Sixth Gear

Uggh.

Tough, tough experience on Monday.   We finally got the car ironed out with the help of Spencer Pumpelly.  Spencer did a few laps and while fast….understood our discomfort with the car.   A few degrees of wing and a few forward clicks on the brake bias and Voila, we have a stable platform to drive.

This left us with 60 minutes left in practice and FIVE drivers that were anxious to get a turn at the wheel.   To make matters worse, as freshman to the Daytona thing, we were caught off guard that the last session would run essentially as an unofficial qualifying session.   The big boys ’stickered up’, flipped the ECU fuel map to ‘qualify’ and put their foot down.  Guardian Angel Steve Zadig said it was down right alarming thru the infield section of the track as the DPs streaked thru trying to print a time at the top of the list.

Steve Zadig

This left the Guardian Angel Motorsports gang a print on the standings sheet at D.F.L.  Not exactly confidence building as we wound down a trying weekend.

To top it off, the fund raising is stalled at the $39,000 mark.  Try as we might, we’re really having a hard time getting the number to the minimum $50,000 we’d like to raise in our first year. 

Ambition aside, the money does such powerful things for children, it’s a shame that the economy malaise has compromised the giving which in turn hurts those that depend on it’s benefits.  A week before Christmas, I attended Colin’s class holiday party where they sang the parents a holiday song.  Colin was overwhelmed, afraid and started to cry with his reindeer hat on.  His special needs teacher came to his rescue.  It was the worst 4 minutes of my life.  It’s people like this, helping kids in that way that benefit from the funds we raise.

All in all…this is starting to weigh on me pretty heavily….then Chris Troyanos from the hospital sent me this which had come in on the back of one of the pledge forms.

Kind of gets you huh?  It gets me everytime I read it…heck, it gets me as I type this now.

….and what better way to raise awareness about disabilities than with a disabled driver?  That’s right, one of our drivers, Kurt Kossmann, lost a leg just above the knee while undergoing treatment in 1988 for Osteocarcinoma, and now is not only fully functional with a special prosthetic, but he drives race cars at 180mph.  Kurt’s courage is an example for us all to take note of.

Guardian Angel Motorsports wants to raise money so kids with hurdles like his can share a similar success story that Kurt did…….because every child deserves to win in the end.

Please help us and pledge your support on a per lap basis…or lump sum….click the Tattoo to pledge.  

Just in case you had any doubt about my commitment on this mission.