys, they sold a car to make the trip and the mid engined truck ran great. A shoestring operation but done with skill and they just love the Challenge.

That is something I've wanted to do since the 80's

I've never had a bad time at the challenge. This year I got to meet the Vorshlag guys and gal and they are Hella cool. Team mini me, the Nelsons, Evil D of KY, Aussiesmg, the dorseys, speedbyu, the Texas AM crew, Condor Speed Shop, clown killer, heck, even the clown is cool. I get why the Challenge thoughts thread is so heated. It's because we're all passionate about the event we love. I've been to four challenges and never come away with anything but a smile on my face.

The early 70's Honda is cool. Can't remember how long it has been since I have even seen one of these.

In reply to aussiesmg:

I think you should build that Stag you were talking to me about.

D'oh, I said Stag not Stang... dammit

93EXCivic wrote:

Snowdoggie wrote: More pics.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105144711517507449576/GRM2011Challenge http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-Events/2011-GRM-Challenge/19404689_M4HZSP#1517634785_d3PBmv4 http://www.alsoranracing.com/?p=184 Not mine but lots of good pics here.

Thanks. I appreciate the comment. We had fun coming up to take pictures, just like last year.

I haven't participated yet, but I really enjoy coming....seeing some of the awesome fabrication is inspiring....just the thing I need to get off my butt and back into the garage to work on my car.

Beyond that, I have several positive thoughts about the Challenge:

1) The response to the TAMU team's hard top was wonderful.

2) The way the Suddards try to take care of the participants. Friday afternoon, as we were driving home, I emailed Tim saying that one of the competitors I had talked to was having trailer trouble, and that it would be nice if the word was put out to see if anybody had a welder handy to fix it......I got a response within eight minutes saying that he'd see if there was anything that could be done. (Try getting that type of instant response at some other magazine's event.)

3) This is not challenge specific, it is GRM specific. The last issue's letter from the grandfather r.e. the Factory Five contest was a tear jerker......

The builds left me wanting to finish mine, and the behavior I've personally seen from Challengers, forum readers and magazine staff have left me feeling much better about humanity.

The challenge is awesome!

Meeting new friends, catching up with old friends and playing with cars, whats not to love

The staff rocks!

I feel fortunate to be part of ithis grounp and this event

The Challenge is absolutely the best event of tbe year for me!!!

Thank you to every one of the competitors and staff!!!

See you next year.

There was a wedding held couple miles away and the guest stayed at the motel , Louis was in the wedding and must have seen all the goings on and made it to the track . He likes RX 7 s and actually rebuilt the carb there in the paddock with Tom . He stopped by here his parents live down the road . We are going to build a RX 7350 for next year . Really fun time sorta got alot of sleep and recharged batteries while at the event . Thanks to all and the staff !

a couple of my faves...

Looks fun:

I'll be pissed if this doesnt end up in a Tire ad somewhere...

Plain old badass - a car so grimy with awesome, it might eat your soul

And seriously, GRM needs to sell those orange pro-driver shirts online...

Yes, the positives brought out by the event are just awesome: the friendships made, creatively displayed and ideas attempted. The fundraiser for Texas A&M is just amazing. Patrick, you get a major gold star for getting that ball rolling. Mid-engined pickup? Why not? Sucker car Corvette? People are still talking about it. Pushing ourselves to learn new skills? Awesome.

We have made a lot of friends, too. You're all coming to our Daytona gig, right?

David S. Wallens wrote: We have made a lot of friends, too. You're all coming to our Daytona gig, right?

Ummmmm, F1 is coming to Texas! Only room in the budget for one car type trip.

And when Australian V8 Supercars comes to Austin as well . . . man that will be a tough call.

Really folks!? All those bummer comments about the challenge and just a handful of positive ones here? How about the crazy stories (that don't involve hootusii and such) that you experienced? The majority of the folks here haven't attended, let's give them the REAL spin on the challenge, as all know it's a blast, well run and family friendly.

In reply to DrBoost:

+1

I don't get how there can be a 6 page and 11 page post on negative stuff and there are two dozen positive comments.

Was it that bad this year?

Hmm......

Yep, I'm positive this is a Challenge thread....

Also, umm have you looked at the news lately? Negativity sells.

It was my first year at the challenge. I was there as a spectator with both my brothers-in-law and we had a BLAST even thought we didn't have a car there...a problem we are going to correct for next year! They have always been to highly "organized" events and couldn't believe how relaxed the challenge was...no "you can't stand here" or no "I'm better than you because I have a car here and you're just here to watch". It was very well run and we had a great time. EXCELLENT job to the GRM staff and everyone who helped put on the event.