t-shirts

I like the t-shirts at races. This is at a hillclimb in Freemansburg, PA.

Savior South Cycles Racing

So you're in college in the the '80s, down in South Carolina. Not much money to spend but between you and your roommate, maybe enough to start a drag racing team. Especially if a worn but inexplicably reliable H2 shows up in the classifieds for the right price. Well some of the details may be lost to history, but here are some cool reminders of a time before they became mortal. This is Savior South Cycle teammates Bill Clarke and Steve Jackson. Their simple but profound credo, "Save one for me".

Starting with Bill testing the limits of rear tire sidewall strength...in the parking lot. You can see most of his nice haircut in this photo. Helmet? What?



Once they gained some experience at the track, they decided wheelie bars might be a good thing. And team shirts.







The results don't lie...1/8 mile time slips. On the back of the 8.03 slip it say's "beat Alvin's Honda by .02 sec, ran down A's wicked hole shot"
On the back of the 7.94 slip.."cut some Nighthawk ass, no contest"

As I say, the details are a little vague but if memory serves, I think the team changed the plugs, bought a Goodyear Eagle slick, and fabbed up the wheelie bar. Raced it for a season and moved on.

Hell of a show dudes, there's a cold one in the fridge for ya.

'08 Christmas Bird Count

This past Sunday I once again participated in the Burlington Vermont Christmas Bird Count, an annual event run by the Audubon Society. I've been doing the count with a few friends for about 15 years, and from the beginning we've been responsible for covering the Burlington waterfront along Lake Champlain. This year was made a little more challenging than usual with strong winds off the lake out of the southwest blowing directly into our faces (and binoculars) . Fortunately the temps were relatively mild, around mid 20's F, so even with the wind chill it was bearable.

The first bird of the day was an immature Snowy Owl. A great way to start your day. Other raptor highlights were a light morph Rough Legged Hawk, a Sharp Shinned Hawk, and 2 Bald Eagles. We saw a total of 40 species and counted well over 1000 individual birds in our sector. The total species count for the count circle was 71, which was 2 species off the record of 73, set in 2006.

I couldn't take any decent photos, so while I was browsing for images, I remembered these smokes. Heed the Surgeon General Warning!

Another Harrington shot

Not the greatest resolution so I couldn't read the name on the leathers, but if I had to guess, I'd say this is Bubba Shobert stylin' down the back straight...
Thanks to Sandy for the color correction

Heroes at Harrington 1/2 mile, 1984

Here are some slides I shot at the Harrington 1/2 mile, June of '84. It was the first time I'd seen a flattrack race, but I'd been reading about 'em, so I knew some names to watch out for. Jimmy Felice was a rookie that year (I think), Randy Goss was the defending champ (obviously), Springer and Graham were at their peak, and Honda was a real threat to win the championship. My wife and I paid for general admission tickets and stood by the fence coming out of T2 onto the back straight. I was hooked, but it took a looong time before I got around to racing or watching the pros go at it again.

Making noise without engines...

This weekend we went to the farm for some fun with guns. My family plus some friends and Uncle John, shooting clays till we ran out. It may turn into a Thanksgiving tradition.

Middletown, NY aka Thunderdome

Boy, I was just looking for some photos I shot this weekend, and found some videos on the same card, shot about 4 years ago at the Middletown Indoor series. They're short, but you do get a little flava of the place, in fact you can almost smell the race gas/exhaust/hot tires...

Bikes



Quads