I Remember

The very first time I saw a Mazda GT. I had taken my Miata for yet another track day, this time to Buttonwillow, in December 2003. After all the daily drivers, like mine, had pulled off the track for lunch, out came this car in Coors Light, Silver Bullet regalia for an installation lap. It was Tom Dragoun, who was getting the car ready for the twenty-five hours of Thunderhill (yes, NASA has a 25 hour enduro, their slogan should be “We do Daytona one better”, but nobody asked me)

So, after all those dainty daily drivers, where you hear more tire squeal than throttle, it was one hell of a contrast for this full throated race car to come roaring around sunset and I remember what is now an indelible first thought, “Man, what I wouldn’t give to drive a car like that.”

I’d been wanting to race since I was a teenager; frankly Nixon was President back then and UOP was sponsoring an F5000 car driven by Jody Scheckter at Riverside, so you can understand I’d been waiting a really long time. But there was always some reason or other that I just couldn’t do it. The logistics, having a place to put a trailer between weekends and having something to haul the trailer with, those were just for starters. While working on the car on weekends sounds like fun, I’d spent too many track days watching guys waste their entire weekend neck deep in oil and grease, often never even getting their car out on track. I was leery, to say the least, about supporting the car myself. And while I understand theory very well, except for transmissions (since I learned on airplanes) I also became aware a long time ago that I have a singular talent for cross threading a nut. Sometime I swear I can make a screw strip itself with just a casual glance. It’s kind of like a reverse superpower. This explains why, thankfully, in the end I ended up working on computers rather than airplanes. So as much as I was looking forward to fussing with a race car in the garage between weekends, what I really wanted to do was drive it, and without support and some solution for the logistics and hauling and stuff I couldn’t see how to make that happen.

I remember the following summer, 2004, after taking yet another longing look at many different race cars, deciding to check out that really cool Mazda I saw the previous December. More important than the fact that the price of the car was a lot lower than I thought it was going to be was the realization that I had the opportunity to avoid all of the logistics and support issues if I wanted. Tom and Bette have an ‘arrive n drive’ program for the car that is perfect for guys like me. They store it, maintain it, transport it, and fuel it, support it track side, the whole nine yards. Of course I knew you could get the same type of thing while renting a race car, but who in his right mind wants to spend that much money to spend a weekend in a car driven the prior weekend by a sixteen year old with delusions of being drafted by Ferrari? Square tires and a tweaked engine, gasping for the finish line, no thanks.

With Seven’s Only you have the advantage of your own car while you can, and I recommend, having them do all the hard work. Which lets me just enjoy the weekend. As I talked with Tom that late summer day I realized that every single obstacle that was keeping me from racing was just solved. I wrote the check on the spot, and took delivery the following October and have been racing ever since. Frankly, if it wasn’t for Tom and Bette and what they do I’m sure I’d still be doing track days in my Miata and dreaming of the day when I could drive a real race car in a real race.

Now all that is great, but you’ll notice that it is all self-centered on just my experience. It’s all about I and me. There is more to the Mazda GT series than that. As much as I remembered, Josh’s first post reminded me of what I was forgetting, what I was taking for granted, which is the community centered on this car. Beyond the fact that the other drivers are fun to race with, there is group of people who are much more than spectators, who help make the weekend that much more fun.

On my desk at work I have a coffee mug with a photo Helen took at Willow Springs which is the envy of all people with good taste in cars. Little stuff like that, and big stuff as well, like Chuck and Kevin pitching in when I smashed the car up at the California Speedway, helping get me out to compete against their own brother. Memories of Mary helping me strap in at Willow Springs or Bob BBQ’ing a terrific steak on a Saturday night may be less prominent than drifting side by side in turns three and four with Scott, or a five car knock down drag out for third place at Thunderhill, but those are the quiet things that make the difference between just showing up to race against strangers and having a really… really good time with friends.

That was all too easy to forget, and I’m glad Josh’s post reminded me of it.