My home

OK being born a yankee does not mean it was my choise. I was not born a texan, but I got here as quick as I could.
Here are a few reasons why I love texas. Beaumont to El Paso 742 miles , Beaumont to chicago 770 miles, El Paso is closer to the state of california than to tha city of Dallas , Worlds first rodeo was in Pecos..july 4 1883, The flagship hotel in galveston is the only hotel in north america built over water, the heisman trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full time coach for rice university in houston ,Brazoria county has more species of birds than any other area in north america, aransas wildlife refuge is the winter home of north america's only remaining flock of whooping cranes,jalapeno jelly was originated in lake jackson in 1978, the first spoken word from the moon was houston, here's one for a yankee ! the king ranch is bigger than the state of rhode island,Texas is the only state to inter the U.S. by treaty, instead of annexation( this alows the texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag),caddo lake is the only natural lake in the state,dr pepper was invented in waco in 1885, texas has had six capital citys,washington on the brazos,harrisburg,galveston,velasco,west columbia,austin,the capitol dome in austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the capitol building in D.C. (by 7 feet), an last but not least the name TEXAS comes from the Hasini indian word " tejas" meaning friends.

Being an old fart is fun

What can I say, I have the world in the palm of my hand ( I was going to say got it by the #%@&). I would talk to my wife an my kids about retiring, concerned about sitting on the porch , watching the world go bye. Wow If this is what getting old is ,everybody should do it.
As most of you know I have been driving a race car since 1967 ,I started with 1956 Fords went to 1963 farlaines in california and oregon , then back to connecticut to drive a 1957 ford next car was a fairlane again,that was all for stock cars . T hen came texas with mine mods first car was a 1974 mustang then a real modified which I stayed with till last year.
Well then the powers that be droped that class of cars so it was time to trhing about QUITTING!! When the word got out that I might think about a stock car again a friend in fort worth called me about this 1997 thunderbird so I called the man who had it, got a price, went to look at it, talked to people who knew the car an said to myself OK one more time .
When I took myself an the car to the track my confidence was low as I have watched the other guys (all much younger) flying around the track ,so i told most of them I would try to keep out of their way. Hah I won two features had many top five finishes and finished fifth in points. Hows that for a old fart.
Ok now comes the southern challange which is a big three day race you must try to get into the big show on sunday by qualifying on friday or saterday if you cannot make it on fri you try again on sat if you still cannot you get one more chance on sun to make the big B where two will move up to the big A well I knew that the big boys from all over the midwest as well as new mexico la Miss. so i said to myself at least i will get three days of racing in thru all these attempts to qualify Hah the old fart went out and started in last place on my first heat race finished fourth went out in the second heat race and won it by several car lenths. That but me in the big A qualifyer for sunday ,well i started in seventh place and finished in fifth, that did the trick I got into the biggest race of the year .I could not believe it, this old man who thought he was all done racing running with the biggest and fastest from as far away as wisconsin . I finished tenth ,I am very happy with this as i was the only car from abilene speedway to finish the race,oh ya only two of us from our home track made the big show.
While i was having all this fun my wife was selling racing fuel out of the big VP trailer an when i would come in off the track she would tell me which car needed a drum of fuel i would get in my pickup, take the fuel to them ,come back an help her with the fuel sales ,work on my car, walk around thinking how the hell am i going to race with all these big dogs.
As most of you know we had our RV set up at the track so we could take a brake an also not drive back an forth so we were at the track for five days, we both had fun and also a sence of accomplishment, not bad for a couple of old retired folk.